Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Robyn Rychards - Tougher Than You Think

Please welcome Robyn Rychards to the blog today! I really enjoyed Her Knight in Shining Armour - great characters and an intriguing plot line!

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Most authors’ journeys to publication are a long, winding, rocky road.  I know
mine was.  Therefore we have a love/hate relationship with writing because the journey to finishing the book is just as difficult as publishing it.  Anyone who gets published must have a good amount of grit, guts and tenacity.
We start off writing as children because it’s fun, little knowing where the road will take us.  For some the road is a short one and ends when life becomes busy.  But there are those of us who have stories running through our heads at the strangest times.  A few of those stories become imbedded in our brain where they grow and grow and grow until they are screaming to get out.  Really, to a certain degree, we have no choice but to be a writer.  We HAVE to tell those stories so they will just SHUT UP. 

My first full-length novel was that way, and it is still a work in progress that I am determined will be published someday.  My debut, Her Man From Shilo was a story that started with a dream.  I wrote about half a chapter before life (read children, etc. here) got in the way of my being able to write for quite a while.  It didn’t stop Daimee and Raff from telling me their story though.  For over a decade I imagined them in different scenes until life gave me a chance to get it out of my head and onto virtual paper.  Since it was in my head so long, it will most likely be the easiest (relatively speaking of course) book I’ve ever written.
After receiving such positive feedback from those who read it, including some people I didn’t know, I decided to put my toe back in the ‘let’s-get-published’ sea.  It wasn’t my first foray into these deep, dark, scary waters, so I was familiar with the sting of rejection and willing to take the risk again.  Which helps you appreciate the kind of breed we authors are.  We are willing to take a painful shot to the heart when a publisher tells us they don’t want our book and throw ourselves back in the shark-infested waters ready to get chewed up again.  I wanted to be published by Harlequin SO BAD I was willing to put myself out there again and again.  And willing to wait an eternity to get those rejection letters.  And willing to rewrite, rework, redo my story until one glorious day I got a letter from Kate Cuthbert at Harlequin Escape that said ‘We would like to publish your book’.  We writers may live a lot of our life in our imaginations, but we are tougher than you think on the inside.      
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Her Knight In Shining Armour

She may not need a knight in shining armour to save her, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to look a gift knight in the visor...

Paisley doesn’t need a knight in shining armour to rescue her from her high-powered, abusive ex-husband. She’s got it covered on her own: she's changed her name, liquidated her assets, and has a plan to disappear in the Rocky Mountain National Park.
Psychiatrist Sterling James has absolutely no intention of being anyone’s saviour. The only woman he has any time for is his sister. But circumstances change when Sterling finds Paisley in an unexpected and life-threatening situation. Brought in to the drama of her escape, Sterling finds himself invested, and he can't move on until he knows Paisley is going to be safe.

It should be a simple enough exercise to get Paisley out of the park and into her new life. But nothing is ever as simple as it should be, and Sterling soon discovers that even if her ex-husband buys the set-up, he might not be able to watch Paisley go...

Amazon      B&N    
Robyn Rychards

Robyn Rychards grew up in the granola bowl of the United States, Boulder Colorado, a town filled with fruits, flakes and nuts. She considers herself a Jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none and has taught herself to sew, paint, play the piano, garden, cook, the list goes on. But now that her books are published, she’s thrilled to finally be considered a master of one. At least as much as a person can be, for the learning never really stops.

She feels her active imagination is a blessing and a curse, with the blessing far outweighing the curse since it has led her to fulfil her dream of writing for Harlequin. Robyn started writing stories when she was a teenager because she didn’t have enough books to read. Sometimes she finds it hard to believe that people are willing to pay her to do something she enjoys so much, but mostly she’s happy to have such a wonderful excuse not to cook and clean. And a job that means you can stay in your jammies as long as you want? Priceless. 

Website         Twitter        Facebook       Goodreads

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How about you? Has this publication journey made you tougher than you were?

Monday, March 24, 2014

Spring?

They tell me it's Spring...


Still waiting for the proof.
It's -29 Celsius this morning. Brrrr!

How's your spring so far?

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Self Lovin' Bloghop

The lovely Tara Watson over at Feel of Something New is hosting The Self Lovin' Bloghop all this week (so there's still time to sign up if you'd like to join in!).

