But please join me Monday, September 23rd for a super-cool, special guest appearance. If you love romantic suspense, are interested in sign language or just plain curious, you won’t be disappointed. 😉
Your Turn: What are you doing with the chicken? 😎
I’ve been writing novels for ten years, have written 10 complete manuscripts, rewritten some of those so extensively that they could scarcely be called the same book, have 5 books traditionally published (4 category romantic suspense, 1 trade book mystery) and have 5 more books contracted.
So… I’ve learned some stuff about writing (particularly writing romantic suspense and mysteries for the Christian market).
And… I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have (if I can) about getting started or where do you go from here or just because you’re curious.
Your Turn: The floor is yours. Ask away.
Also this week:
Click here to visit me at Elaine Stock’s blog for an interview and giveaway op for my latest Love Inspired Suspense, Fatal Inheritance. (or one of my earlier LIS books if you already have the newest 😉 )
Empower image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Or as we say in Canada, Labour Day. 😉
I waved my youngest kiddos off on their adventure of a lifetime trip to Australia last Friday, which means…
hubby and I have the whole house to ourselves for awhile. 😆
I’m seeing a lot of Kraft Dinner in our future, as I dig into finishing my next two books. They’ve been a tad neglected the last couple of weeks with all the preparation flurry!
If I don’t get lots written now, I’ll have no one to blame but myself. Scary thought!
Your Turn: What are your plans for the day? Is it even a holiday for you?!
P.S.
Tuesday, I’ll be on the Craftie Ladies Blog sharing more house stories–no icky creatures in these ones. Hope you’ll stop by and say hi!
M,W & Th Marjii Laine is featuring me on her blog, a review Monday, an interview Weds, and a devotion Thurs
Friday I’m doing an interview and giveaway on Everyone’s Story (starts Friday night)
P.S.S.
Fatal Inheritance may still be in retail stores for a few more days this week. If you spot it, please consider rescuing it from annihilation!! Would fit nicely into a Christmas stocking, don’t you think? 😉
Revell Publishing has added romantic suspense author, Lisa Harris, to their September lineup, and I was thrilled to get a sneak peek of her new release, Dangerous Passage, to write an endorsement.
What a compelling read!
I finished it in two days and have been looking forward to introducing it to you ever since.
My Review:
In this compelling and emotionally-charged read, Harris exposes the alarming state of human trafficking in the U.S. and the incredible challenges faced by law enforcement to stop it. The intriguing plot, lightened with a sweet romance, kept me reading late into the night. Looking forward to the next in this series.
Back Cover Blurb:
When two Jane Does are killed on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, detective Avery North discovers they share something in common—a magnolia tattoo on their shoulders. Suspecting a serial killer, Avery joins forces with medical examiner Jackson Bryant to solve the crimes and prevent another murder. But as they venture deep into a sinister criminal world, Avery and Jackson are quickly taken to the very edge of their abilities—and their hearts.
I asked Lisa what prompted her to write a suspense centered around human trafficking. Here’s what she shared with me:
Several years ago, I wrote Blood Ransom, a novel that focused on human trafficking in Africa. At the time, I had no idea this was an issue in the US. With this new series, I decided that setting this story in the US, the backdrop of human trafficking would not only make an exciting story, but would also help people become aware of this very real issue.
Thank you, Lisa. It is frightening how widespread this problem is here in Canada as well–and a serious challenge for law enforcement.
If you’re wondering why Lisa wasn’t aware human trafficking was an issue in the US, it’s because Lisa and her family have spent almost ten years living as missionaries in Africa where she leads a women’s group, and runs a non-profit organization that works alongside their church-planting ministry. The ECHO Project works in southern Africa promoting Education, Compassion, Health, and Opportunity and is a way for her to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” (Proverbs 31:8)
Lisa is a Christy Award finalist and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 from Romantic Times. She has over twenty novels and novella collections in print.When she’s not working she loves hanging out with her family, cooking different ethnic dishes, photography, and heading into the African bush on safari.
For more information about her books and life in Africa visit her website at www.lisaharriswrites.com or her blog at http://myblogintheheartofafrica.blogspot.com. For more information about The ECHO Project, please visit www.theECHOproject.org.
Your turn: I’m giving away a copy of Dangerous Passage to one randomly selected commenter. Please ask Lisa a question about her new series or ECHO Project or about her life in Africa or the writing life etc. and/or share why you’d especially like to read this book. (Lisa will be traveling as of Tuesday, but will check in when she can)
The winner will be notified by email on Sunday, September 1st. Can you believe it?!! Only one more week until September is here!
Sept 1 Update: Thank you so much to all who contributed such great questions! Our giveaway winners (chosen by random.org) are Sybil Bates McCormack, Robyn Conners and rlee. Check your inboxes/spam folders for my email.
