Guest Post by Cynthia Justlin

We’ve all heard the adage, “It’s not if you win or lose it’s how you play the game.” If you were anything like me as a child, that saying did NOT bring you comfort. Because you cared if you won or lost. And no amount of telling yourself otherwise made you feel any better.

But does losing REALLY amount to failure?

If you’re Cameron Scott, security specialist and hero of my latest romantic suspense, INTRUSION, it does. Cam grew up learning that love was dependent on winning. If he wasn’t winning, he wasn’t worthy. (Anyone else have a picture of Charlie Sheen in their head going, “Winning!”? Obviously, Charlie suffers from a similar ailment.) After a mission gone wrong leaves Cam with a blown-out knee and a discharge from the Special Forces, he is even more determined to prove that he’s a winner.

It isn’t until he must work with a feisty Nanotechnologist who refuses to be impressed by his “stats”, that he begins to realize that maybe winning isn’t everything after all. Maybe it’s more important to stick around when the going gets tough. The only true way to fail is to give up.

Home. Family. Friendship. Love. These are what make us worthy. Without them to fulfill us, all the wins in the world don’t mean a thing. I may not ever make the New York Times’ Bestsellers Lists (although nothing can—or should—stop me from reaching for that goal if that’s what I want) but I consider myself a successful writer. I’m learning and growing and pursuing my passion with every sentence I put on the page. I’m a success every time my children smile at me, every time my husband gives me that look that shows me he loves me, every time I laugh with a friend.

No, success isn’t about winning or losing. It’s about putting ourselves out there each and every day and not being afraid to pursue our dreams to the best of our ability. But, most of all, it’s about love. Doing what you love. Loving who you are. Putting love first in your life each and every day.

So, next time someone asks you, “How do you spell success?” Make sure you give them the correct answer: L-O-V-E.

Tell me how you define success and one lucky commenter will win an e-copy of INTRUSION so you can see for yourselves if Cam learns this valuable lesson.

Nanotechnologist Dr. Audra McCain has spent years hiding behind her research, shielding herself from hurt much like the dynamic armor prototype she’s worked so hard to build. When she is framed for its theft, she suddenly finds herself on the run with a man whose talent lies in hacking through the toughest of defenses.

Ever since a shattered knee ended his career in the Special Forces, Cameron Scott has felt like an intruder in his own life. Hiding his discontent behind a need-to-win mentality, he earns his living testing security systems by breaking them. When Nanodyne hires him to evaluate their system, Cam discovers someone has already breached the company at the highest level.

As Audra and Cam play cat and mouse with a ruthless thief out to use the prototype for his own sinister cause, they’ll have to break rules, violate security, and fight their growing attraction. But when love makes an unauthorized attack, Cam realizes he may have finally found the one firewall he can’t breach: Audra’s heart.

Intrusion was a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist

Available at: Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Intrusion-Remnants-Book-2-ebook/dp/B005Y485Y0) | B&N (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/intrusion-cynthia-justlin/1106850346) | Apple (http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/intrusion/id478045784)

With her B.S. in the chemical sciences and her love of the periodic table (yes, she’s a geek and proud of it!) she’s finally found the perfect mix of romance and danger writing in the thriller genre. Cynthia enjoys music, movies and hanging out with her family. She lives in Arizona with her husband and two sons.

Look for EDGE OF LIGHT, a dark romantic thriller, coming from Carina Press May 2012.

Visit her website, http://www.cynthiajustlin.com, follow her on twitter, http://www.twitter.com/cynthiajustlin or “Like” her on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaJustlinAuthor.

Announcing the Crave the Heat 3-Author Blog Tour!

When the irrepressible Laura Kaye, the adorable Leia Rice, and yours truly discovered that we all had erotic Harlequin novellas releasing so close together, we decided to heat up your new year with a joint blog tour that will include some very racy subjects!

About Us:
Stephanie Draven is a multi-published award-nominated author of myth-inspired paranormal romance. Writing for HQN Nocturne, Stephanie’s Mythica series asks the question: What if the monsters of ancient mythology still walked the earth…and what if you found out that you were one of them? Currently a denizen of Baltimore, that city of ravens and purple night skies, Stephanie lives there with her favorite nocturnal creatures–three scheming cats and a deliciously wicked husband. And when she is not busy with dark domestic rituals, she writes her books.

