From Kaye Spencer - #mailorderbride Western Romance anthology

This collection has four wonderful novellas about women who find themselves in the odd circumstance of needing themselves a husband, and grooms who must have a bride--or else!

A woman would have to be loco to become a mail-order bride...wouldn't she? Leaving everything behind and starting fresh in the untamed west is the answer to a prayer for these ladies! A beautiful socialite needs a husband fast —but her husband wants a bride for life. A pregnant young lady becomes desperate —almost as desperate as her soon-to-be husband, who just inherited his sister's kids. A man is in love with a woman he can’t have —or can he? A woman’s reputation is tarnished and professional career compromised —she runs, but she can't hide. Will they all find love with strangers they've never met who are set on LASSOING A MAIL-ORDER BRIDE?

THESE ROUGH DREAMS—Cheryl Pierson
A pregnant mail order bride. A groom with three orphaned children. Some dreams get a rough start
HER HURRY-UP HUSBAND—Tanya Hanson
A beautiful socialite needs a husband fast —for just one month —but the rancher wants a wife for life!
A PERMANENT WOMAN—Kaye Spencer
He needs a wife to get custody of his grandchildren. She needs a fresh start and a new reputation. Desperate men — and women — sometimes take desperate measures...but can she be A PERMANENT WOMAN?
THE BIG UNEASY—Kathleen Rice Adams
A man in love with a woman he can’t have. A woman engaged to a man she doesn’t love. A secret in common could destroy them all.

EXCERPT from A Permanent Woman

“Excuse me. Mr. Perlman directed me here. I’m responding to an advertisement in the Matrimony Courier. Are you Simon Driscoll?”

Simon closed his eyes, fortifying himself to face another woman with a façade of interest. “Yes, I’m Simon Driscoll. Your name?”

“Tessa Morris.”

He opened his eyes, frowning as he mentally ticked off the names on the list. Still gazing out the window, he asked, “Did you send a letter under a different name? I don’t recall a Mrs. Morris.”

“Miss. Miss Morris. I’ve never been married and, no, I didn’t send a letter. In fact, I came across your advertisement but five days ago.”

Simon turned. “I’m sorry, but the deadline—” The words died on his lips. Ben was in the doorway, pointing to the woman and nodding.

“Mr. Driscoll, is something wrong?” She followed Simon’s stare and looked over her shoulder right as Ben stepped out of the doorway.

His insides went topsy-turvy. Ben had a way with people. He couldn’t leave him to talk to this woman alone.

No letter of introduction. He didn’t know anything about her, and he sure as hell didn’t know what to say.

“You’re quite pale, Mr. Driscoll. I think you should sit.”

He cut her a sidelong glance. She was close enough that he could feel her body heat, and the scent of her perfume made him a little lightheaded. When she took hold of his hand, the soft warmth of her touch made his heart leap into his throat. She led him to a chair and, situating herself beside him, positioned hers so their knees touched. His breath hitched, and he scooted his chair, which prompted her to move her chair even closer. He was too old for parlor games, and she seemed determined to make him uncomfortable with her casual familiarity. The other women had kept a safe, proper distance across the table barricade.

She filled a glass with water from the pitcher at hand and gave it to him. “Here, drink this. You’ll feel better.”

Dumbly, he accepted the water, but she didn’t let go when he wrapped his big hand around the glass, trapping her fingers under his. It gave him a start, and he released his grasp like he’d been burned. That’s when he looked at her. Really looked.

Damn.

Available from Amazon in print, for Kindle, or with KindleUnlimited

Until next time,

Kaye Spencer

Writing the West one romance upon a time

Website/Blog - http://www.kayespencer.com
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/kayespencer
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YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/kayespencer?feature=mhee

For Love of a Brystile Witch by Kaye Spencer #shortstory #westernromance

 It will take more than a hanging to end a 200-year-old curse...

For Love of a Brystile Witch was first published in the Prairie Rose Publications' Cowboys, Creatures, & Calico, Vol. 2 anthology, and it is available now as a single-sell release.

Here's the story behind the story...

What if a woman hanged as a witch in 1692 New England put a death curse on the hanging judge and a curse of sorrow on the women of the Brystile line in the moments before she was hanged? Then what if, 200 years after the hanging, fate brought together the last living woman from the witch's family and the last man from the judge's family to break the curse? What if love and forgiveness will end the curse? Add the time factor that these two strangers have only a month to right this 200-year-old wrong before time runs out for both families, but only one of them knows it, and I had the basic premise for this story.


Excerpt

Reid needed no urging to mount the steps and, in spite of herself, Mercy kept watching. He ascended with an easy gait, the ball of each polished boot touching lightly upon the next plank. Once on the platform, he turned toward the crowd, head bowed and hat brim throwing a shadow over his features. Sheriff Samuel Dunne and Axel Moser, the valley’s minister of twenty some years stood on either side of the condemned man, and the deputies took watchful positions behind them and off the trap door...

