New Romantic Suspense Release!

Saving Maggie. Read the first page here:

Saving Maggie

Chapter 1

The woman in the sexy little red convertible looked perky from behind. Her glossy long hair was pulled up in a careless pony tail and swayed from side to side like a cobra charmed by an Indian flute, as she bopped to the music from the car radio.

Even at a car's length away, the driver behind her thought this was the sort of hair a man could run his fingers through and grasp playfully… He wished now he was piloting his own expensive roadster, rather than the sedate brown sedan he'd rented especially for this trip. His own car was the sort that would impress the kind of girl who drove a bright red convertible with the top down on a windy spring day.

He imagined himself overtaking her, seeing her look over at him, her eyes widening in admiration as she took in his expensive ride and wealthy, groomed good looks.

Then she'd remember him and smile…

He gunned the accelerator, and with a disdainful purr the rental spurted forward, pulling alongside her. He glanced over, hoping to catch her eye. But she stared straight ahead, singing along to some mindless muzak and oblivious to his look of longing.

He didn't matter to her. She didn't remember. She didn't smile.

Irritated now, he jabbed the accelerator and zoomed past her. He knew that soon they'd meet again.

Then he'd refresh her memory.

Saving Maggie is on Amazon, Kobo, Walmart Online, B & N, and most good ebook outlets!

New Romantic Suspense Release!

Saving Maggie. Read the first page here:

Saving Maggie

Chapter 1

The woman in the sexy little red convertible looked perky from behind. Her glossy long hair was pulled up in a careless pony tail and swayed from side to side like a cobra charmed by an Indian flute, as she bopped to the music from the car radio.

Even at a car's length away, the driver behind her thought this was the sort of hair a man could run his fingers through and grasp playfully… He wished now he was piloting his own expensive roadster, rather than the sedate brown sedan he'd rented especially for this trip. His own car was the sort that would impress the kind of girl who drove a bright red convertible with the top down on a windy spring day.

He imagined himself overtaking her, seeing her look over at him, her eyes widening in admiration as she took in his expensive ride and wealthy, groomed good looks.

Then she'd remember him and smile…

He gunned the accelerator, and with a disdainful purr the rental spurted forward, pulling alongside her. He glanced over, hoping to catch her eye. But she stared straight ahead, singing along to some mindless muzak and oblivious to his look of longing.

He didn't matter to her. She didn't remember. She didn't smile.

Irritated now, he jabbed the accelerator and zoomed past her. He knew that soon they'd meet again.

Then he'd refresh her memory.

Saving Maggie is on Amazon, Kobo, Walmart Online, B & N, and most good ebook outlets!

Sometimes, Disappearing and Making a New Life Sounds Like a Great Idea...

Imagine you're being stalked by a psychotic killer. No-one believes your story of being hunted and  threatened. Disappearing seems like the only way you can escape, by becoming someone else and praying that the madman won’t find you.

For most of us, leaving our lives and starting over is an impossible daydream. There are lots of reasons why people do this – being really unhappy and seeing no way to correct things, being really bored and wanting to live a life with more excitement, having creditors constantly harassing you, family issues, and many more.

Having committed a crime – say you embezzled millions from your company and they're about to bring in the auditors – getting out of your life is one way to try and avoid prison. Don't bank on being successful, though!

Witness Protection is probably the best, because all the work of creating a new persona and a new life is done for you – although you still have to be careful not to give yourself away. And you've probably witnessed something traumatic before you're accepted into the program as a witness, so maybe it's not so much fun.

For Maggie Kendal, there was really no alternative but to disappear. She knew she was being stalked, but there's a twist – the psycho was killing people he thought had hurt Maggie in some way. He dreamed that one day he and she would be together, but in the meantime, he was 'protecting' her from people who he considered had done her harm. Being a little psychic didn't help Maggie at all – no-one believed that the murdered dead called to her, especially after they'd dug up dump sites she claimed the psychos victims were laid, and found nothing. Maggie had to flee to save the lives of other people she cared about.

But Maggie is a wealthy heiress with the means to move and keep moving, to pay for new identities and finally, to find peace in a small Ontario town. She purchased a community newspaper and resumed the work she loved as a journalist. But she knew that he would find her eventually and she'd have to stand and fight - or run again.

