WordPlay

posted on Wednesday

Not all that far into Sentinels: Wolf Hunt….

Jet has been trained by the Sentinels’ dark counterparts for one mission: To take down Nick Carter.  Everything she’s been told in preparation has come through that Atrum Core filter.  But Jet can think for herself, and she has the strength to do just that.

(Have I mentioned how much I enjoyed writing Jet?)

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Quite suddenly she bent over, laying her face against his–nuzzling him ever so slightly. Just as suddenly, she straightened again. “I think he lies,” she said. “He will do to my pack what suits him, no matter what I bring him.” A gentle lift of his head and a flick of her hand, and she removed the amulet thong. “No more do I heed him. You, I help. And my pack…I save on my own.”Instantly, breathing seemed natural again. And if his body shuddered with waves of flame and ice, he nonetheless had his growl back.

posted on Wednesday

And look! It’s another snippet!

Rounding out the first chapter of Sentinels: Wolf Hunt….

===============

A nudge of her long muzzle and refined nose brought Nick’s head down; she commenced to cleaning his face–his eyes, his strong cheeks, his ears. The submission of an alpha to a wolf-bitch of his choosing.

Or maybe that had just come from within, after all.

posted on Friday

It’s simple, really.  I know people try to make it complicated, but it’s not.

If you want the books–the high caliber submitted-chosen- edited-professional books–to exist in the first place, you’ve got to contribute to the writers who create them and the publishers who put them out there.

That means buying the books, not taking stolen freebies off the ‘net.

Oh, everyone’s got their reasons for taking.  Some are philosophical, some are tangled with the frustration of the floundering emarket as it tries to find good working business models, some are pure entitlement.  Some have no thought behind them at all, but just want.

The thing is, those reasons don’t matter.

The bottom line for me is the same.  You’re stealing from me.  You’re making it harder for me to buy food while I write the next book.  You’re enjoying (I hope) the fruits of my labor without offering anything in return.

The bottom line for you is the same, too.  You’re making it harder for this business to find its way through a world of changing technologies.  You’re narrowing what the publishers can afford to offer you.  You’re pushing authors out of the business and putting publishers closer to the edge.

Do you think  it doesn’t matter, in these days when publisher/retailer/device provider squabbles are big news?  When new authors/new series have no leeway to build an audience, but must perform out of the blocks?  When established series stutter and die, already tangled in distribution and warehousing issues?  You’re wrong.  It matters.

You matter.

You may not care.  You may say, “Hey, throw the ‘net open to whoever wants to put their work out there!  That’s the way it should be, and then we can read it all!”

But hey…are you paying attention?

Because I am.  And I’m more than just a writer, I’m a reader.  I’m as greedy as any thief, in my way.  I want more than any old book–I want good books!  I want to see my favorite authors survive and thrive and have the chance to write what their heart tells them to write.

Because you see, whether or not my own work is published, I’ll always write.  You can’t take that away from me.  But my opportunity to read the kind of amazing work that’s produced by stable publishers supporting the mature brilliance of a writer so driven that s/he’ll do this work with the discipline it takes to reliably turn out a book worth savoring?  That, you can mess with.  That, you have messed with.

Oh, yes.  You matter.

Please stop stealing my books.

The Friday Post

Look!  I’m a product!

Sort of.

And hey, not only am I a product, I have a monopoly on me. Oh, the shame!

I never expected it. Truly. I thought I could just write my books. And before the Internets, there was even some truth to that. But now, with the Internets in full swing and a beloved new book on the shelves, I’m doing things I haven’t considered before.

Never mind the postcards (which I adore making and then use for bookmarks my own self) or the book signings (which I now do rarely since the year of I don’t think so that included being denied the use of the bathroom and, at a different store, being searched.  You know,  in case I had shoplifted books while I was signing.)

No, this year it’s the RECKONERS  book trailer.  And now, it seems, I have a tag line.

Me!  Imagine!

It wasn’t something I planned. I’ve got a thing going over at Fresh Fiction (wavewave to Fresh Fiction)–a couple of contests and some ad banners. One of their suggestions was for an author brand banner. In another area, they asked for author info…including a tag line.

Author brand. Tag line.

Uh wuh?

So one afternoon while I was so very happily playing with graphic goodies to create that there banner, I ran head long into the notion of these things, and I thought, what’s my tag line, then?

And my muse said, “For paranormal romance, your tag line is this:

“Finding the Other; Facing the Other…Loving the Other”

And I said, “Are you sure? That came pretty fast.  I’ll think of something else. Something way better. Something way more clever.”

And then I didn’t.

So my muse said, “I told you so.”

At which point I threw my hands up and said, “If people laugh at us, it’s all your fault.”

So for what’s it’s worth, there it is.  (Hey, I dare you.  Tag line your work…see what you come up with!)  And if you laugh…talk to the muse. She has a monopoly on me, too!

Also:  Total Bonus Piccie of Miss Belle, Picturesque
(Cheysuli’s Silver Belle, CD RE PAX MXP4 MJP3 OFP EAC EJC CGC)

reposted from Harlequin’s Paranormal Romance Blog

Ooh, boy. Wolves. Best shapeshifter fun ever, right? And here I am with not one, but two of them!

