Ella J. Quince is building a foundation

Posted on by July 9, 2013

Book photoPlease help me welcome Ella J. Quince to my blog today.

Bio:
About Ella J. Quince: I was born and raised in Southern California where I still live with my husband and son. I was a veterinary technician for the past ten years, but am now retired. My husband is a federal firefighter which allows me to be at home with my son and focus on writing and reading. I love that my “job” consists of reading. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Take it away, Ella.

Building My Foundation

Publishing a book is an exciting and scary thing. When I first decided to write a book, it was to fill my own desires for what I wanted in a book, but it never occurred to me that I could be a writer and have a career as a writer until much later in life. Everyone wants things in life, we want to love the work we do, we want to earn money, and be comfortable and secure in the knowledge that we can afford the things we need like a home, a car, and food. We all want to provide for our families and maybe even have a little extra for the fun stuff. I come from a broken family with hard working parents. When I realized that at the age of twenty five I was making the same yearly income as my mother, who had been working for 38 plus years, it was a wakeup call.

College was an option, but working was more important. Getting a college education wasn’t pushed on me and at the time I didn’t see it as important although I did attend a local community college for about two and a half years. I regret that I didn’t finish with a degree, but at that time I wanted very different things. Once I started working and building my own financial responsibilities it became more and more difficult to be in a school mind set. I married young and moved up in a career that I loved less and less each year.

At twenty two I had a crisis. I was unhappy, I was in therapy, and I was nowhere near where I wanted to be. I overcame that crisis and for the first time to anyone admitted to my therapist that I wrote romance novels. Something changed in me. I needed to do things for my own happiness, actively pursue things that made me happy and stop just working for a paycheck. It still took a few years and a few stumbles before things really changed.

Fast forward. I have a newborn, a freshly edited novel, and I’m back at work at six weeks post-partum as a vet tech when something awesome happens! I discover a small e-publisher and submit my novel. They liked it! For the first time ever professional eyes will be helping me polish and publish my novel Mine, All Mine. It was a dream come true…kind of.

Commence the crash course in e-publishing. I absorb and write, absorb and write. I had a great first two months and a lot of fun promoting and interacting with readers and other authors. But along with that comes a realization about what kind of quality is needed to achieve success. By six months my sales are tanking and I’m not happy with my book as it is. Do I want to make money? Yes, but I want a career as a writer, I want success and to look back as an old woman and see a mile long trail of successful books behind me. I want to make readers feel the way I feel when I read a good romance novel. The giggling, the sighing, the infatuation with a fictional hero, I want to give that to readers like it is given to me by the authors I love. As a new author I am building the foundation for a lasting career. I am making mistakes, I am learning, and always, always, always writing (as much as I can with a wild toddler with a broken leg).

The foundation I am building (sometimes blindly) is getting stronger by the day. So much has happened in the last six months and I feel like I have changed. That change will be reflected in my pen name of which I will also be changing. I chose D.L. Rose to hide behind mysterious initials, but I don’t want to hide. I’m going to be bringing sexy, rule bending, Historical romances full of the tangled emotions we experience when falling in love. That is what I love to read and that is what I enjoy writing, despite what others think I should write. Normal is not fun. Why would I take a fiction novel and confine it in such strict, suffocating guidelines for a few sticklers? I am not trying to be Georgette Heyer or Jane Austen. I am not trying to be Stephanie Laurens, Lisa Kelypas, Eloisa James, or Julia Quinn. They inspire me, but the novels I write are the characters that live inside me, the hero’s that drive me crazy, the heroines who are the friends I wish I had, and the parts of me I wish were stronger. Some will like it, some will not. Oh well.

I would like to introduce you to Ella J. Quince. Ella, because Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine was the first fairytale that truly spoke to me and pushed me to put pen to paper as a hopelessly romantic fourteen year old girl. EJ is for Eloisa James and JQ for Julia Quinn. I own and will continue to buy everything they have written. They inspire me, make me laugh, make me cry, make me sigh over hero’s, and cheer on heroines. When I was a lonely wife with a sailor thousands of miles away, I read their books. When my sailor was home and glued to football/basketball/baseball/golf games, I read. When life sucks and I’m not strong enough to deal with it, I read. In the middle of class, I read, nursing my son, I read. Whenever I have even five minutes to spare, I read. It has made me late to work, gotten me in trouble in class, irritated my husband to no end (what was he thinking buying me a nook? He made buying books easier!). It is an integral part of me and now so is writing. Ella J. Quince is an expression of that love for reading and is the name I will use to share my writing.

