Today, I’m Interviewing Romantic Suspense Author, Robena Grant, whose new 3-book Desert Heat Series begins releasing this month with the first book,  Unlock the Truth. Robena writes contemporary romance about ordinary women who are thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Travel and discovering new places brings her great pleasure, and she often includes these discoveries in her stories. She is Australian by birth, lives in Southern California, and has two grown children. Robena may be contacted at: www.robenagrant.com where she blogs weekly, or follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

So, Roben, tell me: When did you first begin writing romance?

I started writing in 2000. I thought that I was writing romance but soon discovered (when I joined RWA) that what I’d written were two women’s fiction novels. I tried for several years to write for Harlequin, but my stories were too long and never fit cleanly into a line. I was always crossing genres. Then about three years ago I developed an interest in romantic suspense, and wrote the Desert Heat series.

How do you get ideas for your stories?

My ideas come from observing something or hearing something said. My mind then takes whatever it was and toys with it. Before I know it I have the beginning of story. I really enjoy observing human nature and for me the character generally shows up first, then I put him or her in an appropriate setting and it takes off from there.

Which writers have influenced you?

Jenny Crusie, for her ability to make me laugh about the most ordinary of situations, Pat Gaffney for her pure writing brilliance, and Amy Tan for introducing me to a culture that I know little about but showing that the human condition changes little from one culture to another.

What are you working on at the moment?

I just finished a contemporary romance with a European influence, and I’m halfway through a second one, and although I’d intended writing no more suspense, there is a suspense trying to insert itself. ; )

What do you find most challenging about writing?

Sitting in the chair, and not because I don’t want to write, or don’t have enough new ideas, but because I have low back pain issues. I’ve tried writing standing up but can’t do that for long periods of time.

Do you have any special quotes or sayings that you keep visible in your work environment to help inspire, motivate, and encourage you?

“Don’t be defeatist it’s very middle class.” ~Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess, Downton Abbey~

“Hope…the thing with feathers.” ~Emily Dickinson~

What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a writer?

“Every love story, buddy story, partnership story, is about the exchange of gifts: emotional, spiritual, or personality, and they come from the character’s strongest traits.” This quote was taken from a course that I took from Laurie Hutzler, Media Consultant for film and television.

What advice do you have for a new aspiring writer?

Don’t try to write like anyone else. Don’t be afraid to let loose and put your true feelings on the page. You’re offering the reader something of value…a little piece of you.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?

Travel is my number one joy. Reading is a close second, because if I can’t afford the first I can always travel in my mind if I have a good book.

Unlock the Truth is available in print and all digital formats at Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, and The Wild Rose Press.

It’s that time again! This week’s snippet comes from one of my two new books (both are due out this summer).  ONCE MORE FROM THE TOP  is Carrie and Liam’s story, two people who had a very brief, but passionate love affair and then are separated for 16 years. In this snippet, Liam is wandering around Carrie’s Uncle Noah’s marina. In the bait shop, on a public bulletin board, he discovers a photo of a boy who looks almost exactly like his own nephew and it gives him pause…and then…

Didn’t they say everyone has a twin somewhere? Jamie would probably get a kick out of knowing that his was here in Michigan.

He started to pin the picture back up when his heart began to pound in his chest and his mouth was suddenly dry. Stepping out into the sunlight, he stared at it again. The boy looked to be about Jamie’s age, fifteen.

Fifteen…oh, Jesus, no way!

His hand shook as he tried to swallow the fear that welled up in his throat and attempted some quick calculations in his head. Fifteen years and nine months ago, he and Carrie Halligan were in his bed in Montreal.

Thanks for stopping by and please don’t miss the other Weekend Writing Warriors.   Head on over and check out the work of dozens of other writers. You’ll be so glad you did!

