Can You Keep An Eye On These Guys?

by Suzanne

As you know the annual Romance Writer's of America National Conference is taking place this week in New York City. I'm really excited to be going this year. It's only my second trip to New York. I get to see many of the tony margareth, some of our Bandit Buddies who hang out with us here, my critique partner Sandy Blair who no long lives near me, and this year I get to meet my editor, Jillian Bell, of Ellora's Cave Publishing. How cool is this?


This will be my second year there as a published author and my first as a PAN member. (That stands for Published Author's Network.) So I'll get to learn the secret handshake (Kate Carlisle PROMISED me there was one) and hear all the publishing news at special workshops, (do they have those at the bar?).

But while I'm gone I'm hoping y'all can give me a hand with something. See, I have these guys on my website who have a tendency to get a bit out of hand in a naughty, very sexy sort of way... Well, here, let me show you...


Quinn Halliday, the Dominant hero in my book, The Surrender of Lacy Morgan





Dakota O'Keefe, the second hero in The Surrender of Lacy Morgan



Will Danville, the hero of my second book, which is in the works right now


and soon to come


Ian Smith aka Ian Smythe, Lord Brookstone


And


Nicco DeCosta, the fiery Italian brother

LIKE?

Yeah, I do too! My friend, Kat Baldwin,  www.katbaldwin.com 
did the designs and I'm proud to give her a shout out. You should see the backs.

Oh wait, I didn't tell you, did I? (Can you blame a girl for getting distracted by all this lovely maleness?)

These are the fronts of my new Romance Trading Cards!!! The backs are way cool and give you a feel for what these guys are all about. If you e-mail me @ suzanne@suzanneferrell.com and send me your snail mail addy, I'll happily send you a set! Or if you're at the conference this week, you might pick up a set at the goody room! Supplies will be limited...intentionally!! heheheSource URL: http://plasticsurgerycelebrities.blogspot.com/search/label/THE%20SURRENDER%20OF%20LACY%20MORGAN
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Free Reads

by Suzanne

We've had a new addition to our family. A brand new baby boy! He's as cute as his mother and father, and as bald as his grandfather! (That's him over there--->)

Needless to say, I had to put blogging, writing and reading on hold for a bit. Since I have what my husband calls, "the ultimate Grandma job".

And he's right.

I'm lucky in that I have the ability to chose my daughters' doctors, hospitals, nurses AND I get to be in the delivery room for the birth of everyone of my grandchildren. Now, before you think I get all bossy in there, my coworkers will tell you, I play the role of mom/grandmother and not nurse. I don't get in their way and I don't tell them how to do their jobs. Uhm, I shouldn't have to, I trained all but two of them! :)

So now life is getting a bit more back to normal. I have time to read and visit some of my favorite blogs, like our own Bandit Lair, The Romance Dish, The Romance Writers Revenge, etc...

I've managed to start a new project in my writing. Besides working on my next erotica, revising my western historical mail-order bride story for possible publication, I've started writing some "extras" for my website for people to read. (I had hoped to have them up by now...but that baby came four weeks early!! Impatient boy!) But let me tell you a little about these "extras".



If you've read The Surrender of Lacy Morgan, then you know there are five adopted sons who grew to adulthood on Los Hombres ranch under the guiding hand of their mentor, Anson "Cap" McCarthy. Some tragedy or tragic occurrence left these boys on their own when Cap found them.

So.....I thought it might be fun for my readers to hear each of the boys' stories about how they met Cap. The first three are up today...Quinn, Dakota and Will, with Nico and Ian's stories to follow shortly after. I'd love for y'all to take a look at them, let me know your opinion. You can read them now @ www.suzanneferrell.com


And for those of you who haunt websites, have you found any with extras or free reads you like? What did you like about them? Did they make you want to read the back list of the authors? Did they make you crave more of their series or characters?
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Launching A Week Early

by Suzanne



As many of you know, next week, February 4th, my novel, THE SURRENDER OF LACY MORGAN, will be available as an e-book from Ellora's Cave, the very smart people who bought the rights to publish it!! YIPPEE!!

