The Romance of the Holidays

Holiday Gifts of Love Blog Hop!

Welcome, blog hoppers. Perhaps we've never met. I'm Anne Holly by name and holiday writer by trade (eight or nine of my titles are "holiday books"), quite by accident - almost.

I have written before about what I like so much about holiday romance, though I never did intend on devoting so much of my writing career to this little faux subgenre. They just seem so magical to me – especially the autumn and winter ones, with their natural beauties. To write a holiday romance is to instantly connect with a well of emotions, memories and shared myths, and that’s a wonderful thing.

I once wrote about A Christmas Carol and how it gathers up so much of what’s special about the holidays:

Christmas is the time when we have in our collective subconscious the two extremes –the optimistic Christmas lover, Tiny Tim, and the misanthropic cold hearted Scrooge, who wasn’t really a bad guy deep down. Really, he was just hurt by life. Now, most well-adjusted people fall some place in between, but those two extremes represent the spectrum of romance: Someone full of love, and someone who has had the love beaten out of them. Those are the characters to which I am naturally drawn – and the redemption that is achieved when the one overcomes the other, and the romance that pools in their bond when it all works out right in the end. This is likely the main reason I write so much about the holidays. It is a time of salvaging the human from the ravages of plans gone wrong, of love unrequited and of tragedy spilt over a life time.

I wrote that about two years ago, and I still believe it. I am an optimist at heart, but it doesn’t come easy. Anyone who retains optimism into adulthood knows that it’s a decision one makes – not to forget or ignore all the setbacks and knocks, but to push through them and not let them get you down. This is where I’m at. Refusing to let life make a Scrooge out of me.

I also believe that the magic of the holidays rests in its ability to heal up a bit of the wounds of the year, and to renew hearts and spirits. It’s no coincidence it’s at the end of every year. This is why I believe in the restoration of Scrooge, and why the ideas found in A Christmas Carol float around the edges of so many of my books.

In my first Christmas romance, Unwrapping Scrooge, I fully embraced the premise that Christmas can heal. In it, a successful yet gloomy writer must decide if he can unscrooge himself enough to woo an optimistic young exchange student before she returns to Canada – and she must decide if she can meet him halfway:

Smiling instead, he switched on the waffle iron, and considered the way she would look as she watched the snow. Being Canadian, perhaps she had a special relationship to it. He had begun to look at it differently, himself. What had previously been a cold, wet annoyance now appeared somewhat magical, blanketing them in sparkly privacy within their warm little bubble.

Of course, Molly would be a Christmas-lover—she even smelled like Christmas, all cinnamon and vanilla. For Kale, who never even really considered what Christmas meant, Molly was the human embodiment of the season. Bright, shiny, and fresh.

“I guess that would make me, what? Halloween?” He snickered at his own fanciful thoughts. “Not even that exciting—more like the August Bank Holiday.”

To this day, that book remains one of my favourites, and those characters still hang with me.

My subsequent books have been less obviously engaged with Scrooge, but I can still tell he’s there because he’s build right into the magic of the season for me. In Good for the Goose, a twice-shy professor must make the decision to risk her heart again or be weighed down by the pain of divorce forever.

My holiday erotic-romance anthology, All I Want, features six couples who have similar decisions, about happiness and pain, and the courage it takes to restore and be restored. It’s a theme I love, and one of the reasons I am such a romance fan, and a fan of holidays.

Maybe I’m naïve to still believe in the magic of the holidays, but I refuse to believe Black Friday and credit card bills are all we have to look forward to every year. If you think this way, too, or you’d like to, check out my books. And, of course, have a very happy holiday, and all the best for the New Year!

GIVEAWAY

Leave a comment on this post, and be entered to win. I’m giving away the winner’s choice of Unwrapping Scrooge, Good for the Goose, or All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection. (18+) Plus, this blog hop has a slew of other great prizes along the route, as well as a pretty amazing grand prize! (Please be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you win.)

Have a Decadent Christmas!

Here's a look at what new holiday delights Decadent Publishing is serving up this Christmas, to keep your winter nice and toasty... and they're even offering you a freebie (see below)!

A Very Russian Christmas 
by Krystal Shannon

For most of her adult life, bodyguards have shadowed Ksenia Sharanov, daughter of a Russian mobster. Her one serious relationship left her broken hearted when she learned he only sought her father’s power and money.

A ski vacation with her college roommates ends on a terrifying note. Her father’s enemies have been following her more closely than anyone could have anticipated. The mistake will cost a life…but will it cost her heart? Or will she find love in the arms of a complete stranger?

Matt O’Reilly, a retired Marine, generally keeps to himself. Working as a deputy in a small country sheriff’s office, provides just enough seclusion for him to cut himself off from his family’s pity and the heartache of losing his wife. He never thought love would be in the books for him again. Will the sudden arrival of a spunky dark-haired Russian beauty change his mind?

Coming Soon!

~*~

Dillon's Gift 

by A.J. Hawthorn

Stacy hasn’t celebrated a Christmas in years and has no reason to change her ways.  Dillon can’t understand why the most giving person he knows refuses to join in the holiday cheer.  He cooks up a plan that will leave them no choice but to spend the holidays together.

Yet, he doesn’t know Stacy as well as he thinks and there is an equal chance that things could backfire. An intentional gag gift mix up, a sexy game of Truth or Dare and a blizzard bring two friends together for a Christmas to remember.

Coming December 11!

~*~

Island Bound 

by Kiru Taye

Marriage has stripped their relationship of its thin, rose-tinted coating, and bared their monochromatic existence for what it was. Will Joshua and Christy get a second chance this holiday season?

