Guest post Kristina Knight author of The Saint's Devlish Deal

The Saint's Devilish Deal is a contemporary, reunion romance. Esmerelda Quinn has been looking for a place to belong since her parents were killed in a car crash when she was young. The closest thing to home has always been Aunt Constance's villa in Puerto Vallarta, so after a string of dead-end hotellier jobs, she's coming home to run the villa.

Santiago Cruz has called the villa home for as long as he can remember. In between surfing events, Constance has always had a room for him. Color him surprised when Constance decides to retire - and leaves a joint interest in the villa to both Santiago and Esme.

Esme isn't thrilled to share ownership of the villa with the the youngest Cruz brother - especially when she learns Santiago's brother has been after the villa for years. But Santiago has grown up while she's been away at school and soon she finds herself falling for the rich boy down the hall.

Buy Links: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Saints-Devilish-Deal-ebook/dp/B0096D6WFE/ref=la_B0081LO6DM_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1349205407&sr=1-2

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-saints-devilish-deal/id559862469?mt=11

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/kristina-knight

Author Bio:

Once upon a time, Kristina Knight spent her days running from car crash to fire to meetings with local police—no, she wasn't a troublemaker, she was a journalist. When the opportunity to focus a bit of energy on the stories in her head, she jumped at it. And she’s never looked back. Now she writes magazine articles by day and romance novels with spice by night. She lives on a beach in Northern Ohio with her husband and three-year-old daughter. Happily ever after. Please visit http://www.kristinaknightauthor.com" or follow her on Twitter @AuthorKristina to learn more.

Guest Post

Oh, Those Boys & Their Boards…

I've always been slightly more than obsessed by beaches. Not the muddy-sand beaches of my mid-western upbringing, but by those expanses of white-sand that go on for miles. By the big waves of Hawaii and Indonesia. It isn't that sand itself is sexy – have you ever had a tiny grain of sand stuck between your toes or…some other area? Yeah, so not sexy. There is just something different about those places and the people – okay, the guys! – who inhabit them. So, without further ado, here are four reasons I find beach-boy heros sexy.

Surfer boys - those wet suits don't hide anything - but also because surfers seen so apart from everyone and such a huge part of the water itself. When I was a kid visiting my great-grandmother on the Outer Banks of North Caroline I listened to them talk about protecting the beach, water and wildlife from pollution, encroachment and global warming before those things were buzzwords that everyone was supposed to care about.

They're passionate. You have to be passionate about a sport to take the chances these guys take. That also makes them a little bit dangerous – and it's that a little sexy all in itself? I've watched them slide through the waves as if they were a solid mass. I've seen them mystified that everyone else was leaving the beach when a storm raged into the area. They wore $5 flip-flops to $100 dinners and usually looked better doing it than the rich boys wearing Calvin Klein.

They're contemplative. They wait for hours for exactly the right wave. The watch the water carefully, as if it might hold the solution to world peace…or maybe they're just thinking about dinner and a movie with their favorite girl. The point is you don't know. And surfers are everywhere – they're doctors and lawyers and general lay-abouts. They're incredibly smart and intuitive and that makes me wonder, too…

They're a little bit crazy. A little bit difficult. A little bit dangerous. These are the boys whose eyes twinkle at the drop of a hat – and many of us have fallen for that charm in a heartbeat. If they're the lay-about sort we want to save them (or join them for a week or so), if they're the driven sort we want to help them save the world and if they're a little more quiet than the rest of the pack…well, that's a whole other level of sexiness, now isn't it?

How to be a Writer – One Shuffly Step at a Time by Lani Wendt Young

 Title: Telesa – The Covenant Keeper

Author: Lani Wendt Young

Genre: YA Fantasy Romance

When Leila moves to her new home, all she wants is a family, a place to belong. Instead she discovers the local ancient myths of the telesa spirit women are more than just scary stories. The more she finds out about her heritage, the more sinister her new home turns out to be. Embraced by a Covenant Sisterhood of earth's elemental guardians - what will Leila choose? Her fiery birthright as a telesa? Or will she choose the boy who offers her his heart? Daniel - stamped with the distinctive tattoo markings of a noble Pacific warrior and willing to risk everything for the chance to be with her. Can their love stand against the Covenant Keeper?                              

A thriller-romance with a difference. If you enjoyed Twilight, then you will be enthralled by Telesa as it blends the richness of Pacific mythology into a contemporary young adult love story that will stay with you long after you have turned the final page.

