Samhain Publishing Ltd. Weblog

Back To It

School…Work…Long pants…whatever you ignored for the summer, it’s time to pick it back up where you left off.

Par For The Course

It’s the birthday of my latest baby, Par For The Course. I can remember when this book was conceived, as I flipped through a magazine and a blurb informed me that the golf course club house was the new singles bar. It makes sense if you think about younger golfers – they have good jobs, usually a college degree, they own clothes without holes in them…

It made enough of an impression on my married self that I picked up a golf magazine targeting women…and was amazed! There were some super cute outfits, lots of accessories, and every golfer guy in the magazine was HAWT! Good marketing for them, great book idea for me.

I think the cover is quite cheeky, but there isn’t much actual golfing in the book. Jillian intends to larn how to golf, but having Ben stand behind her as she leans forward, his hands running down her arms, his breath on her neck…we’ll keep it PG here, folks! Let’s just say she finds better things to do than chase a ball around.
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Warning:: Fore! This title contains explicit sex, and a love story hazardous to your hankie supply. Oh, and exploding toads.

En-Titled

Remember how the Friends episodes were titled “The One With…” The writer in me thought someone must have forgot to replace the working title with something better. Seinfeld was the same way, most of the episodes started with The. The Bubble Boy. The Junior Mint.

But that’s TV. They can catch you with a few seconds of footage. We get a title. If it’s interesting someone might check out the cover. Still good, they’ll read the back cover blurb.

A title can be a blessing, a curse, or somewhere in between. We’ve all read those books with the truly telling titles – The Spanish Millionaire’s Virgin Bride of Revenge – or what have you. In those cases it can be looking past the title.

I know some people picked up my first Samhain release, Her Cinderella Complex, because they’ll read most anything with Cinderella in the title. I know, I’m one of those people. My next release, Par For The Course, has me a little worried. I don’t think there is a built in audience of readers looking to fantasize about professional golfers…but then, if you look at the younger players at the US Open…

What is it about a title that catches your eye? Is it something that tells you exactly what kind of story to expect (Her Cinderella Complex)? Something different that makes you want to know more (Screwing With Perfect)?
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Jenna is hard at work on…well, on sleeping. She just had a baby last month. Catch up with her on her blog (www.jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com) and look for Par For The Course, releasing in late July.

F^*# That!

Conversations have become so predictable. It seems whenever we are at a loss for words, there are a choice few phrases we fall back on. You know, the ones you cringe when you hear kids repeat. Really, we can do better.

We have done better. Before cable TV broadcast the f-word as a superlative we had lots of ways to express our excitement, exasperation, disgust. I find myself drawn to people who still manage to pull it off. My natural inclination is just to litter a few choice words into conversation to get my point across. But these words have become so blasé they’ve lost their effect on everyone but a first grader still trying to decipher exactly what the words are that get you sent to the principal.

My heroine in Her Cinderella Complex is one of those people who uses fun phrases to get her point across.

Glory be to Christmas trees.
Bless it.
Good granny.
Jolly holly sticks.

It was fun to write, and hopefully made that one time when she did pull out the f-word actually mean something.

What do you think about swearing? Do you cuss like a construction worker, or speak like a sweet church lady? Or are you in between, like the church ladies on Bingo night?

HER CINDERELLA COMPLEX by Jenna Bayley-Burke

The title came first. I have always had an addiction to romance novels, and anything with Cinderella in the title simply does it for me. The title popped into my head, I wron it down, and so began the story of a runaway bride who gets to have her honeymoon anyway.

I refused to plot this story, so when it started I wasn’t sure where it would end. In fact, where the book starts now is two chapters later than it did when I drafted it, but that is for the best. The story begins with Heather coming to work for Curtis, and really sets the tone for the successful boss and his fiesty assistant.

The story was fun to tell, especially peeling back the characters layer by layer. Does it make me a bad person that I enjoyed the emotional agony I put them through? Nah.

I worked everything I love about romance novels into this book – office romance, marriage of convenience, a private island, romantic situations, the quirky heroine, and a swimming pool scene I still get excited about. When I saw that my references to Great Expectations made it past my editor, I was in heaven!

Not since the first book have I enjoyed writing so much. Writing Her Cinderella Complex was fun from beginning to end!

Read an excerpt of HER CINDERELLA COMPLEX here:
http://samhainpublishing.com/excerpt/her-cinderella-complex

Jenna Bayey-Burke
http://www.jennabayleyburke.com/

And So It Begins...

Writing a book can be the most daunting of tasks. Anyone who’s ever attempted it knows what I am talking about. The absolute worst part for me? Knowing when to start a story.

If you start too early, the reader won’t bother sticking with it until it gets juicy. There are so many books out there, you have to be on top of your game to write something worth reading, and it starts at that first sentence.

If you start too late, the reader feels a bit lost, or like they are on an episode of the Twilight Zone, neither pleasant experiences. And stressing about when to start only adds to a writers anxiety.

The perennial question for authors is ‘where do you get your ideas?’ The idea part is easy. I have a million of those. The hard part is knowing of your story has enough conflict, enough emotional punch, to be worth reading. And of course knowing where to begin the story so as to maximize this.

This is what induces writers block. The only way to fix it that I’ve found is simply to start, even if it means you wind up chopping three chapters worth of writing before you find that perfect opening hook.

Once you find it, that sweet spot from which everything flows freely, writing is a blissful and freeing experience. Of course if it weren’t so great, no one would bother searching for that perfect first line.

Today I start a new story. It’s kind of like standing in line for Space Mountain. You know you’ll be thrashed about and terrified, but you can’t really see what is up ahead so you have to take it on faith that you’ll find your way out and be exhilarated because of the journey. And ready for ice cream. Lots of ice cream.

Jenna
http://www.jennabayleyburke.com/

Writing Out Loud...

My hands shake, my mouth goes dry, and my stomach does unspeakable things. I know this, have since junior high, and yet I still offer to give workshops and take my place at panels. Why? Because public speaking is just writing out loud.