When Christy Inemi-Spiff discovers that the man she vowed to love and honor has no such feelings for her, she is determined to cut her losses and move on with her life. A quick, quiet divorce is all she wishes for Christmas.

However, Joshua has other ideas. He’s not ready to walk away yet, especially when he doesn’t understand why Christy wants out of their marriage. So he demands she agree to spend a quiet Christmas on a remote African Island with him, hoping they can salvage their relationship. If she still wants a divorce after these two weeks, he will let her go. But not before he’s had his fill of her.

But with the sparking tension between them, and the secrets behind the disintegration of their marriage threatening to explode, will either of them get their wish? Or will this season of good will show them what really lies at the bottom of their hearts?

The first from Decadent's new Ubuntu line, coming soon!

~*~

Hot Winter Kiss

Irish Kisses Book 4

by Joanne Kenrick

Hot winter kisses to warm broken hearts….

Sick of tending to everyone else’s needs around the holidays, divorced barmaid and granny Sandra ferries it from London to Belfast. All she wants for Christmas is some peace with a romance story in front of a roaring fire in a remote Irish castle. What she gets is a most unexpected Christmas present from her friends at Bell’s—A 1Night Stand with a young Irishman.

Can she hack it in the real world of romance, or are life’s complications and treacherous snowstorms best left to the pages of a book?

Newly widowed Ardan Draighean owns Ballygalley castle. Once run as a hotel with his late wife, the stone building now serves as a home for him and his son. After hearing about Madame Eve’s matchmaking skills, he contacts her in search of the perfect match. Although much older than him—by fifteen years—Sandra is his ideal woman. He be damned if he’ll let a good story get in the way of his happy ever after with her.

Hot winter kisses are all this couple needs to stay warm this Christmas, but will the heat stay long after the magical season of mistletoe has finished?

~*~

And don't forget, I have a Christmas romance with Decadent, myself - my All Romance eBook bestselling novella Unwrapping Scrooge, available on ebook, Nook, Kindle, (and more!), and in the paperback anthology Yule Be Mine vol 2 along with three other Decadent holiday novellas!


Bestselling author Kale McKinnon is a modern Scrooge – eccentric, misanthropic and reclusive, made bitter by the coldness of his wealthy family. But when optimistic Canadian graduate student Molly Gillis visits Oxford and invades his space, he realizes Christmas is about to change for him forever. But can he make her stay, and force himself to un-Scrooge enough to be the right man for her?

HOLIDAY CONTEST!

To help you treat yourself right this holiday season, Decadent is offering a giveaway for this post! Comment this week and tell us how you plan on staying warm this holiday season, and Decadent can offer you 'Any Decadent Publishing holiday ebook of the reader's choice'! I'll draw a comment at random this Friday afternoon (4pm EST).

And don't forget, Decadent is also having their "Give a Reader a Reader" bloghop (on now), with a grand prize of a Nook ereader to one lucky reader along with BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS! 

Sample Sunday: Unwrapping Scrooge

Bestselling author Kale McKinnon is a modern Scrooge – eccentric, misanthropic and reclusive, made bitter by the coldness of his wealthy family. But when optimistic Canadian graduate student Molly Gillis visits Oxford and invades his space, he realizes Christmas is about to change for him forever. But can he make her stay, and force himself to un-Scrooge enough to be the right man for her?

Excerpt:

Kale peeked out the window at the rising sun and the falling snow, and breathed in the aroma of bubbling coffee from the kitchen. Soon Molly would arrive, and he rubbed his hands together in anticipation for his surprise. He had something to tell her that he was not at all sure she was going to like, and he hoped, perhaps foolishly, that a special breakfast would soften the blow.

It was Friday. He knew she didn’t have class, and he had burned through his pages last night in order to clear his day today, so if breakfast didn’t work he would convince her to go with him to find a Christmas present for herself—anything she wanted.

He knew by instinct that Molly was one of those people who adored the abominable season, and he was determined not to come off as a Scrooge. He had always spent his money wisely, though not exactly from a cheap nature. It occurred to him that he never really had anyone he wanted to spend it on, but now he wanted to lavish it on Molly. He knew she had been raised with a tight budget; he wanted to give her everything.

Money was the one thing his family had given him, he thought with a tinge of bitterness that he pushed away.

Smiling instead, he switched on the waffle iron, and considered the way she would look as she watched the snow. Being Canadian, perhaps she had a special relationship to it. He had begun to look at it differently, himself. What had previously been a cold, wet annoyance now appeared somewhat magical, blanketing them in sparkly privacy within their warm little bubble.

Of course Molly would be a Christmas-lover—she even smelled like Christmas, all cinnamon and vanilla. For Kale, who never even really considered what Christmas meant, Molly was the human embodiment of the season. Bright, shiny, and fresh.

“I guess that would make me, what? Halloween?” He snickered at his own fanciful thoughts. “Not even that exciting—more like the August Bank Holiday.”

*
For more info, see my holiday stories website at: http://annehollyholiday.webs.com/christmastales.htm

Promo: Christmas Tales from Anne Holly

I have three titles released for Christmas, and one more that takes place partially during Christmas. If you aren't yet exhausted with the season, please check them out!

Good for the Goose

Successful scholar Dr. Natasha Mintz believes her divorce signaled the end of her romantic life. But when she gets snowed in one Christmas with a young Spanish grad student, she may want to rethink things. For Natasha, winter has never been so hot!

