........Ramblings by Rhianna

great comments

2011-09-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

I have no excuse except for working and writing, but I was not checking the blog for comments as frequently as I should and I'm late on responding to a couple.

Quinny: I am so glad you like TRL and enjoyed the change in voice. I found that I wanted to tell a bigger story with this book and first person was not going to let me do it the way I hoped. I apologize for the grammer errors. I did have a couple of proof readers, but I didn't have an editor come in and do the great work done on the first of the series. Editors earn their money, but they don't come cheap either and in this economy I made a choice to not overextend myself at this time. It may turn out to have been a poor choice, but it is one I can rectify, when I am able.

I don't want that to get in the way of the story, and I don't think that it does. I have to admit, I told myself that if it started selling well that I would use the money to have a thorough edit done. If I do though, I would feel the need to increase the price of the book. I also believe very strongly that you pay for what you get. Millions of readers are now seeking out the self published eBooks because they simply cannot afford the price of books from large publishing companies. They are accepting the fact that punctuation and editing is not on par to a book three times more expensive to buy. I'm not advocating that badly told stories that the reader will not enjoy be pushed upon the public.

I remember reading a LKH book some years back that was very poorly edited and said to myself at that time. Hey, I can do that!. (I'm joking) The difference is that I paid a lot of money for a hardcover for LKH. The Replacement Lists is priced 2.99 for a quick download, an easy exciting read and a great price for a 100,000 word count. It's out there for all of the readers who loved Shaking Off the Dust and wanted more. As is, it will not be offered as a paperback. If it does well, then I have more great stories for those characters.

I will definitely keep you in mind for a proof reader in the future. Do you like historical romance? I'm working on one now and I'm enjoying the writing of it. Weird, but if I laugh or cry while I'm writing the story, I get the sense it is going where I want it to be.

Jess: I want one of the big Kindles, for the eye sight that is requiring thicker lenses every year. I have not widely advertized The Replacement List for a couple of reasons. Number one was because I wanted to quietly put it out there for the fans of Shaking Off the Dust. Though, I do think it stands on its own. I would be happy to offer up a few free copies to readers at GoodReads. The Replacement Lists includes the paranormal theme and romance, but has more of the thrilling excitement of a suspense.

I try to respond to all comments made, even if I might take a bit of time to do so.

Rhianna

Rhianna

August

2011-08-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks, but my mom had surgery last month. There is always so much we think about, but it is hard to put it all into words how we really feel. I love and adore my mother. But, we are worlds apart in how we view the world. She has tongue cancer and this was her second surgery, so it could have changed her life completely by causing issues with speech and the ability to do something as simple as sitting down to a meal. The speech is slightly effected, but not to the point we can't understand every word. And the getting past milkshakes and soup is still ongoing. But, the margins are clear and her life goes on, with a large pot hole in the road. Did I say pot hole, you could take a mule ride the bottom...She is eighty-two.

My dad used to always say "such is life" He didn't speak french very well. I miss him everyday. It would have been his birthday on the third. You can blame that for my ramblings today.

The road we take is seldom without construction or a straight line. And sometimes it's the circle around the big cities or the stop light on a county road, but the view is seldom the same, unless of course, you're in Kansas. Before the gasoline crisis, I was young and loved to travel. I can tell you that driving through Oregon was one of the most spectacular drives I ever took. I went from the stark young mountains of Colorado, to the rich lush visages of the Bitter Roots. And yet, I live in a small southern Indiana town, so that I can be close to family.

I am always trying to tell stories in my writing that are essentially about hope and happiness, but there is always some fundamental roadblock that must be overcome along that journey. It is how I have always experienced life. Wanting, but always having to work hard for whatever has been achieved. The characters in The Replacement Lists have lived those kind of lives. They are a reflection of the road they have taken in life.

Takeshi and Hannah's love story unfolds in the first book, Shaking Off the Dust. She is has been somewhat beaten down by her life and yet she lives each day with humor, often at her own expense. She realized a while back that she was going to be single, until she meets Takeshi. Shimodo has achieved great things scholastically, but he has a very clinical view of life until her meets Hannah. She is the perfect research subject, but she is fully engaged in life. She soon makes him laugh and feel all those emotions he thought were beyond his experience.

Despite The Replacement Lists being an adult read, it is all about family. Taking responsibility for the safety of those you love. Creating extended families. The blending of families into a protective unit. I don't want to spoil any of the odd twists and turns of this book, but you will discover that love has a way of sneaking up on you, even when you are seeking to avenge the death of those you care about.

Kiss your mothers, fathers, husbands and wives and children goodnight and take a journey down a different path.

Rhianna

When you want to laze around

2011-07-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

It's July and hot in southern Indiana. I have a dozen or so things I should be doing, but the body and mind are arguing over how much energy there is to spend on this day.

