Earth Day Tribute

Last week’s Sunday Six honored Earth Day by – er – being earthy. Since I was out of town, I didn’t get to post. However, I thought I’d go ahead a post my Earthy Six a week late. Actually, I spent the week playing in the great outdoors with a few hundred 8th graders and a few handfuls of adults possessing a spirit of adventure.

I hiked, climbed, white-water rafted, and rode horses. I enjoyed fabulous sunsets and relished the clouds and rain rolling in over the mountain view.

However, we all know that a great many other activities can be conducted outside. I didn’t get involved with “those” activities last week. As I said, I was with a bunch of teenagers. I also had to leave the dear husband at home. I do, however, I have a mini-vacation for just the two of us planned back in those majestic mountains – a get-away consisting of all kinds of outdoor activities – wink, wink.

The following books contain some of my favorite outdoor trysts. Read on for inspiration for worshiping of each other romantically in the presence of Mother Earth.

The first outdoor escapade that comes to mind is Karen Marie Moning’s first love scene between Drusten and Gwen in Kiss of the Highlander. He’s inadvertently traveled forward in time. He’s a five century old Highlander. She’s a modern day woman on a quest to find the right man to -- uh – you know. They make love for the first time in a circle of runes as he prepares to travel back to his own time. It’s his first exposure to thongs. It’s her first exposure to just about everything. The rest of the book is fabulous as they enter his time, but he can’t remember who she is. The book is one of my favorites. I should go dig it out and reread it.

The second scene is fresh on my mind as I’ve recently read it. In Susan Elizabeth’s Phillip’s Match Me if You Can. Annabelle Granger and Heath Champion find themselves unable to resist each other as they share a cabin on Annabelle’s book club retreat. Heath invited himself along and after a night out of exploring the wild side with her friends, Annabelle finds herself unable to resist Heath as they explore, er, the great outdoors from the mattress Heath had tossed onto the porch.

In Flashpoint, a knock-out novel by Suzanne Brockmann, Jimmy and Tess find themselves up against a wall – literally. Jimmy has just rescued Tess from a Middle-East jail. Both are so relieved that they find themselves unable to control their passion in the middle of a sandstorm.

While not an actual love scene, the chase through the woods in Blue Moon by Laurell K. Hamilton sets up the following love scene perfectly. Anita basically throws down a gauntlet challenging Richard, her on again-off again werewolf boyfriend to catch her before any of the rest of his pack catches her. The first one to catch her gets her – in bed. Anita is just a little possessed by the spirit of the sadistic, but dead, former lupa of the pack. It’s a race through the woods from the lunipar to the cabin where Anita is staying. In the end, Richard can’t imagine anyone else being with Anita, and he manages to catch her. So, the love scene is sort of in the woods, but it’s the chase the heats up the tension.

In Sunny Chandler’s Return, Sandra Brown writes one of the hottest-nonsex sexual tension scenes I’ve read. Sunny and Ty flirt on the dock of the house where she is staying. He’s made a bet with a buddy that he’ll have her, and she’s vowed it won’t happen. However, in that flirt scene, you might as well be out there in the sun with them because you’ll definitely feel the heat.

Whew! This is getting difficult. I obviously need to seek out more books with great outdoor love scenes. I’m sure that after I post this, I’ll think of a dozen I could have listed, but oh, well, here’s the last one.

Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer’s first collaboration, Don’t Look Down, chronicles the love story of Lucy Armstrong and J.T. Wilder. I’ve read hotter love scenes before, but what I love about this one is that Lucy decides she wants J.T. and treks out into the swamp where he is camping to find him. I like it when women go for what they want. I like that she put herself out there and pursued him into the swamp for their first time. Nice touch.

Well, that wraps it up. Can you think of others? Post them here.

Happy reading and writing,
Macy

Getting Ready for the RWA Conference

As Jackie mentioned, four or five of us are going to the RWA conference in July. It's my first writing conference ever, and it'll be the first time I meet the members of my online writing group in person. We'll tell you all about that when all is said and done. I'm looking forward to it.

