What Genre?

Romance, horror, chick lit, young adult, mystery. . .

What do you read? 

It's always nice to know what your audience likes, so tell me.  Leave a comment below and tell me what you like to read as far as fiction.

A Taste of My Writing

Today I'm going to post the beginning of one of my fiction stories.  The working title is Pulse.  I tried to keep it short, 444 words.  (Please note that I will never post an entire story, but only excerpts.  This is for future publication rights reasons.) 

Let me know what you think of my writing style, the story itself, anything.  I welcome your comments.  If you don't like something, tell me that, too.  I can not improve without honest feedback.

Thanks for reading!


excerpt from Pulse:

We moved to the rhythm of the techno music, pulsing along with the heavy bass and flashing lights.  It was a sexual dance of forbidden lust with a man I didn’t know.

He had approached me on the dance floor, coming up behind me and melting with the movement of my body as I danced.  His hands found my hips and pulled me closer, seaming the length of our bodies together.  We danced thus until he twirled me around to face him.

His beauty, for that’s what it was, was astonishing.  He was the picture of perfection in that atmosphere.  And he had an unearthly aura about him.  It drew me in and held me captive until all I knew was his presence.

            I had a happy amount of alcohol working on me, but I didn’t need it.  He had a sexual power that no amount of alcohol could match.  A power no other man had ever held over me.

            We melted together, face to face, as the music wove its seductive rhythm around us, compelling our bodies to rock, dip, and sway.  His face hovered tantalizingly close—close enough to feel the electrical charge from his skin to mine without actually touching.

            When his hands roamed across the bare skin of my back, I could feel electrical pulses flowing from them.  He traced the line of my spine with his fingertips, under my hair and up to my head.  He gripped me then, taking a handful of hair and pulling my lips to within millimeters of his, teasing me with his sweet breath while his eyes raked my face.

            I was just able to register the minty essence before he crushed my mouth with his.  It was a hard, deep kiss, full of passion and heat.  He tasted like a fresh sprig of peppermint.

            He drew me into a hallway lined with the bodies of would-be lovers.  As he worked me backward toward the wall, couples parted and a space opened to allow us our own piece of vertical support.

            The pounding beat vibrated within my chest.  The pulsing lights etched color into my brain.  The hard body of the man in front of me burned an unfathomable need between my legs.

                        His head dipped, lips meeting my throat.  Gentle at first, his kiss became an intense suckling.  His teeth grated on my skin, evoking a cry of passion from my lips.

            The presence of the others around us began to fade.  The intense colors blurred into a watery spectrum.  We were invisible.  There was only the two of us in our carnal bubble, shielded by the magic this man seemed to weave.

My First Lessons

So here I am on day 3 of blogging.  My time was overtaken by my sometimes-all-consuming-but-always-adorable 2 year old son this morning.  Since he's not feeling well he took my total devotion, and I was unable to post as I wanted to.  But, that's another lesson in blogging:  It doesn't always work out to post every day, and especially at the same time.  (Unless I can arrange to research and post while he's sleeping, as he is now.)
As I type, I'm also thinking that it might be beneficial to type first in Word, then copy and paste.  While I do have a spell check here, I like that Word notifies me right away.  I also like the grammar check.  Being a perfectionist, it's nice to have the program show me places where there's an extra space, for example.  It's the little things.


Why I like agent/author blogs. . .

Today I wanted to give reasons I enjoy the blogs I have listed for "aspiring writers."  I haven't had time to take notes on all of them yet, so today I'm doing four. . .

Scott Eagan
Mr. Eagan is a literary agent representing the romance genre.  Perhaps that is why I started following his blog, Babbles by Scott Eagan, a few months ago--because romance is my strong area.  His daily posts are always helpful because he gives honest advice.  And, although the point he's making may be hard-edged, his words are never mean.
I have sent Mr. Eagan questions, and he has always been very prompt, responding within 1-2  business days.  All of my questions have been used as topics for one of his posts, making public the answers to questions that many aspiring writers like myself may have.

WD Guide to Literary Agents
This blog by Chuck Sambuchino, an editor for Writers Digest, is one of my favorites. 
New agents are highlighted, providing their background information, what they are looking for, and how to submit to them. 
Authors write as guest bloggers, giving advice based on their personal experience.  These posts are usually accompanied by a book giveaway of the author's current book. 
GLA also does interviews with agents.  The same basic questions are asked in each interview, giving different perspectives on consistent subjects.

Rachelle Gardner
I'm new to Ms. Gardner's blog, but in looking through her archives I liked the variety of topics she covers in her posts.  Her advice applies to both published and unpublished writers.  She ends each post with an open-ended question, encouraging readers to leave comments.  This adds yet another avenue for real-world advice from real-world writers.

Book Ends LLC
This is a blog hosted by a literary agency and written by their agents.  It's another great source of real-world info based on questions posed by writers.

Daily Blog Goal

Today my blog goal is to personalize it a little more.  There is so much I can do.  It's a bit overwhelming, so it will take some time. 

I'm also going to do some research on what I, as a fiction writer, should be blogging about.  As I said before, this will not be personal--unless I'm using personal to write fiction.

Thanks for all the visits already!

Introduction

After reading so many blogs by agents and other professionals within the publishing world, I decided I should make an attempt at building my own.  So, obviously, I'm new at this and still riding the roller coaster that is the learning curve.

My goal here is to build a platform for myself as a writer.  In reality, I'm hoping that I can keep this going on a some sort of regular basis as I've never been very good at keeping a journal.  And I do see blogging as an online journal of sorts.  Mine, however, has to kept along a certain line and not become personal--or, not too personal anyway.

This post is only my way of entering the blogging world.  It is, in and of itself, a lesson in this new--and hopefully exciting--world I've chosen to enter.  So, if you read this, thank you.