Suspenseful 7 Sentence Sunday Strikes Again!

Today's entry comes from my time-travel concerning the Modoc War. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Excerpt:

Kiuks did not sleep that night. The white soldiers were coming. It would have to be done quickly, and it had to be done discretely. An out-and-out killing would not work. A drowning, a bear mauling, a snake bite, an accidental poisoning drifted through his mind as visions of possible unexpected deaths filtered through his thoughts. He gazed around his place, and his eyes lit upon the multi-colored stones around his fire pit. And then he hit on it.

Be sure to visit the Suspenseful 7 Sentence Sunday blog site at http://www.suspenseful7ss.blgospot.com and see what the rest of the writers there have offered! And don't forget to comment!

See you there!

JH

Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

Anne K. Albert interview!

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Anne K. Albert who writes riveting stories of mystery and suspense.




JANETTE: In order that we can to get to know you, as a person, a little better, why don’t you tell me about who you are? Do you like to travel? Do you like to try new things? How about exotic foods?
ANNE: I love to travel. I think I was about thirteen when I asked for my very own suitcase. It was a ridiculous idea, really. My parents were poor and could not afford to travel, but I remembered thinking how wonderful it would be just to pack a few of my things and pretend. Once I got a job, I spent most of my salary on travel. It’s still one of my priorities. It’s interesting that I rarely return to a place regardless of how much it impressed me. There is always somewhere else to go and see.
As for trying new things. Oh, yes. I get bored with the same old same old. It drives my husband crazy sometimes, but then I’ll remind him how exciting his life is - thanks to me!
I enjoy all sorts of exotic foods, although I’m allergic to jalapeno peppers so that limits my intake of spicy foods. And I draw the line at deep fried bugs. I don’t care how nutritious and full of protein they might be, I can’t do it!
JANETTE: What aspect of who you are drew you into writing romance?
ANNE: I believe in the power of love, and happily-ever-afters. I married my high school sweetheart. And I’m a real softy. How could I not write romance?!
JANETTE: How many novels have you written, and of those, how many have you sold?
ANNE: I’ve written five novels to date. DEFENDING GLORY (number five) and FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL (number four) are published. Books one and two will likely never see the light of day. It’s not that they’re completely awful, but it’s probably easier to just write a completely new book than struggle with all the required revisions. However, I may pull out book three one day and see if it can be salvaged. Maybe it’ll work as a novella.
JANETTE: As a full-time writer, how hard was it for you to get where you are today? Did it take long to reach that status? Were there a lot of rejections? Did they dishearten you? How long before that glorious call? What would be your advice to new writers?
ANNE: Twenty years after I placed fingertips to keyboard to write a story I got “the call”. So, yes. It was a long haul. Along the way I received at least thirty agent rejections and ten or more editor rejections. My advice to pre-pubbed writers is simple. Never, ever give up. Never!
JANETTE: Is there a story or character you’ve written that is closer to your heart than the others? Why is it? Who is your favorite character or story someone else has created/written about?
ANNE: I’m especially partial to Val. She’s a secondary character in FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL, first book of the Muriel Reeves Mysteries, and she is Muriel’s aunt. Val is off the wall, does and says outrageous things, but generally has a heart of gold and would never hurt a fly. I admire her spunk.
As to my favorite fictional character, it’s a toss up. Like most women I’m fascinated by Janet Evanovich’s Morelli and Ranger. Both are larger than life hunks. At the other end of the spectrum is Agatha Christie’s Poirot.
JANETTE: Do you have any real-life heroes?
ANNE: Not anyone specific, although I’m always intrigued by ordinary people who are faced with extraordinary circumstances and make not only the best of the situation but inspire us to be all that we can be. I find that aspect of humanity one of our more enduring qualities.
JANETTE: There are those of us writers who are known as “Pansters, Puzzlers, Plotters, and Patch-workers. (And there could be others out there, too.) LOL! What type of writer would you say you are?
ANNE: Definitely “pantser”. I rarely have any idea what is coming next. Even worse, I rarely remember what has already transpired! I have a two-second brain that somehow manages to weave together a wisp of an idea into a full fledged story…but it’s always a struggle.
JANETTE: Does your writing life allow you much time for a personal life?
ANNE: Fortunately, I’ve never had that problem. Family has always come first. Enjoying life’s experiences, and all it has to offer, comes second. Writing is a necessary component of my life, and I have no qualms of sitting at the computer for 8, 10 or even 12 hours at a stretch if need be. However, when there’s something else to see or do, I’m there! Life is too short to squander it on just one thing.
JANETTE: Tell me about what you’re currently writing.
ANNE: I’ve just begun “Defending Hope”. Set on a fictional northern Minnesota island where troubles outnumber residents, it is the second book of the Piedmont Island Trilogy. DEFENDING GLORY, the first in the series, is available now in either e-book format or print.
Next will be VAL AND TYNE DAY’S MURDER. It’s second in the Muriel Reeves Mysteries series, and one I’m especially looking forward to write because Val is center stage. It should be a lot of fun.
JANETTE: How long does the planning on a new story take you before you are ready to begin work on it?
ANNE: As I mentioned above, I’m a pantser, so I don’t really plan anything. I just get an idea, usually involving a dead body or another crime, and then I sit down and write. I need to find out who did what, and why, and it has to happen in a chronological order. I can’t skip from one scene to another unless that’s the order in which the action takes place.
JANETTE: What are your preferences in reading? Do you have any favorite authors that you admire?
ANNE: I read mainly romantic suspense and mystery. If the story has a touch of humor, that’s all the better. I love authors who string together a story so effortlessly that I zip through page after page without stopping to take a breath.
JANETTE: What other successes and accomplishments have you achieved during your lifetime?