Unwrapping Scrooge

Bestselling author Kale McKinnon is a modern Scrooge – eccentric, misanthropic and reclusive, made bitter by the coldness of his wealthy family. But when optimistic Canadian graduate student Molly Gillis visits Oxford and invades his space, he realizes Christmas is about to change for him forever. But can he make her stay, and force himself to un-Scrooge enough to be the right man for her?

Yule Be Mine, vol 2 - in paperback!

Paperback anthology containing four Christmas novellas released in ebook in 2010 by Decadent Publishing, which includes my title Unwrapping Scrooge and stories from KT Grant, Seleste deLaney and A. Faris.

Strings Attached

“You want to heal me, like one of your stray dogs...”

When Canadian rancher Josie Sergeant gets a call from her brother announcing his impetuous decision to marry, she has her reservations. But, when her brother’s would-be brother-in-law swoops in from Australia to stop the wedding, Josie has no choice but to defend the family.

Theo Sabich is bull-headed and dangerously sexy, but also damaged beyond repair… or so he thinks. He enjoys getting on Josie’s nerves, but when he finds her getting under his skin he must decide - face his demons and grab this last chance for happiness or bury himself in his lonely Outback ranch once and for all.

Under the northern lights, their attraction ignites beyond their control, and Josie finds that a one-time “no strings attached” release of passion is easier said than done when love is hanging by a thread.

But how will they bridge the difference between two worlds, let alone conquer the wounds of the past and find the courage to live again?

Doing the Promo Rounds

Good heavens, folks - never write more holiday books than you handle marketing. Trust me on this! I'm just about dead trying to sell these things. Unwrapping Scrooge hit a good level of sales after the ARe mention, but the others still never took off. I guess my plans of focusing on the cheapest in the hopes of rising the other boats was ineffective. Oh well, live and learn - there's always next year.

If you want to check out all the millions of guest spots I've been doing, look here. A couple of those giveaways are still ongoing, so enter for a chance to win at WC and 30 Days of Decadence. I'll be at LASR and RomFan Reviews for giveaways next week.

So, the Christmas books are rolling to an end, and soon we'll be hailing the New Year, so now I better move on to the New Years book, Bubbly - why I did this to myself, I do not know!

However, it has been wonderful meeting all the new people I've been getting to know through all this promo, so - sales or no sales - no regrets. It's true - there is always next year, which is right around the corner!

Happy holidays!

PS - Like Magic and Charity are up for Best Cover and Best First Chapter for Nov on D. Bagby Presents, so if you care to, please check out the entries and vote! (The Halloween book also recently got a very nice review I'm very proud of, which you can find here, if you wish.)

Welcome Christmas Blog Hoppers!

Today and all weekend long, we welcome the "Stuff your Stockings" blog hoppers! Hopefully some of you know me, and a hearty hello to those just now meeting me!

Cheer Up, Christmas Grumps!

For those of you who do know me, it's no surprise that I'm fond of Christmas books. In fact, I love romance novels focusing on all holidays - I've written about at least five holidays, myself, and I keep going back to the well of seasonal wonder. I used to love reading holiday books as a teen, and still do. I have a big pile of Christmas romances to burn through this vacation.

One of the things I like best in my holiday romance is the misanthropy. Yes, I know what that word means, and no, it's not a typo.

Misanthropy (noun): The dislike of humanity; the opposite of philanthropy.

So, basically, there's Nephew Fred (philanthropist) and Uncle Scrooge (misanthropist) - until he was reformed, that is.

And that's the part I love most! I love grumpy characters in Christmas books. I love watching them squirm and sneer when confronted by some disgustingly cheerful Christmas-lover-do-gooder, and I love watching them melt. They just seem so realistic to me, since I see this happen over and over again as the people around me adjust to the whole "peace on earth" atmosphere every December.

In my book Unwrapping Scrooge, I have a rumpled and grumpy reclusive writer - sexy, sure, but also fairly eccentric and cynical (which, to me, makes him even sexier, but I'm weird that way). Instead of growing cold through the pursuit of wealth, he's been made cold growing up wealthy. He's all too certain that all interaction has a bottom line to it some place, and he's decided to have no part in it. That is, of course, until he meets a cheerful young Canadian Christmas-lover who melts him (and unwraps him). Gee, I wonder who she's based on...? *ahem*

Yes, I know real life doesn't have many easy, long-lasting transformations, sadly. But one of the great things about fiction is that we can fix the things we don't like about real life, right? And think how great it would be if those holiday reformations would last 364 days a year!

So, happy holidays, and try not to get bogged down in buying stuff and cooking stuff, and meeting family members who seem designed to destroy your cheer. Tell someone how special they are, focus on what actually matters, and restore/renew for 2012.

ETA: New SAMPLES of my Christmas stories on my holiday website for Sample Sunday!

My question to you - what gets you in the holiday spirit? Comment before the end of the blog hop on December 18 for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card from me - to spend on yourself, mind, so don't go blowing it on stuff for other people. Your uncle really doesn't need a set of digital golf tees.

Then follow on to meet the nearly 200 other bloggers giving stuff away, and have yourself a wonderful holiday!
*
Anne Holly is a Canadian writer of romance and erotic romance, and author of Strings Attached, Unwrapping Scrooge and a five-story holiday series from Rebel Ink Press. You can visit her website, her holiday story website, follow her on Twitter or on FB, or sign up for her monthly newsletter to keep in touch.

