Community: Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Common Experiences

I've had a creeping awareness the last few weeks that has grown steadily more pronounced. When this happens, I pay attention. My mind has a delightful way of laying seeds, or foreshadowing if you will, for me. This time Community keeps coming up.

Tony King and Randy McCharles
stop for a photo op during tour of
new When Words Collide venue.

My writing communities bring this out often for me, but lately it has been more expansive. I was standing listening to the tour of our new venue for When Words Collide and thinking how lucky I am to live in a city with a vibrant, active writing community. Then while sitting in the last Alberta Romance Writers' Association workshop I had the same thought. There are writers who have no local organization to be part of, no larger writing family to learn from, support and feel supported, have dinner with, and even "argue" over the best course of action. There are online communities, and I am grateful for them, but sometimes I just need to call my critique group and enjoy their wisdom and conversation over beers and dinner.

Calgary Horticultural Society's
Garden Show had multiple buildings
filled with information...and plants

Last weekend, for the first time, I went to the Calgary Horticultural Society's Garden Show. I had seen one of the bridge banners and thought I'd check it out. I love gardens, I am a total putterer, but having a thriving indoor edible plant community is a geeky goal of mine. So far no dice on the thriving part yet, but it is fun and I keep trying. And I learned there are way more local garden communities and initiatives that I had suspected. How cool is that?!

On Friday I was writing in one of our local libraries and saw I poster up on the Community Board for the Relocalize Fair that would be on Saturday at one of our local community halls. Again this synchronicity of the theme community, and it looked interesting, so I decided to go. Again, a whole new world was opened to me and the power and spirit of a vibrant community was illustrated again and again. I went to three workshops/presentations (I learned from missing out on the garden ones last weekend!) and am so grateful I did!

Local economy expert and author
Michael Shuman presenting at the
Relocalize Fair in Calgary, Canada.

There is something primal about sharing and learning knowledge from each other. Our local communities can help provide an opportunity for that. Sometimes I allow myself to get caught up in the tasks of life and not the living of life. Participating in community activities, sharing knowledge, sharing common experiences, inspires me. The synchronicity of noticing the opportunities to reach out and engage in more of my local communities was a gentle reminder to get involved, play, learn, be part of my wider community.





What are your favourite ways to engage and participate in your local communities?

What is Your Writing Inspiration?

A well of inspiration.
Grotto Canyon, Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada

Love and Nature

At the ARWA For the Love of Romance panel at When Words Collide a woman in the audience asked us what our writing inspiration was. It was a wonderful straight forward question and one that made me take a mental pause. 

What inspires me to write?

What inspires me is twinned with why I write. As I sat at that panel table, microphone in front of me, the audience looking expectant to hear our answers, I felt what inspires me rush in; love and nature. 

I felt with great clarity the (for me) blaring parallel of Love and Nature. The two create the same storm of feelings, rush of passion, swell of emotions, excited senses. The Natural World is a potent well of energy and feeling, just like Love.

In a few seconds, that question brought my whole writing career into focus. Writing is a way I can share Love and Nature with the world. 

Grotto Canyon, Kananaskis Country
Alberta, Canada

Feeling that Energy Feels Good

I walked in a canyon last weekend and the sound and feel of the wind enveloped me in an absolute heady energy that made me stop in my tracks. I just wanted to savor it, let myself experience the sensation. The smell of the sun-warmed trees delighted me every time I caught their fragrance. Each place I looked was as magical as the next. 

Love is like that, too. Just being near your beloved, feeling his/her energy, savoring that energy, that feeling, makes you feel good. For me, being in love and being loved parallels the experience of nature. I feel more in both.

How I Hug the World

I like to share Love and Nature with the world. For those who have met me, I'm a hugger. Writing about Love and Nature is a way I can wrap the reader in an embrace of words and feeling. A hug from me to the world.

