Welcome to everyone joining me from Raine Balkera's blog . If you missed her, hop back when you're done here. 
Ever wonder what's going on inside the head of a romance writer? Wonder no more. You've landed in the midst of romance authors who are happy to give you a sneak peek into their writing lairs.

1.) Was there a defining moment in your life when you knew you were going to become a writer? If so, what was it?

No, just an inescapable need to write the stories playing in my head. The characters give me peace once I put their story on paper (or bytes). It's very much like being haunted; they are desperate to get their stories told.

2.) When you write a story do you see it unfold as one big picture, or do you add layering in subsequent drafts?

Some stories come to me as like a miniseries, others require more step-by-step plotting. Either way, they all get additional sensory details and imagery with each edit, like a painting going from the basic sketch to a completed seascape ready to hang in a gallery.

3.) How many drafts do you usually write before you send your work to your editor?

Four or five. My awesome critique partners attack it with virtual red pens to identify plot holes, overuse of certain words, and characterization issues. Based on their feedback, I make adjustments then work through the manuscript again, ensuring continuity, layering in more colorful local idioms and sensory details. 
However, it always feels like a leap of faith off a cliff into a body of water with unknown depth and unseen obstacles.

Don't stop now! Head over to A.S. Fenichel's blog for another peek into a writer's life.

Welcome to my site, Making Romance Magical! If you've joined me from Gemma Brocato's site, I'm sure you enjoyed her piece. If you missed her, be sure to hop back. She's awesome!
This week we are challenged to write a short story of 300 words or less based on this gif.

This is from a work-in-progress I started years ago, but I love the chemistry so much between the characters that I dug up the manuscript, stripped the scene down to bare bones to get it to 301 words. I love Jake (former naval officer who now owns a bookstore in the Keys). A man accustomed to violence who chooses a life filled with books, friends, and relaxation, a real Renaissance man. A hero in every way.

           Jake was way out of Brooke’s league. And dating him would break rules three and seven: five years younger and he had facial hair.

            Dark hair shorn short but stylish with a perfectly trimmed goatee lent a dangerous edge to the handsome bookstore/coffee shop owner. His gaze settled on her, making her reconsider how deeply in stone her rules were etched.

            Business slowed and he joined her at her table. Heat raced through her and her pulse stuttered with the rub of his thumb over the back of her hand. 

            “Have dinner with me tonight.”   

            Just like that, the rules crumbled to dust along with her power of intelligent speech.

            She shucked off her nagging insecurities. “Okay.”

            “Okay what?’

            “Okay, I’ll have dinner with you.”  She laughed, more relaxed. “When and where?”

            “Seven.  I’ll pick you up.” 

            “I’d just as soon meet you wherever we’re eating.”

            “So you can dump me if it doesn’t work out?”

            “You know me so well.”

            “Not as well as I’d like to.”  He leaned toward her, his breath caressing her chin. His mouth hovered a whisper from her lips. He dropped a kiss, delicate as a butterfly, at the corner of her mouth, drew back. She forgot to breathe.  Shivers ran down her spine when his fingertips stroked her jaw, trailed down her neck.         

            Dragging in a breath, she could do no more than stare into his molten brown eyes. Another butterfly kiss brushed her brow and broke her from her reverie.

            Unable to keep the lingering doubt at bay,  she blurted, “Why do you want to go out with me?”

            “I like you.  I like spending time with you.  You’re sweet, smart, intuitive. You have a sexy body and soft lips.  And I want to drown in your eyes while we make love.”



Whew! Taking a moment to cool off with ice water. Keep on hopping to J R Richardson, writer of contemporary, paranormal, mystery, thriller. Ah, hell, if it's some sort of romance, chances are she's writing it. And beautifully!

Is anything sweeter than revenge?

In a family of remarkable people, ordinary Beatrice strives to prove herself worthy. When her family is threatened with losing everything, she rushes to London to save them. Unfortunately, she chooses as her savior the very man who will see her family brought low.

Garrett has sworn vengeance on Sir Arthur of Anglesea for destroying his life when he was a boy and forcing his mother into prostitution for them to survive. He has chosen as his instrument Sir Arthur's youngest daughter, Beatrice.