The sheriff’s voice rose above the crowd’s murmurings. “If you have any last words, speak them now.”

For the longest time, Reid didn’t move. The quiet in the street became quieter. A baby cried; a woman shushed it. The autumn breeze ceased blowing. Mercy held her breath, entranced by the scene playing out before her. When he lifted his chin, she sucked in a little gasp of pity. His eyes—such sadness—maybe it was regret. Whatever his pain, it was deeper than the prospect of leaving this life in a few minutes. Did he deserve to die like this? Alone? With no one here to mourn his passing? Certainly, she didn’t know, but she blinked away tears for him nonetheless.

His deep voice resonated through the silent streets. “I hold the world, but as the world…a stage where every man must play a part. And mine is a sad one.”

A gasp of sorrow at his utter hopelessness left Mercy’s lips and, as if he’d heard, he caught her gaze with his, holding it in a way that made her feel he was memorizing her face as the last tender sight he’d take with him to the grave.

Sheriff Dunne waited a few seconds for the man to say more. When nothing came, he addressed the crowd. “As the duly appointed legal authority in Dulcet Valley, I hereby declare this hanging to proceed this first day of October 1892. The condemned will hang by the neck until dead, and his body will be interred in the local cemetery with a gravestone bearing his name, birth, and death dates. As per his signed and witnessed last requests, his epitaph will read, Teach me to feel another’s woe. Reverend Moser will settle his debts and notify next of kin.”

Those words—

She knew the poem and went on in her head with the next lines…to hide the fault I see / that mercy I to others show / that mercy show to me. It was strange that the word mercy, her given name, would show up in duplicate at this moment. Two of any one thing meant balance, partnership or opposites, either way it meant a pairing of something. Since coincidences didn’t exist in her world, Fate was at work here. She swept a hurried glance around the area, searching for other signs she’d overlooked.

“Let it be known the Honorable Judge J. A. Swanson has authorized me to accept a plea of innocent and commute the death sentence.” He leveled a hard gaze on the condemned man. “Reid Leighton Corvane, this is your last chance to save your own life.”

“What? A Corvane? Here?” The words burst forth, loud and unbidden. Jolted, stunned to her bones, Mercy grabbed a better hold on the branch to keep her seat. So her months of conjuring had proven fruitful after all.

Amazon $0.99

Until next time,

Kaye

Writing the West...one romance at a time.

www.kayespencer.com

Coming Soon! Christmas in July Book Event by Kaye Spencer

Mark your calendars!

Kaye Spencer has two short stories included in the annual

Christmas in July event

from
 

prairierosepublications.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 More information to come as the date nears. Lots of great stories to choose from!

 

Until next time,

 

Kaye

 

Lighthearted thoughts about writing THE kissing scene by Kaye Spencer

I've written couple dozen romance stories, books, and novellas. Some have been published, others will someday be published, but many—for a variety of reasons—will remain unpublished and tucked away in the File Dungeon inside my computer. However, they all have one attribute in common.

Kissing.

Not just any kiss, but THE kiss. This is usually the first kiss that occurs for my hero and heroine.

 

I've written stories with plots that were simple to plots that took an Excel spreadsheet to keep all the details straight. I've written...

• an Old West gunfight that included paranormal elements of a herd of phantom cowboys chasing a phantom herd across the sky
• scorching love scenes that will make your toes curl
• a contemporary vampire story with a cowboy thrown in for good measure
• a love triangle that wasn't a 'threesome', but it will leave you sniffling and grabbing the tissue box at the end
• family saga of 150k that spans 15 years
• a mail-order bride story
• sweet romances that make you say 'ahhh'

BUT the kissing scene—the kiss that makes or breaks the story—holds me up every. single. time. In fact, during the rough draft stage in most of my stories, it's typical for me to *insert kissing scene here* and come back to it (them) later.

The kiss can't be too detailed or it can have an 'ewww' factor. But neither can it just be "...and they kissed". There's no emotion, no feeling in that. Whose point of view to write it from is sometimes difficult to decide. Is it the hero or the heroine who instigates the kiss? What are their hands doing during the kiss? Are they standing body-pressed-to-body or is there a little distance between them? Are they completely embraced in each other's arms or just 'holding' on to each other? Are the characters close to the same height or is one significantly taller than the other? This makes a huge difference in where they put their arms and how they have to bend their necks to make that kiss happen. Are they standing? Lying on a bed? Leaning across a fence or across the front seat of a car? Tongue or no tongue?

Decisions. Decisions.