The next time someone asks you what inspires you, think about. You might have a cool "feeling storm" right there in front of them as you try to keep a straight face and answer within a normal amount of time, meanwhile inside you are absolutely delighted 

and ah-ha moments are pinging throughout you. 

It's pretty cool. 

Thank You to the woman who asked the question. 

It is a great question.

What Inspires You?

Happy Reading! Happy Writing!

CBC Calgary's the Homestretch Interview Today!

Outside CBC studio in Calgary.

Happy Monday indeed! Today was an awesome day, I was interviewed by Chris dela Torre on CBC Calgary's radio program the Homestretch at 4:22pm! Do you know how excited I am about this?! CBC is one of my "happy places!"

I am team-teaching a pre-festival workshop at When Words Collide on how to write sexual tension with Lorraine Paton. Lorraine and I are members of the Alberta Romance Writers' Association, who is the affiliate writing group for the pre-festival workshop. The workshop is $10 and no conference pass is required! Although, When Words Collide is a fantastic fiction festival/conference and a steal at $65 for the three days! Join us August 9-11 at the Carriage House Inn in Calgary.

I was excited...and maybe a tad nervous for the interview, but I had a great time! Seriously, the team at CBC Calgary is fantastic! Thank you all for making me feel so at home and comfortable! You guys are awesome!

For more information on how to write sexual tension, join us at the workshop!

You can listen to the interview here:
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/Alberta/The+Homestretch/ID/2398743581/?page=2,

and sign up for the workshop here: http://www.whenwordscollide.org/affiliates.php.

Happy Reading, Happy Writing!

How To Write Sexual Tension Workshop in Calgary, Canada

One of my all-time hottest and most-popular blog posts was when I wrote the entry Writing Sexual Tension, Heightening Your Readers' Satisfaction from the workshop I gave for ARWA (Alberta Romance Wroters' Association) in 2012.

A year and a half later I am team-teaching the workshop with Lorraine Paton for the wonderfully low  price of $10 as a pre-festival affiliate (ARWA) workshop at When Words Collide, a festival for readers and writers in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The workshop is Friday, August 9, 2013, from 9 a.m. - noon, at the Carriage House Inn. For more information and to pre-register click here.

The workshop is open to everyone who registers, you do not have to be registered for the conference to register for the workshop!

Here is that post that inspired this years WWC ARWA workshop.
From Sarah Kades blog:

SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2012

Writing Sexual Tension, Heightening Your Readers' Satisfaction

I gave a workshop for ARWA on writing sexual tension. Enjoy and Happy Writing!

Sexual Tension, Heightening Your Readers’ Satisfaction

by Sarah Kades

I love writing sexual tension. It’s fun, it’s dynamic, and you get to create a storm of feeling within your characters. Your characters dance around each other and their feelings for each other and wrestle with darn near everything under the sun trying to ignore the burning heat that is threatening to scorch them if they don't give in to the passion exploding through their system.

But they can’t give in. Not yet. Something is stopping them from grabbing that other person and rocking their core. And not just any something. Nope. It has to be a big enough deal to stop this rocking attraction. And sexual tension isn’t soft and fuzzy. Soft and fuzzy has a place, mind you, but it is not when the stakes and the passion are so high somethings got to give and your characters have no idea what they are going to do because they can’t act on the attraction (insert plot element here where acting on it would be the dumbest thing in the world, internal or external conflict) and they can’t not act on the attraction (because the attraction and passion are so real, so intense, so burning that not acting on it is the most unnatural and dumbest thing in the world).

Sexual tension has very little (sometimes nothing) to do with the actual act of sex. Sexual tension is passion unsatisfied. It is emotion and conflict, both internal and external, with anticipation and frustration thrown in the mix. 

It is that passion, that attraction that makes your characters’ life impossible because they cannot stop feeling their beloved (or be-lusted) everywhere. It’s distracting and oh-so-fun to write your characters going through it. It is up to you how you put it in there.

