This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Delle Jacobs, Diane Gaston, Karen Potter, Theresa Ragan, Tori Scott

posted by Mo H @ 8:41 PM 0 comments

Q&A Friday!!!

One of the things I enjoy doing during the holidays is buying books for myself and reading them. While my husband drives, I read. I picked up Diane Gaston's Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady and Terry Mclaughlin's A Small-Town Reunion, which I'm saving for the trip to Louisiana to visit family and friends.

Labels: books for 2010, Diane Gaston, Terry McLaughlin

posted by Mo H @ 6:51 AM 5 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Diane Gaston, Maureen Hardegree, MJ Fredrick, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 8:48 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: deadlines, Delle Jacobs, Diane Gaston, favorite fall snacks, MJ Fredrick, starting a new manuscript, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 5:38 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Diane Gaston, falling out of touch, hobbies out of control, Lee McKenzie, letting go, Maureen Hardegree, new starts, Terry McLaughlin

posted by Mo H @ 11:48 AM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: animal encounters, cats, Debra Holland, Diane Gaston, dogs, first pet, Maureen Hardegree, Merrillee Whren

posted by Mo H @ 4:26 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: cats and hiding, cats and kitchen tables, Diane Gaston, dog neuroses, Maureen Hardegree, pets, Terry McLaughlin, Tori Scott

posted by Mo H @ 4:57 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Delle Jacobs, Diane Gaston, Dr. Debra Holland, research vacations, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 11:19 AM 0 comments

This week on The Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Diane Gaston, drive in theaters, Euterpe, Karen Potter, queen of the road, Rachel Goldsworthy, Tricia Mills, Trish Milburn

posted by Mo H @ 6:05 PM 0 comments

Sisters of the Moon - My Critique Groups

Yesterday Theresa talked about writing friends. We writers know that some of our best writing friends are our critique partners. I'm lucky to have TWO wonderful critique groups, my Sisters of the Moon and my "Writers Group"

My Writers Group includes my first writing friends. Julie and I met in 1995 in a Creative Writing class at our local community college. After the class ended we formed a small group, not even knowing enough to call it a critique group. Helen joined shortly after. I'd known Helen before because our husbands are coworkers. Everyone else quit and later Helen, Julie, and I added Virginia, another of my husband's coworkers. Together we all joined RWA and Washington Romance Writers. Gradually I became the only one writing regularly (although Julie is writing now and Helen plans to start again) so all the focus was on me! These ladies are skilled writers and widely-read readers. Helen is a professional editor; Virginia, a librarian. They are great editors, very good with words, very good at knowing what in a story works for them and what doesn't, and are good with history. I treasure them.

We are friends who do other things together sometimes, like attend craft fairs, attend the same parties, go to the movies. Every Christmas we wear hats and go out to lunch, as we're pictured here, left to right: Virginia, me, Helen, Julie

Much as I loved my Writers Group, I felt I needed help to push me from unpublished to published. The more I learned about the romance publishing business, the more I understood it was a business. I decided I needed a critique group with a specific focus on being published. I eventually found the perfect group of two published, one unpublished, writers, all writing series romance, which I was targeting at the time. I was invited into the critique group of (left to right in the photo below) Darlene Gardner, (me), Karen Anders, and Lisa Dyson.

One of the original members named the group Sisters of the Moon because of the quote:
Reach for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars.

I joined the group around 1999. Darlene and Karen had both been published by Intimate Moments but were having difficulty selling again. So together, we were all trying to figure out how to break in. And we were all very serious about it. It didn't take long for Darlene to sell again and to find a home at Superromance. Karen broke back into Blaze. I decided to switch to Regency Historicals and sold to Mills & Boon. Lisa has come very close. First to Duets, but the line folded, then to Everlasting, but the line folded. She's sooooo close! Darlene is very smart about what makes a good romance, the elements of story and the business of romance writing. Lisa is a master at discovering inconsistencies or illogical elements. Karen taught me tons about sexual tension and the crafting of a love scene. (see her blog on the subject)

Two years ago, Karen moved to North Carolina and another friend, Elizabeth Holcombe, joined us before her craft business took off like hot cakes. So now it is just Darlene, Lisa, and me, but we are very proud of our skills and know we make each other's work better.

Both my Sisters of the Moon and my Writers Group have helped me hone my writing skills, learn what makes a good story, learn what makes a marketable story, and learn how to sell it. I credit them all with my writing success. They were there for the manuscript that won the Golden Heart and became my first book, and for the one that won the RITA. Most of all, they are there to support me; to celebrate my successes and lament my disappointments.

Each of my critique groups meets about every other week and each read before the meeting. We email our work ahead of time.