One of my close friends sent on a link to the dear author blog where Maya Banks is giving an open interview on what she is making as an author through digital and print. I have met her a few times and she is a lovely woman. She enjoys her fans and I find her conversation genuine, which is not always the case when you are talking with people who are trying to sell a book or real estate. The article is very interesting, here is the link. http://dearauthor.com/features/interviews/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-digital-publishing-but-were-afraid-to-ask-a-qa-with-maya-banks/

I am amazed at how prolific she is, putting out eight to ten books a year, she really does work hard for the money.

It is a hot day here. I haven't opened my window curtains, trying to keep the cool inside. My two cats are not with the game plan. One of them keeps going to the window and sticking her paws through the blinds trying to maintain an opening. They don't seem to find my company as tantalizing as the occasional bird or squirrel running past. I should be insulted, but instead I applaud their good taste.

I watched the new Torchwood on Starz this weekend. I love this show and fell in love with the characters through the BBC production, though they did manage to kill off the great majority of the characters through the years. I recommend it to any of you who are fans of science fiction and just fun and entertaining programing. I wish they had given us a two hour first show. Like a big chewy bite, instead of a small taste of what's to come. I am looking forward to the series being amazing.

I hope everyone is having a great day. My overhead fans are on and I took care of that disorder of the hair that includes creeping gray all along the roots. I hear it is a common disorder of woman of all ages. I hate to admit it does seem to take a decade off my appearance. Now, if it could only take off a few pounds.

I need to hear the washing machine clatter and the vacum pierce the sound barrier before the day is done. Hope your day is quiet.

I'd love to hear how everyone else is spending their day. It has got to be more interesting than mine. Though, I am writing and there is an hot tempered male who is demanding a lot of intimate attention from the heroine.

You see, I have to fan myself for more than the temperature outside.

Rhianna

The Replacement Lists

2011-07-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

It's out on Amazon! The sequel to Shaking Off the Dust is called The Replacement Lists and it's got a different point of view than the first. I think it allowed me to tell a bigger story this way.

This story begins nearly eight months after the end of the first book. Takeshi and Hannah are getting ready for their babies to come any time when people that they know are suddenly being murdered in professional hits. When they finally put two and three together it equals the names from their wedding replacement lists. It also means going on the run and into hiding.

Along the way, all of those men and women involved in the original capture of the infamous terrorist and drug lord Sanchez are targets. Their friends are coming from all over the world to help Takeshi and Hannah survive, including a friend from Takeshi's childhood, Yanna. She's the daughter of a dojo master and a Japanese policewoman, but once she hears the concern in his voice, she flies to their side.

The graphic and violent murders of two of their friends turns Dr. Dwight Santiago in to the hard as nails ex Delta boy he was in the service. Doctor or not, he plans to see the the Shimodos safe and the assassins pay. You'll see a side of him that you never glimpsed in the first book.

I hope you all enjoy this new book.

Rhianna Samuels

Music

2009-02-26T16:13:00.000-08:00

I’ve been enjoying some new music and it got me thinking about why we like certain music. I know that where and how we are raised has a huge impact on what we might choose. The choices are amazing. I do watch American Idol, but not until the auditions are over. I don’t want to hear the begging and crying, I want to hear the singers sing.

When I’m driving and want to just think or work on my books in my head, I will not always listen to music, but one of my favorite things to listen to is Enigma ~ Deep Forest. There are some Pigmy songs that totally transport me to the fantasy world I like to write.

Our favorite music is often generational. If you were in school during the eighties then you can really appreciate those artists. My brother and his wife are seven years younger than I am and they love YES. My brother in law, older has everything Bob Dylan ever recorded.

I like to think that my taste is eclectic. I love so many songs from the sixties, seventies and beyond. I buy new artist all the time. I will even listen to gangster rap, not often, but sometimes if there is something interesting musically in how it affects me. I’m the one who can spend a couple of hours at B&N listening to all the new CD’s trying to discover some one that catches my ear.

I also love the oldies, Ella and Miles and Chet Baker. Trumpet, pure and bluesy just turns me on…let me qualify that I don’t like too much percussion. Of the new guys, I’m huge on Chris Botti and Rick Braun. I also have a real thing for a lot of James Taylor songs. His voice is so smooth, he sings as if it is breathing to him, effortlessly. His song the secret of life…I will listen over and over to remember to enjoy the ride.

Rhianna

BLOG STORIES

2009-02-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed, I don’t blog with any real regularity. I am not good at coming up with fun stuff to wax philosophic or even wittily about, except as part of a conversation. I am a person that thrives in a lively debate or making snarky comments about inconsequential parts of life with friends or family to bounce against or sometimes to cross swords in a lively fencing of words and humor. I don’t claim to be the smartest wit, but I come close to the smartest ass in the group.

