EVERY YEAR WE REMEMBER OUR GIRL

I don't recall the year and it's the only date that I don't remember.

Well I don't want to ever remember the day that my bonus daughter left us to take up residence in heaven.

I was at work and remember getting the call. I screamed in my car for almost three minutes.

We celebrated her life at the beach. We released her, in what can only be called, a surreal moment.

We knew we wanted her ashes to be left at the beach. But how?

Suddenly a school of dolphins swam almost to shore and literally stayed while we cried and looked at the sunset. It was as if they were waiting for us to give Crystal to them.

Dolphins were a favorite of hers.

Her dad, +Austin Camacho, swam out and released her into the ocean and then, just like that...the dolphins swam away.

We were all shocked and began to laugh. 

That is the only way Chrystal would have wanted to be released. Perfect, right?

Not quite.

We arrived home and found a small bush waiting on the porch for us and there was a beautifully written card from one of our author friends.

The card said that the flowers that would bloom would remind us of our beautiful daughter. Thank you +DB Corey and wife for this tree.

This year is no different. The blooms came back and every year; we stand and stare at them. We each share our memories and for me; seeing that tree every year with it's perfect blooms, reminds me that our girl is still with us.

Thank you Chrystal for being in my life. 

I know you are still with us. The hummingbirds remind us and so does this flowering tree.

DOWN BUT NOT OUT

I am a very private person. I don't share much but this week I feel it necessary to share some things that many people don't know.

Late last year, I mentioned that I had some health issues. Well those health issues reared ALL of their heads last week.

Not only am I dealing with a heart issue but for the past year, I have been dealing with gastrointestinal cancer. (Stomach cancer in normal terms)

This has caused me to do a number of things.

First, I stepped down as the marketing director of Intrigue Publishing. I give of all of myself when I am marketing and when this diagnosis came, I felt that it (Cancer) needed my total focus. I didn't want to slight my authors and I didn't want to turn my back on this 'new' medical issue.

Second, I took a break from writing. Not on my blog but on my novels. I found that my energy level wasn't the same and I wasn't able to sit for hours at a computer but was able to do it in short bursts.

Third, I began chemo and radiation treatments and my final one was on Jan. 17, 2017. To celebrate, we took a cruise. We had an adventure in Falmouth, Jamaica that NONE of us will ever forget. #PricelessMemories

Four, I began plans for my dream home. Many of you have heard me talk about tiny living and this is one thing that I MUST have before my moment in this life is gone. 

Fifth, with this newest health issue, I am now beginning to see life in a different way.

My children and I have come to terms with all that is happening right now and there will be long, hard conversations that need to be had. However, I know that we will get through this.

I have two men in my life and four women that I know will always encourage me.+Austin Alex, Denise, Susan, Debbie and Carmin. (My closet circle) and my girl, my skittle +Paula Lanier

I'm living life slower. I'm living each day with laughs and smiles and I am cutting my stress levels down. No one can live a stress free life but you can alter the way you handle the stress that comes at us each day.

I don't know how I am going to get my tiny home. Why? Because no banks will finance it. No loans can be taken out for it and most tiny home builders expect full payment.

My tiny home will cost me about $32K; of which I don't have but I know that I will have my tiny home before the end of the year. Why? Because I believe that what is meant for me; is for me.

So why do I tell you all of this?

I decided that being a private person is OK but sharing, with the people close to you, is also OK.

I share this to give you a glimpse into my world. I share this, not for sympathy, but for transparency.

I'm living my life like it's Golden. I am cherishing each and every moment I have here and I am not wasting any time dwelling on what I don't have.

I am focusing on what I have. Right now; in this moment, I have a circle of people around me that love me like it's my last day.

And for that. I thank you. 

SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY EACH DAY

Last week my day had begun like all others. Except for one difference.

It was one day until summer was going to begin and I was going to have my office to myself.

I greeted the day like I normally do. With my Chai Tea and was laughing with co-workers when I began to feel "weird".

