Hey, I’m Viv. Thanks, Delilah, for letting me come in here and couch-surf in your pretty online space. I write sexy sci-fi romance and just recently started working on a new book and thought, hey, this nascent end of the book-writing process might be interesting to some people. Maybe? Hopefully. 🙂

The Dreaded Blank Doc of Oh No You Can’t

A Love Story

It’s just a straight line, blinking in a backlit sea of white. It doesn’t speak, doesn’t laugh, doesn’t even present a memeable visual. Yet it mocks me.

“Hello, cursor at the head of a brand new book,” I say brightly.

Blink.

“Hey, now, that wasn’t necessary. We’re pals. I mean, aren’t we? After last year, we ought to be.”

We wrote two full-length books* together in 2016, this computer and I, and we revised another.** I stroked these keys, teased magic from them, warmed them with the friction of creation and the ballsy lack of a cooling fan.

Aaaand…blink.

“What sort of answer is that? Can we at least talk this out? I kind of thought we had something, you know, special.”

White is not a pretty color. An artist pal insists that in an additive situation like a computer screen, white is the presence of all colors. When it disguises itself as a story, trust me, white is the absence of all hope.

“Okay, fine, yeah, I might’ve ghosted or mumble-mumble-didn’twriteformonths-mumble. My bad. But! I never stopped thinking about you. Swear. Check out this notebook full of research nibblets and theme notes and character descriptions and story beats. I effing dreamed about you.” Whew. Just managed to hold back the expletive there.

If you’d asked before today, I would have sworn a blinking cursor could not look patently disbelieving or just a little bit pissed.

And yet.

It gives the minutest of pauses before the next blink. Sarcastic little turd.

“Look, I’m okay with a reboot on this relationship. How about… I dunno, a hundred words today? They don’t even have to be good words. Just a start. What say?”

I don’t wait for an answer, just type***.

Nina struggled to give each a proper space in memory, but all the thousands of worlds blurred together. On one, a red-dust surface and giants who exhaled fire. On another, twelve-legged mothers beneath a canopy of blue leaves, stringing cradles for their newborns and slinging poison to the hunters who came for them in the longest night. A moon of blood-veined ice and people who sang to stars, hoping for rescue and receiving annihilation.

Blindly, apologetically, with a backbeat of I-missed-you and a promise of it-will-get-better. Just hang in there with me.

Failures. Every world she’d visited had been a failure, and she’d watched trillions suffer punishment for their sins.

Cradles, falling. Giants, weeping. Hunters in the dark.

The blinks come faster now, as if the document pants, strung taut and ready for the next word. I long to make it breathless, unable to stand even a moment disconnected from my hot little fingers, and suddenly I’m swimming in hope.

This is what it’s like to start a new book. This is how it feels. At least, for me.

And I love it so hard.

* One of those books is Perfect Gravity, available November 7, 2017 and pre-orderable now.
** Wanted and Wired, a sexy cyberpunk action story with lots of kissing (actually available).
*** Complete typing vomit, first-draft nonsense not even read by my critique partners. (Hi, you guys. This will be coming at you soon. Promise.)

So, I have this goal every year that I won’t miss a single day posting something new on this blog. It’s maybe a silly goal, but a girl has to shoot for something. Anyway, I was up so dang early today—5:45—that I didn’t get a chance to post before I left because I had to get to my dd’s. I promised myself I’d post once I got there, but then I was covered up in kids and dogs, and I only got home a few minutes ago. So, here I am!

Some of you may remember the 7-year-old, now 8, who’s had cancer in her leg twice. Well, today was her latest six-month check-up, which was why I was holding down the home front while my daughter zoomed up to Little Rock for her appointment at Children’s Hospital. After the last time her cancer appeared, she had her tibia removed and replaced with a donor bone. Then it was filled with her own bone material in hopes it would grow with her. The center of the top of the bone filled in nicely, but the ankle area wasn’t progressing as well. Today, the doctor says there’s been progress—slow, yes, but enough so that when she goes to school next week, she doesn’t have to be in a wheelchair. She’ll wear a “clam cast”—one she puts on and takes off—to protect her, and she’ll use a cane, but she’s on her feet! Which also means she’ll be able to ride the bus—something she’s yearned to do.