MineAllMineI now have my rights back for Mine, All Mine and am making it the book it deserves to be. I am working with a great editor and will be re-releasing book 1 of my Fated for Love Series: Mine, All Mine July 15th! The second book in the series, Sweet Torture, will be released in September along with my New Adult novel: Slow Burn. If you would like to know the official release dates when they become available you can email me at ella@ejqbooks.com to be added to my mailing list. I have lots to do and lots of changes to make but it is so exciting and so rewarding!

Check out Mine, All Mine on July 15th 2013 at all the major digital retailers.

Two hearts blinded by desire.

Lilly must hide her identity to escape scandal and her criminal stepfather who has been accused of treason. She finds refuge in an aristocratic household only to discover the master of the house is a danger to her masquerade and to her heart.
Dominic is ordered to complete one last mission before he can embrace his new life and title. But while he must focus on his duties, he can’t help but be distracted by his lovely new cooks assistant. She is innocent to say the least, but her elusive nature and cultured speech drives him to wonder who the real Miss Millie James is.

Email me at ella@ejqbooks to join my mailing list for updates on new releases.
Visit my website and blog at http://www.ejqbooks.com
Friend me on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ella.j.quince

Thanks so much for visiting today, Ella. Wishing you much success.

The Morgans of Rocky Ridge: Trey – new release

Posted on by July 5, 2013

Isn’t this a gorgeous cover? I know I showed it to you a couple of weeks ago, but i couldn’t resist showing it again. And finally, the book is available. It actually released last week but my blog had a glitch and it seems it didn’t show up.

This is the second book about the Morgan men who live and love in Rocky Ridge, Colorado.

Here’s the official blurb:

When Trey Morgan wins half a saloon in a poker game, he heads back to Rocky Ridge, Colorado to sell his share and move on, back to the life he loves – no responsibilities, no ties. But he doesn’t expect his partner to be Claire O’Doyle, a beautiful Irish redhead who captivates him like no other woman ever has.

Claire O’Doyle has no use for men like Trey. They remind her too much of the father who abandoned her and her mother.  She’d love nothing more than to pay Trey off and get him out of her life. But someone is trying to run her out of Rocky Ridge, and she doesn’t need the distraction of a man whose charm makes her forget her vow to stay away from gamblers.

As the threats escalate, so does Claire and Trey’s attraction to each other. But will Trey walk away? And if he does, will Claire let him go?

It’s available right now from Amazon and Smashwords, and should be available on Kobo by the end of the week.

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Building a Universe, with Margaret Taylor

Posted on by July 4, 2013

Happy 4th of July!!

On this special day, please help me give a warm welcome to Margaret Taylor, my guest author for today. Setting and world-building are so important, both for the author and reader, to establish a sense of place where the story unfolds. Margaret’s going to tell us little about building a world in fiction, but first, here’s a short bio.

Margaret Taylor currently lives in San Antonio, TX and is scratching post for her five cats and one puppy. She is an avid writer, a novice photographer and enjoys all things paranormal and science fiction! Just ask her, she’ll tell you!

Thanks so much for visiting today, Margaret. The blog is yours.

First off, allow me to say thanks Margery Scott for hosting me on this wonderful 4th of July, 2013.

Next, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Margaret Taylor and I write primarily Sci-Fi and Paranormal Romances. One of my first books, A First Love Never Dies, in the Spi-Corp Series was released on June 2nd and it introduces you to the “Universe As I See It”. Ok, that should probably read the Universe as I made it up, but you get the idea.

With that in mind, and considering it is the 4th of July here in the U.S., I thought I’d give you just a sneak peek into how I go about building a world within the universe I’ve created.

But to do that, I need to give you just a brief bit of background on the series. It started in 2007 when, while on my Christmas Vacation, I had CNN going in the background and my ear happened to catch this line during the opening of a special report they were doing.

The reporter said: Do you know how many women between the ages of 18 and 30 go missing every year in the U.S. and are never heard from again?

Well, of course I didn’t, but it did catch my interest and caused the following “What If” to pop into my brain.

Well, what if they are never heard from again because they’ve been kidnapped by Aliens and sold into the Flesh Markets of Outer Space?

AH HA! The next thing I know, its three days later and the first draft of A First Love Never Dies has been completed…

Sadly, though, this was only the beginning and it was very rough because I had nothing else to work with. Meaning that while the story itself came out wonderfully, there were a TON and I mean a T-O-N of planet sized holes in it because I didn’t have the foundation of the Universe in place. Fast forward to 2013 and I’ve spent the last 6 years creating that universe – in the background – along with the 17 books in the series. Now, not all of them are complete, but most of them are and those that aren’t are plotted and just waiting for me to get to them.

