Blog

The Power of Words

This isn’t so much about the power we have in words as writers. It’s more about the power words that have been spoken to us seem to have over our lives.

My parents are extremely supportive. When I was born, my mom spelled my name how she did because she liked the way it looked written down. And just in case I ever…wrote a book or something, she wanted to make sure I had a name that looked nice in print. Whenever my dad would hear about kids, teenagers, etc having books published he would say, ‘that could be you if you would finish something.’ And I would think…Right. Who ACTUALLY writes books for a living? No one REALLY gets to do that. But I always loved writing and I was always interested. My mom used to take me to these crazy, hippie dippy writer’s conferences (not on purpose, it’s just that that’s what they ended up being when we got there!) and she would sit through everything with me, even though she had no personal interest in writing.

When I said I wanted to write a romance novel, a Presents, my husband was behind me, 100%. Did he REALLY think I’d do it? I don’t know. But he said he was sure I could. And he helped me do it. I didn’t have a critique group then, I wasn’t a member of RWA…to be honest, I didn’t know what RWA was. So it was my husband who sat on the bed with me, surrounded by printed pages, and helped me mark everything up and make notes and get everything polished before I sent in my submission. (and it’s my husband who, to this day, won’t let me forget about some of the truly awful scenes that were in that first iteration of the book.)

And when I sold, everyone in my family was SO excited.

The support that I’ve had from moment one of my life has obviously been an important part of my journey, and I am so blessed to have it.

In contrast writing friend of mine just mentioned something her father said to her when she was young about her writing not being up to standard. I know her, and I see her carry this around with her. I see the power it’s had.

The words people speak into your life, especially influential people, have a lasting effect. There is no denying that. However, for all the support my parents gave me, they couldn’t MAKE me succeed. Yes, their confidence bolstered mine. But they couldn’t make me write the book, or submit it. They couldn’t make me put in the work, and they couldn’t do it for me.

And the people in YOUR life who have said negative things to you can’t stop you. Words do have power. And when you’re coming from a place with no support, from a place where someone has disrespected and degraded you, I know you have more to overcome than I can even begin to understand.

But those people don’t get the final say. They don’t get to hold you back. You have a purpose, and you have gifts, and no one has the right to discourage you from those things. And their words don’t deserve to carry weight.

I don’t know who needed this today, but I felt like someone did. 😉

In Which I Have News

*flings confetti*

I got word today that my revisions for Crash Test Spaniard were accepted! It’s always SO exciting to have a book all confirmed and finished. I just…I felt very passionately about some of the subject matter in the book so it’s a relief to have my editor on board with me.

These are characters that will stay with me. I feel like I learned something, particularly from the heroine, Hannah. Because I had to sit down and try to understand this woman who had been through things that I’d never given a lot of thought to. I feel like I came our of it with more compassion. With a greater understanding of how blessed I am to have been given the life I had growing up.

Readers will first meet Hannah (or rather NOT meet her) in One Night in Paradise when she fails to show up for a very important event: Her wedding to the hero of that book, Zack Parsons. I never intended to write her book because she was, in many ways, the nemesis of the heroine in One Night in Paradise. Beautiful, successful, tough-as-nails and marrying the man of Clara’s dreams.

But I couldn’t stop wondering about her. Mostly I wondered why she didn’t show up to the wedding. I didn’t know. I wrote two other books that had nothing to do with her. I still wondered about her. And then I got a scene in my head of Hannah, in her wedding gown, getting into the limo to go to her wedding, the driver being someone she never expected: her not-as-ex-as-she-thought husband.

Hannah is a woman who had to fight for every good thing in her life, and she didn’t always go about getting it in a strictly…legal way. *cough* But as I wrote this character I found myself feeling for her. Admiring her strength. A strength that came from adversity, some that she was born into, and some she created for herself with bad choices.

She was a difficult heroine, and more than once she made me question my sanity. But I’m glad I stuck with her.

