How to Kiss on Facebook

I'm not a big fan of facebook. When I log into it, I get distracted and lose time -- so many shiny things --  and when I don't log into it I miss things. Gah.

But this blog post comes from Stuff That Happened on Facebook, so I guess it isn't all bad.

It started with this:

Which, of course, comes from "The Empty Hearse" episode of the third season of the BBC's Sherlock. And yes, that was a good may-or-may-not-ever-have-happened kiss.

But as I felt duty-bound to point out on my facebook page, if ANYONE knows how to kiss a woman, it's Dr. Danny Castellano on The Mindy Project.

My otherwise sensible friend, Emelle Gamble, countered with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway (click the photo to view the clip).

But I ask you, readers, is it just me or is there NOT EVEN A KISS in that clip?!?

Now I'll grant you, Emelle, there's some red hot sexual tension going on over that chess board. But that doesn't even begin to compare with the life-changing liplock that Danny laid on Mindy in the last episode of The Mindy Project (click the photo to view the hotness).

Sherlock and Steve McQueen you just got schooled...

And with THAT covered, here's another. Cover, that is. For my upcoming young adult book, Witch Boy.

As you might have guessed, there's a lot of kissing in Witch Boy...

I Am Sherlocked

Ask me about Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' reimagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detecting duo and I'll admit it. I am Sherlocked. If you're Sherlocked, too, you know the premiere of Series 3 airs tonight on most PBS stations. And even if you're not Sherlocked, you probably haven't been able to tune out all the tweeting, blogging, and other media coverage surrounding last season's finale--and this season's beginning.

 
So what is it about this British television show that makes tongues wag? And more importantly, what does all this viral enthusiasm have to teach us as TV viewers, as readers, and even as writers?


Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman

are Sherlock Holmes and John Watson for

21st Century London

Here are three facts Sherlock has taught me. See if you agree . . .

1) First of all, good writing rules! We think we know that. We say we know that. But to watch Sherlock, in my opinion, and its impact on viewers everywhere, proves it. What makes this show's writing good, however? As an adaptation, it sticks pretty closely to Conan Doyle's original vision. And his vision is foundational to our concept of detective fiction. So if you love a good detective show, Sherlock hits all the bells and whistles because Conan Doyle first told us what those bells and whistles should be. It teaches me that to be a satisfied viewer or a reader, I need to seek out work that jumps though all the hoops. And as a writer, this proves to me I need to pull out all the stops.

2) Secondly, smart really is the new sexy. Sherlock says this to Irene Adler. And he's right. To be satisfied as views and readers, we dig in to dig out the mystery. Conan Doyle knew this over a hundred years ago. As writers, we know every story we write has a mystery element, even if our work fits another genre. That element is "How will this story end?" By connecting the plot dots for our readers, and keeping them thinking "How will this end?", we keep them mentally engaged. They're smart! Meet the challenge to stimulate their brains and they'll think you're writing's sexy!

3) Thirdly, it's the connection that counts. Sherlock and Dr. Watson have a bond. Six times now, we've seen them push and pull as they try to stay connected, and try to stay apart. That's a Big Picture problem. If we have moms, kids, friends, or lovers, we know all about that tug-of-war in spades. This tells me I need to watch and read stories where the Big Picture things matter to the characters--because those Big Picture things matter to me. As a writer, it can hurt to write about those kinds of issues. But writing about them through characters means I'm making a connection. And as Sherlock had proven, that's what counts.

Now, it's your turn to talk to the Rockville 8. If you're not Sherlocked, that's all right. What show has taught you what it means to be a satisfied viewer, a rabid reader, or an excellent writer?

I love a good C word

The first time we all chose a word for the year, my best friend, Deborah, told me my word should be "open." I can only hope that Deborah didn't know when she gave it to me that it would require being BROKEN open. Ahem.

Last year, the word that kept coming to mind seemed particularly ridiculous considering my recently broken open state. But when I told my friend, Ava Miles, that I was searching for my Word for the Year and she came up with the same ridiculous word -- LOVE -- I decided it was fate.

Just for the record, "Love" worked a lot better than "Open" -- or at least it made me happier this past year than the word "open" made me the year before. Of course, "open" set an extremely low bar...yes, 2012, I'm looking at you...

But this year when I was talking to Ava she immediately said, "Your word this year is YES!"

And I am not ashamed to tell you that my reaction was immediate and emphatic: NO.

No! No. And oh, by the way? NO.

Which meant that I now had to come up with my word all by myself. And I did! I came up with "connect." A perfectly good word. If not related to "yes" it is at least "yes" adjacent. It's "yes" with a few amendments. "Yes" with an eye to quality over quantity.

