My “overnight success” took 18 years. I wrote my first novel at age 23, after a dose of reality in the brokerage business. This was the early ’80s, when executive-level women were virtually nonexistent in the world of finance. My first novel, largely autobiographical, as most first novels are, featured my heroine who made it to the top of a brokerage firm. It was continually rejected on the grounds that I had an axe to grind­ and of course I did.

After three more novels, which I consider practice at honing my craft, I wrote my first historical, The Jewels of Warwick, centered around Henry VIII and two fictional heroines. I have a strong spiritual connection with late medieval England, which is the basis for my enchantment with this place and time. Jewels took 2 years to research and write, with no internet. It came very close to publication with several romance houses, but missed the mark for containing too little romance.

When I finished Jewels, I scoured the history books for another legendary figure to write about. While I browsed the Cambridge Library stacks, a book snagged my eye. Lying, not standing, on the wrong shelf was Crown of Roses by Valerie Anand. It drew me like a magnet. Richard III is a central character in the story, and the author thanks the Richard III Society for helping her. Already hooked on Richard, his tragic death at 32 and his reputation as a usurper and a murderer of his little nephews, I joined this Richard III Society. As everyone else who has a story about how they “met” Richard, he fascinated me. I’d found the subject of my next novel! And it tied in perfectly as a prequel to The Jewels of Warwick. Titled Thy Name is Love, it made the same rounds of publishers, remaining homeless after several rewrites and seven years.

In 1999 with the Internet making my life so much easier, I queried the many E-publishers that had recently set up shop, and British publisher Domhan Books responded in March with an offer for my two historicals. Fortunately, Domhan also published print books. I then wrote a time travel, One Too Many Times, and a family saga set in New York City. I switched gears with the urban fantasy Fakin’ It, which won a Romantic Times Top Picks award, with a 4 1/2 star review.

I joined a local critique group and my work improved immensely with the critiques I received. My critiquing experience led the way to editing positions and publishing contracts with Eternal Press and Moongypsy Press. In 2009, I answered an ad in the Romance Writers of America magazine and signed with my agent, Jewelann Cone. My recent novels are currently being considered by the ‘big houses’ including St. Martin’s Press and Simon & Schuster.

Critiquing and editing gave me the ability to read my work as an editor, to tighten and polish, to add more emotion, to show instead of tell, and the opportunity to critique other authors’ work also made me a better writer.

Even though your first, second, third, or even fourth novel may never see print, not a word is wasted if it’s considered a learning experience. I also believe that you must write from the heart, and your passion will shine through in your work. I know there are many roads to success, but patience is the best way!

Abraham Lincoln has fascinated me since I was eight years old. I don’t know what got me started, but it might’ve been a book which I still have, titled The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 1, written in 1895. When I was in 3^rd grade, in the mid-60s (which shows how long I’ve been a Lincoln nut), my teacher asked us to bring a book to school from home, for a show & tell. My mother suggested I bring this Lincoln book, which even in 1966 was in bad shape­—yellowed, stiffened strips of Scotch tape barely held the covers to the spine. With the wisdom of an 8-year-old that sadly, all of us outgrow, I demurred, saying, “This old book? She’ll think we’re poor!” My mother corrected me: “No, she’ll think we’re rich. Books like this are rare.” Then she proceeded to tape it up some more. Those 47-year-old Scotch tape fragments adhere to the book’s spine and pages to this day. The teacher, Miss Cohen, was duly impressed.

I still treasure that book to this day, and it’s one of many on my “Lincoln shelf” which holds books about our murdered president, his wife Mary, his assassin John Wilkes Booth and his family, the “Mad Booths of Maryland” and the conspirators who faced the gallows or years of hard labor because Booth, their charismatic leader, sucked these poor impressionable souls into his insane plot.

After writing 8 historicals set in England and New York City, I decided to indulge my passion for Lincoln-lore. I began researching in depth about Lincoln’s life, his presidency, his role in the Civil War, and Booth’s plans to first kidnap him, and then to assassinate him.

A NECESSARY END combined two genres I’m passionate about­—history and paranormal. I joined The Surratt Society, based in Maryland, and attended their conferences and tours. Through the Surratt Society, I met several Lincoln/Booth/Civil War experts.

