Month: June 2014

Media Monday: Covert Affairs

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I’m binge-watching the end of Season 4 and am almost ready to start Season 5. CovertAffairsLast season (4) was a bit of a muddle for me and I didn’t watch each episode as it aired. Until episode 10 when I finally figured out who were the good and bad guys and who I should root for. Then when I was engrossed again, our DVR skipped an episode and I couldn’t proceed until I’d seen it. Well, the episode is finally available on Amazon Prime so I watched it and now I’m in the penultimate episode of Season 4.

The hiatus and return gave me some time to reflect on the series and what’s worked and what hasn’t worked for me, both in terms of story and structure.

A quick summary: Annie Walker is a young CIA operative working to keep America safe from threats both at home and abroad.

In the beginning, we followed Annie as she juggled being a spy with having a personal life. She lied to her sister regularly about where she was and what she was doing. Her cover was that she worked for the Smithsonian which allowed for a certain amount of secrecy and traveling.

In Season 4, Annie and her handler/co-worker, Auggie finally acknowledged what everyone else knew: they loved each other as more than friends.

The beginning of the season was too tentative, although that seems like an odd description for a show full of treachery, torture, and turmoil. I rooted for Annie and Auggie but I had hard time connecting with the new characters brought in to up the tension, fellow agent Calder Michaels and possible terrorist/drug kingpin/deep cover agent Teo.

Spoiler alert!!!!

Once Teo died and Calder became “nice,” I had a clearer understanding of where the story was headed and then I became hooked again like I had been at first.

It’s a good lesson for me: Know your characters and be sure the reader knows that you know them.

Every time I get stuck in a story, it comes back to that point: I don’t know the character well enough yet. So I pull out a worksheet or a book and delve deeper and deeper into the character. When I know them as well as I know myself (and quite possible better) then it becomes clear what needs to happen next.

What do you think? Covert Affairs fan? Or just a fan of great characters?

Spotlight Thursday: Amy Patrick

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I’m thrilled to share with you the cover of Amy Patrick’s upcoming book and a bit of information about Amy, a fellow 2014 Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart ® finalist.

AmyAmy is a two-time Golden Heart® finalist (2013 and 2014). She lives in Rhode Island with her husband and two sons and actually craves the heat and humidity of Mississippi, where she grew up. She’s been a professional singer and news anchor and currently narrates audio books as well as working as a station host for a Boston TV station.

You can find Amy online at:

http://www.amypatrickbooks.com/

https://twitter.com/amypatrickbooks

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3247178.Amy_Patrick

About her new release:

BOOK & AUTHOR INFO:

Channel 20Something by Amy Patrick
(20Something, #1)
Publication date: August 12th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Synopsis:

22-year-old Heidi Haynes is almost one year into her “real life.” She has her first reporting job and her first apartment, but she’s yet to experience first love. Yes, she’s in a comfortable relationship with her college sweetheart, and according to her friends and family, he’s perfect for her. But for some reason she’s not as eager to talk about walking down the aisle as he is.
And while Heidi’s doing what she wants to do, she’s not where she wants to be. She longs for big cities, big-market breaking news, and real independence from her way-too-close-by helicopter parents. Problem is, the last time she left the security of home for new places and new people, things didn’t go so well. Disastrously, in fact, and she came running back to a local college and a “safe” boyfriend.
Well-traveled Californian Aric Serrano plans to stay in small-market-Southern-Hell just long enough to grab a cup of coffee and put together a kick-ass “escape tape”. He’ll serve his one-year contract, then he’s taking off for a higher rung on the TV sports ladder—alone—the way he likes it. But when he walks into the newsroom and meets Heidi, he may have finally found something and someone worth committing to.
Heidi would be so much more comfortable if she could avoid her new co-worker—he’s just her type—the type she’s so careful to avoid. But that becomes impossible when she and Aric are forced to work together on the weekend news. Now there’s no denying the attraction between them, and she’ll have to decide between settling for the “good enough” life she already has or taking the risk of going for what she dreams of, an exciting career and a real love.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22430248-channel-20something

And now … the big reveal … the cover:

CTS FINAL COVER

Great cover and I love the summary! I can’t wait to get my hands on it, come August.

Thanks, Amy!

Woe! It’s Wednesday: Qualities

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I’m purging some old files and found a few things that I’d forgotten about.

graphic_qualities_lgOne page stuck in a manila folder was written for a class in response to a book by Ruth Gendler called The Book of Qualities. Gendler took character traits or qualities and wrote short essays from the point of view of the trait.

The following is from the author’s website:

Excitement wears orange socks.
Despair papered her bathroom walls with newspaper articles about acid rain.
Joy drinks pure water.

