CAUTION: SOME “BATHROOM HUMOR” FOLLOWS. While sitting watching cartoons with Mom sitting nearby reading: The Boy: You know, Mommy.My mouth is like a toilet. Me (looking up in surprise): What? The Boy: Well, look. (opens mouth wide) And when I eat, stuff goes down. Okay, I guess it makes sense, but he has a few …
Appetizer Fill in the blank: The best thing about where I live is _My family is here. What else do I need?_… Soup Create a new name for a deodorant (like “Flower Fresh†or “Shower Scentâ€). – Honeysuckle Salad What was the last piece of software you installed onto your computer? – I think I …
Thirteen fantasy “cliches’ I hope I never have to see again. Â 1. “Talking” horses – Horses are great animals and I know some people have a deep devotion to them, but seriously, how many books do we need where the hero/heroine has an equine companion who is psychic or can actually speak? There are other …
Check out The Catholic Carnival to read a lot of great essays on faith, including one by yours truly, ME!
Thirteen Mistakes Your Hero Should Never Make Last week, I talked about mistakes your heroine should never make. To give equal time, let’s do the hero this week. And of course, this is the biggie: Sleeping around – the hero must be committed to the heroine, even if this is a historical or in a …
Romance Writers of America is considering changing the rules for its RITA and Golden Heart contests. Two things concern me. First the proposed change to the inspirational category: 9.2.11. BEST INSPIRATIONAL ROMANCE – romantic novels in which one or more characters’ religious or spiritual beliefs (in the context of any religion or spiritual belief system) …
Back with I wrote about Sexual Tension in the Sweet Romance, I said that this was workshop I will be giving on the cruise in July. I will also be doing a workshop on older heroines. Let’s see what you all think about that. The earliest heroines were sweet, young things – 18 to 20 …
To avoid the dread TSTL (too stupid to live) syndrome, please avoid these mistakes when creating your heroines: 1. FLEEING UPSTAIRS: The murderer is on the first floor of a building, so our heroine, naturally, runs up the stairs to get away. Eventually, honey, you’re going to end up on the roof and …
Fan Fiction Okay, maybe you’ve heard of it. Maybe not. Essentially, fan fiction is just that: fiction written by fans, generally about movie or television show characters. A person who just loves, say, Stargate: SG-1, thinks a lot about the characters and usually has an idea for something that might happen that may or may …
As regular readers of this blog know, I’m going on a writer’s cruise in July. I hope some of you will join me! I’ll be giving two talks and one of them is about Sexual Tension in the Sweet Romance. I asked my inspirational writer friends for some help and advice for this and in …