Category Archives: Robin Covington

Mermaids Immortalized in Romance Fiction (And a giveaway to boot!)

7Hello fishy friends!

How’s everyone doing? I hope your 2016 is off to a great start. I’m humbled and honored to say January is wrapping up very nicely with the release of my eighth published novel. Let Me See (Book 2 of the These Three Words series) just came out today. I’m so very happy I get to share this story with you but guess what really has me smiling?

I’ve missed my fishy sisters so much since moving away from their area nearly two years ago. But today I get to be with them again. Sort of.

I hope you’ll enjoy this excerpt from my new release in which the Waterworld Mermaids become immortalized in romance fiction. **Be sure and leave a comment below for a chance to win a free e-copy.** Let’s see if you can spot them…

Copyrighted Excerpt from Let Me See (These Three Words, 2) by Carlene Love…

Jay normally spent as much time out front chatting with the guests as he did on stage performing for them but right now he wanted a few extra quiet moments alone to let the importance of tonight sink in.

“Jay, come.”

Having thought that, Marie was rarely persistent with him like this. So he followed her out front, forgetting for the time being that he was only half-dressed for his solo. He ran his hand over his abs, rubbing away some of the sweat already sticking to his skin. He’d barely crossed paths with Julian but the bump-in had been enough and he had the man’s angel wing glitter all over his black pants. Jay dusted it off as best he could, eventually giving up. Jay hooked his thumbs in his suspenders. He left the newsboy hat that would—pardon the pun—cap off his college prep outfit in homage to Maggie, in his locker and followed Marie out front. One thing he recognized for sure was the extra pep in her step. If he didn’t know better, he’d have thought she was playing Cupid or something ridiculous like that. Too bad he couldn’t just tell her he’d officially taken his heart off the market, for good, two weeks ago when he’d been stood up again by the girl who had somehow taken his everything prisoner.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said and followed her out, pumping himself up for the night and walking to the beat of Gabe’s solo song.

“So you guys had a pretty successful adoption event at the last shelter drive?”

“Yes, Marie. Why do you ask? You sure are talking to me a whole lot tonight. I mean, I love it. But, do you swear everything is okay with you?” He’d do anything he could to help her. She worked hard and he knew she had issues she kept hidden. Jay knew how that could eat at a person.

“I’m in the mood to do some good and you think there’s something wrong with me? Gee, thanks, Stud.”

He wasn’t sure exactly what to say back to her, to be honest. It was tricky with Marie because Jay knew he had to keep his flirting to a minimum, remembering how wrecked it had made him when D had gotten too loose with his flirty words for Kelley. “My apologies to the lady.”

They walked single file through the last bits of the cramped back hallways until they got to the door that led into the public portion of the club. Jay took an extra-long step to put him in front of Marie so that he could get the door for her. He ushered her through but then noted how she quickly jumped back in front of him. Guess she really wanted to be the leader.

“Accepted. And you’re right, it is odd that I’m feeling so chipper. It’s freaking me out but I’m going with it for this night only. I just feel like this burst of goodness came inside earlier. Apparently your sister’s spirit of positivity has its claws in me tonight.” She winked and smiled softly at him. “Anywho, recognize anyone?”

Marie suddenly stopped walking when they’d only made it a few feet into the club, clearly waiting for him to stop too and have a look around. Okay, he’d play along and checked out the bar area since that was where he associated Marie as being most often. “Drunk Al. Tina and her mom and her sisters. Um, Brad?” He noted the faces he could see this far in the dark.

“Ahem.” She cleared her throat and pulled him around by the suspender until he was facing the stage. She let go and the elastic snapped his skin. It didn’t really hurt but he let out a yelp just to tease her. “Ouch.”