Witty repartee in the context of a story or characters ranting, well that’s another thing completely. I can character rant and snort with the best of them. I have been told that I am easily amused, and there are times it is undoubtedly true. I love the absurd, unless it brings someone to my emergency room. Okay, even then…like the kid who swallowed three quarters, cause he didn’t have pockets. Heck, we were pulling vibrators out of butts, long before ER or Grey’s Anatomy made us laugh over it. Of course, they weren’t as small as they are now. Or the old gentleman who put his hearing aid batteries in his ears instead of the hearing aid. I thought we were a society where bigger is better, right? No, now we are the sleek and skinny world of Apple and unhealthy thin super models. ( I love apple products, so keep me in mind when you start to give out IPODS or I- anything.  )

I like to create characters that can appreciate the absurd as equally as they do ordinary beauties. The man who likes a crooked smile or mascara that runs. He’s the one whose lips quirk listening into other conversations at a café. Or she keeps spraining her ankles wearing heels.

You see, that is not what the good bloggers do. Very few of them tell character driven or action adventure or even paranormal suspense stories on a daily or even weekly basis. They review life, books or music from their own perspective, even if it is under the name anonymous, it is still from their own point of view.

My point? I am not a consistent blogger. I’ll just call them updates and while I catch up on my story telling in a novel way… (Couldn’t resist)… There may be weeks in between.

Rhianna Samuels

The trip and back

2009-01-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

I was gone to a funeral for the weekend, the trip started on New Years Eve, which I don’t recommend as a traveling day. Mostly, because you can’t catch a deal on a decent hotel and it’s expensive to pay maximum price. None of the big hotels have a funeral price. Oh well.

It was a sad occasion to reunite with family. After the service was over, we met with some of our cousins. We were in a small east Texas town, that has turned into one of those historical villages, with antique stores and bed and breakfasts abounding.

My older brother arranged to have a cottage for everyone to get together and got me a room in a B&B. I ended up in a two room cottage, which at one time was the slave quarters, the bed was so high, I needed a trampoline to get up on the thing and they didn’t have a foot stool to help. I managed. My nephew shared the cottage for one night, he was in the room that had bloomers decorating the walls. I asked him what he thought of that… he answered…”They didn’t fit”… he’s sixteen.” He is very funny. There was a clawfoot tub behind a curtain in his room and the bathroom was built to look like an out house. The Christmas fairy had a Santa clause decorations seizure in his room and a gingerbread one in mine. It made the whole trip surreal.

One of my cousins is a very lovely woman, whose mother is a full blooded Comanche. I talked her into teaching me a couple of cuss words in the native tongue. It required some coaxing, because she is very sweet and kept giving me other words, until I asked specifically for the words I wanted. Another one of my cousins is from a little town about an hour from where we were. He’s the fire chief, battalion chief and arson investigator. I was asking him how often he had to investigate arson in his little town and he told me it was more often then you’d suspect.

Last story, I promise. The rented car I drove for the trip had a Magellan. I have never used a GPS before and I’m totally thrilled to have gotten it for the trip down, because I was alone and there were many turn offs and twist and turns and that lady gave me a heads up for all of them. On the down, I picked up my sisters suitcase, she lives about an hour south of me and she hitched a ride with my brother down and drove back with me. I plugged in my destination and don’t ya know that it took me home, but bypassed her town and I had to drive south again to take her fanny home before the trip was finally done.

I know that is sounds weird, but that kind of thing seems to happen regularly. It is Saturn in my planets…Muuahahahah!

Rhianna

PS good news. I won the NOR award for Romantic Suspense Fall 2008 and came in second for Paranormal Romance for Shaking Off the Dust. *happy dance*

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T20:47:00.000-08:00

The family plans sort of fell through for the night. Instead of having someone to share the evening, I find myself alone and reflective. Sometimes that can be good, and sometimes it just gives me a headache. If I’m spending time thinking too hard, I always hope it’s on the current story I’m writing. That is not the case this evening.

It’s Christmas Eve, where are you in your life? There is a steep learning curve as we age. I’d like to think that it has made me an older, wiser woman to have traveled my own particular path through life. It was circuitous and an often tortuous journey at times, but it lead me to now. Here I am! Yea, I’m not impressed either. *delicate snort*

Aside from the usual complaints about being in debt and nothing of value to show for that, I am alright with where I am. Sure, I’d like to be living on the ocean front or on a large lake, river or mountain stream, but that is one of those dreams that you have and discover it’s great for a couple of weeks, but it’s hard to support the cost of exclusivity. Not that I’d turn you down if you offered me a condo for a month, all expenses paid in any of the above locations. My biggest issue is that I don’t have enough time to do all the important things in live.

I like equal parts work and relaxation, or what I like to call sleep. Yes, I include writing as working. It’s time consuming to craft the perfect sentence. Not that I’ve done that yet, but I keep trying and eventually it will turn up on a page. Most like by accident. I'm okay with that too.

