Friday, April 26, 2013

Jaguar Heat and A Highland Werewolf Wedding Blog Tour


Sometimes beginning a story is easy. Sometimes it isn't. I had an idea for the beginning, then tried to come up with something different, but when I reread the opening, I liked it...so I'm off and...running with it!!!

1969 Jaguar Series II E-type roadster

1969 Jaguar XKE Roadster for sale
I kept thinking I wanted one of my jaguars to have a jaguar car, so this is it. Don't you love it??? :)

Tammy Anderson, Maya and Connor's cousin, is getting to know David Patterson, Wade Patterson's brother, and already they are totally at odds.

I also learned that Jaguar Heat and the next Highland wolf story, A Hero of a Highland Wolf are coming out next spring! Woohoo! With Silence of the Wolf coming out in Feb, that makes 3. But that's not all! Mistletoe, Mayhem, and the Highland Wolf is scheduled for Oct. So another 4 books next year! Which means 3 that I have to write. :) 

Isn't he adorable? Well, sure, the Highland hunk on the cover, too!! But I found this little guy and fell in love with him. So I picked up four for the four conferences I'll be attending, and can't wait to display them on my book signing tables....one lucky winner will get him. :)

So what should his name be?

I'm all about jaguars right now, doing the final proof of Jaguar Fever, trying to keep up on word count for Jaguar Hunt, but with the new release of A Highland Werewolf Wedding, I had to put this little guy in charge of marketing the book. :)

He loves the cool Highlanders and wants a kilt too. :)

Also, this in from RomFan Reviews!!

Terry Spear and given us another hit to her Werewolf Series.  I don’t think I will ever get bored with her books as each one brings a new a delightful hero and heroine as well as a fun supporting cast.  As much as Cearnach fights the attraction he has to Elaine he cannot help but want to protect her and be near her.  Elaine has had a rough time with men in her life and the last thing she wants is another one ordering her around.  It doesn’t take these two long to realize they are destined to be together but there is someone who will do everything to prevent that from happening.

Who doesn’t like a story with highlanders that are also werewolves?  This series can keep going and going and I will be one of the first in line to buy it.  Kudos to Ms. Spears for another fun filled romance.  If you have not had the chance to pick up one of her books I suggest you start now with A Highland Werewolf Wedding.
Annette gives this book
 



Have a happy Wednesday!!! 

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com
And in just a few days, A Highland Werewolf Wedding will be released, 2nd of the 4 books to be released this year!

  A Highland Werewolf Wedding
 Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Coming May 7, 2013!


Here's where I'll be for the tour. :)

5/1    Vampire Romance Books
5/2    Long and Short Reviews
5/3    Simple Love of Reading
Weekend   
5/6    Casablanca Authors and History Undressed
5/7    Tea and Books
5/8    Proserpine Craving Books
5/9    Fresh Fiction
5/10    Open
Weekend   
5/13    Star-Crossed Romance
5/14    Book Lovin’ Mamas
5/15    Open
5/16    Manga Maniac Café
5/17    SOS Aloha
Weekend   
5/20    Romancing the Book
5/21    Literary Escapism
5/22    Kristina's Books and More
5/23    Open
5/24    Under the Covers
Weekend   
5/27    Open
5/28    The Qwillery
5/29    Open
5/30    RomFan

Life is too much fun... I'm off to make things worse for Tammy and David. You know what they say--all work and no play....

These too aren't playing nicely together at all though...

Have a super great TGIF!!!



Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Springing ahead!

I am finally making progress on my current books-in-progress. For a while I was worried I was losing my touch. I've never had writer's block before, so this was a shocker.

I went back to some old techniques I learned long ago, probably at an RWA conference. On my one WIP (a mystery story), I set a definite goal: I want it 80% done by July 4. That's 75 days from the day I set my goal. So I wrote 75, 74, 73, etc., on a piece of paper, have it by my computer, and every day, I cross off a day. Seeing those numbers marching down the page have given me incentive to sit down every day and at least TRY to write. Since I started, I'm on chapter 3. Whee!

On my other multi-book series, I was struggling to recapture the essence of one character. I have a LOT of characters in this series, both current and future, and I switch back and forth between 8 major characters as I follow their lives. I came up with Character Traits. I decided on 6 one-word traits to describe each major character and each minor (not REAL minor, but not major) characters. That's about 20 people, and I sat down one night and really thought through each one and found a list of traits somewhere, and added them to the wiki page I have for each character.