Now he did see a ton of familiar faces. “Do you really want me to start naming everyone? Cause there’s Liz, Kerri, Dana, Kim, Alethea, Pintip, Susan, Loni, Masha, and Denny, just for starters.” It gave him an immense feeling of joy that so many of the regulars were already here supporting the cause. “Oh, and let’s see … Lynne, Robin, and Avery. I can keep going—Jen, Keely, Deb, Denise, Sue, Lil. Ooo, Becky’s looking supa-hot tonight. She turned fifty in here last week, you know. Still fricking gorgeous. Did you know she’s the drummer in a band? I think I’m going to give her a late birthday lick later on. In fact, I think I’m gonna go over there with my sexy self and lick her right now.” Of course he was just teasing, watching Marie’s face get more and more perturbed with him. It was his playful payback to her for bringing him out before he’d gotten dressed and then being so secretive. But honestly, who did she want him to see?

“Ugh. You’re impossible. And you wonder why I don’t talk much to you boys. Gabe—”

But she may as well have stopped speaking.

The second he changed his line of sight to the stage where Gabe currently held court as a half-dressed military hero, he saw the one thing he never would have expected, not in a million years at this point.

She didn’t even have to turn around for him to know.

*****

Eek! I hope you liked it!

Take my friendly fishy advice. If you find yourself missing those who you care about and can’t be near, write them something. Whether it’s a letter, an email, a text, or yeah, in this case a novel. Reach out. Let them know you’re thinking of them. I call it a paper hug. xoxo

**Giveaway Info: Say hi, or better yet, say hi and leave a message for someone you’re currently missing in the comments section and I’ll enter you into the drawing for a free e-copy of Let Me See. Winner will be randomly picked on Sunday night, 1/31/2016. Good luck!

My best to you and yours!

Fishy kisses,

Carlene Mermaid

Let-Me-See-evernightpublishing-JayAheer2016-3DrenderAre you sure you’re ready to see what’s inside?

Two hearts beating…      

S Club dancer and extrovert, Jay, has worked very hard for this eye-opening moment with his reluctant and shy friend, Kelley. Unfortunately, a humorous attempt to get her to open up serves to push her further away. Now it’s nearly impossible to convince her he’s not just out to play.

Hundreds of scars in need of hiding…       

For good reason, Kelley has yet to let Jay see all of her whereas he takes his clothes off nightly for a living. Her respect for him runs unmatched because she sees who he is inside. There’s just no way to ever reciprocate and that’s not fair to him. His interest in her has never made sense. The best option is convincing Jay there really is nothing to see.

One dark night to shine some light on their healing…

Sometimes, it just takes one very patient man, one dimly lit room and one safe set of arms.

Check out more from Let Me See HERE at the Evernight site or HERE at Amazon. xoxo

I might be a Scandal fan . . . or maybe not.

Okay friends – I’ve been writing non-stop forever so I don’t want to talk about writing. Let’s talk about TV instead.

I am a TV snob. I admit it. I watched every episode of all ten years

Photo courtesy of ABC

Photo courtesy of ABC

of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (oh – the genius of Whedon) and gave up TV for an entire year after it went off because nothing was good enough – I kid you not.

I give a show three episodes to grab me or they lose me forever. And if you piss me off with a stupid move in Season 7 (like say . . . Bones?)

***beginning of rant****

I mean really? I stay with you through 6 seasons of “will they/won’t they” . . . I CRY with Boothe when Bones says she can’t love him on the 100th episode . . . and you fast forward over the summer and rob me of all the pleasure of seeing them get together and drop right into a full-blown relationship with a baby on the way? Bones . . . you are dead to me . . .

****end of rant****

So, I am am not an easy TV viewer to woo.

I recently watched the first season of Scandal on Netflix and I thought it had some really great parts. Olivia Pope is an amazing female character – strong but flawed- and the cast of characters (her Gladiators) are all damaged people with hidden pasts. And Tony Goldwyn . . . I have loved him since he played the villain in “Ghost”.

I LOVE the fact that the main couple is interracial. It’s. About. Time.

The political intrigue of the show doesn’t appeal at all. I live near DC and politics are tedious and not my idea of entertainment but I do love the twists and turns. I kept watching past episode three but I have to admit that my mind was wandering and I was resisting the urge to fast forward during episodes 6 & 7.

