A while back, I shared pictures of some of the things I’ve made, just to show you there’s more to my life than writing (I hear the hisses and boos! :)). I asked folks to share their artistic passions too! Several of you responded so I’m sharing those pics today!

Ilona Fenton shared the following pictures. She loves crocheting toys and cross-stitching bookmarks.

I love Thor! I need one of these for my little Thor collection!

Ronnie shared a picture of this and had this to say:
“As an example of my cross-stitch stuff I have attached a piece I made for my husband’s powerchair. I stitched it onto the back of his headrest. Everyone loves seeing it. I also have one on the side of his seat that says ‘I Don’t Do Stairs!'”

She’s so talented at the cross-stitch, she makes her own patterns. Here’s one!

Kristen Jones crochets when she’s not looking after her little ones. She even does it for others through a Facebook swap shop and fan page!

This is one my daughter asked her to make for one of my Christmas presents! It’s glorious and of Ganesh! See the elephant at the center?

Melissa Porter sent in her friend’s creation and I can see why! I need one of those on my desk!

Author MJ Frederick has a crafty side as you can see here! She made most of these using transfers, and the t-shirt with the sprigs on it was something she used Elmer’s glue to draw, and then she died the tee green around it! Fantastic! You can check out her creations on Pinterest!

Ronnie Cornett has a very artistic side!

So that’s the wrap-up of the surprising talent we have out there. This is something I made this week. Loved the frog clinging to the top of the bead! (I didn’t make the bead, but that’s something I’ll learn to do some other day. LOL)

Thanks to everyone for sharing their pictures!

A star is born…

Return of the Fae, a contemporary paranormal romance, released this last week.  A witch out of water story. Parris McCall found out the things she actually thought made her weird growing up were actually her witch powers trying to break through the door she’d shut and locked so many years ago.

I had a lot of fun with this story because I’ve always felt different too. I was the girl who’d rather be in the library lost in a book than haunting the mall looking for the perfect makeup or perfume.  Not that I don’t enjoy playing dress up every once in a while.

Prudence, a witch who’s been banished by The Council, a total over-reaction to a situation involving a prince, some jewels, and a spell, shows up in this story. And boy, did the girl steal the scene. I’d thought she’d be a secondary character, one that told her story and gave Ty and Parris the information they were seeking, but now, she’s trying to get more time in the third book. And, I’m going to give it to her.

All because my husband is a Cincinnati Red’s fan.

Did I lose you? Probably. My mind runs in strange circles.  So let’s start at the beginning.

One Memorial Day, we were walking through Cincinnati waiting for the game to begin.  This was my first trip to the city and the Great American Ball Park. As we walked, I told my husband about the beginning thoughts about the plot of Return of the Fae.  I was stuck.  The advice from my husband?  Let it simmer. I think he was tired of listening to me complain.   But I took his advice and enjoyed the weekend, taking pictures as we wandered through A Taste of Cincinnati as well as the ball game.

Once we got home, I downloaded the pictures, and, found this —

And a character was born.

Return of the Fae –

A witch in training, a hunter on the prowl, and a world in jeopardy.

Learning the rules of being a witch takes years, but Parris McCall needs to master them in only weeks. Ty Wallace is going mad with his desire for Parris, but she’s a distraction in his quest to find Coven X before they take The Council and everyone he knows down.

The couple searches for Ty’s mentor, but he’s disappeared. Their only clue comes from a banished witch. When they return, not only are their own lives threatened, but a new life hangs in the balance.

Available at Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Return-of-the-Fae-ebook/dp/B00DJVH8V6

Bio – Lynn Cahoon is a contemporary romance author with a love of hot, sexy men, real and imagined. Her alpha heroes range from rogue witch hunters, modern cowboys, or hot doctors, sexy in scrubs. And her heroines all have one thing in common, their strong need for independence. Or at least that’s what they think they want.  She blogs at her website www.lynncahoon.wordpress.com

The winner of Elle’s prize package is Carol Woodruff!
Congrats, Carol! Elle will be in contact with you shortly!

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Lucky Seven

If you believe in luck and 7 is your lucky number, today is your day! It’s the 7th day of the 7th month, and I’m feeling lucky!

I just signed a contract for my 37th, 38th and 39th books with Harlequin. I have wonderful parents, a husband who supports my writing career, three wonderful children and two grandsons. I’ve been to Paris this year, Ireland last year and more travel in the near future. And don’t let me forget to mention that I have a terrific sister, the fabulous DELILAH DEVLIN, who shares my passion for writing. What more could a girl ask for?

I’m also lucky because I have a new series starting this month with Harlequin Intrigue.

It’s the COVERT COWBOYS INC series.  First book out the chute is TRIGGERED.