So I feel good about this year. And I feel good about this word. And while I'm at it, here are a couple of other C words that I'm feeling good about right now...

Commit
I pulled out all the stops a while back, trying to finish up my novella for the Once and Forever anthology. But after I turned that in, the holidays hit and I haven't gotten back to my writing practice. So this afternoon, while Deborah and I were waiting for The Desolation of Smaug to hit the big screen, we decided that what we needed -- other than some hot dwarf action...was to make a commitment. And so we did. This Thursday after work I shall progress to an undisclosed Panera location to work on my YA book, Witch Boy.

Witch Boy is finished. Mostly. It needs just a little reworking before it's good to go and come this Thursday I shall commence with the reworking. Oh, see what I did there? Commence! A word which begins with a C.

And which brings us to my next and final C word for this post!

Cover
By a stroke of magickal good fortune I've connected with a wonderful cover artist and we are now, even as I type, finalizing the cover for Witch Boy.

This is already a good year.

Word of the Year!

Each year, we women of the Rockville 8 choose a new Word of the Year for ourselves, a sort of talisman, if you will, that helps focus our thoughts and actions throughout the coming months. We invite you to join us in the practice - read below to see the R8's crop of words, then comment for a chance to win Mackenzie Lucas' debut book from Soul Mate Publishing - Essence.

CLEARING

     J. Keely Thrall

Last year I chose bounce - and I certainly feel like I did a lot of bouncing around, up, down and sideways. This year, I'm hankering for a little more focus and the word that speaks to me is Clearing. As in, clearing the path of obstacles (real and imagined) as I make steady progress on my goals. As in, using the image of a sun-dappled clearing in the woods as a meditation focal point to bring me back to center. Just thinking the word seems to relax my shoulders and invoke a peaceful, easy feeling (to quote an awesome song). I could definitely benefit from a year of that!

EVOLVE
     Lisa McQuay
The American Heritage Dictionary defines ‘evolve’ as “to develop or achieve gradually; to work (something) out, devise; to develop (a characteristic) by evolutionary processes.”  Evolve is a verb which denotes action.  Action is what keeps us moving, hopefully toward our goals. 

I’ve been developing as a writer for many years.   For example, I’ve increased the speed at which I can write.  Given a writing assignment at my day job, I flew through it and returned it to management long before they thought I could.  In that moment, I realized how much I’ve strengthened my writing muscles over the years to be able to write so much in a short time.  Sometimes, it takes looking back to see how far you’ve come.  Looking forward is wonderful—it keeps you going.  But, remembering where you came from can give you incentive to travel the rest of the way, especially if you’ve experienced a setback or are feeling discouraged along the way.

 

I’m working out this writing thing every day—plotting, researching, writing down the bones of my stories and editing.  This year is a year of personal evolution.  Not just in my writing but in my personal life.  I’m doing several things to take care of myself and will come out on the other end being better than I’ve been in a long while.  Because life is about evolving—hopefully into what you envision your best life to be.  

 

RELEASE

     Mackenzie Lucas

My word for 2014 is RELEASE. There are several reasons for my choice of this word in this particular year. First is because my first book release from a publisher is out in the new year. I hope to have at least two more releases in 2014--one is a confirmed sale, the other is just wishful thinking so far. Second, this year I'm determined to RELEASE and let go of anything that's not working. I have a tendency to just plow ahead once I've set a course and not really evaluate if something is still working. So this is the year for re-evaluation, reflection, and RELEASE. Third, and probably the hardest and most important, is that my oldest son (Spiderman) is going off to college in the fall. So I'll need to learn to let go and RELEASE him into the world to fly (or to cast his Spidey web). All in all, I think RELEASE is the word that will typify my year.

 

BREATHE

     Nichole Christoff

Well, 2013 was quite a whirlwind! New house, new neighborhood, new job...Whew! I jumped feet first into each new experience, searching for my groove and refusing to let the newness break my stride. And that was great. But as I bounced from new situation to new situation, I sometimes found myself wondering which way was up. That's why my 2014 Word of the Year is Breathe. Breathing is a good thing to do once in awhile, don't you think? I'll still have plenty of new things to tackle in 2014, like a couple of new writing projects. But this year, I want to remember I'll enjoy it all so much more--and I'll be much more effective--if I pause to breathe.

 

CONNECT

     Evie Owens

This year, for reasons I will explain further in my next blog post, I am forced to come up with my own word and I choose CONNECT. I choose it for all the meanings you'd expect, but also because, when I looked it up, there was a sports definition as well which is, "to make a successful hit, shot, or throw" (connected for a home run).