Really, it all depends upon how well the two characters know each other when THE kiss happens, which is the major reason I write the kissing scene after my hero and heroine have spent the entire story together. By the end of the story all three of us know the emotions in the kiss.

In my current work in progress, a Halloween-themed western romance short story, I'm down to the wire before the deadline to submit the story to the publisher, and guess what scene is holding up the show. Yuppers, the first kiss. 0_o

So, I must trot back to the manuscript and finish that pesky kissing scene. The hero has figured out how he's going to accomplish the first kiss with the heroine, but the problem is, she's a hereditary witch, and he's just a little nervous that when he kisses her, he might turn into a toad.

But it's a chance he's willing to take. ;-)

Until next month,

Kaye

Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances
www.kayespencer.com
Twitter - @kayespencer 

Magical elements of cosmos flowers in a western romance? by Kaye Spencer

My current short story in progress (SSiP), is an October/Halloween themed western romance for the upcoming Halloween anthology from Prairie Rose Publications, Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico. My heroine is a hereditary witch for whom fate brings the last living male descendant of the judge who condemned her grandmother, of 10 generations in the past, to hang as a witch. The tentative title is For Mercy’s Sake.

In creating the heroine’s home, I drew upon three of my personal interests, which are paganism, witchcraft, and Wicca. I have an extensive collection of resources on these subjects, some of which I learned first-hand from my maternal grandfather. Although it was never said outright, as I look back on my childhood and teen years, I realize my grandfather was probably a solitary practitioner of pagan beliefs. As a youngster, I knew the community thought he was odd and eccentric, but they seemed to accept his oddness with amused acceptance.

Now, back to my heroine’s home. Since the way she supports herself is by selling the tinctures, salves, oils, powders, etc. that she makes from the plants she grows, I spent a few paragraphs in the story telling about the plants, herbs, vegetables, and flowers in her garden and around the house. One of the flowers my heroine grows is orange cosmos.

 

While cosmos have no particular herbal or medicinal attributes other than attracting certain insects that prey on 'worse' insects, it does attract fairies (but I'm not including fairies in this story). The main reason to grow cosmos in your yard or garden is for their powerful influence in sorting out life's confusions and for helping to put everyday 'things' in order. These flowers mostly offer the gift of integrating body and spirit to keep them in tune with the other so that one doesn't get out of sync with the other, and these flowers assist with a person's clarity of thinking as in keeping a sharp focus.

Although the flowers have a light, barely discernible scent, cosmos are not for picking, confining in a vase, and setting in the middle of the dining room table on display. These flowers are free spirits meant to be treasured in their natural environment. They are a silent flower, meaning they make no
sound in the wind when they rub against each other—they keep your secrets.

Cosmos are low-maintenance perennials that actually thrive in adverse conditions of poor soil and little water, but they do need a lot of sunlight. They bloom in late June to mid-July and will continue to bloom through frost. Once the flowers dry up, the seeds are available for hand-harvesting. Store in
such a way that they can dry out before putting them in a paper sack. You don't want them to mold. Stored seeds are still viable after several years of dormancy. If you plant a new bed of cosmos, just scratch them into the ground, and lightly cover with dirt to keep birds from eating the seeds.

The word 'cosmos' derives from the Greek 'kosmos', which means order and harmony (and 'the world'). Cosmos are considered group flowers because each individual flower grows close to its neighbor to offer the strength of community effort to withstand the onslaught of the wind. To take this farther, cosmos flowers embody a balance of all four elements of Air, Fire, Earth, and Water, in that order, and here is why...

AIR
First and foremost, the cosmos is a flower of the wind. It thrives in windy conditions, which makes it a perfect prairie flower, which is where I live. Even though it is a tall plant, it reaches toward the sky and will often grow to chest high, especially the pink, purple, red, and white varieties. The orange variety, which is my favorite, has a different leaf structure than the pastels and does not grow as tall. All colors of flower heads sway in a graceful dance in the tiniest of breezes, they are flexible, yet strong enough to withstand even strong winds. The foliage is fernlike so there is an airy quality to it. The blossoms, though delicate, flutter with the wind rather than take the wind's battering, and the seeds are well-adapted to blowing in the wind for distribution. Seeds of the orange variety are longer than the pastel
seeds.

FIRE
Cosmos thrive in hot, sun-beaten conditions with little or even a lack of shade. It seems that they 'look' for places to grow that expose them to the heat and light of the sun without even the tiniest hope of shade. In the wild, cosmos choose to thrive in dry and sunbaked, ground, and they prosper
during the hottest, driest time of the year, which is during the height of the summer and into early autumn. The blossoms expand up and then outwards in the manner of the sun's rays. The centers of each flower are dark to flame-yellow, and the blossoms tend to orient their faces towards the sun. When the woody stems dry after frost, they can be used as fire-starter material.