TRIGGERED

To protect their future, a Texas bodyguard must revisit his past

After taking justice into his own hands, Austin police officer Ben Harding faces an unknown future. But a new job referral carries the possibility of salvation. His mission seems simple: protect a woman and her young daughter—recent residents of the Flying K Ranch who have become the target of threats.

When Ben meets Kate Langsdon, he is immediately struck by her beauty…and by the memories of the tragedies that touched his own family. Resolved not to become emotionally invested, Ben protects the pair as new dangers—and old ranch secrets—emerge. As enemies draw closer, can Ben keep this family alive long enough to explore a future with Kate?

Since I’m so lucky, I want to give you a chance to be lucky. Leave a comment on a happy lucky thing in your life for a chance to win the following prize:

Elle’s Bio:

Elle James spent twenty years in South Central Texas, ranching horses, cattle, goats, ostriches and emus. A former IT professional, retired Army and Air Force Reservist, she’s proud to be writing full-time, penning intrigues and paranormal adventures that keep her readers on the edge of their seats or laughing out loud. Now, living in northwest Arkansas, she’s given up wrangling cattle and exotic birds to wrangle her muses, a malti-poo and a yorkie. When she’s not at her computer, she’s traveling, out snow skiing, boating, or riding her four-wheeler, dreaming up new stories.

Social Media:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads

Today’s theme is life in a small town. I’ve lived in a few of those. Sometimes, it’s nice knowing your neighbors, but sometimes, it’s a pain in the ass because everyone knows your business. Here, Jackson’s lucky everyone knows his…

If you post a comment today, you’ll be entered to win
a $5 Amazon gift certificate!

These cowboys ride hard…

There’s a reason Western romance novels never go out of fashion. The cowboy is an iconic figure embodying the dichotomy of the fiercely independent, earthy alpha male crossed with the male as a nurturer and protector. Cowboys take care of their women in every possible way. Wild and wayward women are gentled by the scent of horse and cow and the sight of sun-kissed skin, the feel of work-hardened thighs and arms, and the sound of a deep-voiced Texas drawl.

Contributors at the top of the Western romance genre, including Charlene Teglia, Randi Alexander, Cat Johnson, and editor, Delilah Devlin, have corralled strong and memorable characters ranging from ranch hands to cattle barons, to a rodeo star and a feisty female gunslinger. Traversing romantic settings from Montana, Texas, California, Mexico, and the Outback of Australia, the stories in Cowboy Lust are risky and risqué, full of studs in spurs hot enough to send you to a vacation on a dude ranch!

Jackson Lowry cussed softly when he spotted the blue lights spinning at the roadblock just ahead. Too late to turn back now. He’d only draw more attention.

Squaring his jaw, he rolled down his window and forced a polite smile as he peered into the darkness at the sheriff’s deputy checking IDs with a flashlight.

As soon as the deputy waved the car in front of him to move along and turned to watch the black pickup roll forward, Jackson’s tension eased a fraction.

Maynard Colby’s expression turned from crisply professional to worried in a second a soon as he recognized him. “Dammit, Jackson, where have you been?”

“Around. Why?”

A soft moan sounded beside him, and Jackson reached surreptitiously beside him to tap the tarp covering his precious load.

“You didn’t hear?” At Jackson’s vague expression, Maynard stepped onto the truck rail and leaned toward Jackson. “It’s Sammie Jo. Her car was found in Shooter’s parking lot, the door wide open. No one’s seen her. Looks like she’s been snatched.”

Jackson cleared his throat. “How serious is this gettin’?”

“It’s only been a couple of hours, but Sammi Jo’s daddy is buckin’ to get the sheriff to call in the FBI, the CIA, ATF—and whatever other agency his money can buy to find her. I tried callin’ you, but your phone kept goin’ to voice mail. After the way things went down at the weddin’ last Sunday, I don’t blame you a bit for layin’ low, but I thought you’d wanna know.”

Another sound, this time a snort, sounded beside him.

Maynard’s gaze cut to the dirty tarp folded over a moving bundle on the floor of the cab. A ruddy eyebrow shot up.

“What’s goin’ on, Jackson?”

Jackson rolled his eyes, then pulled up the corner of the tarp to reveal a bound and gagged Sammie Jo whose eyes glittered furiously back at both men.

Maynard barked a laugh, then tightened his lips. “This time you’ve gone and done it, boy. This is seriously fucked up.“ He laughed again, then tipped his hat to Sammi Jo. “No disrespect meant, missy.”

Jackson cleared his throat. “Don’t s’pose you can forget about this?”

Maynard’s gaze shot to Sammie Jo again, raked her once as though ensuring she didn’t look to be in any real danger, then tipped back his cowboy hat. “Tell ya what. I’ll put a bug in the sheriff’s ear, but she better come walkin’ through the po-lice house doors come Monday mornin’.”

