Inspiration....

Ok, so I was totally just wasting some time today and looking for inspiration about the hero of my WIP "Tonia" and I stumbled upon him.  Yep, this is Byron McKinnon, the hero of my historical romance....LOL or at least he is now.  I think he definitely qualifies as inspirational material.  What do you think?

Tuesday Teasers

--Here's a Teaser from my WIP "Tonia".  Enjoy!  And I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!--

Byron leaned over next to her ear.  “Were they nice to you?”  She couldn’t help but smile.  She nodded and he straightened back up into his chair.

“No, secrets at the dinner table, Byron!”  Gavin chunked a roll at his cousin and laughed when Byron caught it in mid arc.  A huge grin stretched across Byron’s face.

“Just checking to make sure all of you behaved yourselves while I was absent.”

“Ooch, lass, did you tell him that we cornered you in the dining room and tortured you for secrets?”

“I, no,” Tonia paused gathering her thoughts.  Gavin and Byron were both grinning.  It was all a tease.  She could do this; she could behave like a normal undamaged human being.  She took a deep breath.  “I didn’t.  But you just did.”  Tonia laughed out loud at the look of surprise on Gavin’s face.  His answering laughter echoed through the room and he gave her a quick wink.  Byron gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. 

“Well played, little one.”

Finished up with Christmas, back to writing

Doing better on my challenge.  Made huge progress today with over 3000 words.  Leaving my total to complete for the next week at a mere 8300 to reach my original goal of 15,000.  Pretty good catch up!

Christmas Break Challange... update

I'm 3700 words into my 15000 word challange..... hmmmm.... running a little behind, but I have made great progress and will continue trying to make up the difference next week.

Christmas Break Challange

I haven't been writing since school went back into session in August.  Ugh... life just takes over sometimes, especially when your child seems to catch every cold and virus known to man.

So I have two whole weeks off for the holidays to spend with my husband, my daughter, my family, and my laptop.  I have made my holiday goal to write 15000 words during this two week time period.  It won't finish my book by any means, but it will really make me feel like I am making good progress.

I hear my characters calling me.....  Until next time....

Tuesday Teasers

Here's my Tuesday Teaser from "Tonia".

He kept telling himself to tread lightly, to allow her to come to him but this last week especially had been torture.  When he was at the ranch he slept in her room in an armchair.  His presence did seem to keep the nightmares at minimum, but this week had been hard for her.  As he read by the fire watching her sleep fitfully each night, all he really wanted to do was get into the bed and hold her.  He wanted to roar in frustration.

Byron leaned back against the corral fence and stretched out a hand with a sugar cube in the palm.  The painted dun Tonia had commented on walked over slowly to investigate.  He smiled when the brave mare nuzzled his hand and then nibbled up the sugar.  She rubbed her muzzle against his hand looking for more.  He chuckled.  “Good girl.”  Reaching into his pocket he brought out another cube for her.  He rubbed his hand up and down her head and then gave her a good pat on her neck.  “Slow and steady.  I just have to be patient with her too, don’t I?  She’s coming around.”  The mare snorted and trotted back to the rest of the group.

Be sure and visit Jennifer's Page for hers and lots of other authors Tuesday Teasers.

To Plot or Not to Plot?

I actually did some plotting yesterday! I know, shocker, right?  I am the eternal 'pantser'.  But it actually came together better than I thought and it helped me iron out a few questions about the past of one of my characters.  It also helped me decide where to layer in some foreshadowing.  Soooooo, maybe plotting isn't such a terrible thing, LOL.  I will still cling to my 'fly by the seat of the pants' demeanor, but perhaps throwing in a little planning here and there.  It can't hurt right?

Tonia is flowing again!

So excited that my brain is cooperating.  I sat down last night and wrote a whole chapter.  I can't wait to sit down again this evening.  I have so many ideas popping out of my head and not enough time to write them down.  Love it when it's on!  So I'm off to write!  Talk to you later and I'll try to put up a Tuesday Teaser tomorrow.

Slow month...

So I'm very disappointed.  I've barely written anything these last few weeks, but I'm not quitting.  I got back in there today and started working on my next chapter.

I think life is really weighing me down right now.

My daughter has been ill for nearly two weeks and my husband and I have been in and out of doctor's offices and the hospital.  Thank the Lord she is starting to feel better.... Needless to say we will not be having any more shots for a while, especially the flu shot.  The ER doctors said she had a terrible reaction to it.

