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Never lacking for something to say, Elizabeth shares everything from All My Children to Writing and all the life that's in-between . . .

Five Things About Pamela Palmer

May 16, 2012 – 7:07 AM

I recently met Pamela Palmer in person at the Washington Romance Writers Conference–she had emailed me a few weeks before the conference as a welcome to WRW and offered her help navigating a new conference–I was so touched by how nice she was to offer, and soon discovered that she is also extremely nice in person. So if you want to be scared and “bitten” by a generous and kind person, here are Five Things about paranormal author Pamela Palmer.

1. Where is the most beautiful/romantic place you’ve ever been? Loch Ness, Scotland. My husband and I toured Scotland some years ago and visited Castle Urquhart on Loch Ness. It was late March, the trees still bare, but I still found it an incredibly beautiful, dramatic, awe-inspiring place. In late March, the castle ruins were practically empty, but for us. I could almost hear the voices from long ago.

2. Do you celebrate when you finish a book and what you do? Rather than celebrate, I’m usually looking to escape. After a particularly intense deadline hell I need to get out of the house, so I usually head for the mall to soak up the crowds and the external world. Sometimes, I haven’t left the house for days. My celebration of choice is a bottle of champagne or a dinner out, but I tend to save those for the big things—new contracts or hitting a bestseller list. Finishing a book is such a slippery thing. First draft done? Yay, but more revisions needed. Sometimes lots more. Send it off to my editor? Whew! But she’s quick and thorough and often boomerangs it back to me for more revisions within a week or two. Editorial revisions done? Yippee! But I’m still holding my breath, hoping my editor accepts the revisions and doesn’t send the book back for more.

3. If you could go on a date with any superhero, who would you choose and why? Ha. Thor, especially if he looks like Chris Hemsworth! Or Superman. I want to fly!

4. If you were not writing, what job would you have? Once upon a time, I worked for IBM, first in production control, then in procurement. (I was an industrial engineer.) If I were to return to a 9-5 day job, it would probably be something along those lines. Since I live in the D.C. suburbs, I’d likely end up working for some kind of government contractor. But I’m extremely happy with the job I have. I adore writing and love working at home.

5. Print or ebook? Both. I own a Kindle and tend to buy new books electronically. I love the convenience of instantly downloading the book I want to read, and love traveling with one Kindle vs. half a dozen paperbacks. But I have a teetering TBR pile of print books, and continually acquire more at conferences, so I tend to alternate between electronic and print. I enjoy both and honestly don’t have a preference when it comes to the actual reading experience.

You can learn more about Pamela Palmer’s newest Vamp City novel, A Blood Seduction, by visiting her website. You can also meet me and Pamela at our upcoming Events in Tulsa, Chicago and Dallas!

By Elizabeth | Posted in Friends, TV, Movies, & Good Reads | Comments (2)

Winners

May 14, 2012 – 7:10 AM

What a jam-packed busy weekend. Hope you had a lovely weekend and a Happy Mother’s Day. I finally had time to pull winners of the Along Came a Duke arcs, as well as autographed Julia Quinn novels, this morning and now I am going to post their names:

Barb Ritchie, Jenn H, Linda Mc, and Mary Falls.

There were a 112 of you to choose from, so I truly put the Random Number generator through its paces this morning. Poor thing nearly fainted from exhaustion.

And if you didn’t win an ARC of Along Came A Duke, don’t despair, there is only three weeks until it releases. And if you hurry, you can get the digital version of Along Came a Duke at the special $4.99 presale price for your Kindle and Nook.

By Elizabeth | Posted in Elizabeth's Books, Giveaways, Freebies, & Contests, Good News, Kempton Brides | Comments (2)

Focus, Focus, Focus

May 12, 2012 – 1:40 AM

When it comes to writing, it takes a lot of focus. There is no way around it. The writers who write book after book after book have some the most enviable focus I have ever seen. And at times I need to renew my own focus and determination to not let the distractions in this business (and yes there are many) and the freedom of working at home (which affords its own diversions) from cutting too deeply into the time necessary to write a book.

Earlier this year I put together a writing workshop in motivation–not character motivation, but motivating the writer to chain her butt to the chair and pursue her dream career. Oh, how easy it is to lecture on a subject I struggle with constantly.

Until I did one simple exercise that truly opened my eyes.

I always hear the same complaint from writers who have to balance an outside job, family, home life, commitments, life–I don’t have the time. I have those commitments as well, I will say. I’ll talk about the time my son with autism takes away from my daily writing, the commitments of being both a stay at home mom and a full time writer. The looming hell that can be deadlines. You have the time, I always extoll these writers. “You can carve it out.”

And quite frankly we all can. Even me.

The light bulb moment came last January as I was both searching for a way to show people how they could write a book–easily–every year. Perhaps even more than one. I’d been taking part of 1K sprints on Twitter and at the retreat I went on with my writer pals. 1K in 1hour they are called. You write, focused and not stopping for one hour–with the goal to get one thousand words into your manuscript. Turn off the editor and just write.