One lady I’ll never forget meeting is Marjorie “Peg” Page, who by all accounts except definitive DNA testing, is John Wilkes Booth’s great-granddaughter. My trips to Lincoln’s home and tomb in Springfield, Illinois, Gettysburg, Ford’s Theater, and the house he died in, Petersen House, brought me close to Mr. Lincoln’s spirit.

My travels also acquainted me with Booth’s brother Edwin, the most famous actor of his time, and his unconventional family. A recording of Edwin’s voice reciting Shakespeare on one of Edison’s wax cylinders still exists at http://www.britannica.com/shakespeare/browse?browseId=248018

My paranormal experience includes investigations at several haunted homes, restaurants and graveyards. I investigate with a group from Merrimack, NH, led by CC Carole, www.ccthehuntress.com. I’ve never seen a ghost, but I’ve received responses to my questions with my dowsing rods. Wishing I had my recorder with me, I made a ghost laugh at the Jumel Mansion in Harlem, New York City, (see the story and photos on my blog, www.dianarubinoauthor.blogspot.com)

Tragically, we’ll never hear Abraham Lincoln’s voice. But his spirit lives on. In my book, which is fiction—but we all know that novels are fictionalized truths—I gave Booth what was coming to him. He got his justice in real life, but in A NECESSARY END, he also got the paranormal twist he deserves. And I enjoyed sticking it to him!

I paralleled the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar in this story because in the play, Caesar was known as a tyrant to the Senators, who feared losing their power, as Booth feared losing the Confederacy. Booth always considered Lincoln the tyrant, hence his proclamation ‘sic simper tyrannis’ (be it ever to tyrants) when he jumped to the stage after shooting Lincoln.

Caesar’s Senators, Brutus and Cassius among them, conspired to stab Caesar to death on an appointed day. Booth recruited a group of like-minded disciples to aid him in his insane plot, at first to kidnap Lincoln, then to kill him.

By day, Booth was a Confederate spy and courier, taking dangerous missions so that his beloved South could fight the North in the war that tore the nation in two. But in this story, an even darker secret plagues him—he believes he’s the reincarnation of Brutus, the man who slew the tyrant Caesar, and Booth’s destiny in this life is to murder the tyrant who’s ravaged the South­Abraham Lincoln. In obeying the spirit of Brutus, Booth devises a plot to assassinate the tyrant.

I wrote it as a paranormal instead of a straight historical novel because spirituality was extremely popular in 1865 and all throughout Victorian times. Mary Lincoln was a staunch spiritualist. So stricken with grief after the deaths of her boys Willie and Eddie, she hired mediums such as Nettie Maynard to visit the White House and hold séances in attempts to contact her boys from beyond the grave.

The extent of séances, table-tapping, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, and otherworldly activities in this era fit perfectly with the story I wanted to tell. We could never enter Booth’s head, but his insane behavior begs the question: was he truly haunted by a spirit who drove him to his heinous act that changed history forever?

You can contact me at :

www.DianaRubinoAuthor.blogspot.com
www.DianaRubino.com
http://www.facebook.com/#!/dianarubino
https://twitter.com/DianaLRubino

Given the theme and the current weather conditions outside my hotel, I chose a snippet from True Heart. I’m in Kansas City attending the RT Convention. I packed for hot weather and only brought a light zip-up in case the evenings were cool. My only shoes are FitFlops. So as you can imagine, once the snow started, I was pretty much trapped inside.

With snow on my mind, I chose a snippet from the opening scene of True Heart. The heroine is moving into a remote cabin on the ranch owned by True and Lonny Heart. She’s managed to slip on ice on her steps just as True and Lonny are riding up…

If you post a comment today, you’ll be entered to win
a free download of this book!

Two men plus one woman equals three bodies on fire…

True Wyatt’s hands are going to be full enough keeping the herd alive through the dead of winter. The last thing he needs to hear is that his brother Lonny has rented out their isolated hunting cabin to a reclusive writer—especially a sassy, disaster-prone brunette. Who has the time to babysit a city girl until Spring?

With a deadline looming, erotica writer Honey Cahill is looking forward to six distraction-free weeks to finish her next book. However, between Lonny’s flirty sensuality and True’s hard-edged intensity, the Wyatt brothers set the stage of her imagination for a winter of wicked delights.

