Inspiration for Chalice

It never ceases to amaze me that although we are writers, visual stimulation and inspiration play a large part in making our stories come alive.

I started out with location. Sapphire is a vampire living in New York.

She lives in a secure penthouse apartment…I wanted a building with history, security, and a certain je ne c’est quois, spookiness! What

would be best than 55 Central Park West, otherwise known as the Ghostbuster building?

Sapphire McKenzie is a young vampire. She was turned in 1999 by Sam Bosan. She’s brilliant — in fact, she’s been hailed as the armchair greatest detective since Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s older brother. Like Sherlock, she’s accomplished in many things, computer programming, forensics, and music.

Derek Chastain retired from playing ball after he damaged his knees in a playoff game. Now his income is derived by commercial endorsements and the stock market. Unfortunately, since he can no longer play the game he loves, he’s now just plays…with women’s hearts. If Sapphire hadn’t rejected his proposal two years ago, things might have turned out differently. But now, all those women are disappearing and reappearing…dead. The only one not missing (yet) is Sapphire — can she prevent him from being framed for murders he didn’t commit?

Vampire and Chocolate

Okay, so I was at Virtual Chocolate dot com and I was checking out the ecards and the pictures of chocolate, and saw this:

How to Sample Chocolate:
Look at it: it should be dark, shiny, and smooth.
Smell it: it should have a wonderful aroma.
Break it: it should break clean.
Taste it: it should have a full-mouth taste with no unpleasant aftertaste. The taste will stay on your tongue long after the chocolate is swallowed.
Melt it: it should melt smooth and not grainy
(this was by Elaine Sherman’s Book of Divine Indulgences)

And of course the first thing I thought of was: that sounds like VAMPIRES.
Okay, so I like my men dark. I love dark hair, dark eyes, all brooding and mysterious. They need to be smooth talkers and have a well kept appearance You can do jeans and a T-shirt with much style
Then we have smell. Well DUH, of course he’s going to smell good! They might be undead or might just have a disease that makes them vampiric, but they are still men and heroes and yummy. All that delicious macho male has an addicting smell
Break it? Well…. They are alpha males, when you break through their tough macho exterior you find all the good sweetness inside. They just kind of melt in your mouth, don’t they
Taste. Well Yum. I am an erotic romance writer after all! What’s not to love about tasting your vampiric male
Melt it – I touched on that earlier, hehehe it involves tasting and mouths and wee fun!

So, you see Vampires are like Chocolate! Like Godiva chocolate, not the grocery store generic brand, but delicious addicting fine chocolate. The darker the better in my opinion

Michelle

Thursday Thirteen #23 ~ 13 Ways You Know You’re a Romance Author

Just in case you’ve ever “wondered” if you’re a romance author, here are the telltale signs…

You know you’re a romance author when:

1.) You go to Amazon.com only to check your sales ranking.

2.) You cuddle your book in print closer to your breast than you ever did your own newborn child.

3.) In the same vein, you fondle your book in print more than you fondle your DH.

4.) You begin thinking of your book as your “baby”.

5.) If someone should dare badmouth your “baby”, you come to its rescue like a rabid mother bear.

6.) You refer to your fictional characters as if they were real people.

7.) You check your publisher’s website for *their* sales ranking of your book.

8.) You get emails from freaky fans asking to “talk” and “roleplay” with your fictional characters. (You scoff…)

9.) You scan the romance shelf at the bookstore and think, “I know her, and her, and HER, and oh man, she’s a beeyotch. And her, and her….”

10.) You grin, because the blogs you frequent are also sacred haunts of Nora Roberts.

11.) You secretly wish she’ll notice your greatness and ask to write an anthology with you.

12.) You publically and gracioiusly thank a reviewer who thought your book reeked of fromage, but in private, you break dishes, yell at the kids, and bite DH’s head off.

And finally…

13.) You know you’re a romance author when that royalty check comes in and it’s more of a “reality check”.

Are you a romance author?

~~Becka

http://www.RebeccaGoings.com

DEATH: The Visuals

I wanted to stop by to share some of the visual inspirations that helped me when I wrote the first draft of my novella.

Of course, the first place I drew inspiration from was the gorgeous cover:

When I saw this cover, she became the main character in my story. It’s pretty much stayed the same throughout the entire process. I just love that she looks so vicious and feral, yet also beautiful and even vulnerable. That’s certainly the way Lana is too.

I also used this Victoria Frances pic as inspiration for Lana:

I think it’s lovely, and Victoria Frances captures a lot of the vampire spirit in her work.