ANNE: I'm very proud of my marriage to my high school sweetheart. He's my best friend, and I'd be lost without him. I'm also very proud of my relationship with my daughter. It's such a joy to stand back and watch her grow, mature, make decisions that are best for her, and allow her to be the best that she can be.

As for my books. I'm especially happy to see them in print because they're exactly what I've always wanted to write. Books that entertain, have equal parts mystery, suspense, and romance. With a dab of humor, and not a single swear word or sex scene to be found. Like Frank Sinatra, I'm proud because I did it my way!
JANETTE: Where are your books sold, who are your publishers, and what are your contact URLs?
ANNE: My books are available at Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Allromanceebooks, Omnilit, Payloadz, and from my publisher, Vanilla Heart Publishing.
JANETTE: I have enjoyed getting to know about you and your books a bit better, Anne! Thank you for allowing me some of your time to be interviewed on my blog.
ANNE: Thank you, Janette. It was my pleasure!




Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

IT'S SUSPENCEFUL SEVEN SENTENCE SUNDAY!

Welcome to my Suspenseful Seven Sentence Sunday post. The following excerpt is from my current work in progress, a story that deals with magic, both past and present, and the lovers who must conquer the surreal to reach their happy ever after.

Excerpt:
Valerie immediately sat down when she got home and took pen and paper out to begin writing about all she had seen during her regression that afternoon. What she had seen uncannily equated with her role in her current life. It seemed she had been a healer in a Roman court, just as she was a healer in the court system of today. It shivered her a bit that she had been a healer then, too.
Then she started connecting all the similarities between that life of hers, and this. Her name had been the same in pronunciation, only different in its spelling; her profession had been the same, working for the government in basically the same capacity. And she had loved the same man.

Stop on by the Suspenseful 7 Sentence Sunday site at http://www.suspenseful7ss.blogspot.com and visit the complete list of S7SS participants! See You There!!



Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

Four Short Weeks Remaining!

Four short weeks until OLY RWA’s Writer’s Retreat at Manresa Castle! Exciting times are expected (along with some SERIOUS writing, of course) I’m looking forward to it regardless of the monkey wrench thrown in by my boyfriend.
This means a change of plans, you may ask? What it means is that said boyfriend has been chosen as one of a lucky few civilians who gets to take off from and land on a US Naval Carrier in a Navy Jet! Of course, he will be instructed to obtain any literature he might come by to bring back to me and to retell his experience to me in specifics for my future writing research!
Exciting times for him! But that also means exciting times for me, too! I will get to check in to our room, right across the hall from the haunted rooms, All By Myself!
He plans on joining me later in the day of the retreat’s first day, at which time I’ll introduce him to any ghosts I’ve managed to meet up with! LOL! Fun, Fun, Fun!

Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

I Don't Know What Happened!

My Christmas Star pictures are GONE!! I saw them after I took them, so I know that they once existed, but now I have looked everywhere for them, and They Are GONE! I have looked on my digital camera and they are not there. I have looked on my phone camera, and they are also not there!

There is only one possible explanation; there WERE ghosts in the underground of Seattle! I may not have seen him, but he followed me up and Took My Pictures from me!
And it was such a Beautiful Star. . .


Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

Happy New Year!!

All my best wishes for your health and good fortune in the coming year!

May the year 2011 be an AMAZING Year for You!!

Have you made any resolutions?!

(I want it ALL, baby!) ;)


Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

Going Underground!

While neglecting my writing during this holiday season, I went on an adventure in Seattle this past week, along with my visiting niece and her boyfriend. Of course, being the paranormal writer that I am, Seattle’s haunted underground sucked us under the city’s streets.

It was all very interesting, but we saw no ghosts, and that was very disappointing. I took lots of digital pictures, which are supposed to be able to pick up spiritual essences, but none showed their presences to me. One showed its smiling face to me, but it was actually my niece behind an old window!

But the ghosts have not lost a believer! They were all probably too shy to make an appearance because it was in the middle of the day and there was a whole tour group there at the same time as I was; too much disbelief energy going on. But Hey! All was not lost! I got a shot of a beautiful Christmas star that is posted here on my site!

I’m always on the hunt! Those from other dimensions continue to populate my stories! And my visit to the Haunted Castle is coming up next month!