Do you have a critique group? How does yours work?
Do they help you land among the stars?
How does yours work?

Labels: critique groups, Darlene Gardner, Diane Gaston, Karen Anders

posted by Diane Gaston @ 12:13 AM 7 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: critique partners, Diane Gaston, Dr. Debra Holland, sisters, Theresa Ragan, writing friends

posted by Mo H @ 10:46 PM 0 comments

The Sisters of The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor

Hi everyone! Diane Gaston here. Deb Marlowe, Amanda McCabe and I thought the topic of sisterhood was the perfect opportunity to tell you about our new anthology, The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor, which is a celebration of sisterhood as well as a series of three connected romances. When Harlequin Historical invited us to do an anthology, we decided to create the family of a duke in Regency England. Together with his lady love they have a chaotic and rambunctious collection of his, hers and theirs, known collectively as the Fitzmanning Miscellany. The anthology centers around the three sisters: Justine, Annalise, and Charlotte (the brothers get connected books later). The Fitzmanning sisters have their own individual personalities, but they have the camaraderie and support that come with sisterhood. They also have to deal with the repercussions of their parents’ scandalous past—not to mention the antics of their rowdy brothers.

(Deb Marlowe) I found it very easy to relate to Annalise, my heroine in Annalise and the Scandalous Rake. Like her, I grew up in the midst of an extended family. With two sisters, plus 5 cousins who all lived minutes away, I have many happy memories of family gatherings, celebrations, and the experience of being daily in and out of each other’s houses—and constantly in each other’s business! Also like Annalise, there were times when I just needed to be alone. Only our means of withdrawal are really different. Annalise retreats to her sunny studio to pour her emotions onto her canvases. I hid away with a good book—or spent hours dreaming up my own stories.

(Diane Gaston) It is funny you should mention rowdy brothers, Deb. I came from a family of all girls, but unlike Justine, I was the youngest of three sisters, not the oldest. I’d always wished for an older brother, though. Brenner, the hero in Justine and the Noble Viscount, would have been the perfect older brother, I think, so steady and dependable, a brother to lean on. My sisters and I didn’t need a brother to get us out of scrapes, though. We were quiet, well-behaved little girls, not at all like the Fitzmannings. In fact, Brenner probably would have thought us good examples for his half-sisters. I must have been a rowdy girl just dying to bust out, because I yearned for more excitement, more adventure, more romance. Books fed those yearnings when I was a kid.

(Amanda McCabe) LOL! I was the opposite. I had no sisters, only one brother, and he’s several years younger than me. Plus my only cousins would much rather have played with their “Star Wars” action figures than read Anne of Green Gables with me. It all ended up okay—my brother and I always got along well, and never had vicious fights over lipstick like my best friend and her sisters, but I always kinda wanted a sister. I guess I get to live out those dreams in stories with families like the Fitzmannings (and they never borrow my clothes without asking, either!)
I really identified with my heroine in Charlotte and the Wicked Lord (even though Charlotte is the youngest of her family, and I’m the oldest). We both felt like misfits in our teenaged world, preferring to hide away with a writing project, or go walking in the woods with the dogs. I loved spending time with her and her family, and plan to revisit them very soon!


Do you like connected stories about sisters? Or do you prefer stories of brothers, because those are coming, too...as soon as we write them!

Diane, Amanda, and Deb all belong to the sisterhood of romance writers. Unlike fictional or real sisters, they wrote The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor without one single vicious fight. No fights, as a matter of fact. The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor is in bookstores this month. Look for it to be shelved with the other Harlequin books.

Labels: Amanda McCabe, Deb Marlowe, Diane Gaston, sisters, The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor

posted by Diane Gaston @ 12:01 AM 12 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Amanda McCabe, Deb Marlowe, Diane Gaston, friendship, Karen Potter, Lee McKenzie, MJ Fredrick, relationships with grandmothers

posted by Mo H @ 11:02 AM 0 comments

Sisters Are Doing It, Again

Some of us are lucky enough to have a special bond with a biological sister, or maybe our mom is our best friend. Some of us find friends along our journeys who become sisters of the heart, people in whom we confide our hopes and worries. These sisters share in the joy of us falling in love, in the ups and downs of parenting our children, and they hug us through our losses. Please join us this month as we explore the many facets of sisterhood, from vacationing with friends to substitute sisters.

Speaking of sisters, take a peak at all these Noodler New Releases for May. There’s something for everyone— contemporary series romance, erotic romance, historical romance, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, and YA. Yeah, my noodler sisters have been busy!

