Once upon a time ...

 

I have so many half-started and half-finished stories under my bed, metaphorically, I need a stepladder to get to my pillow. Each and every one of them is worthy of rescue, not because of scintillating prose or clever twists, but because the characters deserve their happily-ever-after. 

Starting with the first story I ever wrote in which the heroine retreats to the recently inherited house of her late grandmother to lick her wounds after both a failed career and a failed relationship. I mean … how many tropes do you need? Sure, the conflict is difficult to find, the description goes on and on and on, but the dialogue sings! I discovered early on that I love writing dialogue and I occasionally can’t type fast enough to keep up with the chatterbox characters. The hero is worthy of a book cover, dark haired … no, blond … no, definitely brown hair. And his blue eyes sparkle with humour … except they’re brown. It’s a design-your-own hero book!! The newest fad!

My second story ever written is a retelling of the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea, with magical elements, a foreign prince, and steaming hot sex on the page. Woo boy … not something I want my mom to read! The story opens when the heroine’s car breaks down on a dark and stormy night outside the gates of a castle. She’s on her way home from a cocktail party so isn’t dressed for hiking through the pelting rain. Needless to say, she’s soaked by the time she gets to the prince’s castle. And needless to say, she needs to borrow dry clothes. And needless to say … I’m sure I don’t need to go on, do I? Did I mention the erotic nature of the prose? But there is intrigue, and a bad guy that needs to be defeated, and an overbearing father who needs to come to terms with his daughter’s wants and needs as the royal family moves into the 21st century. A real slice of life story we can all relate to, am I right? But, again, the heroine and hero deserve to be happy.

I guess my problem is I fall in love with my characters and can’t stand to leave them hanging. Unrequited love is no fun for anyone. I put them in that mess, the least I can do is get them out. 

My other problem (how long do you have?) is the never-ending supply of new story ideas. So, yes, I could return to the story of the witch who messes up her spells – oh, how they laughed! -  and is being stalked by a demon who will claim her soul if she doesn’t fulfill a promise, but when would I finish the next book in my contemporary series? Or finish the second book in my paranormal women’s fiction series (as yet unpublished) about the recently divorced real estate exec who discovers she’s a hereditary witch with phenomenal power, a wise-ass cat for a familiar, an angry ghost for a roommate, and a smokin’ hot hero for a love interest – not on your life! – who doesn’t know if he can trust her. 

And so those first few tomes will remain entombed (ha!) under the bed until I get the other stories and characters out of my head. Oh, and I didn’t even mention the cosy mystery series I have sketched out complete with recipes, or the historical series I have all the characters for, or …

Luanna Stewart has been creating adventures for her imaginary friends since childhood. She spends her days writing spicy contemporary romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and historical romance. When not torturing her heroes and heroines, she’s in her kitchen baking something delicious. She lives in Nova Scotia with her patient husband, a spoiled cat, and five hens. 

Website ~ Bookbub ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads 

What FREEDOM means to me...by Peggy Jaeger

 This month's topic is FREEDOM, a word by its very definition that can be a lightning rod for heated debate. Because of this, I chose to write about what freedom -- in my eyes-- means to me - and should mean to all of us.

1. The right to make my own decisions about my body, my finances, and my political party. 

I was born in the century where women first were granted the right to vote, given access to medical and safe birth control, and allowed to possess credits cards. That last one may sound weird, but up until 1974, married women were not allowed to possess credit cards since they were still considered by major companies as property of their husbands, and thereby fell under their husbands' reign. The EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY ACT of 1974 granted married women the right to obtain credit cards separately from their husbands. This, in turn, granted them reign over their own finances.

2. The right to read what I want, watch what I want on television and in the movie theatre, and listen to the kind of music I want.

I also grew up in an era that saw many states ban certain books from schools and libraries because they were considered salacious and potentially damaging to school-age children ( and some adults!) The list of the most banned books of the 20th century can be found here: banned books. I am proud to say I have read every single one of them.