Sexual tension scenes grip your reader. I want my reader to feel what my characters are feeling, feel the sexual tension, feel the sexual frustration, feel the heat that is the no holds bar, intense, crazy attraction that can exist between two people.

The core of writing believable, charged sexual tension, is to feel it. Feel that fire and translate it to your reader. Have you ever met someone and were rocked to your absolute core? Have you ever felt completely consumed by passion? Have you been floored that you could feel that much? 

Write it. Make your characters feel that. 

And if you haven’t experienced, no worries. As writers we create. Create that feeling, that passion, with so much clarity that your readers are caught up in the maelstrom of emotions and conflict, both internal and external, the anticipation and frustration, that they are squirming in their seats desperate for release, too.

We write sexual tension by overstimulating our characters’ senses with each other. We have (at least) five senses to work with. Go play and have fun working your characters into a frenzy over each other. Remember, sensuality trumps sexuality in the sexual tension game, so work with your characters’ senses!

Love (or lust) amplifies everything, it takes ordinary situations and experiences and blitzes the system with feeling. Everything is more intense because there is an underlying feeling that is inexplicable, and impacts everything, it amplifieseverything. Sexual tension is part of that. Write it.

A few things to note:

Direct the sexual tension where you want it to go, not where you don’t. Don’t ‘conflict’ your characters into a corner they cannot get out of. Or a corner where your reader looses interest.

Throw your readers enough bones. Teasing your readers and characters is one thing, but they need something to tide them through. Sexual tension ebbs and flows. Heightening satisfaction includes the sensual dance of push and pull. Keep your reader actively engaged in this drama by keeping it rolling. Too much pushing with no pull will disengage your reader. Keep them engaged and wanting more.

Check otherwise “non-sexy” scenes and see if there is opportunity to heighten your hero and heroine’s awareness of each other. Sexual tension builds. Utilize the opportunities for it to build in your story.

Condom are sexy. Romance novels now include responsible, safe sex. Have fun writing condoms into your sizzling scenes.

Exquisitely craft your sexual tension scenes. Your characters, and your readers, will thank you. Happy Writing!

For more information, check out:

Juliet Burns, Sexual Tension – You want his WHAT to go WHERE? ©

 HYPERLINK "http://www.julietburns.com/tension.html" http://www.julietburns.com/tension.html

Connie Flynn, Creating Sensual Tension 

 HYPERLINK "http://www.theromanceclub.com/writers/articles/art0023.htm"http://www.theromanceclub.com/writers/articles/art0023.htm

Marg Riseley , The Exquisite Heat of Sexual Tension

 HYPERLINK "http://www.likesbooks.com/tension.html" http://www.likesbooks.com/tension.html

10 Steps to Overcoming Writer’s Shyness by guest author Lorraine Paton

It is with great pleasure that I introduce my friend and fellow author Lorraine Paton. She is an incredible woman and I am absolutely giddy she has released her first book! I met lorraine through the Alberta Romance Writers' Association. We have taught and taken workshops together, sat on the ARWA board together, we are in the same awesome critique group and will be team-teaching Writing Sexual Tension, Heightening Your Readers' Satisfaction at the When Words Collide conference in Calgary, August 9, 2013.

So, without further ado, I introduce to you Lorraine Paton!

10 Steps to Overcoming Writer’s Shyness

By Lorraine Paton

Thank you, Sarah, for having me on your blog today!  I’m thrilled to be here! 

As a newbie writer, I was anxious about sharing my writing with other people, particularly other writers, and now my debut novel has been recently released! It has been quite the journey! So, I thought I’d share the ten steps I took to overcome my writing shyness: 

1) Friends and Family

For me, the safest place to start sharing my writing was with friends and family… probably because usually they usually said they loved it!  They wanted to encourage me, and that is a wonderful thing.  

The one challenge was that if they sensed a problem with what I'd written (and I'm sure there were a lot of problems in those early pages), they didn't always understand how to define what it is because they didn't really know writing terms nor had they studied the craft of writing.  