So, right now I’ve tagged Season Two for placement in my queue and I’m going to give it three more episodes.

So die-hard Gladiators – tell me why you think I should keep watching?

Robin

Robin Mermaid

Fishy-Sisters-of-the-Heart – Happy Anniversary to us!

So, this week has been a celebration of the first two years of the Waterworld Robin MermaidMermaids. If you’ve been following along, we all met at the Washington Romance Writers Retreat in 2011.

All newbies.

At varying places in our personal and writing lives.

All different and unique.

But, we came together that weekend and bonded over a love of writing and then. . .over time. . . we grew to love each other.

422075_2768155206794_1345355555_32367836_1771152778_nWebster’s Dictionary defines sisterhood as:

a : the state of being a sister

b : sisterly relationship

 

c : the solidarity of women based on shared conditions, experiences, or concerns
Yes. Yes. Yes.
We are sisters – we hug and fight, cry and laugh, drink and dance, stress out and celebrate. But, we do it together – with each other and for each other.
We do it with a fishy kiss and a flash of flipper.
Happy Anniversary Waterworld Mermaids!
Thank you for being with us this week – make sure you enter the giveaway!
Mermaid Anniversary Prize Pack

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Mermaid Blogoversary: Contemporary Day!

by Carlene, Dana, Diana, Robin and Susan Mermaid

 

Carlene: Holy abalone fishy sisters and friends!  The Waterworld Mermaids are two years old which means it’s been two years sinceMermaid Carlene what was easily one of the best experiences of our lives—The 2011 Washington Romance Writers Spring Retreat.  Which in turn means it’s been just as long since we made these precious memories at that retreat.  Keep in mind…we were all FIRST-TIMERS!  The Contemporary Genre Mermaids hope you enjoy our trip down memory lane:

Played Romance Jeopardy for the first time…with Roxanne Rustand as my teammate!  I jotted down something beautiful she said at the Unpublished Author Roundtable: “God doesn’t give the desire if he doesn’t give the talent.”

Pitched for the very first time…to Jenny Bent, who was awesome and let me know it was totally okay that my book was driven by the characters rather than the plot.  Seriously important because as a newbie, you’re not sure if these sorts of things are okay or not!  They are!

While attending fellow WRW member Michelle Butler’s “Healthy Writer” session where she referenced Bridget Jones’s Diary, I totally thought she was the real Bridget Jones who the movie was based on!  She looks remarkably like the gorgeous Renee Zelwegger so of course my newbie self jumped to that conclusion!

Cried.  A lot.  Cried even more when I saw that Kristan Higgins was also crying while Sherrilyn Kenyon gave the most beautiful and inspiring keynote speech I will ever hear.

 

Dana MermaidDana: What did I take away from my first WRW Retreat…

 

WRW Retreat was a much more intimate conference than anything I had attended before. I loved having the opportunity to sit down and chitchat with other writers, editors and agents. It was so great finding a group of people who didn’t think I was crazy for having conversations with fictional characters.

I kicked off that retreat by assisting my friend and critique partner, Anita Clenney, at her very first book signing ever at Turn The Page bookstore in Boonsboro, Maryland. I’ll never forget it, because she sold out. I also met Alethea at that book signing. I was awestruck with her glitter princess awesomeness.

I am a huge Sherrilyn Kenyon fan and had a huge fan girl moment when I accidently wound up sitting by her in the bar one night and talking about her car collection. She is apparently as much an autophile as I am.  Then, the next night, Sherrilyn was our keynote speaker. She was so incredibly poignant as she spoke candidly about the obstacles she faced before getting published, and then the long road she traveled and hard work it took to be where she is today. I remember looking around and realizing there weren’t many dry eyes in the place. So now, every time writing gets hard, the words won’t come or some obstacle lands in my path that makes me question what I’m doing, I mentally go back to that night and remind myself of all the reasons to keep writing.

