I'm participating in my first panel talk in a public venue today as part of Amore and More! Along with Laurie Schnebly Campbell and Jill Knowles, I'll be talking about how romance novels have changed over the last 20 years and where we see them headed in the future.
I'll also be giving away copies of Daring the Moon. So if you're in/around the Tucson area, please plan on attending. (The panel talk begins at 1:00 p.m.)
Click here for more information.
An extended version of Jack Links' Messin' With Sasquatch commercial:
This Saturday, January 31st, I'm participating in my first panel talk in a public venue as part of Amore and More! Along with Laurie Schnebly Campbell and Jill Knowles, I'll be talking about how romance novels have changed over the last 20 years and where we see them headed in the future.
I'll also be giving away copies of Daring the Moon.
So if you're in/around the Tucson area, please plan on attending. (The panel talk begins at 1:00 p.m.)
Click here for more information.
Literary agent Natasha Kern was the guest speaker at my local RWA chapter meeting on Saturday. I wasn't able to stay for the entire meeting--had to leave before the afternoon session--but she shared something from author Dean Koontz that I want to share here.
Mr. Koontz gave this following characteristics of a novel:
1) The author introduces the hero or heroine who has just been or is about to be plunged into trouble
2) The hero tries to solve the problem and only slides deeper into trouble
3) As the hero tries to climb out of the hole he finds himself in, complications arise, each more terrible than before
4) at last, changed by the awful experiences and by intolerable circumstances, the hero learns something about himself...something of which he was previously ignorant...and understands what he must do to get out of the dangerous situation.
Other pearls of wisdom from Dean Koontz:
"Bunny slippers remind me of who I am. You can't get a swelled head if you wear bunny slippers. You can't lose your sense of perspective and start acting like a star or a rich lady if you keep on wearing bunny slippers. Besides, bunny slippers give me confidence because they're so jaunty. They make a statement; they say, 'Nothing the world does to me can ever get me so far down that I can't be silly and frivolous.' If I died and found myself in Hell, I could endure the place if I had bunny slippers."
"Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those, who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear, which is inherent in a human condition."
"We're not here to leave a mark, bro. Monuments, legacies, marks--that's where we always go wrong. We're here to revel in the world, to soak in the awesomeness of it, to enjoy the ride. The world's maximum perfect as it is, beauty from horizon to horizon. Any mark any of us tries to leave--hell, it's only grafitti. Any mark anyone leaves is no better than vandalism."
Well said, Mr. Koontz.
Amore and More! Romance Writers Tell All
Does a ripped heart trump ripped abs? Discover the mouth-drying, heart-thumping world of the modern romance at one of four Amore and More! writing workshops sponsored by the Pima County Public Library - just in time for Valentine's Day!
These free, two-hour workshops from 1-3 p.m. January 31 at Himmel Park Branch Library, February 14 at Mission Branch Library and February 28 at Nanini Branch Library will whet your appetite for the Tucson Festival of Books in March.
Published authors from the Saguaro Romance Writers, the Tucson Chapter of Romance Writers of America®, share the secrets of the romance novel's sizzle. These award-winning writers give new meaning to that titillating phrase, Snap, Crackle, Pop!
Dip into the world of the sensuous sentence and the vivacious verb and learn what romance writing is all about. Don't forget that romance fiction generated $1.375 billion in sales in 2007!
If you're in or near Tucson, make sure to come to these great workshops! My panel is next Saturday--one week from today! (And yes, I'm already starting to get nervous...) Our topic: It's Not Your Mother's Romance Anymore--learn how romance novels have changed over the years. What are the various sub-genres under the greater romance umbrella? How do they differ from each other? E-books and print formats. And lots more!
Join me and authors Laurie Schnebly Campbell and Jill Knowles on January 31st at 1:00 at the Himmel Park Branch Library.
This post would have been longer, but...
...something has crashed on my computer...
