Prom Mania

Check out the fun at the Climbing Rose blog this month. We're celebrating Prom Mania with quizzes, free reads, and lots of prizes. Send your favorite teens to visit us or drop in yourself. Try a YA title--you might be surprised at how much fun it is.
And all Climbing Rose titles are discounted this month. So what do you have to lose?

Today's quiz is "Guess the Author." Yes, some Climbing Rose authors have been brave enough to submit their vintage prom photos. Check out the Author Bio section for current photos, and then see if you can guess who's who. Extra points for guessing the correct year or decade of the prom.

Nostalgic? Join us for some great memories!!

New blog featuring several TWRP authors!

Hey everyone, we'd love it if you would check us out. The Wicked Thorn and Roses blog is brand new, starting today! This week we will be interviewing each member to get to know each one a little better. Please stop by and see us. If you would be interested in link exchange, you can send an email to thornandroses@yahoo.com. Or, if you want to set up a guest interview, we'd be glad to do that, too.

Don't forget to leave a comment, we'd love to hear what you think and get to know you a little better, too. You can follow our blog by clicking on the "Posts RSS" link on the top bar or the "follow" link on the right sidebar of the page. Nothing would make us happier than to have a lot of friends to share with. Hope to see you there!

And the fun begins

I'm new to The Wild Roses Press and extremely new to blogging. I had to ask my teenage daughter all about it and she's like "Mum! You do this and this and then that ..." Hmmm. I think of myself as pretty up to date with technology but blogging just stumps me.

I'm currently up to day three of 50k's in 30 days, the Australian version of NaNoRiMo where I've challenged myself to write 50 000 words in 30 days. It's no mean feat! My hero won't behave ... he keeps sneaking in unauthorised touches and kisses and the heroine is aghast! He's also meant to be dead but you try telling him that. Plus my cat makes covert dashes across my keyboard trying to attack my fingers as I type. If he's not doing that, he's sitting in front of the screen and I can't see a thing ... or pressing the tab key ... He's a naughty boy!

I'm very excited about being signed to The Wild Roses Press and I can't wait to see my book cover and all those other good things. Keep an eye out for it - Illusions of Destiny.

K

May the force be with you

This has been a great year for me. My first book came out from The Wild Rose Press, more were contracted, and opportunity knocked at my door. What’s been part of my learning curve is to decide which opportunities to take. For introverts, opportunities can be scary things indeed.

There were festivals, near and far. I attended some in a booksigning capacity. I spoke at local organizations, at local writers’ groups, at regional conferences. There were blogs, interviews, press releases, and so many more opportunities to chose from.

What’s a newbie author to do? Especially an introvert like me.

First, take a deep breath. No one is making you do any of this stuff. You won’t get a bad grade if you skip something or if you say no.

That’s actually the hardest part, saying no.

Practice saying it with me right now: NO. You are not required to drive to an outdoor literary festival 4 hours away, pay $30 for the privilege of being there, and sit in the August heat all day hoping to make book sales to perfect strangers. You are not required to send press releases about your latest book to every newspaper within 100 miles.

In fact, you’re not required to do anything. But you will. You will do crazy things to make sales. You’ll do it in the name of networking, to help a friend, or just because it appeals to you.

That’s actually the key to happy promotion, in my opinion. Do the no-brainer stuff first, the stuff that’s easy or that you enjoy. Then chose something outside your comfort zone and do that. A little later, try something else. Keep track of how much time and effort these activities take. You’ll need that feedback for your next book.

Recently, I was asked to do the same talk two weeks in a row to different groups. I was highly stressed for the first talk but it went over great. I didn’t even sweat the second talk, until that morning when I wanted to look over my notes, and I couldn’t find them. My brain froze. Honest.

I could barely remember my name, much less my topic, which was “Ways to get started in writing.” I had a full fledged panic attack, then I realized what I was doing. I was all worked up about a talk I could do in my sleep. A few more deep breaths, and my brain unfroze. Then I remembered where I’d stashed the notes - in the tote with my books to sell. Duh. I gave the talk and I didn’t glance at my notes once.

Why? Because I believed in myself. Same as you believe in yourself. When you’re called upon to step outside your comfort zone, take that deep breath. Close your eyes and become fearless like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.

May the force be with you in all your promotional and writing events!
Maggie Toussaint
No Second Chance, electronic release 12/28/07 from The Wild Rose Press
http://www.maggietoussaint.com/
cross-posted at www.sweeterromanticnotions.com/blog

Which authors have influenced you?

To be a great writer you need to be a good reader. I'm often suspicious of the kind of folk who claim not to read but say they are good writers. I got to thinking, who has influenced my writing the most over the years?

Now, I can't just say it's any one particular author, more an amalgam of many.

The first author who made a huge impression on me as a child was Enid Blyton. I credit Ms. Blyton with being the person who made me the avid reader I am today. I enjoyed tales of The Famous Five and The Secret Seven, Six Bad Boys [and a book that probably wouldn't get published today, The Three Golliwogs.]

From Enid Blyton, I progressed to Irish author, Edna O'Brien. I was a tender seventeen years of age when I went to visit my Swedish penpal, Anna Enliden, in Jonkoping. The only English books they had in the house were by this author. I think Anna's mother must have been studying her texts years back in college. I was immediately hooked on Girl with Green Eyes and The Countrygirls. What I loved about both books is that there were written in the first person and were way ahead of their time. They were originally published in the 60s and probably the forerunner for Chick Lit as we know it today. O'Brien was scandalised in Ireland at the time and book burning parties took place by local priests. Even the author's own mother took a black marker pen to her books!

Fancy having such an impact on society!

Next, I progressed to the works of Jackie Collins. Okay her books are sexy and full of raunch, but so are Edna's to be honest with you. They're just not so in your face as Jackie's! Although Jackie's books have sex in them, I don't think there is that much and they're not that graphic, that's not why I read them anyhow. Believe it or not, it's her plot and characters that keep me on the edge of my seat turning page after page. It's hard to believe she's almost seventy years of age.

If there was one author I would love to be compared with, it is this lady. She is so ballsy. Sometimes I think she writes like a man. I love the way she brings in organised crime and villains to die for. She never writes at the computer, always in longhand.

I wouldn't be surprised if she carried on writing until her dying day!






Another influence of mine has been Rosamunde Pilcher. She of The Shell Seekers fame and Winter Solstice. I love the way she paints pictures with her words. I feel that I can see the surroundings she conjures up whether it's on the Cornish coast or the highlands of Scotland.

My most recent influence has been, Karen Rose. She writes mystery/suspense. I love the way she goes into the thoughts of her villains. I have tried this myself for my most recent novel and it's really brought the plot to life!

I think writing like this gave my novel a whole other dimension. I don't know as I write this, if the book will be accepted for publication, but I feel it's my best work yet.

Opening our minds to new styles of writing is good for us as authors. I watch The Richard and Judy bookclub and sometimes choose works by authors I have never heard of before and have been surprised to discover a new author whose work I might not have otherwise tried.

So, my question to you is: which authors have influenced you?