The Girdle of Melian

an't find a summer read? I've got one for you! Simon O'Neal's causing trouble again. And it's up to Gail DeMarco to stop him. "Gail DeMarco left Whiskey Creek, California, to make a name for herself in Los Angeles. Her PR firm has accumulated a roster of A-list clients, including the biggest box office hit of all — sexy and unpredictable Simon O'Neal. But Simon, who's just been through a turbulent divorce, is so busy self-destructing he won't listen to anything she says. She drops him from her list — and he retaliates by taking the rest of her clients with him.  Desperate to save her company, Gail has to humble herself by making a deal with Simon. The one thing he wants is custody of his son, but that's going to require a whole new image. He needs to marry some squeaky-clean girl who'll drag him off to some small, obscure place like Whiskey Creek... Gail's the only one he can trust. She agrees to become his wife — reluctant...

appy Fourth of July! It's also the second to last day for the Indelibles' INDIEpendence Day Blog Fest : discover some great new indie authors and win prizes! Over 70 authors are offering books and interviews. For instance, Medeia Sharif is featuring J. L. Campbell ! Not a bad way to celebrate Insecure Writer's Support Group day, either. Actually, there's one aspect of a writer's life that's sometimes overly-secure. I mean, of course, shiny new idea syndrome . I'm using my morning pages (bonus ROW80 goal!) to draft my new druids/beauty and the beast/1000+ year curse/legend modern archaeological romance (whew! can't wait till this one gets a title!) all about two characters named Fred and Lyne. And I'm so excited by their story that I find it hard to concentrate on editing Rome, Rhymes and Risk (real ROW80 goal). Poor Ayten: I promise not to give up on her. And though I'd like to talk more about Fred and Lyne, I haven't rea...

appy Canada Day! Why not celebrate by reading a Canadian author? Talli Roland 's Construct a Couple is out now! Or join the Canadian Book Challenge : "The Canadian Book Challenge is an online reading challenge in which participants from Canada and around the world aim to read and review 13 or more Canadian books in a one year span: Canada Day to Canada Day. Reviews must be posted online and participants are asked to share links to their reviews with other participants. Canadian books can include any genre or form (picture books, poetry, novels, non-fiction, plays, anthologies, graphic novels, cookbooks, etc), can be written by Canadian authors (by birth or immigration) or about Canadians." Why 13? One book for each province/territory! Not that you need to divide your reading by province, of course. Let me see if I can, off the top of my head: Newfoundland and Labrador : Apparently John Wyndham's The Chrysalids is partially set here. I don't remember...

esearch! I've been doing a lot of it the past couple of years, for Out of the Water and Rome, Rhymes and Risk , both set c. 1492 in the Mediterranean. (And also quite a bit this past week, as I'm still in the midst of tying up loose ends in Ayten's story.) I love researching historicals, and learning new things about the time periods my characters happen to be in. Bring on the square brackets ! And keep reading - you never know when something you read, even if it's not directly for research, will lead to an important fact that's relevant for your story. You might also come across weird information . I've listed some of my odd searches before, for Rosa's story and for The Face of A Lion , Austin's story. Now, here's some what I've Google d or read about in primary and secondary sources for Ayten's story and for my shiny new idea: Rome, Rhymes and Risk (15th Century): metalwork and trading marriage and burial rites more parts ...

(reposted from 2010. Hope you enjoy!) hildren's books these days are divided into so many genres and categories that it almost seems funny to recommend, for instance, The Lord of the Rings , to a youngster. Yet I was 10 when I first read that and The Hobbit . Given the title of this blog, for one, it's arguably the book that touched me as a child, and I've reread it every year since then. But there are so many other authors that I'd also list as my favourites, which I won't repeat here; we've had discussions on this topic before on the Compuserve Books and Writers Forum, last year and the year before , as well as a discussion on what we learned from kids' books . Which book touched you that you still remember? Was it a series, a specific genre, or a single story? Many of the authors that have made a difference to me are Canadian, and sometimes I wonder if I would have discovered them at all if I'd grown up elsewhere. A number of authors and read...

ots of review sites and articles up! I've got another new article at Bizim Anadolu , this one about Pâté Chômeur , a yummy Québecois dessert. We're still seeking reviewers over at the One Hundred Romances Project - come join the fun. I've got reviews of Carol Spradling 's The Night Lamp and Nina Jade Singer 's Secrets of the Knight up right now. Song of the Sea also features romance book reviews - I'm hoping to contribute a few someday soon. And Forumite Betty Navta has a new blog titled Books Uncaged , "for readers and writers with a passion for books." The blog is a joint one with her friend author Michelle Yd Frost. "We're stepping out from being rather insular about our processes, experiences and efforts at writing, editing, cover-designing, self-publishing, e-book publishing, etc. Both of us have written for other venues - magazines, newspapers and blogs, of course. And both of us are avid readers. It's something new a...

inda Gerber has a new book out: Hacked , the third episode in the Lights, Camera, Cassidy series. To celebrate, she's running a giveaway for the next two months! Spread the word (tweet-ready!): " Lights, Camera, Cassidy Charmed Summer Giveaway! Win charms, one-of-a-kind charm necklaces, even a chance at an iPhone 4! http://tinyurl.com/78k8o92." Someday I hope I get to celebrate a book launch (future ROW80 goal!)... Meanwhile, I've made a list of all the missing scenes in Ayten's story, as well as the names I still need, including a couple of priests, a handful of Castilian brigands, a kitten... Any suggestions? The other thing I've been doing really well for two weeks now - surprise! surprise! - is keeping up a writing chain each morning. Love me that shiny new story! I got the chain idea from Jenny Maloney's blog : Step 1: Get a big calendar. Step 2: Draw an X on each day you write. (After a few days, you'll have a chain ...