Then there’s the matter of Eduardo, the man who married her in name only five years before the book begins. The only person who even knows a hint of her past. A man with a few secrets of his own. 😉

I could do a WHOLE new post on the subject of the revisions I did on this book, but I do want to mention that in the initial round I had left out something really key. I hinted at an issue Eduardo had without ever showing it. My editor pointed this out to me and I went back and wrote a scene that SHOULD have been there from the beginning. It’s the scene that will define this book for me. And without my editor I would have MISSED it. And THIS is why I love her, and why I LOVE revisions.

*sprinkles flower petals*

This book will be released (with a different title that I THINK I know but need to wait and have confirmed…) in the UK in October 2012.

AND I have another bit of news that I find REALLY exciting. In August, in the UK, my debut book His Virgin Acquisition is being re-released in a 2-in-1 anthology with Lynne Graham. *screams* It’s been titled Possession, and it’s already available for pre-order on Amazon UK!

Okay, really, now I have to calm down and work. Or maybe scurry around the house and drink more coffee. 😉

The Sordid Underbelly of it All…or…My Process….Again

I’m going to attempt an organized, well thought out post on my process which will be interesting as…I don’t consider my process very orderly or well thought out. But I’ve been told I have much more of a consistent process than I give myself credit for, so I’ll attempt to lay it out for you.

I’m ‘in between’ manuscripts right now. Which means I’m at the ground floor of my process. Right here, where it all starts. *gazes out at the vast open space of blank pages*

Here, the possibilities are endless. It’s a nice place to be. 😉

At the moment I actually have several…maybe four or five, outlines written. Some of them have been written for months, others are newer. When I have an idea that won’t leave me alone, that’s what I do. I write a very vague couple of pages about it and save it for later. So right now I’ve pulled all those up and I’m considering them. I may go with something from the file…or something new!

I know I mentioned outlines but I don’t consider myself a plotter. I start with a concept, the basic set-up: Princess Isabella is promised to a sheikh she doesn’t love or even know. She wants to grasp a few months of freedom so she runs away from home. She’s intercepted by her fiance’s brother, who escorts her back to his country. On the way they find themselves drawn to each other, even though they know acting on their feelings would be forbidden.

So there, that’s my set-up. After that, what I would do is figure out my character’s internal conflict, and a vague arch they need to hit.

Isabella needs to be loved for who she is, and she needs to find her strength. Adham needs to let go of fear and learn to love.

As for actual scenes and events, that’s where my pantsing comes in. I don’t plan what will happen, I just sort of…go for it. However, as I go, I start to have certain scenes that form in my head that I end up writing toward.

Also, as I write those simple conflicts I have for my characters tend to deepen and shift a bit. This happened on my most recent MS, Crash Test Spaniard. I knew the heroine had a traumatic past, and I knew what it had done to her. But when I got to chapter three, the even that changed her life…changed. This is where it’s easy to invoke Writer Speak and say ‘she was keeping secrets from me…but then I dragged it out of the wench!’ In reality, I imagine the truth of it is I realized that this New Revelation actually supported the story better and provided me with more material.

It’s really common for my beginnings to go slow. I’m finding the tone, finding my characters’ voices, etc. Those first three chapters are where I change and reevaluate a lot.

I don’t write drafts. Not on purpose anyway. I have rewritten books, but only after editorial feedback. This is the part of my process that’s hard to explain, because it boils down to feelings. And I’m not always big on trusting every feeling I have. Because sometimes I’m being over critical and I just need to write through it. But sometimes I’m stalled out. It’s not just ‘not feeling it’, it’s not being able to go forward. Or it’s hitting a scene I know I haven’t laid the groundwork for.

So that’s when I’ll go back and write the missing scene, or delete the plot point that killed it all. I need to do that before I move on. Because I AM a pantser, every scene reveals more to me and is essential to how I move forward. If I’ve done the wrong thing, and I build off of that, we’ll have a Leaning Tower of Pisa situation in the end.