Now when I put a character in a situation, I can go back there and say, "Well, Catherine wouldn't have done that" and realize that the scene is "out of character" for her.

I am so delighted by these simple techniques to help me get back on track. I look forward every day to crossing off that number, knowing that I'm

Now it's back to Writing As Usual for me.

What a relief!

J L
jayellwilson.com

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Blogs - A Learning Experience

By Paisley Kirkpatrick
To blog or not to blog, is that the question? We have so many sites to choose from and so little time. Where do we start? Should be have our own blog, or post on other authors' blogs? Now days our time is limited and we want to spend our promotion time in the best places. One fact I've learned is readers like to get to know the authors of the books they love to read. Blogging is a good way to let them know who you are.
I write historicals and the series is set in a town I live near. I have a great, great grandfather who kept a journal while traveling across the plains in 1849. It is kept under glass at the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. I was able to use my great, great grandfather's birds-eye view of the wagon train life in my recent release titled Paradise Pines Series: Marriage Bargain. He had a great way of giving us a picture of what the day-by-day life on the wagon train was like.
My great, great grandmother is supposedly the first woman to have articles in magazines. These are of great assistance to me when I write my stories. They are also a point of interest when I speak about my writing and where I get my ideas.
Another good point at writing stories from the area where you live is photographs. Readers enjoy seeing the places you base your stories on as it gives them a visual when they read your story.
This hotel was my inspiration for Chaumers Hotel in Night Angel. The hotel manager was kind enough to let me photo both the outside and inside.
These 'gifts' from my ancestors give me a lot of different ideas to share about in blogs. They also give me a chance to tell about my family and our customs. The uniqueness of my life might be interesting to a reader who enjoys my stories. It also gives the stories authenticity and is proof I've done research and write stories about subjects that I have some knowledge about.

Monday, April 22, 2013

The Making of a Highlander Romance Novel Cover


Just Beyond the Garden Gate Cover Reveal

 
On Friday, I revealed a new cover at Across the Plain of Shining Books for my soon to be released self-published novel, Just Beyond the Garden Gate. Unlike Janet discussed in the ‘In Search of the Perfect Cover’ and ‘More Cover Mania’ posts, I designed the cover myself. I considered hiring a cover artist, but decided the money would be better spent on editing.

Available June 2013
I had no clue how to start. I’m not an artist and I never used Photoshop. So, I signed up for ‘Creating the Perfect Cover’ workshop with Andris Bear and Lily Smith, and downloaded a copy of Photoshop Elements 11. The workshop was great! Videos were used to present the lessons. I created several mockup covers during the two weeks.

Where to start? The royalty free picture sites. My first idea was to have a background image of a garden gate and add some symbols from the story—tartan plaid, sword, a brooch. I found the garden shot I used at iStock. I didn’t really want a hunk on the cover, but the first lesson was to check out the books published in your genre. Gah! The majority had gorgeous Highlanders on the covers. After some perusing of the images at Hot Damn Stock—so not a chore—I found my cover model. Brooks Johnson. Doesn’t he look great wearing a kilt and holding a sword?

I used comp images to create the mockups. Good thing. The first model image I used didn’t work. I ended up selecting a different image of Brooks. By using the comps for the mockups, I saved myself from purchasing an image I didn’t use. Once I had the mockups the way I wanted them, I purchased the images. Then I played around with the text, trying different fonts and colors. Originally, the title was in teal. I liked it, but the instructors recommended bright pink. Wow. What a difference. The title popped.

I absolutely adore the cover for Just Beyond the Garden Gate. Hope you like it too.

~Dawn Marie
 

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Have you 'sold' a book for free?


Writers often promote their careers by giving away books for free.

My daughter, Rachel, hopes jump-start her career as a film storyteller by shooting and posting a sketch comedy webseries she calls 'Middle America.' The show is about two German dancers, Guter Helmet and Anslag Slag, who relocate their unique dancing skills to the booming oil fields of North Dakota and find their eccentric selves completely out of place in that conservative rural community.

During Christmas vacation, I manned the camera for her first rehearsal in our family room. {My daughter is the blonde-wigged character.  She's been collecting the props in this picture for over a year.




Our hometown newspaper surprised her by featuring her extras casting call on the front page of the Wednesday paper: Filmmaker seeking 'non-actors' for new comedy series.  Rachel explained why she wanted to film in our small rural town. She asked for "flannel shirts and puppy printed sweatshirts" in a husband and wife team, an organist, a hotel manager, a quilting group, an outdoorsman and oil field workers. She hoped someone--anyone--would show up.

