Hey, check this out!
CAPTIVE DREAMS finally comes to life – on film! Circle of Seven (aka COS) Productions did another fabulous job of capturing my book.
Okay, fellow authors: If you saw the hero you’ve been writing about – and tormenting – for years coming at you, what are you going to do? Run away from him – or toward him?
Diane
Up close and personal, that is.
I’m blogging today on that very subject over at Brava Authors. Please stop by and let us know what you think!
Diane
Hey, lookee here! BOND OF FIRE made it into a fabulous book trailer from Circle of Seven!
I’m always fascinated by what parts of a book wind up getting emphasized in a book trailer. This one puts the focus squarely on Jean-Marie and Hélène, the hero and heroine, plus their long agonized fight against the demands of duty and honor which keep them apart. Not to mention Celeste, Hélène’s little sister and the story’s villainess.
Film also has a nifty way of summarizing things in a few, rich images, too, that I deeply envy as a writer. I wish I could portray Paris in an instant – or a Texas ranch at sunset! But that’s what I keep working to learn how to do better. And, of course, I get to spend many long hours with my characters writing their stories. Yeehaw!
Hope you enjoy this book trailer as much as I do –
Diane
We’re getting ready to sell the house. (Oh joy unforeseen…) As part of this thrill, we get to open up vistas throughout the house, so potential buyers can see how much space actually exists in our little townhouse. (Riiight.)
In other words, everything we can possibly live without gets to go into storage so strangers can traipse through our home. If this works, we get more money. I call this A Big Incentive. What I’m having a really hard time with is watching all my so-called spare books go into storage.
Every piece of fiction – gone. All of my Linda Howard collection, Elizabeth Lowell, Angela Knight, Georgette Heyer, Lora Leigh, volumes of Secrets, and more – vanished into boxes and locked up. Okay, they’re carefully labeled and I do have a key. But can I wander over to my bookshelf and grab one? Can I look up a quick bit of DREAM MAN for a fast bit of inspiration? Or how about THESE OLD SHADES for Vidal’s sublime way of putting pretentious idiots in their place? No, I have to rely upon my memory. Well, I do have these well-loved, well-thumbed keepers memorized but, even so, my friends aren’t with me any more!
I even had to prune my research collection. I pray my editor doesn’t want a detailed explanation of the Texas Ranger history behind BOND OF DARKNESS; most of those books are now sleeping peacefully. My Arab histories of the Crusades – well, I made it through BOND OF BLOOD so I probably don’t need them any more, even if they do help explain Don Rafael’s broad cultural tolerances. I even had to pack up many of my Civil War histories, which is dreadful for somebody who likes to prowl Civil War sites on free weekends.
Still, who’d have thought I could take sixty boxes of books out – and still have so many books left in the house? I still have my basic research library here, more than capable of taking me through the next Devil book and my 1920’s paranormal romance.
Plus I do have a few novels stashed away. My Treo is still stuffed with ebooks, including NY Times bestsellers thanks to eReader. I’ve got a complete collection of JD Robb novels hidden there.
And my copy of Dakota Cassidy’s THE ACCIDENTAL WEREWOLF arrived the day after my other novels went into storage.
Hmm, I seem to hear a novel calling to me. Please excuse me while I go check out Dakota’s book.
Happy reading, friends!
I went shopping today at lunch. (Okay, so this is NOT the world’s most startling news but, please, stay with me. LOL)
While cruising through the mall, I happened to stroll past a display at that most splendid storehouse of delights, the meganormous bookstore. They were showing off books written by presidential candidates still in the running:
John McCain’s Faith of My Fathers and Hard Call,
Hillary Clinton’s It Takes A Village and Living History and An Invitation to the White House
The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
as well as
Quit Digging Your Grave with A Knife and Fork, Living Beyond Your Lifetime, and more by Mike Huckabee.
Wow, all the major parties’ remaining candidates were there, while the ones who’d dropped out just didn’t have multiple titles listed in the catalogue. Maybe writing books really does teach people how to communicate – or gives them the stamina to hang on and keep talking, even when everybody around them thinks they’re crazy. Or at least hopelessly delusional for attempting this project, in the first place.
Who’d have thought running for president and being an author had so much in common?
Go, Team Author, go!
For the past two weeks, I’ve been enjoying the life of a full-time writer. I finished working at one ordinary day job and found myself with a two week gap before I started the next day job. So I happily trotted out into the wide world, calling myself a full-time author, and armed with a long to-do list. Number one, of course, was to write three-four hours every day.
Hah!
I really should have known better. The last time I tried being a full-time author, real life smacked me hard in the face and I wound up working ferociously, just to keep my head above water and finish all my deadlines on time. How do full-time authors keep away all the people who believe they stay home to be social? Or run errands? Or keep an eye on their project?