Weird in a bad way, like I needed to take a deeper breath. Weird in the way that you feel when your asthma is going to cause you problems during the day. No matter, I was getting used to it since the heat wave had gripped the DC area earlier in the month.

I decided to give my gut feeling a nod and go check with my nurse. Just for my own satisfaction.

She checked my blood pressure and was 'a little concerned' but not overly. She gave me some aspirin and told me to come back.

A little backstory: I rely on my school nurses and trust them over anyone I have every talked to. Even my own doctors.

When I went back at 10:12 AM, she took my blood pressure again and said, "Go to Patient First, right now".  I walked back to my office and gathered my things and said, "Apparently I need to go to Patient First".

I walked in, sat down but my school nurse had already called. They came and got me and while performing the 'check in process' the nurse came and said, "We are going to send you to the closet hospital".

Two days later, I was released after having a cardiac emergency.

I tell you this for one reason. No matter what you are doing in your life, SLOW DOWN and ENJOY each day.

Not knowing if you are going to walk out of a hospital is a very sobering thought.

Being put on a heart monitor and taking blood pressure readings six times a day, along with Heparin injections and nitrogylcerin pills is also the sign that you need to slow down.

My writing will continue and so will my tiny house build but I am enjoying each day and nothing is more important to me, right now in this moment, than slowing down and realizing that I was given a few more moments to enjoy the world around me.

SURPRISE.....I'M BACK

I took the month of April off to celebrate my 50th birthday!

Yep I needed an entire month because after all; you only turn 50 ONCE in your lifetime and many of us don't make it.

But I'm back and full of it!

Yep, full of ideas and I am going to share an small excerpt of what I have been working on.

Tell me what you think?

(Untitled Mature Romance novel)

She rolled over and noticed the time on the clock. “Holy hell!” she said as she threw the covers from her thick frame. Then she heard it. Snoring.

“Hey, hey.” She said as she pushed the back of the sleeping man on the opposite side of the bed.

“What?” he said groggily.

“It’s nine o clock, you have got to go.” She said as she snatched the covers from his body. She sucked in a breath as those thick, muscular arms and broad shoulders brought back memories from the previous night.

“C’mon it was a late night.” He said as he pulled the blanket back up to his shoulders.

“No, no, no.” she said tugging at the covers. “My son will be here in less than an hour.” Although if she knew her son, it would be more like two hours but she didn’t’ want to tell him that.

“Babe, let me sleep just a little longer. I mean, damn; it’s not like you let me get much sleep last night.” He said as he turned over and grabbed her hand.

“Well, somebody had a lot of mouth and I had to make you live up to your words.” She said as she closed her eyes and let his fingers trace down her C cup breasts.

He moved towards her and brought a hardened nipple to his mouth.

“Look…” she began saying but his tongue slid lower until he was licking her thighs. “Umm, well, since you insist.” She said as she allowed him to climb on top of her and soon nine o clock became nine forty five.

He lay on her back, sweat dripping from him onto her. He kissed her cheek.

“Now that you have thrown off my whole morning, can we now get in the shower before my son gets here?”

“Yes! You want to continue in the shower.” He said as he rolled off of her and sat on the side of the bed.

“No, you shower; I’ll make coffee and then join you. But you better be half way finished by the time I get there. No fooling around.”

“If you say so.” He said as he got up and walked towards the bathroom.

She smiled and let her eyes travel down the length of him. “I’m so lucky.” She said as he turned.

“No, I’m the lucky one.” He said as he closed the door and she heard the water come on in the shower.

She righted herself in the bed and reached for her glasses. She then poured two of her arthritis pills in her hand. She got up and pulled on her robe and slippers. She passed the mirror and brushed down her unruly grey hair.

“Not bad for 57, not bad at all” she said as she continued to the kitchen.

Who, What, Where, When and How?

