Posting every week in 2011!

So I’ve decided that I’m going to blog more this year. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now. I will be posting on this blog at least once a week for all of 2011.

I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.

If you already read our blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way. One way or another, I’ll begin to post on a more regular basis.

Here’s to blogging in 2011!

Kensana

So I’ve hit the mother of all writer’s block (41Weeks and 2 days)

What now? I’ve had blocks before, but this one…this one has taken over my life!

I’ve come to the realization that the year 2009 kicked my ass.  I did spend nine months of it pregnant. The last of which I spent on bed rest. 

Then 2010 came in. Starting the new year with  a teenager graduating. another teenager venturing into a new high, and moving into a new home just two weeks after the birth of our new baby. Later, I had to learn all over again how to leave a new baby with a stranger and head back to work. During this time…let’s just say the writing wasn’t happening.  Yes, it was a rough year.

So, the block has been with me for almost a year now. Yup, I didn’t studder. Now I have to admit I’ve written some things here and there, but between eight hours at the office and taking care of my family duties, I just can’t seem to find the flow to put the finish on anything. So what can I do? 

Not being one for New Year’s resolutions, I’m going to try a little exercise. I plan to begin writing short entries at least every other day somewhere on the web. I have a few different places I’ll post, Facebook, my blog, Twitter, Formulations of my Mind blog and of course the Playground. Hopefully something will spark and I’ll get back on the proverbial horse again.

Come find me and leave a comment. There will be gifts along the way, so be sure to comment. Besides, I could really use the supportive boost.

Ready, set, go!

The Liar

Excerpt from The Liar. I realize the first post I made was taken from a portion that could probably not be understood without more detail so here is my second attempt.

Jasha Osei was a rare breed. The kind of man who thought he wanted to run the show when his every action was begging for someone else to take the reins. Jasha seemed startled when Dade asked him to help prepare the chicken salad he had planned for lunch, but the man responded beautifully to direction. Jasha never made objections or hesitated to do what he was told.

Dade also introduced some experimental touches into their interplay. While they worked around each other in the kitchen, Dade made sure he brushed against the other man, or when he was demonstrating the proper way to slice a tomato or peel a cucumber he made sure to hover too close, to crowd Jasha without alarming the man.

Again, Jasha responded in the way he predicted, pressing into his touches, leaning his weight back against Dade without seeming to know what he was doing. Jasha was a hedonist in disguise; his true nature locked away because of fearing generalizations and the dictates of society. Successful men in America were dominant, aggressive, skirtchasers and to be anything else was to be less of a man.

Dade had heard it all, but the difference between him and Jasha was that he knew better.  Men came with all kinds of appetites and there was no right or wrong way to be. Jasha probably thought his desire to be dominated was kinky and outrageous, but really, he’d only just touched the tip of the iceberg.

There is so much that I would teach you.

Cuffs. Collars. Obedience training. Dade could hardly wait to start, but he had a feeling Jasha would fight him all the way. A professional liar could do his job so well that he even began to fool himself.

***

Sitting down to lunch, Jasha was wary of what Dade wanted from him. He could tell the man wanted something. He could read the anticipation in his body language, could see it in those assessing eyes. And then there were the touches. Jasha couldn’t tell if Dade thought he was being subtle or didn’t care if he knew it was on purpose.

He should probably speak up and tell him to stop. He wasn’t the type to bite his tongue, only now he found that the words wouldn’t come. Truth be told, he liked the touches. They were so unlike the fluttery touches of his ex-fiancee. Dade’s touches were sure, firm, directing his actions— fraying his nerves.

Jasha had chosen to sit in the farthest seat from Dade. He wasn’t thinking properly when Dade was too close. It was confusing and a bit scary to realize Dade went to his head like a shot of Novocain. He wasn’t sure what it was about the man that made him more docile than he was used to. Sure, Dade was handsome, sinfully so, but lots of men were handsome, cocky, self-assured, and bossy.

But none of them were Dade Savage.

*Picture above is what Jasha Osei looks like in my head. He is of mixed ancestry. Irish, Portugese,  and West African.

