Argh Author: Richly Deserved by Brenda Margriet

Brenda Margriet’s latest novel in her TIMELESS Seasoned Romance Collection, Richly Deserved, is on sale now at a special price until April 1.

More than twenty years ago, Claudia Aronson escaped an abusive marriage. She built a secure, stable life, and is now only weeks away from realizing a long-held dream—opening her own art gallery. But her well-ordered world is threatened by the compelling, abrasive man essential to bringing her new venture into the spotlight.

Artist Titus Wilcox is reclusive, nomadic, and passionate. His solitary, drifting habits have fed his creative soul, but played hell with his love life. Soon after he meets the statuesque, seemingly-serene Claudia, however, he feels a compulsion to paint a new reality—with her.

When an antique painting reveals mysterious documents concealed behind its frame, Titus and Claudia unite in a hunt for lost riches—a pursuit that takes them into the remote hills surrounding the fabled gold rush town of Barkerville.

To these two skeptics, true love is as phony as fool’s gold. But this improbable search for buried treasure could lead to their hearts’ hidden desires.

Richly Deserved‘s Ebook Price $2.99 (will go up to $4.99 on April 1)
Now Available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N and Apple (Also Available in Print from Amazon)

Nita: A Big Boat Blocking Traffic

My current fascination is the Ever Given, the huge ship stuck sideways in the Suez. For one, it’s such an apt metaphor for my life, especially with Nita in front of me, sideways, on my laptop. For another, the memes are hysterical. (I’d have used this for the happiness post, but it seems mean since the Big Boat is blocking 12% of the world’s shipping, which somehow makes the world seem smaller and more understandable but still hard luck on shipping and anybody expecting anything from China.) I can’t pick a favorite. There’s the “Steal His Look” meme which is a great visual joke, there’s the “This is the most action Cape Horn of Good Hope has gotten since 1850″ which makes me feel smart because I get it (I like a low bar), and there’s the Evil of Sauron and two hobbits . . . I love them all.

I think the world just needed a big boat stuck in the Suez Canal right now.

(Note: Right before I posted this, the Big Boat became partially unstuck. Still funny.)

The World Happiness Report: The World is Happier Than You’d Think

The World Happiness Report is out, and the news is … cheerful. In spite of one of the most stressful years of our lives globally, people’s assessment of their own happiness didn’t change much. It’s not so much that all is well, one researcher says in the Washington Post, it’s that people aren’t giving up, our belief in the future remains optimistic. The takeaway? We are really, really adaptive.

How were you adaptive and optimistic this week?

So Nita Act One

Writing is hard.

Now that my whine is out of the way, I really thought when I sent the severely rewritten Act One to Krissie and Bob that I was done. I knew it was kind of slow, but you know, it’s Act One, so there’s some set-up there . . . .

Nope, it’s slow. I have analyzed this sucker, charted it, looked at conflict boxes, I’m ready to scream. And the horrible thing is, I can hear the wrongness of my rationalization even as I make it: But I need that information.

Readers don’t need information, they need story. Must tattoo that on the inside of my eyelids.

Continue reading

Details Matter

Okay, I bought a lot of Art Deco china for Fast Women, and I own all of Liz’s t-shirts and all of Nita’s socks, and . . . the POINT is that I understand getting the details right. But even I never wrote an anthem for an imaginary city state. Hat’s off to Terry Pratchett for “We Can Rule You Wholesale,” the anthem of Ankh-Morpork.

(I particularly like the second verse, which (Pratchett explains) was written by a non-Ankh-Morporkian vampire who had noticed that the world over, people faked the second verse off their anthems because they couldn’t remember the words (I have no idea what the second verse of the Star-Spangled Banner” is) and therefore tend to sing “ner, ner, hner” until they hit a bit they remember. The soprano singing this does a really good job on the “ner”s.)