Thirty-one people came from four towns. Some were eager for show biz discovery. Others thought it would be fun to check off an item on their bucket list.

A German friend has offered dialect coaching. The lumber yard is offering plywood at cost. The new meat market on Main Street wants to serve $5 boxed lunches. A local bar has offered an upstairs space to build a set. (Guter and Aslaug will turn out to be terrible pole dancers. They'll have just three fans--the bar owner's twin 9-year old sons and his wheelchair-bound father.)

The crew will work for food--and to repay Rachel for seven years of producing their independent film projects. We'll borrow campers to house them--the camera operator, sound recorder, set electrician, set stylist, hair and make-up, assistant director. My son will build the sets. My daughter-in-law is scouting locations. My grandkids will run around getting extras to sign release forms.

Rachel is preparing the text and videos for a kickstarter.com campaign to raise $5500 for set materials and shooting expenses. With luck, and support from the universe, she'll shoot seven ten-minutes episodes in late June. And her show will be a hit.






Thursday, April 18, 2013

Reality and Fiction

I'm sure you have noticed the continuous stream of bad news that we have been cursed with in the recent months. Every time we turned on the TV there is some breaking news. An earthquake, a tornado, a hurricane, or a blizzard. These, we accept with resignation as Act of God.

As if it wasn't enough to painfully recover when nature goes berserk, we still have to cope with more craziness caused by men. Either another act of terrorism, or a new shooting by an insane person, or more attacks and killing abroad that affect our troops.

Will there be an end to the meanness surrounding us?

And yet every time there's a disaster, people rally and help, and show that there are more men of good will than we would ever imagine.

To keep our sanity in the middle of the crises around us, we need sweet romance, or fun stories, or fairy tales to fill our minds and soothe our hearts.

If you need to distract yourself and keep in touch with love and romance, here is a series of novels, Holiday Babies Series that will make you smile, tear and laugh--problems of the heart that are solved by understanding, trust and love.







Dedicated to her patients, the serious Dr. Madelyn Ramsay never had time for fun. Can she handle the charming and secretive Dr. Nick Preston who hides his own package of disillusions? Can she allow two newborn twins to worm their way into her heart?

Can he love a woman expecting another man’s baby? From KY, FL. & GA to Iraq and Germany, romance, emotion, and humor.


Barbara Ramsay has been a faithful wife, a widow loyal to her husband’s memory, and a dedicated mother and grandmother to her five grownup daughters and their babies. Why would anyone expect her to play the dating game at fifty-five?

HOW DO YOU COPE WITH THE DISASTERS AROUND US?

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

More cover mania

Last month I talked about covers and getting the perfect one for a book. This month I want to continue this theme in talking about the covers for the Gaian books I'm re-releasing next month. The books are Beloved Enemy and Beloved Traveler, and I wanted to make sure the new covers both enticed people to investigate the books and accurately reflected the contents as well.

When working with a cover artist it is very important that you spend a little time deciding what kind of cover you want. In this case I wanted covers that made it obvious these were science fiction romances, with space-themed backgrounds and couples that looked like the characters in the books. Knowing what I wanted made the process much easier.

For example if the characters are young, as in Beloved Enemy, you want them to look young. Since the heroine is spaceship pilot who has been stranded on a deserted planet for a while, then I wanted her cover image to not be wearing a lot of makeup. To me, this cover reflects well both the characters of Meagan and Kavath, but also says something about their relationship. He's reluctant to get into a relationship with her while she's a bit sassy about the whole thing. You can see that by the way they are posed.

For the second book, Beloved Traveler, the characters are older, and the images my cover artist picked showed that. Jack and Meagan have been through a lot in their lives and are reluctant to become involved, but can't resist the pull they feel towards each other. The passion they find is obvious in this cover. Again I think this cover reflects well who these characters are and their relationship.

In both covers the science fiction aspects are obvious, a strange planet in the first cover, a space ship control deck in the second.

In the cover for Promises To Keep,  the book I currently have for sale, the space theme is shown by the planet, stars, and space ship in the background.

To make the books all seem within the same series, the fonts are the same, my name is at the top, and the series name is in large letters at the bottom. There is no mistaking that these three books are related to each other.

Maybe you can't always judge a book by its cover, but if the cover is any good, it should be able to say something about the book.

So, anyone else have any covers to share?

