Monthly Archives: February 2012

Happy Valentine’s Week – Day Two

Kimberly MacCarron, mermaids, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy Valentine’s Week from the Waterworld Mermaids!!!

Here in our lovely mermaid lagoon, we are all abuzz with the holiday of love. And because we’re in such a happy mood, we wanted to share some stories and memories from mermaid-pasts. Best of all, we’re celebrating all week long! We hope you enjoy!

Today’s stories are guaranteed to melt your heart. Behind every beautiful flower, sparkly crystal and shining star are the real heroes. Here are some examples….

 

Roses, Tulips, Lilies
Carlene Love Flores

A soldier once sent his wife flowers for Valentine’s Day.  She would never know how he’d pulled it off.  It shouldn’t have been possible.  That big ole desert was far, far away and most days that year, even emails had been scarce.

But sure enough, three bouquets were delivered to her Oklahoma doorstep that morning.  Roses, Tulips, Lilies.

But soldiers do extraordinary things every day.  So when the wife sits and thinks about that Valentines, she doesn’t wonder for too long.  She’s just thankful.

 

Some Flowers Do Last Forever
Kim MacCarron

My husband is not the most romantic man in the world.

But, every once in a while he surprises me.  Mother’s Day of 2005 was just such a day.  By this time, we’d been married for not quite six years, and we had four children.  Romance wasn’t really that high on our list of priorities.   We fell into a daily grind of getting very young children ready for the day and basically stumbling through it until we climbed, exhausted, into bed at night.

On this particular day, my husband arrived home to tell me that he bought me flowers for Mother’s Day.  I casually glanced around him, looking for a dozen long-stemmed red roses.  No such luck.  I grinned and rolled my eyes.  Typical of my husband to not get caught up in another commercial holiday.

After putting the kids to bed that night, we climbed into bed and watched Desperate Housewives together, and after it was over, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth.  When I came back into the room, I saw a Reed’s Jeweler’s bag sitting on my dresser.

Jewelry trumps flowers any day of the week, as far as I’m concerned.  He was grinning at my surprised expression, and I tried to not tear into the bag.

When I finally looked, I saw not one but four little boxes.  Four!  When I opened the first one, it wasn’t jewelry at all.  It was something far better than that, something I’d been collecting for years.  Swarovski crystals.  This particular one was a pretty pink crystal flower in a vase.  The next box revealed the same one.  The final two were yellow flowers.  Four separate flowers to represent our four children—two girls and two boys.

I blinked hard to not let the tears fall because I really hate to cry in front of him, but, man, it was hard.  He knows how much I love Swarovski crystals.  Oh, and my kids, of course.   That was the best, most thoughtful present he could have given me.

Placing my beautiful crystal flowers on the dresser, I sashayed over to the bed.  I’m not sure how great I looked sashaying when I had a baby seven months before, but I did my best.

About two weeks later, I had to tell him that I needed another flower.

Flowers wilt.  Cards become compost.  But those five Swarovski flowers still sit in my curio cabinet, reminding me of my best Mother’s Day gift of all.  Not my flowers.  My daughter…Shannon.

Shooting Star
Dana Rodgers

Several years ago my husband came home from work to find me on the couch in the fetal position. After a terse reminder that my abdominal pain had been getting increasingly worse over the past two days and me confessing the little incident where I just about collapsed a couple of hours earlier (I was fairly certain a Mac truck had been plowing through my living room and deemed it appropriate to rip out my intestines while passing by). My husband scooped me up and whisked me off to our local Emergency Room, chastising me for not calling him along the way.

Two hours later I was terrified. The plethora of tests revealed that I was pregnant, but it was ectopic. The fallopian tube had ruptured and the reason I was having severe abdominal pain, along with the overwhelming desire to sleep, was because I was hemorrhaging, badly. The doctor said that if I had gone to bed, I wouldn’t have woken up.

My husband held my hand all the way down the hall when they wheeled my gurney to pre-op and said all of the mushy things I needed to hear. It was one of the handfuls of times I have ever seen my 6’6, 230lb Marine get a little misty. (For the record, the other times involved a 14-month separation and the birth of our children–what a guy.) He was there when I woke up, stayed by my side in the hospital, and was there to support me through the emotional aftermath. (And trust me, that wasn’t pretty.)