At night, I lay down and start to plot my next scene and the next thing I know I’m turning off the alarm clock. The brilliant flashes seem to come while I’m driving back and forth to work or the grocery store. Why is that? It’s not like I will remember that great speech when I have a chance to write it down, and please don’t give me that sorry line about carrying around a digital recorder, because it’s not going to happen while I’m maneuvering through local traffic.

I have my moments though. I will start writing and it pours out of the pen or my fingertips to appear on paper. I will read it later and be amazed. It’s where I am in my life right now. I have a professional career in a field that I can always fall back on to support me but I want that time for something else. I hate having to give up sleeping time to write. Don’t you? My New Years resolutions is to organize my time better, and hope my thoughts will follow that behavior.

Another bit of good news. Shaking Off the Dust made the nominations for the CAPA awards at TRS. Samhain had a lot of nominations, which is always cool. I don’t know how any of these things get decided, but I thank everyone and anyone who enjoyed the book enough to consider it for nomination. Here’s the link.

http://theromancestudio.com/capa.php

Have an amazing Holiday. I’ll still be rambling on about some thing or other when they are over, so check back.
Rhianna

2008-12-14T16:30:00.000-08:00

‘Tis the Season

I have been keeping both eyes open. There is so much going on in the world and in my life. I look at how our financial systems have bottomed out and wonder what the end product of all of this will be. Will it affect the diversity of the cars on the market? Will my 403 bounce back before I retire? Will I ever pay off my credit cards? How will this affect the way I live my life for the foreseeable future?

Is it the greed of a few that has finally come home to roost? Or is it just egg on their face for a while? There’s this part of me that thinks we should let them pay for their mistakes in business, just like the local store merchant does when he makes bad financial decisions. The sad thing is that it affects not only the hot shot chairman and board members; it affects every one of us to some degree.

Change comes in many ways. The world rotates and hurricanes crash through our man made world and shrieking winds laugh at what they cause to tumble. Can you imagine the first guy that saw the aftermath of a natural disaster and said…”That won’t happen again for fifty years, maybe I can make a buck insuring people against that happening in my life time.” You know, there is a person somewhere that can determine your worth. They can sit at a computer and using some mathematical program they can tell you how much money your life is worth.

So the question is what am I worth? At my day job, I am at the top of my pay scale. I could probably move to a larger city and make more money, or would the cost of living eat up the pay increase? I could live more frugally, but what would my life be worth to me then? I was raised in a society that said you start school at age five, and for twelve years you study to learn how to function and work to support ourselves. Then we spend our adult life working, hoping and praying that you find a job you like and loved ones along the way. Near the end of our lives we are allowed to retire, at which time we can do what ever we can afford, based on how well we saved our money along the way.

I write romance novels, do I rank higher on worth, or automatically get points taken off for distracting the working public with fiction? Are the stories that I write about the journeys people take because they didn’t have a job with retirement funds. How many of the world’s population live vicariously through books?

It’s a strange world that we live in, when several major companies collapse and every person in our country will feel its affects. (Okay, I know I’m rambling) I would rather have given the money to the car makers and taken it away from the banks. You have companies charging what were considered Loan Shark rates in the forties and fifties getting bailed out. The heart of matter is that these companies became greedy. And we as their customers allowed ourselves to be lured into the, “I want” mentality. Paying later, when I might have more money seems like a good idea when I want it now. They were the pied piper and we rushed to follow. They should fall over the cliff. At least that way all of us pay for the mistake.

I believe that our worth is in our own eyes. There are very few of us who define ourselves by how much money we make or have. If people must define themselves that way, I suspect it is a life empty of self worth. Don’t get me wrong, I want to live comfortable with money to do the extra things, but I don’t use money labels in deciding my worth.

Rhianna

My First Book Signing

2008-12-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

I’m grinning today. I had my first book signing and I was pleased with how it went. I had visions of a lonely long wait with a few books in front of me and no one caring. It helps that it was local and I have a friends and family that thought it was a very cool thing to happen.

The place was the local Barnes and Nobles and I set it up about two months ago, though I contacted them in august to make sure they would be carrying the book. It’s the little details that can help. I stopped by the bookstore several times, but in the end it was all by email. My contact there, who is the community liaison, gave me her card initially and when I kept missing her, I finally emailed. My first impression...I personally think that she was planning to get a couple of books and do a signing, but as a debut author she really wasn’t excited or enthusiastic. As a matter of fact, there were three book signings going on at the same time as mine in different genres. Which sort of signified the importance she placed on my novel.

I had scheduled to have my hair cut, colored and highlighted early in the day, so that it was looking fine for signing. I love my hair stylist. She is wonderful, but her idea of hair with volume and mine are slightly different. She had my hair in a style I don’t normally wear, pumped up on steroids. I warned her that I would be putting a comb through it when I left, so she brought it down some. I know I was driving her nuts, but heck it was my day. I only combed it twice before getting to the signing, and it did look fabulous. Thanks Krystal!

