After #RWA14: a return to knit shorts, and some NEWS

July 29, 2014July 29, 2014 / Cheryl Harper / Leave a comment

While I was in San Antonio last week, my choice of footwear downgraded every day from “nice but pinchy” to “at least I won’t pick up smallpox in the crosswalk.” Today I have no shoes at all. The writer’s joke is about how nice it is to wear yoga pants or no pants. I don’t own yoga pants, but no pants is no option either so I wear knit shorts that should never be seen in public but will keep me from being arrested if the unforeseen should happen.

But this is not a post about my bad fashion choices.

This is a celebration of the national conference in San Antonio and a small announcement: I’m starting a newsletter. Yes, I’ll be the last person to put words on the screen to do so, but I’m totally going to do it. I vow to send out this newsletter no more often than once a month (and probably less if I’m being totally honest) and to include stories, pictures of my dog Jack, random flotsam that floats to the top of my brain, and giveaways. To celebrate and build the list for the September 1 newsletter, I’m going to run a giveaway of one $25 Visa card, the winner to be chosen from people who subscribe by September 1. Yep, just subscribe to enter. Here’s the link to sign up for my awesome NEWSLETTER: http://eepurl.com/ZTY25 I will mail internationally but I think the cards are limited to US usage.

10 THINGS I LOVED ABOUT THE RWA 2014 CONFERENCE

10. The Riverwalk is lovely. Really. And if you can see it from the inside of an air conditioned bubble, July is a nice time to explore. I took a boat tour and then I started walking. Walking was a bad idea. And I don’t know if I ever recovered from it. But the tour guy was great: educational, funny, and we didn’t crash into anything. All good. This stage is featured in Miss Congeniality. I put my life on the heatstroke line to get this photo. Please enjoy.

9. The literacy signing was so much fun. I sat next to Lynn Raye Harris. And I snagged some of her traffic, a skill I’ve gotten much better at over the last year. I sold most of my Avon books and talked up Heartwarming to sell several of those. Here’s my view and evidence of my solid merchandising skills. Retail jobs for the win!

8. I also gave away so many pens and sticky note pads I feel vindicated in giving the UPS guy a muscle twinge (he’s strong but it was a lot of boxes).

7. I did not cause an international incident with my stomach distress. I also only missed one or two events. I consider this a personal victory.

6. I discovered that Heartwarming Senior Editor Victoria Curran and I would probably be the best of bosom friends (something about Canadians makes me think in terms of Anne Shirley. It’s a thing with me) if only she didn’t live alllll the way in Canada. I might need to renew my passport to take a trip to see the Harlequin mothership.

5. I met the Harlequin Heartwarming authors at the conference and I am telling you that these ladies are so smart and business savvy and on top of that they will make you laugh and encourage you when you need it. That’s an amazing group to be a part of and I feel so lucky to be included.

4. I caught up with Avon friends and am reminded how awesome romance writers can be.

3. I went to the best workshop on conflict. I think something clicked in my brain. I’m hoping it wasn’t the Pepto Bismol causing misfires.

2. I got to sit down with Avon editor Chelsey Emmelhainz and just talk. It was great.

1. On the twelve-hour drive home, I did some heavy thinking about what I need to do next. I also have three new ideas that I want to write right now. I hope that wasn’t the Pepto Bismol causing misfires too. More seriously, I spent some timing thinking about whether I should drop an idea I was trying to force because it’s in a hot genre now to go with what I know and love. I think I might even know the answer but whether I’ll go with it remains to be seen.

Writing conferences are expensive and the travel can be hard (especially when you’ve picked up the plague somewhere) but they are such a creative boost. Being surrounded by the energy of positive people like romance writers is the kind of shot I need to keep struggling and working at this. If you haven’t tried it, maybe it would be the same for you. Next year: NEW YORK. I hear if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.

Now, go sign up for the newsletter. And check out my Facebook page. I have another contest going there, along with pictures of my dog Jack.

FREE READ for February: sweet novella Miss Chance

February 4, 2014May 12, 2017 / Cheryl Harper / Leave a comment

To celebrate a great year, I’ve worked on a free novella called Miss Chance. It’s pretty special to me because it was the first thing I wrote after I decided to get serious about becoming a writer. It’s been through many different forms and I’ve learned a lot since I started. It continues to teach me (about the challenges of self-publishing this time), but I hope you’ll enjoy it! It’s available at Barnes and Noble, Apple (and at Amazon but not for free), but Smashwords has all the formats you might need so here’s the link: MISS CHANCE.

If you could take a minute to write up a review wherever you like to buy or read books, I’d really appreciate it!

Here’s the info:

MISS CHANCE

Baxter the Badger seriously needs a makeover. After fumbling a paint can on the way to address the high school mascot’s leer, Mischance Missy meets the one man in town she’d like to notice her for something other than disaster, her brother’s best friend and her high school crush.

The town threw a parade the last time Joe Summerville came home. Now, after ending his career in a crash with nearly fatal consequences, he’s afraid to cross Main Street without a human shield. Sober and anxious to help his dad any way he can, Joe’s sure only one thing can save him: coaching winning games.

Missy and Joe are about to learn that sometimes disaster can lead to love.

Sweet Romance, 30.000 words

A Minute on the Lips Excerpt, Ch. 1

February 4, 2014 / Cheryl Harper / Leave a comment

Do you need a new book? OF COURSE YOU DO! May I suggest A Minute on the Lips, my small-town sheriff, charming newspaper editor, solving a case and falling in love, sweet romance? Here’s an excerpt:

Andi could see Jackie’s beady, excited eyes over the top of the crowd. He was standing on the bench he’d pulled over to block the door to the diner. Andi would need to get that fixed pretty quick or she and Jackie would both be on the mayor’s hit list.

Andi glanced over the crowd as she asked, “Jackie, what seems to be the problem?”

Jackie wrinkled his brow in an ugly frown. “Sheriff, the problem is that I’ve got a crime scene here, and I don’t want any of these suspects or looky-loos to muddy up the evidence.”

Right. Andi nodded, hoping Jackie would think she cared as deeply as she had the first time she’d answered one of his calls. Or even the second or third. Then she hadn’t realized how frequently she’d be giving Jackie the same nod. Now she knew better than to get her hopes up for a real case. “Why don’t we go inside and have a look? And we can move that bench right back under the window, to get things back to normal.”

Even before she got the second sentence out of her mouth, Jackie was shaking his head. The few red hairs that remained on top stirred in the weak breeze. “No, ma’am, first get statements from every one of these suspects. Then I’ll let you in to look around, take your fingerprints and do any of that forensic investigation. You better hurry it up, though. I’m losing the breakfast crowd.”

Andi stifled a heavy sigh as she looked at the crowd of “suspects” and decided it would be easier to go along with Jackie at this point. He wasn’t going to like that her forensic investigation would be sorely lacking. She could take fingerprints and get some photos, but considering the crowd that went through the diner, unless she found something really out of the ordinary, she’d have a hard time calling anything she found evidence. Thanks to television, everyone expected her to have a crime lab, a source at Homeland Security and a psychic in her back pocket. In most cases, Andi’s resources were limited to her powers of observation—which were pretty good. She was also lucky to work with talented deputies. For almost two years, they had been enough to stay on top of petty crime, not-so-friendly disputes, domestic violence calls, small drug busts and general safety concerns in Tall Pines. No laboratories needed.