Today, I’m so excited to welcome guest blogger, Linda Morris, who is a multipublished writer of contemporary and historical romance. She writes stories with heart and heat. Her latest book, By Hook or By Crook, released last month from the Wild Rose Press.
When she’s not writing, working, or mommying, she’s doing yoga, reading, working in her flower garden, or baking delicious things she probably shouldn’t eat. She believes that there are two kinds of people: pie people and cake people, and she is definitely one of the former. Her years of Cubs fandom prove she has a soft spot for a lost cause. A beat-up old copy of Kathleen Woodiwiss’s Ashes in the Wind that her mom bought for her at a garage sale years ago was her gateway drug into the world of romance novels. Her all-time favorite romance writers include Laura Kinsale, Patricia Gaffney, Elizabeth Delancey, and Marjorie Ferrell. Current favorites include Julie Anne Long, Erin McCarthy, and Shannon McKenna. Take it away, Linda…

Hi, Nan. Thanks for having me here today! My latest release, By Hook or by Crook, is a road romance, a genre that I love. In my story, a spoiled heiress, Ivy, teams up with her father’s security consultant, Joe, in a last-ditch bid to prevent the (she’s sure) disastrous marriage of her little sister to an MMA fighter. Convinced that her sister’s fiancé is only after the family’s money, Ivy expects to fly out from Chicago, locate her sister, talk sense into her, and prevent the marriage. Joe thinks her meddling is inexcusable, but she’s the client, so he agrees to travel with her to help locate the wayward couple.

When they arrive in Vegas, they discover that her sister’s fiancé never showed for his scheduled MMA bout and the couple is now missing. They go on the road in pursuit of the couple, battling irate gangsters and their own growing attraction along the way.

Working on this story got me thinking about some of my favorite road romances, and why I love this trope so much. I think that it’s because it takes the characters and puts them in a crucible together. They can’t run away, and they can’t avoid each other: They have to work together to solve whatever problem or achieve whatever quest they’ve set for themselves. It can sometimes allow unlikely couples to form: couples that would never have given each other the time of day in a normal situation, but in extraordinary circumstances, they find something to like and even love about the other person:

Take a few of my favorite Hollywood films that use this trope. The all-time classic example is It Happened One Night, with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable. Claudette is the spoiled daughter of a wealthy industrialist who runs away when her father threatens to stop a marriage he doesn’t approve of. Lost and unused to taking care of herself, she loses all her money and quickly goes hungry as she travels cross-country to join her fiancé. Along the way, a down-on-his-luck newspaperman recognizes her and agrees to help her in return for a scoop on her story. This is a classic opposites-attract story. Gable plays the cigar-chomping, smart-mouthed newsman and is the perfect foil to Colbert’s naïve heiress. Of course, Gable soon develops feelings for Colbert and becomes torn about helping the woman he loves reunite with her fiancé.

Another charming (although admittedly more sordid) version of this story is told in Back Roads, starring two of my favorite actors, Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field. Field is a prostitute who is solicited by Jones, a down-on-his-luck boxer. He can’t pay her after they have sex, much to her disgust, but he “saves” her by punching out a vice cop who is about to arrest her. They flee to avoid arrest and later decide to hitchhike cross country to try to start new lives in California. This is a great forgotten romantic comedy from the early eighties.

The last of my favorite road romance films is Romancing the Stone (and it gets bonus points for having a romance novelist protagonist). Kathleen Turner stars as a sheltered, naïve romance novelist who must travel to Columbia to deliver a treasure map as ransom to save her kidnapped sister. She is quickly diverted onto the wrong bus and winds up alone in the jungle. She encounters Michael Douglas, an expatriate American adventurer who reluctantly offers to help her to a nearby town because he knows she may die otherwise. He eventually comes to believe the treasure map is legitimate and talks her into finding the stone rather than simply handing the map over to her sister’s kidnappers, with the intention of stealing the stone from her when they find it. Of course, true love rises to save the day before he can pursue such a dastardly course of action.

So there you have it: a few of my favorite celluloid road romances. If you love this genre as much as I do, leave me a comment and let me know your favorites!

While you’re thinking, here’s a quick snippet from By Hook or By Crook, which comes after Joe and Ivy have shared a kiss. Poor Ivy is still trying to fight her feelings:

“I can see you’re not going to make this easy,” she said, her tone brittle. “You know perfectly well what I mean. You and me, and our kiss. We just…comforted each other in a difficult situation.”

