Join our 12 Days of Christmas Celebration.
Join me and 21 other authors for lots of fun and prizes, celebrating the most wonderful time of the year.
Ho! Ho! Ho! The Rafflecopter is closed for entries.
Read the remainder of this entry »
Join me for 12 Days of Christmas fun starting December 14!
22 authors will be sharing holiday traditions, recipes and gift ideas. And for those last minute shoppers, there will be gift giveaways! I’ll keep you posted!
My life is filled with love and laughter thanks to the amazing people I get to hang out with. As well as being awesome moms, they’re creative, talented, generous, and fun! I thought you might like to meet them so I’ve asked them to come and give us a behind-the-scenes look at what they’re passionate about. I have to warn you though – creativity is contagious!
Samanthya Wyatt, a fellow author at Soul Mate Publishing, is my guest today. Soul Mate authors and editors are an amazing, welcoming group – they generously share tips and tricks of the trade. Thank you Samanthya, for all your excellent advice!
SW: Thank you for inviting me. I’m so excited to be here.
Tell us about your writing journey.
SW: Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved curling up with a book. When I was young I wrote poems and short stories. I signed everything UNKNOWN AUTHOR. When I graduated, my life changed. I married a military man, traveled across the US and abroad, then settled in the Shenandoah Valley and had a family. Once I found romance novels, I fell in love with the characters and needed to know their happy ending. When I couldn’t afford to buy them, I wrote my own.
I joined the Romance Writers of America and several of the chapters. I’ve taken every workshop I could to improve my writing and entered many contests. Savvy Authors offered a pitch contest with several editors, agents and publishers. Coming up with a pitch—25 words or less—is extremely difficult when you’re in a group with thousands of other authors. But I got the attention of 3 editors and two different publishing companies. My dream paid off. I signed my first contract with Soul Mate Publishing and am very proud to now have three novels published with them.
Congratulations – 3 novels published! Wow! Why historical romance? Have you ever written in any other genre?
SW: I love historical romance—I’ve been truly inspired by Kathleen Woodiwiss!! There are so many of my favorite authors, Shirlee Busbee, Janelle Taylor, Johanna Lindsey, Catherine Coulter, Jude Deveraux, to name a few. Dashing Lords and pirates seemed so romantic, so my first book was written in the historical genre.
The Right One is the first in the ‘One and Only Series’. As I worked on The Right One, I decided Kat’s brother had a story.
The sequel, The True One, is about him. Why was he gone for two years? What happened to him? It’s a love story all his own. The True One is my latest book and I’m very excited that it will be released on December 17th, 2014!
I also write contemporary romance. One day I was playing around to get my mind off edits of my first historical, and I wrote a scene with two women bantering back and forth. I had so much fun and the words seemed to flow. So I ended up writing my first contemporary, Something More. Modern day women have more freedom, and my wit seems to come out more with contemporary. I’ve started several stories including a hunky fireman series. Station Eight. Can’t wait to get those published.
I look forward to reading those! Tell us about your writing process. Do you plot/make outlines for your work-in-progress, or do you wait to see how the story unfolds?
SW: I find that I get a lot more accomplished if I just sit at the computer and write. But if I want my story to go somewhere, there has to be thought put into the goals and motivations of the characters and the conflict that drives the story. I learned this from many workshops. I learned how to do character sketches, GMC charts, plots—everything I needed to bring a story together. As I write, I make notations on names, color of hair, anything I may need for reference later in my story. It pays off.
It would – especially in a series. What’s your favourite part of writing?
SW: Coming up with the characters and their traits. Everyone wants a strong – tall dark and handsome – hero. The trick is not making them all look the same. I do character sheets on my hero and heroines. Then I have to refer back to those sheets throughout the manuscript so I don’t goof.
I enjoy penning a story with strong characters, a bit of humor, and active scenes with the character’s true emotions. I’ve learned that the reader wants to be involved with the characters. Wants to be the character. My intention is to draw the reader in where he/she can experience the character’s emotion or situation.
I invite you to lay the worries of the world off your shoulders and get lost in the pages of a romance, where you embark on a journey with the hero and heroine, become involved in a dream, plunge into a world of fantasy, live an adventure your heart can share.
What advice would you give an aspiring romance writer?
SW: No# 1. Join RWA – Romance Writers of America. You can join chapter groups, critique groups, you’ll find friends and receive a lot of help. Take every workshop offered—GMC, point of view, character interviews, etc. Believe me, you’ll be glad you did. Enter contests and keep your mind open to the feedback. Take criticism as constructive. Don’t expect success overnight. Keep trying. Don’t give up.
Great advice! What song would be your theme song?
SW: “Wild Wild Love” by Pitbull. I love to dance and I really like Pitbull. Just the name of the song is what every heroine wants from her hero. Let’s face it. Isn’t that why we read romance novels? We all yearn for that fantasy romance and that hunk to deliver just what we want. Touch us the way we want. Give us that forever lasting love we dream of. In my writing, I try to deliver the magic of the joining. And if I get a little carried away, well …
Whew – Mom, close your eyes when you read that last answer! What would you pick as a superpower?
