#Openbook
Hey, romance addicts. I have another blog hop post for you guys!
Discuss: It never fails to amaze me that ALL the books ever written are made up of just twenty six letters.
Literature Beyond 26 Letters
#bookspotlight -Snitch Tour and #Giveaway
Hey, romance addicts. Check out author Leslie Georgeson. Something Real series!
#openbook -Writing Pets in Romance
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Do pets (or other animals) play an important part in your books? Tell us about them.
Hey, romance addicts. I am back with a new blog hop post. Pets in romance? Many authors who consistently write pets and animals in their books. Find out if I do and why!
#booktease – Exile, Bad Boy Military Romance
Hey, romance addicts. Ready for a book tease? I have one for you from author Shani Greene-Dowdell. She is giving readers a taste of her romance Exile, part of her Bad Boy Military Romance series.
Writing in Different Genres
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Is there a genre you would never try to write? Why?
Hey, romance addicts. I a new Monday, a new blog hop question. This week, it’s about exploring different genres to write. While authors should not feel compelled to extend beyond their selected genre, some may want to venture into new ones.
I recently dipped my “quill” into the BDSM Romance subgenre with the release of my new book, A Stroke at Midnight. Writing something different and the above question had me wondering if I ever wanted to write outside of romance.
Check out my answer in the video my latest video.
Continue reading “Writing in Different Genres”When Characters Take Over (Video)
#openbook Blog Hop - Who’s the boss, you or the story?
Each new story draft comes with a list of decisions to make a book publishable. While writing, many authors will choose to lean on their outlined plot or characters to flesh out their story. If they don’t, no worries, the plot or characters will do it for them, dictating the trajectory of the prose.
In this video, I talk about my tenacious characters and their obstinance in making sure I write them and the plot to suit them.
Writing Romance, Despite the Doubters
Hey, romance addicts. I am happy to have fellow romance author Fiona McGrier on the blog. She will share why she writes in the genre.
Guest Post
By Fiona McGier
Continue reading “Writing Romance, Despite the Doubters”To Hustle, or Not?
#openbook
If you had unlimited money to start and maintain a business, what would it be?
Enjoy my Open Book Vlog Hop post.
Access to opportunity is great, but can there be too much of a good thing? I talk about why I am not ready to start a new hustle. If opportunity comes knocking, I will probably pop in my earbuds.
Continue reading “To Hustle, or Not?”#booktease – Druid’s Portal
Hey, romance addicts. I have an excerpt from the time travel romance, Druid’s Portal by Cindy Tomamichel.
![Druid's Portal: The First Journey by [Cindy Tomamichel]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51EWzVnnSzL.jpg)
Gift Woes and Nos
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The holiday season is just around the corner. What’s the worst gift you’ve ever received? What’s the worst one you ever given?
Okay, full disclosure, I don’t celebrate any of the holidays from October to January, not for years, anyway. Most of my family members are not Muslims, so there is a lot going on with them during the holidays, but the husband, kids and I rarely take part.
I am one of those people who give gifts throughout the year. A spontaneous gift is one of my favorites. For me, they are usually the most sincere. I feel like the person thought of me as an individual, not a name on a list of people they must present some kind of offering.
Continue reading “Gift Woes and Nos”Saying No to Save Yourself
#openbook
What would be the hardest thing for you to give up?
I recently had to give up the delusion that I could be everything for everyone.
I wear many hats. In addition to being a phenomenal romance author, I am a freelance writer, contributing to multiple platforms. I am also a terrific wife (my husband is a lucky man), mother of six , homeschooler, content editor and writing coach. A lot of stuff, right? Well, those are the things left after I did some soul searching and decided I was doing way too much.
#bookreview Guarding His Midnight Witness
Hey, romance addicts. It’s been a minute since I had the time to review a book, but I have one for you guys!
Art, law enforcement and organized crime, who could want anything more? In Guarding His Midnight Witness, Anna J Stewart offers readers a respectable romantic suspense with the usual suspects and elements layered with stable and quirky characters.
Artist Greta is struggling with a creative block making painting impossible. So what does she do? Why, the only thing possible. Cooped up in a loft with her mind whizzing and creative juices not flowing, she takes to sipping tea, petting her cat and spying the neighborhood. Only thing is, she gets more than what she bargains for when she witnesses a murder, or at least she thinks she saw one. No, she did, right?
Dialogue in Fiction Writing
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Do you embrace dialog or narrate your way around it? Why?
I love to talk, maybe even more than I do writing—maybe. Whether written or verbal, I value the power of words. When reading fiction, I prefer books that pull me into characters through dialogue and action. Just like with real people, what a character expresses often serves as the most efficient means to get to know it’s perspective and emotion in ways that can be lost when conveyed through a narrator.