Cheers,
Janet Miller

Sunday, April 14, 2013

FEAR, THE BACKBONE OF SUSPENSE by Rolynn Anderson


“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek,” said Joseph Campbell.  Talk about an apt description of fiction writers!  We are surrounded by deep, dark caves, so ominous that even Dante would scurry away from them.  What’s more, we’re in the habit of digging new caves daily, especially those of us who write suspense.  We immerse our characters into plots so complex and frightening that we may never pull our heroes and heroines out of the chaos to a plausible resolution.

These are my gaping caves at present.  What are yours?
1.  I wrote a novel in first person, then decided to change it to third person.  I’m deep into the change-up and it’s a time suck, for sure.  My fear…it’s not better or worse in third person.  All that work!

2.  I’m poised to write the third book in the Funeral Planner Series.  I’m afraid it won’t be as good as FADEOUT and SWOON.  Is three the charm?

 3.  I’ve written a normal paranormal, a new genre for me.  The dread: my publisher and readers won’t like it.

4.  A friend advised me to go spelunking in mystery/suspense (instead of suspense/romance).  Do I dare?

5. Marketing/promotion.  Darkest, most dreadful cave of all.  Terrifying how many wrong turns I’ve taken already searching for readers.  Paralysis setting in rapidly.

Thinking it might help us all to name our caves, why don’t you tell me yours?  Treasure-seeker, Rolynn

SUSPENSE SPIKED WITH ROMANCE 
Last Resort, Fadeout, Swoon
(all available now!)

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

New releases, new beginnings!

I have a new book out on Amazon (soon to be everywhere) about a man who masquerades as a woman at a writer's conference to out a murderer.

Oh, I had fun writing that one! Mick is a retired actor who is out to right an old wrong. In doing so, he manages to write a best-selling thriller about an old murder -- but it turns out the murderer is still out there, reading what he wrote -- what he wrote under his pen name, Micki.

Yep, he wrote it as a woman to protect his identity.

It's a lot of fun but it was a challenge. A woman writing a story in a male POV about a man who is undercover as a woman. Sort of Victor/Victoria.

Like I said: a lot of fun. That's my theme going forward (new beginnings, you see): I'm writing what I want to write, what's fun to write, and what strikes me as being interesting. I've done that mostly in the past, but I had a couple of books that I wrote because I thought I should (use those characters, use that plot). They didn't quite ring true.

So onward, to having fun again with writing!

Sunday, April 7, 2013

'Sea Panther' - 2013 GOLDEN HEART® Finalist

A Crimson Storm Paranormal Romance


I'm honored Sea Panther is a 2013 GOLDEN HEART® paranormal finalist. Here is the blurb:

After evading arrest for Jacobite activities, Scottish nobleman Robert MacLachlan turns privateer. A Caribbean Voodoo priestess curses him to an eternal existence as a vampire shifter torn between the dual natures of a Florida panther and an immortal blood-thirsting man. For centuries, he seeks to reverse the black magic whilst maintaining his honor. Cruising the twenty-first century Atlantic, he becomes shorthanded to sail his 90-foot yacht, Sea Panther. The last thing he wants is a female crewmember and the call of her blood

Although she swore never to sail again after her father died in a sailing accident, Kimberly Scot answers the captain's crew wanted ad to escape a hit man. She's lost everything, her fiancé, her job, and most of her money, along with money belonging to her ex-clients. A taste of Kimberly's blood convinces Robert she is the one woman who can claim the panther's heart. To break the curse, they travel back in time to where it all began—
Jamaica 1715.



If you have a moment, check out my new blog, Dawn Marie Hamilton Writes

~Dawn Marie

Friday, April 5, 2013

The Writer Attends the Family Reunion



Ever sit around your family reunion and eye everyone deciding what secondary character they might be in your next novel? Families are breeding grounds for material. A couple of years ago, I received some great advice at a writing group. Write your family novel the one where you were the overlooked child, or bullied by your siblings, or your father was absent due to divorce, death, or neglect. Get that novel out of your system, then, let it go.  Most people do not want to hear about your family unless your mother was Bette Davis.

Your family book may never get published, which is just as well. You might end up being unwelcome at the next reunion. My sister is writing a family tell-all book she deems non-fiction. In this charming tale, my name is terminator because of a cat I once threw in the pond. I was testing my theory if cats had nine lives.  Hey, I was only four.