SW: I thought about reading people’s minds. But wouldn’t that just drive you crazy? Being able to move objects would be awesome. While driving down the road, you could pick up the car in front of you and move it out of your way. LOL But then, if I were strong, or limber, or could move every part of my body like an acrobat, imagine the twists and turns you could position yourself in. LOL
What’s your favourite dessert?
SW: I absolutely LOVE ice cream. Plain Vanilla. I could eat a dish of ice cream every night. Mmmm Butterscotch topping. Maybe a little whip cream. I love apple pie, but it has to be warm to melt the ice cream on top.
Samanthya, thank you for visiting today! You can visit Samanthya at her website www.samanthyawyatt.com or visit her on Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, and SMP Authors. She loves to hear from readers! And hopefully one day, Samanthya and I will be able to read what you’ve written! Linda
Here’s a little about Something More
On his way to an important meeting, a light flirtation turns into more than Matthew expects. The alluring beauty does not need his money, and makes it clear she does not need him.
Carrie trusts no man. Until a pair of mischievous eyes melts her defenses, and has her second guessing her convictions.
Infatuation and excitement spark a journey of passion and forbidden emotion where two people must overcome their earlier convictions to find an everlasting love.
A determined man, a headstrong woman, and a battle of wills.
And here are the buy links if you’d like to check out Samanthya’s books:
I’ve just finished reading The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This book won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 2008 and was a CBC Radio Canada Reads Winner in 2011. Pretty impressive for a book that was originally self-published when traditional publishers weren’t interested! I’m glad Terry Fallis persisted.
The Best Laid Plans is a very funny story about Daniel Addison, an English major who works at Parliament Hill as the head speech writer for the Leader of the Opposition. He decides to leave politics but as a last favour agrees to find a Liberal candidate for a notoriously Progressive Conservative riding. Gruff and loveable Angus McLintock agrees to run in exchange for a favour, after Daniel promises him a sure loss. The election doesn’t go quite as planned and Parliament Hill isn’t quite ready for the Angus storm.
This story is so appealing because of the wonderful rich characters and the feeling that you’re getting the inside scoop about federal politics. If nothing else you have to read the hilarious prologue. But once you do, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to put it down!
The book is set in Ottawa and because I’ve lived there, I enjoyed the references to Ottawa landmarks. I always wonder when I start a book – what’s better – a real or an imaginary town? Leave a comment and let me know what you prefer!
I picked up Delicious! by Ruth Reichl because I loved her Garlic and Sapphires book. Garlic and Sapphires is a very entertaining account of her work as a restaurant food critic for The New York Times. Delicious! is her first work of fiction.
In Delicious!, Ruth Reichl very artfully blends the past, the present, and the future in a moving story of a young woman, Billie Breslin, who moves and adjusts to life in New York City. Billie is hired by an upscale food magazine and finds family in an Italian deli where she works part-time on weekends. The vivid descriptions of tastes and scents enrich the story and made me feel like I was right there with the characters.
I read it as Russia moved to invade Ukraine, so I really connected with the mothers’ fear and mood as their men enlisted for World War II in the scenes from the past. I thought the story had a melancholic undertone, but I loved the relationship Billie had with her family – both her families.
I’m glad I bought it – I can read it again and try the Delicious!– sounding recipe for Billie’s Gingerbread!
Big news: The cover of Perfectly Honest is here! It’s actually happening!
Perfectly Honest by Linda O’Connor
You never know where your words will take you…
When Mikaela Finn agreed to be Sam’s ‘fiancée’ for a weekend, she probably should have told him that she’s a doctor.
Sam O’Brien, aka ‘Dr. Eye Candy’, is trying to shed his playboy reputation and convince a small town hospital that he’s ready to settle down. But when his ‘fiancée’ helps deliver a baby in the middle of the meet and greet, it’s a bit of a shock. If he’d known the whole truth, he might have done things a little differently because somehow his ‘fiancée’ ends up stealing his job and his heart. Not exactly the change he wanted.
Lies and deceit – it’s a match made in heaven!
It is my pleasure to announce that my novel, Perfectly Honest, will be published by Soul Mate Publishing in January 2015. This is the first book in a series entitled Perfectly… which will have a total of three books – Perfectly Honest, Perfectly Reasonable, and Perfectly Planned. I am thrilled to be a published author and hope you enjoy the books in this series as much as I have enjoyed writing them!
Linda O’Connor, author – New website!
I hope you’re enjoying looking around my website. I’m excited to have a web presence in anticipation of the publication of Perfectly Honest by Soul Mate Publishing.
If you click on Linda O’Connor at the top of each page, you can navigate between the pages.
Let’s e-talk will link you to my social media sites, so please click the Facebook and Twitter links and follow me there as well. I belong to Wattpad and you can read 2 of my novels – She’s Not a Fan and Choices – there for free. Just follow the link!
I will upload new posts to the News, Muse and Interviews section – so stay tuned!