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Laura Kaye Voted Breakout Author of the Year in the 2011 GraveTells Readers’ Choice Awards, Laura is the bestselling and award-winning author of a half-dozen books. Hearts in Darkness is a finalist for the EPIC eBook Award for Best Novella, Forever Freed won the NJRW Golden Leaf Award for Best Paranormal of 2011, and North of Need, the first book in the Hearts of the Anemoi series, was named GraveTells’ Best Book of 2011 and won their 5-STAR Gold Heart Award, and won Sizzling Hot Read of the Year at Sizzling Hot Books. Laura lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

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Leia Rice is an avid lover of everything Parisian, Ancient Grecian and Ancient Roman. She wishes that women would still wear the pretty dresses and petticoats that they did back in the 18th century, but she’s well aware how much of a pain they must have been. Leia writes historical fiction, romance and erotica in these areas, because she cannot get enough of each respective time period.

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Is your writing a little bland? Need to add a little spice to the soup? It’s my honor to welcome friend and fellow author Christi Barth. Let’s get cooking!

My mother is not an adventurous cook – and that is putting it very politely.  Growing up, a standard dinner consisted of chicken breast poached in water (which gives it no flavor whatsoever) and over boiled zucchini (which leaches out all of the flavor).  Give me a second to shudder at the memory.  It’s a wonder I grew up to be such an adventurous foodie.

I’m sharing my childhood trauma with you because writing is similar to cooking.  As a contest judge, I’ve read more than my fair share of flavorless entries.  Even with correct grammar and a forward moving plot, a book can still fall flatter than a whisper-thin crepe.  That is the difference between a simple narrative/dialogue exposition and a full fledged story.  Details are the seasoning.  What is spaghetti sauce without herbs and spices?  Ketchup!  Who wants to eat a plate of pasta covered in that?  But once you add oregano, fennel, salt, pepper and red wine, now you have a sauce.

Just adding in a little color isn’t enough.  Identifying each speaker as they enter a scene by describing their clothes leaves the distinct impression a writer worked off a checklist.  In addition to stark details like a blue shirt or blond hair, you want to add in finer points that transmit the feel of the character.  Let’s compare and contrast some descriptions from my recent release Cruising Toward Love:

Mrs. P. was an old lady who liked to gossip.

Or……

With a smack of her loose dentures, Mrs. P. leaned across the counter.  She had a reputation for twisting and squeezing to extract every last drop of gossip, leaving her victims as raw and wrung out as an over juiced orange.
Another example:

Zoe was hungover.

Or……

“My tongue feels like the fuzzy green mold on month-old leftovers.” Zoe slid bonelessly into a chair.

One more choice for you to ponder:

A man who must be a photographer stepped forward.  He wore a blue polo shirt that matched his eyes and was heavily muscled.

Or……

A tall man with a camera around his neck, one in his hands and another in a pouch at his waist stepped forward.  His biceps strained against the confines of his aquamarine polo shirt identifying him as crew.  Eyes almost the same color as his shirt twinkled from behind horn rimmed glasses.

If you have trouble with this, don’t panic! I recommend pounding out your first draft.  Squeeze out your plot, and toss in the basic dialogue.  Once you finish – either a chapter or the entire thing – go back and, only by using the cues in what you’ve written, try to actually draw a picture of the scene (no real drawing talent required).  If all you have are two naked stick figures on a blank page with maybe one doorway, then you’ve left out some vastly important minutiae.

This process can help you identify the holes where you need to work in descriptions.  Does this mean you have to describe every item on a desk from the keyboard to the post-it notes to a legal pad?  Of course not.  Mention a cluttered desk, buried under listing stacks of paper.  Or a chrome and glass desk with every item lined up with military precision.  You’re picturing two very different people in different rooms at this point, aren’t you?  And therein lies the fun.

A story with depth and richness resonates with readers.  It gives them an emotional buy in, and transports them away from their everyday lives into the multi-layered world you’ve created.  Think about it:  would you rather have a five course meal, or a sandwich of lettuce and mayo on white bread?  If anyone is stuck, put your problem lines in the comments section, and I’ll help flesh them out.

For information on all my books, please visit www.christibarth.com or swing by my blog at http://christibarth.blogspot.com .

Blurb:  Can an unexplained breakup and ten years of heartache be cured by the romance – and endless buffets – of a tropical cruise?  When her sister is left at the altar, small town librarian Zoe Balis jumps at the chance to take the bride’s unused ticket for the honeymoon cruise.  But she didn’t count on sharing a cabin with the man who broke her heart ten years ago!