Many people ask how an author comes up with the story lines we write.  Some of mine come from bits and pieces of conversations I hear.  A few develop off tangents of ideas I read in news articles or personal experience.  I read different genre as well as what I write, paranormal and erotic romance.

 My recent release, Hot for Torrey, came from a discussion on friends with benefits and the younger generation as well as generation X hooking up more.  I often listen to music as I write and my favorite group is Blue Sky Riders.  Their song Little Victories inspired Holt and Torrey’s second chance at love story. 

One thing that needs to be taken into account is letting your muse take you places and ask questions that sometimes you might find wacky or outside your comfort zone.  Once the questions start rolling you often can find a scenes or scenarios that intrigue you or percolate into characters and/or settings demanding their story be told.   My first book, Red Hot, came from a fellow author talking about a novella she was writing for an anthology call on firemen.  Brent and Bunny’s story went more than novella length and became my person catharsis to post 9/11 in many ways. 

Since mash-ups and cross-genre came on the scene, I’ve taken ideas from science fiction stories I’ve read and enjoyed, let them marinate in my muse’s juices and given them my own spin by twisting them with paranormal aspects.  It doesn’t always work.  Sometimes the outcome is as interesting as the journey.  

 I blog weekly at Shape Shifter Seductions.  My blog mates and I have come up with our own town of shape shifters.  We run flash pieces on them most days.  While others we have guest authors happen by as well as our own promo when we have new releases.  We enjoy the blog hops we participate in which gives us an idea to focus on as a theme and we go from there.  I’ve taken a few of our citizens from our shape shifter town and moved them up to Alaska.  The two triads are fun to write about.    Sharing our creative drives together allows the five of us (my blog mates and I) to use each other’s characters in our flashes and see our characters grow or find out new things about them. 

If a story line from a favorite movie, childhood cartoon, current program, or other books ignites your juices to tell the story from your view with unique and different characters go for it.  Remember plagiarism and stealing story ideas is theft. So be careful and write new and your story that we can all enjoy as much as you enjoyed the ones we authors have already written.

Solara Gordon

Romance with a Spicy Kick!

What's your excuse?

I recently guest blogged on a friends blog. Mr. Camacho asked me to present a blog for him and of course I jumped at the chance.

After posting to it, I realized that I had every excuse, well not all of the excuses, but most of them; not to write. I thought about it and then said, well why aren't you writing. And the simple answer is; because I'm so very busy.

Ok, well not real busy but busy enough that I can't dedicate a lot of time to writing. Now if you read his blog you saw that I'm the marketing director of Intrigue Publishing; and that is a serious job. I need to make sure that I am helping all the other authors out there.

Then there are the grandbabies. Five of them and one of them is a girl. So of course I need to spend time with them and teach the boys how to protect their girl cousin and teach my granddaughter how to be a diva. (side note: she just turned one and she is a diva; all by herself)
Then there is the football season; need I say more? I mean, really? Seriously? How can I concentrate on writing when there is so much to do.

Oh look, there is another distraction. I need to wash clothes, clean the house, go shopping, do homework (did I mention that I am a FULL TIME college student).
Whew, after all of that now its time for me to check 'my status' on Facebook, and then there is the mindless 'tweeting' that needs to be done. But wait, I need to 'connect' on LinkedIn.
Ah, now here is some time that I can just chill. To sit on the porch and look aimlessly at the clouds forming.
Oooohh, look it looks like a big pillow. Will you look at the time; I need to run to Lowes to get some fall flowers before the store closes, in 4 hours!

Wait...did you hear that? It's me, pumping my brakes. Everything I just said (typed) is an excuse. I had at least two good hours to work on my novel and I decided to sit on the porch and look at the sky.
Ok, well sometimes we call it "inspiration" today I call it, an excuse.

So I am going to just do it! I'm going to sit down in this chair and start working on my novel...that is right after I re-arrange my sitting room.

Ooops, I'm doing it again; aren't I? I promise, right after writing this blog, I'm going to start working on my novel....
check back here in two days and find out what I really did with my free time.