Writing Slump

Kinda sorta.  I’ve been doing a lot of reading.  I think it started when I was in such a rush to finish my story Magnus. I entered it in a contest and there was a chance I could be asked for a full and it had to be 80k.  Well, I reached 46k and I’m on the down slide of Mag when I stopped.  I realized I would have to REALLY get into Mag’s emotions.  His woman was kidnapped and tortured. How would he deal? How could he deal?  I have NO idea!  lol I couldn’t write. I was stuck. He got her home from the hospital and then…and then…I got nothing!  So…I went on a reading binge.  It helped and I went to try for Mag again and I thought…okay…where do I go from here? What’s next? How do I wrap up the story?  So I sent it to a beta.  Found out…she thought it was too violent.  Okay…now what?  I sent it to another beta to see if SHE thought it was too violent too.  She’s still looking at it so I don’t have a verdict yet. 

Let me tell you a little about Mag.  He is a Marine.  Ho-rah! He has a small elite team that he takes on missions for the government. He is introduced to his first female recruit and is told she will go on missions with the team. He is NOT happy.  Especially when she keeps screwing up!  Not to mention the sexual tension between the two.  It’s off the charts.

Now let’s talk about his woman. She is more then he knows.  Emily is an undercover NCIS agent.  She is sent in to find out if Mag and his team are behind the kidnapping of woman and children in third world countries and selling them into the sex trade.

So Emily is a tough character and a great match for Mag, but…what happens when she’s hurt?  I guess I’ll have to find out!  lol

I don’t have to reach 80k now. Mag didn’t make the Editor’s Choice and I was never contacted about a full so he’ll be as long as he needs to be.  UM…heehee.  You know what I mean.  lol  I’ve decided to pitch him at Lori’s to Samhain!  We’ll see what happens.  🙂

Yummy Goodness

Heather: Have you seen all the yummy goodness floating around?  That isn’t even counting the new guy, but he is HOT!

Jambrea: He is easy on the eye and has something we both love…tattoos.

Heather: *sigh* Tattoos. He looks like such a bad boy. Hmm…I wonder what ever happened to Raven. I haven’t seen his cute butt in a while.

304 yrs old and half bad and he's into all the lastest fashions trends.

Jambrea: So when did you actually see his butt?

Heather: I’m not telling or you might drug me again. There is good in that man and I’ll help find it.

Jambrea: I thought you were focused on Matthias and his yummy tattoos?

Heather: That’s only because Raven has been missing. *pout* Matthias is more your style anyway. *wink* Speaking of dreamy men, tell me about the new man in your life, Ben Davies.

Jambrea: Now it’s my turn to sigh. We’ve introduced the next marine in Magnus’ story. His friend Ben Davies will be the next man in the Semper Fi series. Well…you’ve talked to him more then me at this point because I”m still trying to wrap up Magnus and Emily. I do know that Ben’s woman is the sister of one of his oldest friends. They’ve know each other for a while, but Maribeth is about to shake his world up. Kind of like Forever Guy, but this one will NOT be sweet.  Mari is going to rock Ben’s world.  He doesn’t even see it coming. I would say ‘poor guy’ but he’ll love every minute of it. Mari is a school librarian who has a few on line friends helping her plot to make Ben hers.

Heather: Can we start this one now?

Jambrea:  Sorry Heather, we need to finish Mag and Em first. Then we’ll look at Ben and Mari’s story.

Heather: *pout* You are just no fun this morning.

Jambrea: No, I’m just focused.

Heather: *sigh* Well, you go back to focusing and I’ll go look for Raven. 

Jambrea:  Now Heather…

Heather: *giggle* Okay, I’ll go now.

<i>Jambrea shakes her head as she watches Heather leave.</i>

Jambrea: That muse is going to be the death of me yet.

Jambrea

Pandora’s Box…the Muse

“Kersten, I need to talk to you so stop being stubborn.”

“Heather, I am a little busy right now.”

“Too busy for me?”  Heather pouted.

“Now don’t give me that face.  Tia does not like it when I upset her friends.”

“I just need to talk to you about your story.  My writer is having problems and how that is my fault, I’ll never know, but I promised her I would do a little one on one with you and Tia, if she is available.  I don’t think my writer understands how busy I am.  I have a lot of people to meet and introduce her too.  Where does she think I get all these ideas?”

“It is ok Heather.  I will talk to you about whatever you wish.”

“Thank you, you are such a sweetie.  I really don’t know why Tia killed you the first time.”

“Well, she is a Goddess and I was just a lowly human in her eyes.  Plus, she didn’t really know me yet.”  Kersten said with a wink and a smile.

“You are just so dreamy,” sighed Heather.

“HEATHER!”