I've been pouring over the workshops and ranking choices. I've changed my mind about a couple rankings and then changed it back again. It's so hard to decide! To help me decide, I looked up a lot of the presenters and accumulated a list of quotes that I liked. I decided to share some of them, plus a couple of links. They inspired me at just the right moment as I'm almost done with my first draft and I've come to the startling realization that it sucks. Ha!

No worries, I am "fearless" (not really, but sorta) and I know how to hang tough. Oh, and I definitely know how to fill a screen with bad pages. Don't know what I'm talking about? Read on--

First up a quote, actually several excerpts from an article, by Jane Porter.

I've learned to hang tough. . . If we want to make it, we have to dig in, hang on, and hang tight.

Some writers sell easily. Some writers write easily. And there are those of us who have to claw our way to the top and I don't mean by clawing over each other, but by clawing up, like a rock climber, hand over fist, inching our way up the impossible vertical slope, grappling with the cliff as though our life depended on it. And in a way, our lives do depend on it, our writing lives.

We as writers have to be willing to take risks. We have to be willing to strike out on our own. . .

We are artists AND businesswomen and in our line of work we can't separate the two, because frankly, we're not writing for vanity press. We're writing to sell. Most of us want to make money writing. We want careers as writers and we want to find our right niche.

Climbing the vertical slope to publishing can be miserable. It's exhausting, physically and emotionally. It's challenging. It's disappointing. So pick your climbing partners carefully. My real writer friends are all smart and funny, tough, honest, and more than a little gritty. They want to write and they want to succeed and they won't accept no.

The serious writer doesn't walk away from the craft or the challenge. The serious writer reaches deep inside, finds the courage, renews the vision, and taps into the heart. We write romance because we believe in the miracle of love.

Attitude in this business is everything. Those who look forward, those who challenge themselves, those who don't make excuses, those who believe, will succeed.

Ignore dismal market statistics (the market is always tight!).

Hard work pays off. Positive thinking is essential, as is sheer grit. Don't ever give up. Don't quit. Don't stop believing in yourself. Real writers hang tough.

Obviously, lots of good stuff in there that applies to me. I'm a grasping rock climber sort of writer -- I learn about my characters and their conflicts as I climb. Setting descriptions don't come easy. Dialogue flows, but I put in a lot of superfluous stuff. Sigh. Fortunately, I have true grit, so thanks Jane.

Here's some similarly fabulous writing advice from Cathy Maxwell --

My one piece of advice to anyone involved in a writing career is to be fearless. It takes guts to put yourself out there for everyone to read. And no, the crowd doesn't always roar approval . . . but when they do-it's sweet.

What exactly is involved in fearlessness? Well, here are the components I include in my definition of the word:

1. Vision. Know where you are going and why you want to get there. Keep your eye on the prize and not on the grind of everyday ups and downs.
2. Passion. Believe in what you are writing. Have something to say to your readers. Hold nothing back and do not flinch from the truth. Live for the moment when your story comes together--and struggle with the words until you get there.
3. Optimism. Reach for the stars. Never give up. Believe in yourself even when all others are ready to count you out. . . Go forward with conviction.
4. A strong work ethic. I know brilliant writers who've never gotten past re-working a first chapter over and over again. . . A book is written one painstaking, exasperating word after another. We write in fits and starts, in endless marathons, and when the rest of the world is living normally. Sometimes what is on the screen is crap; sometimes it's brilliant; sometimes it's passable. That's the way it is.
5. Courage. Here's the heart of it. Don't be afraid of writing or life. Be willing to stretch yourself and to take risks. Nothing is more boring than a writer who doesn't challenge herself. Use your individuality to a competitive advantage and remember that whatever happens the sun will rise tomorrow.

I love that. All of it. I left out a few lines so make sure you go to Cathy's web site and check out everything.

I also love the following quote from SEP, on her ALL ABOUT ME page--

NORA ROBERTS SAYS, "I can fix a bad page, but I can't fix a blank one." I found the courage to fill my screen with bad pages on those days when my mind was mush, then trust myself to fix them later.

Hello? Even SEP has mush mind days.