What's your writing process

Today we welcome back "author in the making" Jade. She gives us a little glimpse of her writing process.
Grab your cup of tea, coffee or 'other' refreshment', sit back and take a read.

            When B first asked me to blog about my writing process I was shy about sharing.  Writing is such an intimate and private affair. No one had inquired about my process before. You only hear about a writer’s method once they’ve received a check and thus earned the title author.  I may not have a contract yet but I do have a set of writing rituals that include, setting time, a designated space, and outlining. All of these things allow me to get lost in the world I create.

             The idea for the novel had been in my head for years but not a word made it to print. To make it happen, I knew I had to set a deadline. I signed up for an Extreme Novel writing course at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda. I signed a contract agreeing to write a novel in 8 weeks. For at least 90 minutes per day, 5 days a week I was committed to working on my book. Each Monday night we’d come together and share the good and bad about our journey. The writing advice was great but the best thing for me was the accountability factor. Knowing I had to check in with others about my progress was motivating. Not everyone is willing to plop down $270 to have others shame them into writing but having someone check you from time to time aides in production. I needed a strong support group and the leader of that team started with me.

            I set my deadline and writing hours. People could not reach me between the hours or 9:00am and 1:00pm I was unavailable. That’s my designated writing time. There are few exceptions but I do not answer my phone or do lunch between those hours Monday through Friday.

            I secure my writing space. There are certain rules that my beautiful husband and 7 year-old son understand. If I am in my writing room, you are not. If I am not in my writing room, you are not. That is sacred space designated for one purpose and that’s to write. I don’t go in there if I am not writing. I won’t even edit in that space. It’s that serious. I compose detailed outlines there and talk out loud to my characters. I talk to them using their inflections, accents and attitudes. This helps me create dialogue. I speak the way they do out loud so the words on the page will do the same for the reader. 

            Most importantly I allow the words to flow. Picking them apart is a far more painful process and comes later. I don’t worry about grammar I just let the words spew and keep in mind that I’ll clean up later. All inhibitions leave and I just express raw thoughts. Having an outline sounds rigid and stifling to some but knowing where I’m going gives me the freedom to have fun creating along the way.

Trouble In Paradise Interview

I was given the plesure of sitting in on an interview with Stephanie Norris and one of her characters, please pull up a chair and let's see what he had to say.

So Joshua it’s nice to speak to you again how are things going with you nowadays?

Things are not as great as they could be but we’ve been through a storm before so I’m sure we can get past it.

A Storm? Is it your ex-girlfriend, umm Danielle right? What is the story with her?

I don’t think she really knows how to be without me.

Wow, that’s a pretty strong statement.  She sounds a little crazy if you don’t mind me saying.

I don’t mind.

Great! Well Joshua I had a chance to speak with Danielle earlier today so I took the opportunity to ask her a couple of questions, do you mind if I read them to you? (He shifts in his seat).

I asked her why she was attacking you and your soon to be fiancé and she said, why should they have happiness when they’ve ruined mine?

So how have you ruined her happiness?

She has it in her mind that I lead her on.

And you don’t think so?

(He pauses) I may not have been as straight forward as I could’ve been but I didn’t think that would turn her into a mental patient.

It doesn’t sound like she is letting things settle with you and Victoria what are you going to do to fix this?

I’ll take care of it.

How are you going to take care of it?

I’m thinking of a master plan, ok look let’s wrap this up. (He looks at his watch) I have another engagement.

Sure thing. Thanks for talking with us today Joshua I’ll look forward to speaking with you in the future.

*Trouble In Paradise*

Victoria is thankful for a lot of things- Joshua, the love of her life, a career change that starts a new chapter, and a condo in the suburbs of Chicago Illinois. Her jaw drops when she opens the garage and finds a brand new Cadillac wrapped in a huge bow. She is ecstatic and ready for the next steps towards her future.

