#thiswriterslife

Take care not to spill the tea (literally) while we share the latest on-dit (aka dish the dirt) about the Ton, who is courting, and who has been compromised in this collection of Austen-inspired romance stories.

Join us for a turn around the room in stories from USA Today best-selling and award-winning romance authors curated by the New Romance Café featuring cameos from some of Jane’s most memorable characters (and some we’d like to forget). ALL proceeds go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Austen Tea Party is available for preorder here.

I’m taking break from the Challenge today. First, it’s my normal writing day and I’m back at my local coffee shop warming up because it is cold and rainy out there! And second, today is my Mama’s birthday! I won’t say how old she is, but we’re going out to celebrate tonight. 🎂

Tomorrow I have something special planned before my work week at the Day Job starts all over again.

As promised the other day, I have Little Miss Adventures with me. Hopefully she’ll help me get my words on the page today. I have a few weeks to get this story into shape and give it a title before it’s due on March 31! 😱

Your turn! What’s on your agenda for today? Anything fun?

If this image doesn’t give you an idea, today’s topic is theme songs!

Do my main characters have a theme song?

You know, my taste in music tends to run more classic rock, show tunes, and movie soundtracks rather than current pop music, so it’s hard for me to come up with a relevant known song to describe my characters. It’s also really difficult for me to come up with playlists for my stories.

That being said…for some reason, whenever I think of the Hero for my current WIP, the only thing running through my head is the theme from Bonanza. Yes, that 1960s TV show about ranchers.

Maybe it’s because Gideon Hunt, my current hero, wants to be a rancher. He has recently arrived in Southern California after seeing ads in the newspaper, and dreams of walking acres of land in the sunshine and not having to deal with snow. 😆

If you had a theme song, what would it be?

Christina

With St. Patrick’s Day being just around the corner, today’s topic is lucky charms, as in do I have a lucky writing charm.

I can’t say that I do. Maybe I should, since I need all the help I can get to write my stories. But I’m so easily distracted by anything around me that I feel it would be one more thing to keep me from writing.

The closest thing I have is Little Miss Adventures, and she hasn’t been on an adventure in a long time. I guess I should remedy that post haste!

Christina

Today is all about self care for the writer. For me, this means it’s time to unplug. I need time away from my desk, time away from social media, and the computer. 

If you follow me on facebook, you may have seen my post on Sunday encouraging you to unplug. In this digital age, it’s hard to disconnect from our devices. Between socializing, watching movies and shows, or doom scrolling it seems we are always plugged in to something. Even now, as I write this, I’m doing so on my phone while working on a school project on my computer (yes, I’m back in school…again).

To take it one step further, I like to unplug outdoors. This could be a morning walk in the park, an afternoon at Disneyland, or a trip to the mall. All I need is time away from electronics and fresh air to brush the cobwebs from my brain. 

Today is an easy one. If I could co-write a book with anyone, it would be my Writing Partner Extraordinaire, Carolyn Anthony.

I call her my writing partner, but she’s so much more. A sounding board, plotting partner, voice of reason… She gives me a virtual smack upside the head when I stretch myself too thin and take on too many projects.

We’re similar in some ways we write, but opposite in others, and I think both ways complement each other. Carolyn writes contemporary and paranormal romance at the high heat level, while I write historical romance with a medium heat level. She gets down to the nitty-gritty raw emotions of the characters, while I come up with some truly disturbing scenarios. She would help me spice up my stories and I would help her bring that emotional connection to the readers.

With what we each bring to the table, if we were to ever write a book together, we’d be unstoppable!

Christina

I'm joining the Writer Friends Challenge for the month of March. It's a way for me to share a bit of me and my writing so you can get to know me better. Each day there is a different prompt, and while it's technically an Instagram Challenge, I've decided to do mine on my website and here.

Today is Day 1 and the prompt is “What does being a writer mean to me?”

I’ve always been a storyteller (or “storyyeller”, as autocorrect wanted to say). Before I could read and write I was creating stories for my toys and acting them out in my doll house. Making up fan fics in my head from my favorite cartoon and movie characters. As I got older, I’d tell these stories to The Elders or friends, and by the time I hit first grade, I was writing them down. 

For me, being a writer is a part of who I am. It is the truest form of me. I’ve said it before–I am a total introvert. Not only do I enjoy my alone time away from people (lol), but I’m not very demonstrative or expressive with people. Even my family and closest friends don’t know what goes on in my head. I rarely say what is truly on my mind and writing is the only way for me to purge big thoughts and emotions from my psyche. 

To me, being a writer is a way to escape the crazy world in which we live.Some days (weeks…months) are harder than others, but the world needs it’s escapes and happy ever afters and if I can help take someone’s mind off everything, then I will consider it a win.

And we all need whatever wins we can get. ❤️‍🩹