First Kiss

It’s been a slow weekend here in Casa Andrews.  Even my writing is slow.  Yesterday I worked on ONE scene – a kissing scene.  A first kiss scene.

Now, I don’t know about everyone else, but I think it’s an important moment in a romance.  When I’m reading one, I have expectations by this point.  Hopefully there has been sufficient build up leading to the moment and I want it as much as the characters.  And, this may just be me, but I kind of favor those spontaneous first kisses.  The ones where one of the characters is taken by surprise and it goes from simmer to boil in seconds.  I want desperate hands and loss of control.  Oh, yeah!

Though, I admit, those tender-types of first kisses can also hit the spot.  After all, it really does depend on the story and the characters' relationship.  It’s all good.

 

How about a little tease?  Remember though, this is completely unedited and may actually never see the light of day.  Here, the leading lady (who shall not yet be named), just basically told him to kiss her…

 

He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled so she fell against him.  She gasped, her lush lips parted in surprise.  His mouth covered hers.  He liked control, but he also aimed to please.  His tongue swept inside, meeting hers for an intimate dance.

 

So I would love to know what it is you love in a first kiss?

Not So Secret Obsession

You may not know this about me, but I love cooking shows – so I watch Food Network all. the. time.  While most people are planning their week around the Walking Dead or Downtown Abbey (I’ve never seen either), I’m setting my DVR for the Worst Cooks in America and The Pioneer Woman.

My daughter wants to know, “why do you like kitchen shows?”  Well, for starters the celebrity chefs and show hosts have a lot of personality.  They’re funny, share great personal stories, and who in the world doesn’t enjoy food!?  I love food.  (Maybe 50 pounds too much!)  And truly, I love to cook – I just also wish I didn’t mind the mess it created.  LOL.

Weeknight cooking isn’t much fun, though.  First, I just worked all day.  Second, the kids are starving about five seconds after walking in the door.  If I gave them a snack, that’s it, they’re full by the time dinner is ready.  So dinner can’t be done fast enough.  And third, packing up left overs, doing dishes, cleaning up the counters… No wonder my family is sick of pizza!

But the “kitchen shows” I love because it’s not my mess!  And I love the ideas they evoke and one of these days when I’m a famous author and can afford to quit my day job (you can stop laughing now) I’m going to cook every night.  Okay, at least more often. :-)

Advice From a New Author

I am hard at work, blogging for Long Overdue and I realized something… I don’t know much about anything.  I see these wonderful posts about settings, characters, and dialog – all this advice offered by authors and I’m just like, “Hey, I’m new.”  LOL.  So that’s about the only thing I can offer, tips on how to be a newbie author.

Here are the top three:

1)   Understand the editing process.  How many rounds to expect?  Will it be reviewed by more than one editor?  Understand the galley review process (cause guess what – confession time – I thought I knew what galleys were, I was wrong).  When is the very last chance to make content change?

I would imagine new authors will probably have more edits than an established author.  At least I hope that wasn’t just me – LOL.  But I’ve learned from my first experience and try not to repeat the same mistakes.  I feel pretty lucky that my editor gave me mine in three stages – instead of throwing them all at me at once.  But I didn’t realize until the 3^rd round that I could – oh, my God – actually talk to her about some of the suggested changes.

Don’t be so quick to accept a change if you’re not convinced, or feel the way you’ve written it is true to your distinct voice.  Offer another suggestion, write a comment back to explain what you’re going for, or ask for help.  Main point – communicate.  Don’t pretend you know more than you do – ask questions.

2)   Every change can potentially cause another issue.  For instance, you’ve used the word “kiss” too many times in one scene – you replace it with something to do with “lips” or “mouth”.  Well, guess what – did you happen to notice how many times you’ve used those words?  True story.  The change could have a bigger effect than that as well; I just used this as an example.  But it leads me to my third tip…

3)   No matter how many times you’ve read your work – don’t skimp!  Read it beginning to end with all the changes before you send it in.  Do. Not. Skip. This. Part.  Make sure everything works.  Look for new repetition, make sure it flows and the transitions work.  And guess what, you can make changes on your own (just make sure you follow the instructions – ie: My editor instructed me to keep Track Changes on). 

There you have it.  My top three pieces of advice – things I wish I knew. 

Keeping up the Tweets!

It’s pretty hard to keep up tweeting about my book during the day when:

     1) I don't know how to schedule tweets in advance.

     2) I have a full time job.

If you have a solution to either of these dilemmas, please chime in by leaving a comment.

Okay, okay - so maybe you won't be able to solve my chronic NeedAJob disorder, but if you know how to schedule tweets, that would be a great help. :-)

On a side note, I just saw a tweet from someone that basically said; “Hey authors, you gotta have a contact link…”  Ooops!  I think she was talking about me!  So I just added one.  LOL.  I’ll get the hang of this eventually.

Speaking of... please follow me on twitter: @tara_andrews1

February Blog Visits

It’s going to be a busy month for me.  I have a lot of blog visits scheduled to promote Long Overdue.  In case you’re not familiar with what a blog visit is, it’s a virtual book tour.  One author will host a guest author on their blog, introducing them to their audience – basically helping to spread the love.  :-)

So here is where I will be in February: 

2/1 – Read the opening scene of Long Overdue at Janet Lane Walter’s blog

2/4 – I’ll be over at Jane Wakely’s blog

2/6 – Visiting with Sara Daniel 

2/7 – Celebrating my one week releasiversary (yes, I made that up) with Taryn Kincaid 

2/11 – Find me at Zee Mondee’s blog

2/12 – I’ll be visiting with Libby Waterford 

2/15 – Krista Ames is interviewing me

2/18 – Eva LeFoy is doing a book spotlight on Long Overdue – and she specifically requested a hot excerpt!

2/20 – I’ll be interviewed on Kathy Bosman’s blog

2/24 – Tara Quan is interviewing me on her blog.  It’s a lot of interviews – but some great questions have been posed to me – and all different!

2/26 – Catherine Peace is hosting me over at her blog. 


Can’t tell you how much I appreciate these ladies allowing me space and time on their blogs.  Please join me – and don’t be shy, leave a comment.