The fire that destroys the cabin, though, is as real as it gets. Forced to seek a bed under True and Lonny’s roof, the temptation to experiment—all in the name of research, of course—is overpowering. One night in their arms doesn’t feel like enough; it feels like more. Particularly with one cowboy who fires all her cylinders…

Warning: It’s a Devlin ménage—expect men with stamina and not an ounce of mercy to behave like sex gods, and the lucky woman to love every minute of it. A little domination goes a long, long way…

Honey had never seen a man look so angry and flummoxed at the same time. And that shouldn’t have been the case since she managed to ruffle men’s feathers faster than a hurricane. It was a talent.

She came up on her elbows in the mud and glanced at the papers cartwheeling across the yard. If you could call it a yard. The space around the cabin was more of a rough-cut clearing.

Nothing fancy, Lonny had warned her. He hadn’t over-represented the small two-room cabin with an efficiency kitchen and tiny bathroom.

And yet the rugged utility of the place appealed. The cabin smelled of pine sap and wood smoke, and when she’d stood on the porch the view of the mountains around her took her breath away.

The view from the ground right this second wasn’t that bad either.

“I’ll get those,” Lone Wyatt said. He gave her a quick glance, raised an eyebrow at his brother, then dismounted in a fluid, graceful move that had her envious of every flex of muscle that delivered him to the ground. Could any two brothers be more alike and conversely so different at the same time?

True Wyatt moved with rugged force. She couldn’t help wondering how that economy of motion and deliberation translated to how he moved in a bed. True wore “Cowboy” like some men wore Armani.

Her gaze crept upward from his scarred boots, past legs encased in sturdy, mud-stained denim, to a dark, dirt-streaked coat that fell to his knees. He looked like he’d stepped out of an old western movie. Even the cowboy hat, broad-rimmed and shadowing his deep-set eyes, emphasized his individualistic, rugged appeal.

Her glance flew back to Lonny, who chased the newspaper clippings and her own dog-eared notes across the clearing.

Lonny was a sweetheart. A flirty man with wicked intentions in his dark green eyes. She’d already decided she wouldn’t turn down an invitation to go to bed with the man. But that was before she’d clapped eyes on the brother.

She came back to True to find his gaze narrowed on her face. All brooding darkness and hard-edged features. Same dark green eyes, weathered skin and dark brown hair as the brother, but his expression set him apart. Made him seem even older than the thirty-six years Lonny had volunteered.

Lonny was in his late twenties, still footloose and straining against obligation. Facts she’d gleaned easily the first time they’d met. After all, she was a writer and a master at pulling information from a person without him realizing just how she did it.

Something told her big brother wouldn’t be nearly as easy to pump for information. “Pump” stuck in her mind, and her brain again leapt to sexier pursuits. Read the rest of this entry »

Feel It In Your Heart

With the upcoming winter release of my book ENDANGERED, the first in my Nights of Lust series, I thought I’d do some pre-release hype for the book and start talking about it.  I’ve seen some great reactions to the book so far, for those who have beta read it are loving it.

Let’s start with the premise of the book though.

Endangered is the story of a man searching for himself, finding salvation only in the love given by the woman who loves him, and her companion.  He slowly learns redemption comes at a price but is he willing to pay that price?

Desperate to get him off the suicide cycle he’s stuck in, Livía will do anything to save the one man who can return her soul. Following his essence over three centuries has brought her heartache until this lifetime when he’s the farthest from his self-destructive urges ever.  Seizing her opportunity, Livía kidnaps Joséf and convinces him to do the one thing she knows he’ll never abandon: save the life of an innocent child.

Can the love two women willingly offer give Joséf the peace he needs to become the man who can stop The Syndicate?

I’ve got a similar series dealing with the wolves and Faery courts represented by the Corvisiero Literary Agency but we’re going back and forth on edits because my level of emotion in the book Marisa picked up could be deeper.

With Joséf and ENDANGERED, the core of that book revolves around a LOT of anger I felt at the time of its conception.  What I wanted, what Joséf thought he wanted, turned out to be not what either of us needed. Yes, he mimics my actions, only taking them deeper and harder.  His health is only crappy due to bad habits, which can be fixed through proper diet, love and learning to deal with the wolf inside.  Oh and a healthy dose of Livía and Isabella.  I gave my hero two heroines in this book because honestly, the emotions Joséf feels are so deeply ingrained, so relatable to the readers (hopefully) that he needed someone to hold his heart and heal his mind at the same time and no one person can deal with the amount of damage in him with such a clear mind.  The one lover can calm certain aspects, but after a while, Joséf’s struggle with himself and the outer world around them wears on just the one person thinking emotionally.  Livía is his emotion, she is his love, his life.  Isabella in this story starts out as his rational side.