General News

How can it already be mid-December? The days are simply flying past these days, even though my lack of sleep these days also make parts of the week crawl by. In Real Life, I am up to my neck marking, trying to get the term papers marked by this weekend so I can be shod of this class before the holidays. It's going slowly, but surely. At least the exams are all marked and done, so I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I also  finished my holiday shopping, aside from groceries, and am looking forward to getting in some R&R very soon.

In the meantime, I have some news that I felt I should quickly run down...

First, I have a new contract all signed and off in the post. It might have even arrived, depending on whether the snail mail cart was pulled by one mule or two. I have signed my newest full length novel off to Pink Petal Books, a new company to me - but not a new company, itself. In fact, it's fairly established for an ebook company, and I am very pleased. They seem to like the book, my editor seems friendly and enthusiastic, and the company seems to have a good reputation for contemporary romance, which seems to be fading with other companies. Yes, I am very pleased.

The book, currently entitled Textbook Romance, is the story of Liberty, an anti-romance university prof, and a wonderful single father who seeks to change her mind. I confess a lot of it takes place over Christmas, but I have opted to release it for Father's Day, since Seth's dadhood is such a huge, adorable part of his character. It will be out in ebook in June, with luck, and in paperback in September 2012. I am thrilled to have another contract to look forward to - I was getting antsy, since my Rebel Ink series finished off.

Second, I guess it was that ARe newsletter interview, and possibly all the appearances I've been doing, but Unwrapping Scrooge has taken off in a big way! I'm very happy, but a little confused, since the book came out last year. But, hey, I'm certainly not complaining - it's been great, and I'm seeing the sales in general go up. Perhaps someone liked Unwrapping Scrooge so much they decided to try the others? Who knows! Whatever is going on, I'm grateful.

Third, I have hired a PR company, Sizzling PR, to book a month long blog tour for me and my Valentine's Day book V-Day, so that's exciting. It sounds so grown up and professional, doesn't it? It was certainly affordable, so we'll see if it results in a few sales. V-Day is a good little book (in my humble, totally-unbiased opinion), so I hope it gives it the leg up it deserves. I am also running a month-long promo on TRR for Strings Attached all of January, so hopefully we can create a bit of synergy between all the books. I'm learning as I go.

(I am open to guest shots and interviews of all sorts for Jan-Feb, and then again all summer, so contact me if you have spots open!)

I will be around a lot over the next few weeks, still promoting the Christmas books, along with the New Years book. Please come on back this weekend for the blog hop, and keep an eye out for the other blog hops and blogfests and interviews and guest posts and reviews, etc, etc, etc, that I have going on. (See the "Events" tab above.) To be honest, I can't remember everything off the top of my head any more.

Well, back to marking. Thanks for checking in. I'm glad I managed a little news update today. Some fairly invigorating new developments, no?

Take care, and happy holidays to all!

PROMO: Unwrapping Scrooge

Unwrapping Scrooge

Bestselling author Kale McKinnon is a modern Scrooge – eccentric, misanthropic and reclusive, made bitter by the coldness of his wealthy family. But when optimistic Canadian graduate student Molly Gillis visits Oxford and invades his space, he realizes Christmas is about to change for him forever.

But can he make her stay, and force himself to un-Scrooge enough to be the right man for her?

You can find a brand new review/interview about Unwrapping Scrooge, here.

Guest Blogging at Decadent Today

Visit me at Decadent Publishing's holiday blog, 30 Days of Decadence, today - I'll be giving away a copy of one of my favourite Christmas books and a DVD, and explaining why Ebeneezer Scrooge ranks up there with Mr Darcy... Wait! Just let me explain... 

There's a DVD, a book and a SECRET prize to be won!

Winners will be announced January 2, 2012.

New Paperback Release: Yule Be Mine Volume 2!

Cruising GoodReads, I noticed that a new book had been added to my name - Decadent Publishing has already released the Yule Be Mine vol 2 paperback Christmas romance anthology!

It's available now for purchase on Amazon and will be available via B&N on November 28.

(Words cannot describe how cool it is to be "available in paperback"!)

This anthology, containing four Christmas novellas from last year's Decadent ebook releases, is the non-erotic volume, and contains my book Unwrapping Scrooge and books from KT Grant, Seleste deLaney and A. Faris.

The Ghost of Vampire Present by Seleste deLaney – Jocelyn has finally found her knight in shining armor in Chad, and ghosts are the last thing on her mind. Even when one shows up in her bedroom on Christmas Eve, Jocelyn's a bit more concerned about the other guests on the agenda. She'd prefer to never see another vampire, and the ghost tells her to expect not one, but three…


Last Christmas by A. Faris – ‘Tis the season to be merry…’ But not when you’re on the trail of a time insurgent, and facing a demon’s servant at every turn. For Nadine, Christmas is a jinx. Two deaths in the family and an estrangement, all on the blessed occasion, she spends every Christmas alone since. A knock on her door reveals a mysterious stranger, a stranger who kisses sweet, knows her soul and offers his heart with no reservations. Not everything is as it seems, however, with more at stake than Nadine thinks…

The Christmas Fantasy by KT Grant – On a mission to lose her virginity before her thirtieth birthday on Christmas Day, Mandy Lockeheart plans to seduce the only man she’s ever loved; her brother’s best friend, firefighter Jackson Montgomery. With the sexy new body she’s worked hard to earn, she’s certain she can convince him to fulfill her fantasies…

Unwrapping Scrooge by Anne Holly – Bestselling author Kale McKinnon is a modern Scrooge – eccentric, misanthropic and reclusive, made bitter by the coldness of his wealthy family. But when optimistic Canadian graduate student Molly Gillis visits Oxford and invades his space, he realizes Christmas is about to change for him forever. But can he make her stay, and force himself to un-Scrooge enough to be the right man for her?