“Sorry Tia, but it is the truth.  I just knew my flirting would bring you out too.  So, why did you kill Kersten the first time?”

“I really do not want to talk about that time.  It hurts me to think I could have lost him in my arrogance.”

Kersten reached out for Tia and pulled her into his embrace.  Heather sighed at the love the two radiated.  She was so glad she had introduced the couple to her writer.  Their story of love and loss really needed to be told.  Of course the world would have ended if the two had stayed apart so my writer just had to help them.

“I’m sorry Tia.  I know you had a rough time, but I love to hear how the two of you came together.”

“Well, we really can not give too much away because if we did that, then who would read our story?” Kersten reminded Heather.

“I know, you’re right, but I just love to hear it and I could listen to it over and over again.  You two were really fated to be together.  Zeus really…”

“Heather, remember we do not talk of Zeus.  Bad things can happen when we start talking about him.  No one is to know of my relationship with him.  And why should they, I only found out recently myself.  My mother is good at keeping secrets.”

“I’m sorry Tia.  I always seem to be apologizing to you.”

“That is all right Heather.  You just do not understand how we Greek Gods work.  Being Fae, you do not have to deal with our power struggles.  It is a rough road.  I really did deserve my punishment for killing Karsten.  I am just thankful that my mother loved me enough to try and return me to my home in Olympus.  If not for her I would still be stuck in the world by myself.  Hope really would have been lost.”

Tia was looking at Karsten as she finished talking.  Heather once again felt a little envy. 

I wonder when I will find my one true love.

Tia turned away from Karsten and took his hand.

“Heather my sweet, we hate to run, but, ummmm Karsten and I have something we need to, well, we have some where we need to be.”

Heather gave the couple a wink.

“Don’t let me stop you.  I’m sure we’ll talk again.”

Heather sighed again as she watched the couple leave hand and hand.

HooRah!

Mag: What the fuck are you doing here?

Emily: I’m taking a break with Heather

Mag: A break! Why do you need a break?

Emily: Why do you think I need a break? It’s been a rough couple months. I think you can agree with that.

Mag: I guess.

Emily: You GUESS!

Mag: Fuck, I don’t know. It just another day for me.

Emily:  You…you…you’re such a Marine!

Mag: You love it.

Emily: *smiles* Maybe a little.

Heather: You two want a room now?

Mag: Shouldn’t you be writing?

Heather: I needed a break. You two are enough to wear a woman down! Why don’t you go play at the Playground? It’s WIP day over there.

Emily: WIP day?

Heather: It’s a day where authors can show what they’ve been working on.

Mag: Will Jambrea be there?

Heather: I don’t know. You guys have been keeping her up trying to get your story finished. She hasn’t had time to work on anything else.

Emily: I’ll bet she’ll be happy to get rid of us.

Heather: Oh, I don’t know about that. *giggle*

Mag: Let’s go take a peek Em and then head home. *looks at Heather and winks*

Heather: Be good you two.

Emily: I don’t know if we can. *laugh* Jambrea just wrote a VERY steamy scene and I think Joe and I might need to have a reinactment.

*Mag walks to Heather and kisses her on the cheek*

Mag: Try not to work too hard.

Heather: *giggle* You either. Buy guys!

*Mag and Emily leave*

Heather: They are so dreamy.  Hmmm…I wonder how Ross and Jayme are doing?

*Heather walks off with a thoughtful look on her face*

WIP Wednesday

Today at our yahoo group is WIP Wednesday. Jambrea thought it might be a good idea to post something here that she is working on. Of course it isn’t something she is supposed to be working on. *giggle* Magnus wouldn’t stop talking and as you’ll see in the excerpt I’m going to post he likes to use the F word and I’m not talking about food. *giggle* We hope you like Mag. He is very yummy and his bark is MUCH worse then his bite. We like it when he bites. *giggle*

Untitled, Unedited WIP:

“Get the fuck outta my face, right now you maggot, before I skin you alive and wear your ass as a hat. What the fuck do you think you’re doin’” Sergeant Joe “Magnus” Rivers yelled at the recruit.

“Simmer down Sergeant.” His gunny tried to calm him.

“Fuck that shit. She got Benny shot! This is why women shouldn’t be on the front fuckin’ line. Fuck!” Magnus ran a hand over his face. “No fuckin’ way is this going to work.” He turned to walk back to the barracks.

“Sarge, Benny wasn’t really shot.” His Gunny Sergeant rushed to keep up.