When Victoria and Joshua start their journey things take a turn for the worse. Victoria finds out that her nemesis and Joshua’s ex, Danielle Shumaker has flown to Chicago to try to get Joshua back. Victoria is determined to win this fight, when she finds out Joshua has secrets of his own. Distraught, confused, and mad as hell she falls into the arms of another. When emotions run high and desire digs deep Victoria finds herself caught up in Trouble.

~Love Is A Drug Ink~ Amazon Prime Member’s read for free! www.stephanienorris.net
Check out the current contest to win a copy of part II of Trouble In Paradise “Vengeful Intentions” http://stephaniennorris.blogspot.com/

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Follow me on Twitter @stephanienrrs1 and @dramaticromance

Royalty should have it's perks, Pt.2

Princess needed a day to compose herself, but she is here to finish her post. Please welcome her back.

Like I was saying before emotions overtook me,they moved me into a much smaller castle and then they finally decided that we needed to move on. And now finally, I have taken over my new castle. It is much bigger and has lots of hiding spaces.

They insist on trying to make me behave but after what they put me through, they are lucky that I haven't "stamped" the entire castle.

The one with the spikey shoes is always making loud, annoying noises whenever I try and scratch up the carpet, so I stay clear of her. The one with the deep voice, he doesn't really care at all. So I go and give him the priviledge of petting me every now and again. The one with that likes to play with me the most, she's the push over. So I can do what I want with her. As long as I play with her ever so often, I can scratch until my heart is content. Wait..what's this. Oh No! The spikey heeled one has turned her against me. She is now making that same annoying noise!

She thinks I am going to let her continue to take my picture. I think not.

The fur-less ones are trying to stop me but I will win this battle. They just haven't seen 'all' of my work.

Love Is Murder

Love is Murder is over and what a great time I had!

I learned so much from David Morrell and Hank Phillippi Ryan; who I might add loved my shoes. Hank, not David. Oh, you thought Hank was a guy. No, she a very beautiful woman with the prettiest salt and pepper shoulder length hair. She is an investigative reporter for Channel 7 in Boston and she is also a lover of shoes. Oh, but I am totally off topic.

Love is Murder is run by some very dedicated volunteers. Yes I said volunteers. These women and men dedicate themselves for the rest of us. The meals,the cocktail hour and the mass book signing and even the one act play is all done by the little worker bees scurrying behind the scenes to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Hanley is the cutest woman ever! She made sure that everyone was having a nice time and she also came to the rescue when the computers went down and no one could register into their room so no one had a place to 'freshen' up before the panel discussions began. She offered her room up to a few of us and we were able to face 'our' public with a renewed spirit.

The staff was excellent and the service was impeccable! The food was incredible and the volunteers of LIM did a fantastic job. Who knew that scrambled eggs with roasted tomato and asparagus made a good breakfast?

I met some great people and made great friends I can't wait until next year. Yes, it's definite. I will be there every year from now on.

Upcoming conferences-Are you going?

Today I will talk to you about conferences you should attend; even if you don't write in that particular genre. Why would you want to attend a conference that doesn't pertain to your particular writing style?
Simple answer: The more you get to know about other writing styles, the more you can incorporate them into your writing style.
Love is Murder is a conference held in Chicago every year and it is geared towards the mystery writers. I have never gone, but in February of 2012, I will attend. I am so excited to be a part of that it is well worth the cost.
Thrillerfest will be held in New York in July of 2012 and although I went this year, I am doubly excited to attend again next year. This conference is geared towards mystery and thriller writers. Although I am neither of the two; I will proudly network with all of the authors there.
After all, networking as an author is THE main reason to go to such conferences. You not only get to learn about other authors but you also get to 'hang' out with NY best selling authors. Where else would you get to be in the same room as R.L. Stine and Karen Slaughter?
I hope to see you at one of the many upcoming conferences in the new year. If you see me, come up and say hello; after all; I love to talk about writing.
Happy Writing!