A few months later, Valentine’s Day rolled around. I was thinking that we’d exchange cards, I might get chocolate, but since we don’t really buy into the commercialized holiday thing it wouldn’t be a big deal. I was Oh-So-Wrong! My husband strolled in that evening, grinning ear to ear, and handed me a letter-sized envelope and flowers. It was a star. My husband had named a freaking STAR after me. I mean how cool is that??? When I asked him why, he said that I was his compass and the light in his life, that I had scared the shit out of him and that he never wanted to be without me. Wow. I mean really, W-O-W!

So why do I write Romance? How could I not when I live with all that hero inspiration every day? I never want to be without him either.

 

We hoped you enjoyed our stories today. Come back tomorrow for more sweet stories that are sure to make you feel all gooey (in a good way)!

 

 

Happy Valentine’s Week – Day One

Avery Flynn, Kerri Carpenter, Loni Lynne, mermaids, , , , , , , , ,

Happy Valentine’s Week from the Waterworld Mermaids!!!

Here in our lovely mermaid lagoon, we are all abuzz with the holiday of love. And because we’re in such a happy mood, we wanted to share some stories and memories from mermaid-pasts. Best of all, we’re celebrating all week long! We hope you enjoy!

Today’s stories beckon us back to the past. Super romantic gestures, crushes and kisses aren’t solely reserved for adults. Many spectacular things happen throughout our lives. Here are some examples…. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Guardian by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Book Review, mermaids, Writing, ,

I don’t currently own a copy of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s The Guardian.  A book this special must be shared and so I have sent mine to a good friend and by the end of this weekend, I will have gone to buy myself another copy.  While I’m there, I’ll pick up an extra for one random commenter to this review.

The reason?  That’s easy.  Emotion.

Seth and Lydia’s story will evoke it from you, twist your heart and wring you of everything before it’s finished.  Notice I said before it’s finished with you and not the other way around.

Sherrilyn does not waste a second of your time in this book and neither will I trying to simply fill the page.  If you’re a writer, this is a great example of how it’s sometimes necessary to tell a story that’s going to break and then heal your reader’s heart.  Don’t be afraid to go there if you must.  If you’re a reader, hold on tight.  It’s going to be a devastatingly beautiful ride.  Trust me, you’re in good hands.

From Sherrilyn Kenyon’s website:

As a Dream-Hunter, Lydia has been charged with the most sacred and dangerous of missions. She’s to descend into the Nether Realm and find the missing god of dreams before he betrays the secrets that could kill all of them. What she never expects is to be taken prisoner by the Realm’s most vicious guardian.

Seth’s time is running out. If he can’t hand over the key to Olympus and the heart of Zeus, then his own life and soul will be forfeit. No matter the torture, he hasn’t been able to break the god in his custody. But when a rescuer appears, he decides to try a new tactic.

When these two lock wills, one of them must give. But Lydia isn’t just guarding the gates of Olympus, she’s holding back the darkest of powers. If she fails, an ancient evil will roam the earth once more and no one…

I give this one 5 out of 5 mermaid flippers and a GIGANTIC red heart!  If you’d like to be entered into the drawing for a copy of this wonderful book, just say so in the comments section by midnight EST February 10, 2012.

Happy Almost Valentines Day,

Carlene Mermaid ;&

Flat Stanley

Book Review, mermaids,

I am a proud mama. My daughter has recently graduated to chapter books. With more words than pictures. And more complex story lines. And real chapters! I have to say, this is an exciting milestone in my life, although it’s probably about par-for-the-course in hers.

Like many of you, I am sure, my childhood was dominated by books. My parents used to yell at me to put away my book at the dinner table. I made my way, surely and methodically, through the children’s room at our local library. I looked forward to my airplane rides to Thailand, so I could read for 24 hours straight and no one would tell me to stop.

I’ve always wondered, will my children fall in love with words in quite the same way? Will their imaginations take them to lands no airplane can reach? When they pain of real life becomes too much, will they escape into stories and forget their problems, for just a little while?

I hope so.

A brand-new world is opening up for them, and I get to go along for the ride. Our first foray into chapter books is FLAT STANLEY, by Jeff Brown, which is the story of a boy who is flattened to half an inch thick when an enormous bulletin board falls on him. I’ve learned so much by reading this book out loud.

I’ve learned about world-building. At half an inch thick, Stanley can do loads of cool things other ordinary boys and girls can’t. He can slide underneath doors. He can be lowered into a sidewalk grate to retrieve dropped jewelry. He can even be placed into an envelope and be mailed to distant places, in order to avoid the cost of a plane ticket.

I’ve learned the importance of chapter hooks. Since these books are meant to be read out loud by parents a couple chapters at a time, the story must be interesting enough to hold the child’s attention from day-to-day. (Although not so interesting it has the child refusing bedtime and begging for more!)