So, do you know what it's about? *Wink, wink.*

Oh, well, here's the back cover blurb:


When two steely-eyed, lean-hipped strangers ride into town, Lacy Morgan knows her past has caught up with her. What she doesn’t know is that the U.S. marshals will do whatever necessary to capture her stepfather and his gang of murdering thieves, including bringing her to her knees to serve their sexual needs.


Quinn and his blood brother Dakota are searching for the one key to finding the band of outlaws who murdered their adoptive father. When they confront the sultry stepdaughter of the gang’s leader, they discover she’s unaware of her natural submissiveness tendencies.


As they journey to the gang’s lair, each day the men draw Lacy further and further into a sensuality she’s never known and a trust she’d sworn never to surrender to again. Using her lusty body for their combined pleasure, they find themselves ensnared in the same tender trap.

Doesn't that sound delicious? Want to know more? Here's a little blurb from my website:

U.S. Marshal, Quinn Halliday, searches for a gang of outlaws responsible for the robbery of the

Bank of Cheyenne and the murder of three people—one of whom is his mentor, the man who raised him after his parents died. With his blood brother, Dakota, he’ll do whatever he has to in order to bring the murdering thieves to justice, even if that means bringing the leader’s daughter to her knees to serve their sexual needs.(This picture of Russell Crowe was my inspiration for Quinn.)

Lacy Morgan, unaware of her natural submissiveness, is the stepdaughter of the gang’s leader, Devil Morgan—a man who taught her the meaning of fear. Managing to escape her lecherous stepfather’s grasp, she’s hidden herself as the schoolmarm in a tiny hole-in-the-wall place where even her stepfather wouldn’t look for her.(You see the image of Lacy on the book cover.)
Dakota O’Keefe, a Marshal and horse whisperer, is the half-breed son of a white trapper and the daughter of a Sioux medicine man. An outcast in two worlds, he’ll follow his blood brother and partner into the bowels of hell to find the gang and avenge their mentor. A natural voyeur, he has shared many a bed with Quinn and his women, but even as he helps subdue this sultry redhead he realizes she is something more to his brother.(This picture of actor, Eric Schweig was my inspiration for Dakota.)



Don't they sound Yummy? Want to read more?
Uhm...it's an erotica...so if you want the exerpts you'll have to go to www.ellorascave.com and click on the cover or go to my website www.suzanneferrell.com in the books page. OR better yet, why not buy the whole book next Friday!!

So, do you have any questions to ask me, Quinn, Lacy or Dakota?



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The Birth of A Story...

by Suzanne

In case you're one of the few people on the planet that I haven't told, and trust me, I'm pretty sure I've shouted it from the mountain tops, I sold my first book this month!

Now, this wasn't my first book. Nope, it was actually my ninth. I've been writing seriously for about 15 years. Over that time I've tried my hand at many romantic sub genres. At first it was American Historical...the market fell out from under me. Then contemporary, then contemporary small town, (not much market at the time for those). Then romantic suspense...oh, wait the market went really dark, plot-wise.

Hmmm, what was a girl to do? I'd always had good lusty sexy scenes. So when my CP Jo Davis started writing erotica, I thought...okay, why not give that a try?  Here's where I ran into a problem. I wanted to write an erotica where the sex was integral to the plot. One would not exist without the other. Geesh, exactly how was I going to do that?

As I am want to do in the middle of the night, I picked up a pad of paper and a pen and let my creative forces free write, with a focus on how intense sex could not only be a major part of the plot, but also propel the story forward.

Well first I needed a character. A heroine in need of saving, whether she knows it or not. Next a hero to come save her. Wait. This is an erotica....I can have TWO heroes. Oh boy!! I'm suddenly liking this very much! Okay, so what kind of heroes do I like? Tall, dark, strong, cowboys....no....wait...Lawmen. (Have we discussed how TOMBSTONE is one of my all time favorite movies? Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott in THE SHADOWRIDERS made me drool? How I adored all the bad guys in THE LONG RIDERS? How much I loved the romance and the gunfights in OPEN RANGE?) And hey...a western historical erotic romance? Well, that's taking a unique twist to a genre.