Middles and ends tend to be the fast part for me. (this is when I typically end up roaming around in my PJs all day muttering to myself) I usually end at about 46-47K and bring it up to 48-50K in the pass through I make before sending it off to my editor. Then at revisions it usually ends up going 50-53K.

So that’s a rough idea of how I get from beginning to end.

Process is very specific and it’s my opinion that if yours works, it’s not wrong!

I’m going to give you a couple of tips that I use to get unstuck/a few things that I hear commonly in revisions letters that you might watch for!

1. If you don’t know what to write next…just start writing words. It sounds silly, but that’s what I do. I usually start with dialogue, a conversation, and work my way into a scene. Then it all starts to come together and stuck becomes progress!

2. One character tends to steal the book. It’s very common for me to be told I’ve left one character underserved. I get this bright, sparkly clear character and they run off with the whole show, and even though *I* know what the other character’s deal is, I very often haven’t shown it to the degree I’ve shown the other character’s conflict.

3. I hint, but don’t give payoff. Again, something I did recently. I passed up the opportunity to reinforce references I’d made with an on screen representation of it. It was a mistake. Now that I’ve done the revisions for that book, in my mind and heart it’s defined by that scene. So make sure you give the payoffs you’ve promised!

So that’s my process! If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments…or share a bit about your process!

One Night In Paradise

The cover is HERE for One Night In Paradise and I am SO excited!! And now you have to listen to me blah blah blah about this book!! Heee!

This is my Coffee Magnate hero and my Cupcake Baker heroine. I got the inspiration for the idea after watching this dance. Where the idea behind it was that he was left at the altar and his best friend was there for him. And then he saw her as something more!

I knew I had to do something with that because I just couldn’t get the image of a big strong alpha hero being left on his wedding day! So, my editor and I had this big long phone call one day in which I told her that I was going to do a friends to lovers next. And she said “hmmm.” and I said, I know you don’t see that a lot in Presents. She said, no you don’t. And I said…well, I want to do it! This is one of the many things I love about her. She let me go off and give it a try!

That brought me to Zack and Clara. Clara’s pretty sure she must have been crazy to agree to make Zack’s wedding cake, and then, when the bride fails to show up at the wedding, she thinks she must be even crazier to agree to go on his honeymoon/business trip with him and pretend to be his new fiancee in order to help him seal the deal.

I liked playing with the dynamic of their friendship. Zack is quite alpha, but he has a great deal of affection for Clara and his interactions with her are different, softer, than they are with anyone else. Just as Clara is the only person willing to take Zack down a peg if he needs it. It was fun to write two characters who knew so much about each other, and it’s also tricky.

I think one of my favorite parts of a good Presents is when the heroine sees the hero for the first time, either ever or in a long time, and he’s so larger-than-life, so arresting. And trying to capture that with a man who spends every Monday night at the heroine’s house, watching sports and eating takeout, was difficult. But it was also one of my favorite books to write ever. there were cupcakes and elephants and Thai temples and two best friends who grew to realize that they had something much deeper. 🙂

Oh, and it’s doubly neat I got this cover right now because I just turned in revisions for the book about the woman who left Zack at the altar. Hey, Zack’s a great guy. It made me wonder why any woman would leave him! Turns out it wasn’t exactly her choice…but that’s a different story. 😉

All her most exotic fantasies are about to bubble over into reality!

Clara Davis knows the moment yes slips from her lips that she’s in way over her head.

Just how is she supposed to pretend to be her boss’s fiancée on his luxury honeymoon?

Zack Parsons’s Don’t date the staff rule has prevented him from ever seeing beyond Clara’s baker’s apron. But now he’s looking at her in a completely different, rather more tempting light. Giving in to one night of wickedness should be enough to satisfy their new-found cravings…

Shouldn’t it?

One Night in Paradise is out in the UK in May!

Tease Out the Conflict

I’m working on revisions for Crash Test Spaniard and I am PUMPED UP about them. I have some seriously heavy conflict in this book, on both the hero and heroine’s side, that aren’t like any conflict I’ve ever written.