Love stories, romance novels in particular, are really about the heroine’s journey as I’ve learned from my mentor.  That being said, Livía must go through a transformation of her own, one she struggles with because of Joséf’s stubbornness.  She must rise above her own worries and weaknesses to conquer his world so he can help her defeat her outer worldly demons.

Forced to work in tandem, Joséf and Livía must correct her mistake, because the trick she used to get him to stay leads to Joséf learning to open his heart, something I needed desperately to do at the time I wrote the book.

They always say write what you know.  Well, romance novels are emotional and that’s how I roll!

For Joséf, there is more to the world than saving the big picture and more to life than anger and self-hatred.  He only has to look at the world in Livía’s eyes.

Look out for ENDANGERED, coming in Winter 2013 from Red Sage!

Sascha Illyvich

I’m here in Kansas City attending the RT conference. I’m rooming with my sis, Elle James/Myla Jackson and Cynthia D’ Alba. So far, I’m having a blast—although I’m not having nearly as much fun as sis who has discovered a new app for her iPhone called “Vine.” If you follow either of us on Facebook or Twitter, you can find the links to the movie clips she’s been filming. I swear, I’m actually accomplishing a few things here other than looking like a dummy.

We conducted our “Write 50 Books a Year” workshop yesterday. Some folks honestly looked disappointed that the title of the class was only a hook. 🙂 Who seriously wants to write 50 stories a year?! We had great attendance, folks standing in the back because we ran out of chairs. Today, we’re teaching a very condensed version of our “Plotting Bootcamp” and a blog tour workshop.

I’ve become such a recluse that being “on” in public is very tiring. I don’t nap at home, but had to the past couple of days. I even skipped the Ellora’s Cave party so I could unwind in my room while sis went disco dancing. Yes, she’s the party hound. I’d much rather meet for coffee and chat with friends.  We’re such opposites, but we get along anyway.

If you’d like to see what we’ve been up or keep up with my sister’s budding film career (Wahaha!), check out my Facebook then next few days.

Going Deep

Recently I had a very interesting conversation. It was on my favorite subject—books. 🙂  My big sister and I were talking about books. We both love to read and many times read the same books then compare them. Our discussion was about a book we read and we were talking about the story, and then my sister said something I found interesting—that she felt the book hadn’t gone deep enough for her to feel a strong connection with the characters thus the story.

Whoa…her words were like she had taken then out of my head and said them out load. It was the exact same feeling that I had when I read the book. I even said it aloud when I was finished. I didn’t say it to my sister because I wanted her to read the book without any preconceptions. But now we were both finished with the book, and talking with her I found she had the same feeling I had. There have been many times my big sister and I have had the same impression about books, but this is the first time she stated exactly as I was thinking without me even saying it to her first. Don’t get me wrong. The book was a good one…but the feeling of the story not doing, as I like to call it “going deep,” made the book a good read but not one that would be on my keeper shelf.

When I read, I want more than just an entertaining story or likeable characters. I’m looking for characters, plot and story that will make me remember a line, moment or action from the book. I can remember this days, weeks, months, or years later, and when I recall something from the book it will make me go and find the book to read it again. Those are the books that are on my keeper shelf. They are books “going deep” and giving me a deep connection with the story. They made me feel like I know the characters and have walked a mile in their shoes. That I have lived each moment with them and felt each emotion as my own. The “going deep” goes hand in hand with what I’ve talked about before about “The Ah Hah Moment” in books.  As a reader I look for the “going deep” and/or “The Ah Hah Moment” in books I read. As a writer I work to give the reader either one or both of these things I mentioned so I can be on that keeper shelf. Reading is a journey and like any good journey, you want great memories that will last a lifetime.

****

Taige Crenshaw is a multi-published author with books available at Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Liquid Silver Books, Loose Id, and Total-E-Bound. Taige has been enthralled with the written word from time she picked up her first book. It wasn’t long before she started to make up her own tales of romance. With novels set in today, in alternate dimensions, or in the future she writes with adventure, fun sassy heroine’s, and sexy hero’s. Always hard at work creating new and exciting places Taige can be found curled up with a hot novel with exciting characters when she is not creating her own. Join her in the fun, frolic, interesting people and far reaches of the world in her novels. You can find out more about Taige at her website: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com or blog: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com/blog.