That’s my “real life” news. Tomorrow, I’m hoping to remain at my desk long enough to get some actual writing done. We’ll see. There’s always something.

And don’t forget. I posted a contest yesterday. It’s still open, so be sure to check it out. And tonight after midnight, Reined In releases! So be sure to get your copy! Good night and thanks for all your support! This tired woman’s heading to bed. ~DD

Excerpt:

The hero, Dare Logan, is in the midst of a tropical tempest, on a cruise ship. His ex is on the small tropical island he’s just left. And he can’t stand where he is.

The storm was a bitch, approaching near gale.

Dare leaned into the railing around the hurricane deck, his fingers white-knuckling the cold metal, the relentless wind buffeting him and forming his jacket and pants so hard against his body they were like a second skin.

Freezing. He was so damn cold.

The wall of wind, unyielding.

He sucked in a breath through his nose, lips clamped together. He’d opened his mouth a moment ago, and airborne spray and some marine concoction had hurtled in as the torrent of air had whipped his breath away. No, thanks.

He stared, gaze narrowed, at the boiling sea. Watched the waves dancing crazily, froth bursting into life then gone from existence the next second as new sections of briny ocean reared. Strained to see the island he’d left just a few short hours ago, and made out the grey shapes of palms in the distance bowing in the ferocious wind.

“A mess.” One of the crewmen appeared at his side, and he felt strangely comforted by the presence of another human. “Captain wants everyone inside.”

Dare didn’t answer, just kept his eyes straight ahead. A thousand possibilities cycling through his mind. Considering.

The relentless storm. What the gale force winds were doing to the water. Heaving it, slashing it into sharp lines that could cut.

How a bunch of tiny humans could protect themselves on land against Mother Nature’s evil bitch step sister. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks Delilah, for having me.

We’re snowbirds. Every year when it gets cold up north we head for the sunny south. Our resort has multiple activities and crafts.  Each year I try something new – watercolor painting, ukulele, and two years ago I tried glass fusion, and now I’m addicted.

Glass fusion is the technique used to join at least two glass pieces together by partly melting the glass at high temperature in either a small kiln or a large kiln.

I started by making earrings. I thought they would be easy. I learned to find a design, pick the glass and the colors. Since you need at least two pieces of glass it’s usually a color plus a clear piece either on top or underneath. You need to find or make a pattern and the two pieces have to match up when placed together. For jewelry they are placed in a small kiln for over four hours. After they cool down you add the backing or posts.

Last year I advanced to trays, serving dishes and bowls. The process is the same, just on larger surfaces. I’m a panda person so my favorite piece is my panda  plate. I used a decal which you put on prior to fusing. I do it for fun, but many people do it and sell their pieces. I didn’t use glass fusion in my last book but I’m considering adding it to a new one. My latest book, By Design, came out in June. By Design is about cloning.

*~*~*~*

By Design

 

Nurse Evie Dalton succumbs to greed and a chance to work with sexy Dr. Adam Marsden. She accepts a position at an isolated hospital with an onsite animal farm, screams in the night, and mysterious limos arriving in the dark. People disappear and turn up dead. There’s no way to leave and no communication outside the town.

Dr. Adam Marsden left his past behind. Now he has it all; a great job, money, and a chance to buy his own hospital. But he hadn’t counted on Evie Dalton. Because of him, she’s at risk and might be the next victim.

Excerpt

A slender woman, maybe in her mid-thirties, wearing a simple, but very expensive designer black suit and hat, stepped out and tripped up the stairs in her four inch heels. Diamonds flashed on her wrist and her ears.

The driver closed the back door.

When she reached the top step she turned toward the driver. “Charles, check with my husband in about a week. I should be ready by then.”

“Yes ma’am.” He nodded, slid back behind the wheel, and turned the key. The engine purred quietly as it slid down the driveway. The taillights disappeared into the night.

Grethe Byrne watched the car fade away.

“You have what we want?” the woman asked.

“Of course, that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Nurse Byrne snapped.

“No. I mean exactly. Do you have exactly what we ordered? White blonde hair, sky blue eyes, IQ of at least 130?”