Army medic Nate Hyatt never told Zoe goodbye when he enlisted – or the real reason why he dumped her on prom night after a year as high school sweethearts.  And he never stopped dreaming about the girl he left behind.  Could this voyage be his chance to fix the worst mistake he ever made?  After all, a Caribbean cruise should be romantic… if he can convince her to move past ten years of bitterness and hurt.

Once aboard the luxury liner, Zoe befriends a bored Internet mogul with more heart than tact.  Nate vents his problems to a ship’s photographer battling PTSD.  The four team up on an island hopping treasure hunt.  The stakes grow higher with each of Zoe’s mysterious brushes with death.  They race to discover why she’s a target and who’s behind it, while still competing in the treasure hunt. Zoe’s never gotten over her first love, and is tempted to let Nate back into her life.  But she already lost him once.  She’s not willing to risk loving a man whose career keeps him in a combat zone.  Can Nate breach her defenses and suture her broken heart?  Grab a deck chair and see if they survive the stormy relationship seas as they cruise toward love!

Guest post by Christi Barth

We’re a society who likes to judge others.  First impressions pack a punch that can linger forever.  You might hit it off with a co-worker, until you see them lunching with the office schlub.  Gossip – true or not – can permanently taint an image.  We seek acceptance from others, and often find our worth in what others may think of us.  This can be good…and bad.

Often in books, this theme revolves around the classic bad boy.  He screwed up in his youth, was vilified by the town, or somehow unforgivably hurt the heroine.  Perhaps that has led him to a crossroads: should he live down to everyone’s expectations, or try to surpass them?

In my book Act Like We’re In Love, the Hollywood hunk of a hero has a reputation of treating women as disposable.  So when Luke asks Linnea to meet his mother, she dismisses his request.

“Luke, I’m having the time of my life, but we both know the expiration date on this relationship is closing night. Your suitcases will be packed and ready to go as soon as that final curtain hits the stage. There’s no need to pretend otherwise.”

Linnea’s words were matter of fact, and her tone light and upbeat. Not what he’d expected. Her offer verged on a friendly business arrangement. It seemed perfect. And yet, like a collar a half size too tight, it didn’t quite fit. Chafed parts of him he couldn’t name.

More uncomfortable with every passing minute, every perfectly reasonable statement she made, he lashed out. “Don’t assume you know everything about me. My reality doesn’t have to conform to anyone’s expectations.”

“Forgive me for being rational,” she said, exasperation pitching her voice louder and higher. “We’re not joined at the hip. You’re under no obligation to introduce me to your mother.”

He picked up the pace, his long legs eating up the pavement. Temper pushed him faster till Linnea practically trotted beside him to keep from being dragged along. She flat-out pissed him off. Couldn’t she see how difficult this was for him? Did he really have to spell it out?

“Listen to me. I don’t care whether Mom wants to see you—which, by the way, she does. Don’t you get it? I want her to meet you. It’s important. Not to be polite. Not to torture you as payback for your parents breathing down my neck every day. But because you both matter to me, damn it!”

Linnea didn’t ask for any ties, had no expectations, and had gone above and beyond in the understanding department. Any man on the planet would do cartwheels in his shoes. Instead, her lack of outrage at his lack of commitment annoyed him to no end. If only he could figure out why.

No outraged father wielding a shotgun demands he commit.  Linnea doesn’t ask him to give up his job and stay with her.  Public perception is that, just like always, he’ll walk away from her in a matter of weeks.  Heck, he’s downright famous for the way he cycles through women.  Half of his career depends on his playboy image.  It would be so easy for Luke to be defined by the public’s perception.  And yet, how much richer could his life be if he put in the effort to rise above what little is expected of him?  Spoiler alert – he does decide to knuckle down and work toward true love.

So many great stories abound that harken back to this theme.  If Frodo had eschewed adventure to live the life of a typical Hobbit, all of Middle Earth would be overrun with Orcs by now.  Scarlett O’Hara put aside society’s perception of her as a simpering debutante and not only brought her family back from the brink of starvation, but opened a thriving business.  What are some of your favorite character’s that surpassed the world’s expectations of them?

Christi Barth spent years performing in musicals, singing about love and giving people a happy ending in every performance.  Then as a wedding planner she spent every day immersed in romance.  Now she writes it!  It is exciting to share her love of the theatre with the world through Act Like We’re In Love.  For all her fellow Broadway fans, favorite shows include Guys & Dolls, Phantom, and The Most Happy Fella.  A special curtain call for Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, the show where she met and first starred opposite the love of her life.  She lives in Maryland with the absolutely best husband in the world (sorry ladies, but it’s true!).