CONFESSIONS FROM THE EDGE

There comes a time in every author's life when she needs a vacation from writing. Or so I told myself. I felt like I'd been on a writerly hamster wheel forever. I was mentally exhausted. Stressed. Blocked. At the precipice and ready to jump. Well, at least ready for a break from writing. So, for the first time in the twenty-six years since I sold my first book, I took that break. I decided not to start my next contracted novel until the end of the school year after my grades were in for the Suspense-Thriller class I was teaching. I hoped the break would allow me to go back to the familiar with a fresh view and renewed enthusiasm.

There were so many things I wanted or needed to do in those four months-gardening, reading, catching up with the repairs I needed to do in my apartment and my 2-flat. I took the Master Gardner program and am now a Master Gardner intern. As Spring arrived, I started to transform my own garden. All along, I read a little, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. I did some of the organization and repairs needed around my place.

And, surprise...I wrote.

After two weeks of "vacation" from writing, I started to get antsy. It was winter, so I couldn't work outside and not much else appealed to me after the first rush of freedom. The class I was teaching and the class I was taking and the volunteer work at a pet adoption center just didn't fill enough hours in the week.

My thoughts kept drifting to writing...to working on projects that didn't provide my living and therefore excited me. Okay, I've already admitted I'm addicted. I just learned it was worse than I thought.

First I decided to take another look at a suspense project that never sold but that I still believed in. Four weeks later, I sent the rewritten proposal to my agent.

The next break lasted another two weeks. After which an urban fantasy idea started to plague me. I'd gotten the premise and characters down a year ago, then had abandoned the proposal in the wake of several contracted books. So now that I had time, I picked it up again. This was going to be my "fun" project.

It should have been fun. I didn't have to write it. Nothing depended on it. It wasn't competing with other writing projects for time. So what was hanging me up? At least part of the problem was worldbuilding. Yes, I know how to worldbuild. I've done enough paranormal romances and a couple urban fantasy thrillers. But this project presented a particular challenge for me that made me rethink writing it.

After getting notes from critique partners, I would avoid the project for days. Even a couple of weeks. I questioned myself, worrying that perhaps I just couldn't write anymore. One of my critique partners suggested that I didn't have to write this story, that I could just stop. Abandon it and find something fun to do. I really did consider doing so...but something stopped me.

One of the things about me that is both a blessing and a curse-if I start something, I see it through. I don't give up in the middle. Sometimes I really want to stop, but something always drives me forward. A good example is that Russian class in college that I really, really should have dropped.

I'm currently a volunteer client for a creativity coach in training, which proved to be a good thing at this time. She gave me some tools to use that helped get my head back on track. Exercises to banish negativity.

I realized I didn't want to quit the story, that I had to push until I broke through and got the worldbuilding right. Then I was convinced the story would come. I think it finally has happened. I'm on the right track. The story is fun again. I have a couple weeks left on my professional Spring vacation. I just hope it's enough to finish a dynamite proposal. If not, the story can wait. I don't want to rush to the finish and finish weakly.

What I experienced makes me wonder about this stress thing. How deeply does it go? Career authors are pushed to produce and produce and produce. My fear is that someday I'll push myself so far that I'll break and not be able to come back. Is that likely? I don't know. I only know for sure that from now on, I'll plan for some down time between books. Maybe not four months, but even a month is more than I ever gave myself in the past.

Will four months be enough down time to bring me back from the edge? I don't know that, either. The next contracted book will tell.

I'm sure I'm not the only author who has experienced the precipice. If you have a tale you'd like to share, I'd like to hear it...

Good Writing,

Patricia Rosemoor

A Question for You

Kat Edwards didn't recognize the men, but she knew why they were there.

She hadn't heard them enter the barn, not above the whir of the horse clipper and jangle of country music on the radio. If she had, she could have run. She could have hidden in one of the stalls. Something. Now all she could do was watch them stride toward her, grim expressions on coarse-featured faces. Their hands swung empty by their sides, but the telltale bulges under their shirttails said it all.

They'd come to kill her baby.

She brought her free hand to her round abdomen, as if she could shield her little prince from trouble with mere flesh and bone.


That is the opening of my May release, Priceless Newborn Prince. The story continues with the heroine going into labor while running for her (and her baby's) life. I've had great reader responses to the book so far, but two people (while they loved the story) have worried that I put the heroine through too much during labor and beyond. And herein lies my question for today. How much difficulty is too much when a heroine is pregnant?

