Monday Message for May 31

Happy Memorial Day!

Here's the message for this week: “What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now.”

I found that quote on my friend's site. Not sure who the source is, so if you know, please let me know.

The Art of Collaboration

By A.J. Llewellyn

My fourth book to be released with Amber Quill Press is The House of Driscoll (Book 1), coming out on June 6. It's a spanky-new collaboration with the uber-talented (and mega-sexy too!) D.J. Manly.
My work with D.J. has been the highlight of my writing career.
People often ask how D.J. and I write together when he lives in Canada and I live in Los Angeles.
It's easy thanks to the Internet, phone calls and that hard-to-find symbiosis that is any artist's dream.
Ever since he first approached me with his idea of a collaboration on a contemporary M/M book Black Point, which became the first in a series of best-selling books, this has been a magical experience.
I mean this in many ways. After writing a few books together, D.J, asked me how I felt about a vampire book and I was excited to collaborate on yet another series.
Blood Eclipse surprised us both, I think. We began to realize more and more how much we like working together. From the start, D.J. and I have found we have our differences as well as our complementary styles and the lines have started to blur--deliciously so--to the extent that our readers often can't tell who wrote what.
There was even a funny incident where D.J. and I got confused over who wrote a certain sex scene (he did) but still, it meant the world to me that our styles mesh so well that even we get lost.
It was a thrill to me when I was invited to submit to AQP and after my first release with Deeper Blue, asked D.J. to co-write Fawnskin with me. I hoped he would not find the book too dark since it revolves around a man hired to sit with the dead in a funeral home. I was ecstatic when he loved it. I like to think we are both versatile.
I do know we are both extremely dirty-minded. I think our readers love that about us.
D.J. was the one who came up with the entire concept for The House of Driscoll, our latest creation and I felt a good vibe...the same one I always feel when we start to work.
Whoever starts the work usually writes a few chapters and emails the other. The other one reads it and starts to work. As our series have progressed, we have stopped writing only from one character's POV. We overlap, interject, add, subtract, you name it.
I think the key is absolute trust and a total lack of ego. I think we share the same viewpoint. The story and characters must feel true, regardless of genre. I would say this is essential in any collaboration and I've learned over 17 books (and counting) that D.J. and I just 'click' creatively.
I don't think I am telling tales out of school by saying this but I never like the names D.J. picks for my characters.
Marcus became Matt in the Black Point series and I think our readers love him. And his husband Thomas.
In The House of Driscoll, the lead character Max Driscoll is a vampire who has been on this earth since the time of the French Revolution and has been summoned to modern day New York City to destroy his former lover turned nemesis, the vampire Galien.
D.J.'s original name for this character was Graham, of course, I hated it. With a bit of research, I discovered the name Galien, which was fitting for a man during the French Revolution.
Together, we've cooked up what I think is a damned fine story.
And it is only the beginning since it's the first in our new series.
I think D.J. and I are both visual writers. We love the power of story and we both love to write.
The symbiosis I was talking about was there from the moment he pitched the idea to me.
I love Max, Blue, Galien...all the characters who define The House of Driscoll. We hope our readers do, too.
To check out more about The House of Driscoll, please visit the Amber Allure site:
http://www.amberquill.com/amberallure/AA_upcoming.html


Aloha oe,

A.J.

A Quote from Churchill

Okay, everyone, I have some deadlines, which are looming and I need to get writing. But I don’t want to forget any of you either. So, I’ll be putting up a writing quote every week with a little discussion. I will also let you all know if I have any interviews or the like for that week as well.

Today’s quote is:

Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself believe. -- Winston Churchill

I personally love this quote and I tell my crit group this all the time. You have to live life in order to write about it. You must have a belief in yourself that no one can shake – no matter what. This is the crux of being a writer, as you have to feel to be able to effectively put it all down on paper. Think about Churchill’s world – there were daily happenings, which made one cringe, but he kept a positive attitude and became one of the best-loved and well-known statesmen of his time.

I’m just pushing for being a good author with a decent fan base. LOL!

So far this month, I was at Gracen Miller’s blog. Here’s the link:

http://moonlightlacemayhem.blogspot.com/2010/05/tantalizing-tuesday_18.html

See you all next week and have a great one!


Lynn

Agent Soundtrack

My friend and I have been on the quest to find agents--she more than I right now as I sucked up the courage and sent my contemporary to Harlequin. But she is looking for her perfect agent, that agent who will know her inside and out, who takes care of her and her writing. And I think that's fantastic. She knows what she wants and won't settle. I wish I was that decided in what I want in an agent. I've asked myself, "self, what are you looking for?" And self answers, "I want someone who will sell my book to the publishers, who will make me millions of dollars, and will wash my car. Cause let's face it, the car is filthy."

Just kidding. But I do want to find an agent who will accept that I can a bit needy/neurotic, and someone who will not take over my writing life, but who will encourage me to be a better writer. And it really wouldn't hurt to have someone more than willing to beat me over the head when I get too anxious and need to submit SOMETHING even if it isn't finished. I think my crit partners are tired of telling me to step away from the email.

So, my friend came up with her soundtrack to her agent search. I thought this was a great idea. Some of her songs are: Michael Buble's "All I Do Is Dream of You" and "Haven't Met You Yet." I thought of two more for her: Steven Curtis Chapman's "Wait" and from the Momma Mia soundtrack "I Have A Dream."

What would your agent soundtrack include?

Monday Message for May 24th

Recently I did a simple tarot reading for myself, to give me confirmation in regard to my intuition concerning the directions my life and career are taking. While doing a bit of additional research on the cards that came up, I found the following quote by Henry Ward Beecher, a clergyman, abolitionist and women's suffrage advocate of the 19th century & I felt the need to share it for this Monday’s Message.
"Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it only serves to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own."
And, for any of you who are curious, it was the Eight of Pentacles that came up in the ‘outcome’ position and the website where I obtained the quote is: http://www.tarotteachings.com/eight-of-pentacles.html

Happy Reading!
C.R. Moss