Disappearing is harder to do if you’re poor. You need money to travel, money to buy a new identity, money to live on and keep moving around until you feel your trail has gone cold. So you have to have a lead in time when you can quietly liquidate any assets you have before disappearing. Or, as some people have done, you simply get on a Greyhound bus and go, picking up odd jobs and hoping to one day feel safe enough to settle down in a new identity. You'll probably need several new identities as you go along in order to completely wipe out your trail.

You can check graveyards, find the name and birthdate of a child who was born around the time you were…and go and try your luck at getting documents in that child's name. Sure, you can say your paperwork was destroyed in a flood or hurricane, but most government offices have tightened up on this once tried and true method of getting a new identity.

You'll need to keep moving and changing your identity, losing yourself in cities in the beginning. You'll also need to keep a cash flow going, unless you've got a suitcase full of money from your previous life. Even the disappeared need to eat. That means working at low level jobs where pay is 'under the table' and there's no paper trail. Sure, you may be super well educated and have qualifications out the whazoo, but high powered jobs require documentation, and right now you're just concerned with not leaving a paper trail.

Later, like years later, you might feel safe enough – and savvy enough – to find a way to document your qualifications, perhaps by getting an expert forger to rework your certificates and degree information into your new name, not your old one. But remember, many institutions have become wary of hiring people who aren't who they say they are, and they will check with your previous employers or your alma mater, and then the doo-doo will hit the fan.

So, the grass may seem greener on the other side of the fence that's got you boxed in – but maybe it's all an illusion and home, sweet home, is the best place for you.

You can read about Maggie Kendall's journey to escape her psycho stalker and the courage it took for her to save the life of the man she loved and to make a new life for herself with him in Saving Maggie, to be released on November 7^th!

Saving Maggie 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Snippets: The Bride's Curse, Paranormal Romance

Here's a snippet from The Bride's Curse, my paranormal romance from Crimson Romance. This is the first time wedding planner and owner of Wedding Bliss Kelly Andrews meets her match in the sexy Brett Atwell:

EXCERPT: 

Kelly blinked to adjust her eyes to the store’s interior after being

out in the bright sunlight. She pushed the old man on the bench out of her mind as she stepped forward to introduce herself to the young man who stood in the middle of the store as if he were
befuddled by all the lovely frilly, lacy, silky things.

     “Good morning. I’m Kelly Andrews. Can I help you find what you’re looking for?”

He turned and gave her a friendly smile. Kelly was momentarily dazzled. This guy was hot. Older than she first thought, probably thirty or so, with blond hair and the kind of tan you only get from working outdoors. Briefly she wondered if he’d been in the military like herself, but nothing else about him suggested military work.

      His eyes widened as looked her up and down and he gave a low appreciative whistle through his teeth. “Well, hello, there, Red!”

      The dazzle swiftly turned to irritation. No one had mocked her red Scottish coloring since she was old enough to make them wish they had never tangled with her. Tucking an unruly curl behind her ear, she sidled forward until they were almost nose to nose. Then she rose up on tiptoe, her mouth close enough to his ear that her breath tickled his skin and murmured: “The last guy who called me that is still in the hospital.”

     His deep brown eyes widened. Then he laughed a low, deep sexy sound. “Sweetheart, I love a woman with red hair and the temperament that goes with it.”

      She stepped back a pace and gave him a feral smile. Obviously he wasn’t intimidated by her threat. The fool.

    “So, all flirting aside, can I help you with something?”

     The slow, lips to feet and back again appraisal he gave her made her palms itch to thump him. She reminded herself of Rule #1 of business: Do not slap customers.

     “I’m looking for a wedding dress.”

      “Oh!” Laughter licked through her like a sudden rain. She returned the long, slow, head to toe and back again stare. “I’m not sure we have anything in your size. Maybe your partner … ?”

       He actually blushed. “No, it’s not for me—” He stopped when he saw her laughing. In fact, Kelly was laughing so hard she had to drop onto one of the chairs.

     “Oh, lord—you should have seen your face! Gotcha!” Revenge is so sweet.

       He grinned. “I suppose I deserved that, Red.”

      “Keep on with the Red, and you’ll see the nasty side of me.”

*

         Brett Atwell was tempted to say he’d like to see any side of her at all, this drop dead gorgeous woman who’d followed him into the store. His busy imagination conjured up images of all that lush red hair spread across his pillow like wildfire …

        “You’re staring.”

        Oops. He needed to shake himself out of the lust that had swamped him and to focus on the job at hand. It wasn’t like him to let his mind wander, but then it wasn’t every day he met a woman who appealed to him like this one did.

