HAUNTED

I remember always wanting to write paranormal romantic suspense of some sort. My editors at Intrigue always told me I couldn’t do it. But somehow I got away with writing HAUNTED, a book set at Halloween, another of many firsts for me. The first Intrigue with a paranormal element – a ghost who provides a fun twist. Well, a couple of twists.

Ever since I can remember, I was in love with the idea of paranormal anything. Blame my mother. She was born on November 1. I think she was born a day late. :)

The costumes she always made for me when I was a kid were spooky. And she took me to spooky movies. I was a latch key kid. I believed The Creature from the Black Lagoon lived in my basement. The basement door was next to my apartment door... Needless to say, I always got inside the apartment fast. And I never went into the basement unless I was forced to do it. I sat my way down, peering around the stairwell to make sure I wasn’t unpleasantly surprised.

As a young adult, I read books that made me keep the lights on all night. Rosemary’s Baby. Jaws. The Exorcist. I swore I would never see any of those movies. I did see them all, of course, and had to hold someone’s hand while doing so. The one I really wanted to avoid was The Exorcist. I think I slept with the lights on for a week after I read that one. And my mother made me take her to the movie anyway. She threatened to disown me if I didn’t. Ack! What else could I do?

Mom really, really was into the paranormal even more than I was. One year she asked if we could go to a haunted house for Halloween. I said sure. I took her to one of those cheesy (but scary) haunted houses that are such fun at Halloween. She was horrified. She meant a REAL haunted house. Yeah, Mom, like the owners would just invite us in.

Mom died at 60 of lung cancer. But every year just before Halloween, I think of her and wish her a happy birthday.

And this year, I get to bring HAUNTED, a Halloween book, to my readers who didn’t get it the first time around. With a new cover, of course.

Mom would approve. Happy Birthday, Mom.

What is the scariest or most fun memory you have of Halloween as a kid? Comment for a chance to win a free digital copy of HAUNTED. It would help if you would provide an email addy in your comment. If you don’t, I’ll announce the winner in -this- blog post on November 1 in my mother’s honor.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

                           








   

BIG SHOT

First Day of Fall

 

I know that for many of you fall started a month ago. But where I live in Montgomery County in Texas, fall is never in a rush to arrive. That's usually fine by us since October does see a gradual decline in temperature and humidity. We can actually sit outside late afternoons and watch the birds flit around the bird bath and feeders and the deer come wandering by.

 

But this morning, the first read cool spell of the season arrived. It's not six in the morning yet, but when I got my computer and coffee to sit outside and write as the sun comes up, the damp coolness sent me back inside for a blanket. I found it absolutely exhilarating. Makes me want to take a long walk along the lake and bake bread. Instead, I'll sit here and put the finishing touches on Trumped-Up Charges, a book set in the blistering heat of a Dallas summer. But I'll be thinking about pumpkin pie and hot chocolate as I do.

 

And tonight, I'll curl up under a blanket with a good book. If you are, too, hope it's an Intrigue. You might like BIG SHOT, the 3rd book in my Big "D" Dad series. Your weather might be cool. But Durk Lambert is HOT!

 

What's your favorite activity for a perfect fall day?

 

 

What Makes A Hero

 

This is a topic that I frequently think about, especially when I start plotting a new book. In BIG SHOT, the 3rd book in the Big "D" Dad series, Durk Lambert is a very different kind of hero. He's not only a rancher but is a very rich and successful oil businessman. But Durk is not only sexy and powerful, he is a hero in every way that matters.  Even when he thinks there is no hope for him with the woman he loves, he'll do anything to keep her safe, including put his life on the line.  And if you loved the Lambert family in Son of a Gun and Live Ammo,  you'll enjoy catching up with them.  I hope you'll stop by http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=27000 and read an excerpt.

Wayne hits all the right notes in this Big "D" Dads installment, with action, romance and a tidy mystery.           RT Book Reviews

 

Happy Anniversary, PRW!

Prairieland Romance Writers celebrates 20 years of excellence in romantic fiction

This past weekend marked a landmark event for my local writing chapter, the Prairieland Romance Writers.  On Sunday, we hosted an Open House celebrating our 20th anniversary!  We invited back our PRW alumni (aka former members) as well as the mentors who helped us get started by teaching us about critique groups, how to run a meeting, writing all those pesky but necessary by-laws for incorporation, and so on.  We also invited the events coordinator at the local Conestoga Mall, and the library staff at Grand Island Public Library--the two venues who have given us the space to hold our meetings for many years.

We decorated with autumn colors.  We drank some yummy sherbert & pineapple punch, and carved a cake designed by one of our members, Robin L. Rotham.  She put together our very own PRW romance novel cover--sweet!  We pulled out scrapbooks that featured pix of our members and their achievements over the past 20 years.  And we set up display tables for each of our current members to show off awards, books and other writing achievements.  That was cool!  We had everything from our newest published author, Niecey Roy, whose first book comes out from Wild Rose Press in early 2013, with just a rose and a photo--to members whose bling includes 2 RITA awards (Kristin Eckhardt, also w/a Kristin Gabriel) and so many books it required more than one table to display them all.

Julie Miller

Here's a look at my display, along with yours truly.  To be honest, I don't keep all the hardware out on display, and normally my books are tucked away on a shelf.  But it was totally cool, and humbling, and motivating, to set everything out on one place to remind myself of all the hard work, proud accomplishments and wonderful memories I've had with my writing.