As I was writing the book, I was a bit scared of it, really. It felt strange and new and fussy to try and execute. I did have a lot of fun with it though, and managed to (mostly) keep the doubt crows at bay.

When I got my editor’s revisions I was really excited because it was all about, as she put it ‘teasing out the conflict.’

It was there, but I had missed a lot of great chances to really draw the reader in. I had missed a lot of chances to capitalize on the emotion.

I’ll be adding a few new scenes to help emphasize some of what I’m bringing out, but for the most part, it’s about going through and adding bits here and there. Those bits (I’ve talked about this before!) that seem so small but have such a huge impact on the MS.

Basically, what I have is a log cabin. It’s furnished. It looks okay. Ignore the deer head on the wall. It’s…rustic. And really, it’s fine in some ways.

But there is more that could be done with it. There’s potential that hasn’t been realized! A little polish here, some art, some beautiful windows and hey! We might really have something. Oh yeah…and maybe do something with that deer head. 😡

Oh yeah, see? Now that’s better!

Okay, silly metaphor aside, I think you get what I’m saying. The building blocks are there. The material is there. But it needs refining. The focus needs to be sharpened.

My editor, who is a genius, divided things up nicely for me so that I could find an organized way of tackling this. First, the issues with the hero and his under-represented conflict. I’ve hinted at things rather than shown them, and his motivation could use some strengthening.

Then there’s the heroine. The major issue with her is showing a key turning point for her in the book, and making sure the reader understands WHY she’s changed her views on something that’s pretty darn big.

Then there’s an issue with their back story. This is a reunion story, and at the moment, I hinted at what went on before without giving a broad enough picture. Both of their joint pasts, and their separate ones.

When I break it down like this, it helps me move forward.

Basically, I have a plan for each of the three major issues. So I wrote down what needed to be done with the hero, and the heroine, and the back story. this just sort of helps me keep it straight, and then when I come to natural places to deal with these three things, I have it all lined out. Because really, the simpler I can make it, the better. :p

I’m going to try to be helpful and give you some questions to ask yourself as you address your own conflict, and whether or not it needs teasing out.

1. Offer it chocolate. (No no…sorry)

ahem.

Maisey List

1. Have you revealed the conflict in the most impacting way?

2. Have you used it to its fullest advantage? Or have you simply teased the reader?

3. Have you shown evidence of the character’s conflict, or just TOLD us it’s there?

4. Have we seen the characters change and grow, or, again, have we just been told they changed and grew?

5. Have we seen the turning points and what triggered them?

A lot of this is making sure you draw your readers in, and show them what’s happening. Make them feel it, make the understand it. Don’t simply say ‘and he has migraines and mood swings’ put it in his character, put it in the book. Make the talk match the action.

Oh, yeah, now I have to go do that. *stalks back to revision cave*

The Most Important Thing

I partly go to thinking of this because my dear friend and CP Robyn Thomas just sold to the Indulgence line at Entangled Publishing. Also, I was thinking about it in general because you do see a lot of blog posts about what writers should do. Also, I was thinking about it because there has been epic angst on the interwebs lately. (if you missed it…have a cupcake. You’re probably better off.)

What Robyn inspired was my realization of (remembrance of?) how much there is to do when you first sell. All the things you never had to think about before that suddenly are AH OMG SO IMPORTANT. There’s the directly-writing related stuff. Edits, cover art forms, release information, back and forths with your editor. Then there’s the fringe (but also…important) stuff. Getting your website set up, Facebook? Twitter? Other social media site? There are loops to join, boards to post on, and to a certain degree, it never seems to end.

If you let it, it might not end.

BUT here’s the thing. As important as those not-directly-linked-to-writing things are, it’s important to remember that they are never more important than writing itself. And anything that is the enemy of your writing is your enemy. Kill it ded with a stick.

Actually, I had a chat with someone on Twitter the other day who was asking if it was important for unpublished authors to blog. Her issue was it would take away from already valuable writing time. So, I told her (and I think it just reinforced what she already felt like she should do) that nothing is more important than her writing. If you can’t get a book finished, you can’t sell it. Simple as. And then what’s the point of the blog?

