Introducing Vanessa deHart author of NO MORE LIES

What can I say about myself that’s not been said before?

Let’s see… I was born a little girl (inside I’m still a little girl), I daydreamed my way through my teen years (and I still daydream), and I’m pretty well passionate about everything I do (I haven’t heard my husband complain too much about that!).

Enough said on that subject. Life is to be embraced, along with kids, puppies and grandparents.

On writing:

I write because I have to. Characters invade my daydreams and refuse to leave until I’ve told their story. End of story.

I invite you now to come along and share with me one of my many daydreams. I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

PS:

If I were to share one little nugget of wisdom that I picked up during the writing process of this particular story, it would be this – never give up. NO MORE LIES is the first novel I ever wrote, and yet it is the fourth book of mine to get published. In its original incarnation, it was poorly written and full of ‘purple prose’, but all that aside, I believed in the story and the characters who were telling it. I just had to return to it again and again, putting it through a major rewrite every time I learned something new. And learn I did. Not just about the writing process, but about life and the human condition. The people I met while researching Elora’s tragedies and triumphs taught me so much about perseverance, about never giving up. Elora is alive because of them.

NO MORE LIES is a heart-warming romance set in the small town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It’s about a recently handicapped woman who must learn that her self worth doesn’t exist in her looks or in her performance, but rather, in the strength of her character, and that no amount of lying can hide that ultimate truth.

Elora St. James, a professional figure skater, was the world’s darling until disaster struck. Now she’s hiding from the world in a small fishing village in Nova Scotia, pretending to be someone she’s not. Maybe, if she hid behind enough lies…

Dan Barrington-Smith, the youngest son of a wealthy family, no longer wants to be associated with his influential family. He wants to be accepted for himself. Dan decides to break away and go incognito on a golfing spree. Maybe, if he hid behind enough lies…

And so the lies begin.

Elora and Dan meet in Lunenburg. She manages the hotel his family owns while he’s in town to golf. Their first two encounters seem small and inconsequential, but both times there is an instant awareness between them. Something out of the ordinary begins to happen. In every encounter the passion escalates even as the lies expand, until they’ve run out of lies to tell.

And once the lies run out, all that remains is the truth.

NO MORE LIES by Vanessa deHart

From his comment, Elora deduced that Danny was a guest at the hotel. That rendered him safe; he wouldn’t be staying for long. Just long enough for a bit of flirting, long enough to soothe her bruised spirit.

“Shall I bring a menu?” Perry asked.

Elora looked at Danny. “Have you eaten yet?” she asked.

“No.”

“Hungry?”

“Ravenous.” His wolfish grin made her stomach do a flip. Maybe dining with him wasn’t quite as safe as she’d supposed.

“Have Boris prepare two complete specials,” Elora instructed Perry. She hoped her long-time friend couldn’t see how Danny’s seemingly innocuous comment affected her. “And bring us whatever wines are recommended to accompany the various courses.” Perry gave a curt nod with his head and withdrew.

Danny asked, “Are you trying to impress me?”

Elora arched an eyebrow. “Is it working?”

“What if I said yes?”

Elora felt the warmth stain her cheeks. “Good.” She saluted him with her drink. “I’d hoped we could put that first meeting behind us and start over again in a more civilized fashion.” She intentionally omitted any mention of their second meeting.

“Oh, but I liked our first meeting.” A devilish light glinted in Danny’s eyes. “I got to hold you in my arms right away.”

Elora felt a slow burn heat up her insides, and she doubted that the sip of alcohol had anything to do with it. She knew she was playing a dangerous game tonight, and she loved every minute of it. It had been so long since she’d felt desirable.

“Work all done for the day?” Danny asked.

“Yes,” she replied without offering any further explanation. “How was your game?” she asked in a blatant attempt to change the subject.

Danny laughed and took a swallow from his own drink. Playing with the glass on the table he answered, “Invigorating. It was a much more challenging course than I’d expected. Though it would have been a lot more fun with company.” The soft glow of candlelight highlighted his chiselled features and turned his eyes to molten silver.

“You’d want to share your frustration with an audience?” Elora toyed with the skewered lime in her drink.

“What frustration?”

“Are you going to tell me that the Lady of the Lake didn’t lure away any of your golf balls?”