Romance Jeopardy is NOT FAIR! But so much fun!

And the best thing I have taken away from that first WRW Retreat is all the great friends!

 

Diana: I remember feeling totally overwhelmed that I was among such incredible writers and people.  The women at WRW were smartdiana mermaid — I mean Ph.D smart, funny, talented and beautiful.  It was like being thrown on stage at the Miss Universe contest (times 10!) — at the last minute and totally knowing you couldn’t compare.  But, they made me feel so very welcome and I am thrilled to be part of this chapter and this group.  I’ve learned so very much and am very grateful to everyone at WRW.

Hugs!

 

 

Robin MermaidRobin: – Rooming with someone you do not know can be a wonderful experience. I roomed with my soon-to-be fishy sister Pintip and she helped me with my first pitch.

-Everyone at the retreat was so supportive and took the fear out of pitching and submitting your work to American Author.

The speakers were awesome and they taught me that the definition of success is different for each person and you need to find your own definition and make your own goals.

 

Susan: I’m incredibly grateful to be a Mermaid.  How can I be anything else?  This was a pack of newbies, all coming in on their very SusanMermaidfirst conference, many of them new to writing, who bonded over two days and decided it just wasn’t right to let that go.  They even accepted a past-published Mermaid who’d clipped her own fins years back and was finally dipping a fin back into the waters.

They kept writing, not just their own stories, but excellent blog posts and emails to one another and here we are, two years later!  My hat’s off to all the lovely Mermaids who swim in this pond.  Happy Anniversary!

 

Thank you so much for swimming at our party today!  Do you have a favorite contemporary romance book or author?  Let us know, we’re always on the lookout to make new memories.  What better way to do that than with a good, tried and true love story?

 

Mermaid Anniversary Prize Pack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Prize Pack!  Books, A Nightie, $25 Amazon Gift Card and a WWM Bottle!

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Robin Covington Gets Lucky in the Waterworld Mermaid Lagoon

Friends, mermaids, romance readers, I have cornered the always fun Robin Covington in the lagoon to get the goods on all the really gossipy stuff about her latest release, His Southern Temptation, including how often she checks her sales numbers, how she manages to write so much and if she’s ever dated her own Lucky.

Avery Flynn

You ready to rock the lagoon?


Robin Covington

You bet!

OK, we just left a Savvy Author chat about getting it done. So give us the secret to making writing work in your life.

Hmmm. I have a husband who likes to have attention now and then and two small kids (10&8) and a full-time job as attorney for the Navy. So, my writing fits in around soccer, school, work etc. My only secret is learning to write anywhere with any snippet of time I can steal.

I love the e-mails I get from you about how you write in the car outside of the kids’ activities. Have you ever gotten any strange looks from the other parents?

Oh yeah. They all think I’m a little weird (and they are right) but I live in a small town and most know that I am writing one of “those” books and they just laugh.

LOL. Speaking of “those” books congrats on His Southern Temptation booking it up the charts. Tell the truth, how often do you check the numbers?

I have no shame – hourly. My iPhone makes my mania easy to maintain.

God, you make me laugh. OK, I’m biased when it comes to Lucky, your hero in His Southern Temptation. Did he start out as a spark of an idea or burst to life in living color?

I loooove Lucky. He burst to life in full, annoying, pesky color. He badgered me to write him first – I mean, why wouldn’t I? Right? But, Jackson (of the four men) spoke to me as the one to set the tone for the series and to give the perfect backdrop to bring all these guys back together. So, Lucky had to wait . . . and even when I wrote him, he surprised me with some of the twists.

I think just about every woman dated a Lucky at one point. Did you?

Oh yes – and I married him.

And no . . . Lucky is NOT my hubby. But I would kill to have Taylor’s bod.

He’s looking over your shoulder right now isn’t he? *waves* Hi Mr. Covington.

Ha! No – he’s watching MMA fights.