Anyhoo, I hear you asking, what does that have to do with the 4th of July? Well, I tell you. Being that this is a day primarily celebrated by the U.S. (Even though every country on the planet has some version of it), it does beg the question for a Sci-Fi writer like myself of how much work do you want in the worlds you read about? How much detail is too much or not enough?

For me, I give just enough detail in the books I’ve written to be pertinent to the story. No, I don’t dumb it down per se, but I don’t give you the co-efficient to the square root of the plazmonic-harmonizers that power a seven-coil plazmonic engine either. (Ok, I totally made that up, but you get the idea.)

What I do give, in most of the books as you go along, are those details that make the world come alive for the reader. At least I hope I do. I give you the pertinent holidays, if there is one at the time you’re arriving on the planet. I give you a general idea of what the world is like, what the government (if there is one) is like and what the people/race are all about.

And to prove that, I’m going to give you just a brief excerpt from Book 6. This book is about Brant Olin and Tashanda Bloome and the Galactic Racing League, but at one point brings you to the Ethu System of Sector 5 and the Planet Fellar.

I hope you enjoy it!

Fellar was a lush, fertile planet. 65% of it is one giant, connected land mass, covered in thick, unforgiving jungles of massive trees and mountains. The other 35% is water tributaries that cut paths through the land. Some were only a few yards across while others span a great distance between shores.

According to their history, the planet had once been all land, with the water trapped deep beneath the crust. Over the millennia, it had bubbled up through cracks and crevices, eroding away the soil until they had easier access to it. The rivers had split across the planet in various places but it didn’t hinder their evolution, if anything it aided it.

Jilaro, the first Fellarian to walk on hind legs, had seen the power of water and begun building structures next to the widest body he could find, the River Marandhu. The village he started had grown over the centuries into their capital city of Solla. It now spanned the River, with massive bridges between the two halves for several miles in either direction. On the right side of the river were the docking ports for the various ships and visiting dignitaries from the outer cities. On the left was the city proper.

But, despite their evolution from predatory animal at the top of the food chain, to space faring Warriors, they hadn’t decimated their jungle home. Oh, they’d tried, many times over the centuries, to clear cut the area but the trees, vines and other flora had always returned, sometimes with a vengeance. Eventually a balance had been struck and now the Capital City was a combination of modern technologies interwoven with the massive trees and undergrowth of their jungle world.
He smiled and took in a huge lungful of clean, fresh air. It had been far too long since he’d been home, far too long.
“Brant!”

He turned in the direction of the speaker and smiled at his cousin, 1st Doctor Ena.

Unlike the rest of the Olin clan, Ena’s side of the blood line was a reverse of his coloring. Her fur was deep orange with black and yellow stripes instead of his underlying brown fur with orange, black and yellow stripes. They greeted one another in the old way, with a nuzzle of cheeks and a loud purr.

She pulled back and looked up into his eyes. “It is good to lay these eyes upon you.”

He smiled softly. “And you. How is your paternal?”

She laughed. “Same as always. He refuses to pass the old cat, rolls around the Med growling orders, just like before. And you? How are your parentals?”

He put an arm around her shoulders, squeezing. “They are well. What brings you here? To the ports?”

She elbowed him in the side, smiling. “I saw your request to the Med. Thought it was best to be greeted by family. Who is the patient?”

Tears pricked at his eyes. “My, Vaska,” he admitted softly.

She drew back, jaw falling open. “What? The great bachelor has been vined by his Vaska?”

“Something like that.” He turned them back toward Bella. “Come, I will explain as we travel to the Med.”

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit with me and catch a glimpse of My World. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and will pick up a copy of A First Love Never Diestoday! Book 2, Saving His Love will be out July 8th!

Amazon - Book 1Margaret’s debut release, A First Love Never dies (book 1 of the Spi-Corp series), is available now on Amazon.

Amazon (2)Her second release, Wolf’s Pardox (book 1 of the Layren series) will be available on July 8.

You can learn more about Margaret and her books by visiting her blog and following her on Facebook and Twitter www.facebook.com/AuthorMargaretTaylor.

She also has many other current projects in the works. If you visit her blog and ask nicely, she might be persuaded to post some tasty excerpts! *Bring Cookies as payment please!*

Margaret, thanks so much for visiting. Have a happy 4th of July.

Happy Canada Day

Posted on by June 30, 2013

Happy 146th birthday, Canada.

It’s a holiday here, complete with parades, fireworks, and other celebrations all over the country. I’ll be watching fireworks over the lake tonight, but I thought that since it’s a national holiday, I’d show you a couple of photos of national icons.