I think successful full-time authors must have a hidden ninja warrior inside them, who leaps out yelling, “Aiiieeeee!” and chops through all the ridiculous odds and ends, in order to protect their writing time. I’ll try cultivating mine harder next time.
But tomorrow it’s back to the grindstone at a new day job. I’m so used to that kind of tight schedule, it already feels like coming home.
Diane
I too am honored to be blogging today with hundreds of other writers on behalf of Patry Francis and her fabulous book, The Liar’s Diary.
Here’s LitPark’s eloquent account:
Today, over 300 bloggers, including bestsellers, Emmy winners, movie makers, and publishing houses have come together to talk about THE LIAR’S DIARY by Patry Francis. Why? To give the book the attention it deserves on its release day while Patry takes the time she needs to heal from cancer.
Before I talk about this book, I’d like to tell you a story about how this extraordinary day happened.
Patry Francis Blog Day on LitPark
First, you need to know something about Patry Francis.
What if you worked for years as a waitress and then went home at the end of the day to your husband and four kids, and in those rare minutes of free time, you dared to dream that one day you might write a book? This is the story of my friend, Patry – a story that leaves out years of false starts, revisions, and rejection slips. It’s a story that writers know intimately, though the details are different. Every one of us is well acquainted with the struggle of getting a story on paper, of honing it and believing in it enough to send it out, only to receive rejection, or worse, silence for our efforts.
Imagine, after many years, you beat the odds. You finish that book. You find that agent who sells your manuscript. Your dream is about to become a reality. But just as your book is due to be released, you discover you have an aggressive form of cancer.
Patry’s story struck such a deep chord with many of us, not just because she is our friend, but because those of us who know her or read her blog have relied on her company through the ups and mostly downs of trying to write and sell a book. She is our buoy. She has shown us time and again her great gift for shedding light in the dark. Even her blog post about her cancer showed this – in her greatest time of need, she was still somehow comforting all of us and showing us glimpses of joy.
What began as a personal gesture of caring for a friend became an astonishing show of community – writers helping writers; strangers helping strangers; and most surprising of all, editors, agents and publishers, who have no stake in this book, crossing “party lines” to blog, to make phone calls, and to send out press releases.
This effort has made visible a community that is, and has been, alive and kicking – a community that understands the struggle artists go through and rejoices in each other’s successes. It’s a community made up of many small voices, but – guess what? – those many small voices can create some noise. So while today is for Patry, it’s also a symbolic gesture for all of you who work so very hard for little or no recognition, for all of you who keep going despite the rejections, and for all of you who have had illness or other outside factors force your art or your dreams aside. We are in this together.
Time to talk about THE LIAR’S DIARY.
Whether you like text, audio, or video, I have a taste of the book for you. Let’s start with an audio clip of THE LIAR’S DIARY. This audio clip comes courtesy of Eileen Hutton at Brilliance Audio.
This video for THE LIAR’S DIARY was created by Sheila Clover English, C.E.O. of Circle of Seven Productions, who was moved by Patry’s story and volunteered her lightning-speed creativity!
Here are the publishe’s words:
Answering the question of what is more powerful—family or friendship? this debut novel unforgettably shows how far one woman would go to protect either.
They couldn’t be more different, but they form a friendship that will alter both their fates. When Ali Mather blows into town, breaking all the rules and breaking hearts (despite the fact that she is pushing forty), she also makes a mark on an unlikely family. Almost against her will, Jeanne Cross feels drawn to this strangely vibrant woman, a fascination that begins to infect Jeanne’s “perfect” husband as well as their teenaged son.
At the heart of the friendship between Ali and Jeanne are deep-seated emotional needs, vulnerabilities they have each been recording in their diaries. Ali also senses another kind of vulnerability; she believes someone has been entering her house when she is not at home—and not with the usual intentions. What this burglar wants is nothing less than a piece of Ali’s soul.
When a murderer strikes and Jeanne’s son is arrested, we learn that the key to the crime lies in the diaries of two very different women . . . but only one of them is telling the truth. A chilling tour of troubled minds, The Liar’s Diary signals the launch of an immensely talented new novelist who knows just how to keep her readers guessing.
And now, here are Patry’s words, which I lifted off her blog: “Though my novel deals with murder, betrayal, and the even more lethal crimes of the heart, the real subjects of THE LIAR’S DIARY are music, love, friendship, self-sacrifice and courage. The darkness is only there for contrast; it’s only there to make us realize how bright the light can be. I’m sure that most writers whose work does not flinch from the exploration of evil feel the same.”
Ready to buy the book? Why not buy one for yourself and one for a friend? And if you like it, tell people!
Here are links to THE LIAR’S DIARY at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Powell‘s. You can also buy directly from Penguin to save 15% (after you add the book to your cart, just enter the word PATRY in the coupon code field and click ‘update cart’ to activate the discount).
For a list of the other authors taking part, see LitPark. It’s a privilege being in your company.
Diane