Trouble was that I scheduled a 1030 appt and didn’t get out until 1pm. My family tried to cut in line in front of me with my girl Krystal and made me run late. I rushed to my sisters with my change in clothes to find a large lunch ready with family and a bottle of Champagne opened and a toast. This was very touching to me, but I was also stressing because I had to be there at 2pm and still needed to put on makeup, change and get there. Needless to say, I managed to walk into the bookstore at 2:01. On the first floor was the ex congress man with a line of elder people waiting to get their book. Next to him was the Liaison woman, who really is a nice lady. She sent me to the top of the escalator where the romances are stocked and there was a table with my books all over it and a sign.

I’ve been reading where several authors’ recommend what you need for a books signing, so I brought some of my promo materials, bookmarks and some cool little coasters I’d made for the Lori Foster’s get together. I got this wonderful gift last Christmas from my niece, which was an engraved pen with my Pen name. (LOL) I loved it! I also had a 17 by 11 cover art blown up and put on a board and brought that with a stand. I sat down pulled out my few things and started smiling. When the Liaison came up to me a few minutes later, she told me that my book had been selling like hot cakes and she had another box of books she could bring out if I went through what was in front of me. I have to tell you that was very nice to hear.

My family came around and added moral support, but quite a few of my coworkers and friends came with books they’d already bought to have signed and then more came to buy books, almost all of them buying more than one book. I sold all of the ones on the table and then several of the new ones put out. It was more than that. People came and we were telling stories and laughing. So much so that people came up just to see what the excitement was about. One of the store workers said that my line wasn’t as long as the congressman’s, but we were a much happier group. When it was over I felt like it was a success, so did the bookstore.

One of my friends came by and started telling people how she knew she would read the book because it was mine and figured it was okay since it got published, but had no idea that it would ROCK! You can see why we were all laughing. Those kind of comments make my day. It was a good day. I felt like an author.

Rhianna Samuels

The want, but don't need Christmas list

2008-11-28T15:37:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving has come and gone. It was a big dinner for a small group this year, but delicious none the less. I had many things to be thankful for, and I am. It is easy to take for granted what we have in our lives. I have two things that make my existence remarkable: first is my family, who are funny, bright and supportive in all things: The second is… I am not in the best shape of my life, but nor am I ill or infirm and that is a great blessing.

Today begins the count down to Christmas, so here I list the items I want, but can’t afford for Christmas. It’s a silly list of things that I think I want, but not enough to save the money to buy.

The Over-budget and dollar-short list.

1. I want, but don’t really need an E-book reader. Not the inexpensive one I can afford. No, the one I want is possibly not made yet. It’s kindle sized, back lit, but takes any format, so I can find the book from any bookstore site and download.

I tell myself that I really have no choice in this item. I am out of books space now. I have become the book-lender to my friends and part of the reason is to keep a number of books circulating so there is space on my shelf for the TBR pile. The dust is collecting and an E-reader could solve those problems for me. It wouldn’t stop me buying those must reads, but the throw away stack would be more reasonable.

2. I want, but don’t need, a new laptop. I want a small portable one, like a MAC or just one that is portable. I have a labtop, it’s several years old, but I bought a 17 inch screen and it is not portable. Even finding a travel bag for it is difficult. I love the large screen, but I don’t utilize it the way I thought I would. (See, aren’t I good at coming up with reasonable excuses on why I should have this item.) I would need a better wireless system in my home. The one I have is not working, so I am tied to the cord and it makes mobility difficult. I can lug the thing to a café, but I don’t because it is more work than I want to deal with.

3. I need a new DVD/VCR recorder. Mine is acting up and I was not able to record True Blood the way I wanted too. But, what I really want is a blue ray DVD player recorder system. The DVR is cool, but I can’t turn my friends and family on to a new show when they don’t get a sample of it

4. I need a comfortable chair. Yes, yes, I have complained about this time and again. I have bought two new chairs. You know what…you don’t know if it’s going to be comfortable unless you sit your ass in it for a few days straight. I thought I bought a comfortable chair. I was delusional at the time. It is the most miserable POS I have every had the misfortune to sit my fanny upon. I want the lazy boy, the medium sized, not the over large one. Or one of those deluxe massager things. I don’t care as long as it’s comfortable.

I want, I want, I want….there is a theme here.

5. I want, but don’t need, a eighty gig IPOD. That would be fun, though my issue is that I am deaf in one ear, so I don’t like not being able to hear anything but the music. Once something is in my only hearing side, I don’t hear anything else. So, I’ve always debated on this one. I mostly listen to music in my car and it would be fun to plug in there.

6. Of course that would require a much better car than I have….Hehehe!

7. I need a two week long vacation somewhere quiet and beautiful, where I will not worry about anything but writing.

8. The CD player in my car went out just today. It won’t take my disc. This is a great loss for me, especially now, because I love to play Christmas music. And if I need to replace the system, it might as well be one I can’t really afford, something deluxe with an IPOD plug in port. More likely I will be listening to a lot of radio.

