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

Q&A Friday!

Labels: Dianna Love, favorite first kisses in novels, Trish Milburn

posted by Mo H @ 8:47 AM 1 comments

The Secret to Creating YOUR 2009 Bucket List

The Secret to creating

YOUR 2009 BUCKET LIST

by Dianna Love

Welcome back to the Wet Noodle Posse Blog. 2009 is going to be a great year. It started off really terrific for me. To share some good news, my current release – Dead After Dark anthology that includes my urban fantasy novella MIDNIGHT KISS GOODBYE – debuted at #5 on the NYT in December and spent the past four weeks on the list.

The Wet Noodle Posse is an amazing group of talented writers who will bring you fun and interesting blogs all this year so please come back often to visit.

What comes to mind when you

hear the term “Bucket List”?

If you’re under thirty, you probably think of your parents and wonder what “they” might like to do before they kick the bucket. If you’re older than thirty, you may immediately think how much you’d like to ________ (you fill in the blank) while you’re still young enough to enjoy it.

What if you had an annual Bucket List? And – that Bucket List was more about staying in touch with what brings joy to your world? Notice that I didn’t include what would bring joy to your spouse and childrens' world or your best friend's world or anyone else's.

What would make Just YOU happy?

Sound selfish just to think about your own happiness? Why? If the only person you ever thought about was you, then that would be selfish. On the other hand, if you rarely think of you or dedicate time/money to YOUR happiness then that’s negligent. It’s not wrong to want to enjoy life more or to fulfill a dream you’ve always had. In fact, being responsible for your own happiness is a very healthy concept. I am the worst one for saying “yes” when asked to do something and am finally learning that passing on a request does not make me a bad or inconsiderate person. Just that I need a little time for me.

What if at the start of every year you chose one “thing” or a list of things you really wanted to do that year before the year kicked the bucket? You have the advantage of knowing each year you’ve got 365 days to fulfill one desire. That’s not impossible.

Here’s the secret to how you do it:

Start out simple and list several things, any one of which you can accomplish in five days.

You deserve five days out of 365, right? Mark those 5 days on the calendar as if they are your best friend’s wedding date or your child’s graduation or your parents’ fiftieth anniversary party. Treat those days as if they are set in stone. You don’t even have to know what you want to do yet on those days, but DO NOT give up those dates to anyone else for anything less than what it would take for you to cancel out on your best friend’s wedding date or your child’s graduation or your parents’ fiftieth anniversary party.

I have an old yellowed piece of paper on my monitor stand I cut out of a magazine many years ago with a quote by Goethe that says, “Nothing is worth more than today.” I believe in that completely and make the most of every day of my life, but that means I tend to also fill many of those days with work since I write and run a

business.

Watching the movie Bucket List got me thinking about how people set huge/expensive goals to accomplish before they “kick the bucket,” but often miss the smaller joys along the way that make life special. Take for example someone who is determined to cruise the Mediterranean before they die who might also harbor a secret desire to learn how to ride a motorcycle, write a book, meet their Aunt Jessie who has never left her home in a remote mountain town or simply wants to visit museums.

Those less important sounding “wants” fall to the back of our mind with “when I get time I’ll do that,” because we think we can do any of those things any time we want. But that never happens. I always had it in the back of my mind I wanted to see Mount Rushmore. I’m a portrait artist and sculpture.

I’ve painted 100 feet long murals and a person’s face twenty feet tall and sculpted huge pieces for marketing projects so it takes a lot to wow me when it comes to sculpting. I knew that seeing Mount

Rushmore would bowl me over. To see what mere mortals had done with nothing more than antiquated equipment, a mountain and a vision.

On the next to the last day of a 4000 mile motorcycle trip Karl (husband) and I made in 2007, he told me we could alter our route and visit Mount Rushmore, but it would be a push to reach the park an hour before they closed. I was on a tight schedule to get home since I had to leave the next day to join Sherrilyn Kenyon on her book tour. But Karl and I had put this trip off for several years since it was tough to for us to coordinate 10 days to make the ride so we rode hard and made it to the park in time.

Mount Rushmore really is a huge WOW and made that motorcycle trip even more special and one I will never forget. However...I did not get time to ride my motorcycle in 2008 at all. Nada. I had an insane schedule, but I should have found ONE DAY to take a ride.

Back to the Bucket List...

I do have some big “want to dos” on my long-term list like seeing the Sistine Chapel in Italy before my bucket is kicked, but starting this year I’m writing an annual Bucket List of things I know are realistic to make happen in one year...that will make me happy. Like fishing more, playing golf again with my friends and riding my motorcycle more often. I know I can find at least 5 days to do these activities at some point this year if I make them "my priority."

I am determined to make sure these things happen with or without other people involved (TIP – Don’t base your plans on anyone’s schedule except yours if it is something you really want to do), and if it means using that powerful word “no” when it’s time to make a choice between doing something for others that is optional and taking a day for

myself.

You deserve FIVE days. That’s less than 2% of the entire year. Print out the following and tape it to each of the FIVE days marked on YOUR calendar:

NOTHING IS WORTH MORE THAN TODAY

NOTHING IS WORTH MORE THAN TODAY

NOTHING IS WORTH MORE THAN TODAY

NOTHING IS WORTH MORE THAN TODAY

NOTHING IS WORTH MORE THAN TODAY

Okay, what’s on your 2009 Bucket List?

Come back tomorrow to visit award-winning author Terry McLaughlin whose blog is on Everyday Delights.