My perspective might be skewed on this. Not because I wrote the book, necessarily, but by my own experiences with pregnancy and labor. I was the co-owner of a small cleaning company when pregnant with my first child. I used to get up at 4 am and clean two car dealerships right up to the day I started labor. Sure it wasn't easy, but the work had to be done, so I did it.

With my first child, I was also in labor for 35 hours. Ten hours into the process, when I realized how slowly things were progressing, I decided to clean my horse's stall between contractions. Call it nesting instinct, perhaps, but I knew I wouldn't get a chance to clean it later, so I did it. It needed to be done.

Now I don't think I'm all that unusual. I think when things need to be done, women (and men) find a way to do them, even if the process is difficult. So, back to my heroine. This woman is running for her and her baby's lives. If I was in that position, I'd do whatever it took to survive, labor pains or not. I think nearly anyone would. Am I wrong?

My Son the Cover Model

Is this just about the cutest cover you've ever seen? I think so. But then, I might be biased. Not only did I write this book (in stores everywhere right now), but the photo below is a picture of my oldest son. Is it no wonder I let out a squee when I saw the cover for Priceless Newborn Prince?

Romeo and Juliet

I took three 10 year olds to see High School Musical on ice this weekend. I'll never be the same again. OMG, all that pre-teen screaming! I have now joined the ranks of the hearing impared.

I have to say, though, I did enjoy the show. Very West Side Story, especially the firs half. The actors were great. There was everything from fireworks to riding a bicycle on the ice and a golf cart, too! It was a visual and musical extravaganza, which made me wonder how books will ever compete for the attention of young people who grow up on these shows.

Talking about trying to get people's attention... I'm redisigning my web site over the next couple of weeks, so step by to check out all the new stuff. I'll also have some fun prizes for visitors.

Wishing everyone a fun day!

Dana

Summer fun

I love this time of year. It's the sunshine and blue skies and that feeling that anything is possible. Also it's the snow being gone. :)

But it makes sitting at my desk writing a whole lot tougher.

That's one reason I bought myself a Trikke. Not to be confused with a three-wheeled bike.

I told myself I needed the exercise (which I do.) But let's face it, most of us have something around that we bought for exercise that now collects nothing but dust.

That's why I didn't tell my husband about my purchase until the big box was dropped off by the UPS man. Surprise!

My husband is a good sport. He hardly grumbled as he put my Trikke together. He hardly said, "What in the world were you thinking?" Hardly.

I'd seen these on TV and they looked fun -- and such good exercise. I knew then I had to have one. According to the directions, it takes most people about an hour to learn to ride a Trikke. There are no pedals. There are handlebars with brakes (like I'll ever need those) and a place to put each foot.

The idea is to tilt the device and push with the outer foot at the same time. Right.

The first time I tried it out in the street in front of our house, my husband made me wear a helmet and gloves. The gloves, he said, were where I wouldn't scrape up my hands when I broke my neck.

I stood on the Trikke. Rocked it. Nothing happened. I pushed it, jumped on, went a few feet and stopped.

But I wasn't about to give up. So that night after my husband went to bed, I moved the furniture in the living room, reread the directions and practiced. Every once in a while I would feel it. The directions called it feeling the "sweet spot." Uh huh.

After running into the fireplace a few times, I thought I might be getting it. My husband caught me though and predicted I was just going to fall through the television set.

The next time I took it out, I got it moving. Amazing. My husband quit shaking his head. Well, quit shaking it quite so much.

I'm often asked by aspiring writers what my secret is. I'm writing my 47th book, the 12th in the Whitehorse, Montana series.) There is no secret. I'm just stubborn. I never give up. Just like on the Trikke, I can't resist a challenge. I just keep trying even when things aren't going quite like I'd hoped. :)

Yesterday I went around the block on the Trikke. Who knows what is next. There are just a world of possibilities. While I'll never do some of the tricks I've seen people doing on these darned things (http://www.trikke.com/) I am out and moving and at a pretty good clip. And my husband thought this was a dumb idea. Ha. :)

Ever had something you just refused to give up on? Something crazy you realized you probably shouldn't have tried?

fun weekend

I was at a small village sports festival this weekend and took a gold medal for air rifle shooting. Nobody was more surprised than I. I hadn't shot one of those in twenty years. I'm ridiculously bad at sports, but now seems I might be good at sports where all I have to do is stand still. Hmm... I'm thinking if I could find a sport where all I had to do was sit, I might even make it all the way to the regional level!