Last but not least, a quote from Joan Johnston, which provides a great reason to go to the conference--

A lot of what I learned, I learned from going to writing conferences where a lot of my favorite authors - like Sandra Brown, Nora Roberts, LaVyrle Spencer, and Roberta Gellis - would give speeches. I'd go to seminars and learn how to write better conflict…how to write better characters…how to create better settings…how to keep the narrative together with the narrative, and the dialogue with the dialogue…how to speed up the book with dialogue and slow it down with narrative…how to do verisimilitude: don't just say 'the church,' say 'the First Presbyterian Church on the corner.' But I also read over 1500 romance novels before I wrote my first novel."

Also, check out this interesting interview with editor, Hilary Sares, at Dishing with the Divas AND this article on Honing Your Pitch by Winnie Griggs.

It's going to be a great conference with some great presenters, no?

Cheers, happy writing and happy conference planning,
Alyson

Lovin' the Planet

Yesterday I said I'd be back with my "Sunday Six" of hot, outdoor love scenes. I was wrong. I've been busy and I just couldn't come up with six without doing extensive research-- or at least some research which I didn't manage today. Instead, I offer you another "six" in lieu of the hot, outdoor love scenes. ( Jackie may still come up with some for your perusing pleasure.) They have nothing to do with romance but they have a lot to do with loving the planet:)

Here are six "environment& ecology" reads that I recommend in addition to picking up a copy of the Green Pages, which is a directory of green products and businesses, and watching An Inconvenient Truth, the academy award-winning film.

1. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
2. Hoot by Carl Hiassen
3. The Great Kapok Tree and A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry
4. anything by Barbara Kingsolver but especially Small Wonder, Prodigal Summer, or her latest, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
5. The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiesson
6. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Cheers and happy writing (and reading),
Alyson

Outdoor Amore

Outdoor Amore... in honor of earth day Alyson and Macy came up with the Blog topic of "Best outdoor lovemaking scenes". This topic is a bit difficult for me for two reasons. Number 1: I think I am in the early stages of Alzheimer's - I literally have a memory of a sieve. Number 2: since we live in a 1000 square foot military house with little to no storage, anything that is not absolutely needed is donated, pitched or sold. Very unfortunately...this includes most of my books. So, although I may not be able to give you the exact titles and authors, I can give you the setting, in most cases.

1. Hannah Howell is a master at lovemaking scenes. Her specialty seems to be outdoor and, uhm, creative, lovemaking. She seems to also have a knack for food-lovemaking. I no longer have my Hanna Howell collection to reference, but any of the 13 or so books in her highlander series offer a foray of outdoor “activities”. There are numerous lovemaking sessions under the trees in the dark outside edges of a military encampments. With only a blanket or the long wraps of the Hero’s plaid to cover them, or conceal their activity, these scenes could appeal to someone who likes to live on the edge of danger.

2. I can not remember the particular author, but there were three books in her series. She has had several scenes from separate books, where her hero and heroine are making love besides a freezing cold loch in Northern Scotland after bathing. Her heroes must be very well endowed or her heroines must be hotter than Aphrodite, for after a dip in 40 degree water, there is noting holding these couples back. These scenes will warm you up in the middle of a North Dakota Blizzard.

3. Shannon Drake is my next recommendation for tumbling in nature. Under the moonlight, in a grassy clearing of the wood, her hero and heroine laid bare their souls and the rest of their bodies. This seems to be the most romantic setting to me. Who doesn’t look good in moonlight? The soft wind blowing through the grass and gently rustling the leaves. Quiet, sensual lovemaking. The kind that lulls you softly to sleep when you are finished. mmmmmm......

4. Jackie D’ Alessandro wrote a great scene in the Love and the Single Heiress about making love in a hot water spring outside in a garden. It was very sensual. My heart was racing the whole time because the story took place in Regency England, and I was terrified they would get caught by prying eyes or by the antagonist who was trying to kill the heroine. In the water lovemaking is very sensual, but hard to imagine.