So, get it while it's hot. It would make a great holiday present, but your friends and family have enough stuff - get it for yourself, instead.

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

Best wishes for a lovely Thanksgiving, 
and a beautiful fall season.


***
Join me today at Daily Dose of Decadent 
and hear the playlist behind my Christmas romance, Unwrapping Scrooge.
(A little bird tells me there might be a giveaway, as well.)
*
I'm also interviewed on Kindle Author today.

Six Sentence Sunday: Unwrapping Scrooge

This week's Six Sentences comes to you from my Christmas contemporary romance/romantic-comedy, Unwrapping Scrooge - one of my favourites, I admit.

While usually surrounded by an air of casualness, this morning's attire was altogether too unsettling. She couldn't say it was revealing, exactly. His cotton T-shirt, jogging pants, socks, slippers and cozy velour dressing gown in a deep chocolate brown were actually more than most people wore outside in warm weather. Yet, his smell was making it hard for her to concentrate, with the underlying scent of sandalwood now mixed with the musky hint of sleepy, warm male—an aroma wholly unknown to her. The sight of his beautiful, long reddish hair misbehaved from the pillow was a bit much for her nerves this first morning. Thank heavens he was at least wearing his glasses, so that one barrier of normalcy was maintained.

Unwrapping Scrooge is a novella published by Decadent Publishing, and is available from B&N and Amazon, as well as on Smashwords, etc, and has garnered positive reviews from Coffee Time Romance, Seriously Reviewed, and Sizzling Hot Book Reviews, among others. Heat level: Sensual.


Please, take a moment to flip through the other great Six Sentences offering found here.

Confirmed: Unwrapping Scrooge in PRINT!

I've just had it confirmed that my Christmas romance novella Unwrapping Scrooge will be included in the second volume of Decadent Publishing's paperback holiday anthology 2011, Yule Be Mine!

I am thrilled, and look forward to giving a few copies of these out this winter.

The anthology will be released in December 2011, and I will certainly be celebrating here.

My "Other Covers"

I thought I would wrap up my cover week with a few notes about the two covers not mentioned elsewhere.

The cover for my romantic-comedy Christmas novella, Unwrapping Scrooge, published last year by Decadent Publishing, has to be one of my favourites. Designed by Dara England, and featuring additional photography by K.M. Cook, this cover is professional and attractive. For Decadent, as with RIP, I had to fill out a cover info survey describing my characters, the major motifs and the images I most/least wanted. Kale is a bit different here from how I imagined him, since you can't tell he wears glasses and long hair, but otherwise, the image is perfect. Molly is wonderful! The embrace is sweet, yet passionate, just like in the book. I always imagine that the box Kale is holding contains the gloves she knitted him!

~*~ 

The cover for my paranormal erotic Waking Kara will always have a special place in my heart, because it was my first. Designed KitCat Designs, the cover made me blush a bit when I first saw it, but I appreciate its pretty, feminine sensuality. My one concern with it is that it doesn't really scream "paranormal," but it is likely attractive enough to encourage the reader to read the description, where they can discover the story's basic outline. But nothing really compares to it being the very first, nor erase the memory of my excitement the night WHP emailed it to me without warning. 

Covers are important - to readers and to publishers, and especially to authors, since they become part of our identities as writers. I have lived with some of these covers for months, and I am still not sick of them. I guess that means they work!

Sample Sunday: Unwrapping Scrooge

It's hot. I mean, disgustingly hot.

So, this week enjoy a little Christmas, and think of snowier times:

Unwrapping Scrooge

Bestselling author Kale McKinnon is a modern Scrooge - eccentric, misanthropic and reclusive, made bitter by the coldness of his wealthy family. But when optimistic Canadian graduate student Molly Gillis visits Oxford and invades his space, he realizes Christmas is about to change for him forever. But can he make her stay, and force himself to un-Scrooge enough to be the right man for her?

~*~

Mid-December hit with a cold wind, and news came from Mrs. McCardle that her sister-in-law was doing much better, and she’d be returning immediately after Christmas. Two more weeks. Would Kale want to keep seeing her? Molly knew he was falling behind a bit on his usual breakneck writing schedule; he had mentioned Byron’s smugness at finally being able to lord a deadline over him. Perhaps, he would want to return to his regular life. She couldn’t help but hope that they could continue to meet, even if less frequently, until she had to leave. He was an integral part of her English experience, something of which Colby would have approved had Kale been a young cousin to the royal family or something—or even a commoner, as long as he drove a red sports car.

Instead, her romantic European awakening featured a rumpled, bleary writer smothered in wool who drove no car at all, much to the delight of Molly.

That week, she had started knitting Kale’s holiday gift—a pair of woolen fingerless gloves in a dark wine color, with a soft scarf to match. She could feel the approach of Christmas in her bones, and relished the lights going up around the shops and homes. Carols begun to dominate every inch of public space, and she delighted in the childlike spirit they inspired, even if the reminder of the holiday’s approach made her miss her mother. Her budget did not allow for the expensive trip home, and even though Kale had hinted that the gift/loan of the travel costs would not hurt him, she was resolute to use her time enjoying Christmas in England and making headway on her thesis, which was coming along very well, despite the distractions.