So now I have my cast of characters, my time period, and a spark of a plot. I flesh it out, (pardon the pun), and send the idea to Jo with a "what do you think of this story idea?" e-mail. Her return e-mail was very enthusiastic. I decided I'd give it a try, but if the story didn't hold together, I would put it aside as an experiment gone wrong.

But here's the thing. I fell in love. Yep, with all three characters. I wanted the men...uh...yeah, I wanted the men to capture the bad guy. I wanted the heroine to get justice. I wanted the bad guys to get what they deserved. So, the book kept growing, building, until I couldn't stop. Nope. Had to finish it.

Okay, now I needed some feedback and a title. So after some brainstorming, I came up with a title I loved, The Surrender Of Lacy Morgan. It had so many connotations that fit this story I just had to go with it. Next, I entered Miss Lacy, as she has become affectionately known in the Lair, in a writing contest or two. Dang, if she didn't win both erotica categories! Yippee!! Those contests also garnered her a request for the full manuscript by one big NY publisher and a request for the partial from another--alas, sadly neither panned out.

So here comes my middle of the night what-the-hell moment. I e-mailed a query off to Ellora's Cave. I immediately got a standard auto reply that they'd received my query and it was in the queue to be read and that I'd hear something in 1-3 months. Okay, cool.

Two days later, on Thursday, I get another e-mail that looked like a repeat auto reply, until I reread it. This was from a pre-reader who liked what I'd submitted and put in the queue for the acquiring editors to read. I would hear something in 1-6 months. Okay, even cooler!

The next Monday I receive a very enthusiastic e-mail from an editor who loved what I'd sent and requested me to send the entire manuscript by e-mail for her to read. And she'd be getting back to me in....1-6 months. Okay, super cool!

A month went by.

Two.

Now I was getting worried. Things had been going by so fast, then poof. Did this bode well for Miss Lacy? Was it an ominous warning off the port bow?

Then the week before Memorial Day...two months from when the process started, I see another e-mail from the editor in my inbox. OH NO....poor Lacy is about to be rejected. Because if the editor wanted the story she'd call, right? Isn't that what everyone says?

So, with hands over my eyes, I click open... It's NOT a rejection, HALLELUJAH!, but an apology for taking so long, and a question re: was the story still available?

Well, yes it was! After a deep, calming breath, I replied as professionally as possible, that yes it was and I'd look forward to hearing her thoughts after she had a chance to read it.  (Even if it took 1-6 months.)

A week later, I get another e-mail. She loved the book! The editor not only loved the story, she loved the idea of the other brothers in the book having their own stories, too! But she didn't think she could buy it as is, because, "There was too much story" in it. Would I be willing to revise and resubmit, so that the really good sex in the book be more of the focus?

Here's where some people make a mistake. They say, "No. Take it as it is or not at all."

Blink.



Okay....cut to the chase, after a week or so of e-mails about how I was proceeding, did she have any suggestions, etc. I got another e-mail.

Jillian Bell, the editor with the most excellent judgement and taste, wanted to contract the book for Ellora's Cave! I still hadn't completed the revisions, but I seriously think the professional effort I was making to comply let her know she could work with me and that I meant business when it came to getting my book published.

Okay...I only read the first paragraph of that e-mail, then went calmly into the living room, stepped in front of the baseball game on TV and did my version of the happy dance! Hubby lifted one brow and said..."Uh...I take it you have good news?" "Duh! Yes! They want to buy a book!"

Then after much hugging I made him read the e-mail to be sure I wasn't seeing things. This is where I learned I'd have to change one character's name. Okay...no problem! Hawke became Dakota. Yippee!!!

Next came phone calls to my CP's Sandy Blair and Jo Davis, and of course our Bandita Joanie. Then e-mails to my Texas girls, the Foxes and then the Bandit Loop! Oh yeah, and then my Mom! And after three glasses of champagne from one of the bottles I'd been saving for this occasion, I called my boss, who is my beta reader! Oh yeah, and the girls at work!