In 1968, a voluntary movie rating system was instituted to help parents decide if a movie was appropriate for their children to see. I was 8 at the time.  

In 1975, the television academy began programming shows geared toward families, called the Family hour. This one hour of programming each night was meant for television shows to refrain from violence, foul language, and sexual content. I was 15 at the time. 

In 1985 warning labels began appearing on records ( the vinyl kind!) indicating that the lyrics or subject matter of the songs within the album may not be appropriate for children.  I was 25 at the time.

I am 61 years old now and thankfully, none of those restrictions apply to me any longer. I have grown into an age where I can read, watch, and listen to whatever I want without any governmental or parental interference. I am free to explore the artistic side of nature without restrictions. 

3. The right to think the way I want to think and to say what's on my mind without threat of punishment.

Again, until recently, women were expected to think and vote the same way their husbands did. In the past, if a woman's opinion differed from her husband's - or society in general - her husband could have her  arrested, prosecuted, and jailed. 

The advent of the Women's Movement of the 1960s proved women had thinking, functioning, logical minds and could make their own decisions without the need for a man to oversee or man-splain issues to them. Women began speaking out on topics historically only vetted by men. Our voices grew louder and stronger and today there are more women representing others in government than at any other time. While shouting FIRE in a crowded space is still illegal ( and should be) we are now afforded the right to speak our minds, protest peacefully, and engage in verbal discourse without the threat of being incarcerated for having an opinion.

4. The freedom to be who I am and live the life I want to without censure, threat of violence, or death.

If we've learned anything since this country was founded, it's that all people ARE NOT created equally in the eyes of society. The disenfranchised among us continues to grow daily; children are mistreated and abused; the elderly are warehoused; people of color are killed in the streets for no other reason than they are not caucasian. The indigenous people of this country are treated as non-entities. Veterans are forgotten.

To be a truly free nation, none of the above would occur. 

Freedom, through my eyes and in my mind, means we are all truly EQUAL in society, government, and everyday life. No matter what color our skin is, what our religious beliefs are, where we fall in the voting spectrum, and how much money we have.

Our government sends our military all over the world to fight for the rights of people to experience freedom.

Wouldnt it be wonderful if that fight began here, on our home soil, and with our own citizens, first?

Peggy Jaeger writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can't live without them.

Visit her at peggyjaeger.com

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A celebration of...me? by Peggy Jaeger

In this month's topic we are supposed to explore the ways we "celebrate" ourselves.
I have to tell you I had difficulty coming up with an answer that didn't make me sound a. conceited, b. self indulgent, or, 3. narcissistic.

Let me 'esplain...

I was raised in a strict Irish/Italian Catholic home. The only time we celebrated anything was if it was  a Holy day. I never had birthday parties as a kid, because money was tight and my mother considered it a waste  to celebrate something that came around every 365 days.

I was a straight A student but my report cards were never celebrated. It was expected that I do well just because it was...expected. When I brought home my report card, my mother signed it and said, "Keep it up."

When I got into college - the first in my family ever to do so - my parents' only response was to ask how I was going to pay for it.

See a pattern here? I lived almost my entire life this way. Until, that is, the very first time I was published.

The day my first book went on sale was March 5, 2015. That night I celebrated by making myself a cake and opening a bottle of Skinny Girl Cosmo.

That little ritual has now become a pattern. For every book's release day, I make myself a chocolate/chocolate cake and open a bottle of Skinny Girl. As self indulgences go, it's pretty tame. But it's the one way I celebrate me and my accomplishments.

And you know what? It never gets old. Every new book published ( there have been 18 so far with 3 more planned to release this year ) I get a thrill from eating that cake and toasting myself with a cosmo. Of course I also get a sugar high and a little buzzed, but....

How do you celebrate yourself and your accomplishments? Like I said, it took my until I was 55 years old to do so. How about you? I'd love to hear.