For me this works because I am a plotter. I have my scenes mapped out and I “draft” them by hand before I ever approach the computer. I like to think about the scene and let it mull around a bit before I dive in. So as I would approach a sprint, out came my notes and away I went. But this method also works for Pantsers–people who like to sit down and let the story unfold before them. Either way, you sit down and write for one hour and push yourself to get one thousand words done, which works out to be about four pages.

Now do the math. 1K in 1hour. Five days a week. Over the course of the year. Give yourself some time off for vacations, holidays and sick leave, and do you know how many words you would have written?

290,000.

A little over three full length 90K books.

Holy Crap! It truly was a light bulb moment. And one that has changed my entire outlook. Instead of eating the entire elephant in a month and ending up with a large pile of poo, considering the measured, deliberate, fully thought out approach. A little focus and 1K in 1hour, five days a week.

Thoughts? Comments?

By Elizabeth | Posted in Writing | Comments (5)

Five Things about Grace Burrowes

May 10, 2012 – 1:22 AM

Grace Burrowes is one of the lovely members of the Washington Romance Writers who I had the pleasure to meet at their retreat the first weekend of this month. I knew immediately that I needed to introduce her to all of you! Without further ado, here are Five Things about Grace Burrowes:

1. Where is the most beautiful/romantic place you’ve ever been? Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

2. If you could go on a date with any superhero, who would you choose and why? Wonder Woman. I want to know how she does it, where she got her boots, and what all the good gossip is in Superhero Land, particularly about the guys.

3. What blogs do you visit? Blame It On the Muse, Two Nerdy History Girls, The Georgian Gentleman, and few other Regency sites.

EB: Warning, I dropped by The Georgian Gentleman and got totally sidetracked!

4. If you were not writing, what job would you have? I’ve always wanted to work in a flower shop.

5. If you were going to an island for a long time, name 5 things you would bring.

  • Peanut butter
  • Toilet paper
  • A trunk full of my keepers
  • SPF 100
  • My Swiss army knife

Grace’s new book, Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal has just arrived in stores and in digital release. To learn more about Grace and her other Regency set romances, please visit her website GraceBurrowes.com.

By Elizabeth | Posted in Friends, TV, Movies, & Good Reads | Comments (2)

Rhymes with Love ~ A New Series

May 7, 2012 – 1:19 AM

Maybe you’ve heard, but my new book, Along Came a Duke, is part of new series, Rhymes with Love. I thought I’d share with you a bit of insider info and get you ready to jump into the world of Kempton, England.

I started this new series for a variety of reasons–I had felt that the Bachelor Chronicles had run its course. While at first, I thought about doing another spin-off series with Lord Andrew and his band of misfits from Lord Langley is Back in Town, but then I got hit with another idea: a village in England that is cursed.

Before you get to alarmed that this series is going to be paranormal, it is not. The curse was only the starting point.

The first peek at the steamy stepback!

Like any idea, the spark or the curse, in this case, began brewing around in my imagination, and suddenly I saw the entire village. High Street–with its tidy row of shops, the lane running up the backside of the village from the vicarage and St. Edwards, a wonderful stone church dating back to Norman times, with its tall tower that had weathered centuries. And spinsters and young ladies with nothing to do. Not a single gentleman will marry them. And most haven’t the means to go to London.

Then I realized what the true heart of this series must be–it wasn’t the curse, but the friendships, the deep, abiding friendships these women would forge.

Far better for storytelling than just a mere curse.

The more I wrote, the more I fell in love with how these friends looked out for each other, viewed each other as sisters more than friends, and how they would find their place in a world that usually gave unmarried women a skeptical eye.

The first three stories revolve around Tabitha Timmons, Daphne Dale and Harriet Hathaway. None of them are prepared for marriage, courtship or even a flirtatious glance, but what they lack in guile and intrigue, they make up for in sheer determination, spunk, and humor.

Look out London, here comes the spinsters from Kempton! And happy reading!

P.S. And why is the series called Rhymes with Love? Because the titles of the first three books are all taken from nursery rhymes: Along Came a Duke, And The Miss Ran Away with the Rake, and If Wishes were Earls.

As you will notice, the cover for Along Came a Duke even sports the perfect tuffet on which to eat curds and whey while awaiting a duke.

And finally and most importantly, if you haven’t heard, the digital version of Along Came a Duke is on pre-sale for $4.99 at Kindle and Nook.

CONTEST:
To get ready for the May 29th release of Along Came a Duke, I am giving away four prize packets–each of which will include an advanced reader’s copy of Along Came a Duke, as well as an autographed copy of one of Julia Quinn’s books. The prize packet will also feature tons of author swag and bragging rights to have been one of the first to read Along Came a Duke.

To enter, answer the following question before midnight PDT, May 12th: Which is your favorite nursery rhyme?

By Elizabeth | Posted in Elizabeth's Books, Giveaways, Freebies, & Contests, Good News, Kempton Brides, TV, Movies, & Good Reads, Writing | Comments (112)