About the Telesa Trilogy

Lani self-published her second book ‘Telesa: The Covenant Keeper’  as an electronic book in October 2011 – a first for a Samoan author. Telesa is the first book in a Young Adult contemporary Fantasy series set in Samoa and within two months, it had reached number one on the Top Rated Fantasy Romance List on Amazon, the world’s largest e-book distributor.  On June 10th 2012, the second book in the series, ‘When Water Burns’  was launched on Amazon, making it to Amazon’s ‘Hot New Releases’ listing within the first 48 hours. Both books 1 and 2 are also available in print books. 

Lani uses a variety of social media to market, distribute and promote her writing, taking it to a global audience.  The multi-visual marketing campaign for  Telesa showcased a wide variety of Pacific talent  as Lani collaborated with ‘up and coming’ innovators  in the fields of photography, film, dance, art design, sports, modeling, bone carving, music, and fashion.

Author Bio

Lani is a Samoan-NZ writer who blogs as a (slightly Demented) Domestic Goddess at Sleepless in Samoa. Her award-winning short fiction has been published in collections in NZ, Australia and the UK.  In 2009, Lani was commissioned to research and write her first book, the narrative non-fiction account of the disaster which devastated the islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Northern Tonga.  The printing of ‘Pacific Tsunami –  Galu Afi’  was funded by the Australian government and all proceeds from the book go to survivors who shared their stories for the project.

Lani is married to Darren Young (who is probably the most patient man alive) and when she’s not writing blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, getting depressed about a two star book rating on Goodreads, and ecstatic about a rave review on Amazon - she’s the full-time mother to her five fabulous children. (Who are also very patient people)

She won the following awards:

·          2011 USP Press Fiction Award, ‘Sleepless in Samoa.’ Short story collection.

·          2010 Commendation Award, Commonwealth Short Story Competition. ‘The Beast that Came from the Sea.’

·          Winner of the 2002 Telecom/National Univ of Samoa Short Story Competition. ‘A Sister’s Story.’

Book Excerpts

Links

Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12964326-telesa---the-covenant-keeper 

Author Fan Page:  

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lani-Wendt-Young/136359673048533

Telesa Trilogy Fan Page: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Telesa-Trilogy/146318935466086

Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/laniwendtyoung

Blog: http://sleeplessinsamoa.blogspot.co.nz/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Telesa-The-Covenant-Keeper-ebook/dp/B005I3WD8Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1345137671&sr=8-2&keywords=telesa+the+covenant+keeper

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/telesa-lani-wendt-young/1112092790?ean=9781466253711

As a writer who writes too many different things all the time – I am often asked: “Where do you find the time and the drive to write? How do you overcome writer’s ‘block’?”  Such questions are a puzzle to me and so my answer is 105km and 14 hrs long…

Two years ago, I had a crazy idea.  I wanted to put together a women’s team and run in a 105km relay that went around the main island of Samoa. It was crazy because at the time I couldn’t even run around the car park without stopping to gasp for breath. But I was determined. I convinced some other moms  to be crazy with me and we started training.

For 5 days a week over three months, we would meet at the crack of dawn to go for a 5k run. I use the term ‘run’ very loosely since, at first, I did more of a shuffle, which then accelerated to become a waddle, which then after a few weeks, became a jiggly, joggly sort of jog. Did I enjoy it? Hell no. I hated every minute of it. Many times, I only went because it was my turn to drive and pick the team up. Other times, I only went because the rest of the team was honking their car horn outside, waiting to pick me up.

But after 6 weeks, something strange happened. (No, I didn’t transform into a stunning athletic muscle machine. I wish.) I found myself waking up early on Saturday mornings…wanting to go for a run, itching and edgy for a run. Huh? By Wk 9, I was going for a run TWICE A DAY.  And when I got the flu and couldn’t train for a week? I was raving mad. As if someone had bought all the Diet Coke on the island, leaving me with nothing but coconuts to drink. By the time the Perimeter Relay came around, I was running twice a day, sometimes 6 days a week. But more significantly, the running had become as essential to me as eating. Sleeping. Brushing my teeth. I wouldn’t dream of going a work-day without it.  It took our team 14 hours to complete the relay, running from 2am to 5pm the next afternoon. Many times during that relay, I wanted to puke and die. But many times, I was also running on an exhilarating high as I gloried in feeling like  – I could run forever and never stop. My Perimeter relay experience showed me that crazy, impossible dreams can become a reality. One shuffly step at a time.

