Donna Alward with a GIVEAWAY!

I invited Donna Alward, who writes sweet romance. A busy wife and mother of three (two daughters and the family dog), Donna Alward believes hers is the best job in the world: a combination of stay-at-home mom and romance novelist. 

Donna loves to hear from readers; you can contact her through her website at www.donnaalward.com, visit her facebook page, or on Twitter: @DonnaAlward

Workshops offered by Donna

The Business of Writing - an in depth workshop that can be tailored to your particular needs. Addresses both the writing and promotion aspects of career.

Breaking Through Blah - How to bust through flat writing. Includes exercises using your works in progress.

To Agent or Not to Agent - Should you or shouldn't you? The pros and cons of going it alone or with representation.

Piece of Cake: The Recipe for a Satisfying Ending - the crucial ingredients to writing a sigh-worthy, satisfying ending to your romance novel that's as delicious as chocolate cake.

Put it on High Crank: Productivity Tips and Tricks to up your Word Count - tips and tricks to make the most of your writing time, resulting in faster - and better - output.

If any of you is interested in these workshops please ask about them in comments. Now over to Donna.....

One of the challenges of writing what I’d consider “Traditional” stories is making sure they are modern and relevant. Especially with writing westerns, I don’t have a lot of options when it comes to professions. So what I end up doing is looking at ways to make them just a little different. For example, in ONE DANCE WITH THE COWBOY, the hero is running a rescue ranch for horses destined for slaughter.

With growing concerns about the environment and sustainable resources, I looked at new ranching practices for the very prosperous Diamondback Ranch, run by the heroes of my Cadence Creek Cowboys duet (out this month and next). In the first book, THE LAST REAL COWBOY, Sam Diamond has locked horns with his dad over setting up a Biogas facility on the ranch, which would allow Diamondback to produce all its own electricity and thus not rely on the power grid at all. Cool right?

And not far-fetched. I did a little research and found just what I was looking for at Spring Creek Ranch in Alberta! Their commitment to producing a quality, hormone-free product and to stewardship of the land is amazing. Just check it out at http://springcreek.ca/welcome/our-stewardship/

Sometimes we’re all resistant to change – it’s hard to take risks and leave what’s comfortable. Sam’s dad, Virgil, isn’t sure it’s the right thing to spend all the money to set up such a venture on the ranch he spent years building.

More than that, though, he’s worried about becoming obsolete. That he won’t be needed and valued anymore.

I had a great time exploring Sam and Virgil’s relationship in this book, not to mention how Sam feels about Angela Beck, a real thorn in his side. Diamondback Ranch has been his whole life, so he can’t imagine anything or anyone coming along who could possibly be more important than his legacy….

THE LAST REAL COWBOY is out now in North America and in the UK, and the follow up, THE REBEL RANCHER, is out in North America in June and in August in the UK. Please, stop by my website and see what else is coming up- www.donnaalward.com

As a prize today, I’m giving away a kindle version of another very special release I have out this month: THE GREATEST GIFT: A MOTHER’S DAY COLLECTION. It features stories by four Harlequin authors and mine is set in the same setting as the duet – in Cadence Creek!

Liz Fielding on Writing Emotion and Giveaways!

I've decided to post some writing craft posts on this site for now to help or to give some inspiration to all my friends. I asked UK based author Liz Fielding about Writing Emotion, but she came with Giveaways!


                             WRITING EMOTION

When I gave a talk to fellow writers about humour and emotion at the Caerleon conference of the RNA last year, I touched on the subject of the Method. That technique used by actors to create within themselves the emotion felt by their characters.

I went to drama lessons when I was young (my earliest ambition was to be a classical actress) but while I wasn’t taught this technique to bring out emotion in my performance, I had read about it. Not in Stanislavsky’s book xxxxxx, but in a children’s novel about a young girl whose father was an actor.

I can’t remember the name of the book, or the author, but that moment in the book where the heroine, stepping into the breach to save the day, realises that she can use her own feelings to bring a character to life has stayed with me across the decades.

Talking to eighty or so authors and editors last year, I was able to reduce them to tears with the memories that come to me in the dark moment, in the happy moments. Simple childhood memories. Precious moments. Moments of crushing sadness. Memories of place. The memories that make me who I am.

I called on them throughout the writing of The Last Woman He’d Ever Date, especially of place. The island, the aviaries, the river are all real to me, places I played in as child, took my own family to visit. The meadows, the house where Claire lives, even the newspaper office (I once worked in a local newspaper office!)

Memories are your own personal dictionary of emotions and when, as a writer, you’re hunting down the words to portray a feeling, you can, like the method actor, reach deep into your own experience conjure up a moment when you felt just that sense of joy, of loss, of closeness.


THE LAST WOMAN HE'D EVER DATE

Back Blurb

Claire Thackeray: Hardworking single mom and gossip columnist. Hoping for the inside scoop on sexy billionaire Hal North, aka her teen crush!

Most wary of: Gorgeous men who set her heart racing. (Been there, got the T-shirt—and the baby!)

Hal North: Bad boy made good. Back in his hometown as new owner of the Cranbrook Park estate. Determined to put his troubled past behind him.

Most wary of: Journalists—especially pretty ones, like new neighbor and tenant Claire Thackeray.

Eloping With Emmy

Back Blurb


Hot shot legal eagle, Tom Brodie, has been landed with an assignment to test any man to his limits - do whatever it takes to prevent headstrong heiress Emerald Carlisle from marrying a fortune-hunter. He is not happy about it, and when Emmy stows away in his car, his day goes from bad to worse, but since she's the only one who knows where to find the man in question he has no choice but take her along for the ride.

It's a bumpy one!

Emmy is not a woman to sit back and let things fall as they will. She has a plan and she keeps Brodie on his toes in a rollercoaster chase across the UK and France. He's more than up to the challenge, but falling in love with Emmy along the way is always going to end with his heart in pieces.

Liz Fielding’sLittle Book of Writing Romance

This little book is a primer - an entry level aid for the writer who has a story to tell, but is struggling to get it out of her head and onto paper. To quote the theme song for the movie of Erich Segal’s bestselling book Love Story, “How do you begin. . . ”

I know how that feels, I’ve been there and I have written the book I wish I’d had when I was starting out.

My purpose is to explain, in the simplest terms — no jargon! — and using examples from my own work, how to make the transition from the story in your head to words on paper. How to write a compelling opening, deepen conflict, write honest emotion, hopefully with a touch of humour to leaven the mix. How to write crisp dialogue, develop the romance, add a little sizzle.

It will be useful to anyone who wants to write popular fiction but, before we get down to the nitty-gritty, I’d like to say a few words about romantic fiction in particular. Why readers love it and come back for more.

Leave a comment telling me what memory is important to you for a chance to win a copy of The Last WomanHe’d Ever Date, and eBook downloads of Eloping With Emmy and Liz Fielding’sLittle Book of Writing Romance.

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