9. As long as I’m listing things I don’t need, but want. A Wii system and exercise program would be fun and perhaps beneficial.

10. This last one I’m saving for you to choose what you’d love to have for Christmas, but really need.

Rhianna Samuels

A small joy

2008-11-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

I’m going to try to explain to you how I feel this week. I know it’s transitory and the bubble will pop in another day or two, but I’m speaking of this week, this little vacuum of time in which I opened a box containing my authors copies of Shaking Off the Dust. My first book.

I know it came out in E-format at the beginning of the year, but there is nothing quite like holding a book in your hand, caressing the cover, inhaling the new book smell or reading your dedication for the first time in a format that you have always known a book to be. It is a small joy, but a joy none the less.

I have never been one of those lucky people in life, who can fall into a poop hole and come out smelling like lilacs. I always came out smelling really bad. I still feel that I have worked very hard for the things that have come to me. But, I will admit that this small joy is a gift.

I call it a small joy because there is no comparison to those moments that flower from relationships. Consider your first love, the birth of child, the day of your marriage; those are big on the list of larger joys. Small joys, are transitory, like a breath taking view or rain during a drought or even a epiphany that suddenly changes the way we view the world for the better. It is moment we pause to mark in our memories, to savor because it is rare.

I am a published author. If you don’t believe me, I can show you the physical evidence of my claim. Isn’t that totally cool!! Woop Woop!! *Joyful Dance*

What have you tucked into your memory, which you savored for the small joy it brought to your heart?

Rhianna

Turn, Turn, Turn…

2008-11-02T13:47:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that it’s only a couple of months until 2009? It seems like it was only yesterday that there were half a dozen disaster movies about how computers, banks and planes would crash because of the turn over at midnight in 1999/2000. Obviously we were on the wrong calendar for all that…because it took eight years for the banks to crash. (Tehe…have to laugh or cry.)

Isn’t there some Mayan calendar that predicts the destruction of all in 2012? Or do they mean the destruction of the world as we know it now? I look over the last several decades and I am shocked by the differences. Technology has turned our society upside down. I haven’t watched Life on Mars yet, though I saw a couple of episodes of the BBC series. We are a technology dependent, instant identification of finger prints and DNA tests, crimes scene sucking police force. Every time I watch a Bourne movie, I worry about prying eyes. (Not that my life is all that interesting.) We are a new world, completely alien to the world of thirty years ago.

Why we seem to be wearing the same clothes from the seventies, I don’t understand. Who looked at those hideous patterns and polyester clothes and thought that was a good idea to bring into fashion. Scuse me, I threw up a little in my throat. I personally hate the current fashion. (Did you guess?) I digress, it’s a personal soap box for me.

The wireless world of communications has broken through barriers that not so long ago kept billions of people isolated from the rest of the world. Once those lines of communication are open, it is nearly impossible to stop conversation and knowledge exchange. One the great pleasures of getting older is seeing the world change.

I’m looking forward to turning the reins of politics and technology over to this newest generation. They have been talking to each other since early childhood. They have learned to collaborate instead of horde, and they are being raised to believe there are no boundaries, only new horizons. My heavens, the stars and beyond are at their fingertips. I so want to hitch a ride with one of them.

Which is your favorite generation? I had a good time in my twenties, did amazing things. Was it the time, or was it my age and perspective. I think it was my age that made that time incredible. I was open to experiencing life and was young, unafraid and sassy. If it were 2008 for my twenties, I would still be the person in the sway of youth and freedom. I think it was the age…though it was a great time back then.

What do you think?

Rhianna Samuels

Singing and Dancing

2008-10-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

I’ve been sitting here watching August Rush on cable. Not much of a story, but I love the music. I love movies with music as a theme. Current musicals are touchy, though. I don’t automatically like them, whereas, I have always enjoyed musicals from the forties through the sixties.

Why is that? I suppose we don’t grow actor /singers / dancers like the old days. What we have is on Broadway and a Broadway voices tend to be less intimate. Where are the Gene Kelly’s and Bing Crosby’s. I miss those kinds of movies. I want a little fantasy, where people sing when they are sad or happy. My favorite is White Christmas. Huge fan of Danny Kay.

I also like dance movies. I adored the Australian movie, Strictly Ballroom. OMG, I never laughed so hard, and the dancing was superb. I watched the Japanese version of Shall We Dance a dozen times before it came out with Lopez and Gere. I prefer the original. Even the B movie dance company movies suck me in…and yes I do watch So You Think You Can Dance…not the other one. I want to see real dancers, not mediocre dancers.

I hate to even admit this, because there are people I know who would shoot me for saying this, but I never really liked Sound Of Music. Yes, I’m a freak. I’ll watch any dance movie that comes my way. I don’t always like them, but I will watch it once to discover it’s quality .

