Love Me Tender

KISS ME! An Avon Impulse Valentine’s Day Anthology

/ Cheryl Harper / Leave a comment

KISS ME!: An Avon Valentine’s Day Anthology

LMT

Pucker up on the most romantic day of the year with three debut contemporary authors and their tales of romance, seduction, and . . . Elvis?

She’s got a hot new makeover . . . and a boss to seduce! For prim and proper Ryan Ashton, sexy has always been an elusive quality. But with a little help from a new friend, she just might snag the one man who can set her seductive side loose in Codi Gary’s The Trouble with Sexy.

Stuck in a king-size suite with a sexy man . . .  What more could a girl want? But for Julie Dillon, being snowed in at an Elvis-themed Memphis hotel with Luke Pearce can’t mean anything but trouble. Too close for comfort gets close enough to taste in Cheryl Harper’s Love Me Tender.

Her best friend’s brother is shaking up her Valentine’s Day! Katie Quinn just wanted to spend the day watching Jurassic Park and eating chocolate. She certainly had no intention of running into Logan Cross–or running for her life! Suddenly caught in the crosshairs of danger, Katie and Logan must get together to find a way out in Jaclyn Hatcher’s Love, Guns, and Heart-Shaped Chocolate.

Review:

This entertaining anthology features three female protagonists who hate Valentine’s Day until they are presented with a reason to change their mind…Readers will commiserate with the characters’ contempt for Valentine’s Day, but these three charming stories will change the hearts of even the most hardened cynics. Kara Kohn, Library Journal

Also: The Good, Bad, and Unread: Dinca gives it an A

Chapter 1, Excerpt 1:::Chapter 1, Excerpt 2:::Chapter 3, Excerpt 3

AMAZON LINK ::: BARNES & NOBLE LINK :::INDIE BOUND:::

And then it gets really crazy cool, like that dream you never thought would happen

/ Cheryl Harper / Leave a comment

All my life I’ve wanted to be a writer. When people would ask me what I wanted to do, that was my answer. When people asked my family about what I did, they’d always tack on “But she wants to write.” For a few years now, I’ve been writing, entering local contests, and winning. The winning is the key. There’s no way I’d keep going without something to prop me up. Because writing is hard. Or maybe I just mean being disciplined about anything is hard for me. But I’ve made little steps, like sending in a Valentine’s Day novella to Avon Impulse in response to a call. Since I have multiple rejections stacked up, I really didn’t expect to be included. But then I was (exclamation mark times a billion goes right here). I thought that call was going to be the most exciting writing thing to happen to me in 2012. I love the story because it makes me laugh. Read the back cover copy here. Please. Go ahead. I’ll wait. You know you want to. February 5, 2013.

And I settled in my desk chair, determined to strike while the iron was at the very least warming up. I was going to NaNoWriMo my way to another submission. I have about 30,000 words written. Then on Friday, I got an email asking if I had any more ideas for a follow-up to Love Me Tender. At that point, no. None. Nada. But it didn’t take long and I had three and I loved them all so I sent them all on Monday. The characters were so clear and I’m starting to think this hotel I dreamed up is a real place. I have been under the influence of cold medicine lately. And Monday afternoon, I had an email saying they liked them and how soon could I have the first one.

Three more books with Avon Impulse.

Four stories total including the novella in 2013.

Now all I have to do is write them.

So far the panic and the exultation and the fear and the enthusiasm have all been bubbling inside because I’m pretty sure it hasn’t sunk in. But I just read a piece of paper spelling out estimated deadlines. I think it’s real. So here we go.

Step 1: build a chart. I don’t know why. Probably the fear of failure makes any way to procrastinate look attractive. But I have one. And November 30 is my deadline, not Avon’s. First drafts don’t need to go anywhere but under the pile of the second draft in my world. Plus, I’m totally going to cheat and start a day early. My game, my rules, right? RIGHT? Don’t judge. I like Excel. And clip art. Clearly.

This is going to go quickly but I’ll put up an update soon.

My Stages of Editing

/ Cheryl Harper / Leave a comment

It may possibly be too early to say that these will always be the same but here’s how editing my novella has gone so far.
Stage 1-Receive email and immediately open letter to assess the damage. At this point, I’m optimistic and eager. I usually try to stick with “All Things Are Possible” in life and everything. And the letter is so encouraging. I read through it and the issues new-best-friend editor raised and then I put it aside. To sleep on it. You know. At this point, all I feel is relief because there are 3 issues, only one of which is a challenge to address.

Stage 2-wake up at 3 am, my mind a swirl of ideas…none of which are related to this story.

Stage 3-check my email, Twitter, blogs, and Twitter again to be sure I haven’t missed anything.

Stage 4-settle in front of document and read all the comments. Fight the urge to sit under my desk because some of them are so good and so obvious.

Stage 5-tackle the big issues.Forcing my mind to work through them was major. That’s just a conditioning problem, right? Right. Make quick work of the easy thing: different chapter heading. Work in spurts on the rest all day with frequent Twitter rests.

Stage 6-walk the dog.

Stage 7-finish the first pass at dinner time and decide pizza is the only answer.

Stage 8, Day 2-clean the house. Believe me, this will take all day.

Stage 9-re-read the mess I’ve made while trying to answer each question and point made. Laugh at my own jokes again because that’s how I roll.

Stage 10-(I think, I haven’t actually made it to this point yet-goal is Monday). Fix. Write up a nice letter. Hit send.

Stage 11-Pray.