June 20, 2008 | News,Quirky notions

Hello, friends!

I’m blogging today over at Brava Authors about why books and mushrooms somehow behave very similarly. Please stop by and share your thoughts!

Diane

June 20, 2008 | News,Tuning the instrument

Hi, friends!

I’m blogging today over at Title Magic about how totally scared I was when I had the chance to pitch the book of my heart to the only editor who might publish it. I wound up using some techniques from my day job, which combined into what my friends call “The Sure-Fire Six Step Pitch.”

Please stop by to talk about great ideas, long manuscripts, editors’ short attention spans, and how to hopefully come up with a good pitch!

Diane

June 3, 2008 | News,The stories

I just finished the copyedits for BOND OF DARKNESS. Yes! Loud shouts of joy! Huge sighs of relief! (Okay, one of my friends says I look younger now but I think that’s an overstatement. LOL)

At the same time, COS and I are working on a “Sound Scene” for BOND OF DARKNESS. A short scene will be read by an actor, complete with sound effects (!), then distributed as a podcast. I can hardly wait to hear the result. Members of my family used to act on radio, way back when, and this is beyond fun for all of us.

The question now is what scene should we choose for the one-and-only Sound Scene? I get to offer two scenes for COS to choose from. Hmm…

BOND OF DARKNESS is very much romantic suspense, even a thriller. (Bless its heart, there’s no historical dialogue to confuse the actor. LOL) The scene has to be short and focused, which sounds like one with very few characters – hero, heroine, maybe villain. Sounds good.

How about one really action-packed, dramatic scene? Lots of conflict, tension, shoot ’em up, bang bang and the villain being villainous, as my mother would say? Hey, I’ve got a short scene which just fits this bill!

I need another one, something different. Maybe a romantic scene between Ethan and Steve (well, Stephanie Amanda – not that she uses the long form of her name very often). That sounds good.

But they’ve been friends for fifteen years. (Read THE HUNTER’S PREY, if you want to find out how they met.) They’re both cops, patrolling different beats, and they sleep together from time to time. Steve does so to blow off steam but Ethan’s feelings are much, much stronger. If Ethan tried to seduce her or be romantic, she’d ask him what was wrong.

Still, something that showed the depth of their emotional need for each other seems like the right scene to send.

But do I have one short enough? Which scene will COS pick for the Sound Scene?

I send them two scenes but I don’t know know yet which one will be produced.

Stay tuned.