COLLETTE GALE
Bound by Honor: An Erotic Novel of Maid Marion

Maid Marian, now Lady of Leaford, is sent to the court of Prince John—not to take part in the debauchery of his Court of Pleasure, but to spy on him for his mother. Little does she know that her secret mission will thrust her into a whirlwind of intrigue, terror, and carnal temptations.At court, Marian is torn between her duty to the queen and her desire for two men: one, the mysterious highwayman the peasants call Robin Hood, and the other, the dark, cold Sheriff of Nottingham. Given an impossible choice, she must submit to the carnality of Prince John’s court in order to fulfill her duty and maintain her honor. But in the end, there is only one man for whom she will risk her life and give her heart.

DIANE GASTON
Justine and the Noble Viscount in The Diamonds of Wellbourne Manor
Guardian to the unconventional and newly orphaned Fitzmannings is not a role that brooding Gerald Brenner relishes. But Justine, the illegitimate daughter who strives to hide her shame, calls powerfully to something deep within him.


DELLE JACOBS
Sins of the Heart

One lord. One lady. One scandalous mistake. Can it all add up to love? The icy Lord Edenstorm is the very man Lady Juliette hoped never to see again, for only he knows her true identity. One word from him to her brother and she will be locked away, hidden forever in an asylum. All for one foolish, scandalous mistake. Still stinging from her deceitful betrayal years before and wounded by the horrors of war, Edenstorm offers to keep her secret, if she helps him catch the traitors who smuggle English gold to Napoleon. Juliette is incensed. Her Cornish friends may be smugglers, but never traitors, and his snooping and accusations could destroy them. Furious at his blackmail, Juliette vows to risk her own life and freedom to protect the friends she trusts by leading his search astray. But Edenstorm is not the unfeeling man she thought she knew. Nor is Juliette the faithless woman he believed her to be. As passion flares, deceit gives way to truth, and truth unleashes dangers they never suspected. Only by turning truth into trust-and trust into love-can they hope to survive.

DIANNA LOVE (with Sherrilyn Kenyon)
Whispered Lies
Bureau of American Defense operative Carlos Delgado has spent the past sixteen years watching over his shoulder, waiting for death to catch up to him. His luck runs out when BAD intercepts an unexpected tip on the number one threat to United States security: the Fratelli de il Sovrano. Their best hope for uncovering a deadly plan that risks countless lives and threatens economic chaos just days before the presidential election is to capture a mysterious informant known as Mirage. But when Carlos takes her into custody, Mirage is not at all what he expected -- and neither is the threat she poses to the secrets he would die to protect.
Gabrielle Saxe has hidden from a killer for the past decade, sending anonymous tips on international criminals to intelligence agencies around the world. When a postcard arrives from a friend who is supposed to be dead, she takes a risk that catapults her into the midst of dangerous operatives on a treacherous mission -- and into the arms of a man who is duty-bound to surrender her to Interpol as an international felon. Carlos is the last person Gabrielle should trust and the only one standing between her and death. But little does she know, she holds the key to his survival as well . . . .
Phantom in the Night (released as paperback)
After losing her mother to a vigilante killer, Terri Mitchell has dedicated her life to justice. Working covertly as a new agent for the Bureau of American Defense agency, she's consulting with the New Orleans Police Department to bust an organized crime ring suspected of funding terrorism. But when rumors surface of a phantom ghost terrorizing and killing the very people she's investigating, she's suspicious.
Nathan Drake has spent his life protecting his family, the only thing that matters to him...until the most feared drug lord in the southeast takes everything Nathan holds dear. Now he's a man on a mission with nothing to lose. He figures he only needs to stay alive long enough to protect the innocent lives the killers are out to destroy.
As the two of them seek a similar goal by different means, Terri and Nathan are drawn deep into an evil underbelly that cuts through all levels of society. Now two people who have no reason to trust must trust in each other or die. And if they die, a deadly attack will be unleashed on thousands of innocent people


TRISH MILBURN
Her Very Own Family

Audrey York isn't letting the scandal in her past stop her from making a fresh start in Willow Glen, Tennessee. And now, with the help of a kindhearted neighbor, she's getting the chance to build her dream café. Then she meets her neighbor's son—sexy, single carpenter Brady Witt—who makes it clear he doesn't trust her one bit.
Someone has to protect Brady's father from women out to hook a lonely widower. Only, the beautiful blond restaurateur doesn't fit the profile. In fact, she isn't like any woman Brady knows.
Just when Brady's starting to believe in her, Audrey's past comes barreling back. Can she trust Brady with the truth? Or will she lose the family she's found at last when he discovers who she is—and what she's running from?