I’ve learned that the joy is in the details. One evening, it was late, and I was skipping over a few words to hurry along the story (which I was re-reading for the second time). After Stanley slid into the envelope, I read, there was still room for an egg-salad sandwich and some milk. No, Mommy, my daughter corrected me. It’s a toothbrush container full of milk. Excuse me, I apologized, smiling. My dear daughter had just shown me first-hand that it’s the details that make a story come alive!

I expect I’ll learn many more lessons as I guide my children through the exciting world of chapter books. And I couldn’t be more excited.

What about you? Were you a bookworm as a child? What do you remember most about your favorite childhood books? What have you learned from re-experiencing the wonder of reading?

Going Butt First

mermaids

When my 1-year-old is having problems falling asleep, he fights it and fights it, but then flops over onto his belly, sticks his butt in the air and falls quickly asleep.  Watching him, I thought maybe I could solve some of my writing problems the same way.  When I tried it at home, I realized I was in danger of getting saddled with a third “oops” child.  At work, I believe they were thinking of resending me to the HR seminar that talked about proper workplace etiquette. So hoping for a less obvious method of getting past a blockade, I figure I’ll ask the lovely Waterworld ladies.

My problem:  when I write my stories, I seem to be writing more motion than emotion.  I gravitate toward describing what the character is doing, rather than what she/he is feeling or experiencing.  I realize there is finesse in being able to entwine both, but I haven’t found it yet.  I do realize my difficulty in getting the reader into my character’s head probably stems from the fact that I would rather flop on my belly and stick my butt in the air on a busy downtown street, than exeprience intense emotions.  I don’t like them.  And I don’t welcome them.  But at the same time, writing is an outlet.  So it becomes a double edged sword.

So how do you lovely ladies do it? (not the butt trick.. my 1-year-old has the market cornered on that one).  What do you do to submerge yourself into the scene, the character.

All thoughts and comments are welcome.  Including ones that kindly request I don’t perform the butt trick  in public.

Instant Gratification…NOW!

Kimberly MacCarron, mermaids, Writing,

 

          We live in a world where we expect everything to happen immediately. There’s no waiting involved. The element of surprise and wonder has been replaced with knowledge, which is good, right?
          I remember a time when I would come home and wonder if someone had called me. The wondering was fun, exciting. I could daydream about what the conversation would have been like if I had been home to answer the phone. Maybe he called a hundred times. Maybe just once. He could have without any embarrassment because I wouldn’t have known any better. Those were the days before caller ID.
          Not so much today. We know exactly how many times someone has called because we check the caller ID. We know the exact times. We know if they left a message. We know everything. But where is the wonder? Where is the excitement in knowing?
          We live in a time of instant gratification. We want everything and we want it now. People don’t chat in the checkout line because the customers stomp their feet in protest of having to wait. Get more people behind the registers! Stat!
How many times have we called someone’s home only to roll our eyes when they don’t answer? How could they not be there? We immediately call their cell phones. Still no answer? Send them a text message. Find out if they’re on Facebook. Where could they be? It’s been a whole three minutes!
          Writing is the same way nowadays. We want our stories published and we want it done today. What happened to the times when we waited it out? When we waited for our stories to reach a standard that deserved to be published?
I’m just as guilty as the next person. I want my stories published, and I want those books on the shelves immediately. But am I truly ready? Granted, I have only sent out one query in the last year, but I still expect someone to arrive on my doorstep with a gigantic check, roses and champagne, telling me that my books are the best out there.
          I love to write. I love to create stories in my mind and see them on paper or the computer screen. I love my characters, and they become real to me. But, I gyp them. I create them and love them and wish the best for them, and then I send them on their merry way, far away from me. I certainly don’t like to fix their problems. I don’t like to see the holes in the story. Let’s face it. I don’t like to revise.
          Some masochists out there love to get down and dirty and completely restructure their stories. Some decide to even switch the POV or even move from a first person narrative to the third person. I can’t stand these people. 
          I’m only partly joking. Those are the people who stick with their story and see their characters through their problems together. I’m jealous. That’s the simple truth.

          Part of the problem is wanting to get published right away. And so I give up on the book I just finished and start another one because it’s much easier for me to create new characters and fresh problems than to fix the ones in unrevised books.