And the best part about that (because it gets better, at least for the writing!) is, they’re coming from separate worlds.

Nick Carter is one of my Sentinels. He hails from Brevis Southwest–well, that’s putting it mildly. He pretty much runs Brevis Southwest, even though technically he doesn’t hold that position. But the fellow who does, the Brevis Consul, hasn’t been truly paying attention for a while now. He’d notice if he thought Nick was stepping into his shoes out of turn, of course…hoo boy, yes. Snort and bother, you can imagine.

This leaves Nick in a bit of a dicey situation–protecting his people without giving away the game. And all while there are darker things afoot. If you saw the first two Sentinel books, you already know that the field Sentinels have been tripping up over inexplicable little drop-outs in communication and loss of backup. In fact, one could say that I’ve made life very difficult for certain characters. (And, that because I’m evil, I enjoyed every moment of it.)

When it comes to shapeshifters, Sentinels make up Nick’s world–it’s what he knows. So maybe it’s understandable that when he meets Jet, he believes her to be one of his own. In most important ways, she in fact is. But in another, truly crucial way…she is nothing the same at all. She comes from a different world; different understandings. Different foundations behind her decisions, her reactions, and what drives her life. Different beings.

So here’s Nick–a man driven to excel, and driven to responsibility, and driven in so many ways to hide what he is. I won’t use the word “repressed.” I think that’s so ugly, don’t you? Besides, he’s not, really. Just ask Marlee Cerrosa, who works IT at the Tucson Brevis HQ and whose hair stands on end every time Nick walks into the room. (If you want to talk repressed, though, we could take a good look at Marlee…)

No, Nick’s just got priorities. Hiding who he is, that’s one of them. It has to be–if he didn’t make some effort to do it, the otherness of his nature would draw far too much attention. If he hadn’t learned to think of Brevis first–his people first–he wouldn’t have kept the region intact in spite of the constant nibble of damage coming from within the system.

Then again, there’s such a thing as going too far.

But ahhh…Jet. Jet doesn’t question who she is. She doesn’t try to hide it. She doesn’t second-guess her instincts. There’s so much about the situation she now faces that she doesn’t understand, but she doesn’t fret about what she doesn’t know or what she can’t change. Jet is a woman driven to survive–and so very well-equipped to do just that. And Jet is a woman who knows what–and who–she wants.

And the thing they have most in common? That would be each other. Whether they know it or not.

Okay, that was the best shapeshifter fun ever.

PS Also, please to notice, best dramatic paranormal guy cover pose double ever.

The Wednesday Post

Midway through the Week of Move and it’s soooo easy to lose track of the fact that I’ve just had a book released.

Well, maybe it seems that way.  But I haven’t lost track at all…in fact, I hug it to myself on a daily basis!  I just haven’t found many moments to talk about it.  I haven’t even put up my nifty review quotes!  Too busy moving the barn (it’s just about done, at the new homeplace), making arrangements to overcome the truly astounding mud of new construction in delicate sandy-clay soil, and oh my yes…you knew “p@ck” was a four-letter word, right?

But Wolf Hunt is here, the third book of the Nocturne Sentinel series and the fourth Sentinels story (because hey, you gotta count Wild Thing, the Nocturne Bite!)  And here are some of those review quotes, because yes, they are made of happy.

“Strong characterization…  Meticulous details and original ideas… WOLF HUNT is a spellbinding combination of supernatural magic, emotional passions and perilous danger.” –Cataromance.com, 5 Stars

“Durgin returns to the world of the Sentinels and the evil Atrum Core with a novel that nicely moves the story along. Her characters are particularly well drawn. Nick is clearly an alpha male, and Jet comes across as strong and determined in spite of her insecurities.” – Romantic Times, 4 Stars

Have you hugged a book today?  No?  Then go for it!

Counting Down: Fifteen more days of strict crate rest for ConneryBeagle!  Today he convinced me to play a simple stationary game of take-the-dumbbell and was most pleased with himself.

(first posted at agent Lucienne Diver’s blog)

It always happens this time of year–everyone one does it. The little trade-offs to incorporate the holidays into our busy schedules. The decisions: what doesn’t get done so we can have the fun?

I’m always determined to get those seasonal cards and letters sent. I want at least a small tree! And oh, please, some cookies! A party or two…some thoughtful shopping…the chance to gleefully examine my choices for a new holiday CD…

Did I mention cookies?

And, as it happens, to me, the very best holiday is one in which I have some silence time for writing.

Not that I want it all or anything.

Well, this year I have it ALL, all right.

Because this year, I’m also moving. Not actually on Christmas (my personal seasonal holiday), but all around it. (Because that’s so much better, right?)

So instead of writing cards, I’m packing boxes. But hey, I’m *thinking* about cards…about what I would have said…about all those people who don’t yet have my new address…oops…

Instead of decorating a tree–because, seriously, do I have the faintest idea where those decorations are, anyway?–the weekend before Christmas is scheduled for a big UHaul adventure–all the extra corral panels I can spare from the horse set-up, the agility gear (you really don’t want to know how much an A-Frame weighs), and the various bulky barrels, pallets, hoses, dogloos, etc, that we can fit into the UHaul without…well, without hurting ourselves. Because we are but middle-aged writer and geek people, y’know.