5. I can not remember the novel’s name or the author’s name, but there was a historical novel set in 1700s of Italy where the heroine and hero made love in a grotto by the sea. The details of the grotto, the waves crashing along the rocks, and the silky sand still stand out in my mind today. What a beautiful place to consummate your passion.

6. The last on my list is a shameful advertisement for myself, Jacqueline McDermott - My Father’s Bride. The Waterfall scene. Details - well, you will have to wait and read the book to find out. :o)

Happy Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, Macy and I had decided to celebrate the great outdoors via our "Sunday Six" by listing memorably hot, hot, hot outdoor love scenes. Unfortunately, Macy is away on business and I'm super swamped so I may not get my official six up until late tonight or during nap time tomorrow. If you would like to weigh in today, please feel free to do so. Got any hot outdoor love scenes you'd like to share? I immediately thought of the first kiss between Jessica and Dain in Lord of the Scoundrels and a few personal experiences, uh -- oops, sorry, too much information. No worries, I'm working on the others from romance fiction.

For now, to celebrate Earth Day, I leave you with this link -- check out Green E: the Environmental Elvis. We saw him today at the Planet for the Party at Brookfield Zoo, and he was fun. Dante, my three-year-old, was thrilled because he got to dance and play bird maracas on stage.

I'm off to a neighborhood shindig. It's in the mid-eighties in Chicago. Chicagoans are out and about in full force because 'round here you never know -- it could be snowing next weekend. It's been known to happen.

I'll be back.

Cheers and happy writing,
Alyson

Woe, woe, woe . . .

Woe is me!

Once again Friday is here, it's my turn to blog and I'm at a loss. You see, I've done a rather crazy thing, and now I can't make heads or tails of the results. I'm in a writing group called Affairs of the Pen, and this, obviously, is our blog. However, awhile back I realized that I needed something more to help me plow through the first draft to the end. For that reason, I signed up for a writing workshop. So far, so good. We meet weekly, turn in work, submit critiques on other's work, receive little writing mini-lessons, yada, yada, yada. Of course, no one in the workshop reads or writes romance or chick lit. Therefore, I contacted someone that another writer acquaintance had introduced me to via email. I met the writer acquaintance through Writer's Digest's online writing classes last fall. She writes young adult but her friend writes mysteries with strong romantic elements and romantic suspense--sort of. Her friend-- we'll call her Cassie-- and I share a similar quirky sense of humor. She and I have been exchanging our work. She's also in an online writing group. She asked me to join but I said my plate was full. However, when I decided to enter a contest and she gave me feedback in a turnaround time of two days, I agreed to submit my work to her group. Now, honestly, I'm not sure what I think of contests, especially at my stage in the game. I personally think every single person in my writing group writes way better than me -- but I'm nothing if not determined, energetic, persistent and generally up for a daunting challenge. Turns out everyone in Cassie's writing group is a master critiquer. I received five crits in record time. Besides that, four people in my writing workshop re-critiqued my work and Samantha from AoTP sent me some comments this morning. I'm most familiar with Samantha and her critiques, and she always gives sage advice, so I processed her comments pretty quickly. (They were great comments.) The problem is I have so many comments from the others and the opinions are all over the place. I should really be on the treadmill at the moment, attempting to synthesize-- which is why I can't think of a damn thing to blog about. My mind is swirling. I have crits all over my office. . . .

Exhale.

Oh, and did I mention that I gave different portions of my little "test market" different opening scenes, and now I don't what in the hell I'm doing with the opening scene? All the reviews are mixed. Did I also mention that I inadvertently gave everyone slightly different drafts because my computer files are a mess?

Exhale.

Oh, and did I mention I have a stack of crits to do for others?

Exhale.

Why do I this sort of thing to myself? Hmmmm.

Actually, it's all good. I thrive on Herculean tasks and a certain amount of chaos, but I didn't pull it together in time to come up with a fascinating blog topic and now the clock is ticking and the dear husband is getting ready for a gig, and I'm on toddler duty so this is the mess with which I will have to leave you.