Dark Callings — When faced with your destined bond you either accept or face the consequences.

Buy here at Total-E-Bound.

What’s in a kiss?

Okay, I don’t know about you guys, but I always love, love, love a good first kiss! Kisses are magic, especially when the anticipation has been building and both the hero and heroine start craving it really badly –as a reader (or author), so do I! So let’s look at some types of sexy first kisses, and tell me what your favorite is. I’d love to know!

The urgent one: Where the hero and heroine have had it with all the sparks leaping between them, and by the time they go at it, the hero grabs her, or she grabs him back, or they both do (at the same time) and they just lose it and kiss like crazy. Mmm. Love this kiss.

The tentative one: Alright so here, the hero is usually the one who’s more tentative. He might brush her lips first, then he pulls back with a question in his eyes, and goes in for more. Tentative kisses are so sexy because they start building and building until you can’t take it anymore and want them to just LOCK LIPS ALREADY! Jajaja.

The exploratory one: This is delish, too. Who doesn’t want to be explored? And that’s precisely what happens in the exploratory kiss. They’re getting to know each other. They’re attracted. Curious. And even maybe a little hot. So they go for an exploratory kiss that usually begins slow, and ends up deep and consuming when they go wild about what they “find.” Which is passion and hunger to match theirs (usually.) Love these kinds of kisses, too!

There are other kinds, as well.

The angry, punishing kiss: where the hero is angry and means to chastise the heroine with a kiss (which is actually a prize, if you ask me!)

The dry, soft kiss:  this is usually a very tender, nonsexual kiss, which speaks volume about where their relationship is heading. For a guy to give a kiss that’s not meant to take a woman to bed, well, let’s just say: he likes you, girl!

What other kisses can you come up with that you like to read about? And can you think of a book or a movie with a really memorable kiss?

I’ll never forget the kiss in Catch and Release, oh my, I had to rewind that several times on my Apple TV because it just made my stomach drop (in a great way)! I love that the heroine is utterly furious and things have been building and building. If you haven’t seen this kiss, I beg you to see a clip here!

Now share your favorite kisses with me!

I truly LOVE Graves and Chloe’s first kiss in Claimed by Him – where she practically dares him to, and he draws it out to torture her a little. Oh, it’s delicious. I hope you’ll check it out! Visit my website to read more or for buying information!

The winner of Elle’s contest is Lisa Avila! Lisa, you have until Friday to contact Elle at ellejames@earthlink.net to arrange delivery of your prize or another winner will be selected.

* * * * *

Sisters

I consider myself lucky to have two brothers and one sister. We were a family of four children growing up with one to two years between. This was a good thing since my father was in the military and we moved around a lot. We were our own friends, playmates and nemeses depending on the day. Our lives were never boring, often exciting and always filled with those love/hate relationships you get with siblings. But if anyone got in trouble, we went to bat for each other. I looked up to my sister, Delilah Devlin. She was always smarter, prettier and knew where to go to get into trouble or up the ante on the fun-factor. She was a tough act to follow in school, but I tried to live up to her academic standards.

As we grew older, she went into the army leaving me behind to finish school. We drifted apart and lived our own separate lives until she went to work for the same company I worked for in the same city. Then she discovered a local writing group and once again, she led me into an adventure that would change my life forever.

We set off on the writing journey together, challenging each other to start a book, encouraging one another to finish. As our passion for writing blossom, our relationship grew closer. Now, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of my sister and all that she means to me.  I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be with on this particular journey. I guess I just dedicated this blog to my sister. Love you, Delilah!

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

Be careful what you wish for…

Determined to marry the most eligible bachelor in the parish to save her family, Lucie LeBieu turns a “love bug” loose to cast its Voodoo spell. What she doesn’t count on is hitting two targets—the golden boy congressional candidate, and her Cajun-hot ex. To set things right, she must undo the spell before she falls into bed—-and back in love—with a certain down and dirty heartbreakin’ cop.

Undercover investigator Ben Boyette is back in Louisiana on special assignment when he runs across his old flame, brewing up trouble as usual. But when hometown threats turn deadly, Lucie’s life is on the line. Determined to protect both her and his politician assignment from falling victim to a murderer, Ben finds that he’s the one who’s falling hard…for the irresistible bayou temptress.

Buy at Amazon
Buy at B&N

The Contest

Post a comment today and you will be entered to win this fabulous prize package!