That applies after you sell as well. If everything steals TOO much of your time, and you find yourself crunching around deadlines and basically trying to bite the hands off everyone who comes near your keyboard…what’s the point?

But in the digital age publishers want people who are on social media ad nauseum blah blah blah. Yeah. If you’re good with social media and it helps move your books…then yes, I’m sure they do. However, publishers need people who can write books. And that comes before everything else.

I love social media. Follow me on Twitter and you’ll realize that. Twitter is my favorite, and then there’s Facebook. And I have my website. I don’t bother with much else. (Pinterest, but I’m just playing. And I have a Tumblr but that quickly devolved into me posting pictures of half naked men.) But the thing is, I enjoy the amount of social media I partake in (enjoyment matters!) and the amount I engage doesn’t affect my work negatively. I do think there’s some amount of web presence that MUST be observed. (I’m not a website Nazi. I’m not going to tell people YOU MUST HAVE THIS ON YOUR WEBSITE. But…if I’m looking desperately for an author and information on her books she doesn’t have a website? I get stabby. Because I shouldn’t have to work that hard to buy someone’s book. I want the information. Just as an aside.)

Social media CAN be great. It can also steal too much of your time. It can also put you in a foul mood. (I observe the rule that politics and other things ought not to be tweeted from my fingertips, but not everyone does and I can leave Twitter ready to put my fist through a sheet cake with a picture of someone’s face on it.) On days when social media makes you want to punch a face cake? Back away. Not good for your creativity. And really (not that I’m completely innocent here…) there’s no point in debating in 140 characters or less. Everyone ends up sounding angrier/less reasonable than they would ever be in person.

Speaking of drama, that brings me to my next one. Loops! There are loops. There are loops everywhere. Loops that hold valuable information/connections and stuff. I quickly joined quite a few loops when I sold. And then I quickly unjoined quite a few loops (not yours). Because for me, as valuable as the information in some of those are, there is fighting too. There is DRAMA. Some people are fine with that. They either enjoy engaging in debate, or they just aren’t affected by it. I am. I get upset. I get serious anxiety. I can’t write. So all that valuable information is completely negated by the fact that I now have hives and am pacing around the house subjecting my husband to a rundown of all the drama.

I know it doesn’t work for me. Am I missing stuff? Probably. But I would rather miss some stuff than be all wound up. So that’s my method of handling it.

Message boards, historically, worked out the same way for me. But that’s just me. Those things, the things that happen on them, are damaging to my productivity, they may not be to yours. But like so many things in this business, it’s all about knowing yourself and knowing what helps you, and what hinders you.

Above all, your writing is king. Feed that. Grow that. Do that. Before anything else. Because if the books aren’t written, if the books aren’t good, and if you don’t enjoy it anymore, the other stuff doesn’t matter at all.

Maisey’s Books…Goslingfied

Up front, I will explain the Ryan Gosling ‘Hey Girl’ meme to the best of my ability…It makes no sense. You can see examples here.

So the other night on the Twitter, my fellow Presents author Caitlin Crews (aka Megan Crane) told me that my heroes were like a Ryan Gosling Tumblr feed. And then she proceeded to give me examples. And so, I decided it was my duty to make some pictures and share them with you.

If Marco from His Virgin Acquisition were played by Ryan Gosling, it might go something like this:

I imagine that if Max from Accidental Birthright were involved it might go something like this…

And these two came from Megan. This one was inspired by Ethan from Girl on a Diamond Pedestal:

And for Zack in the upcoming One Night in Paradise:

And finally…Zahir from Hajar’s Hidden Legacy.

I hope you enjoyed my moment of silly.

Lucky #13 & Winners

I was a very happy camper this week to find out that Prince Sexy (title to be changed, of course 😉 ) was approved by my editor! This is the second book in my duet about the Kyonos Royals. The first is A Royal World Apart and is about Prince Sexy’s younger, more rebellious sister. It release in July in the UK, Dec in North America, and, if everything stays according to plan, Prince Sexy with be in all English markets in January 2013.

