Orphanage director by day, jewel thief by night. Using her magic to rob from the rich to keep the orphanage running seems like the perfect solution until Kat steals from the wrong man, a man who sees through her magic, a man who can see the scars she hides from the world.

Toren MacCallum is cursed. An old witch tore him from his sixteenth century world and threw him into the twenty-first century. But he’s found an ancient dragonfly necklace to bait the witch to return him to his time. For he must find a way home to save his sister and his clan from disappearing off the pages of history.

When a mysterious woman steals the necklace in front of a hundred witnesses, the witch, followed by a storm of demons, sends Kat and him to Elizabethan England. Toren agrees to return the necklace, but he won’t give up the greater prize, the thief who’s stolen his heart.

ISBN# 9781601548207

Fury and guilt assail Hauk, a fierce Viking warrior, after he allows false healers to cure his family to death. When he’s ordered to capture the Great Witch of the Woods in Northumbria, he doesn’t anticipate that his hatred for all things magick would be challenged by a long-legged beauty with sparking brown eyes.

Even with her great healing powers, Merewin’s fear of failure nearly cripples her resilient spirit. Strong wills clash as Merewin and Hauk battle their instant attraction. Can Hauk trust a healer with his remaining family and with his heart? Can Merewin conquer her own pride to love this powerful man who possesses an unacknowledged magic of his own? In the end Merewin and Hauk must put their faith in each other and in their love. For love is the only magick that can heal someone’s soul.

ISBN # 9781601547231

Serena Faw must shut out the barrage of thoughts from everyone around her. Her telepathic powers reveal the darkness and true intentions behind every false smile. When her adopted brother is accused of murder, the only man who can help her is the one person she cannot read. Can she trust him with the life of her brother? Can she trust him with her heart?

Keenan Maclean is the younger brother to the new chief of the Macleans. A dark prophecy shadows him. One brother will live wed to a witch and one will die. Keenan is raised to defend his clan and die.

Serena and Keenan hunt a loyalist murderer before the Battle of Culloden and fall in love despite the prophecy’s warning that she heralds his death.

Okay, so for awhile I said I was an executive trainer and a recruiter because I provided that service for a company that paid me. I also say that I am a full time mom. But it wasn’t until I also started saying that I was a writer that I actually believed I was a “real” one.

Are you a “real” writer? Here’s the test (are you ready?). Do . . . you . . . write . . . strings of sentences together into a description and eventually a story? No – don’t say you haven’t finished it yet. Do you intend to finish it? Have you started it? Then guess what – you’re a “real” writer.

Okay – to finish the darn manuscript you need to do something more than just introduce yourself as a writer at cocktail parties. True, but you are sooooo close just by saying it.

Repeat after me – “I am a successful writer.” Say it out loud in the mirror. Repeat twice a day.

This is a positive affirmation and watch out – it’s VERY powerful. An affirmation is a statement repeated time and again either verbally, mentally, and/or through writing. When we review the words, it makes our body and mind believe they are real. And when we believe, we realign our world around that truth. Of course we can’t bring back the dead, cure incurable diseases, or win the lottery just by saying positive affirmations – but they can do a lot of good.

We’ve all seen the horrific impact of negative affirmations on people. People can be their own worst enemies by mentally or verbally telling themselves they are failures or worse. First we need to stop that. If you tend to berate yourself, try talking to yourself as you would to a friend. Chances are, even if you imagine yourself as a rarely seen acquaintance, you’ll speak kinder to yourself.

Next step is to come up with some positive affirmations. Be careful to do this part correctly. You don’t want to inadvertently make things more negative.

1. The statement should be specific and about something you are not yet, but want to be. Don’t feel like you’re lying. It is supposed to be something that is NOT true – yet.

2. It must be in present tense. If you say “I will be a successful writer” that describes the future and you won’t get there because the future is always out of reach. Replace “will be” with “am”.

3. Use ONLY positive words. If you say “I never stop writing” your psyche will hear “stop” and leave out the “never”. Rephrase to take out “never” “not” “won’t” and any of those reverse words. “I write everyday,” works better.

At one time I had ten stickies stuck to my bathroom mirror with affirmations. I recommend starting with just a few so it doesn’t seem like a chore. Some people put them in their cars so that every time they get in they repeat the affirmations.

You may want to warn spouses or people who share the area with you. When I was trying to get pregnant I wrote “I am pregnant” so obviously I had to tell my husband what I was up to (BTW – I got pregnant : ).

Right around the time I submitted my manuscript, which was a finalist in the 2009 Golden Hearts, I was writing and saying “I am a published writer.” Before I even found out that I was a finalist I sold that manuscript and another one (they’re coming out July 30th and Oct. 8th of 2010!).

