Writing Competition is open!

Those of you who entered New Voices last year will be hyped up and already know about the competition that started on the 13th.

For those of you who don't: Mills & Boon have a competition to find new voices. There are mentors, judges and readers even have the chance to comment and vote for their favourites! With 3 rounds to find the winner, and some fantastic prizes, it's a great way to get feedback on your writing and maybe, just maybe get published!

I entered last year with my story about Billie and Cooper.
This year? I'm trying to polish the first chapter of Matt and Emma's story. But this will have to wait until next week. I have an assignment due on Monday and my daughter is having her 4th birthday party this Saturday!

Go here for more info and to enter!

First Campaign Challenge

Firstly, welcome to all my new followers! I hope i get to visit your blogs/sites in return soon, if i haven't already :)

On to the first challenge:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “The door swung open” These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words: "the door swung shut." (also included in the word count)

The door swung open and Tori held her breath. Heart in her throat she slowly let her breath out and watched it ruffle the lone spider web in the otherwise clean interior cavity.

Obviously this passage was well used. Or at least kept in an inhabitable condition.

Her footsteps echoed on the flagstones under foot as she carefully started through. At a junction she stopped and chewed her lip while she considered. Straight ahead got darker, and to the left there were little lights recessed into the wall close to the floor. Decision made, Tori head for the lights.

Passing ten lights she came to another door, wider than the one leading from the portrait hall. Placing her hand on the door she had a sudden shiver as the damp air in the tunnel blew towards her. Voices behind the door bolstered her courage. The housekeeper must be here.

The door opened with only a slight effort, without a groan of hinges as she’d expected. Stepping onto the plush carpet and facing the full window drenched in morning sun, she glanced to the right.

“Welcome, child. I’ve been expecting you.”

With a distant thud she heard the door shut behind her.

201 words! A snippet from my Princess story, this part hasn't been written yet, but has got the juices flowing :) My entry is 334 Go here and like it!

RFW Heart Stopper!

Great opportunity with this theme for Romance. 

So come on all you RFWers, let's dance to the rhythm of romantic music. Let's see that setting sun and feel those heroic arms about us. Maybe you've got a holiday romance going down, or perhaps it's a beach party and there's a heart stopper of a guy there and, you're drooling! 

Whomever sets your heart pulsing let's hear about him.  ;)

So, from my Princess story, meet Maxwell Rosenthall:

Instinctively she inched closer to her mother and glanced at the fourth man.

Compared to the other three he stood relaxed, his weight balanced slightly on his left leg. His suit was a darker grey that somehow exuded unrestrained power. Tori wondered why he would need bodyguards. The fabric of his pants, though not fitted, showed clearly the strength in his long muscled legs. His jacket, wide at very broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist that just showed the strength in his torso more clearly. It was clear to her he would be able to handle himself.

Her perusal and musings were stopped in their tracks when he spoke. A rich rumbling British accent, tinged slightly with the lilt of Ireland. It flowed through her so quickly, warming her suddenly cold body, settled the spinning in her tummy to that of a calm lap against a sandy beach. She felt safe and absent of fear.

Why would a man’s voice affect her so much, especially one she’d never heard?

“Ma’am. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

Her mother stepped forward and accepted his greeting with a little smile, a slight flush tinting her pale cheeks as she curtsied. Curtsied!

Kissing her cheek, the man held her close and said something in her ear that made her mother break out in a proper smile. He released her and when Tori tore her fascinated gaze from her suddenly happy mother being enfolded in her husband’s bracing arm, she was arrested by the deepest pair of blue eyes. The gentle lapping in her tummy, stilled and lay quiet as she drowned in their depths. The dark blue with hints of gold, as his strength had done had her at peace, safe and protected, like she was home.

Why then was her heart hammering so hard she was sure everyone could hear it, or at least see it trying it’s darndest to explode from her chest. Drowned as she was in his bottomless eyes, she vaguely saw a curtain of soft dark waves framing a strong face, a long straight nose and thin lips. 

Book Review: Nicola Marsh

Buy it now!

