Getting to Know You

Last night, the Mrs. and I had "Getting to Know You" from The King and I stuck in our heads! LOL. I had this idea anyway, but I thought the title was appropriate for today's blog.




This is going to be a brief who's who of my books! :) The celebrity pictures are who I have in mind to play these characters. Don't forget that you can cast my books as well at www.storycasting.com! That site is a blast! Go check it out! ;)






Loving Her























Linda - Linda is a mechanic who owns her own shop in University City District (UCD) in Philadelphia. She's tough, but very gentle and vulnerable. She is extremely dedicated and loyal.











Katie - Katie is a veterinary student at U Penn and works at a local pizza parlor for money. She's young and vibrant, fun and full of energy. She is mature and logical. She loves being in love and fully believes in happily ever after.











Donna - Donna is Philly cop. She is tough as nails and yet as gentle as a kitten. She is extremely insecure. With no family left, her friends are her family and she will go to any length to protect and take care of them.












Liz - Liz is a southern belle who is a ballerina and a motorhead all at the same time. Tall, elegant and regal, she's also very down to earth and loves a loud engine! She dances with the Pennsylvania Ballet and listens to Metallica on her own time. She has only been with one person: Jen - and she plans on spending her forever with her.










Jen - Jen has MS. She used to be the director of a cat shelter, but when she met Liz, she followed her all around the country. She is quiet and introverted, but don't get her gabbing about her woman because she won't stop! :)











Stephania - Stephania is an exotic, multi-racial beauty. A professional model, she is seen globally, but is still very grounded. She is a spitfire and doesn't back down from any fights!











Maria - Maria is slightly older than the rest of the crowd. She is a grounded, stable woman who works for an Hispanic newspaper in Philadelphia. She adores her family, but only from a distance. Though Stephania is a lot to handle, Maria keeps her sound and grounded.













Brynn - Brynn is a little brunette bombshell. A police officer in Doylestown, PA., she is friends with Donna's partner, John, and his wife. Brynn and Donna meet thanks to John and they begin their lives together as two young female officers in love.



















Unbreakable Hostage





























Lareina - Lareina is a Puerto Rican with exotic and enchanting looks. A Ph. D. student in algebra, she's smart and beautiful. She is very close with her family and holds her Catholic traditions very close to her heart. Strong, resilient, intelligent, and determined, she is one Latina who can never be kept down!













Tony - Tony is an overweight brut. He fell over the fine line between genius and crazy a long time ago. He is obsessed with Lareina and lives in his own dark, twisted world.















Marc - Marc is English, but he's been living in the States for some time now. He is lonely and leads a quiet life save for his work as a missing persons detective. He is captivated not only by Lareina's beauty but by her quick wits as well. He is a caring and gentle man who needs to be saved as much as he saves others.


















Imperfect (not yet released)






Carol - Carol is an IT guru. She's intelligent and caring. She takes the world's burdens on as her own. She is loyal, compassionate and extremely insecure.




























Alex - Alex is a woman with a troubled past. Though she is now back on solid ground, she can never full erase her history. She is a true romantic. She is funny and dedicated, but also very demanding at times.




















Ok, there ya go! Hope you liked getting to know some of my characters. If you'd like to know more, go check out my books! :)

Page 69 Trial

Howdy all! :) I'm returning us to our regularly scheduled writing programming.





Today, we're doing the page 69 trial.


Get your minds out of the gutter, folks! I learned about this from a writer friend of mine. She said that there is a test to know if a book will be a good read or not, and that is to crack it open to page 69 & read it. If page 69 bores you, the book is no good. If it's interesting, then you've got a gem! :)





So, with that in mind, I'm giving you page 69 of Unbreakable Hostage. Now, this is page 69 from the e-book version. The print should be pretty darn close if not exact, so this should work all around! ;)







Lareina tried to appease Tony, but she seemed to be failing miserably.

“Harder! Scrub them harder, damn it! Get these fucking clothes clean!”