“Yes. Don’t worry. It will be exactly what you ordered. Did you bring the balance of your payment? In cash and small bills?”

“Yes of course. I’ve kept my part of the arrangement. You had better keep yours.”

Buy Links:
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Design-Beverley-Bateman-ebook/dp/B0711TRG13/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1495487690&sr=1-1&keywords=By+Design+by+Beverley+Bateman
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/by-design/id1237611343?mt=11&ls=1&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Kobo
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/by-design-12

At the beginning of August, it seems like there’s a lot of summer left. An entire month of hot, sleepy days of summer. (At least in my corner of the globe!) Yet the stores try to remind us that it’s not too long until Autumn with back to school sales and Halloween displays.

Instead of worrying about the future, let’s take a moment to stop. Just breathe. Smell that sea air as the wind whips it around your face. Listen to the ocean waves as they crest against the shore. Feel the sand beneath your feet, a gentle massage that might be a bit too hot against your soles.

I’m very lucky that I live here in New Jersey – yes, I said New Jersey. I know my state gets a bad reputation, but there are many things I love about my home, and being so close to the beach is one of them.

There’s nothing more restorative to the soul than taking a moment to stare at the horizon, knowing that the world goes beyond what you can see. I like to step on the boardwalk and just watch the ocean and just be. I get some of my best ideas while watching the water.

So I wrote not one, but two stories about the beach. One, a short story, you can read for free on my webpage! https://ccbridges.net/shore.html

In The Shorehouse:

Vince invites his two best friends to his family’s house down the shore for Memorial Day weekend, with plans to set the two of them up.

However, thanks to some magic cookies and honesty, he finds out that three is sometimes better than two.

Note: This story is mmf

One of the nicest things about living here is being able to go to the beach in the fall and winter, after the heavy tourist season dies down. It’s during this season that I set my novella “Love in the Time of Hurricanes” which is my love letter to the Jersey shore.

The night Nick Henderson storms into Martelli’s Pizzeria, he’s just looking for something to eat. Along with dinner, he finds Lou Martelli—pizza cook extraordinaire and Jersey Shore native. Nick is renting a Shore house for the winter while taking classes at the local community college as he devises a way to escape the accounting major his father chose for him.

When Lou offers to show Nick around, heat flares between them as they realize they have more in common than domineering families. But it’s not all fun and games on the boardwalk. Hurricane Sandy blows ashore, changing the place Nick was starting to think of as home. His peace is shattered, and it will take everything he has to keep his relationship with Lou from being torn apart by the storm brewing around them.

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

Buy Links:
Dreamspinner: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/love-in-the-time-of-hurricanes-by-cc-bridges-8262-b
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Time-Hurricanes-States-Book-ebook/dp/B06WP7DXXX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487819184&sr=8-1&keywords=love+in+the+time+of+hurricanes
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-in-the-time-of-hurricanes-cc-bridges/1125793547?ean=2940157413507
Books a Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Love-Time-Hurricanes/CC-Bridges/Q767430428?id=6878192726616

About the Author

CC Bridges is a mild-mannered librarian by day, but by night she writes about worlds of adventure and romance. When she’s not busy solving puzzles in an escape room, she can be found diving into comics or binge-watching superhero movies. She writes surrounded by books, spare computing equipment, a fluffy dog, and a long-suffering husband in the state of New Jersey.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ccbridgeswriter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ccbridgeswriter
Blog: https://blog.ccbridges.net/
Website: https://www.ccbridges.net

UPDATE: The winner is Jackie Wisherd!

* * * * *

The birth of a series. Years ago, I was selling short stories frequently. Now this was in 1968 when my first short story was published. I wrote a story called “And So We Walk On Eggshells.” I sent it out to an editor who had bought several of my other stories. The mss came back with this comment, “This sounds like the synopsis of a novel.” I put the story in the file cabinet and forgot about it. The short story market went bust with many magazines closing or changing direction.

So I moved on to novels. The learning process took several years and many rejections of the same book. In 1972 the first novel sold. There were so many publishers in existence that this book had sixteen rejections before the acceptance. I was at that time writing what I knew, medical romances. I was a nurse.