Book #18 released two days ago and I'm so happy it's out in the romance-reading world.
VANILLA WITH A TWIST tells the story of a small town, single mother and ice cream parlor owner who's faced some tough choices in her life, and an engineer at a crossroads in his, who walks into her shop one summer's day and changes both their lives for ever.

And yes, I made a cake and had a cosmo on Wednesday! hee hee

Until next month, peeps ~ peg
Follow me on my webpage: https://peggyjaeger.com/

Like, Lust, Love--Where Do They Fit in Romance Novels?

By Linda Lovely

Can you lust after someone you don’t like? Can you love someone yet dislike that person? Can you like and lust but not love? These are questions all authors should ask as they plot their books and consider the best ways to add conflict or increase tension if they’re writing novels that include romantic relationships.

The Power of Lust

In fictional romances, one of the tropes is a heroine who lusts for a hero she despises. She gets all tingly the moment he enters a room. It’s as if he’s a force field. She tries to fight her attraction but she’s powerless to squelch it. Of course, if the book is a romance, she eventually discovers the hero is not despicable, and she falls in love (usually before she satisfies her lust). The issue of “like” may or may not be fully addressed.

Okay, given the right circumstances, I can suspend disbelief and buy into this oft-used plot device. Our hormones don’t always listen to reason. While “like” is a thinking/logic idea, lust (and love) occur at a more subconscious level and sometimes defy logic.  So it’s not hard to imagine lusting after someone you don’t like—especially if your dislike is based on assumptions and hearsay. In this case our logic—the reason we don’t like someone—may be flawed. Thus, the enemies-to-lovers trope can be believable if done correctly.

However, there is a point where I draw the line. If the heroine has actually witnessed (or experienced) a man doing something detestable, say backhanding his mother or kicking a cat, I have a harder time believing her lust “force field” wouldn’t break down.  (Unless, of course, we later learn an alien being killed his mother and is inhabiting her body or the kicked cat is a shape-shifter.)  

Like Versus Love

A friend of mine, a mother, confessed to me that she loved all four of her children equally, but she couldn’t help liking two of them a lot more than their siblings. Love of family members—whether they’re likable or not—is another trope in fiction. This is the blood is thicker theory. Of course, what’s called “love” in this instance may actually be better described as clan loyalty.

But, I couldn’t love a man I didn’t like and respect. So, if I’m writing a romance, the hero has to win the respect of the heroine before she can truly love him. In my case, the hero also has to be able to make the heroine laugh in order for her to fall madly in love. Okay, that’s a personal peccadillo.

Like, Lust and Love

I do think it’s possible to really like someone and yet find it impossible to take that next step to love. As noted earlier, like is a function of logic. Lust and love not so much. This reality offers lots of fictional opportunities. Movies like “Four Weddings and a Funeral” do an excellent job of exploring such disconnects among friends when one longs to move her/his relationship to the next step only to find the sentiment isn’t shared.

That’s why if I’m reading a romance, I want the whole kit and caboodle—like, lust, love—to convince me that a hero and heroine will actually have a happy ever after (HEA).

Do you agree?      

SCREWING WITH THE INEVITABLE

By Linda Lovely

This month’s blog topic is Death and Taxes—the Inevitable. Since spring has arrived in my neck of the woods and it’s too pretty to spend time expounding on death or taxes, I decided to focus on some of our notions of inevitability and how they can help writers brainstorm.