EARTH
At first look, the main stem of the cosmos flower appears spindly, even willowy, and certainly not strong enough to withstand winds, but they are actually thick, tough, and woody. They have a strong connection to the Earth element because of their expansive root system, which is in  counterbalance
to the tall branching stems, thus allowing the plant to resist uprooting by wind.

WATER
Because the cosmos plant is made up of thin, flat, dry-to-the-feel leaves and stem that offer minimal area for transpiration or moisture retention, and that the plant physically  needs little water to thrive, the element of Water may not, at first thought, be much of an influence in this plant. The seeds are also thin and dry, which makes them easily airborne. The root system does its job in inhospitable, even hostile, soil environments in the driest growing season. However, when water is available, the cosmos takes full advantage of the precious gift and does not waste a drop. Since the cosmos is in full bloom in the late summer/early autumn and is considered an autumn flower, the Water element is actually strong in it because the ancient Celtic calendar associates autumn with the element of Water.

So, to tie this back to my SSiP, my heroine has cosmos flowers growing all around her house to help keep harmony and balance in her life. *insert evil author laughter* She doesn't know it (because I haven't written it, yet), but I'm going to turn her harmony and balance upside down like a James Bond
martini—shaken, not stirred.

Until next month,

Kaye

Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances
www.kayespencer.com
Twitter - @kayespencer

**Pictures are from Kaye's flower garden.**
Note - for more information about Cosmos flowers, visit: http://www.americanmeadows.com/wildflower-folklore and http://www.flowersociety.org/Cosmos-plant-study.htm

When your day is shorter than your to-do-list.

What robs you of your time to write.

My intentions to stay on track are great or that’s what I like to tell myself. Time management is a balance. A precise schedule that holds everything together. But there are days when no matter what I did, nothing worked out and these days would run into weeks. I had to find out what was robbing me of my time, so I made a list.

What took up time in my day.

Work, eating, cleaning, feeding animals, laundry, email, blogs and sleep. By the time I got home, cleaned up, ate and worked on e-mails I was exhausted. In my head, I had hours during the day to write. Why wasn’t it working out in my real life?

I found an article and it talked about writing out a time log. Spend a few days and jot down everything you do.  It worked out great and showed me how I was wasting so much time.  So I decided to share.

Preparing and writing your time log

You don't need to keep writing a time log permanently. It is sufficient to do it for 3-7 days.  When you write a time log, make sure you don't miss even the minor activities. Don't let your time wasters hide there. Take a sheet of paper and divide it into columns listed below.

• Time
• Activities
• Scheduled
• Interrupted
• Urgent
• People (involved)

Then continue with activities you would normally do that day. On the way, update your time log. Do it either every time you switch to a new activity or at some short time intervals, like 10-20 minutes. Add entries to your "Time" and "Activities" column, and try to put marks like "Yes" or "No" in the "Scheduled", "Interrupted", and "Urgent" columns. Where relevant, make short notes on what people you spend time with too.

 When you have your time log written, you can move to the most important part, the analysis. Review your records and try to get answers to the following questions.

• What percentage of your time is spent in each of the different areas of your life? How is it divided between Work, Business, Family, Recreational, writing?
• What percentage of your activities are important?
• Are urgent?
• What people you spend more time with?
• What percentage of your activities go as planned?
• What are main interruptions?

Then think of possible adjustments and action steps. For example:

• Are there any activities you can cut back on?
• Is there anything you can delegate or simplify?
• Can you save time by grouping related tasks, like shopping?

Once you see everything you do on paper, it will amaze you on how you can add a little more time to your writing.

My time is better spent now on getting my book ready for its release.

If I knew then 

YA. To be released late 2014 through Black Opal Books.

Angel dreamed of a life of freedom. One filled with love that didn't come with a price.  She hid the pain until Jax entered her life. Can he give her what she needs to let go of the past or will he leave her with a bigger challenge that will change her future?

Angel fought to keep her family safe from the evil that threatened to destroy her. She made sure she was always the one in front of her sisters when her Mother yielded her wrath. Keeping the danger that surrounded them a secret.To lessen the blow she lived a lie that everyone believed, except for one. He was her only source of happiness until one day he was gone. With nothing left, and no one to turn to she must outrun her past, and overcome the secret that she fights to hide, before her Mother destroys everything she has left to hold on to.

Rescued from the Dark

Published through Black Opal Books

BLURB:

What if you woke up from a nightmare, trapped in a world of darkness, with no memory of how you got there? Rescued from the Dark is a passionate, gripping story about FBI agent, Jason Michaels, confronting his duty to his country, and struggling with his feelings for a woman with no memory of their love.

