#Writerly Wednesday~ The LOOK #Writing Challenge

Last week I was challenged to participate in the "LOOK Challenge" by my good friend and fellow author, Teresa Reasor, but I was out of town visiting my folks and having a yard sale with my mom and sister. I was tickled Teresa included me in her author-buddies to tag, so I'm going to rise up to the challenge and share my own and challenge a few to participate as well!

Here's how it works:
Find the LOOKs in your current work-in-progress.
Choose your favorite 3 and post the paragraphs that contain them.
Pick some of your favorite author-buddies to "tag" and invite them to participate, too!


Since I'm not currently working on a WIP, I'll choose from my current manuscript that I'm prepping for my 1st self-pubbed novel, the first book in my Love By Series- Love by Design.

1. This woman captivated him. With every icy blue glare she shot in his direction, he felt certain she despised him. She looked as though the very idea of having to tread the same ground he walked upon might make her ill, but it was the warmth that drew him in. The shimmering warmth of those golden flecks in her icy gaze left him wanting. Fire and flame flickered beneath her cold icy surface.
2. The sudden intensity in Derrek’s eyes startled her. Pinpricks of awareness danced across her skin and the aching desire she had fought over the past couple of days gave way to a heart-thumping response to his tender embrace. She swallowed hard and tilted her head back to look him in the eye, the fight gone right out of her.
3. She wanted his flesh against hers, yet she felt like a shy innocent girl as she stood before him. His hips pressed against her. Her backside collided with the kitchen cabinet. His eyes locked with hers. She couldn’t look away, but she felt his hand go lower to inch up under her shirt. It came to rest again over her breast as his thumb taunted the hardened nipple beneath the lace.
   
   
   I'm picking Amy Durham, Hallee Bridgeman and C.C. Marks to participate!
   
   
   Have a fantastic Wednesday!
   I can see the weekend from here!

#Writerly Wednesday- I'm in Good Company @KYIndieWriters #Kentucky #Indie #Authors

I was thinking about my journey toward self-publication and those I have surrounding me, who encourage me that it CAN be done and it's worth it and I feel a surge of appreciation for the outstanding company I keep. We're an eclectic group of authors, who've all chosen differing paths for our writing career.


Some have gone through publishers, big and small and others have struck out onto the Indie path full speed ahead. It's amazing to hear what's going on, and sometimes overwhelming, too, to hear about the numbers, the rankings, Amazon's bizarre algorithms, and the tremendous hard work that goes into taking on being the writer and publisher of your own work.


I find it refreshing and inspiring to feel I'm part of a new generation of revolutionaries in the publishing field. We're all heading toward the same goals~ To reach readers and touch hearts, to bring laughter and joy and even yes, sometimes sorrow, but happy endings and satisfying conclusions.



We have far too many stories jam-packed inside us...like that little cartoon where the guy's at the doctor's office and the doctor is showing him an x-ray of his body, wherein lies a book. "See, you have a book inside you, just waiting to get out."


Well, I'm sure for most of us, it's more like a bookshelf. I know mine is. I've written 11 manuscripts already, but I know I'm far from done. I have more to tell, but if I'm going to take this journey into self-publication, some of those stories will have to wait until I can get a few of the finished ones polished and out there in the world, in the hands of people who love books as much as I do.


Our stories span all kinds of genres and themes from edgy inspirational to historical, to contemporary romance and young adult, to erotica and women's fiction, military, suspense, horror.


They cover themes such as dystopian futures, time-travel and reincarnation...from reuniting with their soulmate from the very distant past, to finding love the second time around. I think books are food for the soul. Without the great and wonderful stories of authors the world over, I can only imagine what a dull and dreary life we would lead.



All stories spilled forth from the wellspring of authors who enjoy writing as much as reading, who sometimes have no choice but to write because they know if they didn't, something would be missing, that without writing they are incomplete.



These authors with whom I share email conversations, the joys and pains of writing, the highs and lows of self-publishing and the pleasure of their online company are dedicated and full of determination. Their persistence encourages me, driving me forward toward my own goals. They are writerly inspiration and amazingly talented!



They are not only my friends, but my people, for no one quite understands a writer's mind or a writer's journey in life like another writer can.

This is not all of them for we are a growing bunch, but these are the ones who've been most influential for me as a writer and I'm proud to say I'm a part of this extraordinary group of authors.

Hope you'll stop by & visit me this week while I'm hanging out with @teresareasor on her #Blog!

Come join me today and the rest of this week while I visit with Teresa Reasor on her blog and answer some questions and sit a spell!