NYT Best selling author Dianna Love writes thrillers and urban fantasy. Her next release will be WHISPERED LIES (Pocket/May 19, 2009), a Bureau of American Defense (BAD) Agency novel. For more on Dianna visit www.AuthorDiannaLove.com

Labels: Dianna Love, fishing, Fun Stuff, Mt. Rushmore

posted by Dianna Love @ 1:00 AM 14 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: bucket lists, Dianna Love, Norah Wilson, rewarding yourself, spoiling yourself, Terry McLaughlin, Trish Milburn

posted by Mo H @ 12:37 PM 0 comments

This week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Debra Holland, Dianna Love, holiday recipes, holiday stress, Terry McLaughlin

posted by Mo H @ 9:47 AM 0 comments

Writing Past Speed Bumps by Dianna Love

Book in a month, three months or a year…anything is possible. Success depends on if you let speed bumps slow you down or not.

What’s a speed bump? That moment when you run into something you can’t figure out and stop writing. When you spend more time fingering your keyboard than actually typing until you finally get up and walk away to…make a mad dash into the kitchen to load those three dirty cups into the dishwasher or decide you really have to go retrieve today’s mail this minute or you’re sure a really important email has just popped up in your inbox.

In other words, it’s whatever causes you to lose momentum and stumble on your story. We all stumble on stories, but it’s what you do next that will determine if it is just a speed bump or an all out road block. I’m a plotter by nature, or probably more of a hybrid since I don’t clear a wall in my home to create a flowchart and tend to start typing on a story the minute it begins to flow while I’m plotting. I do like to have an idea where the story is going when I start just to keep me from stalling out when my creative juices are flowing. But even with a plot developed, the process of writing is a creative and changing one.

You can be a plotter or pantser and still hit that point where “something doesn’t feel right” or you’re all of a sudden “not happy with what how characters are behaving.” Even if you know where your story is going surprises jump out of nowhere as wonderful gifts that enrich your story, but they can also cause a kink down the road.

Try a couple simple exercises. The easiest way to continue being productive is to jump ahead to the next scene you know and continue writing, but I realize this really plays havoc on linear writers who can only continue writing in an orderly way. Even so, we normally know one or more scenes further into the book that will need writing at some point. Open a new file – away from all that orderly writing – and just type the scene. One thing that will probably happen is new ideas will pop into your mind as you’re typing that may break your mental log jam on an earlier scene. If not, when you finish the scene, think backwards on what would be the set up for that scene and consider more than one way to get to that point.

If something just doesn’t feel right or if you’ve hit a current scene that is starting feel like “filler” look at the three prior scenes and ask these questions of each one:

~ What is the purpose of this scene (the answer should be something significant that affects the character and/or the plot)?

~ What changes in each scene from the opening line to the last paragraph?

If you have a hard time answering that about any of these three scenes this is likely the point when your story started to jump track. Consider pulling that scene out of sequence, going back to the last one that “worked for you” and write down three possible ways you could move ahead to reach the next unwritten scene you have in mind. Consider using a different setting that would create more problems or conflict for the characters, or throws at least one character out of his/her comfort zone.

If your character is not being active or not getting the job done in the story, try the quickest fix of switching POVs (if it is in third person). You’d be surprised at how many times that solved scene problems for me.

If there are more than three characters in a scene, try writing it without one of them. If there are only two, try bringing in another character – especially an unexpected one – that will up the conflict, because “lack of conflict” is at the center of most scene and story issues. One common "type of scene" that loses story momentum – which leads to speed bumps – is when two people are driving somewhere to basically put them together for a bit to talk (and dump information), but with no real purpose beyond the dialogue. If this is the case, cut it and make the drive “off stage” then find a better place to weave in that information in a more active way. Or sometimes it’s a meal where the only obvious purpose is to bring people together in one spot, but again – no real conflict or point to the scene.

Keying in quickly on the problem you’ve run into gives you the power to fix it and move on. The idea to being productive at writing is to continually “brainstorm” as you write. A speed bump is a sign you are not allowing your creative side freedom. You can fix a problem if you can identify it, because you ARE a writer. All you have to do is allow yourself the leeway to recreate something that truly is not set in stone unless you let it be.

Speed bumps are when we get in our own way. When we are so focused on everything unfolding only one way in the story that we prevent our creative lobe to function at optimum level.

So give yourself a writing challenge for at least a week to just burn through some pages and you’ll probably be surprised at how much you can do when you open the valve to those creative juices. And when you do push through the tough times, don’t forget to do something really nice for yourself…because you deserve it!

In the meantime, what do you find helps you stay on track the best and do you reward yourself for writing past those speed bumps? If so, what is your reward? :)

Don’t miss Maureen Hardegree's “Feedback: Five Steps to Separate the Wheat from the Chaff”on Tuesday, November 18^th.

NYT Best Seller Dianna Love writes romantic thrillers and urban fantasy.
Her next release is an urban fantasy novella - MIDNIGHT KISS GOODBYE - in the Dead After Dark Anthology (December 2, 2008). Dianna's upcoming thriller is WHISPERED LIES (Pocket/May 2009). And watch for the nonfiction book she and Mary Buckham have coming out June 2009 - Break Into Fiction®: Power Plot Your Novel.
For more on Dianna visit www.AuthorDiannaLove.com

Labels: Dianna Love, novel writing, Sherrilyn Kenyon, writing challenges

posted by Dianna Love @ 6:00 AM 16 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: April Kihlstrom, Book in a Week, Dianna Love, Maureen Hardegree, Shirley Karr, writing challenges

posted by Mo H @ 2:12 PM 0 comments