Then I found that manuscript for that sounded like a synopsis. I had thrown out a lot of false starts during my striving to become a novelist. The short story and the comments by the editor were in a box in the cellar. I began the quest to turn this into a book called Murder and Mint Tea. I didn’t intend this to be a series but the book in the initial printing sold well and even ended up as a book on tape. Things happened and publishers closed down. This was at the dawn of electronic books when books were sold to be read on the computer. But another idea for my heroine to step into the limelight.

I wrote a second, third, fourth and fifth “cozy mysteries” with my take on the genre. Now it’s several publishers later and the books are live again. They’ve been updated from their earlier versions. Station wagons are gone. Cell phones are in, though my heroine isn’t used to using one but she’s learning. A sixth book is on the horizon. My new publisher has designed a series of covers that show my heroine’s “familiar” Robespierre, a Maine Coon cat.

He was once a living cat found by my sons in the wire hub of my silver car with red racing stripes. The vet said he was perhaps four weeks old. We fed him with a baby bottle and he grew to twenty-five pounds at his greatest weight.

The books, all but the first one have new titles except Murder and Mint Tea. They are Murder and Poisoned Tea, Murder and Tainted Tea, Murder and Bitter Tea, Murder and Herbal tea. I’m currently working on Murder and Sweet Tea. They’re all published by Books We Love LTD, my Canadian publisher.

Next year, I’ll be blogging about all the changes I’ve seen in 50 years of being a published author.  You can find me at  https://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com/ My books are available from Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords and other venues.

Giveaway

I would like to give away a print copy of Murder and Mint Tea. It will be a random drawing from those who comment of this post.

Thank you to the incomparable Delilah Devlin for having me here today!

Music. Do you like music? Most people listen to it while working or exercising. We sing in the car or shower or have favorite songs that make us stop what we’re doing and listen.

Does music set your hips swaying or bring tears to your eyes? Music has a way of reaching inside and touching us. It’s almost magical what music can do. No matter how bad the day is going, a happy song can bring us up. No matter how many aches and pains we have, when we hear the songs from our high school days we’re instantly sixteen again.

What kind do you listen to? Are you country, rock and roll, classical, or one of the amazing number of hybrid fusion styles?

I play flute, have done for more years than I care to count, lol. My husband plays cello, and ditto. If you like Greensleeves, I have a short rendition on Irish flute here https://youtu.be/A0AB5M0nPJc  and There Is a Balm in Gilead on regular flute here https://youtu.be/zDtO7Or34IQ

Music plays a big part in my life. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that it seeped over into my writing. Several of my Biting Love heroines are musicians.  Rocky in Downbeat is a flute player like me, Junior of Biting Oz plays clarinet and saxophone in a pit orchestra, and Nixie is a punk rock musician in Biting Nixie.

If you’re curious how music and vampires go together, the Biting Love series is on sale, only 99 cents each. Nine steamy, zany, action-packed vampire romances for UNDER ten bucks. But this special goes away forever Sunday, so grab yours now. Check out the Entangled site for complete buying choices. (https://entangledpublishing.com/author/mary-hughes)

Or start the series on Amazon here, BN here, or iTunes here. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073TSV9VV) (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bite-my-fire-mary-hughes/1100402234?ean=9781640632233) (https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/bite-my-fire/id1257724029?mt=11)

What about you? What’s your favorite song, singer, band, or type of music? What is there about it that you love—does it set your body moving or make you reach for the tissues or…?

GIVEAWAYS: Normally I only reveal my super-secret giveaway page to my newsletter readers, but in thanks for being here today, I’m sharing it with you! Usually there’s at least one Kindle giveaway—today and today only, there are TWO up for grabs. https://www.maryhughesbooks.com/Giveaways.html

About the Author

I write steamy paranormal romances and wickedly fun romantic adventures, stories that crackle with action and love. Challenging, smart alpha men—and women not afraid of a challenge. Oh, do the sparks fly when he meets THE woman guaranteed to infuriate and inflame him most.

In real life I’m an author, a spouse and mother, a flutist, a computer geek, and a binge-TV-watcher of The Flash, Elementary, NCIS, and Wynonna Earp.

I’d love to hear from you!
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