You must remember this -

Our memories make us what we are.

But memory is a tricky thing. It doesn't behave the way you want it to. I was doing some research for a post in a few weeks time and re-read a book that I haven't looked at in years -- only to discover that the detail of the story I was checking wasn't as I remembered it. That started me thinking about the way memory operates, something that’s always fascinated me.

It's quite common, I understand, for witnesses to an event to produce wildly different accounts of what happened. And why is it that the bad memories seem to stick more than the good? You remember every detail of that hospital waiting room, but the romantic holiday blurs into a fuzzy string of sunny days. And that's the stuff that you do remember. I have boxes full of theatre programmes that contain a fair sprinkling for productions that I don't have any recollection of attending. And don't get me started on the things that I remember that didn't actually happen!

We can't always make memories. We put a lot of effort, money and hope into creating the perfect wedding, graduation, birthday party, but often it's the unscripted events that stay in your mind. That single moment when you know that this one will stay with you for the rest of your life.

I'd been playing around with the idea for this post for a while before I realised that it was directly connected to another idea that I'd had for a book -- it's only the merest glimmer at present, but the story is going to hinge on six particular memories that have shaped the hero's life. At present, I have only vague thoughts about three of them, but until I get all six together the story is never going to see the light of day. I didn't expect that making someone else's memories could be as hard as hanging on to your own.

Research is valuable for a writer. There are many stories of authors who have given realistic accounts of places they have never visited, and historical writers must always be working a little in the dark, as we can never quite know whether we have the historical 'feel' right. As a writer and a reader though, I find the things I remember, and put into my writing, the most rewarding. To create an atmosphere from somewhere I have visited, with just a quick reference, or to read in a book about a place or an event I remember adds to the experience. Writers of fantasy have a hard time with that one - the trick there is to create the world so everyone feels as if they have been there.

Hanging on to your memories for future reference? That's where the note book that every writer is supposed to carry, to jot down thoughts and impressions, comes into it's own. Provided you remember to take it with you, of course!

Tall, Dark, and Sexy!!

Get ready to drool, ladies!

Every Friday we have a guest blogger here on Title Magic. However, due to circumstances, our scheduled guest blogger couldn’t make it today. So, I thought I’d do something fun for you all today instead. Today I’ll give you some inspiration for writing that perfect hero.

You often hear the phrase tall, dark, and handsome. Me, I’d go for something more along the lines of tall, dark, and sexy. Nothing is sexier than a man who oozes confidence. Sex appeal could be anything from the glint in a man’s eyes, to the shape of his lips. It could even be in the way he walks.

Here’s a treat for all you writers out there who are struggling for that perfect image of your hero. A lot of writers look to images of models or their favorite actors for inspiration in creating their perfect hero. At the top of my list would be Gerald Butler, Clive Owen, and Hugh Jackman, of course. These names are pretty much a household brand. Everyone knows these stars.

Today, however, I’d like to introduce you to a handful of men many of you may not be as familiar with. Hopefully, it’ll give you more inspiration and something new to work with.

This one’s for you, Title Magicians! Enjoy!


Oded Fehr






Antonio Sabato, Jr.





Enrique Iglesias






John Abraham







And my personal favorite, Arjun Rampal






Sorry ladies, Arjun's mine.

End Note: I want to say a special congratulations to fellow Magician Helen Scott Taylor for making the Golden Heart finals with her ATIV manuscript, The Magic Knot, in the paranormal category. I'm rooting for you, Helen!! Woohoo!!

When it March Rains ~ it pours magically, sort of...