My oldest sister is portrayed as a sadistic bully, who does her best to kill the author, my middle sister. My father comes off as a good-looking womanizer.  My mother is more like Charlie Brown’s teachers in these tales off to the side, but not interfering too much. Did we find out about this story by picking up the book in a bookstore? Not hardly, my sister treats me to an update every week of what she’s written. The truth is most of us do not remember these tales. We aren’t that thrilled to be portrayed as human or animal bullies. Something similar must have birthed the libel laws.

At our latest reunion, I brought my copy of Ladies Home Journal, where my picture and short article appeared. Suddenly, I was a writer.  I have had over 60 articles published in various magazines, appeared in about a dozen anthologies, and published nine books with Secret Cravings. Yet, none of that  counted  because It wasn’t part of their world.

On the other hand, I could be published in The New Yorker, and none of them would blink an eye. Often it is hard being a writer around your family.  My relatives congratulate me on my retirement, believing that I am catching up on my television viewing.  They are unaware that writers do not get weekends off, especially if they are in rewrites or edits.

Do any of you suffer similar challenges explaining writing to family members?

Thursday, April 4, 2013

High Price Of Self-Promotion



I attended conference last year where Jane Porter spoke. She is a popular Harlequin author. She flirted with other publishers, but stayed with Harlequin because all she had to do was write. She didn’t self-edit, design covers, hunt down a beta reader or write endless blogs. Her new potential editor wanted her to write a blog a week. She explained to her attentive audience, “Do you know how much time that would take? Then, you have to answer all those comments.”

Well, I do know how long it takes to write a blog a week, sometimes I write four. On a day, like today, I thought I posted when I didn’t. Often writers catch themselves coming and going while self-promoting, writing, having a family and a job, and any social life that doesn’t involve writing.

What works for the small press writer? At a recent INRWA meeting, romance writer Marie Force mentioned what didn’t work for her. Big expensive ads on RT, didn’t budge her sales one bit. The ads on Facebook that are supposed to target your audience fell flat too. Fans willingly did the legwork for her. People pasted information on their Facebook pages or tweet about Marie’s upcoming book. You can’t buy that type of advertisement.

As a small press author, I have small funds too. I heard about one person paying a couple of thousand for a publicist. In fact, I was contacted by a publicist to feature her author on novelspot.net, which is an absolutely free site to authors. She was paying for something she could do herself. I did contact the publicist who never followed with the book. I can’t review the book without reading it.

Often we pay for things, we shouldn’t. A good example of this are sites that will promote the first chapter of your book for a mere $50 a month. Readers have to pay to join, when they can read the first chapter of your book for free on Amazon. What do you think the reader will do?

A few friends spent huge amounts of money on swag hoping to promote their book. It depends on how useful that swag is if it is effective. I still have the emery board from my Jane Porter conference still in my purse. On the other hand, I probably littered the airport with various trading cards, bookmarks, and postcards as I left the NYC conference.

How do you know what works? What causes you to pick up or buy a book? Currently, I am a tour host for Goddess Fish books. It has exposed me to books that I may have never read before. As a tour host, I now have ten times the traffic than I did before. It also gives me an opportunity to network with other writers too. This costs me nothing, but about 30 minutes at night.

Some of you have tried the social media route, which is free, except for all the time it eats up. A recent radio survey denoted that people tend to unfriend or unfollow people who use their connection to make political remarks or push their book. I retweet my friends’ tweets because I have a connection with them and I want to be nice to them. If all a person does is promote her book using your social media, is she your friend?

Giveaways draw potential readers, right?  Jayne Ann Krentz shared the value of the prize does not mean you get the type of participant you’d like. If you offer a Kindle, all sorts of people will enter who will never read a romance in their life.  Starbucks will net you coffee drinkers, but often not readers. Amazon cards are sometimes a better bet because it will be spent on books, possibly yours. If you choose Rafflecoptor to award one prize instead of giving out a prize at each stop this may discourage people. Rafflecoptor also passes along viruses, probably not intentionally, but I see them pop up every time I use it.

  I love to hear what works for you.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Back Where You Belong by Vonnie Davis

FREE DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK AT AMAZON!!! DID I SAY "FREE"?
 
While shooting pool at the Lonesome Steer Honky Tonk, rancher Tyler Desmond takes an errant dart in the neck. Ready to retaliate, he’s instead captivated by the blonde who threw it. Tyler isn’t interested in opening his heart, so why does he kiss the verbal buzz saw? Just to shut her up?
 