Dialogue remains essential to character-driven writing, where authors offer readers the opportunity to have a vicarious experience and connect to the characters’ internal or interpersonal conflicts. Focusing on character development requires that authors show readers emotion through what they do and say, things especially important in genre fiction.
Continue reading “Dialogue in Fiction Writing”Eat and Love – Food in Romance
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What is your favorite fruit dish? Can you share a recipe for it? Do you include food in your stories? While we're talking about food, pumpkin, yea or nay?
It is a cruel irony for me to get this question right after I embraced low-carb eating.
Picture Proud-Master’s Babies
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Show us a photo (Or photos) you took that you're most proud of. Tell us about it (them).
Here it is, folks!
It’s a little grainy, but I am very proud of this picture. A friend sent it to me
Continue reading “Picture Proud-Master’s Babies”Authors Playing in Characters’ Closets
#openbook
How do you decide how to dress your characters?
The characters in my romances drive the plot. Besides unfolding how a couple falls or stays in love, I like to portray them doing it while holding down jobs or running businesses. While they may not be flat broke, they still have to get up and put in the work, and their clothes reflect their ambitious and entrepreneurial lifestyles.
Readers want impactful characters that make them laugh, cry, yell and swoon. The clothes they wear when doing one or more of those things can deepen the connection as readers turn the page. In Sweet Love, Bitter Fruit, I wanted the clothes Marcus and Toni wore to reflect their complex lives. Continue reading “Authors Playing in Characters’ Closets”
My Pseudonym and The Real Me
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Do you write under a pseudonym? If so, why? If not, would you ever consider it?
Well, yes and no. Lyndell is my name, but not totally. My family’s last name is Williams, and I grew up Lyndell.
There are other Lyndells out there, but the old English name is rare. Unlike my sister, Deborah and brothers, Barry and Dwayne, I never saw my name in a store on a shelf with novelty items garnishing their more common names. It irritated the hell out of me. I spent my childhood and teen years correcting teachers, doctors, anyone who struggled with my unusual name and couldn’t stand whenever someone tried to shorten it to something like Lynn.
When I converted to Islam at age eighteen, people encouraged me to change my name. Continue reading “My Pseudonym and The Real Me”
Writing Real-life in My Books
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What's the most unusual experience you've ever had? Have you included it in one of your books?
Authors, like most creatives, often use their talents to weave stories reflecting their lives, I am no different. I have included some wonderful, horrible and pretty strange things that happened to me over the years in books.
In Sweet Love-Bitter Fruit, Toni’s struggle with infertility and getting the people around her to understand her pain reflects my own years of frustration. It was difficult, but I was able to channel a lot of pain to connect with readers with similar experiences and giving those who haven’t to empathize with the hurt that comes from unfulfilled desires. Linking fiction with real-life motivates my writing.
In My Way to You, I created a scene with the main characters, Regina and Simon similar to an unusual situation I found myself in with my husband when we first married. Continue reading “Writing Real-life in My Books”
The Literary Pilgrim – a Writer’s Journey
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Have you ever gone on a literary pilgrimage? If so, where and why?
Pilgrimage is an important part of my faith. In Islam, traveling to the venerated city of Mecca (known as Hajj) is a sacred journey that provides those blessed with the chance to perform Hajj rites expiation of their sins and closeness to the creator.
Some people save for their entire lives to make the holy trip. Others go on Hajj to die. It is an arduous trek. Every pilgrim has their Hajj stories, telling of illnesses, injuries, and challenges to finishing everything without blowing their cool. Despite the physical obstacles, many Muslims through the world strive to go on Hajj. The emotional and spiritual benefits far outweigh any difficulties.
Continue reading “The Literary Pilgrim – a Writer’s Journey”
#OpenBook Building a Stand Alone Universe, Connecting Characters
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
One of the great things about storytelling is that the worlds that authors create can be as simple or involved and complex as they want. Although I have some stories with less porous worlds, I do like to have some characters show up in other plots, which can be important in the romance genre.
Many romance readers end up falling in love with characters in a book, wanting to see more of them. I developed a series based on the desire for readers’ requests to see more of one character or another. I initially wrote the book Open to Love as one book, when beta readers asked me to also tell the stories of secondary characters Tarika and Aqil. I also got feedback asking what the deal was with Rahma. I hit the keyboard and framed the Open to Love series. Queen of the Castle joined book one, and book three is coming soon.
Continue reading “#OpenBook Building a Stand Alone Universe, Connecting Characters”
