Who would you want to be snowbound with?

My self-publisher protagonist, for my fellow writers

Aspiring writers have long been reminded of Mark Twain’s famous quote, “write what you know.” Some argue the quote shouldn’t be rigidly applied. If everyone did, there would be no books about vampires, time travel or alien invasions.

As for me, I tend to stay close to what I know when crafting characters. I probably won’t be writing spy novels like some of my author friends. I tend to stay closer to Nancy Drew.

In Lessons, the protagonist and her husband owned a restaurant. There are four generations of restaurateurs in our family.  My grandfather owned a restaurant – my parents owned a restaurant and my husband and I once owned a restaurant. Our son is in restaurant management.

The next book in the Coulson Series, The Senator’s Secret, the female protagonist is an Arizona real estate agent. My husband is an Arizona Broker and I was a real estate agent for a number of years.

The female protagonist in After Sundown works in the restaurant industry, and the male protagonist is a general contractor. My father was a general contractor.

In my soon to be released, While Snowbound, the female protagonist is a self-published independent author. Her career is an intricate part of the story line. In fact there would be no real story if she worked in any other field.

For independent writers who enjoy reading romance, I suspect they might get a kick out of While Snowbound, especially considering what happens at the end of the story.

Goodreads Giveaway and other updates…

If you are a Goodreads member, you can sign up for my free giveaway. The drawing ends May 28, 2013. At that time, Goodreads will select a winner to receive a free paperback copy of Lessons, which I’ll ship directly from the printer. 

I’m trying to get more involved over at Goodreads. This morning I deleted the few blog posts I’d made on the site – I think there were only seven since I signed up. Instead, I’ve redirected this blog to Goodgreads, so when I post here, it will also show up on my Goodread’s author page.

Last night I started entering books I’ve read to Goodreads – with ratings. A couple I left reviews on, yet most I didn’t considering the number of books I entered. These are by no means all the books I’ve read, just those I could remember and leave an honest star rating.

In other news, my newest book in The Sensual Romance Series, While Snowbound, is off with the editor. I am currently working on my third book in that series, Sugar Rush, which should be ready for the editor within two weeks. That is of course, if I can stay off Facebook and Goodreads.

Write on!

A One Star Review I'm Okay With

I received my first Amazon one star review on After Sundown. I’m not really upset, because the reviewer didn’t slam my writing, and I suppose his/her comment “The writing style could not make up for such an unlikeable character” might be taken as a backhanded compliment.

The reviewer is right, Cole, the male protagonist (whom I would not term the hero of the story, as the reviewer did) behaved like a jerk. It’s true he molested Kit, the female protagonist on the dance floor – yet she never said no, and from his perspective and considering the situation and her reaction, he reasonably assumed she wanted his attention.

Did he almost rape her? Sort of. The reviewer stopped reading at that point.

I never said my books were politically correct. Was his behavior totally inappropriate? Yes.

For the record, the story doesn’t condone date rape – yet it does feature a character who almost commits it.

I might argue Cole confronted his dark side; horrified at his own behavior. But I could only push that argument so far. Sure, he experienced a revelation and regretted being such a jerk. But he didn’t completely change his ways, and much of his behavior later in the story is not politically correct.

But like I said, I never promised political correctness.

I finished the first draft of my second book in the Sensual Romance Series - While Snowbound. Our male protagonist is a famous rock star – voted sexiest man of the year - twice. He is used to woman falling all over him, which is why he decides to head for the mountains alone – away from the paparazzi and fawning fans.

Ella isn’t a fan. In fact, she has no clue who he is – nor is she particularly impressed when she discovers his identity. She’s heading to her mountain cabin to work on her manuscript.

When a blizzard hits, Ella rescues the careless rock star. With the roads closed and no telephone service, the two stay warm and safe at Ella's cabin while the rock star finds himself attracted to the one woman who sees him as an ordinary man.

Of course, that is not all bad.

There is still work to do on the story - rewrites, beta readers and the editor. In the meantime, have a look at Anna J. McIntyre's new Facebook Page!  I'd love your like! 

While you are there, I hope you answer my question, sexy or subtle? What do you want on the covers of your romance novels?