Flight 5202

By A.J. Llewellyn

I don't know about you but I am sick of reading bad news. I am sick of the news hogs. I am sick of that crazy Octomom, Brangelina vs Jen, the bad economy, the stock market, that idiot guy from The Bachelor. I am farklempt that American Idol is so lousy this year, over-filled with talent-free yahoos with their fake, hysterical tears and delusions of glory. I'm upset that Farrah Fawcett has cancer, my favorite Monkee Peter Tork has cancer and I am sick, SICK that New York hotel room prices keep falling, whilst Hawaii rates climb higher and higher...
So I am latching onto good news. I like being a happy, peppy guy and I, for some inexplicable reason feel the need to blog about historic Flight 5202.
Yep, Flight 5202 made aviation history. On Monday, for the first time in history, an all-female, African American flight crew...er..manned -womanned? - a domestic flight.
Captain Rachelle Jones, First Officer Stephanie Grant, and flight attendants Diana Galloway and Robin Rogers brought a lot of joy to travelers of Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 5202 to Nashville - but still the newshounds want to drivel about...Octomom.
ASA has three female African American pilots, itself a bit of a record because there are only 10 female African American flight captains in US aviation history.
I wasn't on the flight, but wish I had been judging by some of the comments people have posted about these four women.
Captain Jones and Officer Grant have plenty to be proud of...on February 12, just a few weeks before their historic flight, they broke new...er...ground - air?? - making history for being the first all American- American female crew to operate a commercial jet revenue flight Atlantic Southeast Airlines.
I caught a tape online of Captain Jones' comment as she touched ground after her historic flight. This is what she said:
"It still hasn't hit me now. I was just excited. I called my mom, my family and said guess what happened today."
I hope she is still smiling. I hope she knows she has inspired a lot of young people out there who maybe stopped believing in dreams. I know she's inspired me.

Aloha oe,

A.J.

Adding Steam to Your Love Scenes – Lesson #2

We’re in week #2 of our free workshop. In this one, we’ll be exploring just how you can use your own experiences to enhance any love scene. And since I told you last week to use visual stimulation, I thought I would add a little with some pictures I downloaded from istockphoto or canstockphoto.

Use your own experiences

I’m sure at this moment, you are wondering just what am I talking about. Your own personal experiences can’t be what people want to really see. Well, I’m here to tell you that they do. People must relate to your characters; they must find some common ground or your characters will be meaningless to them.

Have you ever caught yourself while reading a book saying some thing to the effect of, ‘I can see myself doing that’ and know you mean it?

And I don’t mean using the experiences literally…you all remember that blush first being in love…use it, use it to your best advantage because people like to read about other people. How many of you are sick of the heroine or hero always being perfect? I know that I am. Why? Because people are flawed, even the really great people have flaws. They put their pants on the same way we do. They wear underwear, they shower, they go to the bathroom and for heaven sakes’ most of them fart too.

But the point is that you know and can relate to all those things. Use what you know. There is an old saying ‘Write what you know’ and the reason is that if you write about what you are good at, it comes more naturally.

If you are writing romance, there are some things that only women know. Most women remember their ‘first time,’ so use it. You can remember what it was like seeing your spouse for the first time. I do. I thought he was crazy because it was freezing and he was wearing shorts. I also remembering me thinking he wasn’t bad looking and maybe I should get to know him. I’ve used different version of this again and again.

Another one, most women remember the first ‘real’ date they were on, so use it. My husband and I didn’t date at first, we gang dated meaning we went out with a group of people. And we always seemed to pair up differently. Sometimes I look at my husband and don’t know how I ended up married to him. But I do know I worked my butt off to get him. This is something I can use.

The same can be said for men. When I decided to write from a man’s point of view, I realized I was out of my depth. I don’t know what a man feels during sex. But I do know my husband and trust his judgment. When I’m writing from the male point of view, he reads everything. He tells me things like ‘a guy wouldn’t think that emotionally about this’ or ‘no way would a guy do that.’ To be accurate, you have to have resources you can fall back on.

You can use anything you have experienced to make your writing richer and fuller. Everything you do in this mode just makes it so a reader can more readily identify with your characters. If the reader can’t identify with your characters, they won’t finish the book or maybe they won’t even pick it up.