Now, for the hero, this picture is the way that I imagined Hayden:

This is a gorgeous photo of Jared Leto. I felt it captured the look I wanted for Hayden, perfectly! The dark hair, stubble, those gorgeous blue eyes… heck, he’s a hottie. This pic was perfect as the inspiration for the hero in my novella!

Well, I hope you all enjoy the pics as much as I did. They provided inspiration during the first draft, and are now doing the same while I’m in the revision process.

Once A Dreamer

I must say I’ve been looking forward to writing this book all year. You see, I had so many more commitments to finish before delving into this one, that I’d almost forgotten about it. But now, those other books are done and out of the way. Now, I can concentrate a bit more on my contribution to the Orphan Train series and I cannot wait!

My book is entitled ONCE A DREAMER, and it follows Karina Vadislav, a young Russian immigrant, who’s parents can no longer take care of her in New York City. She rides the train to Oscaloosa, Kansas, eventually ending up in Dodge City over the years where her story begins.

I have a rough blurb I can share with you. I’m not sure how much this blurb will stay intact, but I hope you enjoy it regardless.

~*~*~

Karina Vadislav dreamed of a better life on the Orphan Train. She thought she found it with Margaret Henderson. But when her adoptive mother is killed, Karina is left with Margaret’s abusive brother, Patrick Baker. As time passes, Karina finds out that Margaret left her an inheritance, one Patrick desperately wants–by killing Karina in cold blood.

Benjamin Sawyer is minding his own business when he literally runs into a beautiful young woman. Enchanted by her soft Russian accent, Ben agrees to help Karina find a bodyguard. But when he witnesses the brutality of Karina’s guardian, he vows never to let Karina out of his sight.

Yet neither one is prepared for the intense passion that ignites between them. When Karina finds out about Ben’s swindling past, can he convince her he wants her, not her money? And can he protect her from the very man who wants her dead?

~*~*~

I think I’m so excited to write this book because I love Westerns. Anyone who knows me knows how much I flip out over an awesome Western romance, even my own. I’ve never written a smooth-talking anti-hero before, so this should be FUN! Poor Ben won’t know what hit him. Right now, I don’t have much written beyond the opening prologue, but when I get into a book I’m really excited to write, I can get it done pretty darn quick. (Here’s hopin’ I didn’t just jinx myself… lol)

ONCE A DREAMER by Rebecca Goings, coming 2008!

Fall’s New TV Shows

DH and I are giddy at the amount of awesome new shows we’re hoping won’t get canceled after they’ve sucked us in. In fact, this entire week is PREMIERE week, and DH joked that he should take the whole week off from work just to watch.

New shows we’re going to take a chance on this fall:

CHUCK – Looks hilarious
LIFE – Loved the main guy from Band of Brothers, so we’ll give this a shot
JOURNEY MAN – Looks like a glorified Quantum Leap, but who knows…
PUSHING DAISIES – can’t go wrong with a macabre comedy about a guy who can kill you just by touching you.
BIONIC WOMAN – Never watched the original, but this could really be cool if they re-invent the series.
REAPER – A Dead Like Me wannabe, Reaper follows an ordinary guy with a sucky job of being a – you guessed it – Grim Reaper. We’ll see how this does.

Shows we’re dying to see premiere again:

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA – Is Starbuck a Cylon?!?
GREY’S ANATOMY – Mmm… McDreamy AND McHottie. Can’t wait!
HEROES – Tonight, baby, YEAH!
HOUSE – Gotta love the cynical Greg Laurie
LOST – Not until next year, but dammit, I hate this show so much I love it.
THE OFFICE – Please let Jim get with Pam already! ACK!
SCRUBS – Cannot wait for the silliness to ensue
STARGATE ATLANTIS – Seen as how Atlantis now has Jewel Staite on their cast, this has turned into “must see TV” according to my hubby. Of course, I already knew that, because of Joe Flanigan.

And there you have it!

Oh, one more thing, if you watch EUREKA on Sci-Fi, MICHAEL SHANKS will be on this week’s episode. Don’t miss it THIS TUESDAY 9pm, Sci-Fi Channel!