I didn’t ask questions of those first readers, and, truth be told, I probably didn’t want to know if they didn’t like my story. I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.  At this stage in my writing, I still had a lot to learn, but I was excited about my writing and the joy of creating stories, and I instinctually wanted to share on some level. Having friends and family read my early work was a "feel good" way to start sharing.

2) Application for Writing Group

When I joined the Alberta Romance Writers’ Association (ARWA), I needed to submit pages to the Membership Chair in order to become a full member.  I wanted to be a full member, so I sucked it up and submitted my 50 pages.  Even though I knew my pages would not be critiqued—and, at the time, I thanked God for that!  It was nerve-wracking, but well worth it!

3) Ask Someone Knowledgeable for Feedback

My next step was to approach the founder of my writing group, Judith Duncan, and ask her to read the first few chapters of two of my stories.  She was experienced at mentoring newbie writers, and was very encouraging.  Her feedback was fantastic.  It helped me step back from my stories and she was able to identify opportunities for growth. 

4) Brainstorm with Other People

This was a fun and safe way to share parts of my story (like characters, plot, internal / external conflicts, etc.) with other writers or friends.  Sure, the other people weren’t actually reading my words, but they were giving my valuable feedback on character development or plot twists, helping me overcome clichés or big picture problems.  And, this helped build my confidence that the fundamental building blocks of my story were strong.

5) Share Excerpts with a Great Writing Group

In ARWA, we occasionally have roundtable discussions or feedback sessions.  During those meetings, members are encouraged to bring in usually one to two pages to share.  What is great about ARWA is that it is a safe and supportive community, so the comments are monitored and people are encouraged to stay positive.  Doling out little bits of my writing to fellow writers for comment kept it from becoming too overwhelming when I was still learning how to accept feedback.

6) Critique Group

One of the single best things I did was find a critique group that suited me.  Sarah Kades and two other writers are in mine.  We send approximately 10 pages to the other members. We read and comment the other submissions, and then we meet to discuss the pages.  This is a fascinating process because it really highlights how individual the reading process is – what one person loves, another might hate.  So, I’m glad I waited until I felt a little more confident in my writing and knowledge of the craft, so I could understand how to address the problems other people find. And, it really opened my eyes to the fact that my writing will never please everyone, and I can’t write in such a way that it will.  This shouldn’t have been a surprise, since there are books by best selling authors that I don’t enjoy, so why would I expect my writing to be different? That said, this process has also been incredibly encouraging, particularly when I submit something that resonates with each of my critique partners.  What a great feeling!

7) Blog Hop

I signed up for a blog hop called Six Sentence Sunday, which is sadly now defunct.  On the blog hop, we were required to post exactly six sentences.  I’d sweat those six sentences every week, but at the same time, the premise of the exercise was brilliant. You could sign up as and when you wanted, and chose any six sentences you wanted. The other authors who visited my blog to read my sentences were incredibly supportive, and I count many of the people I’d met through that blog hop as friends.  Although Six Sentence Sunday isn't around any more, there are still a lot of similar opportunities out there.

8) Enter a Contest

I entered an online contest where other people had the chance to read and vote on the submissions.  Although I didn’t final in the contest, I still count the experience as a huge success!  Not only did I put my words in front of tons of people, but also complete strangers contacted me on Twitter to let me know how much they enjoyed my story and others asked me where they could buy the book.  Woo hoot! 

9) Beta Readers

So, here I come full circle.  I asked some friends who were not writers to read my books again after I thought I was finished my billionth round of edits (but knew there would always be room for more changes).  This time, though, I gave my readers specific questions and encouraged them to let me know if they hated – and, if they did it, where?  You see, now I am further along in my knowledge of the craft of writing and feel better able to decipher and understand problems that are not already translated into writer-speak. And, perhaps naively, I feel confident that I could probably fix damn-near anything in my manuscript.