Parliament

 

I took this photo twenty years ago, the last time I was in Ottawa, our capital city. The buildings may not be as old as those in Europe, but our Parliament Buildings are still pretty impressive, in my opinion.

 
 
 
 
 

Mountie 003
 
 

This photo is probably about thirty years old (yes, it’s pretty grainy), but is there anywhere in the world, the scarlet coats of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police aren’t recognized?
 

 

Wishing all my Canadian friends and family a safe and happy Canada Day

Where did my green thumb go?

Posted on by June 28, 2013

I like to think I have a green thumb. It might not be emerald green, but it always had a tinge of at least pale chartreuse. My houseplants thrive, but for some reason, my flowers and shrubs in the garden outside … well, let’s just say my green thumb-ness is lacking.

I love hydrangeas. So, when we ripped out all the old shrubs and flowers two years ago, I knew exactly where the new beautiful hydrangea was going to go. I planted it, watered, fertilized, did everything I could to help it settle in. And the first year, I did get a few blooms. Not a lot, but hey, it was just a baby. Last year, not one. No idea why. And then this year, a few buds that looked like they were going to eventually bloom. They’re still in the bud stage.

My next-door neighbor also has hydrangeas. These are hers.

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Can someone please explain to me why she has gorgeous flowers on hers, and I have this:
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Do you see the wannabe flowers? There are a few, but you really have to look closely.

Maybe I should give up and plant a hosta or impatiens there I haven’t killed any of those yet. Or better yet, plastic. Good idea?
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How much is a picture really worth? with Jenna Rutland

Posted on by June 25, 2013

Please help me welcome Entangled Bliss author Jenna Rutland to my blog today. As well as talking about the thing I’ve also been procrastinating about for … ahem … a while now, she’s going to tell us about her latest release, Just for the Summer. But first, here’s a short bio:

Jenna Rutland lives in a small Michigan community with her husband, son and senior cat. Her daughter and son-in-law have recently given Jenna the awesome title of grandmother!

While her days are spent working as a medical transcriptionist, her nights are filled writing contemporary romance—stories of love, laughter and happily ever after. Guess which occupation is more fun?

She is a member of RWA and is active in her local chapter. After several years on the MVRWA board, she now chairs the group’s annual fall brainstorming weekend as well as acts as food coordinator for several other events.

Jenna takes pleasure in spending time with her family. She also enjoys reading, gardening and loves the challenge of a new recipe.

Me: Jenna, you and I have something more than writing for Entangled in common. I spent many years doing medical transcription, too. The blog is yours, Jenna. Take it away.

After I sold my contemporary category romance to Entangled Publishing, I had promised myself that I would get a professional picture taken.

So I finally made an appointment. All morning, I kept glancing at the clock, recalculating how long it would take me to get ready. I planned on an hour and fifteen minutes so I wouldn’t have to rush. But at the exact moment I was going to quit working and start getting ready, someone from work needed dictation (I work as a medical transcriptionist from home) from me as soon as possible. Rats! So I sailed through that and still had an hour to get ready. Before I even got out of my chair, I had another request for work. Hello, people. I’m trying to get ready here for something important! Certainly a patient going to surgery can’t compete with me getting my picture taken, right? (just kidding) About this time, I’m getting a bit panicky. I’ve got 45 minutes to be picture-worthy. I know what you’re thinking. Impossible.

I’d already chosen my outfit so the hard part was out of the way. I’m in the shower shaving my legs when I think, “I’m wearing pants. Nobody’s going to see my legs. And time is an issue here.” So even though I’ve got part of one leg shaved, I abandon that concept and move on. And keeping time in mind, I figured I only had time to moisturize my arms. I’d have to do my legs later.

Finally, I’m up to the makeup part. Everyone tells me peach is “my color” so even though I don’t get it, I’m going to wear peach. But I look in my makeup bag to find I have peach blush but no peach lipstick. So my second choice is to wear a bright blue shirt. I haul out the pink blush and lipstick, and while I glance at the clock every 2 seconds, I get down to business.

By the time I pull out my Maybelline Illegal Length mascara, I’m feeling the time crunch. I figure I’ll just have to make up the time on the road, kind of like the airplane pilots who say they’ll make up the time in the air. But then I worry that if I get pulled over for speeding, I’ll really be late.

But wait! If that happens, I’ll bat my long lashes at the cop and he’ll let me go. Uh-oh. Images of a whole different scenario pop into my head. The highway patrol guy, hands on hips, eyes squinted, looking me right in the eye. And notices my ILLEGAL length eyelashes. I’d be in the slammer in no time and never get to my appointment. Okay, I better stay within the speed limit cause who knows the price of a ticket for illegal length eyelashes.