Today is my birthday, so I’m giving myself permission to let loose on the title of this blog and anything else. I don’t know why I’ve always held birthdays as a sacred event. It wasn’t something I was taught, or even experienced – except that in my ancient fifties’ era, birthday parties for us kids had come into suburban vogue. The fun, silly stuff. Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, playing fish for dime toys, running around, the girls all in skirt-swinging dresses, until the grownups rounded us up for the grand gift opening ceremony, where the birthday princess or prince reigned, and deigned which gifts were their favorites. Then it was the off-key, loudly sung, Happy Birthday, the occasional ‘you belong in a zoo’ version. The great mystical test of blowing out all those candles. Okay, sometimes an uncle would sneak on one of those candles that couldn’t be blown out. And always cake and ice cream afterwards, marshmallow frosting mixed with ice cream, and cake – what could be better?
Fortunately for you, dear Title Magicians and precious readers, I won’t provide a running history of my past birthdays, the good, bad, beautiful and ugly. We’ll leave that to Hollywood, when they come knocking, begging for my autobiographical screen play, perfect for the hi-def silver screen – yeah (is there a bridge I can sell ya?)...just a sarcasm-funny against myself.

No, this is a look back over the past year – before being e-published and now, as a newbie author – a giant whirlwind of a journey. So, I enter American Title IV, and to my disbelief, actually final. In the meantime, I have submitted When a Good Angel Falls to Siren Publishing, which they wanted to contract, but it wasn’t heat-sizzle enough for their line. After that angst of decision, I offer them All Shades of Blue Paradise instead, now e-pubbed, and I’m writing Book II. Also, I’ve written Red Lioness Tamed to enter into a Samhain cat-prowl contest. Which doesn’t make it, however, after several long months, Liquid Silver Books offers a contract, if I make some changes – no problem, will do. And did, and the lioness lives in cyber novel space. Meow-yay!
Exact timeline aside now, but eventually I was facing my first cover art and blurb requests. Okay, basically lots of fun for me, if a highly intense process – but, being an artist type person does have it’s advantages. Then, play the theme for Darth Vader...the edits. My heart-tripping fear is engaged. Edits were not a process I had ever done before. And, at one point, after intensely slaving over the revisions for ‘Blue Paradise’, I thought I’d lost them – hair-pulling time!!! Scream at the universe!

Happily, just my ignorance about all this tech-penning stuff. Okay, being an ancient baby boomer, it’s often been trial by learning-the-computer fire – no! don’t burn up my lovely, desperately needed computer...please, I luv you. How else do I run the gamut of slashing rain and wind toward that perfect promo opportunity, always lurking somewhere up ahead? Yep, my nerves are taking a serious beating, at times, on this side of publishing business. I have made several rookie mistakes. Sheesh, just attempting to figure it all out, is a head-dizzying wild ride. Because, bottom line, how do I connect with those readers who would enjoy my stories?
So, back to the sorta timeline. Now I’m out in the first round of the American Title...and after tons o’ chocolate, and the deep down blues, after the support of my great Title Magician friends, I come up swinging, submitting to other e-pubs. All who shall remain nameless, except for Aspen Mountain Press (contracted Tangerine Carnal Dreams) – because I’ve been writing for years and years, and have full manuscripts available – especially since my health, for the last couple of years, demands I do nothing else, except write.
And then, my release days, the first two Mondays of March. Yep, magic pours through me as if I did stand beneath a pounding pouring rain. My gratitude floods through me. Not just because I am officially e-published, but also because the folks at Siren and Liquid Silver have been wonderful to work with, and, gee, I tingly adore my cover art.
The other side of the happy-dance coin. Reviews. The heart trembles with trepidation, and is there a handy rock I can hide under?
Meanwhile, Siren Publishing creates Bookstrand for book distribution and for accepting manuscripts which are not in the erotic romance genre. So now, yay-yay! When a Good Angel Falls has a new home and is due out late in 2008.
Not to mention the up and down, fast and furious winds of my daily blogging efforts at Kougar Kisses, and my forum participation with Passionate Ink, a chapter with RWA – and with the author loops. Plus, all that I have not included...this is not my diary...thank heavens, for you all.