Speaking of Taylor (who I would also consider going Buffalo Bill for that body), she is a woman who is really dealing head on with the craziness of her life. She’s ballsy as hell. I saw a poll recently of readers and most said they wanted to see more strong heroines in contemporary romance. Do you think that’s true?

Yes, I do. When we take workshops or read about the craft of writing romance – we are told that we need to write women characters that our reader can relate to. The hero should be someone you could fall in love with and you should want to be the heroine. I think that women today are strong and brave and so talented in every way. They are also juggling so much stuff – so a heroine like that is what resonates. It might take the entire story for her to get there – but that is a ride they want to take.

So what makes Taylor relatable?

Oh – she is like so many of the women I grew up with in the rural South. We were good girls – not too good- but we did what was acceptable. I know that I and so many of them really found our own voice when we left home. Taylor did that and followed her own dreams – maybe to the extreme – but she found her way to be her true self.

That’s awesome. OK, I’m wrapping it up with the most important question I’ve ever asked you. You ready?

Ummmm . . .

Matt Bomer or Joe M?

Ha! Ummm . . . I don’t get the Bomer thing at all . . . and Joe is my boyfriend so . . . totally Joe!

Don’t get Bomer? That gives me a sad. OK, let’s toast to your poor decision making. There has to be a bartender hiding somewhere in this lagoon.

Pabst Blue Ribbon please! ; )

Now that really is sad.

His-Southern-Temptation-900px-e1363619689936
His Southern Temptation by Robin Covington
Some women are bad. Some women are a bad idea. The best ones are both…

As a Black Ops assassin, “Lucky” Landon has had more than his fair share of close calls. Now he’s turned in his sniper rifle for the simple life of his small hometown. So the last thing he ever expected was to end up at gunpoint. Or that the woman holding the gun would be his best friend’s little sister and Lucky’s on-again/off-again lover.
Taylor Elliott is Trouble, and she likes it that way. And seeing Lucky again? Well, he’s been her dirty little secret for the past few years and everyone knows that secrets in a small town are almost impossible to keep. But Taylor has bigger problems on her plate. Like the local mob boss who wants her dead.
And right now the only thing standing between Trouble and disaster is a hottie named Lucky…

So, I had a little chat with myself . . .

It’s 2013 and I’ve got so much on my plate as a new author who is still learningfrom the door the ropes and making plenty of mistakes. I delivered two books to my editor in late 2012 that are slated for April and July release and they taught me so much about managing my time and juggling writing new words, editing old words and doing promo on current releases. I met my deadlines and I was happy with my product but I knew that I needed to go into 2013 with a better plan to accomplish my goals or I’d be worse for the wear by summertime.

As the big ball dropped on Times Square I had a few questions for me, myself, and I:

How badly did I want to write?

What would I give up to do it?

How could I use my time more efficiently?

What was I doing to wreck myself and my balance?

My husband, the wonderful Main Man, surprised me with a Christmas present —a brand new office space where I could focus, produce and energize myself. I am lucky enough to have a closet which is 22 feet long by 8 feet wide where I had wedged in a small space to write. The Man and I put our heads together and reorganized the space to allow half of it to serve as my office, painted it and added a desk and bookshelves.

dutchThe resultant space is cozy, inviting and MINE. (except for when The Beast comes for a visit) I can shut the door and go into my own world and focus on my craft. Now, I just needed to shift my attitude.

I will be the first to admit that I am lazy, a slacker and a procrastinator of the first order if I’m allowed to get away with it. I love TV and internet shopping and generally goofing off. The problem is that I’d get to the end of the day and face a blank page and a daily page count. I’d get it done but it was exhausting and even I (who can easily function of 5 hours of sleep per night) was hitting the limit.

So, I sat down with the sole employee of Burning Up the Sheets, LLC (that would be me) and had a stern conversation about how things were going to be in 2013. The first change was to begin getting up at 5 am and writing as many pages of my daily goal before I got the kids up and I headed off to work. I already spend every lunch period writing so I told me (quite sternly) to keep doing that with the goal to have the page count complete by mid-day.  Blog posts would be written on the weekends and social media would be done during my daily work breaks. On a good day, I would have some free time in the evenings to work on future projects, read, or spend time with the Main Man.