If you want something more interesting to think about skip down to Macy's blog on climaxes :)

Or check out the responses of the Bitchery and Stephen King to the media's notion that Cho's creative writing should have been an indication that he was capable of the Virginia Tech massacre.

Or read up on the most romantic stories ever and contribute to the Smart Bitches "official" list.

Or read up on alpha male characters, in general, or tortured alpha males, in specific, at Romancing the blog.

I have to hit the treadmill, before the hubbie takes off or I'm going to have a major headache and I'm going to be preoccupied all night :)

Cheers and happy writing,
Alyson

Plotting and Climax (yes, that climax)

I love the blog round-ups that Alyson sometimes does. I'm only rounding up one today, but I thought I’d comment on one blog that really resonated with me.

Check at the latest post over at Murderati. The post has been getting a lot of play and discussion on some loops, so today when I finally got some free time, I checked it out. Robert Gregory Browne compares the three act structure to love-making. (Wait! Don’t click over there yet. Read my blog first!)

I like his analogy. He says:

We're often reminded in how-to books that the typical story is broken
into three acts:
Set-up, Confrontation, and Resolution. Sounds pretty cold and uncaring, doesn't it? Not to mention dull.

But what if we were to beat the lovemaking analogy into the ground
and refer to the three acts in this way:
Seduction, Foreplay, and Climax.

Ok. Is that a good analogy or what?

Seduction: What he says boils down to – seduce your readers with a character they wouldn’t mind getting into bed with and who carries an air of mystery.

Foreplay: I have problems with my middle, but somehow thinking of act two as foreplay, well, that does put a whole new spin on things. I don’t particularly like writing act two, but I love foreplay. If I think of the middle as foreplay, then suddenly it becomes the good stuff. Oh, yeah, I’m there.

Climax: In order to even get the reader here, doesn’t the seduction and foreplay have to be pretty damn good? Yeah. And then your climax (love the double meaning) is the ultimate experience, the one that will get your lover, er, reader, back again.

Ok – I love this analogy. Since I write romance, it’s easy to sit down and think about seduction, foreplay, and of course, climax.

If I think about it this way, it makes plotting sound more fun. I’m not really a plotter. I can now admit that.

And, it’s not just books.

I laugh when my friends call me anal and organized. How can they look at my desk and say that? I’ve tried to figure out why people perceive me this way for years. I literally can’t file anything and find it again. At my day job, I work with a woman whose gift is filing – really, I’m serious. Can I say “life saver”? She doesn’t like the creative aspect of what we do so much – well maybe she does, but the ideas roar through my head, whereas hers enter at a more reasonable pace.

I guess it should be no surprise that plotting is a thorn in my side. I think that friends call me anal because I have a need to have things go right. I don’t always need a plan for that. My organization occurs in my head. It did in school. It does at work. I’m pretty flexible as far as seeing what’s working and not working and intuitively making adjustments. I’m learning to do that as a writer, but part of me still feels like I’m not as good as others because I can’t do the plot-it-all-out thing.

I’ve always said I have mad scientist organization. I see something I think will work better, I just turn down that path. It works for me in the day job and at home. It worked when I was a student (3 college degrees ought to be proof).

On vacations I want to know where I’m going, how to get there, generally, so if I take a wrong turn I can still find my way. However, I don’t want every minute of every day planned. That really zaps the fun for me. It’s one reason I get so tired when I vacation with my mom and sister-in-law. They don’t leave any room for discovery. I’m sure I drive them crazy, too, with my, Ooh, looks and wondering offs.

Where am I going with this meandering tale?

To seduction, foreplay, and climax, of course.

I think I can plot this way. It will work like this:

How will I seduce my readers and my characters? The goal will be to get them to the point where “yes” looks very good and “no” not so swell. It seems the first turning point ought to be where the reader and characters say, “Yep, I’m going down this road because, damn, I’m more than just a little turned on and compelled.”

Then, looking at the middle as foreplay will really help. How do I tease them just a little more? How do I draw them in? Can I make them beg?

Finally. Yeah, that’s it. Damn, they’re finally there and it’s every bit as good as they thought it would be. Climax.

Yep, this panster can plot that.

Macy