THAT CLEVER VONNIE DAVIS!

Coming up with a new topic for our blogs gets harder all the time, doesn’t it?  But I’m typing with new energy today, because one of my blogs spurred Vonnie Davis to write a scene and that vignette led to her creating her second Honky Tonk entry.  Better yet, she just told me yesterday, TWRP is sending a contract for her story “Back Where You Belong."

Congratulations, Vonnie!

So here’s the cute story.  Desperate for a blog topic, I was gazing out my window at my orange tree.  I couldn’t see the critters, but I was well aware that more snails than oranges hung from that tree, and it was my job to get the ding-dang things off those leaves pronto. 

Since snails were on my mind, I wrote about them.  Trying to be positive, I considered the ‘blessings’ of the snail, even their use as a food…escargot.  And then I wrote:

Typical romance writer that I am, the sex life of an edible snail does interest me. Not only are snails bisexual, but they throw love darts at each other.  They are reproducing like mad (love darts shooting everywhere!) and slowly chomping away at my orange tree.  Anybody want a truckload of edible snails? 

Vonnie zeroed in on the love darts.  She tells me a scene about a couple came fully formed into her head as soon as she read my blog (May, 2012), and the rest of the story developed easily from there.  In five months, she's got a contract!  Is that cool, or what?

One lesson is clear: we writers get our ideas from the most unlikely sources if we’re open to them.  Another truth: our blogs have worth!

Congratulations again, Vonnie.  We can’t wait to read your second Honky Tonk Hearts story!

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Love Scenes

This past weekend, I spent a whole day working on a major love scene in my work in progress. Laboring, sweating, deleting, rewriting while sighing, huffing and pulling my hair. Do you get the picture? No, I don’t think you can yet.


I usually start my love (or sex) scene with enthusiasm. Hey, everyone loves to watch Hero and Heroine gaze into each other’s eyes, trail a determined look down each other’s noses and linger to study each other’s lips. Should we go for it? Is it going to taste as good as it looks? Once they overcome an initial hesitation—so to speak because my alpha hero and assertive heroine always know what they want—they melt into each other’s arms, play, taste, devour. They have fun and like what they are doing. So why stop now? More exploration is in order.

In the old historical novels I used to love years ago, HE would take the lead in the next phase of the game. Now-a-days, SHE likes to show she is a woman of her time. During phase two, hands run from throat to waist and linger in between, and lips soon follow, without discrimination. Things get hot. To cool down, they open a few buttons and lower a couple of zippers. Often enough, the undressing has the opposite effect. They get warmer, even blazing hot, and they start a few moves to help each other cope with the situation, until they reach a mutually explosive satisfaction. Unless someone, or something, interrupts them, and then they will try again in the next chapter.

This is the basic plot of my love scene.

Since I usually layer my writing, I go back to check if Hero and Heroine display their emotions. After all, they are flesh and blood characters who live, love and suffer. They need to share their feelings with us. If not, I torture them until they do.

I forgot to mention I always try to choose an interesting setting that would put Hero and Heroine in the right mood. I also add a few sensorial details. The ocean breeze carrying the scent of her perfume. The taste of vodka on his lips. The callousness of his palm against the softness of her skin. Characters have to smell, taste, and feel to be real.

In theory it sounds easy enough. So why did I suffer so much to create my characters’ love scene?

Do you have difficulty writing a love scene? What do you think is essential to bring your love scenes to life?


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What’s a girl to do when she whispers another man’s name in her fiancé’s arms?


When forbidden dreams about the sexy French Dr. Yves Malroux assail her at every turn, Mary-Beth puts her wedding plans on hold. The man would probably not even remember the plump nerd she was three years ago before she lost her illusions faster than her pounds. Regardless, to be able to marry her fiancé without reservations, Mary-Beth needs to confront her past and flies to France for a summer training program in surgery with Yves.

But Yves never forgets an organ he removed from a patient or a woman he dated. And he never forgot the pretty student of Harvard Medical School who has turned into a stunning beauty and seems in serious need of coaching about spicing her serious life with some fun and passion.

While too many questions still swirled in her mind, her jealous fiancé summons her back home.

Will Mary-Beth let her heart decide who’s her right man? Will Yves break his no-strings-attached rule to offer love and commitment?