***

Kale peeked out the window at the rising sun and the falling snow, and breathed in the aroma of bubbling coffee from the kitchen. Soon, Molly would arrive, and he rubbed his hands together in anticipation for his surprise. He had something to tell her that he was not at all sure she was going to like, and hoped, perhaps foolishly, that a special breakfast would soften the blow.

It was Friday. He knew she didn’t have class, and he had burned through his pages last night in order to clear his day today, so if breakfast didn’t work, he would convince her to go with him to find a Christmas present for herself—anything she wanted.

He knew by instinct that Molly was one of those people who adored the abominable season, and he was determined not to come off as a Scrooge. He had always spent his money wisely, though not exactly from a cheap nature. It occurred to him that he never really had anyone he wanted to spend it on, but now he wanted to lavish it on Molly. He knew she had been raised with a tight budget; he wanted to give her everything.

Money was the one thing his family had given him, he thought with a tinge of bitterness that he pushed away.

Smiling instead, he switched on the waffle iron, and considered the way she would look as she watched the snow. Being Canadian, perhaps she had a special relationship to it. He had begun to look at it differently, himself. What had previously been a cold, wet annoyance now appeared somewhat magical, blanketing them in sparkly privacy within their warm little bubble.

Of course, Molly would be a Christmas-lover—she even smelled like Christmas, all cinnamon and vanilla. For Kale, who never even really considered what Christmas meant, Molly was the human embodiment of the season. Bright, shiny, and fresh.

“I guess that would make me, what? Halloween?” He snickered at his own fanciful thoughts. “Not even that exciting—more like the August Bank Holiday.”

Hauling out the strawberries and the chocolate shavings, he whistled as he considered what was ahead, thinking this was the first Christmas since he was twelve to which he was actually looking forward.

~***~

You can sample my Christmas romance Unwrapping Scrooge on Kindle at Amazon, or find it at ARe, B&N and Smashwords. It is also now tentatively scheduled to release in a paperback anthology - details TBA!

Novella length, approximately 20,000 words.

(Some scenes are not suitable for readers under 18.)

Editing Demon #2: "Head Hopping"

This is the second of my series of three deep-dark-confessions about my editing weaknesses. These are the major issues that I am always working on throughout every story, and for which I have to make specific editing rounds. The theme this week is editing, because I just spent two weeks in editing/re-writing Hades with ye old NaNo manuscript, which is now off to the initial betareaders (see more about betareaders here next week).

The second is a tendency to "head hop."

Definition: "Head Hopping" is a term used by book folk, editors, writers and reviewers to refer to unexplained and confusing shifts in POV during a scene. I.e., chapter starts in the hero's POV and slips into heroine's POV without a section break, and back again. This also includes "vanity/expressions perspective" (where the character that is serving as our eyes inexplicably knows what s/he is looking like at that moment, or unrealistically thinks of their nose as "cute" or similar).

The Problem: If a scene is in one character's POV, the reader should see everything as that character sees it - what s/he knows, sees, feels, etc. If POV slips happen too erratically, it can make the writing seem disjointed and hard to follow. The events and timing seems jumbled. And, worse, it leads to authorial interference, and can take the reader out of the story and make them feel disconnected from the scene.

The Allure: Both characters have so many thoughts and feelings, and head hoping allows you to describe both characters from the outside and give internal dialogue for each, i.e. "what they really mean when they said such-n-such aloud." Besides, I'm the author - I know what they are all thinking!

The Fix: This was a problem that was really big in my first couple of manuscripts, because I didn't realize it was a problem. In old romances, they head hopped all the time, and those were the stories I cut my teeth on. Nowadays, though, it is passe, and my editors have been good at spotting it and teaching me not to do it. Now, I include the planned POV for each scene in the outline for each chapter, so I know which character will be my eyes. This has helped eliminate the good majority of my head hopping. Other than that, a very thorough read-through is the best way to clip out the bits that escape through the outline.

***

Need an illustrative example?

Head Hopping Passage (pre-editing):

Once, the pair even literally ran into each other at the mailboxes, when she came barging into the small space as he turned to stride out. Neither had noticed each other until their torsos had collided. Instinctively, he brought his glove-clad hands up to her fleece-covered arms to steady her, and she noticed again the attractive scent of sandalwood. He detected the slight tinge of cinnamon on her breath as she puffed in surprise, and for a moment all thought fled from his brain as he stared into wide, hazel eyes, fringed with impossibly dark lashes.

He couldn't remember the last time his mind was completely blank while working on a book, but at that moment, he would have been hard pressed to recall his own name.

"Steady on," he murmured, realizing he should say something.

"Hi," she breathed, simply, and, almost reluctantly, made to move past him.

Her flat mate Colby, in their infrequent discussions of the other inmates of the building, had dismissed Kale McKinnon as "weird and old," but right then Molly saw him as nothing like old or weird. True, he had some eccentric qualities, but at that moment, his oddities were more intriguing than anything else. And no one who felt so firm and vital could be considered old. Her heartbeat, at least, rapped out a tattoo that told her she was in the presence of vibrant maleness, a feeling to which she was not normally prone.

"Hi again," he said, softly, taking unfamiliar pleasure in her pretty blush.

Molly stood aside and let him pass, and watched as he exited the building. If she were more like Colby, she thought, she would say he had a "great butt," and smiled impishly at the thought. But, no - she was just Molly, and she didn't have those kinds of thoughts about men she barely knew.

Even though it was true.