The Book of Qualities presents 74 qualities–including Pleasure, Anger, Terror, Beauty, and Change as everyday characters who live among us. Both personal and impersonal, the Qualities convey a variety of human emotions in a simple and entertaining manner; readers are inspired to reflect on their own qualities and communicate their feelings with new clarity.

My assignment was to take a few of the qualities and write my own descriptions. Here are my attempts:

Procrastination

Procrastination is a cautious driver, the kind who turns on his blinker a block and a half before he wants to turn, just to warn everyone behind him that he’s thinking about it. He taps his brakes a few times to get the attention of the following drivers before he actually slows. He rents a room from Indifference. He tried home ownership, but he could never get around to all the upkeep and repairs. He wears faded denim shirts over dingy white tees. He keeps forgetting to buy bleach. No one really likes him; he knows that and is a little embarrassed by it, but it doesn’t keep him away from the family reunion.

Perseverance

Perseverance is a marathon runner. She insists on running even during thunder storms. She sings to herself to keep her mind off her tired legs and aching feet. Perseverance is good friends with Stubbornness and Pigheadedness. People sometimes get them confused, but Perseverance is the pretty one.

—

I’ve decided I like them both. I feel like I’m in the midst of a marathon and I particularly like the idea that between Stubbornness, Pigheadedness, and Perseverance, Perseverance is the pretty one. I needed to be reminded of that today.

What do you think? How would you describe either Procrastination or Perseverance? Or another of the qualities?

Book Talk Tuesday: Until We Touch

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Today, I’m talking about the third in Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold 2014 releases, Until We Touch.

book_june2014This is Jack and Larissa’s story and it’s wonderful!

Jack McGarry is one of the newcomers to Fool’s Gold. His PR firm, SCORE, moved to town a few months ago and he’s enjoyed being part of the community and watching his business partners and friends settle in.

Larissa Owen’s is the firm’s massage therapist (three of SCORE’s four partners are retired NFL players) and Jack’s personal assistant.

The previous books have hinted at Larissa’s connection to the emotionally unavailable Jack and I looked forward to seeing how Mallery would work that out.

Larissa loves a rescue and a cause. She’s often called to help find homes for wayward animals and she directs Jack’s charitable causes, especially transplant patients.

Jack suffered a loss years ago and he’s compensated by not allowing anyone to get too close. So how did Larissa get to him and why didn’t he notice until it was too late?

I found Until We Touch particularly satisfying emotionally. I’ve said before that I didn’t care for Mallery’s heroes penchant for running away before they have their epiphany. Jack definitely retreated, but in a way that made sense to me. Then his epiphany and turn around worked. Also, there was less sex in this one, a plus for me, and the first sex scene didn’t happen until at least two/thirds of the way in, and I have to say I liked it. Not just because these books push my steaminess boundary, but I think the increased tension added to the richness of the story.

The town of Fool’s Gold is not quite as much a character as in past books, but we still get a definite taste for the feeling of community. Mayor Marsha is up to her usual tricks. Several new characters are introduced who will likely be the focus of next summer’s books and I can’t wait. I’m especially looking forward to Bailey and Kenny’s story. I can’t wait to see how Kenny will fold and surrender to the inevitability of love in Fool’s Gold, California.

My recommendation: Two thumbs up!

————-

I received a free copy of Until We Met, in return for a honest review.

Media Monday: Tag, you’re it!

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Every so often, like a chain letter, blog tour tags come along. When you’re tagged, you follow the instructions, play a while, then tag someone else and pass it along.

header 3Last week I was tagged by the lovely Marnee Bailey. You can read her blog here.

So, I’ve taken the baton. Here’s my post:

What am I working on?

My current Work-in-Progress (WIP) is a contemporary women’s fiction story about a successful radio psychologist who discovers she sacrificed her family for her career on the same day she achieves and loses her dream job.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I write squeaky clean stories about real people in the real world. It’s not that my characters are inherently good, but they do try to make the world a better place. They have sex, they yell at their kids and spouse, they even swear occasionally, but just like I don’t want anyone else spying on me doing those things, I try to let my characters also do those things off the page.

 

Why do I write what I do?

I write stories that won’t let go of me. I want to know how Ginger, the radio psychologist will put her life back together after it falls apart.

How does your writing process work?

Typically, I write a very rough first draft pretty darn quickly. In a month or six weeks. Then I take several months going over it, rewriting, editing, polishing. I take it to my local critique group a chapter a week, and I send it to several online critique partners, then it finally goes to a friend or my husband for a beta read.

When I’m fast-drafting, I write 3,000 to 5,000 words a day and I do very little else. The dishes, laundry and dust bunnies all attest to that.

Speaking of doing little else, I’ve had a very busy few weeks and I neglected to line up anyone else to tag next. I’m going to go ahead and post this, and then find a friend or two to pass the baton to.

UPDATE: The lovely and talented Victoria Pitts Caine has agreed to step up. Check out her blog next week for a peek inside her writing process.