Do you love old houses?
They certainly give one lots of stories to talk about when strained for a conversation starter!
We’ve lived in a 100+ year old house for 15 years. And do I have stories!
Our house was the inspiration for the house Becki Graw inherits from her grandparents in Fatal Inheritance. Except I didn’t have enough space to include all the fun little tidbits I could have.
From the first night we moved into our house, we knew we were in for an adventure. My daughter, then nine, discovered a deer mouse in her room after bedtime. She caught it and showed us her new pet in the morning.
imagine image of mouse here
I didn’t want to make anyone squirm 😉
We were a little freaked, because this was not long after a farmer out east had died from a disease carried by such mice, soooo we explained that deer mice belonged outside.
And then adopted a cat. 🙄
Of course that meant by spring—Easter day to be exact—we had kittens! We even got to see them being born. My children were thrilled.
Other wonderful surprises came with spring. The former owner had been an avid gardener, so the property soon bloomed with crocuses and tulips and hyacinths and daffodils and forsythia and honeysuckle and lilacs and fruit tree blossoms. Every week it seemed we were treated to the beauty of a different flowering tree or shrub.
Being an avid gardener myself (at that time), I set to work preparing a front flowerbed for annuals and had a not-so-nice surprise!
Our basement walls are constructed of farm stones, which means lots of little holes. As I’m on my hands and knees in my flowerbed, snakes coming out of hibernation began to drop from the wall into the bed. Picture the snake scene in Indiana Jones here.
You don’t need a picture, right?
😉
I’m not fond of snakes so let’s just say I waited a few days before finishing that flowerbed. 😕
Of course, having snakes in the wall meant that occasionally they’d find their way inside, too. One spring I went downstairs to find a three-foot, 1 ½ inch diameter, black snake lying in my path. I’d never seen such a big one outside of a zoo. Luckily hubby was home. So he donned leather gloves and carried the guy out to the woods…after admiring it for awhile. <shiver>
Our wildlife adventures weren’t limited to mice and snakes either. We had the requisite bat in the belfry, but we also had bees—wasps to be precise.
They apparently hibernated in our attic and would invade the rest of the house through light fixtures in the spring. They tormented us for several years, until one year I opened the door to my daughter’s bedroom and found a three-foot long swarm of them covering half her window.
Whoa, talk about freaked out!
If they’d been honeybees, I would probably have called a local honey guy to come smoke them out and save them, but wasps are downright vicious. We’d been stung enough times to know!
Thankfully, I had a can of wasp spray in the house that could shoot ten feet across the room. I shut the door, ran downstairs for the can, then quietly reopened the door, and using it as cover, like a cop facing down a bad guy, I blasted the swarm. It worked. Best of all, it also took care of our wasp problem.
In the years since, we’ve only seen the odd wasp in the house.
I won’t even visit the construction issues we’ve faced over the years. From the first rainstorm, when I found myself literally taping heavy-duty vapor barrier over an entire window and half the wall to keep out rain and wind, we’ve affectionately (and sometimes, not so affectionately) called the place the money pit.
Did I mention it had no insulation?
And that I live in Canada? …you know, land of igloos.
Wow, now that I’ve shared these stories, I wish I’d gotten some of them into my book. The swarming wasps would have been fun to make my heroine face.
Your Turn: How about you? Have you ever lived in an old house? I’d love to hear your favorite old house story! In fact, I won’t post a new blog next Monday, but hope you’ll stop by to read the stories that others share throughout the week.
P.S. Guess what I just learned this past weekend?! RT Book Reviews gave Fatal Inheritance a 4 1/2 star review. Yee!
She said, “The suspense is laced with the right amount of romance to keep readers thoroughly engaged throughout this fantastic novel.”
Today’s a holiday here in Canada. Yippee!!!
But… I’m not taking a total cyber holiday. I’m visiting Camy’s Loft, talking about the research for my newest release: Fatal Inheritance, which, by the way, should be in brick-and-mortar stores this week.
And… for those writers amongst my blog readers…
On Friday, I’ll be a guest at Be a Real Writer, talking about goals–your characters’.
If you’re having difficulty garnering an editor’s interest in your manuscripts, this is an area you may need to scrutinize.
Stop by and feel free to ask questions. I’ll be happy to answer them.
In the meantime, have a great day! I’m turning off comments here, this week, but… I see that hand– 😆 — and am waving back at you!
Silhouette Image courtesy of arztsamui at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Target Image courtesy of bplanet at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The mind of a mystery writer can be a scary thing. Take, for example, this pit.
