Monday, June 25, 2012

@RobynLeatherman visits, answers #Author Q&A & has an #Autographed Copy of Summer Rain for 1 Lucky Person!





 Author Q&A and Autographed Print Copy Giveaway
with
Robyn Leatherman
What book(s) most influenced you as a writer?
My mother came home with a college textbook when I was young - Cultural Anthropology. That book made me interested in groups of people and what made them tick. In my teens, my cousin lent me a copy of Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge. It's the historical novel that pushed me over the edge and made me want to write about things that had happened and shouldn't be forgotten.

What book do you read over and over again?
The Grapes of Wrath

Tuesday Trio-
1)      Movie- The Man in the Iron Mask
2)      Music- School Boy Humor
3)      Decadent Dessert- Pecan Pie with vanilla ice cream

What’s the most interesting or bizarre bit of trivia you’ve learned from researching for a novel?
This is going to sound odd, but when I researched to origin of barbed wire, I discovered it had been in use even before 1863, but because nobody had patented the concept, it didn't catch on at that time. In 1873, a type of "barbed" fencing caught the eye of a man by the name of Glidden; I wonder if his family developed the line of paint? (Maybe an idea for a future historical story there …) I have no idea why this has stuck in my mind, but here is the website for anyone else who wants to learn about it!

Barbed Wire Museum

Novel on your Nightstand:
Who/what are you currently reading?
I'm almost finished with Jenny Wingfield's advance reader's copy of The Homecoming of Samuel Lake; it's one of the best books I've read in a long time!

Whom would you cast as your Hero & Heroine if your book became a movie?
Tijer Lily Company is a Native American arts and entertainment film company that deals with not only the cast calls and media, but with props as well. She has access to a list of Native actors and actresses who would be perfect for the movie version of my book.


 Click Image to purchase on Amazon
Also available from

About the Book
Welcome to the life of a young Cherokee girl named Rain, as she grows into maturity just as the Trail of Tears begins. Summer Rain: Getsikahvda Anitsalagi (The Removal of the People) is an unforgettable story that taps into a sad part of American history.

This journey begins in Georgia in a typical Cherokee village in the early 1800s, where a young girl and her best friend realize there are strangers poised to take their land and home away from the Cherokee and from neighboring tribes.

The girls witness the birth of the new written language of Tsalagi in the year 1821 and the printing press in the year 1827. The Cherokee Nation’s growth is also financial, and would mark the first newspaper to ever be printed and circulated by a Native American tribe.

Rain falls in love with a white boy and is forced to follow her heart and save her own life, or to remain loyal to her family, knowing that in doing so, she could lose not only her true love, but her very life as well.

The first 2 chapters of Summer Rain may be read on my website: Preface and First Two Chapters

To find out more about Robyn, her book and Cherokee Life

And don't forget to leave a comment (and you (at) email (dot) com) to say hi or ask a question so you can be entered to win a 
AUTOGRAPHED PRINT COPY
of
Summer Rain!
Comments must be posted before MIDNIGHT
Eastern Daylight Savings Time, Winner will be announced here
 and notified via email and then Robyn will be in touch as well
to get your contact info to send your book.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

777 Challenge~ I've Been Tagged! #writing #excerpt #WIP

 (my interpretation of Ben and Sunni)

Just discovered that I was tagged by Devon Matthews for a 777 Challenge. The challenge is to go to page 7 of your current work in progress and post at least 7 lines from the page, then tag 7 other authors and challenge them to do the same on their blogs. So, here we go.

My work-in-progress (WIP) is still a contemporary romance set in California. Ben runs "Ben There, Ate That" a bar and grill- one he's trying to "go green" with by hiring Sunni, who lives at the "Ripple on the Pond Commune" where they grow everything organic, to help him design and set up a rooftop garden for the restaurant. My 777 comes from the moment at the commune after Ben and Sunni first meet. Wolf, a fellow commune member who's close to her age and has a thing for her,weighs in on his instant dislike of Ben. This scene is only a few pages after the Six Sentence Sunday I shared today.


