Today, I’ve brought back six from my historical romance wip Midnight Blaze. Enjoy!

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” The familiar voice said.

Charlotte, sat silently and motionless in the halted carriage, hoping Victor

would leave without discovering her.

The driver leaned against the door with a grunt, clearing his throat. “Just

‘aving some trouble with a wheel, sir. I should ‘ave replaced the demmed

thing before we left.”

I don’t usually enter consumer ones, mainly for privacy reasons, but as a writer, I’ve entered in a total of two contests. I didn’t win them obviously, and quite frankly, thank goodness for that.

Two years ago, I didn’t know the half of what I know now, and I’m still learning – don’t think I’ll ever stop either. Given those two first experiences of mine, it’ll be sometime before I stick my neck out like that again.

So let me ask you something. How would you react if read another author’s comments about a contest entry they’re judging, and they’ve been open about it? Bearing in mind they haven’t mentioned any names. But what I mean is, if they were displeased, would you want the world to speculate whose entry it was? What if you had sent one in recently, was it yours?

In the last few years, I’ve observed negative commentary splashed on social media by some well-known authors, and some not so broadly visible. My first impression: I was horrified. Secondly, I stopped reading the authors altogether.

Perhaps I’m being overly sensitive, but I think if one is going to be a judge, there would be a certain level of professionalism with commentary issued on the net. Yes, there is that whole ‘freedom of speech’ excuse, but IMO, discretion should be the primary goal when judging. No chatter, no, nothing.

I’m not really expecting a right or wrong here, and maybe I have higher expectations of what’s required to judge. What are your thoughts?

Cheers,

L

This week I have another snippet from my contemporary wip entitled Crushed Velvet. Enjoy!

Peter laid his fork down, leaned back in his chair and stared the dribble of caramel on his dish. Imagining what it would taste like, warm and smothered, all over Lydia’s…

“Peter, are you alright, man?”

Glaring at his friend who sat across the table from him, he replied with a smile. “I’m perfect. I was just thinking is all.”

I’d love to have you over.

-Layna

WTF is fiction then?

I don’t mean to sound so bold, but I’ve spent the last couple of days reading and absorbing the styles of four erotic romance writers, that I’ve never read before. I loved the concept for the anthology and the writing was fantastic, but maybe I’m blind; I’m failing to see, how any of those stories were realistic?

I’m an avid reader and generally don’t read biographies, so my expectations of the romances I read, regardless of sub-genre, are exactly what I’m looking for: pure fantasy. Of course adding a touch of realism helps, but where do you draw the line?

Authors: Have you had rejection like this before? Did you stand your ground and resubmit elsewhere? Or did you cave, and change the scene/story to appease a certain publisher?

His every instinct warned him that Charlotte was in peril and they needed to find her fast.

James seized the inn keeper, tossing him onto an occupied table, and held the wretch down. “How much time has passed, since she’s left this…establishment?” he growled.

Shock rendered the drunkard silent, and the whole room gasped. The stench of stale ale and piss seized every one of his senses, threatening to induce vomit and bring tears to his eyes. How could Charlotte of all women, risk her safety coming to this hole in the country, in the company of vermin and thieves?

This week I’ll be posting again from the first draft of my contemporary wip Crushed Velvet. Enjoy!

I’m going to kill, Adrianna!

Lydia, groaned and leaned against the fridge. She pressed her temples and whispered. “Is there anything, she hasn’t mentioned about our high school years?”

“Mentioned what?”

Lydia, traipsed into the kitchen, stopping next to her boyfriend.

This week we continue on with one of my wips Crushed Velvet. Enjoy!

“So tell me, are you the fourth and final member of that crazy-ass high school group, Adrianna talks about?”

Lydia winced. “You mean Deviant’s Row?”

Adrianna’s boyfriend grinned.

If there was ever a time she was mortified, it was now. She hadn’t mentioned the group’s name in twenty long years, and there she stood, revealing the name to someone she’d only just met.

In 2009, I endeavored to write my first full-length novel. The premise was good—or at least I thought it was. To this day, I haven’t found another book like it. And for a while there, I thought this was it for me. Wrong. I won’t go into the specifics of how many ‘newbie’ mistakes I made because we all make them and this is not what this post is about, but sometimes you need to bring your idea to a rolling boil before you write any further.

Here, we are now, three years later, and Mistress of Forsaken Souls: Pandemonium has been driving me crazy. Who’d have thought that a lengthily break was exactly what the story needed.

Has this happened to you? How long did it take you from start to finish?

This week I’m posting a snippet from another wip, Crushed Velvet. This wip is still in its infancy.

Lydia withdrew from the living room where everyone congregated, slipping into the quiet and vacant kitchen. She needed silence, something stronger than wine, and a way to collect to her thoughts. Not that she didn’t love all the excitement in the other room, but the sudden realization, she’d lost herself along the way, swallowed her whole.
“If you’re looking for the Vodka, I do believe Adrianna has it in the fridge.”
Lydia, startled, turned around to find her friends boyfriend leaning against the wall, grinning.
“Um thanks!”

Well that’s it for me peeps, catch ya next week!

-L