 

DO

     Misha Crews

My word for 2014 is short and sweet: DO. Although the word itself is tiny, those two little letters combine to form a huge and powerful concept: bring something to its goal or finish; accomplish. Like a lot of artsy folks, I can do no end of dreaming, cogitating, even over-thinking. But in 2014, my focus is going to be on gettin' stuff done. Less cogitation, less worry, and more doing.

 

LUCKY

     Marjanna Bogan

Better. I thought my word was better. I mean, practically anything had to be better than 2013. Better coping. Better experiences. Better health. Better bank balancing. Better creativity. Better time management. But Better gives so much power to the incredibly awful year that was 2013. So, then I thought, as I was driving home last night, I want to be Lucky. Better is a depressing. Lucky is fun. Better is wiping off a sweaty brow, and a tired hope for the future. Lucky is a long-shot, a surprise, a life-change.  The older I get, the more I realize my life is based upon my choices and the completely unexpected, unplanned events that happen to me. So, while I try to be better, I'm hoping the universe will serve up some Lucky onto my plate. The good kind, that is.

 

 

SABBATICAL

    Shellie Williams

I (Keely) am totally choosing Shellie’s WotY, here. She’s taking a few months off the merry-go-round so she can come back to center and realign her priorities. We all have times when it’s crucial to take a long hard look at our lives to see what’s working, what isn’t, what we can change and what we can’t. Kudos to Shellie for recognizing her need and acting on it.

 

 

 

 

 

New Beginnings

I love this time of year! It’s a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. No matter what you've done up until now, you can start over with a positive energy and hope for all the possibilities the brand new year brings.

Every year around this time, I begin planning for the next year. I start to think about what I’d like to do differently when the calendar year flips over, and I take stock of the past year, examining what worked and what didn't. I begin to make my lists. I dream big and I dream small. I broad-brush my goals, then I go back in and paint in the details by making sub-lists under those bigger topics.

After I've finished my plans, I post these goals on my office wall--yes, on an easel-sized post-it note to myself. So that all year long I can check off my progress. Usually, by the time June hits, I’m ready to re-evaluate my yearly goals, update and make new lists. Last year I found that by June, I’d accomplished everything I’d set out to accomplish for the year. So I had to plan again. Now, looking back at the list I had for myself in June, I've also accomplished the majority of those tasks and met those goals. It feels good to see a physical “track record” ... and to know that all the time and energy and sweat I exerted really did pay off in big and small ways for me.

One of those payoffs for me this year debuts later this week. My contemporary romance, Essence, will be released  on January 2, 2014 by Soul Mate Publishing. As you can imagine, I’m a little excited and a lot nervous. I have published a few Indie titles myself, but this is the first book of mine that a publisher has picked up. And it’s my first contemporary romance. The journey has been a good one. I've loved working with SMP. And I think this is a good next step for me. Okay, so I’ll squee now! All right, all right. Maybe not. I’ll wait until the pub day to do that because my control freak side worries about everything that can go wrong between now and then. Even though I really know better. It’s going to be fine.

So I’ll go back to focusing on my lists for a few more days, hammering out all those fun and exciting things I want to explore this year and the number of ways I hope to develop my writing career. Then, come January 2^nd, I’ll add learning the ins and outs of marketing a book to my daily and weekly writing routine.

Yes, one of my big goals this year is to figure out how to promote a book effectively. I've already begun to promote Essence and will start a blog tour January 27^th to get my name out there, and hopefully sell a few more books in the process. I’d love to see you on the virtual road! Check out my website http://www.mackenzielucas.com for details on the full line-up of my blog tour toward the end of January.

So what do you do at this time of year? Do you set New Year’s Resolutions? Do you set personal goals for yourself? Do you re-evaluate and take stock of where you’ve been and where you’d like to go? I’d love to hear what you’ve found successful or helpful over the years & if you have one or two goals you’ve set for yourself, shout them out! It always motivates others to know those around them are reaching for the next rung on the ladder or the stars.

Buy your copy of Essence starting January 2, 2014 at amazon.com and be sure to tell me what you think in a review on Amazon & at Goodreads. All my Indie published titles are currently available at http://www.amazon.com/Mackenzie-Lucas/e/B00DTEW6NS/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0. To find me on the web, go to http://www.mackenzielucas.com. If you’re on Facebook, look me up at: MackenzieLucasFanPage or on Twitter at: @MacLucas_writer.

