Mary, Mary , quite extraordinary......

Finally....our local Wal-Mart put First Comes Marriage, Mary Balogh's newest release, on the shelves. It's the Read of the Month for Wal-Mart, and Mary has included a bit of bonus material, a small section originally cut.

Hurray! We'll take all the Mary we can get.

Mary Balogh is more than an autobuy for me. She's a comfort read, the first and last name in romance done perfectly, the books that are in almost every room of my house. She's the first romance author who made me cry.

Isn't the cover exquisite? No doubt the story is as well. I'm off to curl up with a cup of coffee on this cold, blustery day and discover the magic between Viscount Lyngate and Vanessa Huxtable.

I highly suggest you do the same. :)

What author calls a halt to your day? Which author makes you cry, or laugh out loud? Aren't we lucky to have such a wealth of talent and genres to choose from?

Writing Rules....

My March 09 RWR came in the mail this afternoon. Some months are full of information, others only so-so. But this issue is loaded with interesting articles; the role of the publisher, power promotion, author's views on revisions, and my personal favorite so far, the scene and sequel. I think Patricia Kay did a wonderful job of illustrating how well the scene/sequel can work, and what they can and cannot do for your story.

There are all sorts of technique books and websites out there. Swain's Techniques of a Selling Author, Ingermanson's Snowflake Method, and Stephanie Bonds Writer's How-To articles are good for me.

However, I think the methodology study works best after the first draft- Vivid, unique, heart-felt story telling comes fast and furious, when you are utterly in love with your h/h and all the mayhem before them. Then, once that first draft is over, the rules can help you smooth out your masterpiece. But to deliberately worry about the details before the bones of the story are laid out seems a bit stifling to me.

What about you? Any "have-to" rules you follow from the very beginning, or do you punt the rules and let your characters lead the way?

Life according to Fred....

It's generally understood around this house that if you make a reference to literature or social norms pre-WWII, I'm bound to follow most of the conversation. History, or bits of it, is my thing. It's my comfort zone, and allows me to ignore much of modern life, in the same way that I can bounce my head along to the rhythm of Soulja Boy, blissfully unaware of the lyrics.

So I've just recently joined Facebook, a huge leap for a recluse such as myself. My husband and daughters insisted it's another important modern social contact. (I'm not convinced yet, but I fought my cell phone acquisition as well. Convenience, I get. But with the convenience comes the time-suck. When do all these twelve-posts-a-day people read?)

And now, because all I watch around here (besides NCIS) is kid's TV, I understand (thank you, iCarly) who Fred is. So I trotted over to YouTube and found him...and found him...and found him. Does the boy go to school? Seriously, I'm not sure. Maybe he's home schooled. Where does he find the time to post all those videos? And who the heck are the millions of people watching them? And why is it entertaining?

He's cute. He's charismatic. He's obviously caught the eye of Disney, so I'd imagine the world is his for the taking, provided he's got a bit of level-headed adult guidance. But...he talks in a high pitched voice, and runs from cabbages.

I'm wondering if the reason I don't get Fred is the reason I don't get Monty Python, but think Taming of the Shrew is a scream. Somewhere along the line my modern gene was definitely skewed.

What's funny to you?

Valentine

Have you heard about those personalized romance novels? You can order them on line, pay anything from twenty to over one hundred dollars, depending on the cover and what's included. They offer a variety of settings and heat levels. Sweet.

And the author never has to worry about Amazon reviews. ;)

It's an interesting idea. I imagine the recipient either loves or hates it. They would certainly last longer than chocolate or flowers. However, the fill-in-the-blanks aspect of it leaves me a little cold. I'd rather have a remember when? note. Remember when I held your hand for the first time? Remember when it didn't matter if ice knocked out the electricity? Remember when the very best gift was time spent together?

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. ~Albert Einstein

Without love, what are we worth? Eighty-nine cents! Eighty-nine cents worth of chemicals walking around lonely. ~M*A*S*H, Hawkeye

Soul meets soul on lovers' lips. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Have a lovely Valentine's Day!