10) Publish!

And, now, after all of this, I’m excited to announce I’m at a point in my journey where I've entered into publishing.  I’m sending my book out into the big wide world, where anyone could read it – or review it! More importantly, I’m excited about it!  Go figure!  

Author Lorraine Paton

Lorraine's Bio:

Lorraine Paton's debut contemporary romance novel, Devin's Second Chance, was released in June 2013 and the next book in her Morning Lake series, Annie's Christmas Plan, will be available this fall.  Lorraine lives with her husband in Alberta, which is also the setting for her novels.  When she is not refereeing fights between her two cats or having fun on social media, Lorraine can be found working on several other happily-ever-after books.  

You can connect with Lorraine on: 

Her Blog: http://www.lorrainepaton.com/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/patonlorraine 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LorrainePaton.Author 

Or, by subscribing to her newsletter: http://eepurl.com/tYuqP

 

 

Devin's Second Chance

Cowboy Devin Trent’s life has been stuck for years, unchanged since his unfaithful wife died, and he is determined to keep it that way - an ever-present reminder of why he doesn’t deserve a second chance at love.  Claire Best, by contrast, is in turmoil – she is renting her house to summer folk, she is planning a big fundraiser, and her doctor has discovered something that needs to be investigated.  

Pulled together by the fundraiser, Claire’s teenage renter, and Devin’s matchmaking mom, their immediate attraction quickly escalates to more, but Claire fears her own health worries will only resurrect Devin’s pain and grief over his wife’s final days and she is willing to sacrifice her own happiness to protect him.

Can they overcome their pasts and listen to their hearts before their happily-ever-after slips away?

You can find Devin's Second Chance at: 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DEI4BCI 

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Devins-Second-Chance/book-zKwUutiErk-DimMMCcmcaA/page1.html?s=pICsvlfEBkyoqqZx7yehrw&r=1 

All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-devin039ssecondchance-1222664-149.html

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/326435

Special Guest Diana Cranstoun, Two Weeks of WWII Food Rations

I've written before on the vibrant writing community that is in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I met today's special blog guest Diana Cranstoun when I joined Alberta Romance Writers' Association (ARWA) four years ago. She is a joy and an inspiration. I am honored to call her friend and to have her as a guest on my blog today! 

For those interested in World War II, you are in good company, as that is of particular interest to Diana, the main topic she writes about, and what prompted her to earlier this month eat only WWII food rations. For more information on Diana, visit her at dianacranstoun.com.

Please welcome Diana Cranstoun:

Firstly, many thanks for inviting me to guest blog on your site, Sarah.  I’m very excited about it!  As to what to write about...

Although I grew up in Glasgow 20 years after the Second World War ended, it’s not really surprising that particular war has always fascinated me.  On my daily walk to school I passed several gardens that still had air-raid shelters in them. When my history teacher asked my class how many of our fathers had been at Dunkirk, at least a dozen hands (including my own) shot into the air. And although the rebuilt stonework was fairly well matched, it was obvious where a landmine had taken out a tenement building on the street where my mother was born. 

The soldier/sailor/airman’s experience of those years is well documented, but those of the women they left behind, not so much. Perhaps that’s what was in the back of my mind when I decided to limit myself to wartime rations for a two week period.  What must it have been like trying to feed your family during that time?  (BTW, rationing in Britain continued until 1954, nine years after the war ended.)

Weekly allowance of rationed food for a British adult during WWII.
Photo by Diana Cranstoun

The weekly allowance of rationed food for a British adult consisted of: 8oz meat, 4oz ham or bacon, 2oz butter, 2oz cheese, 4oz margarine, 4oz cooking fat, 3 pints milk, 8oz sugar, 1lb jam every 2 months, 2oz tea, 1 egg, 3oz sweets.  Bread and vegetables (locally produced/in season) were not rationed and formed the basis of the diet.  Certain tinned foods were available on a points system. Although proteins e.g. eggs were rationed, that didn’t mean they were always available.