Yep, it’s all good, but time-wise, overwhelming~ as though constantly caught in a pouring thunderstorm.
Proudly, I will say have an article in the current Passionate Ink newsletter – just really cool to see it presented there, and the pics are incredible (thank you, Francesca).
Yesterday, in the e-mail box. The cover art request form from Aspen Mountain Press for Tangerine Carnal Dreams...yay! And help! Since Pleasures of Blue Lotus Oil, book II is going so well. And who wants to interrupt the writing-flow?
To some of you, this blog may have looked like just a long promo. Nope. This is a snippet of my journey from ATIV finalist to where I am now as a newbie e-author. Offered because, ya know, it’s my birthday, a sacred time for review and a time to look forward to the future. And because it might offer insights to anyone else on this particular journey, or someone who is about to embark on this type of writer’s journey.
Yup, it’s pouring magically...sort of...and I’m standing out in it getting drenched...the good, the bad, the ugly...mostly, the beautiful.
Wowza congrats to Helen for being a Golden Heart finalist with her manuscript, The Magic Knot.
Some of the best birthday presents ever!

Siren Publishing

Liquid Silver Books

Golden Heart!

As a reserved Brit, I was taught not to blow my own trumpet. People who drone on about their own achievements are boorish (so we're taught). It's a strange characteristic of the British that we love the underdog. But let that underdog pull him or herself up out of the mire and start doing rather nicely thank you and we get all huffy and suddenly want them to fall flat on their face.

Therefore, it is a breath of fresh air to be surrounded by Americans who far from holding back on sharing their accomplishments, shout them from the rooftops--or more aptly--broadcast them around the Internet. And generously support their fellow writers with enthusiasm.

I've had to learn one gets nowhere in life by sitting quietly in the corner hoping to be noticed.

On that note, I'm delighted to announce my American Title finaling story The Magic Knot is a finalist in the Golden Heart!

Come July, I'll be filing into the ballroom at the Marriott in San Francisco with many other hopefuls, fingers crossed, praying to win.

Wish me LUCK!

(Oh, and please forgive me the abbreviated blog today. I only had two hours sleep last night!)

The Second Step--Or I Say Hypothesis, You Say Premise

I introduced this concept in my last blog (just last Thursday, I’m saving up for the paper and exam-filled weeks to come—the end of the semester is approaching). As a research psychologist for the last twenty years (!) if you count graduate school, I’m writing about what I know.

The Scientific Method as a cure for what ails you. Right now, what ails me is deducing which idea I should pursue next. Last time, I wrote about Step One, Or Observing a Problem. As we all know, the second step in the scientific method is forming a hypothesis. That is, the budding scientist, or I hope, fiction writer, needs to take that amorphous problem and make it clear and precise, resulting in the hypothesis, or dare I say it, the premise?

What if I’ve been doing it all wrong so far? In case you can’t tell, writing this short series of blogs is hopefully for my benefit as well as any reader out there. Here’s my method of writing so far: dream a dream, write it down, and plot it out as if I were living it, as if I were watching a movie. Then, when I’m all done, come up with a pitch which sums up the whole novel in twenty-five words or less.

If I happened to be one of my research students, I’d fail myself. One NEVER collects data without the hypothesis fully justified and spelled out. Why have I been writing without the premise in place? Okay, I’m exaggerating…this haphazard method describes my first manuscript. My second, I began with an outline. My third, I wrote a synopsis first. My fourth, I plotted GMC (Goal, Motivation, Conflict). So maybe I’m a good wine.

Back to the premise. When teaching undergraduates how to form a hypothesis, we actually give them a simple formula…fill in the blanks: What is the effect of ____ on _____? The first blank is the independent variable and the second is the dependent variable. I’ve toyed with coming up with a similar formula for creating a premise.

How’s this? (Insert heroine’s name) wants _____, but can’t get it because of _______. Okay, that sounds very similar to someone else’s formula. I would add the same for a hero. And, then, hear a snide teenager’s voice asking, “And I care why?”