The Bride's Curse is available in ebook and print on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good booksellers!

Saturday’s Snippets: First Pages: Resort to Murder

@GlenysOConnell

  I’m always intrigued by the way story ideas come to writers. It seems to be different for everyone. Novels are born from dreams, from snatches of overheard conversations, from newspaper articles, magazine articles, real life events – indeed, all sorts of different things.

The writerly mind – a twisted thing at best! – plays games with these topics. The What If? game, and soon a plot starts to appear, characters sneak in and hide among the neurons of the brain and begin to whisper…and voila! A Book is born!

That’s been my experience, anyway. Resort to Murder, published by The Wild Rose Press, came in pieces, dribs and drabs turning into a full flood as I played the What If? game. I was working in England at the time and read in the local evening newspaper, The Lancashire Evening Post, that a woman police officer had just been appointed to a Chief Constable’s position. That’s like being Top Dog in a county police force.

This officer was the first female to get that job, and in the article were several comments about the ‘glass ceiling’ and the difficulties a woman law enforcement officer can face in seeking promotion.
And out of that came Ellie Fitzpatrick, a wrongly disgraced officer who had been on the fast track to high rank after solving the case of The Sunshine Slasher, a vicious serial killer who attacked women in vacation resorts around the English coast.

Ellie had been hot on the trail of a criminal gang when she was accused of taking bribes and placed on suspension pending investigation. The criminals had done their work well, planting money in Ellie’s bank account and doing everything they could to discredit her.

Ellie was in love with another officer, a man who was her junior. But when she needed Liam Reilly the most, he was nowhere to be found. Unknown to her, Liam was on a secret assignment in Ireland and knew nothing of what was happening to Ellie until his return.
One day, walking on the beach near Whitby in Yorkshire, Ellie literally stumbles across a dead body…

BLURB:

Falsely disgraced police detective Ellie Fitzpatrick is prepared to face a vicious killer to redeem herself but is she also brave enough to make peace with the man she loves? When her meteoric career crashed and burned after she was accused of accepting bribes from thugs running a protection racket, Ellie is suspended from the job she loves and believes herself abandoned not only by police colleagues but by her lover, Detective Liam O'Reilly. She is called back to work when a biography of a serial killer she arrested suggests the man may be innocent. Reilly vows to protect Ellie from the gang who tried to frame her and the vicious killer who's stalking her. Can she trust him with her life?

FIRST PAGE:

A cry was stifled in her throat as the dead woman began to move. Her empty eyes opened. Her dead mouth widened in a terrible silent scream as the white fingers began to claw at the hem of Ellie's coat, pulling her down, down, into a cold embrace. She ran from the nightmare figure until she was caught by strong familiar arms…...
Ellie woke from the dream, her heart pounding in fear and yet with desire flooding hotly through her veins. Her dream rescuer had been Liam Reilly. Cursing demons she couldn't vanquish, she climbed out of bed and pulled on a soft silk robe. Her face was pale in the bathroom mirror, dark shadows under her eyes testament to the early hour. But she wouldn't sleep now, not when the faces of all the dead women would drift through her dreams. She wondered if other police officers ever got used to the sight of the murdered dead. She knew she wouldn’t.
She made a cup of rosehip and orange tea laced with honey, and slipped through the double patio doors onto her terrace. Below the cottage, the restless muttering of the sea, gathering its strength for another tidal assault on the shore, echoed her mood. Ellie leaned against the narrow wooden rail that separated her terrace from the cliff edge, and sucked in a deep breath of salt-tanged air, closing her eyes as she basked in the magnificent silence of the pre-dawn world.
And there he was again, as surely as if he'd materialized from her dream. Liam Reilly. His presence haunted her waking days as surely as the nightmares haunted her nights, because they were inextricably linked. They were opposite sides of the coin of her life.