The first week was a challenge trying to juggle everything so I didn’t run out of rations, but by the second week I was starting to get the hang of it, and I learned a lot from the experience.  Preparation and cooking from scratch every day was very time consuming.  I had the luxury of a fridge, microwave and being able to buy all my groceries in one trip to the shops, but that wasn’t the case for the women during the war. Even harder if you were holding down a full-time job as well.

But perhaps the greatest thing I got out of the experience were the memories my aunt supplied.  She was a child during the war and had some unexpected tales to tell. 

One story I remembered my mother telling me, and which has always stuck in my head, was her experience during the Clydebank Blitz.  She was a young mother of a six month-old baby at the time. The night of the blitz, my grandmother gathered the whole family onto mattresses in the hall as the bombs fell. If they were going to die, they would die together.  (This was about half a mile away from the landmine mentioned above.)

My aunt, eleven years of age at the time, remembers the event differently.   We all gathered in the ‘safest’ place in the house but I several times made an excuse to go to the bathroom so I could see the searchlights and the glow of the fires. Ah the resilience of youth!

Oh yes, and then there was her story of the pheasant . . . !

Workshop: Writing Sexual Tension, Heightening Your Readers' Satisfaction

*Special 
Pre-Festival Workshop

Writing Sexual Tension, Heightening Your Readers' Satisfaction

Lorraine Paton

Sarah Kades

In this three-hour workshop, ARWA's Sarah Kades and Lorraine Paton introduce techniques for creating believable sexual tension between characters by exploring the use of sensuality, emotions, and more. Come, learn how to satisfy your readers, and be emboldened.

Workshop will take place on Friday, August 9th at the Carriage House Inn from 9 AM - 12 PM, just prior to the festival.

You can register for this workshop at http://www.whenwordscollide.org/spec_workshop.php, or you can make out a cheque for $10 to "Alberta Romance Writers' Association" and mail it prior to July 31, 2013 to:

Alberta Romance Writers' Association c/o When Words Collide c/o The Sentry Box 1835-10th Ave SW, Calgary, Alberta T3C 0K2 Canada

Note: This workshop is presented by ARWA for the low, low registration fee of $10 and is made possible through an agreement with When Words Collide.

Why I Write Romance Novels Set in the Great Outdoors

I write romance novels and novellas set in the natural world, the great outdoors. Why? Because every time I sit down to write, I get to connect with places like this picture and it makes me really happy. 

It also gives me the opportunity to share my love of this beautiful world with my readers.

Have fun out there! Happy Reading, Happy Hiking!

Sarah Kades with Family and Friends in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canadian Rockies

W. Brett Wilson Chats With ARWA

Thursday night ARWA (Alberta Romance Writers' Association) was pleased to welcome W. Brett Wilson to chat with our group. 

I have to admit I had no idea what to expect, and I imagine we were not his usual audience. But my personal evening started with a good long walk in the balmy Calgary air and going out for beers with a couple fellow writers. So, the night was a success before I even got to ARWA. Excellent.

Sarah Kades, W. Brett Wilson, Lorraine Paton at ARWA.

Enter Brett. Entrepreneur, philanthropist, former Dragon (CBC TV Show Dragon's Den), and author of Redefining Success. . .  in a room full of romance writers. How is this going to go?

Brett told his stories, shared  insights, lessons learned, wisdom culled, listened to our questions, answered thoughtfully, and through the evening, quietly took us for a walk along on his journey. It was a thoughtful, inspiring, and a rather awesome night.

A few highlights stick out for me and inspired my own self-reflection. . . 

Priorities

Priorities was a big one. Getting them in order, straight in our head, so to speak, and having our actions match our priorities. I've been asking myself this same question, too. What are your priorities? Are they in line with how you want to live your life? Are you rocking it or blowing it? What are you spending your time on? Mindfully prioritize, live, adjust as necessary, repeat.