“How did you know?” Danny leaned back looking somewhat discomfited by her comment.

Elora laughed. “That hole is infamous for stealing favourite balls. Hundreds get dredged up from there every season. Never mind the bent clubs Jackie has to try and straighten out.”

“Tell you what,” Danny said. “I’ll practice. And once I’ve perfected that hole, I’ll invite you out.”

Elora doubted very much that that would ever happen, but she raised her glass in acceptance of his chivalric invitation anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to pretend, would it?

To Purchase a copy of NO MORE LIES

Characters - and I mean the ones on the page.

And - no - the picture has nothing to do with what I'm about to say.  It just makes me smile.  I could say that's me - plotting.  Wouldn't be that far from the truth.

Went to the New Jersey Romance Writers conference last weekend where I got the Golden Leaf Award for my novella The Beast Within from the anthology Highland Beast.  That was my third one so I'm now in the Hall of Fame. Very nice.  Thank you, New Jersey.  Also did a talk on characters.  Unfortunately, I was slated for right after Saturday's breakfast and my 45 minutes shrunk to a half hour or less.  Didn't get to talk on one part of my ideas on what to do to make your character memorable so thought I'd do it here.  Contain your excitement.  LOL.

What I didn't get to was something I read in an old article by Jack M. Bickman called the Core of Characterization(Writer's Digest, 11/89)  In it he talked about a character's self-concept.  That is - what we do in order to be consistant with who and what we think we are.  It's our total self-view.  It drives people to choose where they live, who they know, and even to pick their goals.  Even if people do something that appears contradictory to others, it will make sense to them in terms of their self-concept.  That man who rushes into a burning building to save a child might never call himself a hero or even think of himself as such but he has always thought of himself as a man who loves children or even one who will do what has to be done.  That man who sees himself as brave could suddenly be confronted by a threat so humongeous that another part of his self-concept kicks in to say - I'm brave all right, but I'm not suicidal.

The thing is that people will know their self-concept, clearly or dimly, and it's actually easily revealed.  Most of us will simply blurt it out.  A character can actually characterize himself if given a chance.  Put a little pressure on him to explain his motives and he'll blurt out his self-concept every time.  I'm a man of action. I'm a lady of quality.  I'm a CEO.  I'm an earl.  I'm a mother.  I'm an athlete.  I'm a writer.  I'm too sexy for my shirt.(sorry. Couldn't help myself) So - by defining your character's self-concept you now begin to define his personal setting.  A woman who sees herself as powerful and assertive will dress a certain way, drive a certain type of car, even have a certain type of job.  A woman who describes herself as a wife and mother will surround herself with things that bolster that image.  As you develop the setting to fit your character's self concept the reader will begin to see clues to her basic personality.

So - once you've done that and everything is set up to fit the character's idea of who or what she is - introduce(cue tense movie music here) CHANGE.  Put that lovely life and her views of the world under as much pressure as you can.  You want something to make her have to struggle to readjust or fight to make her environment fit her self-image again.  She'll now pick a goal meant to fix things. People aren't comfortable when their self-concept is messed with and we wouldn't want our characters to be comfortable, would we.

Paranormals are an excellent example of how that can work.  You have your nice 21st century cynic who lost all belief in those darling or dangerous fairy-tale characters by the time she was in grade school and then - slap - a vampire, shapeshifter, or some fey character strides into her life and begins to shatter all her preconceived ideas of her little world and endanger her self-concept.  You know - the one that says she is a modern rational woman who believes in science and fact.  Lots of readjusting needed there.  The single soccer mom who suddenly discovers her safe, cozy little suburb is actually crawling with denizons of the dark.  Oh, yuh, let's just mess with her head some more.

The upshot is that, if you know what your character's self-concept is, you'll know what her fight should be about, why she's in pain, or even why she's ready to fight.  A person out of her element feels pain.  Once your story gets that lovely threatening, uncomfortable change all set up, you have to keep your characters motivated by piling on more changes that threaten their self-concepts and keep them miserable.(part of the evil fun of being a writer)  Everyone will try to find some way to solve the problem that concurs with her self-concept.  That rational woman confronted with a shape-shifter will try to find some rational, scientific explanation to the problems he brings into her life.  The most interesting plot developments arise when you confront your character with problems in which her usual methods of operation simply won't work.  Even as she tries new things that old self-concept will be very slow to change.  Ex.:  That big, strong knight who sees himself as a skilled warrior and a man of honor finds himself in a bind where his sword won't help him and he just might have to bruise his extreme rules of honor to get out alive or save the woman he loves.