REVIEW:
From TRS: "I thoroughly enjoyed this fantastic romantic suspense. The plot was swift and the complex story line was enhanced by the wonderful characters. Beyond the hero and heroine the supporting cast was fabulous with almost no one being quite what they appeared at first. The pace enhances the two main mysteries of the story. The time frame is not dragged out as Ellie tries to separate the bribery charges from the serial killer case and it makes for an intricate puzzle. Liam and Ellie have a complicated relationship that is due mainly to lack of honesty and communication. Both characters were constantly at odds with one another and down right antagonistic. They were forever revealing their true feelings in their private thoughts and denying them out loud. If it were not so skillfully balanced with the suspense this could have ruined the whole story for me. I found the mystery itself to be top-notch all the way from the first paragraph to the ominous ending. I can't wait to see what else this author has in store." - Theresa Joseph

Resort to Murder is available at The Wild Rose Press, or through your Amazon site

Saturday’s Snippets: Happy Valentine’s Day: Legends and Book Deals

@GlenysOConnell


I’d love to send everyone a huge bouquet of flowers to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day! Here are a few tidbits about St. Valentine that I wanted to share for fun – you can check out more on hhtp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day

* Roman soldiers were not allowed to marry, but St. Valentine carried out wedding ceremonies for some soldiers with their sweethearts – and got himself imprisoned for it.

* He is said to have cut out parchment hearts to give to the soldiers and others he helped, to remind them of God’s love.

*He was accused of ministering to Christians, when Christianity was forbidden by the Romans and its followers were persecuted.

*When he was in prison, legend says St. Valentine healed the sick daughter of one of his jailers. He was to be executed, and before going to his death he is said to have written to the girl and signed the letter ‘Your Valentine’ .

* The tradition of exchanging candies, cards, and gifts on February 14th started in 18th century England during the Romantic Era, as a way of proclaiming one’s love.

* The busy, business-minded Victorians took the tradition from handwritten notes to commercially manufactured Valentine’s Day cards.

* Sadly, even though we love the hearts, flowers, cupids, and candy, whether the legends are true is a moot point. There were a number of saints in the Christian Church with the name Valentine, and we’ll probably never know whether the saint we celebrate actually existed or is a myth created by the actions of several martyrs.

Even so, here’s wishing everyone a wonderful Valentine’s Day. And remember, you don’t have to have a sweetheart to celebrate – celebrate yourself by doing something nice for the day!

And as a little gift from me, you can get my two romances, The No Sex Clause and Judgement By Fire, for just 99c each for a limited time! And don’t forget, you can get a bundle of ten great stories, including my Saving Maggie, for just 99c, in Running to Love, from Crimson Romance. Enough to bring a smile to any Valentine’s face!

Saturday Snippets: First Pages: Another Man’s Son

@GlenysOConnell


So, last Saturday I put up the first page of my very first romantic suspense novel, Judgement By Fire. Never one to work to a system, this week I’m giving you the first page of my most recently published romantic suspense, Another Man’s Son.

Another Man’s Son is one of the delicious Lobster Cove series being published by The Wild Rose Press #TWRP. It’s the first time I have worked with other writers to create a series, and it’s been, well, an experience! There are very talented writers working on this, with a wide variety of book genres from sweet to paranormal to quite risque indeed! 

Something for everyone, really – and all set in this neat little Maine town of Lobster Cove. The place, if it existed, would be everyone’s dream of a small town seaside paradise. If you could get over the murders and strange happenings, that is! But love is certainly always in the air in Lobster Cove.

Here’s the blurb for Another Man’s Son:

Another Man's Son

Kathryn Morgan broke Ben Asher's heart when he returned from military service in Afghanistan to find she'd married her boss, wealthy banker Ket Morgan Jr. 

Ben vowed he’d never return to Lobster Cove but now, seven years later, he is back as an undercover FBI agent sworn to expose the Morgan family’s criminal activities. Will his vow to bring down the notorious Morgans extend to the woman he still loves? 

When Kathryn’s son is kidnapped, she is forced to swallow her pride and reveal the secret of another man's son. Can Ben protect Kathryn and her son from Ket and his sinister friends, or will And the First Pageold hurts and secrets destroy them all?

And the First Page:

The growl of the powerful engine turned heads among the early tourist crowd as Ben Asher rode the Harley hog along the waterfront. It was early evening and the sun was just slipping down below the ocean, tickling the quiet wavelets with pink and purple, painting the sky rich shades of rose and crimson.

He let the big bike drift to a stop near one of the piers, pausing to let the familiar essence of the tourist trap town wash over him—the smells of hot dogs and pretzel stands, the salty tang of the sea, the screams of laughter from people and the squawks of gulls.