The Power of a Word

The importance of word choice was another. Although the context was in labels (e.g. corporate social opportunity instead of corporate social responsibility), he spoke of the importance of using the right word. Writers practice that, but for me, it goes farther. Words have power. They are energy. Take care to use the word you really want to use so you communicate exactly what you want, not what you don't. 

Words have Power and Energy

There are numerous books and authors that address this concept. I'll mention one here, Masaru Emoto. His books on water crystal healing speaks to the impact energy, in the form of thoughts and words, have on water, on us, and the world around us. Emoto's books ask we take care in what we are communicating, what energy we are sending out with our words and thoughts. Makes sense to me. Send out love and up the frequency of all around, send out grump and tank the vibe of what's around you. To be clear, I have no idea Brett's take on water crystals and happy thoughts, he did not go there. My brain did.

What is Your Frame of Reference?

It was interesting to hear an entrepreneur's angle, side to some of the topics. It reminded me when I was working on an interdisciplinary academic grant project years ago that included archaeologists, geo-archaeologists and geographers. Several profs, with like a million years of higher learning among them, all from different backgrounds, stared at a single soil stain and gave their theory on what it was from. Each one explained the anomaly with theories from their chosen field. Makes sense, you explain with your frame of reference. But for a bystander it was a fascinating anthropological study. And quite a show. Our history, our background, frames our experiences, gives us lenses from which we view the world around us. Of course we can choose to broaden our views and maximize our possibilities. But it helps to remember if we are looking at a soil stain as a physical geographer, it might not dawn on us the stain could be from, say, a boil pit. 

How are you viewing the world?

When We are Lucky, Books Help Us on Our Own Journey

He mentioned people have resonated with the book, some a bit surprised about it. Nicely done. A sneak attack of resonance is fun. 

This might be cheesy to pull one of my own quotes, but I'm going to because it fits. "The written word, like all forms of art, has the ability to move people, take them to a place they couldn't or wouldn't get on their own. Good books take our hand and lead us on an incredible journey. When we are lucky, they help us on our journey." 

I have no idea if this one is going to do that for you or me, but it sounds like it certainly has for some.

Overall, great night of reflection, sharing, and inspiration. Am I looking forward to reading the book, yes. Am I looking forward to redefining my success, oh yeah.

Thanks Brett and thanks ARWA. ;)

PS, I dig hyphens, too.

PPS, Honor your writing process.  Whatever it is, whatever path it leads you on, it is perfect. Sometimes writing a book is as much about the journey and getting there, as it is about your end product. Honor that. Some chapters are 900 drafts of journey. Some fly out of us and we nail it the first round. Books are teachers for the reader and writer, when we let them be. 

Happy Reading, Happy Writing!

Valentine's Wine and Cheese in Vegreville, Alberta!

What would a romance author do on Valentine's Weekend? Attend a library fundraiser Wine and Cheese of course!! I am delighted to be the guest author at the Vegreville Centennial Library's Valentine Fundraiser on February 9th! Come join us for a lovely evening. 

Napkin Dispenser, Hot Dude Trapped Inside, Feisty Rescuer, Danger Lurks

This was my first short story and a blast to write. It stemmed from a couple writing exercises during a workshop with ARWA and took off. Characters and stories have a way of doing that. The references to "25" were in honor of ARWA's 25th Anniversary. Happy 25th ARWA!

Some napkin dispensers hold napkins, others have gorgeous heros locked inside. Shay just wanted to grab a bite to eat and pretend her life was safe. She never expected to be responsible for rescuing a handsome hero. Eric has had enough of being in the wrong place at the wrong time; he’s locked in a napkin dispenser for goodness sakes. It might be worth it, though, he’s falling fast and hard for his feisty rescuer. But a sinister force threatens them both; will true love save them in time?

Duke Out at the Diner, A Short Story, is now available on Amazon. Happy Reading!