A character's self-concept provides you with two paths to finding and building that all important inner conflict - 1.  when you make the character's environment change, he'll be unhappy and stressed and struggle to right things
-2.  A person's self-concept isn't always a reflection of present reality.  We love our self-concept so much and cling to it so tightly, we may change without even realizing it.  When you confront your character with continuous proof that he's no longer who he kept insisting he was - you have tremendous internal conflict. (yummy)

Such moments of self-seeing are the times of profound character change.(getting tingly just thinking of it.)  It may even be that your character hasn't been aware of parts of his self-concept.  Until story developments push him into a corner, he never has to call upon those deeper aspects of his self-concept.  Here you give your character some important revelations.  You can then end by showing the ultimate face-off in which the character either reestablishes the equilibrium between his self-concept and his environmemnt or he fails to do so.  Or, play out a final scene in which your (exhausted, emotionally battered) character finally realizes that his self-concept is no longer congruent with reality and he begins to make some livesaving changes in that self-concept.  In the first case your character changes the story situation and the environment and harmony is restored. (said single soccer mom and her allies slaughter all the dark denizons in the burbs and plant roses)  In the second case - your character is forced to change and begin reestablishing the same kind of harmony with his new self-concept.(said single soccer mom marries the were-tiger and takes self-defense courses)

Once you clearly define your character's self-concept, you're well on your way to knowing exactly how to make that character act consistantly yet with a capacity to surprise.  And that's what'll keep the reader glued to the pages.

A bit longer than I thought.  Hope you stayed awake until you reached this point.

Have you embraced your inner pink?

Well fall has arrived here in Ottawa Canada. The trees are changing colors and the weather is getting colder. That can only mean one thing, October is here. I have to say I love October. Why? Well its perfect weather for runs, but also because its Breast Cancer month. Yep I’m wearing my pink quite proudly this month.


Some of you might not know this but my debut release DEADLY SECRETS is an official sponsor of the American Breast Cancer Foundation (ABCF). This is a fantastic organization. They do so much for women who are fighting breast cancer and their families. Also they provide free mammograms for women who couldn’t otherwise get them, and as we all know early detection is the best way to kick this disease to the curb. Check them out at http://abcf.org/

Now the reason why I chose to become a sponsor for the ABCF even though I’m not American is because of a good friend of mine and fellow LBF Books author, AB Wallace. She fought the disease twice. She one the first battle, but miserably lost the second one this past spring. We used to have long email discussions about her battle and treatments. I was her cheerleader and an ear when she needed to vent. She often mentioned that the medication and treatments she needed to take were really expensive. She didn’t know what she would have done had she not been able to get the mammogram that found the cancer in the first place.

Last year when I ran the Run For The Cure in my home town, AB had just been diagnosed with a relapse. So I found that run to be hard and tears made their way down my face as I ran among other runners. This year I ran in AB’s memory. I feared I would cry the whole time, but I didn’t. I felt as though we were doing the run together. What an amazing feeling.

When my book was released nearly two years ago I decided I wanted to do something. Getting published has been a dream of mine for many years. So I decided I wanted to do something to help others with it. That’s the reason I decided to donate all my royalties to breast cancer and to get my book a sponsor for the ABCF. Do I think my royalties will make a difference? Help find a cure? Probably not, but if it helps one woman find her cancer in its early stages then it was well worth it.

Want to know about DEADLY SECRETS? Well it’s a romantic suspense that takes place in Canada. Here is the blurb,

PHILIPPE LAFRANCE is a well known reclusive writer whose life is suddenly thrown upside down. The grandfather he never knew existed dies. Throughout his own investigation, Philippe learns that his family has kept secrets from him, deep, ugly secrets. A killer is murdering the men in his family. First his father then his grandfather have succumbed at the hands of another. This murderer is trying his utmost to keep secrets buried. Bereft, Roxanne St-Clair is left to manage a restaurant when the only person who ever mattered to her, her foster parent and mentor, is murdered. She puts her life on hold to find his killer and bring him to justice. Thrown together by circumstance and a mutual goal, Philippe and Roxanne fight their attraction and team up to find the killer, bring him to justice and unearth the truth. To stay alive, they must keep one step ahead of the assassin in order to prevent him from killing his next target, Philippe. Will they succeed in bringing to justice this killer before Philippe becomes his next victim? Will they be able to deal with the truth behind all the secrets?