What is you favorite Musical or dance related movie.

Rhianna

Soul Mate, Life Mate, Lover...what do you call it?

2008-10-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a paranormal/urban fantasy series. The world is complete and I’ve played with the characters long enough to have my favorites, several favorites in fact. What concerns me is the heat level I am writing. You see, I would have never considered myself a writer of erotica. And yet, I am writing fully fleshed erotica.

Urban fantasy has given me license to write sex to the extreme. The focus is on the creatures that populate this particular world, and though varied, they share a common challenge. I’ll save that bit of information for the story, so you can enjoy the series.

In concert with this series, I am continuing to write my historical, which includes sex, but less extreme in its depiction. The level of heat is relative to the passion that is expressed by these particular human characters. Don’t worry, they are passionate.

All this talk of passion and sex has brought to mind, the sort of universal belief that we are all meant to find that one person who will bring us fulfillment. Every romance novel, no matter the genre, has a term for it, soul mate, life mate, the fated love of our lives that brings us complete communion with someone and allows that HEA. Hey, I’m a sucker for the HEA. I’ll never read an author again if I am led to believe throughout the story that the hero and heroine are meant for each other and don’t get their HEA. When I am denied that, I am a very unhappy reader.

Writers have become creative in the terminology they use to define The One. It is somehow tied to the mythology of the world they are writing. Yes, even I have teased my brain trying to come up with a new term for it.

I thought it might be fun for us to create a new term for that one and only. I’ll even use it in my urban fantasy book, either as a throw away line used humorously or something more substantial.

Go ahead dazzle me and -uck buddy and sex slave doesn’t count.

Rhianna

The Last Ten Days

2008-10-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

Whew! Long, action packed week. It began with a rather impressive disaster drill. I’m on the disaster committee, which includes those of us who are part of the..What if the worst possible thing were to happen club. In this case it was an earthquake and we had 80 excited volunteers. All, but one of them, were mualaged to within an inch of their lives, some further-the dead ones.
We decided to work in a factory line way. I was assigned blood. Pretty much everyone got blood on them. There were the amputations and fractures line, the laceration line, the deathly pale line, dirt line and blood line. I always get the most fun things to do. (Mauahahaha!)

The day job took up most of my energy. Not only the disaster drill, but the folks that complete accreditation for the hospital also chose that same week to come and purview the premises. That was fun - *not*, though it appears it went well for my department. They were impressed by the disaster drill though.

As part of my other job… is it a job or still a wish? As for the writer portion of my brain, I volunteered to judge for the Eppies. I was impressed by the quality of the material I was sent. I finished up all but one by Sunday night and the last today. I have become a new fan of one particular author, which is good, but bad for my time, because I will need to read all the other books in the backlist now.

Did I tell you I had to reformat my computer a couple of weeks ago. Nasty virus and it killed me to have to do it. Now, I still can’t find my PDF creator to put back on and I never found my Dragon speaking, which I did use, a fair amount. I gave up and bought the newest version of Dragon Speaking and have decided I will put off the other for a time.

I’ve been watching the True Blood HBO series and would recommend it to anyone who loves vampires. I read all the books since the first one came out, so I’ve come to terms with how I saw it in my head while reading it and what Allan Ball is doing with the characters. The brother Jason is definitely more visible in this venue. And I do mean VISABLE, my my…sweet cheeks. Bill is much more than I remember from the books, though I will tell you now, that I fell in love with Eric the moment he appeared in the books. His sense of humor and honest way of saying exactly what he wants, always cracks me up. Of course after book four, I am totally for him as Sookie’s one and only. I choose to ignore all the other males that crowd her space. I think I scared off Charlaine Harris, the writer of the books, at the RT convention several years ago. I kept appearing up every time she turned around. I would stalk her if she’d move here to southern Indiana.

You all have a lovely week and I’ll be blogging again soon.

Tell me about your week.

Rhianna

Persuation

2008-10-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

MY WEBMASTER

It’s quiet now. There’s no sound but for the low hum of the computer fan. I sat down in front of this rectangular machine to blog about…what? I don’t know really. I considered a half dozen topics.

I have been warned to stay away from politics, and in all honestly I haven’t much to say on the subject. I’m not a fan of either candidate. And in truth, no one that even entered the nominations this year seemed like they were there without an agenda.

I am smirking because a couple of weeks ago I was at Sam’s Club and saw this book and I just had to buy it. It’s Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Green Book of Getting Your Way. I’ll admit that I haven’t read the whole thing. When he started talking about putting in the time and energy and being positive all the time, well I figured I know that and had been looking for a short cut. Just like when I hear about a new diet, I want a short cut, not life changes. If I am doing the work, then I’m not getting my way, I’m making progress.

One of the things he talks about in order to be persuasive is that you must make the person you are trying to persuade believe that the topic is important to them. Get to the point and don’t give a lot of tedious details in your initial presentation.