“Not a word to her daddy?”

One corner of Maynard’s mouth crooked up. “Man’s already caused enough problems. Deserves to cool his heels a couple o’ days. Don’t do nothin’ I’ll have to arrest you for.”

With a nod, Jackson rolled up the window and pulled past the barricade. In his side mirror, he watched as Maynard crossed to the other deputy’s car and both men bent over laughing.

“See that, Sammi Jo?” he murmured, not expecting an answer because he’d made double-damn sure he’d tied some serious knots and gagged her pretty mouth. “I’m not the only one who thinks you need a good paddlin’.”

* * * * *

Be sure to check out the snippets on these other authors’ blogs:

Lauren Dane
Shelli Stevens
Leah Braemel
Jody Wallace
Caris Roane
Eliza Gayle
Lissa Matthews
Mandy M. Roth
McKenna Jeffries
Shiloh Walker
Taige Crenshaw
HelenKay Dimon
TJ Michaels
Myla Jackson

So, the first time I told my husband my characters talk to me, he told me “They have meds for that.” I just had to giggle. Even though he’s my other half, he struggles to understand me as a writer. It’s difficult.

In my experience, that’s pretty common. No one else except another writer can understand fully.

But that’s all right. Because I can still share my stories with the world, whether people like them or not.

When people ask me how I decide what to write about, or how a particular story goes, it boils down to this: My characters tell me more often than I decide.

I am a pantser, which means I write by the seat of my pants. I don’t plot. I just sit down and write and hope the words flow. Sometimes, they do. Sometimes, I struggle. Sometimes, I think I know what’s going to happen, and then the characters throw me for a loop. Sometimes, I’m the writer and the story follows the lines I assumed they would. But so far, if I listen to them, they let me know what the story will be.

Promise I’m not crazy!

When I’ve tried to plot, I haven’t been all that successful. I made decisions and when the story changed, I didn’t deal with the change in my structure. It just stressed me out. So I had to convince myself the way I have been doing things, my process, isn’t wrong. That every writer is different. And that’s OKAY!

Whatever works to get the words on the page is the correct way.

I guess that’s what I would tell other writers: Don’t mess with what’s not broken.

You know how I said my characters talk to me? Well, sometimes they can be difficult. As in…they won’t/don’t SHUT UP! Or give me peace of any kind.

One in particular, Cole, the hero of Collision Force (Crossing Forces Book One) feels as if he should be the center of my universe. When I was writing the book, he haunted my dreams. One might think that’s helpful to a pantser like me, but he wouldn’t let me even think about anything else! I suppose it’s handy that he’s so hot. 6’4, black hair, gray eyes, and of course all the right muscles. Hehehe. He’s funny, too, which is always a plus.

But I figured I would get relief when I was done with the book. Not so much. I KEPT dreaming about him, and his heroine, Andi. The positive thing in all that is, I suppose that they gave me the idea for a very cute Christmas story!

When I moved on to start book two, Cole insisted he needed an “important” role in the book, so for all those who read CF and liked him, be assured you will see him in book 2.

I’ve always been a writer, but the road to publication has been an adventure. I’m so glad I get to share what’s in my head with readers!

Where to find C.A.:

Facebook | Website | Blog | Twitter: @caszarek
| Goodreads

Bio:

C.A. is originally from Ohio, but got to Texas as soon as she could. She is married and has a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. She works with kids when she’s not writing. She’s always wanted to be a writer and is overjoyed to share her stories with the world.

Sword’s Call (King’s Riders Book One) is C.A.’s first book, and published by Gypsy Shadow Publishing. C.A. Collision Force (Crossing Forces Book 1), published by Total-E-Bound Publishing and was released June 28, 2013.

Buylink from TEB:
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=2180&utm_source=focusonfirststrategy&utm_medium=authorpromo&utm_campaign=collisionforce

Thank you to Delilah Devlin for inviting Rachel and I back for a guest post.  In keeping with the recent posts related to inspiration for novels and other creative projects, I thought I’d share the poem that inspired Rachel and I to write our series, Chicagoland Shifters.  Our newest release, TIGER TIGER, takes its title from the poem itself.

Tiger Tiger
by William Blake (1757-1827)

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

From Bartleby.com, Great Books Online.
Website URL: http://www.bartleby.com/101/489.html, accessed 06/30/2013

While the poem is more a prayer to the Creator about who could make the lamb and the tiger, the peaceful and the fearsome, what inspired us is the idea that a shape-shifter is both man and animal.  The question we asked ourselves is, what if an animal empath were to encounter these shifted humans with an animal side?

