Sarah, Where Have You Been?

I've been a bad blogger, but I promise to get better. What has kept me away from the computer these past few weeks? A lot of things...

I quit my day job a while back, and went to work with my husband. He (we) have a family business doing boat repair and since I was majorly unhappy at my day job, which led to stress at home, I threw in the towel and decided to help hubs out. Of course at the time I thought that would lead to more time to spend writing and 'chatting' online with my readers. *Sarah falls off chair laughing* Yeah, that didn't happen. But hey, the stress is waaayyy less now so that's fantastic!

Things are beginning to slow down for me as he moves into a time of year were the most I can do to help is run for parts, but alas, I'm still busy. I've been rearranging the house, moving furniture, painting and cleaning. I convinced hubs we needed new living room furniture the other day and he convinced me we needed a new TV. LOL  The great part of this is I WILL FINALLY GET MY OWN WRITING SPACE!

Wow, can you tell I'm psyched? I'm thinking I may get this desk since our home was built in 1868 so storage is always an issue. What do you think?

 

I don't want it against a wall, but facing the room so I like that no one will see what I have stashed in it since, let's face it, it won't look so organized or pretty if I'm using it to write. 

So that's what I've been up to. I hope you're all having a wonderful summer. I'll be back soon, I promise. After all I have to get ready for MIDNIGHT HEAT's November release, don't I? (yay!!)



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How I Start A WIP

As a writer, the question I get asked the most is ‘Where do you get your ideas?’. And if you’re interested, I answered this question in an older blog post. You can find it HERE.

The second most popular question I am asked is ‘Once you have an idea, where do you begin?’. This question is actually a bit more difficult to answer, but I’ll try. Story ideas come to me all of the time. The trick is being patient enough to wait and see if the idea has legs. What I mean is, some ideas come to me like a butterfly, then flit away just as quickly. Then there are the ones that stick, the heroes who won’t stop talking to me, even at three in the morning, that question that hangs in the air, day and night, that I feel compelled to answer. These are the ideas with legs. The ideas that force me to put pen to paper - or more and more often now, fingers to keyboard – and begin writing. These are the ideas that become my works in progress, or WIPs.

Once I’m ready to begin writing, I….heck, I’d love to tell you that I have a series of questions I ask myself or an outline I’ve worked up, but that’s not how it works for me. You see, I’m what they call a pantser – which means I write by the ‘seat of my pants’. That’s right, I don’t have much more than a title (which I can’t seem to begin without), and my hero and heroine’s name. If the idea came to me in the form of a question, which it sometimes does, then I have a bit more. If it came to me in the form of the hero’s voice in my head, nagging me to get on with it and tell his story, then I may only know how it ends. After all, heroes aren’t always prone to tell you how he got himself in the position he’s in, just how he wants that story to end. LOL

But, if the story idea came to me in the form of the opening scene (which is usually how they come to me) then I don’t know much at all. Maybe just what kind of person the hero/heroine is. And that’s when the fun begins for me, the moment I sit down and just begin typing. Letting the story unfold as it may, discovering the events that take the characters from the opening scene to the happily-ever-after. Yup, I just dive right in. No character sketches, outlines, or blurbs. Not until I’m farther into the story – like half way. For me, knowing too much before I begin spoils the fun. A complete outline before I’ve written a single scene, and I’ve lost the excitement, feel as if I’ve already told the story. Odd, I know, but true.

So that’s how I start a WIP. I get an idea stuck in my head, think on it a bit, then take myself and the voices in my head to my laptop and start writing. Does that make me sound a bit unhinged? Probably. However, I believe on some level all writers are...but that’s a different blog post.

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I have a confession to make...

I have a confession to make…I am a car junkie.

It’s true. I can talk horsepower, 0 to 60 times and torque with the best of them.

Well, perhaps not the best of them, but I can actively participate in a conversations about cars that make most women’s, and a lot of men's actually, eyes glaze over. I credit my uber-talented, mechanic husband with this. However, my love of driving too fast and want of something sexy and classic to do it in is why I’ve paid attention to his ‘car speak’ for all the years we’ve been together.

I know the difference between a carburetor and fuel injection, a turbo charger and super charger, and I know the effect of cold weather start-ups on fuel mileage. I can do my own oil change, a tune up and change my own fuel filter. And yes, I’m the one that gets irked when I read something totally wrong in a book – like the NYT bestseller who had her heroine remove the valve stem caps from the FBI agents car and the tires went flat. Oh, no, that’s not how it works.

Yup, I’m a bit of a geek. My love of cars can be seen in my writing. I can’t help myself, I usually slip a great car in the book. Take Not Without Risk, for instance – in RISK, the hero drives a 1969 Pontiac GTO:

And the heroine a 1959 Cadillac El Dorado:

I skipped giving either character in After Midnight something fancy. Well, I knew Noah had a wonderful car, I just don’t point out what it is until Book Two, Midnight Heat:

Aston Martin DB9 Convertible

Beautiful, isn’t she? (yes, I mean the car, LOL)

I typically choose American Muscle as the cars to feature in my books, since that is where my passion lies. But, Noah Clark is a British Rock Legend, so this gorgeous piece of British art was the only choice for him.

What about you? Do you love cars the way I do, or just look at them as something to get you from Point A to Point B?

Oh, and before you go… What do you think of this sexy beast?

Should it go in my next book?

 

I LOVE the suicide doors!

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Thank You, Ames!

I little something from my dear friend, Amy Lillard.  Isn't it wonderful?

This one is fabulous, too!

 

What do you think? Do you love them as much as I do?

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First Chapters

My book, AFTER MIDNIGHT, is featured today on D. Renee Bagby's First Chapters Blog. You can check it out HERE.

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Secret Santa Blog Hop

Welcome to the Secret Santa Blog Hop! Thanks for visiting! You can find the list of participating authors, rules and instructions HERE.

Happy Holidays! I love this time of year! Not because of the gifts or the giving, the delighted children or the family gatherings. Not because of the sappy holiday movies, the caroling, and most especially not because of the cold and snow of a Michigan winter. No, I love this time of year because the day job that works me sixty hours a week in the summer, trickles down to about ten hours a week immediately after the holidays and continues this way through the beginning of March. Yup, it's at this time of year I get to spend long days relaxing with my husband, and long nights with the heroes of my current works in progress. What, you think it should be the other way around? *grin*

In the spirit of holiday giving, I'm awarding one random Secret Santa Blog Hop participant a prize package: A beautiful music note latte mug, a music note ornament, and an eCopy of my award winning contemporary romance, After Midnight.

Entering to win is easy. Just leave me a comment that includes your name, email address, and what you love most about the holidays.

Want even more entries into the Kindle Fire HD giveaway? Here's how to get three: You get one entry for following my blog, one for leaving a comment and one for answering my question.


Question: Sarah loves the cold and snow of Michigan winters. True or false?

Don't forget to return to the main page for the rest of the Secret Santa Blog Hop. Good luck!!

http://www.tabithablake.blogspot.com/p/secret-santa-blog-hop.html

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