          Because we want everything immediately. We want things to be easy. Life shouldn’t be hard. It shouldn’t be complicated. But isn’t making it to the goal more exciting when we hurdle the obstacles?
           It’s sad, really. How much are we missing in a world where we have everything at our fingertips? There’s no time to relax. There’s no time to appreciate life and the world around us because we’re too busy texting someone who hasn’t bothered to call us back after two minutes. We’re too busy complaining about standing in line with three other people to appreciate getting to know a stranger. Maybe that stranger would have become a friend in another time. A less hectic time. A time where we might have been content to wait together.

NYTimes Bestselling Author Francis Ray Swims with the Mermaids

Interview, mermaids

I am absolutely thrilled to have one of the legends in contemporary romance joining us today at the Waterworld Mermaids’ pond. So please spend a few minutes learning more about her, or if you’re already a fan, asking her questions about her upcoming releases. And if you’re very good, she may share a bit more about the ingredients that have helped her remain at the top of your game for 45 titles! So, ladies and gents, NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling Author, Francis Ray.

She is a native Texan and lives in Dallas. A graduate of Texas Woman’s University, she was nominated for Texas Woman’s University Distinguished Alumni Award.  She gave the winter commencement address winter 2010.  Ms. Ray’s titles consistently make bestseller’s lists such as Blackboard and Essence Magazine. INCOGNITO, her sixth title, was the first made-for-TV movie for BET. She has written forty-five titles to date. Awards include Romantic Times Career Achievement, EMMA, The Golden Pen, The Atlantic Choice, Borders 2008 Romance Award for Bestselling Multicultural Romance and Written Magazine 2010 Book of the Year.

Her latest release is A SEDUCTIVE KISS with a January 31, 2012 release date!! She is currently working on AFTER THE DAWN, the third book in a new mainstream series. Her publisher is St. Martin’s Press, and her editor is Monique Patterson, Senior Editor. Since March 2010 her agent has been Holly Root with the Waxman Literary Agency. She has been writing since the early 90’s.

THE TURNING POINT, her first mainstream, was a finalist for the prestigious HOLT Medallion Award. At the release event for THE TURNING POINT in May 2001, she established The Turning Point Legal Fund to assist women of domestic violence to help restructure their lives.

Three ‘KISS” books will continue the Grayson Friends series – A SEDUCTIVE KISS – January 31, WITH JUST A KISS – February 28, and A DANGEROUS KISS – June 26, 2012. WHEN TOMORROW COMES, a mainstream, will be in stores June 5, followed by another mainstream as yet untitled in January 2013.

Q.  What’s the best-kept secret about your writing process?

Francis said: I don’t have a secret. Wish I did. It might make this process easier.

Q.  What character have you written or are writing that keeps you up at night – just one, please:)?

Francis said: Lilly Crawford in TROUBLE DON’T LAST ALWAYS was probably one of the most difficult characters to write because of her transformation from being a victim of domestic abuse to a strong survivor.

Q.  What real person, television or fictional character has had the greatest influence on your writing style and why?

Francis said: Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer probably influenced me the most in my writing because the book and meeting Mr. Swain gave me a greater understanding of characterization.  Characters, to me, are the backbone of a good book.

Q.  What book title is the current “hot read” on your bookshelf?

Francis said: I’m waiting for Bette Ford’s CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU due out late January.

Q.  What has been the biggest change in contemporary African American romance/multicultural romance in the last five years, last decade?

Francis said: Borders was really African-American author friendly. Each year at RWA they gave an award for the best selling Multicultural Romance of that year. No other retail outlet did this. Borders also sent out coupons that made it worth readers while to shop there for their books. Unfortunately, I’m not sure other chain bookstores know our products as well or will have frequent discounts. Many of my readers tell me they’re buying less books because of Borders closing. Yes, many have ereaders, but many of us still prefer books.

Q. What would you write, or are planning to write, other than contemporary romance or erotic romance (which you’ve also written:)?

Francis said: If I had the time I’d write another historical, and have a Christian fiction series.

Q. As a highly successful romance author who has published more than 45 titles, what advice would you give writers breaking into today’s publishing industry?

Francis said: Learn the genre, read widely, don’t compare yourself to anyone, and join a writing organization.

Thank you so much Francis for joining us today.

Now fans, it’s your turn. Francis will be around to answer questions or talk about her new release or any of her 45 titles. So comment, comment, comment!

Also, we have a copy of A SEDUCTIVE KISS, Francis Ray’s new release for one lucky visitor! So please comment below for your chance to win!