If the reader doesn’t care, if it’s not a problem they want to care about, then you can write it, but they won’t come. Maybe, unless they’re very famous or a wonderful storyteller. I’m not pretending fiction is science, just playing with ideas.

Other questions I ask when guiding students’ research…is the topic too broad? There are no absolutes, but I know you can’t do a single research project and try to cover all the effects of depression. Congruently, I don’t think you can write about everywoman or everyman. You need to see through a very precise set of eyes. But the topic can’t be too narrow, either. If the hero and heroine are modeled after real people, you’re too constricted unless you’re willing to go from there. Real life doesn’t always satisfy like fiction, so fiction needs to win.

The final question I ask is, do you care too much? Ah, that’s different. Can you care too much? Yes…if the pain is too new, too fresh, too harsh, you won’t be able to write the story. Yet. You won’t be able to gain enough distance to write a sympathetic villain or, if the villain has become all men, even a hero. My thought is journal the big hurts and write the ones you’ve gained some mileage on.

So, do you have a premise you can handle? That’s the question, isn’t it? Do you even need a premise or can you just write a cool story?

And Step 3, Collecting Data, yet to come…

"Mid-Life" Writing Crisis

There comes a time in every writer’s life when you have to sit back and do some serious soul-searching in regards to your writing. Where are you now? Are you happy where you are? Are you happy writing what you’re writing? Or have you discovered that your writing has taken an unexpected turn somewhere along the way?

I had one of these “mid-life” writing crises early on in my career. When I first started out writing, I wrote Regency-set historicals. Historicals were all I read; it was all I knew. I spent two years writing the infamous “book of your heart”. Then my laptop got stolen, and with it my writing and all my dreams of being a writer.

So I made the decision not to write anymore. That lasted for an entire year before I realized that I could not stop writing. If you’re a writer, it’s in your blood.

So I sat down and re-evaluated my writing. Where was I? Was I happy? I was at a crossroad and I really wasn’t happy. Two years on a book that never got completed? I couldn’t sell if I continued writing that way. I was bogged down with the research and often got lost in it because I enjoyed learning so much. So I decided to try something new. I took a jab at writing a contemporary erotica novella for a contest. Finished the novella in three months.

I learned several things from this experience. First, I had fun writing something I usually didn’t write. Secondly, I discovered I was no erotica writer, though I do classify as a “sexy” writer. Third, I found out I could actually finish a story. Yay for me! And lastly (and most importantly), I finally found my voice. I had a strong historical voice which did not fit into a contemporary.

So I sat down and did some more re-evaluating. What did I really want to write? I still wanted to do historicals, but I also wanted to write contemporaries as well because I had a lot of fun doing it. I learned I was beginning to read more paranormals and fantasy romances. I loved vampires, but didn’t think the world needed another vampire writer. I also loved alternate settings. Think Lord of the Rings. So I decided I’d try my hand at that instead. With the help of my sister who was a huge science-fiction and fantasy fanatic, I created this complete alternate world that mirrored feudal Europe. I came complete with three Fates, seven kingdoms, and loads of dark magic and things that went bump in the night. I called this alternate world of mine Zenith.

The first book, THE PROPHECY, was completed in three months. It was a full 100,000 words manuscript. It was a time travel, which satisfied my craving for dabbing in contemporary while still being able to write primarily in a historical setting that didn’t require too much research since the world was completely made-up. The Prophecy came to final in several contests and landed me my first agent.

The second book, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, was completed within another three months. It continued the Zenith series and was strictly all historical fantasy. At this point, I was learning to explore the fantasy side of my creativity and truly enjoying myself. Prince of Darkness also finaled in several contests and was responsible for my American Title finalist status.