Can Beatrice’s goodness teach Garrett that love, not vengeance, is the greatest reward of all?

Click HERE to read a longer excerpt on my website.

If this sounds like your thing, you can pick up a copy at AMAZON or BARNES & NOBLE or pop along to KENSINGTON PUBLISHING for your favorite format.

Who am I?

Born British and raised in South Africa, Sarah Hegger suffers from an incurable case of wanderlust. Her match? A hot Canadian engineer, whose marriage proposal she accepted six short weeks after they first met. Together they’ve made homes in seven different cities across three different continents (and back again once or twice). If only it made her multilingual, but the best she can manage is idiosyncratic English, fluent Afrikaans, conversant Russian, pigeon Portuguese, even worse Zulu and enough French to get herself into trouble.

Mimicking her globe trotting adventures, Sarah’s career path began as a gainfully employed actress, drifted into public relations, settled a moment in advertising, and eventually took root in the fertile soil of her first love, writing. She also moonlights as a wife and mother.

She currently lives in Draper, Utah, with her teenage daughters, two Golden Retrievers and aforementioned husband. Part footloose buccaneer, part quixotic observer of life, Sarah’s restless heart is most content when reading or writing books. 

She loves to hear from readers and you can find her at any of the places below.

 

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Welcome to everyone joining me from Victoria Barbour's blog. If you missed her, hop back when you're done here. 
Ever wonder what's going on inside the head of a romance writer? Wonder no more. You've landed in the midst of romance authors who are happy to give you a sneak peek into their writing lairs.
This week's questions come from Beth Carter:





1.What’s your favorite aspect of novel writing? Dialogue? Setting? Conflict? Narration? Explain.

It's none of the above. The best part of novel writing is the relationships. It's the healing of a wounded soul or transformation from zero to hero. It's falling in love or rediscovering that lost lover. The words. the sentence structure, the story elements are the frame for the beauty of the characters and their struggle. It's my job and my pleasure to translate their stories from mental movie into written text on the page.

3.I’m a big six-word memoir fan. (Hemingway even wrote one.) Describe your writing day using just six words.

Never enough time to write alone.

As a wife who works full time and mother of two tween girls, there is never enough time to write. I know it sounds weird, but I'd love to win the lottery so I could stay home and write full time.

So ends these three answers from me. Don't stop now, hop on over to see what answers the talented A.S. Fenichel has in store for you. 

What are romance writers really like? Do they lock themselves in their bedrooms and read romance novels while eating bon-bons? Do they troll bars, observing native mating rituals? Or are they normal folks with the usual stress, family and work issues? All of the above, though I'd prefer more of the first.
Welcome if you've joined me from Ronnie Allen's blog and this week's questions are hers.

1.When do you decide that you've done enough editing and changes would now be making it different, not better? So it's the time to submit.

After my critique group reviews and provides feedback, I make changes. Most of their suggestions are valid and may cover plot holes, inconsistency with characterization and "just not right". Anything that pulls the reader out of the story requires fixing or tweaking. One more level of edits to add sensory details and it's off.

2. When and how do you accept change advice by rejection letters and critique partners?

Most of the time they are right. Can't think of a time when they haven't been right. My critique partners are tough but not ruthless in their critiquing. I am blessed with amazing critique partners I trust implicitly. When I received a rejection letter, it was for the "baby" (my first novel). It took a while for me to read the actual notations in the manuscript. They editor was correct, of course, so now, as an older and wiser writer I'm reworking it. The "baby" deserves to have the story told well.

3. When you're not writing, how do you spend your day or do you create your day around your writing?

As a full time employee, wife and mother of two girls, I cannot create my day around writing. That would be ideal, naturally, however at this time, unrealistic. If I had my way, I'd have a separate office with HVAC, internet and power. Lots of sunlight and plants, dog or cat at my feet. (See dream office, right.)



Keep hopping on to Mikki Cober's blog. Mikki is a fabulous writer of romantic suspense and I know you'll enjoy her answers.