I bought this story yesterday after i noticed on Nicola's blog (Romance, Rumours and Rogues) that this story was out for 0.99c on amazon kindle! She'd given a teaser to this on her blog either earlier in the year or end of last year, and i've wanted to read the whole thing ever since!

You all know that i LOVE Nicola Marsh's work. It's fresh, lively and i would so love to be able to capture her magic in my own writing (i'll just have to keep practicing and find my own!).

Fox and Lee are two very strong characters. You only have 7,200 words to get to know them, but on the last sentence i felt that i did know them. At least enough to anticipate what could possibly happen next!

Fast, hot and sizzling, with nowhere-to-run desire, this is a story you will devour in a few minutes. I only wanted more!

Here is the description from Amazon: 

A Victorian Police Special Ops team leader joins forces with an Australian Defence Force Tactical Assault Group expert who specializes in biological warfare to stop an imminent chemical threat.

When the threat becomes personal and the body count mounts, they find themselves locked in a safe room, where they discover their sizzling history takes little to ignite.

(Previously published in The Mammoth Book of Special Ops)

Don't you just love how strong they both are!
Go, on buy it! It will certainly not disappoint!

Write Campaign

Hi all!
I've joined the write campaign set up again by Rach Harrie!
I've joined the Romance/Sweet/Contemporary/historical group, and the Romantic Suspense group.
I look forward to visiting your blogs, adding you to my blog roll so i'm kept up to date with you all, and perhaps one day sharing some writing and helping with criticing (if that's what you'd like!).

Writing Tips: Climatic scene mirroring the Opening scene?

Nicola Marsh went to the Romance Writers of Australia Conference and she has shared some of the things she learnt or heard.

During her blog post on writing style, ie, linear or scene writer, she gave this little gem:

In Bob Mayer's "POV & VOICE" session, he mentioned this:

"don't worry about the opening scene. Write the book. The climactic scene should mirror the opening scene therefore you can come back and write/rewrite the opening scene."

What do you think of that? Have you written the closing scene of any of your stories that mirrors the opening? 

I guess it's a way of showing closure, or that the characters have gone through a change from the beginning to that final scene. 

It is intriguing and i kind of like it! May have to try this for my Princess story as i can see a great conversation for that one ;)

Romantic Friday Writers: Confused

The latest RFW topic. (Sorry i've been absent - have had many readings and an assignment for my diploma!)
From my Princess story, in chapter 1. Enjoy!

“Mum? What’s wrong?” Quickly she sat on the bed beside her, pulling her into a hug as her mother had always done for her. Tori was so worried when she saw her mother’s face sad and twinkling in the afternoon sunshine from shed tears. She’d never seen her mum cry, she was so private with emotions like that.

            Elizabeth laughed self-consciously, wiping her elegant hands across her daughter’s cheeks. “Oh, nothing. Just being sentimental.”

            Tori followed her mum’s gesture to the small box beside them on the bed. She hadn’t seen it as she’d rushed to give comfort.

            Vaguely she recognised it. Tracing her fingers over the rose pictures torn from magazines and pasted onto the box, she realised it was the box she’d once found while playing hide and seek when about seven or eight. Looking at it caused a faint buzzing in her mind, as well as the flash of photos.

            “This has old photos in it, right?” Mum wasn’t paying attention.

            “Your feet were so tiny, we’d had to have these made several times before they fit.”

            Her mum picked up the yellow booties and cradled them gently in her hands, but Tori was pulled towards the box, the buzzing growing louder, the lid half covering the contents. She wanted to see the inside. Needed to.

            The photo she’d remembered was near the top, the people in it sitting stiffly on a large couch with thin legs and covered in a flower patterned upholstery. Tori automatically straightened her hunched shoulders to copy the pose of the woman, central on the seat. There was a hint of a smile on the woman’s lips, despite the stiffness of her pose, and Tori knew this lady was kind, softly spoken. It wasn’t mum though. Mum’s hair was mahogany. The lady’s hair was clearly blonde. Tori had a flash of sudden clarity that threw the picture into complete colour rather than the antique orange tinge. The lady’s hair was so pale it was nearly silver, and her vision knew it glinted brilliantly in the morning sun.

            “Who is this?”

Word count: 348!
Code for critique: MPA (Minor Points acceptable)