Then my husbands job has been really slow and he has been looking for a new one, so money has been scarce.  Praise the Lord, he found a new job, benefits, salary, and all, but he doesn't start until October.... So stretching the pennies until then.

Then my mom found out this last week that she is getting laid off from her job.  That's been really hard.

So anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that writing has been kinda squelched and I'm just here letting you know that I'm picking myself up by my bootstraps and moving forward.

Go me!

Productive Weekend

So this weekend is progressing well.  I have been writing on "Tonia" with renewed vigor and editing a friend's MS at the same time.  It feels so good to be making progress.  It's not as fast as I would like, but I will not complain about words getting on the screen.  Here's a few sentences from "Tonia" to whet your appetite.

“That will teach him to come barging in,” Byron growled.  Tonia cuffed him lightly on the arm.

     “Be nice, you are laying on top of me on the floor of your study.  I’m not sure he will ever look at this rug the same way again.  That poor boy.” 

     Byron rolled off of her to the side, bellowing with laughter.  She smiled; glad to have distracted him at least momentarily.  The sound of his laughter relaxed her and she stared contentedly at the oak beams running the length of the ceiling.  What was she going to do for two weeks without him?

Holiday Weekend!

I'm so excited for the weekend.  I can catch a breath from the students at school.  They are always crazy at the beginning of the school year.  Ahhh!  If I hear the word procedure one more time though, I might scream.  Just let me teach, please.

I'm looking forward to writing this weekend.  I have been so busy these last two weeks that I haven't felt motivated to write anything.  My 17month old daughter had a cold from her first week at daycare, yuck.......  It's just been an adjustment.  I always forget how hard it is to get back into the swing of things after being off work for the summer.

I'm getting my groove back so I'm feeling good.

I'm READY to WRITE!

The school year begins....

My life is defined by the school year.  New kiddos, new lessons, new challenges.  I tend to stop writing during the school year, but this year is going to be different!  I want this and I will have it!

I am challenging myself to write 500 words or more per school day and a 1000 words or  more Saturday and Sunday.  That's a minimum goal of 4500 per week. 

Steamy love scene...Check :-))

So it took longer than an hour, but I did it.  I made it through my first real love scene.   I think I will be able to move forward from here!  I don't know what I was afraid of, LOL.  Here's a little taste.  Hope you enjoy!

     "You taste like honey," he paused, looking up and meeting her gaze for a moment before delving back. She felt his finger slide out and then his arms wrap around her hips from underneath.  His hard muscled arms held her very still as he began to suckle the small hidden nub between her legs.
     Exquisite pleasure shot from her sex straight to her womb.  It felt as if her entire body was contracting.  Tonia inhaled quickly and moaned as an unfamiliar pressure built within her.  What was he doing?
     "Byron..." she called out softly as her body continued to shudder.  He responded to her moan with renewed vigor and suckled hard.  She tensed and screamed as waves of ecstasy rolled through her.  It felt as if her entire body was exploding from the inside out.........
   
Mmmm....sounds good to me :-)

I'm such a procrastinator...

I have reached the point in my novel where I need to write my hero and heroine's first love scene.  I have never written a love scene before and I have been putting it off all week.  

What is my problem?  

So I am sitting down right now to plow ahead into a steamy lovemaking scene. 

I'll let you know when I finish and see what you think with a short excerpt.

See you in an hour or so.

Writing my dream into reality.....

I have been writing since I knew how.  The hero would always save the heroine from a terrible villain and then they would ride off into the sunset...... at least that's how I always saw it.  Happily Ever After.

I wrote stories in grade school, through high school, and all the way though college.  The stories grew as I grew.  They became longer and the problems my characters dealt with were things that were important to me at the time.

I always thought it would be really great to be an author and have other people read my stories and find joy with my heros and heroines and feel satisfaction in sharing their Happily Ever Afters.

In the meantime, life went on.  I graduated college, got a day job, got married (fabulous decision by the way) and we just recently had our first baby who is now 15 months old and the most beautiful girl ever.  My awesome husband is so supportive and tries to make sure that I have time to write every evening.  Could I be so lucky?

It's time to get back to writing.  Life has been moving on and my stories haven't.  I have so many ideas.  I never stopped writing down the ideas, I just didn't have time to actually write them.

I never gave up on that dream of being an author, I just shelved for a while.   So join me as I pull my dream off the shelf and start writing it into reality.