We decided to explore the idea that fearsome warriors, modern-day soldiers in the American Marine Corps, were changed against their will into shape-shifters.  We used Siberian tigers, since they’re the largest tigers on the planet, and we only left a small portion of their unit alive.  They must stay together and guard each others’ backs against many threats – other humans who don’t know their secret as well as other shifter groups hostile to large predators in their territory. Our character, Doctor Sasha Soskoff, must make a place for himself within this tight-knit group as he discovers their secrets.

This month, we celebrate the release of TIGER TIGER from Samhain Publishing on July 23^rd.  We hope you’ll come with us around the web as we hold our blog tour.  Join us at the Noon and Wilder blog to find the other stops on our tour.  Here’s a little taste of TIGER TIGER for you to whet your appetite.

Chicagoland Shifters, Book 2

Veterinary trauma surgeon and animal empath Sasha Soskoff has found everything he ever wanted with his new partners Neal, Steve and Carlos. Life feels as safe and secure as it can be among a group of ex-Marine tiger shifters. Until a homeless man is found, gruesomely mauled and murdered, near Neal’s BDSM club.

When it’s determined a rogue tiger did the deed, the jaguars’ accusing eyes turn toward Sasha’s lovers. The precarious balance of peace tips dangerously toward war.

Neal knows damned well none of his tigers committed the crime. Someone must be in Chicago without his knowledge or permission, and they’d better find him fast before uncertainty and conflict rip the tight-knit band apart from the inside.

As Sasha struggles to heal the stress fractures forming among his tiger family, he begins to wonder if his dreams of a home, and love, were too good to be true. And it’s precisely that moment the killer strikes at the heart of the tiger clan—Sasha himself.

Buy link: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/tiger-tiger-p-72887.html
Noon and Wilder Blog: http://taurusandtaurus.blogspot.com/

What’s your favorite shifter?  Are you a traditionalist, and like werewolves only, or are you adventurous and like the unusual and new?  (Just not penguin shifters, please oh please…)

He Watches Me… And Anna Loves It

Anna, the not-so-innocent-yet-virginal heroine of He Watches Me, is an unlikely exhibitionist.

Exhibitionism is the act or the thought of exposing in public or in a public place parts of our bodies that are normally concealed. Taking off our clothes and streaking across a college campus is exhibitionism. Flashing our breasts during Mardi Gras is exhibitionism. Participating in a scene at a BDSM club can be exhibitionism. Putting on a private strip tease for our lovers is exhibitionism. The stages of exhibitionism range from fantasy (yes, thinking of being tied to the mast of a pirate ship is exhibitionism) to criminal.

As with many exhibitionists, Anna starts her sexual exploration with mere fantasy. She thinks about being watched. She fantasizes about the office hunk watching her as she strips. She imagines being ravished in an elevator.

One scorching hot L.A. night, she spots the neighbor’s gorgeously cool swimming pool and impulsively acts upon her exhibitionistic tendencies. Anna hasn’t seen Blaine, her billionaire neighbor, in weeks. His mansion is dark, his backyard unused. Unable to resist temptation, she hops the fence, strips naked (she doesn’t own a swimsuit), and skinny dips, swimming au natural in Blaine’s pool.

She does this every night. Soon, Anna becomes more and more brazen, pleasuring herself in and out of the pool. Being naked while outside with the slim but very real possibility of being caught excites her. She imagines Blaine is watching her, his brilliant green eyes sparkling with appreciation.

She doesn’t know this isn’t pure fantasy. Blaine has been watching her through his security cameras. Now that he has returned to L.A., he plans to continue watching her… from his poolside seat. She shouldn’t allow him to watch her. She certainly shouldn’t like it.

There are safe, low risk ways to add the thrill of exhibitionism to relationships. We can perform strip teases in the privacy of bedrooms, have sex in our cars while they are parked in our garages, wear long skirts while going panty-free. No one has to know we’re exhibitionists… unless we want them to know, to watch.

Have you ever engaged in exhibitionism?

She desires to be seen. He wants to watch.

Anna Sampson has a naughty secret. Every night, she slips into her neighbor’s yard and swims naked in his pool. She fantasizes that the dynamic young billionaire watches her nightly nude aquatics, his brilliant green eyes gleaming with lust.

She discovers this isn’t pure fantasy. Gabriel Blaine has been watching her via his security cameras, and now that he has returned to L.A., he doesn’t plan to stop. That’s all he wants—to watch. Anna knows she shouldn’t allow him and she certainly shouldn’t want more, but she craves Blaine’s attention, needing his gaze fixed on her body.

Part One of The Seen Trilogy

Buy it at Amazon

Cynthia Sax
Author Website: http://cynthiasax.com/
Blog: http://tasteofcyn.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cynthia.sax
Twitter: @CynthiaSax