ESRI ROSE
Stolen Magic

Romance Can Be Tricky...In a world where humans are displacing elves in alarming numbers, Adlia spends her days working at elf headquarters. But with no artistic talent of her own, and orphaned too young to have known her parents, Adlia is an outsider even among her own elven kind. Only Mark, her human photography instructor, sees that beneath her sarcastic humour lies a vulnerable soul - and a desirable young woman...Especially When An Elf Is Involved. But while relationships with humans are pleasurable, they're also complicated, as Adlia is about to discover. For somewhere between her mind-blowing first human kiss and falling in love, a mysterious memory loss strikes the elf population. Now Adlia has to save her people and herself before she forgets everything. If she succeeds, she may also solve an important piece of her personal puzzle and find that Mark fits perfectly

CHARITY TAHMASEB (and Darcy Vance)
Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading

When Bethany -- self-proclaimed geek girl -- makes the varsity cheerleading squad, she realizes that there's one thing worse than blending in with the lockers: getting noticed. She always felt comfortable as part of the nerd herd, but being a member of the most scrutinized group in her school is weighing her down like a ton of textbooks. Even her Varsity Cheerleading Guide can't answer the really tough questions, like: How do you maintain some semblance of dignity while wearing an insanely short skirt? What do you do when the head cheerleader spills her beer on you at your first in-crowd party? And how do you know if your crush likes you for your mind...or your pom-poms?
One thing's for sure: It's going to take more than brains for this girl genius to cheer her way to the top of the pyramid.

Labels: charity tahmaseb, Collette Gale, Delle Jacobs, Diane Gaston, Dianna Love, Esri Rose, sisters, Trish Milburn

posted by Mo H @ 8:51 AM 10 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Please join the noodlers as we continue our exploration of Spring Forward month with the following blogs:


Monday, April 20th: Diane Gaston Writer’s Block: What Does It Really Mean?
Tuesday, April 21st: Theresa Ragan TBA
Wednesday, April 22nd: Priscilla Kissinger Accentuate the Positive to Avoid Writer’s Block
Thursday, April 23rd: Lee McKenzie Spring DIY
Friday, April 24th: Q&A

Labels: Diane Gaston, Lee McKenzie, Priscilla Kissinger, spring DIY, Theresa Ragan, writer's block

posted by Mo H @ 12:22 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Diane Gaston, keeping records for taxes, Maureen Hardegree, Merrillee Whren, spring cleaning, spring desserts

posted by Mo H @ 8:52 AM 0 comments

Q&A Friday

Labels: Diane Gaston, favorite signs of spring, Merrillee Whren, Tricia Mills, Trish Milburn

posted by Mo H @ 12:59 AM 3 comments

Villains: How Much Insanity Is Too Much by Diane Gaston

A reviewer of one of my early books said that my villain was stereotypical. She was right. He was just too over the top. Too insane. Too cliche.

As a former mental health therapist, I took the criticism to heart and rethought my depiction of villains. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to make them too insane.

Most villains are at least sociopathic. (another word—psychopath; technically—antisocial personality disorder). Look here for a great site describing a sociopath.

Briefly, a sociopath is a person who has no regard for right and wrong, who may often violate the law and the rights of others, lands himself in frequent trouble or conflict. A sociopath may lie, behave violently, have drug and alcohol problems, and may not be able to fulfill responsibilities to family, work or school. (Mayoclinic.com)

This is a good foundation to craft a villain. The temptation is to stick only to the symptoms. This makes the villain more of a caricature rather than a three dimensional person.

So here’s my fix.

Put the villain under the same scrutiny as the hero and heroine. Give him his own Goal, Motivation, Conflict. Create a backstory for him. Give him some redeeming features. Make him like a real person. Three dimensional.

In reality sociopaths can look like the rest of us. They can enter reputable professions, attend church, marry, have children. But within a normal looking life they can be highly egocentric; they can lie, steal, betray.

So, what do you think? What do you think makes the best fictional villain? How much sociopathy is too much?

(Come back Wednesday, Mar 25, to read my take on Heroes—How Much Damage Is Too Much?)


Visit Diane’s website for a sneak peek of her eShort Story, The Unlacing of Miss Leigh, and her novella, Justine and the Noble Viscount, in THE DIAMONDS OF WELBOURNE MANOR. Diane’s contest is still on, too!

Labels: Diane Gaston, villains

posted by Diane Gaston @ 12:10 AM 12 comments

This Week on The Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Delle Jacobs, Diane Gaston, heroes, Lee McKenzie, mad writers, tea parties, villains

posted by Mo H @ 11:23 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Diane Gaston, Dr. Debra Holland, Karen Anders, Theresa Ragan, writing romance

posted by Mo H @ 7:02 PM 0 comments