Conversations With Characters #13

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My brain has been going off in weird directions lately. I blame it on the fact we just binged The Diplomat on Netflix.

Me: Hello? Anyone want to come out to play?
Him: Whatcha got?
Me: Dunno. Hero, heroine, villain. Thinking revenge. Enemies to lovers. Maybe unalive someone evil for funsies. Need you to have a shovel and a morally gray character.
Him: Backhoe. It’s faster.
Me: I can roll with that. Shirtless? Glistening? Next to a huge piece of machinery? With *ideas?*
Him: You’re obsessed with male bodies. I can roll with it. We get busy afterward?
Me: You and the heroine aren’t together yet. But you’re defending her honor to show off. Someone who hurt her.
Him: If that happens, I don’t have time for a backhoe. I leave him in a ditch.
Me: Evidence.
Him: I’ll pin it on you.
Me: Fiction, remember?
Him: Do you think the FBI will believe that when they get a load of your search history?
Me: It’s not that bad.
Him: <<clears throat and begins to read>> Is fire the only method to remove blood evidence? Can someone leave fingerprints on a body?
Me: Okay, okay. We won’t unalive anyone.
Him: So, instead, I make her scream my name in ecstasy so loudly the whales in the ocean answer? Birds startle in the trees in South Africa? The moon’s distance shifts?
Me: You’re weird.
Him: Welcome to your brain.

Australia!

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RAREMelbourne was a-mazing. Australian readers are so lovely–and polite. And there is so much to say about the country itself. It’s a happy place.

At the book event, I had to become a SWAG pusher because very few people wanted to take any of the eyeglass cloths, buttons and stickers and bookmarks I brought at first thinking it was impolite to snag “too much.” Never too much!

We also spent time down under touring, finding Koala bears in trees, kangaroos in fields, gorgeous birds *everywhere*. Plus the wine! OMG. They have the BEST wine. I did the legwork, trust me. So. Much. Wine. I hope you caught some of the pictures I posted in Elizabeth’s Playroom and my Instagram feed.

Now I’m back and have three books I’m working on because Australia gave me ideas. Watch my newsletter as well as here for more!

In the meantime, here’s a koala for you! Sighted on the Great Ocean Road.

This Week’s Writing Playlist

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Sometimes I write to music, like this song by SVRCINA called Meet Me On The Battlefield.

Something about these lyrics, in this particular arrangement, pulls at my heartstrings. It’s a song about Gen X, I think. But it also makes me think of Phoenix Rising from Tough Break.

Haven’t read this Shakedown book yet? It’s probably one of my most angsty, deep feel-y books I’d written since Invincible. I cried SO MUCH writing this book. My husband even came into my office one time and said “what are you writing?” My answer? Redemption. Justice. Absolution. Love. (He did what he always did. Simply said “Well, be careful.” Then left. LOL)

The picture above was one of my strongest inspiration images during the writing of Tough Break. To me, this picture speaks to being both tough and vulnerable, like Phoenix.

Want to read the entire Shakedown series at a discount? Check out the Shakedown Boxed Set here.

Conversations With Characters #12

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A sneak peek into my conversations with random characters that show up with story ideas. Some are better than others!

Him: Okay, so we’re at a wedding and I slept with one of the bridesmaids and she’s now stalking me and I run into a broom closet to escape where I find–
Me: Stop. I can’t start a new story. I’m not bringing my laptop to Australia.
Him: Ah, but I run into a woman in the closet, Clementine, who hates me.
Me: What did you do to her?
Him: What happened to not being interested and not bringing your laptop to start a new book?
Me: I’m not. If it’s a great idea, I’ll remember it when I get home.
Him: [[Bent over in laughter, waving his arms]] Stop. You’re killing me. Your brain’s a sieve.
Me: Excuse me, but you’re the one who has to make it memorable.
Him: [[Rises up to full height, wipes tears from eyes]] She’s a veterinarian who saved my dog so I asked her out only she didn’t show because her father suddenly died, and then I showed up to the funeral only to find out she was married, and then I started dating her sister. But she dumps me, and I get invited to her wedding. I go, naturally.
Me: What do you mean “naturally?”
Him: Weddings are fabulous places to meet women. Anyway, I see Clementine there, find out her sister is marrying her ex husband.
Me: Who’s ex husband?
Him: Clementine’s. Try to keep up.
Me: So now Clementine is divorced, you lock eyes across a crowded room and fall in love?
Him: No, no. See? Your brain is a sieve. I run into the broom closet and find Clementine there balling her eyes out. So, I suggest a plan. We have sex in the bridal suite upstairs. It’s a revenge story–
Me: Alright. I’ll consider bringing my laptop. But why does Clementine hate you? Were you terrible in bed? 
Him: Pfft. Hardly. I might have snuck out, and the sister and ex-husband-now brother-in-law found her asleep in their bed alone. Clementine was exhausted from her screaming out my name in ecstasy.
Me: You left her? Coward.
Him: What? I left a note.
Me: So leaving the laptop at home.

Conversations With Characters #11

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Me: I am loving this new story.
Him: I knew you’d love me.
Me:  Actually the heroine–
Him: Is in love with me, too.
Me: We haven’t gotten to that chapter yet.
Him: We’re way ahead of you. We’re… practicing.
Me: Can I watch?
Him: No, you perv–
Me: Hey, do not yuck my yum. Besides, don’t you care I get the details right?
Him: Details? I’m magnificent. She sees stars. I’ve ruined her for anyone else. Her vagina is mine.
Me: Can I talk to her? This “future” her?
Him: She’s recovering.
Me: From what? If you hurt her…
Him: Relax. I sent her to Hawaii where I’ll meet her in a few hours.
Me: Hawaii? We can’t go to–
Him: Writing trip. Tax write off.
Me: Oh.
Him: You’re already packing, aren’t you?
Me: Shut up. I’m busy finding my summer clothes.

It’s any wonder I ever get a story written! LOL