Book Giveaway:

Readers who comment on today’s blog by sharing one of their goals for the new year will be entered into a drawing for a free copy of Essence.

$50 Spa eGift Card Giveaway:

And two lucky followers who LIKE my Facebook page MackenzieLucasFanPage between today and January 15 will each win a $50 SpaWish eGift card.

So come on, let’s play! Comment, like, and share. It’s always fun to have as many participants as possible in these contests. As Misha says, join in my reindeer games. It’ll be fun!

Happy New Year and happy goal setting. Let's see what we can do in 2014!

More about Essence. More about Soul Mate Publishing.

Happy Holidays!

From our families to yours, may your holiday season be blessed with abundance and love. And may the warmth and spirit of the season dwell in your hearts all year long. 

Happy Holidays from the R8. 

Thanks for another wonderful year! 

All I want for Christmas is . . . a Good Holiday Story

By Hope Ramsay

I’m an avid reader.  Like most authors it was reading that lead me to this writing life.  And when it comes to pleasing me at Christmastime, all you have to do is give me a good book.  In fact, I plan most of my holiday festivities for Christmas Eve, so on Christmas day I can relax, curl up with a hot toddy, and crack a good book, hopefully one of many I’ve received from friends and family.

So, if you have an avid romance reader in your family and you’re wondering what to give her for Christmas.  Here is a rundown of some terrific holiday stories.  Many of these reads are less than $2.00 in digital format, so you could easily buy them all and load up the e-reader of the bibliophile in your life. 

Perfect by Autumn Jordon
Dylan Kincaid totally screwed up Thanksgiving and now he's faced with Christmas. Thrown into the frightening role of both mother and father while his brother and sister-in-law are off serving their country, all Dylan wants is to make Christmas perfect for his two nieces. But time is running out.

Down on her luck Charleston, S.C. restaurateur, Darcy Witherspoon is licking a wounded ego when she arrives in Black Moose, VT and meets the handsome Maple tree farmer. Wanting a happy holiday herself, she teams up with Dylan to make a perfect Christmas.

Neither is interested in a holiday affair, but the magic of Christmas has something more everlasting in store for the couple. An absolutely perfect love!

Hunk for the Holidays by Katie Lane
Always putting business before pleasure, Cassie McPherson works hard for her family's construction business. That might explain why she doesn't have a date for the company Christmas party. But it doesn't quite explain why she's crazy enough to hire an escort for the event or - crazier still - why she's dying to unwrap him like a present . . .

With whiskey-colored eyes and a killer smile, James is one gorgeous hunk who really knows how to fill out a tuxedo. He charms everyone, including Cassie. And when the night ends, the party doesn't stop. As Cassie falls, literally, into his bed, James falls head over heels in love. Now he has to figure out a way to tell her the truth: he's not an escort. He's her family's fiercest business rival. But all he wants for Christmas is her .... The digital version of this book will be on sale for $1.99 starting in mid-December.

Trouble with Christmas by Debbie Mason
Resort developer Madison Lane is about to lose the one thing she loves most in the world - her job.

Dubbed "The Grinch Who Killed Christmas," Madison spoiled a deal that would turn quaint Christmas, Colorado, into a tourist's winter wonderland. Now the citizens want her fired but the company gives her one last chance, sending Madison to the small town to restore the holiday cheer.

For Sheriff Gage McBride, no hotshot executive from New York City is going to destroy the dreams of the people he loves. But one look at this beautiful woman and it's his heart that may be broken. In just a few days, Madison causes more trouble than he's had to deal with all year. He can't decide if she's naughty or nice, but one thing is for certain- Christmas will never be the same again.. The digital version of this book will be on sale for $1.99 starting in mid-December.

Spirit of Christmas by Liz Talley

Brennan Henry doesn't have time for holly and jolly. He's been too busy boosting the bottom line for the family business. That is, until his eccentric grandfather hands over a lot of money to a stranger on the street. Some nonsense about her being the true spirit of Christmas. Yeah, right. All Brennan can see is he's now got a situation on his hands with one Mary Paige Gentry.

Then he meets Mary Paige. And no matter how deep he searches, it seems she's the real deal. Kind, compassionate and just enough sass to keep him very intrigued. The spark of attraction between them could land him on the naughty list! But his is still a dollars-and-cents world…unless she can prove there's more to the season—more to life—than money.

And if you’re looking for an anthology of shorter Christmas Stories, pick up the digital anthology A Christmas to Remember, with stories by Jill Shalvis, Kristen Ashley, Molly Cannon, Marilyn Pappano, and me. Click here.

Happy holiday reading to one and all.