As a teenager, Lacy LaRoche had a secret crush on Tyler. When the dart brings them face-to-face, all she can do is chatter—until he kisses her. But Lacy didn’t come back to Texas to fall in love. She’s hiding another secret: her roommate surreptitiously videotaped Lacy undressing and posted it on the internet.
 

When Tyler’s daughter is bullied at school, Lacy must reveal the truth and face the emotional damage of cyberbullying. Over-protective of his daughter—and his heart—Tyler must learn to trust again. Can two scarred hearts find their way back to where they belong?
 
 
OPENING SCENE--
 
What the hell?
 

Tyler Desmond whirled away from the shot he was about to make at the pool table to grasp for whatever caused the sudden, stinging pain at the back of his neck. When his fingers closed around a dart, he yanked the offending object out, searching through the crowd in the Lonesome Steer Honky Tonk for the bastard who dared throw one at him.
 

His cousin Billy Wayne leaned in close as if to examine the dart’s point of entry. “Damn, that’s gotta hurt.”
 

Tyler’s eyes narrowed on the culprit. The object of his wrath stood about eight feet away, her face glowing red like embers in a branding fire and eyes mushrooming when his gaze zeroed in on hers.

 

He handed his cue stick to Billy Wayne and growled, “Not as much as one female’s about to. You can be damn sure of that.”

 

Three women, her friends no doubt, scurried back to their table, leaving her to face him alone. He slowly sauntered toward her, gathering his words as he approached. He’d cut many men to size with his acidic tongue. This woman would be no different.

 

Nervous hands clasped and unclasped and then fiddled with curly blonde hair. Then, as if to prepare herself for their inevitable confrontation, she squared her shoulders.

 

Good move, lady. You’re going to need a dose of courage for I plan on giving you a verbal thrashing you’ll never forget.

 

He extended his hand, the offending dart lying in his palm. “I believe you lost this…in my neck.”

 

“Crap, yes, I did.” She plucked it from his hand. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.”

 

He placed his hands on his hips and glared into her blue eyes. “Really? Then who the hell were you aiming for?”

 

The woman had the audacity to giggle. “I…I wasn’t aiming for anyone. You see, Carrie Jo”–she jerked her thumb toward the table of women behind her–“bumped against my elbow just as I was shooting. She was horsing around, calling me ‘Dart Demon.’”

 

His gaze ricocheted toward the gaggle of women, all nodding and smiling. Two did a finger wave. He scowled as a dull ache settled behind his eyeballs. When Dart Demon leaned toward him, he got a whiff of her perfume and fought to ignore its beguiling, flowery scent.

 

“Just between us,” she began, her voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper, “she’s had too much to drink. Good thing I’m the designated driver tonight.” Her hand rose in a swearing gesture. “Honest. Nothing stronger than diet soda. See, Carrie Jo and her boyfriend are fighting again. They’re just not suited for each other.” Her blonde head shook once. “Ever notice how opposites attract? It’s the strangest thing, isn’t it?”

 

She pursed her lips, giving him no time to reply before she charged ahead like his prize Brahman bull. Evidently the woman didn’t need to breathe to talk. “He likes rap music and she likes country. He likes to play video games while she runs marathons and works out. He’s a slob and she’s a neat freak. Yet, they can’t keep their hands off each other. The chemistry’s there, but not the compatibility. Know what I mean?”

 

Tyler inhaled and opened his mouth, ready to start his tirade. But before one angry word could roll off his tongue, she commenced her nonsensical rambling again.

 

“That’s not why we’re here though. We’re here to celebrate. I sold an article to a magazine. My first!” A smile, brighter than a hill country sunrise, spread across her pretty face and niggled at one of his faint, long-forgotten memories.

 

“Isn’t that just too wild?” She pressed a hand to full breasts that strained a T-shirt imprinted with: I’m the strong, silent type.

 

Silent? Are you freakin’ kidding me?

 

“People keep telling me I have writing talent, but I’m not so sure. I guess you could say I have a lot of self-doubt.” Her blue-eyed gaze locked on his as she pursed those pink lips again. “I’m just not good with words, you know?”

 

Right, and I’m not good with raising cattle. The dull ache in his head ratcheted up a notch.

 

“I’m prattling, aren’t I? I am.” Those blonde curls bobbed again, and he wondered if they were as soft as they looked. “I prattle when I get nervous. Normally I’m quiet.” Nervous hands rose and fell. “Most days you can’t get a word out of me.”

 

Just my damn lucky day then, isn’t it?
 
BULL-RIDING...SECRETS...AND TEENAGE ANGST