As a Nurse, I learned to do that a long time ago when I give the patient his discharge instructions, it’s all about what is essential for them to know to get healthy and stay that way. Most of the time, they are already motivated to do as they are instructed.

As a writer, I have to write something they want to read. Beyond even that, I have to actually write the novel and persuade an editor or publisher that it is worth their time to even consider. It’s funny because in my head I can hear every line I’ve ever had used on me to convince me to have sex with someone.

Why do you think it is that we must be persuaded to do so many things. How many of you will freely admit that when it came to a sexual relationship with someone you cared about and chemistry abounded that you didn’t need to be persuaded. You chose without any excuses or arguments. My hand is raised.

Can you also say that you don’t have to be persuaded to do the right thing, to be a good Samaritan or show your humanity. It’s not my intent to persuade you of anything, only to reflect upon it.

Rhianna

The Heroine

2008-09-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

I know I have mentioned it before, but I am working on several WIPs. I have told myself over and over that I need to choose one and spend all my time completing it, then move on to the next. I have tried that repeatedly, and still I find myself working on one when something pops in my head that forces me to return to one of the others for a while. It is bad, because it is taking me a great while to complete the next book.

I mention this because I was reading, again, a running commentary on one of the online groups where once again everyone congratulated themselves on their hatred of the weak willed heroine and how they must all be strong and capable creatures or they will not read the novel. TSTL heroines were remarked on with regularity. The majority of these commentators had varying degrees of where the line stood as to what they were willing to put with from a heroine.

Let me start by saying that writing the perfect heroine is not an easy task. You can not please every one who will read your story and though I am a capable woman, and have managed to live my life in such a way that I can support myself with out depending on someone else, I am still fully capable of being a bitch and screwing the pooch with the best of them.

When I write, the story dictates who my heroine is and what her goal, needs and issues are. If I am writing an historical, I may want to have a forward looking female as my lead, but she must be true to the time period and the plotline. Sure I can make her angry with the world and how it is, so she fights against everything. Is that character you want for a romance novel. Seriously? She has to be true to the time and the existence she has lived. If it has been difficult for her, then that has to be reflected.

One of the reasons that I find myself jumping from one story to another is the females in the different stories. The Urban Fantasy has a very nifty kick ass heroine. She can be kick ass, because she is ancient and is the blood of the Sidra. Another story is a historical and my heroine has sacrificed much in her life and now she will find some happiness, but not easily. Another story in my urban fantasy world is an empath, who happens to be a director, she approaches things very different. She is strong in some ways, but clueless in other ways. And the last is a female shifter whose story is secondary to the two men. Sometimes a woman simply is and finds happiness in what makes those happy around her, does that make her a lesser person. Some of us must hold onto something with a firm grip and others let things come to them.

If we all wrote stories with the same female, strong, right minded and never screws up, how long would that hold your interest in a book. Don’t get me wrong, I love a strong female character, but I’ve never met a perfect one and that means that they make bad decisions and do stupid things. I often realize it was a wrong dumb headed move on my part within just minutes of opening my mouth. I don’t learn from it as much as shake my head.

I am enjoying being in the heads of these four very different characters. Now, I just want to close in and finish their stories.

Rhianna

Writing Sex

2007-10-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

You may laugh at this, but I write erotica to de-stress. A storyline is attached, but it is sex in its purest form, uncomplicated voyeuristic sex. I see my characters in excruciating detail find release. Writers have to see it in our head to get the words on paper.

When I write straight paranormal or erotica, the sex is not always anchored to a romance. It may be the nature of the character, a curse or a blessing, depending on their world view. I am a romantic at heart, so eventually it will lead to love, and hopefully romance. The two are not naturally intertwined. A character may love someone and sex is part of the relationship, but if it is one sided it is not a romance. Pleasure can be noncommittal, momentary and necessary for the majority; whereas, romance is a committed relationship. Friendship is a committed relationship. Sexual pleasure is the core of erotica. Some may believe that it must be kinky, but that is a matter of taste.

When I write in the romantic suspense genre I follow a parallel rule to life. The consummation of a romance to sexual intimacy leads to a lot more sex. In life, when you become intimate, do you wait months to see each other again? If you enjoyed the experience and want that person, the sex is frequent and lustful. For that very reason you will never see only one sex scene in my books. We are primitive in new relationships, loosing ourselves for hours and sometimes days in our lover’s pleasure. Or so my world view insists.

If you don’t agree, then I challenge you to ask someone who is in a brand new sexual relationship. How often do they see each other now that they have cleared the hurtle of sexual intimacy? Unless they are long distance lovers, they probably see each other several times a week and sex is integral to planning their time together. Why do you think there’s always a hidden parlor off the ballroom when you read historical romance? Sex allows a male and females to become one.

What is your world view on sex?
Rhianna Samuels
Rhiannasamuels.com