Writing is just like that. If you want to BE a writer, you don’t ‘find time’ in your busy schedule to write. You make time. You start with a goal. A crazy dream. ‘I want to write a romance. A best-selling thriller. A children’s book. A memoir about my grandmother...’ You set aside a time and a place every day that you are going to write. You start off small. Shuffling, waddling baby steps to get you building the consistent writing habit. You write anything and everything. Start a journal. A family newsletter. Write down those bedtime stories you tell your kids. Record your family history. Write long, chatty letters to friends. Start a blog AND THEN STICK TO IT.  

The best thing I ever did for my writing career was to start a blog – it forced me to assert and accept responsibility for my writing. Your blog readers can be like that relay team of runners who force you to stick to your crazy dream by bugging you every day for your latest piece of writing. The team mates who will encourage and support you every step of the way. Even when it’s your turn to run up the final peak of Le Mafa Pass and all you want to do is sit down on the road and cry.

At first, it will be hard. You will probably hate it. Complain. Whinge and whine looking for excuses NOT to write. But if you keep at it, doggedly, persistently - you will hit that point where you can’t imagine a day, a moment, without writing. When you’re not writing, you will be thinking about it. If you have an unruly mob of children like me, you will dread the weekends because it means less writing time. ( And don’t even get me started on the horror of school holidays…aaargh!) You will write because you feel like you will die if you don’t. You will write because you are a writer. 

And that’s what writers do.

Guest post by Samantha Gray - Writer's Workout - How To Sharpen Your Skills

Samantha Gray is a freelance writer based in Houston, Texas, who offers college advice to those interested in furthering their studies and careers. She can be reached for questions or comments at samanthagray024@gmail.com.

Writer’s Workout: How to Sharpen Your Skills

Writing is a process that never ceases to change; your imagination in constant flux as you write out what’s on your mind. In order to write well and to make sense of what it is you want to say, you have to hone your skills constantly. It’s a clichéd metaphor, but your mind really is like a muscle. As such, you need to flex and improve that creative muscle just as much as do Olympians train certain muscles before a big event.

But what are the exercises involved in a writer’s workout, for a craft that requires so much solitude, concentration, and serious thought? Here are three exercises that I have used in the past to strengthen my writing to great effect. My hope is that they help you as much as they helped me.

Flash Fiction Exercises

A short story is a writer’s best friend. In a single sitting, a disciplined and seasoned writer can craft an entire story with a deep character, a moving storyline, and some affecting prose. A promising short story might even bear the fruit of a future novel or longer form project.

But for writer’s who aren’t exactly adept at writing a complex and moving short story in a matter of hours, there’s the option of flash fiction. Most flash fiction stories run at a fraction of the length of the typical short story, many of them clocking in at 200 words or less. The beauty of flash fiction is that it forces a writer to strip a story down to its most essential elements. Even more so than a short story, a work of flash fiction challenges a writer to say what they want to say in the most straightforward manner possible; there’s no room for fluff and erroneous phrasing. How’s that for a writing exercise?

Create a New Character

Sometimes you spend so much time struggling to develop characters that you hit a brick wall of creativity. You’ve spent weeks trying to figure out how to make your protagonist deal with a conflict, or how a minor character can figure more prominently into your novel, and now you’re just burned out. I find that a great way to revitalize your creative spirit it to construct an entirely new character from scratch, one that doesn’t necessarily have to be in your current work.

The sheer act of fleshing out a new character can do wonders for your creativity as it forces you to take an entirely different perspective on characterization. If you’re writing a solemn and dark story, for example, then creating a humorous and quirky character might be just the breath of fresh air that you need to keep you from stagnating in your own work. The point is that creating a new character draws your eye away from the work you’ve been staring at for ages, so that you can approach it again later with renewed enthusiasm.

Reread the Work of a Favorite Author

When I’m looking to change things up and stretch my mind, I often take solace in revisiting my literary roots. The authors that inspired me to be the writer I am today are no less moving and rewarding to read now than they were years ago when I first discovered them.  A single powerful sentence from my literary idols can motivate me to write for hours.

The same could be the case for you. If you’re feeling lost in your writing, perhaps all you need is some quiet time with your favorite book. If anything, the task will put you in a better state of mind than when you struggle in front of a work in progress.

What exercises help you strengthen your writing? Let me know!