Undercover Agent,Jason Michaels, infiltrates the terrorist cell and risks everything, even his life, to save the FBI intern who stole his heart, then walked away. Once Mercy wakes from her coma Jason struggles with the fact that she does not remember what happened, but anguishes with the idea that she believes their unborn child belongs to her ex. Jason soon realizes the terrorists vow to get her back to claim their secrets locked in her memory, no matter what the cost. In a race against time, Jason and Mercy struggle to fight their attraction, and put their differences aside, as they launch a manhunt to save their country and each other.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BFYANMK 

B&N:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rescued-from-the-dark-lynda-kaye-frazier/1114500674?ean=2940016369129

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/285303

KOBO: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Rescued-from-the-Dark/book-mS6P9bqlx0ifOjztxuBrmg/page1.html?s=BNbii4WZ40uUHUgelR46hg&r=1

ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-rescuedfromthedark-1061653-152.html

            BOB: http://www.blackopalbooks.com

Lynda Kaye Frazier

http://lyndafrazier.blogspot.com

www.lyndakayefrazier.com

Facebook- Lynda Kaye Frazier- Author

Twitter- lynda_kaye

Writing is my passion, Reading is my Love.

Four Western Romance Anthologies - Just in time for summer reading

Kaye Spencer here with my regular 30th of the month blog post. Today I’m sharing the exciting news that Prairie Rose Publications has just released the first two of their four western romance-themed short story anthologies.

So if you' looking for a little western summer romance or you’d like to add a few quick and entertaining reads to your To Be Read stack, then these just might be the stories for you. They are available in print and digital. For more information, visit Prairie Rose Publications' website - http://prairierosepublications.yolasite.com/anthologies.php

I’ve read the stories in both the Lassoing a Groom and Lassoing a Bride anthologies, and each story is well-crafted, well-edited, and well worth your summer reading time. The stories run about 15,000 words each, so they’re perfect for reading in one sitting. But fair warning, once you read the first story, I’ll wager you won’t stop there. ;-)

Two anthologies are available now:

My story, A Permanent Woman, is in the third release coming out on June 5th.

The fourth anthology releases June 12th.

Until next month,

Kaye

Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances
http://www.kayespencer.com
Twitter - @kayespencer

Falling Off The Writing Wagon

Perhaps it's simply the busy holidays, but I've for certain fallen off the writing wagon. I still think of stories, scenes, and exciting tidbits of conflict, but more times than not they stay in my head. It's now without some frustration that I'm coming to see that like any muscle, the more days that go by without writing, the more my writing muscles shrivels.

Yes, and as we all know, shriveling of any kind is unwelcome. *grin* What? I still have my dirty sense of humor. That never goes away.

Anyway, I have little excuse not to write now as my Christmas shopping is done and the wrapping nearly finished. The menu is also set; a lovely dinner of red chili tamales, beans, ham, and lots of desserts.

The big question is whether I will be writing after Christmas.

Certainly, not on New Years as I'll be working, but then we have 2014 to consider. I'd like to get a new book out for readers. I've certainly got enough stories, mostly unfinished and other gems to be polished before being sent out to publishers.

Well, I suppose no matter what I do, I'm going to have to get my focus back on writing. After all, love and romance doesn't happen on its own. It's a matter of craft.

The beautiful craft brought to life by romance writers.

Merry Christmas blessing to all,

Mary Corrales

Twitter

Romance Author Lifestyle

A Holiday Anthology, Genesis of a Story, and NaNoWriMo from Kaye Spencer

November was a darn good month writing-wise for me, and that feels fabulous after nearly a year of sailing around in the writing doldrums. As you read on, you’ll notice I’m a bit ‘link happy’, and I apologize for that, but I just have so many wonderful places for you to visit. ;-)
 
So, first on my happy writing list is how excited and honored I am be a part of an anthology of 15 winter-themed, family friendly stories that are offered as a FREE download on Smashwords. The anthology is A Holiday Anthology, Volume 1 from the international author group, Exquisite Quills. Rose Anderson, Exquisite Quills author, compiled the stories, and Carey Abbott of E-Book Cover Designs by Carey designed the gorgeous cover.

 
Romance author Victoria Adams invited me to her Blog to talk about my anthology story, Gifts to Treasure, which is set in America during the Great Depression: http://victoriaadams.blogspot.com/2013/11/kaye-spencer-shares-snippet-from.html 
 
As a way to help all of the authors in the anthology do a little promoting, I created a book trailer. Watch it on YouTube: http://youtu.be/yTph6-UV7mg
 
Now, for the most important link… Download a FREE copy of the anthology on Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/374815
 
For the second point on my list, on November 28th, I shared my "Genesis of a Story", on the Exquisite Quills Blog (Genesis is a weekly feature). I shared the influences and inspirations for my first published novel, Lonely Places, which is a western romance. This book is published under my other pen name, A.L. Debran.