Prince Sexy is lucky book number 13! Which is just…o_O

I loved writing Stavros and Jessica’s story. Jessica was such a fun heroine, a vintage wearing, iPad toting, Angry Bird playing self-made millionaire, and just the kind of heroine I love! While Stavros was an honorable prince chafing to let go of duty and embrace his inner bad boy…how can you not have fun with that combo??

I also turned in my Crash Test Spaniard MS (also a title I’m certain to be changed!!) I’ll be REALLY interested to hear my editors thoughts on this one since the heroine is…well, prickly is too nice a term!

AND ALSO I picked SIX winners for Girl on a Diamond Pedestal! And they are as follows…

Abigail
Sasha H
Cassie
Becky Black
Ann Murphy
Michelle Smart

So send me your contact info via the form there and I will mail them to you forthwith!!

As for everyone else…Sorry! Check back for more giveaways AND you can buy Girl on a Diamond Pedestal from Mills and Boon UK right now. And if you’re in North America you can pick up a copy of The Petrov Proposal in stores everywhere!

Happy Australia Day!

It so happens that today I got author copies of GIRL ON A DIAMOND PEDESTAL, which features my very first Aussie hero, Ethan Grey.

And in honor of Australia Day…I’d like to give at least one copy away!

Never been kissed.

Noelle was once the girl who had everything. Until the piano prodigy fell from grace. Destitute and desperate, she’s forced to accept billionaire Ethan Grey’s convenient proposal.

Ethan wants revenge – all he needs is Noelle’s signature on the marriage certificate. Yet his carefully composed façade cracks in the face of her innocent attempts at seduction.

Noelle’s only ever felt love and excitement whilst at her beloved piano – yet now her traitorous body craves the white-hot passion ignited by Ethan’s skilled touch. But will he ever see her as more than a means to an end?

Leave a comment to be entered to win!

Learning Every Day

So basically, I’m a cartoon character. No, really. I am. If you don’t believe me, I’ll tell you about the time my husband was out of town and I was driven to keep things organized and spotless. (My husband does a fair amount of the cleaning around here…)

So the kids were in bed and I was getting set to vacuum. And I managed to suck the string for our mini-blinds up into the vacuum, yank them off the window and OH YEAH ALMOST START A FIRE. Also, Danger baby peed on my laptop a couple of years back and fried it. Yeah, I have a gift. I’ve slipped and spilled a latte on my face in the Starbucks parking lot, had every eletronic I own malfunction while I tried to send an important email, and just recently the ice maker in my fridge randomly broke and flooded the kitchen.

So, me, at best a sitcom character from the 90s, at worst, Donald Duck.

I say this because I think it’s important for people to know I don’t have all mah crap together. Not even close. Every day is a learning experience for me while I try to balance being a wife (which I’ve only been for going on 7 years…) a mom (even newer at 5 years) a home owner (4 years) and a writer (2 years). While I try to figure out how in the world I’m supposed to get everything done!

It’s chaotic, and hilarious, and evolves constantly. The biggest thing I’ve leared is not to expect it all to go according to a schedule. At this point, it just can’t. I have been learning (continually…daily) that if things don’t go according to plan, I just have to improvise.

I’m learning that what I thought was true about kids before I had them…isn’t. At least for mine. And that I have to be willing to adjust my expectations of them, and myself, on a daily basis.

I’m learning that I married a patient and forgiving man, and he’s learning how to cook.

I’m learning that sometimes there is nothing that feels better than being able to close my office door and have a moment to myself. Even if it’s ‘work’.

I’m also learning that some days I want to avoid work when I can’t. And that it’s hard to try and explain to someone ‘no, I can’t, I have work to do.’ when you’re the boss of your own schedule.

I’m learning that when your husband tries to help and puts regular dishsoap in the dishwasher and causes a suds flood…the best thing to do is laugh. And maybe use the extra soap the mop the floor. (because Lord knows it needs it)

I’m learning that every day can be an adventure. That even if a day is hard, it can be salvaged by a smile from one of the kids.

