Guest Blogging!

Come check me out over here!

I'm guest blogging on my publishers site!

Two more days until release day!

Behave!

Blog Visiting...

I'm over at Julie Doherty's blog!
She put together some questions for Ben, the hero in Cursed Fate.
I had a lot of fun with the questions, though things were so crazy when I was answering them...
Stop by and learn a little bit about Ben!
Behave!

Welcome, Cera duBois!

Join me in welcoming friend and amazing writer, Cera duBois!
Cera, thanks for stopping by. My blog is yours...
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Thank you, Vicki for letting come on your blog today.

Recently while answering interview questions for the release of my debut contemporary western romance, I came across one that had me revisiting one of the hardest scenes I’d ever written.

I think the question was probably asking which scene was the hardest to write because of writer’s block or for technical reasons. But I chose the scene from my latest release, A Hunter’s Blade, as one of the toughest to write for emotional reasons.

The scene is one of the turning points in the story and it involves the heroine’s cabin being set on fire and the hero having to save her life. Brigit is a 365 year old Lykan (she was born a werewolf) and  the hero is a yearling vampire. Both of them have one thing in common—fire is one of the very few things that will kill them.

What made this scene so hard for me wasn’t writing the technical ins and outs of the fire or the action of the hero trying to find a way into the inferno before it totally engulfed the cabin. This scene had me in tears and had me seriously trying to come up with an alternative scene because I wrote it literally days after my younger brother’s funeral.

In September 2011, my 36 year old brother sustained fatal burns from a fire that had destroyed his home. We hadn’t been close for years, but I loved him and by writing this scene it had me reliving what he may have experienced. Needless to say, it was tough and hopefully I never write another scene that as emotionally drained me as that one did.

Have you ever written or read a scene that emotionally exhausted you?

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Blurb:

Brigit Wolfe, a born werewolf, hasn’t killed a human in over a hundred years, although now, she wonders if the animal attacking people in Silver Creek, Colorado, isn’t her. But she might have bigger problems when her cowboy neighbor, Austin Calhoun, ambles into her bar. Austin hasn’t been a vampire for long, but he is determined to prove to himself that he’s worthy of his hunter’s dagger. Brigit’s rare beauty and blade-sharp tongue enchants him. She ignites a passion he thought was dead, but is she the killer his master sent him to destroy? During Austin’s investigation regarding Brigit’s involvement in the deaths, an old crime surfaces connected to her human best friend. These two immortal enemies have to join forces to solve the mystery before someone else dies. But can they survive the heat of their own desire?

Excerpt:

She stopped in front of him and growled, “Let’s get something established about werewolves. There are two kinds. The lesser wolves who are made. And the Lykan who are born. I’m not one of the degenerates. I was born a Lykan in 1647. The first child of Valeriu and Elena. I’m an alpha and you are nothing more than a fledgling just hatched.”

He broke free of her power by drawing on his own. When he moved toward her, Austin held his hands to his side, ready to grab the hunter’s dagger sheathed inside his jacket. His fangs had long ago descended ready for a fight. “I don’t really give a flying fuck whether you were made, born, or hatched.”

When the energy of Brigit’s power touched him again, he pulled the silver blade. “I want to know if you’re the one preying on these people.”

Her eyes widened and she backed up a step as he approached. “I told you I didn’t attack those humans. I haven’t killed a mortal in over a hundred years. How many innocents have you snacked on tonight? How many of them did you want to kill?”

“I don’t hurt my prey,” he said through clenched teeth. He’d never let her know battling the beast within every feeding was the hardest thing he’d ever done. “If you didn’t kill those people then you have nothing to worry about. Best way to figure out who did is by working together.” He put the sliver blade away, and his fangs retracted.

“What do you have planned?”

Austin didn’t miss the slight quiver in her voice. “We begin with you telling me everything you remember from those nights you became the big, bad wolf.”

Buy Links:

Amazon | The Wild Rose Press | Barnes and Noble

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Bio:

Cera duBois has a strong belief in never giving up on your dreams…

Although Cera was unable to read due to dyslexia and a learning disability until she was in the fourth grade, she always had a story to tell. She wrote her first novel in eleventh grade when she had to keep a journal for her academic English class. Since her life was far from exciting growing up as a farm girl in West Central Pennsylvania, she decided to rely on her imagination to give her something to write about. Over the course of the school year, she wrote a tangled romance set in the Deep South during the Civil War.  Becoming an author was her ultimate dream. Despite holding a BS in secondary social studies education from Penn State University, she currently works full-time as a medical secretary. A mother of a teenage son and pre-teen daughter, she lives near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with her husband of nearly 20 years. If she isn’t sitting in a quiet corner with her laptop, warm days will find her in the English garden surrounding her house. Cera loves to read and is interested in history, romance, science fiction and the paranormal. She also writes contemporary Westerns under her real name of Sara Walter Ellwood.