The beauty of the coastal town made little impression on him as he started up the motorcycle again and, making a sharp turn from Main onto Pine and out into the countryside, finally slowed to pass through an ornate gateway into the parking lot of The Club. He cut the engine and, in the sudden silence that followed, gulls squawked at the intrusion from the rooftops of the elegant country club. Music and laughter spilled out from the upscale establishment as well dressed people came and went from the celebration inside.
Celebrating was not something Ben planned to do tonight. This was a command performance, his presence having been required by the town’s councillors to introduce him as the newly-appointed sheriff, even if it was a temporary situation while Sheriff Lawton was on her honeymoon.

He straddled the bike for a few minutes longer, putting off his appearance with the town’s movers and shakers. He unzipped his leather jacket, enjoying the nip of the cool evening air Seven years had passed since he’d shaken the dust of Lobster Cove from his feet, and he wasn’t happy to be back.
****
Kathryn Morgan gripped the smooth wood of the low balcony rail to steady herself as she surveyed the glittering crowd swaying rhythmically to music on the small, crowded dance floor below. She’d drunk champagne on an empty stomach to bolster herself for this evening and already the bubbly brew was taking affect, making her light-headed and manically happy.

She had balked at coming here tonight; knowing it would be too painful to bear. He was going to be here. Pain and anger had ambushed her when they’d told her the town was holding a special celebration dinner for homecoming hero and new acting sheriff, Ben Asher. How she once had longed to see his face again, and then later prayed she never would.

Under the crystal chandeliers in The Club’s ballroom were the same familiar faces. People she’d known all her life. No, not known, she corrected herself. Kathryn Fitzgerald had been too lowly to actually be friends with these folk who even now tolerated her only because she was Ketler Morgan Junior’s wife. These were the upper echelons of this small town society, people who nodded acknowledgement of her because of her place at the top of the heap. But friends? No, her friends weren’t here tonight. Kathryn sighed. She’d done what she had to do for all the right reasons. What a pity the outcome was so wrong.

Saturday Snippets: First Pages: Judgement By Fire

@GlenysOConnell

Which of the two powerful men in her life wants Lauren dead?

We’re about to start a new month, so I thought I’d start something new: Posting the first page of each of my books. Just a taster, so to speak!
Judgement By Fire is my first novel, written over a long period of time while snatching minutes from a full time job, a part time job, a hobby farm and family with four kids. These days I wonder where the energy came from!

This was published b y Red Rose Publishing, which is now defunct,(a whole other story) so I went on to revise and publish it in dependently. I thoroughly enjoyed the Indie publishing process and went on to do it a few times more!

So here goes, your taste of the first page of Judgement By Fire! Enjoy!

BLURB: 

Canadian wildlife artist Lauren Stephens swore off men after her marriage collapsed and burned. Instead, she's focused on her increasingly successful art career and made her home in an artists' colony based around an old mansion estate in Ontario.

When a multi-national corporation wants to buy the estate and turn it into a health spa for the very rich, turning the artists and writers out of their rented cottages, Lauren volunteers to lead the protest against the sale. The move brings her into direct conflict with Jon Rush, the powerful CEO of Rush Co. International.

An instant attraction springs up between them, although Lauren is reluctant to trust the handsome industrialist. When Lauren's studio is trashed and her life is threatened, Jon fears she's being targeted by the mysterious person trying to destroy his company – a villain not afraid to use violence in his determination to see Jon suffer.

But is there a darker shadow over Lauren? And can Jon save her from a Judgement By Fire?

Chapter One

“Damn it, Warren, surely you can come up with something better than this?” Jon Rush, president of

one of Canada’s largest independent business conglomerates, glared at the man who faced him across the cluttered mahogany desktop.

“I pay you for facts, not fairy tales. You’ve taken a whole series of unrelated events and turned them into some kind of soap opera plot!” Jon ran his fingers through his thick blond hair in a characteristic gesture of frustration.

It was the gesture the heavyset black man across the desk had been waiting for. Warren Dillon, chief of security for Rush Co., was one of the few men who knew Jon Rush well enough not to be intimidated in the face of his anger. Their friendship went back a long way, back to the dark days of their tour of duty in the burning deserts of the Persian Gulf, where the privileged son of a Canadian industrialist and the angry young black youth from the Southside slums of Chicago had forged a lasting friendship.

Coolly, Dillon watched as Jon Rush slammed down the thick red file folder causing a small blizzard of papers to break loose from their untidy stacks on the desk. Then he let out a heavy sigh and, leaning forward in his leather-covered chair, began speaking slowly and quietly, punctuating his words with a stabbing forefinger.