If you’d like to read an excerpt or view my trailer check my home on the net, http://www.leeannburke.com/books.html

If you want to help me, the ABCF and help fight breast cancer pick up a print copy or ebook. If you want to make a direct donation to the cause please think of donating to the ABCF directly http://abcf.org/ .

If you can't afford to donate this year, that's fine, just think about wearing something pink in honor of all these warrior ladies.

She's Back

That's pretty much how I've been for the last month - although maybe without the glowing eyes.  At least the hubby hasn't mentioned them.  Allergies or a cold that won't die.  Can't figure out which.  Both equal massive foggy brain troubles.  Good thing I'm not a surgeon.  Who knows what I'd accidently cut off.   I doubt a patient would accept  - oh, well, you didn't need two of those anyway.  Especially if it was a guy.

(And hope I'm allowed to use that pic on my blog.  They were all there for downloading and I see them on FB all the time.  But - if you read about a little aging writer being dragged off to jail for misusing pix on the net, pray for me.)

That's only one reason I haven't blogged recently.  Lost my little book with all my passwords.  Yes, I know I could've changed my password and got on here but I didn't think of that.  Nor did it occur to me to call Leeann who handles the guest bloggers and has the password.  No.  I got fixated on finding the *!#* book.  Took a couple of weeks.  It was in a box.  See, when I'm writing, or running off to conferences or talks or meetings as I've been for the last few months, I tend to let things slide around the house.  Then, of course, company decides to come.  Cleaning up for company usually means stuffing a lot of things in a bag or a box and putting it in the basement so that things look tidy upstairs and I can actually see a few surfaces to dust.  Little password book got stuffed in a box.  Still, upside is I found a lot of things in my search for it.  The old - Oh, so that's where that went - happened a lot.

But I have accomplished a few things in the last few months.  Got my next Murray (HIGHLAND PROTECTOR) tale into my editor, the copy-edits done, and the page proofs back to them. Came up with ideas for the next vamp tale and the Wherlocke one.  Now supposed to be working on that next Wherlocke tale.  Found the conferences fun but exhausting, as always.  Also found that the more expensive a hotel the more expensive the internet hookup and the worse it works.   Put a lot of miles on the little HHR.  Drove a lot of places.  Saw a lot of the country and not always the prettiest parts.  Survived the heat wave that locked itself over the NE for so long this summer.  Barely.  Have almost finished organizing my library.  Half the stuff in the basement has been sorted out - thanks to losing the password book.

And now I should be hard at work on that Wherlocke tale.  But - there's that foggy brain issue still.  So I'm doing up spreadsheets of all the charcaters in the stories, plus the ones in the Murray books, plus the ones in the vampire novella ones.  It's got to the point I can't just go back and look through the books in the series - most certainly not the Murray one - easily.  And the little character card I write up for each book doesn't have the info I'm always looking for.  So going to get it all on the computer.  Listing the important stuff like appearance, psychic gifts, relation to main character, age, etc.  Should make life easier.  Make for fewer oopsies, too, that one then has to spend time fixing.

Yet, Sir Argus Wherlocke is calling to me.  I've got him stuck in a prison with the heroine 'thinking' about looking for him to save him.  Think he's getting really tired of being tied naked to a cold bed in a basement.  Keep hearing him saying - "Excuse me!  Naked, cold, tied up.  Want to do something about this, woman?"  Now that fall is here(with it's beautifully cooler weather) and a little of the foggy is easing in the brain, I will have to answer that call.  That and the fact that my deadline is in December.  If he calls me 'woman' again, however, think I might allow the bad guys to pound on him a little before he gets rescued.

