Going for Broke

April 5, 2017April 8, 2017

Today is National Go For Broke Day, which research indicates started as a military slogan from World War II. What it means is giving your all regardless of the obstacles ahead. While most of us are not engaged in military situations, that shouldn’t stop us from Going for Broke.

Writers face this every time they sit at the keyboard and open their work-in-progress. Every time we submit to a publisher. Every time we decide to self-publish something we’ve created.We put it all on the line every time we go public with our stories. Will readers love our blood, sweat, and tears, or loathe them?

Because if we’re not giving our readers everything we’ve got, we’re not doing our jobs as authors.

Mask of the Queen

March 5, 2017February 26, 2017

The third and final novella of my Mask series, featuring baseball player Tag Gentry and caterer Skye Schuyler comes out on Tuesday, 3/7.

Skye Schuyler’s business is failing because of a reporter’s lies, yet telling the truth about baseball player Tag Gentry’s injuries would destroy him. She loves him too much to betray his confidence. But his marriage proposal is only damage control, suggested by his agent, and Skye wants more from a relationship than Tag seems willing to offer.

Tag won’t take no for an answer. It’s bad enough an injury cost him his career, but now he seems to be losing his best friend, too. He can’t figure out why Skye won’t marry him when marriage to him should convince everyone she didn’t betray his secrets to that reporter. Wanting to fight every man who comes into contact with Skye doesn’t mean he’s jealous, despite what his brothers think. He wants to protect her the way she’s been guarding his secret.

But when a vicious attack on Skye’s business also threatens her life, Tag is forced to reevaluate not only his feelings for her, but also his plans for the future. Now all he has to do is convince Skye to unmask her true feelings and join his team…permanently.

On Sale March 7 at Loose-Id

Showering with a Friend

February 5, 2017January 29, 2017

Today is National Shower with a Friend Day.

My favorite showering-with-a-friend scene in a book comes from Linda Howard’s Mr. Perfect (which happens to be one of my all-time favorite books). The scene comes at the end of book, when the villain has been caught and the hero and heroine are about to embark on their happily ever after. It’s not a particularly sensual scene. In fact, it’s funny. Whenever I hear “shower with a friend” I think of this scene, and that’s the best thing an author can do.

Nat’l Do Something Nice Day

October 5, 2016September 29, 2016

Today is National Do Something Nice Day.

I try to do something nice every day. I try to post uplifting things on social media. I try to be pleasant to everyone I encounter.

But doing something nice isn’t just about doing for others.

Sometimes you have to do “nice” for yourself.

Whether it’s going for a leisurely walk in the neighborhood after a busy day at the office or curling up in a blanket on the sofa with a cup of tea and a good book on a rainy afternoon (with some mellow jazz drifting in the background), everyone deserves a nice moment every once in a while.

If something nice doesn’t come your way, reach out for it.

Killing Your Darlings with Author Janis Lane

June 5, 2016May 30, 2016

“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair—the sense that you can never put on the page what’s in your mind and heart.”

“Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again. You must not come lightly to the blank pages.” Stephen King

In my opinion there’s nothing more terrifying than facing those blank pages. There’s also nothing more exciting. I have learned to flash my vocabulary in the first write, but after I read Mr. King’s memoir on writing, I learned how sparse should be my identifying adverbs or adjectives. It hurt, but limiting those modifying words forced me to strengthen my nouns and verbs. It’s an exercise in discipline. Not particular fun, but necessary.

Where do those wonderful words go?

A particular florid paragraph can be saved. (I looked up the definition of florid. When I read ostentatious, I got excited. I love big words.) I tuck them into a file called “little darlings.” Don’t know who coined the phrase, but we all know what it means. Occasionally I check them out. You never know when those pearls that dropped from my mind will come in handy. They never have, but you never know, and it makes me feel better that they weren’t completely wasted.

Meanwhile, and hopefully, the dialogue is strengthened and to the point. It feels brutal, but after all, it’s no more than getting a hair cut. Grooming your manuscript is a necessity.

WHISPERS of DANGER and LOVE

When Cheryl realizes her new next-door neighbor is someone she loved as a young girl, she immediately puts the brakes on her emotions. Never again would she allow the gorgeous hunk of a man to break her heart.

Ruggedly handsome Detective David Larkin isn’t used to pretty ladies giving him a firm no. He persists, even as Cheryl fights her own temptations. The two struggle to appreciate each other as adults, even as they admit to deep feelings from their childhood.

Available on Amazon.com

Janis Lane lives in Western New York near a small town on a few picturesque acres with her ever patient husband. They own and operate a small herbtique which keeps their days busy and interesting during the summer months. She writes Cozy Mysteries as Janis Lane and Regency Romance as Emma Lane.