On Christmas, we plan to christen the new home with a dinner event–three of us, family, pretending that the smart way to learn new appliances is to use them on a holiday feast.

Er. Feastlet. Maybe.

And then commences the packing in earnest, and shortly thereafter, while everyone else rings in the new year, we begin the process of tearing down the barn. It looks like this one, but is a little shedrow of two stalls, one of which holds the hay. I had it built when we moved to this state last year (over the holidays, but that’s another story and I know, I know, you’d think we would have learned but it just happened, okay?) and now it will be unbuilt and moved, a week-long process.

Sometime during that process, Duncan the Lipizzan will be shifted from one property to the other, and I’ll be camping in the new place with dogs until the weekend, at which point some fine strong movers with their fine strong muscles will load all remaining items into their truck and deposit them at the new place and we will then stare numbly at the boxes, and maybe giggle a little hysterically.

Are you still waiting for the part about the muse? Well, here it is, and you may laugh: I’m also finishing a book. Demon Blade, the first of a new Nocturne series. It’s been an astonishingly fun book to write, fast and clean, with characters who know what (and who) they want. And yeah, I could be sensible and throw my hands in the air and say, “Well, I’ve got to PACK, don’t I?” Or I could maybe manage seasonal cards, or get some fancier wrapping on those gifts.

But. I am greedy. And my muse is greedy. And we want this book! So I don’t think of it as being Scroogish. I think of it as The Muse Wins.

But really, that’s the way it should be, don’t you think? My muse certainly does, and I have to admit…when push comes to shove, she’s the boss.

PS Happy Holidays, Lucienne. I, um, don’t think I’m getting cards into the mail…

PPS
Oh, and by the way…book on the shelves! But for some reason, I’m not sending out my usual postcards…

First posted: Harlequin’s Paranormal Romance Blog, May ’09

Ending at the Beginning…. I had no awareness I was doing it that way, or I’m sure it wouldn’t have happened at all. I would have done it the sensible way, you know. In order. And what a treat I would have missed out on!

I contracted for the first Sentinel book (Jaguar Night, this May) before the Bites were even launched…and for the second two before I then had the chance to pitch for my own Bites idea. So I’d written all three books before I sat down to write the novella, Wild Thing, that would introduce that world to readers.

I’d expected to slip in some world-building as a matter of course–each of these works stands on its own. I think it’s more fun if you read them in order–there’s a quiet, three-book story arc in the background, for one thing–and more fun if you read them all, but if you read them totally backwards, that’s okay. If you read one and not the others, that works, too. So that means each of the books has enough world-building to stand there on its own, and doing it for the novella was a familiar feeling.

It’s the same with the characters. Although each book has its own starring relationship, there are supporting characters who play a role in all three books–and of course there are glimpses of the couples we’ve seen along the way. Especially in Wolf Hunt, when the characters from Jaguar Night and Lion Heart find their way back into the active plot (and oh, how fun was that!). So I was used to introducing them…summing them up, letting them find a spot or two in which to place their own unique stamp of presence.

So what was different?

Usually, when I’m kicking off a series, I’m discovering all these things for myself. I’m stopping to ponder the supporting characters,and at that point I don’t always know how they’ll be involved along the way. (Even with outlines, I do a lot of my writing by the seat-of-the-pants method. Sometimes, one might say, in spite of outlines.) And when a supporting character goes full-form during the course of a book and ends up playing a significant part, then I go back and retrofit him or her into the book. In this case, with the trilogy, characters developed over the course of the series. The Sentinel team member mentioned in passing in the last third of Book One was, by Book Three, endowed with a name and hints at a backstory.

So the unusual luxury in writing Wild Thing was…I knew all that! For all of them! And although I do hope very much to write more Sentinel books, the first three-book story arc is complete, all its nuances and participating characters established…and yet there I was, back at the start. And it meant two things:

I didn’t have to pause the writing to make up the details.

But oops…I didn’t have my usual freedom to make up the details.

So this was me in the writing:

“Wheee! Oops (delete)… Wheeee! Oops (delete)… *gigglegigglegiggle*”

It’s good to have dignity.

A big part of me is tempted to change my ways…to plan so thoroughly, so completely, that I can hit every single book at whee-speed ahead. But reality strikes…I’ve had complete and detailed outlines before. I make it up as I go along regardless, following the outline as one might follow a parallel but separate road. That’s part of the spark and joy of the writing–discovering it all. In this case, knowing what I already knew left me free to devote that element of discovery entirely to Mark and Tayla and their realization that what they thought they knew about each other…

Well, wasn’t.

Wheee!

Mark and Tayla now inform me that they deserve their own full-length book. And those supporting characters I mentioned? I’ve already had requests for one of Jaguar Night‘s Sentinels to have more air time…it makes an impression! That’s where readers come in…what do you think? Do you have favorites? And once you’ve read a novella about a couple, do you think there’s still more story to explore? Inquiring minds want to know.

After all, the whee awaits!