I don’t have it all together. I don’t have it all figured out. I don’t have organized lists of tasks I get completed every day. But I’m having fun. And I’m learning.

I think that’s all any of us can really ask of ourselves.

The Santina Crown Continuity

Update: I have confirmation that this ebook will be FREE from March to June! So hurry and get your copy when it comes out!!

I got to be a part of my VERY FIRST continuity last year. This is an amazing and awesome thing where eight authors get to work on a series together. I contributed a full length story that will be #6 in the series, and it’s called Princess From the Shadows (or…Hot Rod if you follow me online).

It was a great experience because I think it pushed me to try things that I wouldn’t have normally done on my own. Or…ever in some cases. But you’ll find out more about that as the release for Hot Rod gets closer. 😉

I was also asked to do a prequel for the continuity and was told I could pick any characters lying around who hadn’t had a story. In my book, the hero and heroine have a son and, to help with the son, a nanny. A liked her as soon as she popped up on the page. She was pretty, and liked to play with kids, and I didn’t know much else. But I felt like there was something else.

As soon as the offer to do another book in the series came…I knew it had to be her book. Then I asked Twitter who her hero should be. A Spaniard? A Greek? An Aussie? Overwhelmingly…Twitter said Sheikh. And so came about Sheikh Taj. Twitter, you should be proud of yourself.

This was my first novella, and I have to say…I think writing them could be an addiction. It’s such a cool skill to try and hone. Fitting all that wonderful passion, emotion and conflict into an even smaller format! Makes me feel like McGyver. But…with less duct tape.

And without further ado…

THE LIFE SHE LEFT BEHIND

The Santina Crown… Royalty has never been so scandalous!

Heiress Angelina Carpenter traded in diamonds for denim–and the freedom to make her own choices–when she fled from her arranged marriage to Sheikh Taj Ahmad. Now working as a nanny for the royal family of Santina, Angelina can’t help but risk a glimpse at the glamorous life she left behind during a lavish party…and runs straight into Taj! And this time, the ruthless sheikh has no intention of letting his runaway bride get away…

A prequel novella to The Santina Crown series.

The Life She Left Behind will be available March 1st as an ebook from Amazon. UK date TBA.

Social Media and the Blue Unicorn in Your Tweet Stream

I don’t blog about social media much. Mainly because a lot of other people do it, and they do it well. But tonight, I want to talk about the blue unicorn in your tweet stream. Or on your Facebook. Or whatever.

For the sake of this discussion the blue unicorn is a political party. Or a religion. Or a non-religion. He’s whatever one of those things you aren’t. And he’s probably listening to you talk. Or…tweet.

Example:

JohnSmith: ^$&% the blue unicorns! They probably drown puppies.

JimHoofman: @JohnSmith um…I’m a blue unicorn. I don’t drown puppies.

JohnSmith: @Jimhoofman What? Well, I mean every blue unicorn but you.

JimHoofman: @JohnSmith there are plenty of blue unicorns who don’t drown puppies.

JohnSmith: @JimHoofman No there aren’t.

JimHoofman: @JohnSmith O_o

Twenty minutes later…

JohnSmith: I swear blue unicorns are what’s wrong with this country!

JimHoofman: I wish SOME PEOPLE were more sensitive.

Clearly, this is a ridiculous example. But I see this, all the time. I think it’s easy to sound combative when there’s no tone of voice, first of all. And if something is negative about something someone believes in deeply…well, it’s going to sound ten shades of mean whether you meant it to or not. It’s also going to feel DIRECTED at the people in your stream/on your page, who hold that particular set of beliefs.

This doesn’t mean you can’t say your opinion, but I think the big question is, if you were at a social gathering would you shout BLUE UNICORNS ARE WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY while one was standing in the corner trying to drink a rum and coke?

Remember, social media is social. And you want to be a good party guest. Not one who makes blue unicorns cry.