What is it about hair? Every day, I have the same hair. I wash that same hair in the same water using the same products. Nothing is different. Not. One. Thing. On any given day, I can do a half-assed job on my hair and it looks great! Perfect! The day I want it to look good it looks like donkey do-do. As I’m struggling with my hair, the first drop of sweat trickles down my temple. With each tissue dab, I know I’m removing makeup. I look at the clock. I’ve got 2 minutes to get dressed.

The peach shirt is tossed aside and I grab the dark blue shirt. I add earrings and a matching necklace. Pull on black yoga pants and tennis shoes, because who gives a rip what the bottom part looks like (thank God since I’ve got dry, partially shaven legs). I briefly wonder if I’m in an accident will the fact that I’ve got on clean underwear override the fact that I’ve got partially shaven legs. Hmmm…something to research.

I look in the mirror. I hate what I see. The blue shirt isn’t working for me. I want black. I’ve got the perfect shirt and earrings in mind. I attempt to remove the necklace because it won’t match with the black shirt. I tug. I pull. Nothing. Tears rim my eyes. I tell myself to get a grip because I don’t know if my illegal lashes are waterproof.

I’m now running 5 minutes late. Screw the necklace and the blue shirt. It is what it is. I stuff the preferred black shirt and earrings into a bag and take off, making it to the photographers with 1 minute to spare.

I walk into the photo studio and look around. Utter chaos. The whole place has an open concept. Cool except there are 400 kids (okay maybe 20) running around, jumping on furniture while parents ignored them. Then I remember it’s spring break. After a mental cuss-down on my stupidity to combine pictures and spring break, I step up to the counter.

I’m a friendly sort of person and like to joke around. The girl behind the counter gave me a nice smile so I say, “I’d like the Jennifer Aniston package.” Now I’ve never claimed to be a mind reader, but by the “your-the-biggest-idiot-I’ve-ever-met” look on the girl’s face, I knew what she was thinking. Lady, there isn’t enough money in the world or cosmetic surgery available that could make you even come close to looking like Jennifer Aniston.

When I noticed her sudden eye twitch kick up, I knew she was at the breaking point. And honestly if I knew that I was responsible for taking cutesy pics of all those wild animals, I mean children, in the waiting room, I’d be twitching too.

She takes me back to a studio where she proceeds to adjust my necklace, tilt my head and tell me to smile. Then she plies me with rehearsed verbiage of, “Oh, beautiful. Oh, you’re so photogenic. Oh, these are perfect.” All the while, I’m thinking gag me with a Barbie doll leg. No one ever has told me I’m photogenic.

When we’re done, I go to the viewing area and look at a bunch of pics of myself and worked hard to narrow it down to three. After that, we head to the counter to pay. Ms. Eye Twitch says, “Okay, they’ll be ready in an hour.” Huh? I say, “When I called and made the appointment, I was told they’d be ready right away and that I could take them home with me.” She says, “Yes, that’s right. You do get them right away. In an hour.” I wanted to argue that “right away” and “an hour” were two entirely different concepts, but I figured she’d had enough of me.

So after treating myself to lunch, I went back and picked them up and took them home. The picture with this blog post is one of the three. I’m thankful it’s over and I won’t have to do it until I’m eighty!

Me: Jenna, I can so relate.

Just For The Summer 200x300Just for the Summer

His temptation. Her secret. Their summer.

Dani Sullivan has come to Lake Bliss to write her latest cookbook and take a breather. After the year she’s had, she deserves a summer retreat to reevaluate priorities and make peace with past decisions. But from the moment single dad and sheriff Matt Reagan shows up, she has a hard time convincing herself that a life away from Lake Bliss could beat the life she might have here.

Recently divorced Matt is ready for a new relationship, but he doesn’t want short-term—his son needs permanence, and so does Matt’s heart. Unfortunately, it’s the smart-mouthed and sinfully sexy Ms. Sullivan who catches his eye. But when Matt learns Dani’s secrets, will he still want her to stay? Or will her chance for love last just for the summer?

Just for the Summer is available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and iBookstore.

You can learn more about Jenna and her books by visiting her website and by following her on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads

Thanks so much for visiting with me today. Wishing you the best of luck with your new release.

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Cover reveal

Posted on by June 22, 2013

MargeryScott_Trey2_800pxNext week, Trey’s book (the second in the Morgans of Rocky Ridge trilogy) will be available from most e-retailers. It’s taken a while to get there because of one thing – I had a very definite vision of the cover in my mind, and I couldn’t find just the right image. Eventually, realizing this book might never get to readers the way it was going, I admitted defeat and hired a cover designer. Smart move on my part!

I’m seriously in love with this cover!