Same Scene (post-editing):

Once, the pair even literally ran into each other at the mailboxes, when Molly came barging into the small space just as Kale turned to stride out. Neither had noticed each other until their torsos had collided. Instinctively, he brought his glove-clad hands up to her fleece-covered arms to support her. He detected a slight tinge of cinnamon on her breath as she puffed in surprise, and all thoughts fled from his brain as he stared into wide, hazel eyes, fringed with impossibly dark lashes.

He couldn't remember the last time his mind was completely blank while working on a book, but at that moment he would have been hard pressed to recall his own name.

“Steady on,” he murmured, when he realized he should say something.

“Hi,” she breathed, simply and shyly.

“Hi, again,” he said, softly, taking unfamiliar pleasure in her pretty blush, but finally forced himself past her her to the door.

*break*

She stood aside and watched as he exited the building. Her flatmate, Colby, in their infrequent discussions of the other inmates of the building, had dismissed Kale McKinnon as weird and old. However, right then, Molly saw him as nothing like that. True, he had some eccentric qualities, yet to her, his oddities were more intriguing than anything else. And no one who felt so firm and vital could be considered old. Around him, her heart rapped out a tattoo that told her she was in the presence of vibrant maleness—a feeling to which she was not normally prone.

To Molly, he was sexy, if in an unconventional way. If she were more like Colby, she would say he had a great butt. She smiled impishly at the observation. But, no, she was just herself, and she didn't notice those kinds of things about men she barely knew.

Even though it was true.

(Scenes are both from my Christmas romance novella Unwrapping Scrooge, with thanks to my wonderful editors at Decadent.)

When I first made these changes, it seemed clunky to me to separate the two perspectives. But, I was thinking like the author and not considering the reader. Luckily, I trusted my editors!

***

There are always exceptions!

I try to employ my right to artistic licence very sparingly. I like to trust my editors, as they are less attached to the draft than I am. However, one of the little "quirks" I enjoy in my works is a montage scene that is used to build chemistry and intimacy, as if the melding perspectives mirror the growing couplehood. In this brief scene, the passage of time is denoted by overlapping POV, as well.

Example (also from Unwrapping Scrooge):

As the weeks passed, they talked of many things. They chatted about writing and how his work was going, and about her thesis, and about England and Canada. She told him about her mother's breast cancer, and their constant fear of its return until the five-year remission mark passed this winter. He was silent on the subject of family, which spoke volumes to her. And both felt quiet sympathy for the other. They found themselves developing a friendship neither had expected to find. He found her incredibly intelligent, and she discovered his rudeness was not his normal state, but that he was actually quite amusing when he allowed himself to be. And both also found themselves more and more attracted to the other as the days progressed.

Kale was surprised he had ever thought her plain now, and she wondered why Colby wasn’t able to see how fascinating his mouth was. One morning, she found his dressing gown hung on the inside of the bathroom door and had stroked its plush softness, allowing the scent of him to invade her. She enjoyed the tingling restlessness that pooled deep in her belly until she reminded herself that she was acting like a stalker again and hurriedly left the room. He often found his disobedient eyes travelling the length of her, basking in the sight of her lush curves, only to gather up the last ragged remains of his self-control and return to whatever menial task she had set for him.

And in this way they continued, trying to convince themselves there was no harm in a platonic friendship that was destined to go nowhere and be no more consequential than a few weeks of breakfasts. Soon after the New Year, Mrs. McCardle would return, and there would be no pretense left for them to meet, and then, a few months after that, Molly would return across the ocean, and their brief flirtation would be a warm memory, if that.

But for now, both walked around in a fog fueled by fantasy that neither was really willing or able to acknowledge, but which amused Colby and Byron enormously.

This passage is the only intentional violation of the anti-head-hopping convention in the book. It occurs at an "act break" just as their relationship changes direction, and sums up about a month of interaction in a few brief paragraphs. The characters are such opposites, I felt this was a risky move that could pay off by fostering a more realistic sense of growing together.

It is aggressively authorial, and likely isn't to everyone's tastes. For me, however, I like the cozy feeling of montage passages so much that it is worth taking the hit from the editors. That's my treat as a reader of my own work, in a way.

Luckily, this book has still done fairly well with reviewers and readers, despite this indulgence!

***

So, through editing and working on my craft under the watchful eyes of experienced readers/editors, and by paying attention to reviewer reactions, I am in recovery for my head hopping addiction, and have a greater control over my perspective - but it is still something I have to be conscious of.

The point of writing (at least in genre fiction) is to make the book a pleasant experience for the fans of that genre, and to communicate clearly. Being mindful of writing habits that make reading more difficult is an important step towards publishing.

Naturally, different writers and different forms of writing will have different needs and conventions, so YMMV!

***

So, the quick fix list:

1. Recognize the problem and why it is a problem.
2. Outline/plan/consider which character POV will be the eyes for the scene before hand and stick to it as much as possible.
3. Re-read in the draft stage for head hops or vanity adjectives, and clip the slips out.
4. If a passage cannot be merely clipped, move it to a new section (to the correct POV) or make it out right dialogue.
5. If need be, cut the scene into sections with a section break, and tell the same scene from the two different POVs - but this should be used sparingly.
6. Only head hop when you are consciously using your artistic license. Accidental head hopping should be scoured out by a qualified editor and good readers.

***

"So, good luck," he said, thinking she was nuts for all this.
"Thanks," she muttered, knowing he thought she was nuts.

Where Am I? Where Am I Going?