Website Links:

Website/Blog | Facebook | Twitter

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Thanks, Cera! I can't wait to read A Hunter's Blade! 

Behave!

Another Chance to Win...And Some Other Stuff...

First off - Let me report that I am a virus asskicking ninja! I knocked K2's virus totally OUT! Like a bitch! Okay, it was a long fight and I almost lost - especially after a very late phone call to my computer whiz brother. I followed his advice, but apparently missed something, so ended up doing things my own way and finally...at 2am...I prevailed. Whoot!!
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I am ready for the Christmas Tree (the one that's been on the patio for a week) to come in the house. I hope we have time this week. We'll see. I am not entirely sure I'm ready for Christmas, but I'm trying.
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The dryer is officially on the fritz. The man thinks the "reignitor" spazzed out. It starts off with a bang and then quits. Yay.
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Okay, so if you entered to win Megan Hart's new book All Fall Down, and didn't get picked. Check her out at Misty Simon's blog!
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That is all!
Behave!

Guest Blogger - Megan Hart!

Hey! This is a first time thing here on the blog! My very first guest blogger! Come on in and get to know friend and awesome author, Megan Hart!

Tell us a little bit about your new book:
All Fall Down is the story of a young woman raised in a cult who, along with her three young children, is forced by her mother to leave and find her biological father who has no idea he has a child. Sunshine and her kids, Happy, Peace and Bliss, end up on her dad's doorstep where her stepmother Liesel convinces him that taking them in is the right thing to do. Liesel's been longing for a family for a long time, but she soon discovers an instant family is more than she bargained for.

1. What was your favorite part about writing this book?

Connecting the pieces between Sunshine's past life in the cult and her life in the "normal" world. Also, finishing it. That's usually my favorite part of any book.

2. Worst part?

Hmm. The revisions.

Random Writing Questions:

1. Being able to stay home and write full time again is my dream. We both know there are pitfalls. What's the worst for you?

Managing my time. I often feel like I write *all* the time because instead of managing my time, I fool around and end up taking a whole day to do what I should've been able to do in a few hours. I feel like if only I could get a handle on things, I could write, THEN watch tv or play on the internet, but I can't seem to always do that right.

2. What's your typical writing day like?

Once the family is dispatched to the outside world and I've exercised and showered, I sit down at my computer, usually about 9 am. Then I work on whatever needs doing -- writing, revisions, promotion, etc. with ample breaks until about 3 pm when my first kid gets home. Then a little more until the second kid gets home and it's time for dinner. Then I might hit the desk again later to work on promo or catch up on anything I need to finish.

3.. What's your favorite part of being able to write full time?
Being able to stay home all day. :0)

Silly Questions:

1. Have you ever seen a ghost? For real?

I think so, but I'm not sure.

2. Do you want to?

NO. But...yes.

3. Peanut butter - with or without jelly?

Strawberry!

4. Would you rather eat bugs or shave your eyebrows?

Oh, wow. Definitely shave my eyebrows.

5. What would you do if I gave you a box full of monkeys? (cute, little ones)

Hmm. Probably invest in some diapers for them.

In the midst of a chaotic midnight assembly, Sunshine is forced out into the darkness. Holding a scrap of paper scrawled with a stranger’s name and address, Sunny grasps the hands of her three small children and begins her escape.
Liesel Albright has dreamed of starting a family. She never bargained on inheriting one already in progress…or one so deeply damaged. When nineteen-year-old Sunshine appears on the Albright’s doorstep claiming Liesel’s husband Chris is her father, all they can think to offer is temporary shelter. The next day, they’re stunned by the news that the Family of Superior Bliss, led by a charismatic zealot, has committed mass suicide. Sunny and her children haven’t just left the compound–they’ve been left behind.
Now, instead of a baby of her own, Liesel must play mother to the four survivors while Chris retreats into guilt and denial. For Sunny, however, a lifetime of teachings is not easily unlearned. No matter how hard she tries to forget, an ominous catechism echoes in her mind, urging her to finish what the Family started.

Okay. One commentor gets a copy of All Fall Down! Say something!

Behave!