PRW (as we usually call ourselves) also has the tradition of handing out silk flowers for Prairie Rose Awards (major accomplishments like selling a book, completing a manuscript or finalling in a contest) and Praire Wildflower Awards (other, non-romance writing achievements like publishing a poem and selling an article to a magazine).  In honor of our 20th anniversary, we presented real roses to our charter members in attendance, and to our mentors from the Omaha chapter (we represent mostly out-state Nebraska) who helped us get our group started.

We celebrated our history and each other, and spent a great deal of the afternoon trading hugs and catching up with old friends.  It was fun to hear how many remembered my son coming to a few meetings when he was younger, and playing off to the side of the room with his Legos and Transformers.  Now he's a senior in college.  Some of our former members have moved far away, and one, sadly, is no longer with us.

Personally, I treasure my time with PRW.  As my good friend, and our first president, Sherry James put it, "PRW is like AA for writers."  Yes, we help educate newer writers, refresh the skills of our veterans, keep each other apprised of changes in the market and publishing world, and promote each other's work.  But the best benefit for me is the supportive friendships among professional women who "get" what it means to be a writer.  We celebrate each other's triumphs, commiserate over disappointments, offer advice when asked and support each other through the high's and low's of working in this industry.

Thank you, PRW!  And Happy Anniversary!

So, what's something you've celebrated recently?  Or, is there a group you belong to that means a lot to you?  Please share your question or comment.  I'll give away a copy of my current release (it's a reissue of FORBIDDEN CAPTOR, packaged with Debra Webb's novel, STRIKING DISTANCE) to one lucky poster. 

Julie Miller
THREE COWBOYS, Dec. 2012

(if you're interested in learning more about our group, its members, and the wide variety of romance genres we represent, please visit our website at www.prwne.com)

Spotlight on October Intrigues: Thunder Horse Redemption

Another Thunder Horse brother meets his match in Elle James' Thunder Horse Redemption:

A WARRIOR WITH A BADGE

Life in the North Dakota badlands always has its dangers...but the shooter who attacks Roxanne Carmichael has definitely raised the stakes. Already struggling to keep her ranch from bankruptcy, Roxy is now faced with new threats around every corner. To make matters even worse, her ex-fiancé , FBI agent Pierce Thunder Horse, is visiting his family's ranch-and once the Lakota lawman learns Roxy's at risk, nothing will shake him from her side.

When she threw his ring back in his face two months ago, Pierce promised Roxy that he'd keep his distance. But leaving her without protection is not an option. Pierce is determined to stick close, mend old wounds...and strengthen the unrelenting desire that still rages between them.

Spotlight on October Intrigues: Christmas Conspiracy

Check out Robin Perini's latest riveting read and unravel a Christmas Conspiracy:

Four years ago, girl-next-door Kat Nelson had gone from being a tempting assignment to the fling P.I. Logan Carmichael never forgot. Now he'd been hired to find her by a king claiming Kat was heir to the throne. Locating her wasn't difficult.

Learning he was the father of her toddler twins, however, made him ache. But his job was to protect her from a madman who wanted her dead, and keep her away from the king who needed her alive. And yet one look at his children made the steely CIA vet yearn to be more than just a bodyguard. Defusing bombs and taking out terrorists wasn't as scary as being a father—and didn't get his heart racing as much as the thought of spending every night by Kat's side.…

RIDING VICARIOUSLY THROUGH WRITING

My new book BORN TO BE WILD from Entangled Publishing’s Dead Sexy line is something of a horse book. I love writing horse books. Whether they’re rounding up cows, being raced or being bred, I’m in.

Back in the day, I rode at least once a week for nine years. Some of you may ride every day, but if you do, chances are you own your own horse and may have your own barn.

I’m a city girl.

My first experience riding was visiting relatives in Brooklyn, NY, when my Uncle George took me riding through Prospect Park. I was (maybe) twelve. I was in love. The next time I went riding, it was in Mexico. My cousin and I rented horses on the beach. Then we and my mother took a long ride into the back hills and across a river. I was hooked.

I was so excited about riding, that I decided I was finally going to do it – take lessons in the far, far suburbs, even though I had moved to the city proper, an hour’s drive each way. Unfortunately, just after I started, I had an accident and needed major knee surgery. A month later, I asked the doc how soon I could start riding again and he said...well, he didn’t want to know about it, and if I did ride with my knee, I was crazy.

I was crazy.

And when I went back to see him six months later, he couldn’t figure out why I was not limping. That’s how bad the injury had been and how nasty the surgery. This was just before they started doing arthroscopic, and they took half my meniscus which set me up for a much later knee replacement.

But in the meantime, I rode. I took group lessons in English equitation and learned to post. I learned to ride Western. Rode through the forest preserves, then switched barns and took private hunt seat lessons, shared board on a horse and rode three times a week. I started driving up to Michigan where there was an adult only ranch with horseback riding twice a day. (Btw, Suicide Hill in BORN TO BE WILD was inspired by the ‘real’ Suicide Hill at the Michigan resort – and yes, I rode it). I learned to jump. The thrill of jumping is something like that big dip on the rollercoaster. I got the same sensation in my stomach every time.

So though I don’t ride now because of my bionic knee, I’ve been reading about people who do after replacement, and I am sorely tempted to take a chance that this time I won't do anything that gets me thrown. :) 

In the meantime, I let writing about horses give me the thrill that I so miss. For now...

BORN TO BE WILD is a digital book available at Entangled Publishing and at the usual books sites.

What gives you a thrill? Something out of your comfort zone? Leave a comment for a chance to win one of my backlist books -- TOUCH ME IN THE DARK (McKenna Legacy 3)--  in any digital format you choose from Smashwords.com