Five Things I Learned about Love and Life from Bethany M’Doro by Teri Barnett

Every writer has heard about characters that come to life. You know, the ones who take over your novel and dictate what should be going on with them? I honestly never believed that stuff. Of course, when I was first told this, I was also a sporadic storyteller, flitting from one project to the next.

And then I found my focus and started writing. I mean, seriously writing. No longer toying with words here and there, but really digging in. And that’s when it happened. They actually did start informing me about who they were and what they wanted. This is where Bethany M’Doro comes in. She’s the heroine of my latest publication by LBF Books, Shadow Dreams.

Bethany is a strong woman, fiercely protective of her daughter and the people she loves. She’s also a healer and takes special care of those who hurt. Here’s what she taught me about love and life during the course of writing her story in Shadow Dreams:

1. Be Strong

I suspect this will sound like a cliché, but there truly is beauty in strength. A woman who carries herself with confidence and the knowledge that she really is ‘all that’ is infinitely sexy. Ask any guy. They’ll tell you the same.

2. Go after what you want

Having dreams is great. As a matter of fact, I find it’s essential to my very existence. And one of my dreams is living a life in love. Bethany has taught me that if this is what I want, then I need to go after it. After all, no one owns my life but me.

3. Take a Risk

Love isn’t for sissies. If you really care for someone, suck it up and let them know. Yes, there’s always the chance they may not return the feeling, but how are you going to know if you don’t put yourself out there?

4. Follow your Instincts

There’s an old saying, the heart knows what it wants. For Bethany, it’s her gut that tells her when something is right or wrong. She feels it deep in the very essence of her being. She makes her decisions and goes forward without looking back. She does not second guess herself. If ever there was a lesson I needed to learn, it’s this one.

5. Open your Heart

Keeping an open heart is perhaps the hardest – and greatest - lesson for me. When the heart is closed, there’s no way for love to find its way in. Believe me, I know this from experience. So what did Bethany teach me? To stand tall with my shoulders back and face the world head on. When you lead with your heart, everything else falls into place.

Teri Barnett is a writer, artist, and designer currently living in Indiana. Her publications include Through the Mists of Time (a historical time travel romance) and Shadow Dreams (a paranormal historical romance), both published by LBF Books/Lachesis Publishing. For more information, including where to find her novels, please visit her on the web at http://www.teribarnett.com/.

Hero – You’ve met your match!

I’ve written a historical romance anthology for Berkley. It’s rather scandalous. My summer debut, AWAKENED BY A KISS, is a Fiery Tales collection – steamy retellings of three classic fairy tales in the one book. I love it when historical heroes are sinfully seductive bad boys.

In AWAKENED BY A KISS, I’ve created three of them.

There is something about seeing an unrepentant rake fall hopelessly in love with the heroine that I find downright delicious. And in AWAKENED BY A KISS they do fall for them – hard.

Yet, what kind of woman can totally turn a seasoned roué and steal his heart? I paired off very different women with each of the men in these three Fiery Tales. Three women with different backgrounds and personalities, yet their impact on these rakes is the same. Poor heroes, they didn’t stand a chance. These lovely ladies are unlike anyone these gorgeous men have ever met – and much to their surprise, they’ve found their perfect match.

In the first Fiery Tale in AWAKENED BY A KISS, Sleeping Beau, the hero is rather an infamous rake – the handsome bastard son of the King. Legitimized by His Majesty, Adrien is treated like royalty. A night of raw passion with a mysterious woman has haunted him for five years. When at last he spots his mysterious seductress, he wants to know everything about her. Heck, he just plain wants her. It was supposed to be simply a torrid affair. But it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. Everything about Catherine de Villecourt inspires tender feelings as well as hot desire. This beautiful woman is a widow. Born into the wealthy middle class, she was married off to a Count and trapped in an unhappy marriage until the scandalous death of her husband.

It’s not just Catherine’s beauty that affects our hero Adrien, but her quiet strength, too. And the problems she’s had with her father are something that Adrien understands all too well. He’s had nothing but difficulties with his own powerful sire. She is a painter, a sexual soulmate and his one and only heart’s desire.

