In recent weeks, I’ve heard about behavior from authors that have surprised and shocked me. Now much of this has occurred on Facebook and other social media so you’d think I’d be immune by now but… Authors – behave. Okay I had to say it. Most authors are all about talking about their books. You go to their page, site, and so on and the books are splattered all over the place. This is PERFECT author behavior. I saw a post from author A bashing author B for not paying author C for work which had been done. This is...
Happy July 4th
First off, Happy, July 4th. It always feels funny saying that, as a Brit, it isn’t one we celebrate for obvious reasons in the UK. But I am incredibly happy for my American cousins, I hope it is a great weekend for you all. I would love to hear what plans you have for this year. What would you normally do? And how will it differ from other years? How will it affect your family’s celebrations? There is an extra note of irony this year for us in the UK, there is a loosening of our restrictions for socialising. I...
Possessive Characters In A Romance
Possessive Characters In A Romance By Callie Carmen As a romance writer and reader, occasionally I come across possessive characters. At first, they may seem charming, but often they turn into the type that smothers their partner. I read an article recently titled, “7 Signs Your Partner Is Possessive & What Experts Say To Do About It” by Carolyn Steber. The article got me thinking about my past and present relationships with men and about the characters in my Risking Love series published with BVS. Going through the seven steps I realized that I had dated someone that was very possessive...
Strong voices of romance
Strong voices of romance By E Pettersen I love a good romance. I've been reading romance novels since the age of fifteen, and I enjoy becoming immersed in a world of passion and drama, where a strong bond exists between lovers. However, I noticed over the years that the plots wore thin, and characters lacked depth in the pile of romance books that I collected. Some of the books had scenes that were red flags: abusive relationships, women not standing up for themselves, and blurred lines concerning consent. On top of that, I was tired of the submissive protagonist. A...
Pandemic Anxiety Busters
Pandemic Anxiety Busters by Gibby Campbell We are well into the pandemic now, and I’m noticing more and more folks posting about how anxious they’ve become. I thought I’d write an article on how to cope. I actually teach this at the college level. Step 1 is to recognize what you’re feeling as normal. You’re human, which means emotions happen. When there’s a pandemic, and the world has gone crazy, emotions REALLY happen. Step 2 is to name them. This is trickier than it sounds. You know you’re anxious, but what are the underlying emotions? Are you fearful, angry, grieving, depressed, or something else?...
The Genesis of Amber
Continuing this series of guest blogs. This is by the author of The Unveiling of Amber, Viola Russell. The Genesis of Amber: From the time I could read, I wanted to be a writer. I’d written stories since I was probably eight-years-old, so I’ve had a writing career of fifty years. As a kid, I never felt I was limited to one genre, and indeed, I dabbled in various genres. As an adult, I’ve also never liked to limit myself; however, I find myself writing a great deal of historical fiction. I admit I love research, but I sometimes venture...
WRITING TIPS
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WRITER TIPS – HELPING WRITERS
I have been reading scripts and writing rejection letters this morning. Saying this is not a story for us is one of the hardest things I do. Every time I start to read a story I want to say “Yes!! Let’s do it”… I am a writer too, have sat in the position of a writer submitting a story to a publisher. As a matter of fact, I have a very impressive stack of rejection letters. I have been rejected as a children’s writer, a writer of erotic stories and a romance writer. I kept knocking on doors until I...
A STORY OF DOMS AND SUBS….
Chatting with one of the authors on the subject of the anthology. We ended up in a conversation with what constitutes domination and submission in terms of literary content. In terms of stories, it is a pretty loose description and could take a story almost anywhere, a lot of stories have a power exchange in them. A topic arose in which John Wayne films came up the scene that came to my mind was in True Grit, yet the writer said the film she remembered was McLintock. Further research has shown that he spanks women in Donovan’s Reef and The...
BOOKS….BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS
It has been a busy week, they are all busy but this week has been really busy. I have been reading through the stories for the anthology we are putting together on the subject of “First Submission”. We have also been re-covering our old stories and re-issuing them. The latest two are very close to me as the first story Toy’s Story written by Robert Cloud was the first cover I did for Black Velvet Seductions. The second story to be re-released was The Crimson Z, a paranormal anthology, this too was largely the brainchild of Robert Cloud. I was a little...