The awkward words didn’t exactly express what Ivy meant, and her frustration grew as Joe’s grin deepened. A dimple appeared in his cheek when he smiled fully.

“Yes, thank you for comforting me so well,” he quipped.

“Very funny.”

“I mean it,” he said, reaching out to take her hand, brushing his thumb across the back of hers. The simple touch raised the fine hair on her arms. “I’d like to comfort you all night long.” His voice lowered, grew husky, and Ivy’s skin was on fire from the inside out.

She pulled her hand away with effort. “The cabin was a special situation,” she explained. “Not really the real world. Now that we’re back in the real world, I think we ought to try to put things between us on a professional footing once again.”

“The real world? I didn’t know we’d ever left it.

Tell me about this distinction. Why is this motel parking lot the real world, but a cabin an hour or so away is magically not?” His jaw had that pugnacious angle that it took on when he made her life difficult, and Ivy sighed.

“When you put it that way, it sounds silly.”

“That’s because it is silly.”

Thanks for having me here today, Nan. I love to hear from readers. You can find me online at http://lindamorrisbooks.com/, or follow me on Twitter at @LMorrisWriter. My author page on Facebook is located at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Linda-Morris/130241710320644?ref=hl.

I’m busy, busy doing revisions and edits on the two new books that are coming this summer to an e-reader near you, so here’s another snippet from my published novel, Rule Number One. It’s still the same night and Katy discovered that Jack was pretending to be her hired escort. She was plenty pissed and stormed out of the event and took a cab home. Jack’s too attracted to let it go, so he goes to her house, rings the bell, and starts over, introducing himself and telling her that he’d only stopped by to see if she could come talk to him about staging his mother’s house. It’s been on the market for almost a year and it’s not selling. She agrees, but remains very cool. When he gets back in the car, he surprises her with a text message, asking if they can please consider this a fresh start.

Katy sat down on the steps and thumbed the screen’s keyboard. U humiliated me.

I know, U R right, rat = me.

U invaded my privacy.

I’m a bastard.

She smiled in spite of herself as an unfamiliar tingle zipped through her veins. A rat bastard, she texted back.

OK, rat bastard. May I come in and apologize again?

Can she resist his charm? I’m not telling!

Thanks for stopping by and please don’t miss the other Weekend Writing Warriors.   Head on over and check out the work of dozens of other writers. You’ll be so glad you did!

I missed last Sunday, but it was for a good cause. I was out visiting Son, DIL, and darling Grandboy. My treat for all the weeks of work I’ve been doing. So this week, you not only get a snippet from my current WIP, you also get pictures—Grandboy in all his overwhelming cuteness and even one with sister, PJ! After you read today’s snippet, scroll to the bottom of this post—you won’t be sorry!

Last time in the snippet from Like Fine Wine, Julie was amazed to realize that her feminine emotions weren’t dead at all as Will misreads her expression and hugs her. But when he looks into her eyes again, he can’t resist and he kisses her… And yes, I’m teasing you by not giving you the snippet with the kiss because I’m mean like that. But here’s her reaction it…

The therapist had warned me the meds I was taking might dampen my libido. Apparently, she hadn’t counted on Will Brody, because my libido was on point. I slipped one hand under his sweater only to find his undershirt keeping me from the warmth of his bare skin.

When he slid his other hand down my back to my behind, pressing my lower body to his, evidence of his arousal was unmistakable. The feel of his erection against my belly splashed icy reality over me. Oh, sweet Christ in heaven! The last time a hard-on pushed into my stomach like that was on Mackinac Island.

Charlie!

More of both Like Fine Wine and The Music Is You as the weeks progress. Thanks for stopping by and please don’t miss the other Weekend Writing Warriors.   Head on over and check out the work of dozens of other writers. You’ll be so glad you did!