From Perfect Recipe for Love, Page 7

Wolf was three years her senior, the same age as her sister Autumn, but for some reason he had attached himself to Sunni from childhood. Now their parents’ teasing had grown to be the bane of her existence. If she wanted to do work outside the commune, it was easy to see why.

Wolf wouldn’t give her a moment’s peace.

If Autumn hadn’t already attached herself to another young man from a different family within the commune, this wouldn’t have been a problem. Her parents would have tried to pair Autumn with Wolf instead.

Sunni wasn’t sure it would have mattered. She was like a magnet for him and always had been. The idea of him touching her in any way that implied intimacy set the gag reflex into motion. He was like an older brother, dorky and not too bright.

“I don’t want to leave you alone. You are my Sunflower.” The words made her cringe.

Why had her parents insisted on naming her Sunflower with a last name like Fields?

“I am not your sunflower, thank you very much.” She dumped the manure into the compost heap.

“Oh, come on… you know I pick you…” The sticky sweetness of his words implied so much, but the warmth of his firm fingers grasping her hips and pulling her backside against him was where she drew the line.

Flailing, she ripped his hands off her hips. Sunni turned and pounded her fists into his chest.

“Would you take a fricking hint, Wolf? I want you to leave me alone.”

Holding up his hands as a sign of defeat, he backed away.

“Geez. Touchy much?”

He marched away, disappearing into the barn and apparently out to the fields to see what the other folks were doing.

Sunni fumed as she shook the wheelbarrow out and then stomped off toward the creek.

Wolf had destroyed her perfectly good morning with his appearance. Not to mention he ruined the little sexual fantasy she had been building up in her mind about Ben Pryce.

The idea of belonging to any man sounded like a nightmare. Wolf didn’t get that she wasn’t his possession to play with. Communal living had many benefits, but becoming Wolf’s wife was one thing she didn’t see as a benefit at all.

“I’d rather be left for the coyotes…” She grumbled, squatting down to unlace her filthy boots.


Stripping all her clothing off, she left it lying at the creek’s edge. A dip in the cool water was just the thing she needed to release the tension and give her a quiet moment or two to fantasize what it would be like to let Ben have his way with her, arrogant attitude and all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Here's my list of authors I tag to do the 777 Challenge:


J.M. Madden
Cherie Marks
Donna McDonald
Katherine Lowry Logan
Krista Ames
Madison J. Edwards
Ruth J Hartman


Hoping they'll participate in the challenge and give us a really great 777 scene to whet our appetites. :D

#SixSunday- Six Sentence Sunday- Sunni Gives it Some Thought...

 Click the link above the check out more 6 Sentence Sunday Authors!
Check it out on Twitter with #sixSunday

Hello Sunday Sixers! I'm back again!

Last week in my excitement to share for the first time, I forgot to explain what 6 Sentence Sunday is, for those who might not know- here are the rules~

Pick six (6) sentences from anything you like (it can be from a Work in Progress (WiP), something you recently sold, something you hope to sell or even something already under contract and available for purchase – and don’t worry, Six Sentence Sunday is for published AND unpublished writers). Then post them on your blog on Sunday. That’s all there is to it!

You can add yours link to their official list by signing up before midnight the Saturday beforehand, but I'm simply sharing. Here's another 6 from my current WIP, Perfect Recipe for Love- Here are few of Sunni's thoughts after meeting Mr. Ben Pryce, who we met last week on the SSS and couldn't keep his mind off her "ample distractions."
She had to admit, Ben Pryce wasn’t completely repulsive, not by any means. Getting out into the world and mingling had never been very high on her list of priorities, but it seemed someone or something had thrown Mr. Pryce in her path.
He was sexy, albeit arrogant.

And he thought he could get her in the sack.

He didn’t have to say it, vanity rolled off him like a loud perfume. He thought he could win her over with his smirk of a smile and those deep brown eyes.