~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com

Becka’s Hottie of the Week

Do you watch the Discovery Channel? DH and I think the entire line of Discovery Channels are the shizzy. Every time we channel surf, 9 times out of 10, we stop on Discovery HD and just sit back in awe. Doesn’t even matter what the heck we’re watching, if it’s in HD, it’s AWESOME! lol

But I was struggling with who I was going to pick for my Hottie this week–that is until I turned on Discovery this very morning and watched a show called “Shark Tribe”. It starred a man I literally couldn’t take my eyes off of. The show was something about calling sharks to your kayak with just the sound of coconut shells, some secret of some tribe in Papau New Guinea… I really could have cared less what the show was about. I watched it simply because of this man. Who is he? Mr. Dave Salmoni.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many good pictures of him online. He’s a big cat trainer, and of course, due to my BEAST series, I’m totally intrigued. I guess the shark thing was something he was doing on the side. LOL But Dave has got a body to die for and a personality I wouldn’t mind getting to know a little better. Heheh…

Those are probably the best pictures I could find of him, HOWEVER, he has a video blog on Discovery.com and you can see for yourself how smokin’ this man really is. I will never change the channel when he’s on because wow… I don’t think I could rip my eyes away from the screen long enough to find the remote!

Here’s the linky for his video blog:

Dave Salmoni’s Video Diary

His shows on Discovery are called “Into the Lion’s Den”, “Shark Tribe”, “Living with Tigers”, and perhaps another few shark shows regarding the Great Whites of South Africa. Dude. If you don’t watch Discovery, it’s time you turn it on, girlfriend. Make sure Dave goes on your Tivo’s “auto-record”. Whew! You’ll thank me later.

Congratulations, Dave Salmoni. You’re Becka’s Hottie of the Week!

~~Becka
http://www.rebeccagoings.com/

AVATAR SEASON THREE: FIRE AIRS TONIGHT!!!

YES, I’M YELLING!!!

As I’m sure you all know by now, because I know you read this blog faithfully, me, DH, the kids, and all our real-life friends are Avatar: The Last Airbender geeks here in the Pacific Northwest. It is one of THE BEST anime shows on the planet. Why? Because it’s anime written by Americans, so it’s full of American humor and body language, and you never find yourself going “What?” because something was lost in translation.

Not to mention that the art is beautiful.

And the storyline kicks ass.

TONIGHT is the premiere of Book III: Fire on Nickelodeon. If you’re an Airbender geek like me, you’ve probably got chills. Watch this teaser trailer and drool, my friends. Aang, Katara, Zuko, Sokka… It’s like I’m going to visit old friends I haven’t seen in forever. I can’t WAIT!!!

~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com

Thursday Thirteen #22 ~ 13 Items on My Desk

My DH frequently laments at the chaotic state of my desk. However, creative minds are usually chaotic, are they not? Have you ever seen a picture of Ray Bradbury’s office? He can barely walk in there. I’d be willing to bet most writers find inspiration in their clutter. I know I do. So here are some of the things I have scattered about my desk…

1.) A coffeemug filled with pens/pencils. I got this mug after I did an AM talk radio show right after my article in the Argus. It was surreal and awesome at the same time. The mug says, “I survived Don McCoun on Washington County Today“.

2.) Two sets of stackable plastic shelves chock full of papers, paid bills, and various items. I hate filing. lol

3.) A box of 100 paperclips.

4.) A stapler.

5.) Two empty Caffeine Free Diet Coke cans.

6.) One Maleficent plushy (I got at Disney World)

7.) Two AA batteries. Are they good or bad? Who knows.

8.) The cordless phone.

9.) Watercolor paintings my children made for me yesterday.

10.) Lessons from the workbooks of my children’s school-time books (I homeschool)

11.) A Gamecube CD of Mario Party 6.

12.) A porceline teddy bear statue dressed in her Sunday finery.

13.) A tiny, blown glass dragon.

I can literally go on and on… A pair of Black Hills gold earrings I can’t wear because my ears have closed up. A plastic pencil box filled with my kids’ crayons. Pair of scissors. A romance novel I thought was cheesy to say the least (how DID that author get pubbed by NY again and again…and AGAIN?!?) My author event dayplanner. CD cases. Stickers. D&D dice (one 20 sided, one 10 sided). Small notebook. My journal. My author stamps. A headband.

Now you know the chaos that is Becka’s desk. LOL

~~Becka

http://www.RebeccaGoings.com

HEART OF GOLD is Now Out of Print

I have yet to take it off my website, but my Inspirational romance HEART OF GOLD has gone out of print at By Grace Publishing. This book was very special to me, because it taught me that I could write in any genre. It’s an historical western Inspy, with plenty of talk about GOD and religiosity.

I got my start in Inspirationals, you know. They are slowly going out of print, however, since I decided to go 100% mainstream with my romance.

The question is, what should I do with this book? See if I can get it republished elsewhere? Shelve it? Offer it as a free read on my website?

Give me your opinion. What would YOU do with an out-of-print novel?

~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com