When my paying job was to give presentations in front of a hundred executives spread across the globe I would tell myself while driving to work “I love to talk in front of people. I am calm and succinct when teaching people.” And guess what – my blood pressure lowered, my breathing evened out, and I was able to give the presentation without anyone knowing I almost threw up in the car on the way there.

Positive affirmations. They are simple. They work. What do you have to lose? “I have finished writing my book.” “I am a published writer.” “I am on the NY Times best seller list.” If you write them and say them over and over, chances are you’ll get there.

Feel free to send me some positive affirmations if you’d like to bounce around some ideas. Maybe I’ll borrow a few : )

I attended a writing lecture on collaging blank books. A collage is a group of pictures or items glued to a surface to represent something, for us that something would be a scene or our entire book. It was fun and insightful, so I thought I’d give it a try. Now I make a collage at the beginning of each new manuscript and it helps me immensely.

I started off collaging blank books (I ordered some 8X8 inch books from www.createandtreasure.com). Blank books are fantastic to collage because you can create a different page for each part of your book – one page for each character with the setting in the background, a page for each major turning point, the black moment and the climax. Even if my plot changed along the way, the major points and the flavor tended to stay the same. The only drawback to this type of collage is that it can take some time depending on how detailed and pretty you make it. Below are a couple of examples from one of my collage books.

Currently I collage a single poster board sheet for each of my books. Stephanie Bond, during her presentation at the 2009 RWA Conference recommended collaging a manila folder so that you can file it away when you’re finished. This is a great idea, but unfortunately I need a bigger surface.

So how do you start a collage? Well don’t spend hours poring over magazines trying to find the perfect fit to the characters in your head. You’ll probably never find them and you may just end up reading articles instead of writing. Below are my recommendations for creating a poster board collage. This works for me, but there aren’t really any wrong ways to collage (unless you spend all your time collaging and no time writing : ).
1. Think about the characters and setting. Perhaps you have a plot already sketched out (you don’t have to, but it helps).
2. Hunt for setting pictures on the internet and print them off.
3. Leaf through the picture folder of people and objects that you’ve been collecting from magazines. I tear them out whenever I happen upon a picture of something different or someone or a setting full of emotion. The current trilogy that I’m working on grew from a single picture from a magazine.
4. If there are specific objects (swords, keys, diamonds, etc) or animals in your book, print off pictures of them.
5. If you were casting your book as a movie (oh to be Stephanie Meyer!), are there specific actors who could take the roles? If so, print off their pictures, preferably dressed from a movie set in the time period or culture of your book.
6. If no person fits your character, then look for the emotions your character may exhibit or feel. One time I searched for a picture of anguish and I found an amazing abstract painting that totally captured the emotion for me. This painting pasted next to a model that had the basic hair and body type made me feel that I had found my hero.
7. Are there any semi-flat items you could use in your collage? I’ve used thread, cloth, charms, etc.
8. Once you have pictures and items, arrange them on the poster board. If you have background paper (scrap booking paper) that conveys an emotion or setting, you can place these under the pictures.
9. Start placing pictures on the left with your hero and heroine. As you move right, add in pictures of places and people who will turn up in the book. Overlap pictures when there are interactions. Play around with the pictures/items until they coalesce into the feel of your book. Once everything looks the way you want it, glue it down.
10. When you decide on hair color, eye color, scar location, tattoos, etc, write them in next to your characters or sketch them on the picture itself. I’m always forgetting my characters’ eye colors so it’s very helpful to just glance at my collage for the information. Write phrases or themes on the collage if they will help keep you on track.
Sometimes I’m so eager to start writing the book that I only get through the first few steps of the collage before I dive into writing. This is fine. But I still keep the pictures that I’ve found nearby in a folder to help me focus. And when I get stuck somewhere around the first turning point, I take some time to finish the collage. The process itself throws me back on track.

Having the collage helps when life distracts me. If you’re a visual person who also happens to fight distraction (darn kids have to eat : ), a collage next to you may help a lot. It has for me.

Below are two of my poster board collages. I would love to hear if you have ways to quickly re-immerse yourself into your manuscripts.  

I still manage to put home cooked meals on the table some nights, drive my kids to soccer practice, and change my toddler’s diapers before they smell up the house. Today I’m here to tell you that it is possible – possible to write a novel when you have a million things to do.

First let me ask you – when you’re bored standing in line or sitting in traffic, do you make up stories in your head? Do you wake up some mornings and have to jot down a terrific plot that came from your dream? Do you ever get that squeeze of joy in your gut and scream “Yes!” when you’ve written the perfect scene? Then guess what, you’re a writer. Even if you haven’t typed THE END yet, you are still a writer. And if you are a writer at heart then, girlfriend, you’ve got to write!