This snippet from The Music Is You picks up where last week’s left off with Carrie opening the door to her worst fears—Liam Reilly, the man she’d loved and lost sixteen years earlier. She broke his heart and this is his opportunity to find out exactly what happened so long ago. He has the upper hand at the moment, but that could all change…

He hadn’t changed much—a little brawnier, a few gray strands threading through his dark red hair, some lines around his eyes. The gray-streaked goatee was new, but basically he was the same Liam Reilly.

What a crummy thing to do, blindsiding me first thing in the morning!

When she was finally able to speak, her voice was husky with sleep. “Why are you here?”

He opened the door and lounged against the jamb. “I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I’d drop by.”

How had he found her so quickly?

Thanks for stopping by and please don’t miss the other Weekend Writing Warriors.   Head on over and check out the work of dozens of other writers. You’ll be so glad you did!

…is my topic for today. I intended to tell you about how hard it is to fit in what I know about my characters without info dumping all over the page. Whining was imminent because I am stuck, stuck, stuck in revisions on The Music Is You simply because I want to tell my readers way too much.  I’m cutting furiously and wondering how in holy hell I’m going to have a story when I’m done. Yes, yes, yes—I know—only last week, I was in celebration mode because I finished Like Fine Wine, so whining seems rather selfish at this point. But that one’s done. It’s out with the beta readers, and now I have to get to work on this one.

It’s harder, mostly because this is the book of my heart. The one that my agent loved enough to sign me. The one I wrote and sent out to the world when I was mourning my friend Suzanne and wondering if I could ever possibly be a real writer. It’s been rejected by more publishers than I can count, but almost always with this caveat,  “Great story, wonderful writing, too much flashback.”  or “Characters are too old and there’s too much flashback.”  Editors love my writing—I am a great writer, but I am the queen of TMI.

So I sent the manuscript to my favorite book doctor, Lani Diane Rich at StoryWonk for a critique and advice. She took it apart and with unbearable honesty (for which I am eternally greateful), laid out the facts. Too much back story—cut, cut, cut. And God bless her, she even apologized because she was telling me to cut some terrific stuff. But it had to be done. So far, I’ve cut close to 10,000 words, rewritten the first scenes, and added more panache to my main character. I’m not changing their ages. Love is ageless, right?

Well, as I said, I’d intended to talk about how to get rid of the backstory and stay in the here and now. But then, I listened to Lani and Alastair’s StoryWonk Sunday last night before Downton Abbey, and realized I don’t have to write this after all. Instead, I’m sending you to them.

Listen and learn.

I got such a terrific response last week, here’s another eight sentences from Like Fine Wine. Julie is getting settled into her friend’s apartment, but the guy across the hall is more than a little distracting. In this scene, he’s stopped by to see if she needs anything from the market before the snow storm that’s due, and Julie catches herself being…well…distracted…

I leaned against the sofa, arms crossed under my breasts, simply gazing at him. I was frozen there, unable to respond, my mouth as dry as a desert. Was I actually lusting after a guy who’s practically a stranger? And almost young enough to be my son?

Yep. Desire curled in my lower belly, although it had been such a long time, I barely recognized the sensation. Blood rushed to my cheeks and my body warmed as I stared at him standing there in Liam and Carrie’s living room, looking like an MTV beach party host.

Be sure to check out other Weekend Writing Warriors and enjoy their eight sentences!

What a wonderful feeling to be able to type “The End” at the finish line of a long arduous writing experience. I have another novel done—really, truly done! And my critique partners are on-board, one even said, “This gave me goose bumps” about the final scene. Goose bumps! Can I get any better than that? It’s out to the betas right now and I’m dying to hear what they think.

This book, Like Fine Wine,  may be close to ready, but I’ve got the finish the other one before I can go forward with my plans for it because the heroine in LFW is a secondary character from The Music Is You. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to release this one first since people might want to go look for MUSIC and it wouldn’t be there. I’m torn. I’ve had people advise me in both directions. Since it’s pretty much good to go, they say to put LFW out there now with a teaser for MUSIC in the back and then release MUSIC. Others recommend that I finish MUSIC and release it first with a teaser for LFW in the back.