“Jon, your problem is you just won’t believe anyone would betray Rush Co. from the inside. Didn’t you learn anything in the Gulf? You’ve said it yourself - everyone has their price.” He paused for a moment, waiting for Jon’s face to react as the words sank in, and then continued in the same deep, intense tone.

“Even you have to admit that Rush Co. is in trouble. We’ve gone from being the golden-haired boy of the stock market to a walking crisis center in just a few months. Do you really believe that’s just bad luck? Well, do you? Or would you rather own up to jackass management?”

End of Page One, Judgement By Fire If this tweaked your appetite for more, you can read the entire first chapter for free at http://glenysoconnell.webs.com/firstchapters.htm

Wednesday’s Writing: The Few Words That Could Ruin Your Sales–Your Book Title

 
@GlenysOConnell
Could your titles actually be putting potential readers off? If you’re anything like me, a cute (to you) title arrives around the time of the book idea, or during the writing of it when one of your characters uses a phrase that catches your eye and provokes a Eureka! moment.
The accepted wisdom is that the cover lures a potential reader, the back blurb reels them in, and then you have 30 seconds of the first paragraph on the first page to seal the deal.


But in my humble opinion, if your title sucks, you seriously damage the chance of your potential reader getting past first base.

I’ve not seen research on this, but I believe a catchy, intriguing title is your first line of hooking a reader – and a sale. For example, after one of my most successful books of a couple of years ago, the Indie published The No Sex Clause, I vowed to use the word ‘sex’ in as many titles as I could squeeze it into! I quickly came to the conclusion that wasn’t a good idea, as ‘sex’ doesn’t fit with other phrases. Sex & Naked Writing? Sex & Another Man’s Son, Sex: The Bride’s Curse? Uhmmm, not the right image at all.

While The No Sex Clause seemed to leap through the ether to readers, I decided it was the idea of a romance novel in which there was a binding clause that the protagonists couldn’t have sex that obviously intrigued a lot of people into pressing the BUY button.
Winters & Somers, which I thought was a neat title and one of my best books, didn’t fare as well. Judgement By Fire grabbed quite a lot of people’s attention, as did Resort to Murder. The latter two are examples of getting readers to ask the question: What? Who? Why? Read the book!

Marrying Money was a fun book that made quite a few readers smile all the way to the checkout button.

So, inquiring minds would ask, just what constitutes title magic?
Unusual word combinations. Common phrases used in an unusual way. Questions or statements that call the reader to seek an answer or explanation. Anything that arouses curiosity. Think of Gone With The Wind. Gone where? Who? Why? Oh, a romance. Gee, the civil war. An old Southern Mansion on the cover..Gotcha.

Elizabeth George’s What Came Before He Shot Her is a prime example. For followers of her Inspector Lynley series, the title promises an answer to the question we’d often wondered about: Why was Helen Lynley killed? Who did the deed? For those who are new to the series, the unusual title raises a raft of questions that pique curiosity enough to take a walk to the checkout.

Canadian author Louise Penny hit the title jackpot with her beautifully written and intriguing mystery series, the Inspector Gamache books, set in Quebec. Don’t titles such as The Beautiful Mystery, How The Light Gets In, or The Long Way Home, when applied to a detective series, just fill you with curiosity to find out more?

So, to sum up: titles aren’t just a bunch of words typed in as an afterthought. They are a vital part of telling your readers what your book is. A good title invites a prospective reader to solve a mystery, to enter a story, to seek the answers that lie between the covers of your book.

Don’t you think titles deserve some serious thought?

***You can follow the links to each of the books mentioned here, and my own books have a free first chapter read here on my website.

Saturday’s Snippet–The No Sex Clause

Today’s Saturday Snippet is from The No Sex Clause, a book I had a lot of fun writing and hope you’ll enjoy reading!

BLURB:

Anna Findlay needs a man.
Anna has gone from being the bullied Mouse in a small town high school to the perfectly groomed and wealthy author of a pop psychology book on sex. When her publicity agent talks her into going to her high school reunion at Christmas, there are two problems - Anna hated high school, and she has no one to go with. So, in her own pragmatic style, she hires an escort from an agency - a move that will change her life forever. A serious case of mistaken identity lands Anna in the company of media mogul Jed Walker and the dreaded reunion turns into a sexy comedy of errors.
Anna finds herself revisiting her past and learning that she has never been comfortable in any of the personas she has invented for herself. It takes falling in love - and Christmas - to show her that all she needs do is be herself.