Run Down:

It's been a month of ups and downs in the Kindle business in the eight months since my first release last October, and recently my books have had some movement both up and down. I admit, I don't really understand the sales stats and such on Amazon, but these are the things that seem clear when I look at all of the sales and buzz info I have at hand:

• Unwrapping Scrooge had a strange off-season resurgence this month, including a boost in sales and some increased interest from reviewers. I plan on trying to make the most of that, to get a momentum going, and see if it can translate into a new marketing campaign for the book starting in October/November leading into the Christmas season.
• Waking Kara remains a consistent seller, especially through Amazon.com, even without any marketing or promotions behind it. This solid little number sells about 10 copies a month, on average, and has reached the 100 copies sold mark, according to my calculations. Now, I know that doesn't sound like much, but given the lack of promotion, that is not bad. Plan: Let's see if that can do a bit better.
• V-Day has recently made its first showing on the Kindle ranks stats, which is nice to see - I like this book, so I need to work on promoting it better. Due to other obligations at the time, I ignored it way too much when it was released - now the plan is to bring some attention to it, and get a review or two.
• Good for the Goose has seen some very moderate ups and downs, but remains fairly low. I have improved the sales profile of it by highlighting the reviews it got last December, in the hopes of reviving it for the Christmas season. Perhaps the idea for a "Christmas in July" blogging blitz might help a bit.
• Sadly, Strings Attached has failed to sell or to attract reviews. I continue to plod ahead, focusing on posting about it at ebook blogs and submitting it to reviewers. It has been out less than a month, so I have not yet given up on it.

Up till now, I have not spent a single dime on marketing or promo. Unfortunately, I am not really in a position to do so now. However, if some of my plans come through, it might be time to resort to paid promotional activities in the fall. I refuse to become a gambling junkie about it, dumping good money after bad into useless ads in the hopes of striking the jackpot. Nevertheless, a few well-placed ads and spotlights might be helpful, if placed strategically and designed well. We shall see.

~*~

Looking Ahead:

What is bugging me the most at the moment, however, is not my low sales, but the fact that I have no new releases planned in the foreseeable future. This is not good.

My next task is to complete the renovations of my 2010 NaNo project and find it a solid home, so it can see daylight. Then, of course, the marketing and promo will start all over again, and I hope it will have a solid landing strip already laid by my first five available works.

Along side that, I must keep chugging along on my new fiction project, which is proving to be a challenge but an exciting one - I will share details soonish, I promise. Today, I spent four hours writing on it, and I feel like a million bucks!

Constantly pushing finished product is not healthy. If I am not producing, I am merely a former writer, and not a writer in the present. Stats and sales are great - but nothing beats looking forward to a new release!

So, that is the state of the union at the moment.

More details as they come...

What's Up in Anne's World?

So, yes, these past four or five weeks, I admit the daily blog thing hasn't been happening. This term, I am teaching two courses, with a total of 160 students, so my time is tight - mixed with my actual writing, my son, my academic and freelance writing, several flus/colds, and general life stuff. Blogging seemed to be a low-maintenance victim to the need to sleep occasionally. I have some hope of things evening out now that a few projects have been beaten into submission, but there's always another project, right?

I very briefly considered getting out of blogging altogether - and, indeed, out of writing fiction for publication, since it (along with the required hours of promotion and networking) seemed to be a full time job in itself, which would make it my third full time gig.

However, I am still around. Actually, I have been fairly productive, just perhaps not in ways that are readily visible at the moment.

So, I would like to share with you some nice news - I have another release coming very soon; a Valentine's Day erotic-romance short, with heavy doses of comedy, called V-Day, which will be released by Wicked Nights on February 11! The cover looks pretty great (see above), and I have to give lots of kudos to the brave folks at Wicked for accepting a book that is... well... Non-traditional is one way to describe it. You'll see when you read it. It's not your common erotic-romance.

V-Day is told through the eyes of a lovesick young man, Daniel, who spends his life in pursuit of musical excellence, hemmed in by his nutty family, who could all use a bit of a break from each other. V-Day is the story of a Valentine's Day weekend he will never, ever forget, where he becomes decidedly un-Daniellike. And it all starts with an impromptu performance of one of my favourite pieces, Beethoven's Romance No 2 in F Major.

Even if I do say so myself, that scene is particularly sweet.

In other news, my novel, Strings Attached (Wild Horse Press) is still planned for release in May 2011, which is fast approaching, at long last - edits and such will continue, and I really hope you like it. Soon, I hope to have another full length ready to submit. And, with V-Day, I am continuing on my planned five story holiday themed series for Wicked, and am already formulating something really grand for St Patrick's Day.

I am also gearing up for some major website revamping over the next little while in anticipation of promoting my full length, so I will be sharing some news about that as the next month or so rolls along.

I also got a few good reviews recently, which really made my day, and I look forward to getting my work out there a bit more, and will really try to do some more guest blogging very soon. Unwrapping Scrooge (Decadent Publishing) got three cups from Coffee Time Romance, and reviewer Patrizia Murray at Manic Readers gave Good for the Goose 4.5 stars out of 5, calling the sexual buildup "mesmerizing" (which I think may be the nicest compliment my writing ever received). These were great boosts for me, and weighed positively in my decision to stay in the ring a bit longer.

As long as people are enjoying my writing, I am glad to keep doing it.

Anyway, so that is what's up around here. My son and I are starting to defeat the random colds and flus, and things are getting back on track. I am so grateful to all the authors who have visited the blog and kept it alive during my radio silence, and I hope you enjoyed meeting some writers, and continue to discover some new favourites through their posts on this blog.

I hope all is well out there, and please stay tuned for more from me as the weeks progress - including new excerpts, trailers and news!

Hugs and kisses,
Anne