Tara's asking us to share something we're good at. It's SO easy to focus on the negatives and Tara wants us to do the opposite and give ourselves a little boost. Great idea!

So, what am I good at? ACK!

Okay. I think one of my strengths is creating likable (but not perfect!) characters people enjoy reading about. I've received good feedback from crit buddies and agents on my characters and I like spending time with them so that's got to be worth something!

Now just to work on increasing that conflict...

How about you? What's one of your strengths as a writer?

Friday, March 14, 2014

Are You in There?

I'm over at From the Write Angle today talking about the Non-Autobiographical You. Sounds weird, I know, but if you pop on over, you'll see what I'm talking about!

I've never used a real event from my life in my writing and I doubt I ever will. So far I haven't even taken a real event and twisted it.

My life isn't great fodder for fiction. Thankfully! I don't want or need to live a life where I suffer like Main Characters always seem to do!

But if I had to take one event and use it, it might be my tendency to use swing sets a little differently as a kid. Sure I liked to swing and jump off like everyone else, but I also liked to shinny up the poles and hang upside down from my knees off the top bar. The most fun though was shinnying up to the top and then walking along the top bar as if it was a beam.

Might be a fun scene if I ever decide to write one of those MG ideas spinning around in my head!

How about you - what's something you've done that would make a great scene in a novel?

Monday, March 10, 2014

Wormhole Science!

Stephen Tremp, Alex J Cavanaugh & L. Diane Wolfe are hosting the 2nd Annual National Wormhole Week Blogfest ... Wormfest for short!



For this year's festivities, participants are asked to look at both sides of science and technology. How has one aspect enhanced humanity and how has another (or the same) caused us trouble.

So many to choose from!!!

One of my favourite technological advances is portable music! From the good old Walkman back in the day to the numerous iPod versions, it has made life better. Sure I could be talking about vaccines and adaptive devices and artificial limbs and other serious topics, but I LOVE having my music with me. It makes working out livable and walking so much more enjoyable! On a more serious side, the technology has also made it SO much easier for kids who live kind of on the fringes at lunches and recesses. Some kids find it incredibly difficult to find friends to hang out with at these times and the technology has helped them. Not only do they appear busy and like they're choosing to be alone but they have something to focus on other than their solitude. That's a huge plus in my book!

On the down side, I generally find it's not the technology or the science itself that causes humankind problems, but the humans who choose to abuse it. There seems to be a need to turn almost everything into a weapon of some kind. Chemical warfare and biological agents are some of the most terrifying we've managed to create. The most insidious are probably the recreational drugs that cause so much damage. While some may not agree that these are weapons, I would show as evidence the kids with the damaged psyches, injured brains & bodies, and irreparably broken hearts I've met over the years. Weapons indeed.

For other entries in the blogfest, click on the 3 links at the top of this post. Good luck to Stephen with Escalation - his 3rd book in the Chase Manhatten series! You'll love his use of wormholes in these books!!

What's your favourite or least favourite technological advance?

Monday, March 3, 2014

Luck & Gratitude

I'm one of the lucky ones.

I grew up knowing a lot of things:
  • my parents loved me
  • my sister was also my best friend
  • my job was to do my best
  • the world was a safe & fascinating place
  • I didn't have to have the same interests as everyone else
  • being quiet was okay
  • losing wasn't a big deal ... neither was winning
  • money was earned
  • laughter was vital
  • doing right was the only option
See? Lucky.

I still believe in all those things. I still know them deep down in my bones.

Feeling gratitude for all these things (and so many more) is important. Acknowledging that gratitude equally so.



The lovely Sheri Larsen is hosting a gratitude hop this week. There are so many people in this writing community I'm grateful to:
  • my amazing crit buddies
  • blog readers and blog writers (many of whom have become friends)
  • readers and writers
  • the awesome folks over at Agent Query Connect
  • agents and editors and publishers (oh my!)

And I'm grateful for a couple of 'things' as well:
  • creativity
  • passion
  • hope
  • joy
Of course I'm grateful to Sheri too! Thanks for helping us focus on what's truly important!

What about you? What are you grateful for?