Honestly, you know when it really hit me? The next night on my way to work. I started grinning from ear to ear, doing the happy dance in the car at all the stop lights. Yep! I had received the contract by e-mail that day, read it and was going to sign it.

So, the call, wasn't really a call....but
I am a contracted, soon to be published author!



So, tell me what's the best party you ever threw! What was the occassion? Did people cram in and leave the place a disaster? (Uhm...let's make sure Sven and the boys have a reason to complain tomorrow!) Oh....and how do you feel about Western romances...both the regular and erotic variety?


LET'S PARTY!!
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THAT MOMENT IT CLICKS

by Suzanne

No this isn't a discussion about my digital camera or my ability to take really cute pictures of my grandkids, (although I do and they are!). No that clicking you hear is the light bulb going off over your head when you suddenly have a great idea. Or that moment when everything falls into place like cubes in a game. Or that moment when you know, deep down in your gut that something is right, or God forbid, something is wrong.

Click.

What? You think I'm a little loco in la cabessa? Well, I may be, but let me give you a few examples that reinforce my belief in the power of the click.


1978...Mount Carmel School of Nursing. At 19 years old, I'm a senior doing my mother-child rotation, this week in Labor and Delivery. I'll graduate in the spring. I've got my plans for what I'll do with my career. I've adored two nurses my whole life. My mom, who was a surgical scrub nurse and Hot Lips Hoolihan from the M*A*S*H TV show--another surgical nurse. I'll go straight into the OR and follow in their footsteps. But first, I have to finish school. Today, I'm standing at the foot of a delivery table watching my first baby being born. As the head, then shoulders, then body emerges, tears fill my eyes and there's a loud "click" in my head. I realize in that moment that my plans are forever changed. THIS is what I want to do.

Fast forward three years. Met my husband. No the click didn't happen then. A month later we went on our first date. We spent the evening eating pizza, then going to a dance club, but didn't dance too much. But afterward, when he kissed me goodnight, CLICK. Not the kind of electrical current thing that would make us vulnerable to be around in a thunderstorm kind of click. Just the, this is the one I could spend my life with and be happy, kind of click. That was more than 28 years ago and counting.

Sometimes my "clicks" are subtle and I have to listen very closely to them. Occasionally, I'm staring at a fetal monitor strip and I just get that feeling deep in my gut that says, "Click, this baby is in trouble." It comes with time, experience and training, but when I listen, then the doc listens to me, things usually come out good. Sometimes, it's a quiet "click" about one of my kids, or a friend, or my parents. You know, that urge to make the phonecall, just because they've been on your mind all week long? And when you do...sometimes it's just your voice they need to hear at the dreadful moment in their lives? CLICK

Another click happened while we lived in Florida. I'd always played with writing scenes when I was bored and had nothing to read. This particular night I wrote a great scene about a heroine escaping up a hillside from a man she knows is a killer. It was historical, the hero is her husband, but doesn't know she witnessed a murder and doesn't know she's fleeing town in such a precarious situation. Oh yeah, it's winter, it's Colorado, and she's eight months pregnant. It's also the middle of the book. That's when the "click" happened. Why was she fleeing? Who did the murderer kill? Why hasn't she told her husband? (That's my image of the hero..)



CLICK! I was hooked. 395 pages later, I'd written my first book!


I've started a new book--a sequel to my story THE SURRENDER OF LACY MORGAN. I've known the hero for over a year now, (imagine Shemar Moore from CRIMINAL MINDS in jeans, chaps and a cowboy hat...yumm...okay, you don't have to imagine, I'll show you...)...er, I digress.

Anyways, I know his backstory, his conflict, his needs. I knew who his heroine is...but I know nothing really about her. With free writing I figured out her motivation and some of her backstory. Then I wrote the first scene of the book, then rewrote it, then rewrote it and yet again. Finally, I let her be proactive to a particular problem, the one that sets her out on her journey... and CLICK!! Yep...gonna be a good story!!!




So, how about you? Ever hear your own "clicks"? That moment in time when your life changes? Your story changes?

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