And speaking of Manresa Castle, my company visited there on a little self-guided tour of the state and got a picture of one! They got the picture of it in the doorway to a room and it followed them outside where they snapped another picture of it! (Personally, I believe the “ghost” they got a picture of was her boyfriend.) LOL!

You can Believe It, Or Not!! And that is your question of the day! Are you a believer of ghostly phenomena like I am?!



Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TOO!

My RWA chapter, Olympia Romance Writers of America, engaged in our annual holiday luncheon at a local Seafood Restaurant on Saturday the 11th. I’m proud of myself (and you can be too) :) that I did not overeat as I usually do at our luncheons. The Salmon at the place we meet is just TOO GOOD!

Then when I got home from church on Sunday, Santa had arrived EARLY!! I was in a back room and my boyfriend carried in an LCD TV that he said Santa had left out on my porch!!

A cork board for arranging my nano scenes also showed up over last weekend and so now my novel is coming together! (Let me tell you, my nano novel’s scenes were all over the place!) I’m more of a “hands-on” person than a “tech-type” person so doing it with computer software is NOT the option I choose!

But it’s okay that my novel was scattered about! :) That’s the glory of going all out and writing a 50,000 word novel in a month! The writer’s creativity is released and FREE TO FLOW for a month of random writing! Then the next month comes when you get to put it all together in a logical format. LOL! Works for ME!

Among writers there are what’s known as Pansters (those who write by the seat of their pants) and Plotters (those who plot it all out and write a synopsis BEFORE they begin to write); I’ve learned that I’m a Patchworker (those who like to write it randomly and then patch it all back together again) LOL!!

So tell me, has Santa made an early appearance at your home too?!?! And for my writing buddies out there, how does the philosophy of National Novel Writing Month work for you?!

JH

Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

There it is!

My award for winning the 2010 NaNoWriMo has been received and is now in place in the Awards section on my BlogSpot!

Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

Nano Done and Won!

I’ve won the nano again this year! I hit the 50,000 word mark at 7:29 on the morning of November 23. It was my self-imposed deadline of getting it written by the time my son arrived home on his leave, between the stations that I wrote about in my last blog, that did it.
The words just flew out as my characters told their story to me! I had originally planned that if I wrote ten pages a day (2500 words) that I would be able to do it without a problem. But as I found the due date approaching and my novel’s story being fed to my fingers while they typed, I found that I was typing 1000 words each time I sat down to write between doing household chores and holiday stuff. I also sat down to write more than two to three times a day, which made for FAR more than the planned 2500 words a day! It was a cinch!
This year’s award will be posted below and on the right, beside last year’s award, as soon as I receive it! YAY for ME!



Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! We all have so much to be thankful for if we stop to think about it. That you are reading this is a reason to be thankful – you have eyes to see with!
One of my military boys (Air Force) is home from his air base in England to visit.  But he’ll be leaving on December 1st for a new base in Greenland. Greenland!! That’s like in another world!! But he’ll only be there for a year until he comes home to visit again and then he’ll be off to another new air base in Spain. Spain might not really be closer, but it certainly seems a lot closer than Greenland!
But I digress. I wish Everybody a Happy Thanksgiving!


Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

A New Library!

A new library is opening here where I live in Washington State! The library that was here when I first moved in was in a newer and more contemporary building, and was a pleasure to visit. I liked it so much that I arranged for the Tacoma, Washington chapter RWA to hold meetings there in one of the library’s nice clean new rooms.
Since then the city has chosen to tear it and the other buildings in the area down to make room for more civic and other city office buildings, and they have replaced the “old” library with a new library! It’s in a very large, very modern building now and has 15,000 square feet, which is 3,000 square feet larger than the original library.
Other than the 80,000 books our new library will have; it will have diverse areas with something for everybody! There is going to be a children’s area, a teen area, cyber bars, and other high tech offerings. Just think of all the research! The building’s Grand Opening will be in February 2011 and I can’t wait to check it out!!


Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

More ACCOMPLISHMENT!!

I’ve almost gotten so involved with my nano novel this month that I very nearly neglected to get this written and posted for you!

As I mentioned before, I did BIAM last month with my Modoc story, and I’m cruising right alone on the nano with my magical medieval story this month!

Wish me luck on winning again this year and getting another award to post here!


Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality

ACCOMPLISHMENT!!

My current work in progress is a work of historical fiction with a romantic element. Its paranormal aspect, which I love to write about, appears in the manuscript as time travel. It only needs to be critiqued, tweaked after that, and then it’s Out The Door looking for a home with some lucky agent and/or publisher! (It is with critiquers as I write this.)
I’m excited!! Finishing a work has got to be one of the most rewarding and thrilling moments of accomplishment in the whole world for Anyone, no matter what they do!
I’m going to be building a trailer for it soon after that. Trailers for each of my wips will follow in order. And of course, they will all be posted here for your enjoyment, to begin with.


Romance through the mists of time and Love through the dimensions of reality