EXCERPT:

But she didn’t have time to consider the implications because a large warm hand closed on hers, and she was pulled away and came to rest against a solid wall of masculine chest. In the split second between Bob pulling her towards him and Joey letting her go, Anna felt like a bone trapped between two slathering dogs. The idea infuriated her almost as much as all this blatant male attention thrilled her. So this is what all the other girls experienced, day after day? What must it be like to float through your teenaged years knowing you were admired and desired, instead of being a Mouse who was, when she got any attention at all, just the butt of jokes.
She turned the flare of anger on to her escort, needing to release the awful feeling on someone’s head. “What do you think you’re up to?” she whispered savagely. “I was enjoying talking to Joey..”
“You didn’t look like you were enjoying it,” Jed told her, playing along with the Bob persona, “In fact, you looked like a mouse who’s realised she’s the snake’s dinner.”
And, dammit, that great ape of a football player looked like he was enjoying being draped all over Anna just a little too much! Jed wondered where that thought which had suddenly bounced into his head came from, but he was distracted by Anna dragging on his arm.
“Come over here with me – we need a quiet word,” she said, smiling up at him seductively while her eyes burned with a very nasty looking fire. Uh, uh – he’d obviously annoyed her by pulling her away from the football playing gorilla… A delighted grin lit up his face.
“You can just wipe that grin off your face. I want to talk to you in a quiet spot, nothing else….” Anna growled.
“Aw, shucks, I thought maybe you wanted to make out like all the other kids are doing...”
Anna glanced around. The first quiet corner she’d spotted to have a little chat with her escort just happened to be littered with bodies, entangled with each other, two by two, all hidden in the relative privacy afforded by the heavy velvet curtains of the stage. Her face burned. Of course she remembered this corner – a must at all high school dances, a spot where chaperons pretended to turn a blind eye on the grounds that kids kissing in the dance hall were less likely to get into anything more serious elsewhere.

The No Sex Clause is available in print and eBook on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, and other Amazon locations. Like a signed print copy? Email the author at glenysoconnell @ gmail .com (no spaces) for details!

Another Day, Another Deadline

I'm busy doing the final edits on a novel I ghostwrote for someone else. Ghostwriting is a whole different field of writing, one that can be fascinating if you're lucky enough to get the good assignments, mind numbingly boring if you don't. And the clients make such a difference - I've been lucky enough in all my projects to have wonderful clients to work with.
For example, my latest is a kind of chicklit style novelised autobiography for a lovely lady who wants to tell her story as an inspiration for others who are looking for love and beginning to think it will never happen to them. Given the miracle of the Internet, we've worked together to create a 90,000 plus novel that is ready to be polished and then she's going to look for a publisher - she's already made great plans for her work and I sincerely hope that her dreams come true. I'll let you know how that developes!
Meanwhile, I need to finish the final polish. I edited nearly 100 pages today and I'm a little cross-eyed now...I'd hoped to have the whole thing finished and send off to my client, who's quite excited about the whole thing, by Monday but it's not going to happen. I have a family and must keep a promise to go and spend the weekend with one of my beautiful daughters. I'm looking forward to her company, and to the break.
And I have other work, as well - including a non-fiction book that really has my interest, something like Depression: The Essential Guide that I wrote last year for a UK company. So, time to shut down the computer, pack a bag, and get a night's sleep before the big drive tomorrow.
So, goodnight, and happy reading/writing to you all!

Writing Contests: For Winners or a Waste of Time?