This is My Brain…(This is My Brain on Vampires)

mermaids, Writing

I don’t care what you say – we all write fantasy, time travel, dystopia, urban fantasy, paranormal romances, steampunk (okay, maybe not steampunk)…but more importantly, all of our heroes are vampires.

What? No, you say? I don’t write that. I write contemporary romances about contemporary heroes and heroines be it series, single title, romantic suspense, romantic comedy, historical or novels with romantic elements. (Calm down!). So maybe you don’t write fantasies or supernatural stuff. But all of your heroes are still vampires.

(This is My Brain, okay?)

I see vampires in every character written, and I bet if you were to take your contemporary romantic hero or heroine and give them fangs, you’d discover I’m right. Or just leave off the fangs, but drop them into an urban fantasy, and I bet your hero would end up the hero at the end.

Try it, seriously. Think about the simple things that make every day people vampires.

  • Businessman – a thirst for power
  • Cowboy – a master of the reins…(hehehe)
  • Marketing/Public Relations Manager – an obsessive, multi-tasking, neurotic organizer (okay, that’s me in my day job:)…
  • Doctor – too easy
  • Lawyer – way too easy
  • Romance Writer… also too easy…
  • Or….Rat Catcher!

I recently finished reading The Strain, the first book in a trilogy co-authored by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, and what did I learn? Rats are freaking cool—scary, filthy, and blood thirsty, but cool. Especially when the habits, skills, and survival techniques of rats are the foundation for the mythology of a vampire epidemic in NYC. By the end of the book, I was actually smitten with a contemporary character who was a rat catcher. Seriously. Not a vampire, or vampire hunter, not a wise old yodalike figure, or super smart doctor-type, but a rat catcher, a strong, funny, handsome male hero smart enough to know how to kill the bad guys.

(remember, my brain:)

I recently watched some of the BBC’s Doctor Who, the most recent five seasons, after never having watched Doctor Who before. And what did I discover? OOoo…Doctor Who…filled with irony, conflict, obstacles, all wrapped up in the ‘last’ Time Lord, nearly 1,000 years old, a master of forever (vampire); incredibly lonely, incredibly selfish, incredibly loyal (vampire), obsessed with his companions (mesmerizing vampire personality), and might well have killed more creatures than any creature in the history of the universe (or in all of time)…. so, yep…Time Lord aka vampire, vampire, vampire.

But what if Doctor Who was Dr. John Smith, a contemporary doctor at Hospital X who meets a widow while on vacation–and its a romantic comedy! Give him all of those traits in the paragraph above without the supernatural or science fiction twists and turns, and you’ve got a multi-layered deeply textured contemporary character – or another word for (wait for it!) — vampire (and yes, it’s a comedy).

I adore the strange, the dangerous, the underbelly of society, and I like writing stories about fringe personalities with bad habits who live in familiar cities, that I tweak to be a bit different, askew, not quite right.

I also love romance. Destined, and hard fought, funny, sad, sincere, beautiful, ever lasting, that grows out of camaraderie, similar goals, and the same foe—you know—daredevil lovers who are daring and/or real devils, but also sexy, weak, strong, and exaggerated – so think about it – everyone, everywhere writes about vampires (at least in my brain, they do:)…

How about your hero – vampire?

(Just say yes.)

Some of my favorite vampire books, films, television:

  •  Gone with the Wind
  • A Tale of Two Cities
  • A Wrinkle in Time
  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  • Anything by Stephen King
  • Anything by J.D. Robb
  • The Godfather
  • Bambi
  • The Sound of Music

Comments? Questions?

(Please stop by tomorrow, Friday, February 3, when there will be no mention of vampires – NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling Romance Author – Francis Ray – will be this month’s interview at WaterWorld Mermaids – Don’t Miss It!)

What Plantar Fasciitis is Teaching Me about Writing

Kerri Carpenter, Motivation, Writing

I have plantar fasciitis, a condition in my foot that is extremely painful. It’s an inflammation of the plantar fascia (a band of tissue) that runs underneath your foot and basically feels like someone is stabbing you repeatedly with a really hot machete. A lot of people have this condition, especially runners.

My usual way of dealing with health issues involves a lot of crying, whining and then ignoring the problem altogether. However, when I trip getting out of bed because my damn foot is so sore, even I have to admit it’s time to deal.

Interestingly, I’m finding I have similar stubbornness where my writing is concerned. What’s that? My first pass at a manuscript is NOT perfect as is? It won’t win any awards? WHAT! Break out the crying, whining and procrastination. Luckily, I have figured out some ways to deal with both my foot issue and manuscript woes. Continue reading →