This past weekend, we had a very, very, very old in-ground pool pulled out of our backyard. This pool dates back decades before we bought the place. The liner alone was at least 25 years old. So…
imagine where the mind of a mystery writer goes as the little skid steerer yanks out the side walls. For all I know, bones could tumble from the backfill, along with the sand; a dead body could float up from the miry bottom. <shudder>
If that wasn’t bad enough, the latent-mafia side of my mind is thinking, hmm, good place to get rid of some bodies before this gets filled in.
Where do you advertise that kind of service? On Kijiji?
Yup, I warned you it was scary where my mind goes. I’m thinking that I definitely need a vacation. A romantic vacation to nurture the romance side of my novel-plotting mind.
That way I won’t have to know what gets buried under the two or three dump truckloads of dirt. 😕
Your Turn: What did you do this past weekend? 😎
My newest hero, Joshua Rayne, (Fatal Inheritance, Aug 2013) said, when I interviewed him, that men should learn that you can never figure out what a woman wants.
He said, “I thought I was being respectful by not chasing after a woman who cuts out on me, but my sister told me that sometimes that’s exactly what they want, to prove we love them. Love them enough to risk rejection again!”
This idea resonated with my beta readers, but then…
there are those creepy guys–like the heroine’s ex-boyfriend–that won’t take no for an answer, guys who you really, really, really wish wouldn’t chase after you.
Your Turn: What do you think? Have you ever walked out on a guy and wished he stopped you? Guys, ever wondered what you’re supposed to do? 😉
Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
My favorite part of being a writer–receiving messages from readers–has picked up again with the release of Fatal Inheritance to the Love Inspired Suspense book club subscribers. Subscribers receive the book more than a month ahead of release.
But… if you can’t wait until it appears on store shelves next month or in your favorite online shop, you can order it now directly from Harlequin in regular print, large print, or Epub format.
Of course… if you wait until Friday, they usually have a special, in which if you order 2 books, you get a selected book free. (sometimes it’s an LI book, sometimes it from one of their many other lines)
For the benefit of book club subscribers I have made the bonus features for the book live ahead of the official release. Also hoping to tempt the rest of you. 😉
You’ll find:
Character Interviews:
Joshua Rayne (picture Mark Wahlberg)
Becki Graw
If you haven’t read Fatal Inheritance yet, and want to whet your appetite:
Click here to read Chapter One
Your Turn: What’s on your reading list this summer? Do you tend to read “extras” from authors if they’re offered?
Sunday Update: Kav is the surprise giveaway winner. I’ll be in touch
My Answer to the question: I’ve been catching up on the Texas K-9 Unit with Love Inspired Suspense. They had me at K-9. 🙄 Aside from character interviews on blogs, I’ve never read extras from other authors, beside prequels or sequels. I’ve never heard of any.
By now you’ve probably figured out that I have a lot of fun doing research for my books.
Yes, I let my children and their friends (whose faces have been smudged to protect the innocent 😉 ) believe I was taking them on a school trip to the fire station all those years ago, but really… in the far recesses of my mind, I must’ve known some day I’d write about a firefighter and want to know what it felt like to wear all that stuff!
And since I have so much fun brainstorming new books, I thought I’d let you in on the fun, too!
And…if your suggestion makes it into the book, you will be rewarded! 🙂
So here’s what I need:
1) A famous person, such as a celebrity, that resembles my hero Jake.
If you can give me a link to an image online, all the better. Jake is a firefighter who lives in a small town close to Seattle. He’s a widower with a four-year-old son, Tommy. Jake is tall and lanky. His brother Sam, looks like Mike Fisher (Carrie Underwood’s husband-to-be) and Jake looks nothing like him. Any suggestions? Update: I’m leaning toward Amber’s suggested Paul Walker, but still open to more suggestions.
2) A name for the community program he wants to start to help Single Parents get through the Christmas holidays (things such as men helping put out Christmas lights or bring in a Christmas tree for single moms or women baking for single dads–stereotypical, I know, but they do tend to be the areas that each struggle with). This was his wife’s brainchild and he wants to name it something that will honor her memory. Her name (at the moment) is Stacey. Although if another name lends to a better name for the program, I can change it. If you have additional suggestions for the program that would be great, too! I’ve decided to play with a variation of Dianna’s suggestion in the comments for this one!
3) A Title for the story. The heroine is hiding out in Jake’s town (under witness protection). She was a kindergarten teacher and dog trainer, but now she works in a library. The threat of being found by the person she’ll be testifying against (kidnapper of a child) hangs over her head throughout the story. The story takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas in a small town called Stalwart. Update: I’m still collecting great title ideas! Thank you to those who emailed me additional suggestions. 😉
Your Turn: Let your creativity run wild! The more off-the-wall the suggestion, the more intriguing twists it sparks.
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