New Stories coming soon

I just heard that I've had a Quickie accepted by Ellora's Cave - based on my skiing holiday and escapade in another sort of cave!! Yippeee!!!
I've also had 'Fight to Remember' accepted by Loose Id. This is the last story in the Trueblood vampire series and ends with characters from all the books in a final chapter. Another Yippeee!!! And a boohoo - I could have kept going but LI don't want long series.
And to keep anyone who's vaguely interested up to date - I'm working on a paranormal for Ellora's Cave - about a quarter written so far. This will be my first paranormal for them since I wrote 'Power of Love'.

Want to see pictures of the little doggie I help look after?

www.winstonken.wordpress.com

He is a sweetie.

A most fortunate mistake

I buy books by the ton and if I see them on special offer - I'm there with my money. But when it's buy one, get one half price and I already have an odd number in my arms, sometimes I make an impulse buy without looking too hard at the blurb.
Wendy Moore's 'Wedlock' - How Georgian Britain's Husband Met His Match - is my fortunate mistake.
I was hooked by the great title but if I'd looked a little closer and seen it was non-fiction - I wouldn't have bought it. Not my thing. But I brought it on holiday and today I read it.
Wow.
Another word.
Brilliant.
If I'd written this as fiction, it would never have been believed. It's the tale of an absolute charming brute of a husband and the terrible cunning with which he tricks his way into marriage and then abuses his wife, and the way she eventually escapes his tyranny and he gets his comeuppance - sort of.
I love regency romances and this was like the primer for them. The only snag is, the men don't come off very well in this story and I do so love regency heroes. I knew a little about the lack of rights for women at this time, the way their husbands controlled everything but this book brings home the sad reality of their lives when marriages didn't work out. It's a tale of triumph over the odds by a remarkable woman and I am so glad I made that mistake in the bookshop.

How much sex is too much?

I have to start by making a huge confession. I had read virtually no erotic romance before I submitted my first story! I know, I know. I should have done lots of research, finding out the requirements of various publishers - but I didn't. I was told EC was the biggest and best so I just sent it to them. I'd never read an Ellora's Cave book. Shocking - yes?
In the dim and distant past, when I'd considered writing for Mills and Boon, I DID buy a load of their books and read them and decided I couldn't write to the formula they required. So I suppose, not reading erotic books before I wrote one of my own was a throw back to that. I might have been put off if I'd emersed myself in a pile of them.
A consequence of my lack of research has been a lack of knowledge about how much sex a book needs to make it work. I've never put sex in just to keep up the heat level - I always make sure the situation fits but I've had a few comments saying there was too much sex in my stories - not all of them - just some of them. The comment also that the sex got in the way of the plot. UH? That sort of upset me because the one thing my books have - is PLOT. The sex is never gratutious and after all these are not straight romances but EROTIC romances. Explicit sex is the essence of the story. Isn't it?
Well - maybe not. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I should be putting less sex in? Anyone care to comment?

A different skill

My uncomfortable tour under the glacier has spawned a 15,000 word story. I think - apart from the short story for Ravenous Romance and the freebie for Ellora's Cave - this is the shortest thing I've written. It was an interesting experience. I'm so used to have lots of space for in depth character details and quirky background facts, let alone a creditable plot, that to have to fit all that in to so few words was a challenge. Same with the sex. No chance of chapters building sexual tension, they have to get at it fairly fast. Not to say there isn't tension - there is but far less than usual.
So I'm waiting now for crit partners' comments before I submit it to my editor at Ellora's Cave. I do wonder if she'll like it, if I've mastered the skill of telling a story in far fewer words.
The biggest irony is that I set off to make it a 7,000 word freebie but my characters ran away with me. Actually, I wish one of them would. Phwoooar!

My horror story

When I read that it was possible to go underneath the glacier at Hintertux, near Mayrhofen in Austria, I was soooo excited. I love anything to do with snow except for driving in it and thought it was an opportunity not to be missed. They said the tour could be done wearing ski boots so after husband and I had a few runs down the mountain, I joined a group for the tour. Nearly all German speakers so that was my first problem. I speak a few words and that's all. Ja and nein being the main ones. I did understand - don't take photos and hold on to the ladder.

Ladder???? In ski boots????

The walk down the slope to the entrance nearly undid me. So steep and I kept slipping. But eventually made it. One foot inside the glacier and I remembered I didn't like small spaces. Encased by ice on four sides I had to fight hard to keep going. It was beautiful - all sorts of ice and crystaline structures but steep ladders in ski boots and slippery ice underfoot- my heart was pounding. At the bottom of the first ladder, I went the wrong way and only realized when I couldn't see anyone ahead and turned back. My mind went into overdrive and I imagined being lost under the ice - gone forever.

Climbing back up the three ladders was easier but the relief in getting out into fresh air was overwhelming. No more small spaces for me.

The worst though, was climbing back up the slope I'd slithered down. Everyone found it hard but in ski boots - it was doubly difficult side stepping up loose snow. I could hardly breathe when I got to the top.

In desperate need of sympathy - I fell into my husband's arms - he'd been skiing instead of doing the tour - only to find he felt desperately ill and needed to go back down the mountain. He ended up in hospital.

I took a few photos when I dared but they didn't do the place justice. So one of inside and one of me - relieved - outside.

Skiing

OOhh- I am tired. Skiing in Austria and my other half just took me down a black run. He said it was by accident but if you don't hear from me again - go ask him what he did with my body!