As writers our main aim is to get our work accepted by a publisher, right? And it’s hard enough sending out all those query letters and neat little packages of partials and synopses, without being bothered sending stuff off to some group with an odd-sounding name who’ll take a look at your work and — gulp! — maybe tell you it’s no good. Heavens, after all, we can get letters from publishers telling us the same thing, and less publicly!
If we get a nice letter praising our work from these contest judges, or better yet, our names appear as finalists or winners, so what? I mean, it’s not like being published, is it?
And contests cost you money, too. So why bother?
Now, gather round, all you ambitious writers, and listen up.
Contests can provide you with a showcase for your work, a chance to bring your work before judges who are also editors, agents, or published writers in their other incarnations. And you don’t have to win the contests to be a winner, either. Many writers will tell about their experiences of being contacted by editors or agents who read their contest submissions and were impressed enough to ask to see the whole manuscript.
So, is it really worth going to the trouble of seeking out contests, packaging up your precious work and sending it off? Many writers think so. Here are some positive viewpoints:
“I entered the Iowa Romance Novelists’ Query and Synopsis contest last year and was a finalist. It was advantageous in many aspects and I’m going to enter a few more this year as a result of my experience with the contest,” says writer Dawn Tomasko, “Contests can open doors for writers. It’s a tight, competitive market and if an editor or agent notices your work through a contest so much the better. It’s one way to get a foot in the door. I very much liked reading the different judges’ responses to my work (I had included the first 30 pages as requested) and not only was the feedback helpful to point out good and bad things in my work, but the differences in their opinions underlined the fact that fiction is SO subjective.”
Dawn is now on her third novel, and adds the contest final as a credit in her query letters alongside her publication credits. “I advocate contests wholeheartedly,” she said.
Author Laurie Alice Eakes is a first-rate example of how a contest can boost a writer into committing to her craft — and the successes that follow. “In 1993, I won my first writing contest,” Laurie Alice said. “After that, with the encouragement of writer friends and business associates, I got serious and finished my first true attempt at a readable novel. My first sale was actually a nonfiction book entitled Virginia Wine, A Tasteful Guide, published in 1997. In 1999, while I was in grad school at Virginia Tech, I contracted my first novel with Awe-Struck E-Books.”
That first novel, The Widow’s Secret, was nominated for best e-book of 1999 and the Frankfurt E-Book awards, and remained high on the Barnes and Noble best selling e-books list for several months. “When some unfortunate circumstances compelled me to take a leave of absence from graduate school, I began writing again. December 2001 marks the release of the paperback version of The Widow’s Secret. In February 2002, my Regency historical, Married by Mistake, will be published by Novel Books Inc., in both trade paperback and electronic format. Awe-Struck E-Books will publish my Regency suspense novel, Unmarriageable, in April 2002, and Novel Books Inc., will publish my first contemporary romance, Lessons in Love, in August 2002. “Under the Mistletoe,” my Regency Mystery short story, is still available as part of A Winter Holiday Sampler, in trade paperback and electronic formats from Regency Press.”
To emphasize the value of contests further, she adds: ” I have out three books now, two in print, which is nice. I just won a scholarship for my writing, a nicely large one. So that contest paid off, too.”
So, contests are well worth your consideration. Not only can you get valuable credits to add to your writers’ resume, but the judges often offer the sort of constructive criticism that some professionals charge a fortune for — giving you a chance to review their advice and revamp your MS, and all for the entry fee. If you’re not sure whether a certain contest fits with your career plan as a writer, ask. Ask the organizers — most have email contact addresses now. Ask other writers — often contest news is announced on Internet writers’ lists and so other list members may be able to give fast answers to your queries. And if there’s no email contact, then write for more details. After all, you are a writer, aren’t you?
(This article was first published several years ago; it's still popping up all over the Net, so I thought I'd get some extra mileage out of it, too)

At the Booksigning..

A funny thing happened at the booksigning.
Sounds like the start of a comedy routine, doesn't it? For some odd reason, many of my public appearances seem like that, too.....
Where was I? My first booksigning was at a school. Thirty eager little boys gathered around me and listened rapt while I told stories - did I tell you I started out as a children's book author? - anyway, they were really good kids (I think their teacher had threatened them with something aweful if they weren't) and at the end I signed a huge pile of books. One little guy, about eight, came up and told me how much his sister loved my books, and read every one of them over and over. Was I ever pleased!
Until I realised that he was mixed up and thought I was another author - what an ego deflating moment that was! Still, I met the other writer later at a writer's conference and we had a good laugh when I explained how, when I was starting out, I had a chance to bask in her reflected glory!
But it was an event at my last signing, at a huge bookstore in Kingston, Ontario, for Judgement By Fire, that sparked this blog. A woman came up and was reading my promotion materials when she suddenly exclaimed : "Romance Can Be Murder!" (That's my tag line for my romantic fiction books)
"Oh,"she said, "You don't know this, but you've just given me a God message."
"Er, God message?" I asked, already feeling that funny ominous tingly sensation on my spine.
"Yes, a message from God. Romance Can Be Murder. Thank you so much - you've helped me make a decision! I can't tell you what a help this is."
And off she went, leaving me worrying about exactly what kind of decision a person makes from a line like Romance Can Be Murder.
I'm watching the local press for any stories about a woman killing her lover.
Can I be named as an accessory?