As authors, we have the power to cancel and/or screw with the inevitable to delight and surprise our readers. Here are just a few “givens” that writers can alter to create new worlds and reader experiences:

• The sun always rises. For the sake of argument, let’s say we wake up one morning and there is no sun. The earth has stopped revolving. Our half of the planet is plunged into perpetual darkness, while the other half bakes under a ferocious sun that refuses to set. Not a bad premise for a science fiction novel that lets us explore how people react when natural disasters change their world forever.
• We age. Or maybe we don’t. Lots of literary takes on ways to reverse this truism—from a pact with the devil to pharmaceutical intervention. Perhaps our hero/heroine finds the fabled fountain of youth, or discovers a way to switch off a gene that allows select individuals (but not all) to stay young forever. What if our hero can elect to stay young, but he’ll have to watch the love of his life become an old woman and die? What if women can bear children in their seventies (State of Wonder by Ann Patchett)?
• Spring follows winter. This one’s almost too easy for a writer to exploit. A new ice age descends. How do we cope? Do scientists try to intervene, and, if so, will their meddling cause an even greater catastrophe for life on earth?
• Eggs and sperms unite to create new life. What if nature quits functioning in this manner? What if women don’t need men to conceive? What if women can be cloned successfully, but male clones don’t survive? How would the world work as women assume power and men become an endangered species?  
• Death is inevitable and ends an individual’s earthly journey. This is perhaps the most popular “inevitable” for authors to upend. Options include ghosts (angry and/or friendly), vampires (who I guess can live forever with an adequate fresh blood supply), and reanimated zombies.
• Romances have happy ever after (HEA) endings. Okay, if you’re a romance writer, this is one inevitable you don’t dare screw with. BUT, when the “black moment” arrives in your book, you can almost convince your readers that an HEA is impossible.

Fiction allows our imaginations to explore wonderful, improbable, and sometimes terrifying worlds. What “inevitable” laws do you enjoy seeing authors commute? Can you think of other “inevitable” premises that can be reversed in books to entertain readers?  

Friends To Lovers & Lovers To Friends

 What role does friendship play in romance?

I believe men and women can be friends without any romantic/sexual component to the relationship. Instant like. Best buds. Laughs and interests shared.

I also know one can be enthralled by a member of the opposite sex—even if that person hasn’t a chance in Hades of becoming a friend. Instant lust. Been there, too, (in the distant past, of course).

However, I’m also convinced friendship is the foundation for a lasting romance. Men and women must be BOTH friends and lovers to survive life’s bumpy road as couples. Been there, too. Happily married 36 years and counting.

 My belief that friendship is a mainstay of the happy ever after (HEA) is why I give an enthusiastic thumbs-up to three romantic comedies: When Harry Met Sally (WHMS), You’ve Got Mail, and The Holiday.

Among my all-time favorites, these films have plenty in common. For starters, the writing and dialogue are top-notch. (Authors notice these things.) Nora Ephron, a genius screenwriter, crafted both When Harry Met Sally and You’ve Got Mail. While actor Billy Crystal is sometimes credited with suggesting the famous WHMS line—“I’ll have what she’s having.”—Nora Ephron had the good sense to grab it and run with it for laughs. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, PLEASE watch this classic. You’ll hoot at the café scene where Sally demonstrates how a woman can “fake it.”)

The stars in these movies are no slouches either. Billy Crystal’s co-star in When Harry Met Sally is Meg Ryan, who also stars in You’ve Got Mail with Tom Hanks. The Holiday is headlined by Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Jack Black

Yet it’s the friendship theme that makes these movies extra special. In You've Got Mail, Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly become email confidants and discover far more about their compatibility as pen pals than they do when they first meet. It’s the friendship that lets the relationship bloom despite the fact that they butt heads over business.

In When Harry met Sally, the leads collide multiple times over the years as they search for love. It’s only after they form a close friendship that they take their relationship to the perilous next step. While sex complicates things for a while, their friendship allows them to navigate the tricky waters.

In The Holiday, Iris (Winslet) and Amanda (Diaz) impetuously exchange houses for the holidays as both women try to get over bad breakups. Then Amanda indulges in a “fantasy” one-night stand with the handsome Graham (Law), but as the couple moves on to friendship, love becomes possible. For Iris, the friendship/love equation works in reverse. She becomes friends with Miles (Black) first and gradually discovers he’s the real man of her dreams.

So, how do you feel about friendship and romantic love? Do you agree you need both for a happy ever after?