A Healer's Bond--A Connection Between Readers and an Author

Sixteen months ago, I wanted to do something that helped me connect to readers and lovers of I/R romance. At my group, The Color of Love, a group of readers and authors often had discussions of books and stories, after it was published. So, I decided to do the Project Unity via the members of my group. That project would help unify my relationship with my readers. Each month the readers of my newsletter, Blue News, will vote on what should happen next in the story I was writing. For sixteen months, we did this. I'd write, and the readers would vote. Some ideas were more popular than others and more than one occasion we had a tie, but in the end, I think, one of the best stories I've ever written emerged.
That story is A Healer's Bond.
The bond between myself and those who read my work was strengthened. Now I have friends, not just random names on the boards.

Enjoy,

RaeLynn Blue

Promo:
Title: A Healer's Bond
Author: RaeLynn Blue
Publisher: Mocha Memoirs Press, LLC
Genre: Paranormal I/R Erotic Romance (BW/WM)
Price: $5.00
Purchase Link: http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/a-healers-bond/9076817
It will also be available from ARe
Blurb: The John Doe bleeding out on the ER gurney had to be the sexiest man Adele had ever seen. Too beautiful to die. As an ER nurse, she works to save him, but her connection--to him lingers long after he's out of danger. What she didn’t expect was that before the night was over, her life would end up in his strong, surprisingly capable hands. Wyatt Young’s exile had few perks—condemned to Greensboro, he had a steady stream of loud, cranky people, and lousy food. Constantly hunted by his uncle, he’s startled when he wake up shirtless in a hospital, with his sword missing and his torso ripped apart. A beautiful healer helps him recover—a healer he can’t stop thinking about even when he passes out. A bond is formed between Adele and Wyatt—one they can’t fight. Wyatt’s uncle seeks to make Adele his personal healer—at any cost. Adele is the key to Wyatt’s salvation and his redemption. He won’t let her go without a fight. Ever.

New Release--"Trolling Nights: Interludes"

Hey, y'all! Have you missed Tim and Bevin Capshaw? Fret not! I just posted up a collection of short stories featuring the Capshaws. Two may be familiar to you while one is completely new. I'm trying a new publisher/distributor, also. Please let me know if there are any issues. I hope you enjoy and thank you so much for your support!

Best,

Savannah

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"The First Weekend" Timothy Capshaw celebrates his first weekend in Charleston and sees someone he knows will make his trip more worthwhile than he'd ever imagined.

"Always Sweet" Bevin Moore's act of charity unsettles her in delicious ways.

"Welcome Home" Tim's return to an empty house from a three-month mission overseas wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind.

"TROLLING NIGHTS: INTERLUDES"

New Paperback Release from RaeLynn Blue

For the first time in a long while, two of my works in the Somethin' Cookin' are in one paperback collection. Both Thelma's Eatery and Cook's Choice are available in trade paperback from Mocha Memoirs Press. Both titles are also available in ebook format (.pdf) too.

Title: Somethin' Cookin
ISBN: 978-0-557-55278-8
Genre: I/R Erotic Romance, Multicultural Erotic Romance
Publisher: Mocha Memoirs Press
Paperback $16.00 Ebook: $6.49
Blurb: The cooks, waitresses, hostesses, and owners in the pages of this book do more than take orders. What they cook up isn’t always on the menu. Find out what’s really cookin’ in this collection of saucy and sexy interracial romance stories! This collection includes RaeLynn Blue's highy reviewed Thelma's Eatery and a follow-up story, Cook's Choice.

Ties That Biind Part Three

Lady Rienne's rise to power continues. Just how does she steal Baptiste from her cousin? The next installment of the Chevalier prequel, Ties That Bind Part 3 is on sale now on my website exclusively. http://www.sharaazod.com/ebook/ties-bind-iii.html

Do You Feel a Connection?

Have you ever read a story or a series of stories and become so connected to the characters that you feel as if you know them? This was a thought running through my mind recently as a I finished a book where not only did I connect with the characters and fall head over heels in (book) love with the hero, but the hero had brothers! Maybe the premise is to your favorite soap opera. If you don’t currently watch the soaps, I’m sure most of you grew up with parents who did. The twists and turns, the failures and successes, the love and drama, the soaps can pull you in so far that you find yourself speaking about the characters as if they live two doors down from you. As if every other Sunday you’re going to each others house for a cookout.

Some books can do that for us. The women become our friends and we connect with them because we see ourselves in them. We understand the challenges they are facing, whether they are falling in love for the first time, healing a hurt caused by a former lover, or fighting for a life—a love—that is like nothing they’ve ever felt before. We often times cheer for them as they find courage and strength, while at the same time yelling at them to “just give him a chance.”