 
Read my 'Genesis' here: http://exquisitequills.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-genesis-of-book-lonely-places-by-al.html

And, finally, my third point is I made it through another National Novel Writing Month. Since I’m still writing madly, because midnight hasn’t arrived at my house yet, I’m anticipating I’ll cross the finish line with around 35,000 words—just a tad shy of the 50k goal—but that's all right. I'm just tickled to be writing with more and more forward motion again.

Until December 30,

Kaye

Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romance

www.kayespencer.com

Twitter: @kayespencer

November: It's Quantity, Quality Comes Later

I know a lot of writers undertaking NaNoWriMo this month. I'm doing it too. It's my fourth year, because I skipped 2012, although I do participate in Camp NaNo.

I have the feeling I'm in for some serious rewrites when November is over. My project this year is the second book in a three book series. It's paranormal/historical romance about three half-demon brothers trying to keep evil from rising because they learned from their full-blooded demon father that love can change everything.

There's a lot of rehashing what happened in the first book in the first and second chapters. Yep. I'll have to thin that out when everything is said and done. Even at the end of week 1, I'm perfectly happy keeping the trash sentences because they count toward my daily word goal. Later, I'll look back and shake my head at my folly. I'm also keeping track of my word count for the year and I'm in par to finish over 300,000 words in novels alone. It's a big deal for me because I often wonder how I'm going to get from point A to point B of a story.

December for some people is all about Christmas. For a word-crazed author, it's about tying up the loose ends and digging into edits after a caffeine-fueled November! The strong bones of the story are in place and I know it's filled with witty dialogue and most importantly, a great love story. It's just going to need some fluffing later.

Whatever your writing goals are this month, or for the rest of the year, good luck with them!

RJ Halloween Reads and NaNoWriMo from Kaye Spencer

With Halloween only a day away, there's just enough time left to hustle on over to Romance Junkies and browse through the list of 80 spooky reads they've put together. My western romance, Gunslingers & Ghostriders is on the list (written under my other name, A.L. Debran)

 http://www.romancejunkies.com/halloweenreads.jpg

Here's the story behind my ghostrider story.

In 1948, Stan Jones wrote a song called Ghostriders in the Sky. A little research turned up the roots of the American ghostrider legend probably hailing from old European legends. There are several renditions: the Wild Huntsman, Herne the Hunter, the Gabriel Hounds or Hellhounds, Odin followed by the Souls of the Dead, and the Orkney Islands' fairies driving stolen cattle ahead of them.
It is a bad omen to witness the Wild Hunt in any of its manifestations, and strife and death always follow if you are unfortunate enough to see it. In all of the legends, the supernatural forces travel the night skies bringing evil with them, or they are searching for those who must be punished in the afterlife to atone for the wrong they did in their lives.

The song, Ghostriders in the Sky, is about spirits of damned cowboys doomed to chase a herd of phantom cattle for all eternity. With that basic idea in mind, I crafted a western romance, Gunslingers & Ghostriders. The hero, gunfighter Matt Caddock, has to face the violence he wrought in his past when the ghostriders come to claim his soul. The heroine, widow Brenna Stirling, is the key to Matt's salvation.

Gunslingers & Ghostriders - http://tinyurl.com/pr948js

***

Now, about National Novel Writing Month...

www.nanowrimo.org

I'm participating again this year. My plan is to make a good run on the rest of the stories in a sort-of-series (more like theme-linked episodes) of western romances revolving around different women who leave their questionable pasts and identities behind in hopes of starting new lives out West.

I'd love to hook up with writing buddies. Look for me as KayeSpencer.

Until the 30th of next month,

Kaye

Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances

www.kayespencer.com

Kaye - Back in the writing zone

Greetings NN-ers on this gorgeous southeastern Colorado September 30th!!!!

In my August 30^th post, I said I'd give an update in September on my writing progress. Well, I'm happy—giddy is more like it—to report that I've accomplished a lot of writing and writing-related 'stuff'. Whew!!! It's about time. ;-) If I could do either cartwheels or handsprings, I would look like this:

 

Breaking out of the non-writing doldrums has been an emotional and psychological relief. So what did I accomplish?

I have a new book trailer on my YouTube Channel—http://www.youtube.com/user/kayespencer?feature=mhee — The Vampire Oracle, In the Cards: Life (eBook erotic contemporary novella that is also in the print anthology by the same name: The Vampire Oracle, In the Cards - Vol. 1).

My previously published and now out-of-digital print [sensual] western novella, The Comanchero's Bride, is now on my website as a FREE PDF download. Yes, FREE download, so I hope you'll take advantage of this.