Exercise

1. List ten experiences that you can use in a novel, be it romance, erotic romance, sensual romance or just a regular book.
2. Take one of those experiences and write me a whole paragraph about one of your characters doing the same thing.
3. What did you get out of the experience? Can you apply this to your writing.
4. List one outside resource you can use when you need it. It can be a person, a book, a library or even a place on the internet. The point here is to get you thinking about how you can find out the information you really need.

You can post it here for everyone to see, or you can send it to me privately at lynncrain@cox.net. Please leave me a comment so I know you’ve been to visit. And have fun!

Until next week…

Lynn

Loopity Loop

Are you a member of a yahoo group? Do you participate or are you a lurker? If you lurk, what would make you become an active participate?

I love yahoo groups. We call them loops, groups or a café and it is a great way to meet people who have similar interest. I know over the year and a half I’ve been involved with groups that I’ve met some of my best friends from groups.
It is also a great way to meet author and for authors to meet fans. I know I’m a Stalk…er…fan of a few authors. Authors have their own groups and their publisher have groups as well. The cool thing about the publisher groups is you can meet more than one author. I have a few favorite places I like to “hang out”.

At first I was a big time lurker. Always afraid of what I might sound like to others, but then I bit the bullet and just started talking. I was amazed at how many people I met and how nice they were. I think the only problem I have now is how many groups I’m a part of. lol
Using yahoo groups can help you as well. I’ve learned so much from the different loops I’m one. It is like a small community. The funny thing is how many people I share multiple groups with. It is nice to join a new group and see people you’ve talked with before. It makes you feel more comfortable.

How do you view your groups? For me, I use the individual email. It makes it easier. I know some people will go the digest route. I recently did that with a few of my groups and I can’t wait to get back to individual mail. I know some people also go web only. I can’t do that because I would forget to check them. lol

So tell me…What would make you become more active? Do contest lure you out? If they do, will you stay involved or do you go back to lurking? Do you like questions? Will those bring you out to play?

Hello Dee Gentle!

This week we take a look at Dee Gentle. I asked her some quirky questions back in January and got plenty of interesting answers!
Welcome Dee!
Dee Gentle says, “I attempt to multi-task, I’m the ParaNormal Romance (PNR) Reviews & Features Editor, the Paraphernalia Ezine Columnist, and editor for Red Rose Publishing.”
Dee’s favorite colors are purple and green and her favorite ice cream flavor is definitely vanilla. When asked if she’s a cat, dog or both kind of person and if she’d ever own(ed) a snake or some other exotic pet her answers were ~ “Hmm, cat, they are low maintenance. & Yes, I own a gray rat snake now, and have owned various types of lizards, tortoises, and an array of snakes in the past.” Concerning her preference for warm weather or cold she states, “Sunny and cool, I dislike being hot.” As for where she’d live if she could live anywhere in the universe, “Off world, I would want to live on Saturn, I have always been fascinated by those rings. If I have to stay on Earth, New MexicoJ” In regard to what time of day she prefers, Dee says, “I do my best thinking at night, definitely a night owl.” Her favorite day of the week is Friday (night) and her favorite number is 3. When asked if athletic shoes are sneakers or tennies and if a soft drink is called soda or pop, she responded: “Sneakahs” & “Sodah”

Thank you for the information Dee!

~ Feel free to share if you have something in common with her ~

Our Booksigning

By: Stephani Hecht

Yesterday Patti Shenberger and I had a very fun and successful booksigning at PaperBack Trade Inn in Clawson, Michigan. It was us two troublemakers and our good friend, Harlequin author, Michelle Celmer. There were cookies, punch and candy galore, alas there was no sock monkeys. Sorry AJ. My son was kind enough to stop by and take some pictures so of course I have to share them with all of you.



Here is us looking all professional like. From right, Stephani, Patti and Michelle. Note how Patti and I are twinkies. Totally unplanned. If I were going for a twinsie look it would have been matching pink rompers.

Me, doesn’t that vacant gaze just scream intelligence? Ma would be so proud.

Patti, doesn’t she look so nice? Don’t let those innocent eyes fool you for a second.

Michelle Celmer, I still can’t believe she agreed to go out into public with us. What was she thinking?