So, how is this working?

So far, it’s working out very well. I meet my page count everyday and usually exceed it. I have been able to juggle multiple aspects of writing and editing without burning the midnight oil and I’ve even been able to watch some TV real-time and not on the DVR. Now, I’m going to incorporate a workout schedule and I think I’ll be functioning at my optimal best.

It isn’t perfect and I still find myself hitting the snooze button on occasion but I love how good it feels to ease into my work day with my writing – my passion—given the attention it deserves.

 

What changes have you made in 2013 to meet your writing goals?

 

Happy writing!

Robin Mermaid

Mermaid avatar

 

Kicking off the Most Wonderful Time of the Year-Mermaid Style!

Life has been a little hectic for me lately. Back-to-back book deadlines and edits and promo and . . . well, I was little burnt out. So, the Main Man and I decided to shake things up this Thanksgiving and forego the larger family gatherings and opt for a smaller, vacation with the kiddos. The destination?  No brainer!

New York City!!!

You see, we had promised Little Man and Lulu a trip this summer but . . .you know the summer gets away from you. We never went and the kids were disappointed. So, three weeks before Turkey Day we started making plans and it all came together just perfectly.

We treated the kids to their first train ride and took it straight into Penn Station. They were beyond excited and we only had one minor hiccup while waiting for a taxi to the hotel – the Hustler Club van went by with a HUGE ad with some chicks fake double-D’s on it and  . . . well, you can imagine the questions.  The Main Man got to handle that one. ; )

While there we were total tourists. We went to the Central Park Zoo and climbed the big boulders all around the lawns and splurged on a carriage ride.  We watched the parade and had Thanksgiving dinner at Rockefeller Center.

 

 

 

No trip to NYC is complete without taking in a show or two.  We went to see Mary Poppins and the Rockettes. Both were spectacular -shocker- and the kids eyes were bugging out the whole time.  When Mary Poppins “flew” across the theater and ended up right in front of Lulu, I thought she was going to come out of her seat with excitement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, none of you who know me will be surprised that I was in the city less than hour and I ran right into the Naked Cowboy. Yep, a city of all those people and I find the hot guy dancing in his tighty-whities. He’s done pretty well for a guy who prances around in his undies. He’s a franchise now and has a “cast” of Naked Cowboys and if you want him to marry you in Times Square – he can do it!  $400 and you can be joined forever with your sweetie by the Reverend Naked Cowboy . . . seriously, I couldn’t make this stuff up.

We had a blast and the whole time my Plotmonkeys were running around my head with ideas.  I jotted down tons of notes and took lots of pics for future reference.

Good times.

The city was dressed for Christmas and it put me in the mood for my fave season. Are you in the spirit yet? How are you ringing in the Holiday season?

Robin

Tuesday Top Five – What I love about the Fall

Hello Friends!  I’m deep in the middle of a book deadline (due September 15th!) but I came out of the cave long enough to realize that summer is waning and we are headed into the next season.

Now, I love summer – the heat, the pool, the smell of sunscreen and chlorine – but  am glad to see the change happen as well.  And, here are my top five reasons:

1.  Fall food.  I love good, old fashioned comfort food and when the summer salads are gone, give me stew, soup, or yummy casserole.  My favorite is my homemade chicken pot pie.

2. Fall TV shows:  Five words.  Hawaii 5-0. Alex O’Loughlin shirtless.

3. Bad weather: Nothing like a good snow storm to force us inside to do nothing but hibernate. yes. please.

4.  Turtlenecks:  Love the ribbed kind that hug my body and look good with jeans and work pants.

5. Christmas: Best holiday ever. I deck my house out like freakin’ Macy’s and run up an electrical bill that makes my husband cry.

See you later,

Robin