The second Fiery Tale, Little Red Writing, has a very passionate heroine. Anne de Vignon is a writer. A woman who feels strongly about the telltale stories she writes about powerful courtiers under the nom de plume Gilbert Leduc. Born into

minor nobility, she doesn’t have much by way of social influence or financial means. What she lacks in social standing and wealth, she makes up for in her drive to seek justice for women against the powerful men who inflict suffering on them. Without recourse, these women were forced to endure whatever hardship, humiliation or heartbreak came their way at the hands of these men. The ambitious Count of Lambelle, Nicolas de Savignac, is a member of the King’s private guard and eager for promotion. His investigation into the identity of the mystery writer is supposed to be the means to his promotion in the Guard. He never expected passionate Anne would move him or touch his heart and leave him torn between love and duty.

Imagine being the favorite daughter of the King. It’s an enviable position to be in, right? Wrong. In the Fiery tale, Bewitching in Boots, Elisabeth must be vigilant at court. She sees the constant intrigue, the dishonesty and corruption as men and women vie for the King’s favor, willing to use her, or worse, harm her younger sister, if she isn’t careful. The only man who is honest and true is the former commander of the King’s private Guard. When Tristan is forced to spend time with the smart, strong Elisabeth, he sees her not as a spoiled royal brat, or a coquette, but as a sensuous woman whose loyalty is as great as her love.

AWAKENED BY A KISS – A Fiery Tales Collection

Berkley Sensation

BY Lila DiPasqua

ISBN: 978 - 0425235560

AUGUST 3RD, 2010

Three classic fairytales—“Sleeping Beauty,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Little Red Riding Hood”—cleverly retold with enough sensual twists to prove wickedly ever after does exist…

Author’s website: www.LilaDiPasqua.com

Excerpt of AWAKENED BY A KISS – http://www.liladipasqua.com/awakenExcerpt.htm

QUESTION: What’s your favorite fairy tale heroine? One random commenter will win a signed copy of AWAKENED BY A KISS. The contest will end Aug 20th and the winner must live within US or Canada.

Editor/Author Relationship, a first-timer’s perspective by Lexie Craig

First thing I think any author needs to do is to actually have a conversation with your editor. Face-to-face or over the phone, I think it is important that you, as a writer have a voice conversation with the person in charge of helping you to shape your masterpiece. You just need to find a connection with them because the next few weeks, you’re going to be spending a lot of time together, and like most partnerships, it works a lot better if you don’t want to kill each other.

Next thing I suggest is to be prompt, but thorough, in your responses to them, though I don’t think this will be a hardship. You want this to go as smoothly as possible for both of you, so they do the work and then you do, making sure to look it over with an eye towards perfection.

I cannot overstate this part: THE EDITOR IS NOT OUT TO GET YOU. THE THINGS THEY SUGGEST, THEY HAVE REASONS, AND INDEED ARE PAID, TO DO SO. YOU ARE MARRIED TO THE CONTENT AND THE SPIRIT, BUT NOT EACH INDIVIDUAL WORD. Pick your battles and fight it out accordingly. The editor is not out to hurt your feelings or make you feel inferior. The editor is just as invested in putting out a good product as you are, because, and this is a big one, if the piece produced looks shoddy or haphazard, they look bad. THE OVERALL CONTENT OF THE BOOK IS THE PRODUCT OF BOTH OF YOUR WORK AND REFLECTS ON BOTH OF YOU, EITHER WELL OR POORLY ACCORDINGLY.

A brief note, you will get tired of looking at your work. By the time it goes to the editor, you’ll have looked it over several times and be pretty confident of your work. You will be surprised by what the editor finds in terms of missed typos, unclear thoughts (or things that are clear in your mind but not on the page), and incomplete plot-points. This is an exercise in ‘stand and deliver’, and you can do this, so long as you realize that the end result will be awesome.

I was very lucky in that I had a very experience editor in Karen Adams. What I write is not a genre she reads, and so her entirely fresh perspective made me work harder to make it make sense. She was super thorough, and as such, I felt pretty confident when I sent my MS back to the publisher after 1 major and 2 (or was it 3?) line edits.

Now that Imminent Danger is finally out, I’m happy and excited about it, but most of all, I’m confident about the presentation of it, because I know that a lot of time and effort was expended in making it the best possible story in the best possible condition it could be.

Armed with this knowledge, I’m pressing on with my second novel and, like always, hoping for the best and working hard to make it so.

For more information about Lexie and her books click here