“I know that Gunny. It’s the principle of the matter.”

“Oh, he knows another word besides fuck.” The words were almost too faint to be heard, but they reached the Sergeants ears.

Magnus whipped around and rushed back into the recruits face. In a quite whisper he addressed the woman.

“What did you just say?”

She stared straight ahead, and didn’t look him in the eye.

The only smart thing this bitch has done so far. I don’t know what the General was thinking. Take a deep breath man. Calm down. No one was really hurt and you know she isn’t really a bitch.

Reasoning with himself sucked, but lucky for the recruit he was able to leash his anger.

“Not so tough now that you have to face me, huh Patterson? Drop and give me twenty.”

She didn’t hesitate but dropped to the ground and started counting out her pushups. Magnus would expect no less and all his recruits new it. He turned back to his gunny and gestured for the man to follow him to his offices.

“Roberts, I don’t think I can keep this up. What was the General thinking? This woman doesn’t belong here. She’s some rich girl on holiday. How are we supposed to make her into a solider?” Magnus sighed.

Gunny Roberts looked back at the woman doing pushups.

“I don’t know sir; it looks like you’re doing a good job to me.”

Magnus looked back and waved his hand, “Physical exercise does not a solider make. You saw her at the range.”

“Mag, it’s only been a few weeks. Give her a break.”

“I can’t. I wouldn’t let the guys get away with that shit. No fucking way am I giving the wanna be warrior a break. She’ll do it my way or her ass is back to daddies faster than I can say give me twenty. We’re supposed to take her on a mission, a fucking mission. She’s going to get someone killed.”

“We have a month to ge—”

Mag glared at the gunny and he shut up. With out another word he entered the building trying to forget the woman doing pushups in the yard.

Trouble with a capital T is what that one is.

A Playground Visit

Butch: Hello! Is anyone here?

Mitch: Maybe they aren’t open yet.

Butch: I thought the Playground was ALWAYS open.

Mitch: Are you sure you have the right day?

Butch: Yes, I’m sure. Heather said to be here today.

Mitch: We could be early.

Butch: Hmm..Heather? Are you here?

Heather: I’m here! I’m here. Sorry. I was talking to Sunie and Gage and lost track of time. They are getting ready to have a small issue and I wanted to let them know that things will be okay.

Butch: That’s okay Heather. We just thought we were early.

Heather: Why don’t you guys sit down and I’ll get you something to drink. It’s a little slow around here. Everybody is working away, but I wanted to see how the two of you were doing. I know your book just released so you must be excited.

Mitch: I really didn’t think it would ever be finished so it’s nice to be done with it.

Heather: *giggle* You think its finished?

 Butch: What are you saying Heather?

Heather: Why do you think I asked you here?

Mitch: I thought it was to talk about our story and to introduce us to the other people here at the Playground.

Heather: Oh no. Well, I’m sure that will happen too, but that isn’t way I asked you to come visit today. *giggle*

Butch: Are we going to like this?

Heather: Well Jambrea and I have been talking and the reviews she got for your story were so good that she is going to write more. I just wanted to let the two of you know.

Mitch: More, like what?

Heather: We don’t know yet. There are a few other stories that need to be told first, but she put you on her list.

 Butch: I don’t think I’m going to like this at all.

Mitch: It’ll be okay babe. What more could she do—”

*Butch slaps his hand over Mitch’s mouth*

Butch: Do NOT finish that sentence! Have you not read some of these books our dear author is into?

*Butch drops his hand and pulls Mitch close*

Mitch: It really doesn’t matter Butch. I’ll always be here for you.

Heather: Guys! You’re going to make me cry. *sniff* don’t worry. I’ll take to her. Why don’t you two settle in? I’m sure the others will be here soon. I’m off to talk to a few other people. Make yourselves at home. *blows them both a kiss*

If you would like to hear more about Butch and Mitch you can buy their story here:  Runaway Man

So Pretty

Okay…today I am supposed to have another installment of You Rang? but I am a bad, bad author.  I haven’t had time to work on it.  I have been busy working on some other things. 

So today I’m going to share my pretty.  Valerie Tibbs is GREAT!  She is a cover artist with Freya’s Bower and a few other publishers.  Here is her link www.vtibbs.wordpress.com She also does banners.  🙂  Above is the pretty she made for me newly contracted story.  I LOVE it and can’t stop staring at it.  😀 

When I get a release date I’ll let everyone know!