It’s been almost a year since Rule Number One was released and I’m tempted to put LFW out there. I don’t want my readers to think I’m a one-trick pony because I’m not. I’ve got books going, ideas simmering, but I’ve also got this day job that takes up an incredible amount of my time. I love editing, I love my freelance life, but it’s not always so “free.” Deadlines beckon and paychecks don’t come in until after the work is completed—sometimes as much as 45 to 60 days after the work is done and invoiced. Freelancers have to be wonderful money managers, and we’ve all been known to whine about slow-paying clients. That old “gotta make a living” gets in the way of creative energy.

That’s been the theme of The Simple Abundance path  so far—not letting life block our creative urges. Sarah Ban Breathnach speaks often of allowing our creative energy to flow, of being receptive to inspiration, of believing our yearnings are blessings. Finishing this book brought all those feelings to the surface. It’s done and it’s good. I am a great writer! What a rush!

I’m learning about structure, about how to build a story so that characters, events, reactions, and outcomes all come together to create a cohesive plot. I tell a great story, I truly do, but I get bogged down in the details of my characters lives—especially their pasts. It’s a common thing for a writer to do. I sent one of my manuscripts to my favorite book doctor, Lani Diane Rich, who is an incredible writer and co-host of the StoryWonk podcasts. If you aren’t already listening to StoryWonk, you should be. Lani and her husband and partner, Alastair Stephens, know their stuff. Their weekly podcasts are informative and very entertaining. Sunday evenings, I grab a glass of wine and spend an hour learning about stories.

Lani recommended that I watch movies and read—absorb narrative, pay attention to how the stories transition and flow. So, I’ve been doing my homework the last few days. Read a fabulous book by Keith Cronin called Me, Again. Read it! Keith did a great job telling the story of a man who has a stroke at age 28 and then is in a coma for six years. The story begins as he awakens from the coma and follows the character’s journey back to himself…except that he’s no longer the man he used to be. Fascinating stuff and Keith brings the past and present together so skillfully that the reader never get bogged down in the details.

Movies are a fabulous way to learn about structure. The storyteller has roughly two hours to get the job done, so anything extraneous has to go. Some movies do this flawlessly, others—not so much. I’d never watched a movie with the intent of learning structure before, but it’s a fascinating experience. Sister PJ and Husband would tell you it’s a pain in the butt to watch movies with me now because I kept stopping the DVD to turn to them and say, “See? See how they did that transition?” or “There, perfect! Look how they gave us all that information in the first five minutes of the film.” By the last twenty minutes of Love Actually, PJ finally said, “Shut up and watch the damn movie!”

Last night, Husband and I watched The Family Stone—a very well-done, quirky comedy-drama about a family at Christmas. Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson are wonderful as the parents, whose adult kids all come home for the holidays, bringing their own particular joys and sorrows with them. I won’t detail the plot, but structure really hit me between the eyes in the first few moments of the movie. Within the first two scenes, we learn all we need to know about the backgrounds of the characters—who they are, what they’re dealing with, and how it’s going to affect the family holiday. Writer/Director Thomas Bezucha did a masterful job of filling us in without dragging us down into backstory.

When the movie was done, we watched the “Special Features,” including the “Deleted Scenes.” I love hearing the director talk about the behind-the-scenes stuff with the movie, but the deleted scenes are particularly significant when you’re watching a film for structure. Seeing what the director cut helped me understand why Lani told me to cut out all the flashback and backstory from Novel 2, THE MUSIC IS YOU. “Stay in the NOW!” were her instructions. When I saw what Bezucha edited out of The Family Stone, I totally got it. It was great stuff and so are my backstory scenes in MUSIC, but they’re not necessary. The deleted scenes would’ve bogged down the movie, just as my flashbacks are bogging down my story.

So, now my job is to edit. Edit ruthlessly. It’s painful to cut good writing, but paring down is the only way to bring this story into the here and now, and allow my characters to live out their present dilemma. How they got there can be dribbled in as it’s needed, but I understand that it’s imperative to stay in the NOW.

Thanks, Lani…I’m absorbing narrative, my dear teacher…and I can already see why it’s so important to learn from other people’s work.