My Muse's Musings

Also swing by (link on pic below) and check out Teresa's Website-

#TuesdayswithTaryn Q&A with Teresa Reasor aka @teresareasor

Tuesdays with Taryn

Please welcome with me- Teresa Reasor, fellow Kentucky writer, artist and teacher.

What book(s) most influenced you as a writer?

I have a list. I loved Sandra Browns earlier works. And Kathleen Woodiwiss definitely influenced my historical romance writing. One of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten is a reader review for my historical Highland Moonlight. She said anyone who enjoyed Kathleen Woodiwiss’s books would love Highland Moonlight. I didn’t pattern Moonlight after Woodiwiss’s work, or try to steal her voice, that would be impossible, but the love story does have a similar feel to it.

I love reading male writers. Michael Connelly has had an influence, Dean Koontz’s earlier works, and, believe it or not, Steven King.

The writing craft books having had an influence on my writing have been numerous. I try to read a craft book at least once a month. I never stop learning, evolving.

The very first book on writing I ever bought was one by Phyllis Whitney. I’d read all of her novels, still have them. And I bought that book and— the rest was history. I had to write. That was when I was in college, many, many moons ago. I still use the same research process I learned from that book. Story by Robert McKee, Word Painting by Rebecca McClanahan, Stephen King’s On Writing, Orson Scott Card’s book on Characters and Viewpoint, and Johnny Payne’s on Voice and Style are some of my favorites I still go back and revisit.

What book do you read over and over again? That depends on what I’m working on at the moment. While writing my Navy Navy SEAL series I have a stack of reading material I revisit over and over. The Warrior Elite, The Finishing School, and Down Range, all by Dick Couch and Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell among a list of others.

When I’m working on other things I’ll choose reading material germane to my subject matter. I have to immerse myself in the subject to get a feel for the knowledge my characters will have. But it’s more than that. It’s to understand what reactions my characters will have to the conflicts I throw at them. I’m constantly reading male writers to try and improve my MAN SPEAK. 

Tuesday Trio-

1)      Movie- Underworld the first one with Kate Beckinsale and Scot Speedman

2)      Music- The Red Violin Soundtrack, Joshua Bell is fantastic!

3)      Decadent Dessert- Death by chocolate. A chocolate brownie with chunks of chocolate baked in, topped with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, whipped cream and a grated Hershey bar, (I’m serious about my chocolate)

What’s the most interesting or bizarre bit of trivia you’ve learned from researching for a novel? That George Washington’s physicians probably killed him trying to cure him of something simple like a bad chest cold. They tortured him. They even burnt the bottoms of his feet. I think he finally died to escape them.

Novel on your Nightstand:

Who/what are you currently reading?

I have a stack of books in the floor next to my bedside table. They’re my to be read books. The Wolf Gift, by Anne Rice, May Day by Thomas Block, The Rope by Navada Barr, and Malice by Lisa Jackson are a few of them. I also have the complete works of Jane Austin all in one volume. I think it weights at least ten pounds. And though I’ve read several of them in the past, I’m revisiting them this summer. By second book, Captive Hearts, was a Regency Romance so what better way to review the premises included in Regency than reading Jane Austen.

Whom would you cast as your Hero & Heroine if your book became a movie?

Highland Moonlight  (Kevin McKidd and Kate Beckinsale)

Captive Hearts (Ioan Gruffudd and Sophia Miles)

Breaking Free (Eric Bana and Emily Blunt)

Timeless  (Garrard Butler and Michelle Williams)

Breaking Through (Chris Evans and Emma Stone)

Not that I’ve thought about it much!!!

Blurb: For Timeless

Archaeology student, Regan Stanhope, lands the chance of a lifetime when she’s chosen to work on a summer dig in Loch Maree, Scotland. The ancient monoliths hidden beneath the loch are the most important discovery since Stonehenge. And for seven hundred years, they have been waiting—for her.

Saturation diver Quinn Douglas is contracted to recover some of the megaliths from the loch’s bottom. The job will breathe life into the struggling salvage business he and his brothers are building. But from the moment he arrives, Quinn is plagued by dreams and feelings from a past he did not live. Or did he?

Regan and Quinn are drawn to each other as they research the monoliths and the reason behind their shared visions. But both sense something mystical at work, delving into their minds, manipulating their emotions. And when they finally discover the monoliths’ extraordinary secret, they know they must seal them away from those who are desperate to unlock their power. Even if it means remaining caught in a timeless struggle between the past and present forever.

 

You can find out more about Teresa at her

WEBSITE

BLOG- My Muse's Musings