Lareina hand washed and scrubbed the clothes with what little energy she had, but it was not enough for Tony. He came up from behind her, grabbed the clothes out of her hands, and threw them onto the river bank.

Tony then grabbed her hair and shoved her face under the bitterly cold water.

Lareina began to struggle. Tony held her face down longer, and with greater force. Lareina was running out of air. Just as she began to fear that she was going to drown, Tony pulled her head up with great strength. Lareina gasped for breath, and Tony shoved her face back down into the cold abyss.

Again, she struggled. She moved and tried to loosen Tony's grip on her hair, but it was to no avail. She began to run out of air again. Once more, Tony pulled her head up just in time.

Lareina took in the biggest breath she could as her face was forced into the cold water yet again. This time, she did not struggle in the hopes that it would have her air supply last longer. The cold water harshly pierced her face as she tried to hold her breath for as long as possible. Finally, after a cold eternity Tony pulled her up again. Lareina fought to breathe normally again. Tony pulled back on her hair, and Lareina stumbled backwards in the water. It took her a few moments, but she finally regained her stability.

“Now you see what I'm truly capable of. Don't you dare ever make me do this again! I don’t want to, but I'm not afraid to do whatever I have to.” His hot breath fell on her ear. “I don't think you really understand what's going on here. You will do as I say, or I will kill you. There are no two ways about it. Get it?

“You will also never get away from me. Don't even think about it. If I can't have you, no one can. You belong to me, and you always will. Is that clear?”

With the little slack she had from his grasp on her hair, Lareina nodded her head yes.

“Good. Now go grab the clothes. They have dirt on them again. Clean them, and this time clean them well.”

Still struggling to catch her breath and trying to slow her racing heart, Lareina walked up to retrieve the clothes. As she walked forward, she noticed an especially large, unique looking tree behind the cabin that could easily be seen from a hiking path. Somehow, she would have to use that tree to her advantage.

Keeping her newly discovered treasure a secret, Lareina picked up the clothes and re-entered the bitingly cold lake to do as she had been told.



Hope you all liked it! If you do, don't forget that you can download it on smashwords.com
omnilit.com
and
allromanceebooks.com



It's also available for your Kindle on Amazon.com



Print version is coming this month!!!! :)

A Personal Rant

I think it's time I ruffled some feathers, y'all.


I have a bad case of writer's block this morning.



And unless you're some sick weirdo who wants to hear about the joys of bloody feet and antibiotics, my readership is dying.

And I know that none of you are the aforementioned sick weirdo types.



So...I'm going to be blatant and personal! (Insert scary music here)




As many of you know, I am an openly bi gal


and I am in a very happy lesbian relationship. Yayness! :) We are happy and committed (to each other, NOT in a mental institution, though we sometimes wonder).



Here's what really gets me:

EVERYONE THINKS WE BI FOLKS CAN'T KEEP IT IN OUR PANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Ok, let me 'splain.



The Mrs. told her boss not too long ago, that I'm bi. His first question to her (and mind you, I like this guy! He's a blast to hang out with!) was if it bothered her that I'm bi. 'Cause apparently my straight half can't be committed but my gay half can? What the...?




I've often been asked to either: (a) be the girlfriend on the side or (b) have a girlfriend on the side. WRONG!!!! Not gonna happen, folks.



But why?! You're bi and you like to make out with girls to get attention from guys and you have drunken sex with whomever crosses your path!



Ok reader people, hold on to your pants! Here it comes! Believe it or not, there are bis who actually just want what everyone else wants: LOVE.



That's right, I said it! LOVE. Ooohh, scary! LOL. Seriously folks, just because I happen to be attracted to people regardless of race, gender, etc. doesn't mean that I want to sleep with all of them! Sheesh!



I want to be in a loving, dedicated, happy relationship. I do not make out with chicks just to get the attention of men. Any of my male ex's can verify that! I do not have drunken sex with just anyone. If I'm having drunken sex, well it means I'm home, sans child, and the Mrs. and I are spending some quality time together! LOL. Serously, though. I am a human being. I'm not a sex machine or an attention whore (well, not that kind of attention anyway).