So how does one go about finding time to write when jobs, families, and obligations are constantly hammering at you for attention? Actually it’s simple – you do it one word at a time. Okay, so maybe not one word at a time, but one paragraph at a time will do.

My friends used to ask me if I’d written that book yet. And I would always answer, “I don’t have time.” Then I heard Stephanie Bond speak at one of my local writer meetings. She said that she wrote her book in fifteen minute increments. She inspired me to try.

Below is how I started, but it is different for everyone. Your life is unique, just like your voice. Try some of these things, but if they don’t work for you, try something else. But whatever you do, don’t give up. If you are a writer, then you must write, like you must breathe and eat and love. It is part of your nature and to withhold it is cruel. So feed your soul and find those fifteen minute increments.

1. Call yourself a writer. When people ask what you do, tell them you’re a writer. Tell yourself you’re a writer in the mirror in the morning (positive affirmations). Order some business cards that say “Writer” under your name.

What does this do? It subconsciously gives you permission to spend time writing. Believe me, I’m a mom, I know that you need permission to do something for yourself before you’ll do it. So grant it!

2. Look at your schedule and your nature. Who out there has heard that if you want it bad enough you’ll get up before dawn to write? How many of you decided that you must not want it bad enough after the first week of trying that? I’m here to tell you that you can still want it just as bad as those early risers without waking with the rooster. Because sleep is a necessity for health (the research is quite concrete) and your health is more important than writing. So you have to tweak your schedule without giving up sleep, doctor’s appointments, eating, and peeing.

Start looking at your day. Do you sit in carpool or at your kid’s hockey practice? Think of “waiting rooms” as “writing rooms” – hair salons, dentist’s and doctor’s offices. Any place where you could read a magazine could be a place to write.

3. What can you cut out? I used to bake cookies for my kids once a week. I used to wash my kitchen floor once a week (the rest of my house is a disaster but I liked my kitchen floor clean). Now I bake once a month and I clean my floor every two weeks. The kids have adjusted and I have an extra two hours to write.

4. Capture your writing. I have a Dana Alpha Smart. It’s an electronic notebook so it doesn’t have to boot up, it doesn’t distract me with web access, e-mail, or games. It has a small screen where I type raw material which can be downloaded later into my computer. If you don’t have the money for an electronic notebook, buy a paper notebook and carry it everywhere.

5. Develop a method. I was one of those people who needed total silence to write. But Santa brought me an iPod for Christmas. I loaded it with inspiring, dramatic music (mostly without lyrics) like the soundtracks of Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings. I listened to it while thinking about my books and eventually I began to write with the music in the background. I create a “soundtrack” for each of my books. Now I can sit anywhere and write a truly dramatic scene while listening to the Battle of Gondor.

6. Jumping into your book. Some authors take fifteen minutes to get back into writing when they’re interrupted. I don’t have fifteen minutes so I use tricks that sink me quickly back in my world. One way is the soundtrack. Another way is my collage. I like to see the emotions that I’m writing. I also forget my characters’ eye colors and where exactly their scars are. Instead of looking it up in my manuscript, I create a visual picture of my book and characters.

I’ve created collages in blank books and on pieces of poster board (Stephanie Bond recommended using the inside of a manila folder). I pull pictures off the internet of period clothing and settings (and hunky guys – luckily my hubby is quite secure : ). I look at my collage and listen to my soundtrack. I’ve even lit aromatic candles that smell like my heroine and sipped a cup of tea to help immerse me quickly into my world.

7. If you can find an hour, grab it. Once a week I go to my local bookstore and write after dinner. It is “me” time and my family’s come to respect it. I walk in, smell the books, buy a hot chocolate, put on my iPod and write. I type as fast as I can. Later I download my work and celebrate the number of pages I wrote. It’s usually six to eight pages. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but those pages add up. I’ve written four, 100K plus word novels this way. One page at a time, one paragraph at a time, one word at a time.

We’d all love to have our days open so we could sit for hours immersed in our settings and characters. We’d write twenty sensational pages or more a day. Reality is that most of us have other responsibilities. But that shouldn’t stop you from writing. Some days I just can’t find the time anywhere, but over the course of a week I can find it.

The bottom line is that I must write. In it I find purpose, I have control, I explore amazing characters, I live wonderfully romantic adventures, and I am fulfilled. When I finish a scene and step away, I am a better mom, better wife, better person because I’m doing what I love to do. And so can you!

I’d love to hear more ideas on finding time to write! How do you do it? I’ll be giving away a first chapter critique (up to 25 pages) or a fabulous Ruby Slippered Sisterhood mug to one lucky commenter.