With these stories, the hero is inevitably someone who epitomizes the type of man, husband, lover, father, we all wish for. While he may have his flaws and failings, they can be forgiven. Why? Because he loves his family more than his own life and he would die to protect them. Because he is strong enough and badass enough to make sure it never comes to that. And when he finds the woman of his heart, he recognizes this and will do whatever it takes to keep her. These are the type of men that draw us in and keep us connected to their life long after the story has ended.

I have a few books in library that impact me this way. I can picture the characters so vividly that I can build a “movie” as I read the story. This is a sign of a great storyteller. Not necessarily someone who is simply good at putting words to paper and writing a book, but a true, blue “storyteller.” They build and weave this other reality and while we all recognize doesn’t really exist, the hopes and dreams of the characters seem real to us and we never want to let them go.

Do you feel the same way? Have you ever felt a bond with a story or character that you felt as if you knew them? Tell us about it.

Ciao!

Reana Malori

Keeping the Heroine Real

As a writer of paranormal, fantasy, and science fiction you may find the title of this blogpost strange. It’s not really. Most of my audience are women, and the heroine must be real—even if her environment may be purely fiction.

Don’t worry. None of my heroines come from anyone real, but her behaviors must be. If you read Reana’s blog post about what books make it to her keeper shelf, you noticed the first entry into that list is not a weak heroine.

So, how do I keep each heroine realistic?

I attempt to think in terms of her being a real person. Take for example, Sienna of Cook’s Choice. I thought long and hard about her background, her family, the fact that she’s bi-racial, that her father died and that she lost her mother earlier in her life. All of these factors become her profile and I began to visualize her as a real, breathing person—something Sienna’s very proud of. From there she guides my hand as to what she will and won’t do.

The same holds true for each of my characters—both hero and heroines, and I attempt to allow them room to talk to me. That is easier said then done sometimes.

But here’s how I keep them realistic:

1. She must have a history and a background including family, friends, and employment.
2. She must have a voice and something to say that women will identify with.
3. She must be ripe—Ready, Intelligent, Poised, and Excited to tell her story.
4. She must be entertaining—at least to me.

This is a rough list of what I mentally go through in order to create a realistic character.

Do you agree? Did I miss something important? Which of my characters do you think are the most realistic?

Best,
RaeLynn Blue

The EPIC Awards are Coming!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PERMISSION TO FORWARD GRANTED




Twelfth Annual EPIC EBook Competition (July 15-Aug. 15, 2010)
EPIC’s ebook competition, the oldest continuing competition honoring ebooks and the e-publishing industry, is a premier event for authors and publishing houses. It opens for submission entries on July 15, 2010, accepting entries through midnight (CST) August 15, 2010. Entries must be e-published between June 1, 2009 and May 31, 2010. The Competition Guide will be on EPIC’s website (www.epicauthors.com) on June 1.

Judges consist of active EPIC Members and guest judges, all of whom are either published authors or publishing professionals. Entries are judge in two rounds, with finalists announced during the first week of November 2010.

The 2011 New Voices Young Writers Competition (Aug. 1 – Oct. 20, 2010)
EPIC’s membership supports ebook education within public, private, and home school environments with this popular global competition for young authors. The New Voices Young Writers Competition opens for submissions from August 1, 2010 through October 20, 2010, and introduces young authors to the exciting world and possibilities of ebooks and e-publishing - the wave of the literary future.

We invite middle school- and high school-aged authors, ranging in ages from thirteen through eighteen years old, to submit essays, poems, and short stories in this growing competition. If you are a young writer, with a desire to fine-tune your craft with constructive feedback from industry and education professionals, please consider entering our competition. The guidelines will be found on the New Voices website: http://newvoicesyoungwriters.com/ in July 2010.

If you are a parent, teacher, or librarian, you may request brochures by email from epic.competition.chair@gmail.com. Please supply your name, mailing address, best email contact, and contact phone number as well as the quantity you desire. Mailing takes about 3 weeks, so please be patient.


EPIC's 2011 Art Competition (Nov.1 – Nov. 15, 2010)
Also in its twelfth year is a competition that honors the finest selection of cover art for electronically published books. Details will be available on the EPIC website (www.epicauthors.com) the first part of October 2010 with entries accepted from November 1, 2010 through November 15, 2010.

Covers go through two rounds of judging by EPIC’s membership, with finalists (in category) awarded the ARIANA before moving on to the final round. The ultimate winner, the artist whose work receives the most membership votes, is celebrated with EPIC’s highest honor for art - the QUASAR.

EPICon Conference (March 10 – March 13, 2011 in Williamsburg, Virginia)
All awards, other than those for the New Voices Young Writers competition, will be presented during EPIC’s 2011 EPICon conference's gala award ceremony March 13, 2011 in Williamsburg, Virginia. The New Voices Young Writers awards ship to winners, and their indicated schools/libraries, within six months of EPIC’s conference.

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EPIC – Electronically Published Internet Connection is a non-profit, professional organization for published and contracted ebook and print authors that was established to provide a strong voice for electronic publishing—the major publishing marketplace of the future.