In the third book in the series, LEGACY OF THE HIGHLANDER, I went back to my time-traveling and historical roots. Something else I enjoyed immensely was reading Scottish medievals, so I gave that a shot with the third book. Finished Legacy of the Highlander in three months. That book also finaled in several contests. I enjoyed writing Scottish historical so much that I took a break from the Zenith series with my fourth book and wrote, HEART OF THE HIGHLANDER, a completed Scottish time-travel paranormal.

This was two years ago and several books later. Looking back, I can now say that was able to write three full 100,000 words books in a year because I kept it fun and continued to explore and add in new layers/elements to my writing. I was never bored with the process and made it enjoyable. And I took risks. I realized I was not happy where I was and needed a change, and I stepped outside of my comfort zone and allowed myself to explore all the different aspects of my creativity.

I’m hitting another “mid-life” crisis at the moment. I’m discovering that my writing is veering more towards the literary and women’s fiction side than actual romance. At the moment, I’m not certain where I’ll be a year from now in regards to my writing. What I do know is that I’ll explore this new channel and see what develops from it. For anyone facing their own “mid-life” writing crisis, my suggestion is to not dampen your creativity by ignoring what it’s trying to tell you. Listen to it. Know yourself, what makes you happy, and follow your intuition.

Hope this has been of help. Happy writing!

Guest Blogger Susan Macatee

Today our guest blogger is Susan Macatee. I met Susan during a contest. I read and loved her enchanting story, Erin’s Rebel. I was so disappointed when she didn’t final but Susan just dusted herself off and moved on to the next phase of her writing career. When I found out she’d been picked up by The Wild Rose Press, I was thrilled and asked her to please share with us her journey from contests to publication. So put your fingers to the keyboard and welcome Susan Macatee!


Believe In Your Story

First off, Anitra, I'd like to thank you for inviting me to talk about my book sale on your lovely blog.

I signed the contract for my full-length Civil War time travel romance, Erin's Rebel, on February 7th with The Wild Rose Press. And this just after I'd sold them a short vampire story, Eternity Waits, also set during the American Civil War, in December.

I first started submitting Erin's Rebel five years ago. I wrote the story after completing my young adult historical, Under the Guns. I'd written UTG in a writer's workshop under the guidance of two published authors. Erin's Rebel was the first book I'd written entirely on my own. I didn't join RWA until after I'd completed the manuscript.

At the time I began submitting ER, I was also entering the opening chapters and synopsis in RWA's many chapter contests. Although I had a couple of initial wins, the judge's comments I was getting made me realize I had a lot of work to do to make this story marketable. I dove into RWA and other on-line workshops and learned all I could. I decided ER needed a major revision if I was ever going to sell it.

I started at plot level. I'd written the story by the seat of my pants and, since I'd taken workshops on plotting, I went back and re-plotted the story, then discarded half the manuscript, because it no longer fit the new plot. I moved chapters around and wrote a whole lot of new material. After this major revision, I tried a few more contests, but couldn't win or final to save my life. I always seemed to get one judge who loved it and one who hated everything about it. In one contest, I had a judge give me a perfect score, while another one treated me like an amateur and seemed to hate everything about the story. After that I stopped entering it in contests, although I still have that perfect score sheet.

I also consider myself lucky to have found a great critique group. They're all members of my group blog, Slip Into Something Victorian. They helped me through all the negative judges' comments and the 'thanks but no thanks' rejections I was getting from publishers. My latest rejection was just last fall after I'd gotten a request for the full. This happened after I'd added material to make the publisher's minimum word count. When I decided to submit to The Wild Rose Press, I realized it was now too long, so I had to cut 20 pages before querying.

But now after a five year wait, everyone will be able to read Erin and Will's story and I am thrilled.

Thanks again, Anitra, for letting me share my story of perseverance. And for all of you out there, if you love your story, never give up on it. Do whatever you have to do to make it the best story ever and you, too, will find that editor who loves it as much as you.

For more on me and my books visit my website: www.susanmacatee.com