A little explanation on Comanchero...

I removed the original novella-length Comanchero from eBook publication in 2009 because it was begging to be rewritten as a full novel. It's about 85k now, which is double the original. This expanded version is the one on my website in a chapter-by-chapter unedited 'challenge' posting with my sister author, Sable Grey. However, our challenge project is on hold for a variety of unfortunate life-interrupting reasons. I hope to have this longer story polished and Indie-published in the coming year (perhaps that was clear as mud???) Regardless, enjoy the free download. ;-)

I've been doggedly writing on my current WIP, a 1950s FBI agent and moonshiner's daughter romance. My goal to finish this story is October 15^th (fingers crossed).

 

Autumn is my favorite season and October is my favorite month, so maybe this has influenced my emergence from the writing black hole I've floundering around in. <shrugging> Who knows? I'm just glad to sit at my computer and NOT stare at a blank Word document until drops of blood form on my forehead [paraphrasing a quote by author/journalist Gene Fowler].

 

Until next time,

 

Kaye

 

Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances

www.kayespencer.com

A little fun with Word Clouds

Greetings One and All,

I had a little fun today with playing with several on-line 'word cloud' generators. Without identifying the ones that didn't work for me, these are the general issues I had with them:

1. I didn't want to change my firewall settings to gain access to the program's features.
2. I also didn't want to grant access to my Facebook account including my photos, friends/contacts list, etc. in order to save/download the word cloud.
3. There is a 'tag' generator that accesses a specific url and generates a word cloud from tags, which wasn't what I wanted.
4. On yet another one, the terms and conditions didn't appear to be appropriate for posting on social networks as it is geared specifically toward elementary educators, parents, and students, although I really liked how easy it was to use.
5. I didn't want to create an account with user name and password.

So, the one that met my particular needs is called WordItOut. There are options for layout, fonts, font colors, and size.

 

I was able to save my image to my computer and on-line (with only verification that I'm a 'real' person - no username/password). I had the choice to make my WordItOut private or public. I went with private for the time being.

 

Here is the word cloud I made for my western historical romance, Lonely Places.

 

 

(Just in case you'd like to purchase Lonely Places: Amazon.com Kindle Store - Lonely Places )*wink*

 

This is the WordItOut website: http://worditout.com/

 

This is the 'private' link to my Lonely Places image: http://worditout.com/word-cloud/237963/private/81218c1a4d5b2e2e0e42dad87cf792dd

 

Nifty, huh? Just for fun, I'm going to make one for each of my books and put them on my website.

 

Until next time,

 

Kaye

 

Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances

www.kayespencer.com

Home Town Heroes Blog Tour

Please welcome Melissa Kier! Hi Melissa I'm so glad you could join us. Take it away!

Romance… for everyone!

The word romance generates a different picture to each of us at different times. Sometimes it is a candlelit dinner just the two of you. At other times, it is flowers or a special gift of jewelry.  Romance can be the way he still looks at you and pulls you into his arms or the way he rubs your shoulders after a long day at work.  We need to have that spark of romance in order to have a passionate relationship.  It makes all the lows worth the work to keep a liaison going s trong. Anyway you look at it…without the romance, the happily ever afters wouldn’t happen.

We, readers and writers, are in the romance industry.  We write stories about the magnetic corporate lawywer who captures the eye of his lowly secretary and dreams of what if.  We tell the stories of characters who should never have ended up together, yet find love perfectly.  We love nothing more than to have our two characters fall in love and connect. We want them to feel the spark of desire and the passion of romance. We want themto be happy and to live happily ever after… or at least happily enough for the next book in the series.

It is this concept of impossible love that I wrote about in my books “Second Time’s the Charm” and “Three’s a Crowd”.  Lissa Vincent was a broken woman. She was a lot like me when I divorced my ex-husband. I felt that life had kicked my teeth out. But I knew that I deserved a love story of my own and was determined to get it.  “Second Time’s the Charm” is the tale of a woman who doesn’t see the value in herself and needs a little romance to convince her of her own charms. “Three’s a Crowd” is the tale of what happens when you get what you want but are still dealing with the fallout of divorce. After all, just because you aren’t married to that person, they really aren’t out of your life.

Middle aged and after a tough divorce with a hostile ex-husband, Lissa was facing a new life on her own two feet.  Struggling with being a single parent to her two boys and juggling her job and their needs, left her little time for herself. She never expects that love will even glance her way again. And if she has to meet another guy like her ex, she doesn’t want it to either.  But love and romance doesn’t care what she wants when it puts her best friend’s ex-husband, Alex Hunter, in front of her. Alex has to woo Lissa.  He pulls out all the stops, the rose petals, holding hands, and the candlelit dinner.  He even gains the friendship of her sons.  But will it be enough to present them with a happily ever after?