I know that most of you thought that bis like me were like unicorns: mythical creatures that only existed in your minds! Ha ha! Not true, little ones! We do exist. You just don't know it because we don't put ourselves out there on TV like the fake ones! ;)



To tie this in with writing (because my conscious is telling me that I need to), you'll find that though the majority of my work has homosexual or bisexual themes, I do write straight folk stuff too. I'm an equal opportunity writer! :)




So, yes. I am a writer. I am a Puerto Rican. I am a woman. I am a model. I am bisexual. And most importantly, I am a human just like you! :)



Ok, rant over. :)



Stay tuned for non-foot, non-gay-specific, book-oriented blogs coming soon! ;)



Happy reading!

The Toe Tragedy, Continued

And a late good morning to all of you! :)

I'm actually taking the day off today. Minimal house work; writing only if I want to, etc. I'm being a lazy Rican today! :)

Not that this is of any real consequence to any of you, I'm going to up-date you on my foot surgery status nonetheless.

Did not have the surgery I expected to have yesterday, but they were hacked again for the umpteenth time. Seems to have helped thus far. I'm also now on antibiotics prior to any further surgical work. I still need the surgeries, but we're waiting till after I'm done with the abx (medical jargon for antibiotics). I re-check with the doc in 2 weeks and we go from there.

My feet will eventually become the horrible sideshow freaks that I continually envision, but I still have a little time left before that happens.

I also wrote that scene with Lareina and her scars. It's still very basic & lightly sketched out, but I think that scene will bring an interesting depth to this book.

So, that's the scoop, y'all (funny that a Philadelphian is saying y'all, isn't it? ;) ). Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday. I'm off to continue on my spree of laziness! :)

Scars

Good morning everyone!


Sorry about the late start today. Tuesdays are hectic for me, so this was the best that I could do.



Today, I'm getting personal.




I want to talk about scars. Three scars in particular.



I have scars all over from various surgeries and animal bites. I even have a scar on my right knee from a seal bite! How many of you can say you have a seal bite scar? Yeah, that's what I thought! ;)



Scars NEVER bothered me in the past, If anything, I thought they were cool. They were badges of honor that I proudly wore. There were great stories that came along with those scars, and I had no difficulty showing them off to everyone! :)



Then came the first scar. This is a scar on my upper left arm, near a tattoo. I hate this ugly thing.
(Not my arm or the scar I'm discussing, folks. Just something from good old Google Images)
It reminds me of a very bad medical "procedure" which ended up hurting me, not helping me. It's small. It's not sensitive. Most people don't even know it's there. Every time I see it, though. I despise its presence on my body. It's not cool. It's not interesting. It's bad and ugly (I think I find it to be especially ugly because of the bad connection). It's there, and it's not going away. I just have to accept it.



Then there are the next two. These two actually haven't even happened yet. I have to have surgery on my feet - one at a time and a few weeks apart. I have my first one this afternoon. It's necessary, don't get me wrong. But, I'm going to end up looking like a circus freak. No one will know but me. And mind you, I am not a vain person, but I am preemptively ashamed of my feet! I already don't want people to look at them. Seeing the outcome in my mind's eye has me disgusted at my own appearance. For some reason, these two surgeries really bother me from an aesthetic perspective.



I don't know what to do or how to get over these scars. All three are really minor, and yet, they consume many of my thoughts!



When I decided I was going to blog about this today, I was thinking about how none of my characters are disabled, mutilated, etc. Then I remembered that Lareina has terrible scars from her ordeal with Tony.



That got me thinking. I am going to write a scene where Lareina looks at her scars and deals with the negative emotional ties to them. She and Marc will have a deep, lengthy discussion about her scars. Perhaps in writing about her scars, I can find my own peace.




So even when you think you have nothing literary to discuss, you realize that your own personal life ties in deeply with your writing. I write not just for entertainment, but also for closure on personal issues.



Thanks for bearing with me today, guys. Happy reading as always! :)