How was your weekend?





My new book SAVED BY THE MONARCH is out this week, so I'm celebrating that. Here is a little taste...





Picture yourself going on a much-needed European vacation to the country of your ancestors. You’re getting off the airplane, and the red carpet is odd, but not alarming. Except, the hot guy in the fancy uniform waiting at the end, in front of a line of guards, is not head of security.

He is a prince.

Now try not to let your chin drop when he tells you that your parents had promised him your hand in marriage before they died --when you were still a child.

He whisks you away in the royal ceremonial limousine before you can get your bearings. And by the time you manage to tell him that under no circumstances will you be entering an arranged marriage with a stranger, you are both kidnapped by anti-monarchy rebels.

You don’t know the country’s politics, you don’t know the lay of the land, you don’t speak the local dialects. You only have one chance for survival: you must trust your life to the prince.

~~Forget kissing frogs. Meet Prince Miklos of Valtria.
And if the crown fits…~~



Have a wonderful day!
Dana

Available in May

1131. HUNTING DOWN THE HORSEMAN by B.J. Daniels
Brave, courageous and single, Jud Corbett loves the life he leads outside his hometown of Whitehorse—so it'll be up to his brothers to meet the nice Montana cowgirls their mother hoped they'd marry. Then he met Faith Bailey…

Faith is a local woman with an adventurous streak, and Jud can't help but be attracted to the beautiful blonde. When dangerous, life-threatening accidents begin to befall her every step, Jud can't walk away. But when he's through being a hero, will he still be a bachelor?


1132. COLLECTING EVIDENCE by Rita Herron
The first thing FBI Agent Dylan Acevedo remembered when he saw Aspen Meadows again was their steamy week in a hotel room. Unfortunately, Aspen had no memory of him, the murder she'd witnessed, or that he could be the father of her infant son. So, as much as he wanted to hold her and demand answers, her safety came first. Collecting evidence and hunting down clues always kept him working long into the night. But now, reunited with one unforgettable woman and excited by the prospect of fatherhood, Dylan found he had a lot more reasons to come home. And a lot more to lose.


1133. PRICELESS NEWBORN PRINCE by Ann Voss Peterson
After being forced into hiding and presumed dead when his kingdom was attacked, Prince Viktor Romanov would stop at nothing to find his way back to Kat Edwards and the unborn heir she was carrying. But learning Viktor was still alive only seemed to make the beautiful Texan angry...and shock her into labor. Now, with a newborn baby to protect and Kat both demanding answers and begging to be held, Viktor vowed to make everything right once his little family was safe. Until then, he'd have to also prepare her for the worst and do his best not to break her vulnerable heart.


1134. INTERROGATING THE BRIDE by Carla Cassidy
Former navy SEAL Micah Stone could spot danger a mile away. And the alluring bride who'd stowed away on the plane he'd been sent to repossess set off every red flag in the book. Caylee Warren claimed she had nothing to do with her "fiancé's" murder. When it began to look as if Caylee was the intended victim, Micah had no choice but to take her into hiding. But for a man who never let anyone get close, protecting Caylee was more than he could handle. Could he let her break down the walls he'd erected around his heart...even if it meant distracting him from the mission at hand?


1135. KISSING THE KEY WITNESS by Jenna Ryan
A dying man's last words threatened to reveal the identity of a powerful crime boss, and after hearing them, Dr. Maya Santiago knew her life was in danger. As a killer stalked her, only one man could help....

Homicide lieutenant Stephen Talbot had always wanted Maya. Even though he didn't feel worthy of the compassionate doctor, he was determined to protect her at all costsespecially from himself.

But as he and Maya grew closer...and the killer drew nearer...could she convince him to put his heart on the line as well?


1136. SAVED BY THE MONARCH by Dana Marton
For Prince Miklos, a royal wedding was a royal duty, one more step toward saving his beloved, beleaguered country. Unfortunately, his chosen bridetobebeautiful, brainy Judi Marezzi didn't realize that her vacation included an arranged marriage. In fact, from the moment they met, nothing went as planned. A dangerous conspiracy threw him and his princess together, and dragged the illmatched pair off to an Alpine prison. With his military training, Miklos took charge and made plans to bring them to safety. Danger surrounded them, but so did a shared passion--for his kingdom, for the honor of a free land and for a love that had been foretold since birth.