Once a happily ever after happens, the world doesn’t immediately end. Like in fairy tales, “and they lived happily ever after” finishes the book. We don’t learn about how Cinderella deals with her husband’s stinky socks or how the Prince handles his crazy “in-laws”. In a blended family like in 

“Three’s a Crowd” couples now need to negotiate everything from holiday visits to school functions. Biting your tongue has never been more of a challenge yet a very necessity. As Lissa and Alex forge their own new relationship, they are barraged by the past—his ex and her intrusion into their lives, the lack of intimate times and just a loss of romance. But I believe in a happily ever after meaning more than just marriage—I believe in forever. You’ll have to read “Three’s a Crowd” to see how Alex and Lissa work this challenge out.

Three’s a Crowd by Melissa Keir

Blurb:

For Lissa, the second time at love was a charm but in marriage, three’s a crowd.

Single mother Lissa Vincent found her soul mate in her best friend’s ex-husband. Alex Hunter couldn’t believe his fortune when his ex-wife told him her best friend was available. After divorce, finding love again could be a challenge but it appeared Alex and Lissa had gotten lucky. Yet as they start their lives as newlyweds, Alex and Lissa don’t realize just how difficult it might be to blend a family.

When Alex’s ex new marriage begins to unravel, she sets her sights again on Alex. Does Alex still have feelings for the mother of his child? Will Lissa keep her best friend or lose her husband?

Fairytales promise a happily-ever-after. But what really happens after the after?

Bio:

As a writer, Melissa likes to keep current on topics of interest in the world of writing.  She’s a member of the Romance Writers of America and EPIC.  Melissa is always interested in improving her writing through classes and seminars.  She also believes in helping other authors and features authors and their books on her blog.

Melissa doesn’t believe in down time.  She’s always keeping busy.  Melissa is a wife and mother, an elementary school teacher, a book reviewer, an editor for a publishing company as well as an author. Her home blends two families and is a lot like the Brady Bunch, without Alice- a large grocery bill, tons of dirty dishes and a mound of laundry. She loves to write stories that feature “happy endings” and is often found plotting her next story.

Melissa loves hearing from readers!

www.melissakeir.com

http://www.facebook.com/melissaakeir

http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMelissaKeir (fan page)

www.twitter/melissa_keir

At the end of the tour we will be giving away a fourty dollar gift card to Amazon or B&N. Winner's choice. You need to comment and leave an email to win. You get two chances to win at each blog. One for joining the blog and one for commenting. If you do both leave a comment like the example below.

Example:

This book sounds amazing!

I also joined the blog.

Email address

Hope you will join us through the how tour. Here is the link to the rules page and links to all the stops. Safari Heat is the planning site. 

http://safariheatbooktoursandauthorservices.blogspot.com

Carey Abbott/Tabitha Blake

Retirement and Writing

As of June 1st, I am officially retired from a 23-year career in education. During those years, I worked as a...

• special education teacher
• preschool through 12th grade principal
• school psychologist then the director of special education for 13 school districts in a 7500 square mile area
• substitute teacher
• and for the last seven years, as a secondary English and history teacher while also teaching community college classes

Whew! I was busy.

It was bittersweet making that last, long look at my empty classroom, but I have no regrets about leaving (although the picture brings to mind the Les Mis song, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables). I'm ready to devote my time to my writing.

Seven years ago, my first book, Lonely Places, a western romance, was published by a brand new ebook publisher, Cobblestone Press, and a little while later, another new ebook publisher, Breathless Press, also published one of my western romances (Gambling with Love). I'm so grateful to my publishers for taking me in as one of their authors (Sable Grey and Deanna Lee at Cobblestone and Justyn Perry at Breathless Press).

It seemed that teaching had become a 24-7 job just trying to meet all of the requirements of the state and federal departments of education plus writing lesson plans, grading papers, and spending the extra time at school sponsoring, etc., that when I actually had time to sit at my computer and write, I was too tired—mentally and physically. By January 1st of this year, I was in the writing doldrums, floating aimlessly on a sea of unfinished manuscripts. I was afraid I'd never write again. Then my dad died on April 4th and, until this past weekend, I was absolutely convinced I'd never write another word, because my heart was so full of loss and anger.

Thankfully, as June 1st gets closer, I'm feeling tiny sparks of creativity returning. With my mom adjusting little-by-little to my dad being gone, I've had more time to myself, which I haven't had in nearly two months.

I want to have two of my unfinished manuscripts completed by the time I'd normally return to school in mid-August, and one of them somewhere in the publication process.

Time and inspiration will tell, I suppose.

Until next time,

Kaye

Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances
www.kayespencer.com