Magical Meet Cutes Anthology
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: new books, Pimpin' mah friends books
Leave a Comment My newest novella, “Odorata” has been published in the Coeur du Bois Chapter of Romance Writers of America’s anthology, Magical Meet Cutes, available on Amazon for the next 6 months (it’s a fundraiser/promo for writers of my local romance writers group). It will become entry number 1 in the “Potion Studies” novella series after that, but this way you can check out the work of Cate, Gemma and MJ too. They’re4 talented writers and I enjoy their work.
Odorata is the story of Our Heroine, a biochemist trying to re-create her great-great-great grandmother’s perfume, and Our Hero, a businessman running his grandmother’s cosmetic manufacturing company a few years after the death of two family members who had been running it, and the ghosts of those two trying to bring Our Hero and Our Heroine together. Hijinks ensue, but there are workplace barriers that even those on other planes of existence have difficulty removing.
Here’s the link and the blurb:
From dragons and witches to ghosts and demigods, these six enchanting tales promise unexpected encounters and romantic sparks that defy the ordinary…
- In “The Book Keeper” by Cate Lawley, a fiery dragon and a passionate witch find themselves entangled in a dilemma that could either ignite their passion or extinguish their small town forever.
- In “Twelve Dates” by Gemma Cates, an ice dragon melts a weather witch’s resolve to keep her promise of twelve blind dates.
- In “Witches Hate Bats” by Gemma Cates, a witch’s disdain for vampires is put to the test when she encounters a charming creature of the night who challenges her preconceptions in more ways than one.
- In “Hell Hath No Fury” by MJ Silversmith, a routine haunting pits a fearless ghostbuster against a spirited apparition that just might lead to…a date?
- In “4,287 Promises” by MJ Silversmith, the demigod awakens…naked and in need of setting a few promises back to right.
- In “Odorata” by Val Roberts, a love potion a century in the making brings together two souls destined to be entwined…
I’ll be back as soon as I finish moving me, Spooky Man, and the critters into one (much bigger) house 20 miles (32km) away from the old one…because you want to be moving furniture when the temps are above 100F (38C).
Happy reading!
Four Years Later…
Val Returned from the Wilderness.
I survived a pandemic, I survived the implosion of RWA (as the local chapter president). I lost two furbabies. I gained three furbabies (Spooky Man attracts strays, but I refuse to count the fox and skunk as furbabies).
I was laid off and secured a new job before my final day.
And a few days ago, I finished a new story. Finally.
I feel as if I’ve worked my way through some trauma, recovered my spoons, and put them to work on something I wanted to do. And there’s more to come. Let’s all stay tuned.
What makes a “dubious consent” story?
Hello, friends!
I have a question for the collective: What makes a dubious-consent/or non-consent story?
I ask because there have been a recent wave of reviews of Blade’s Edge claiming it has non-consensual or dubious-consensual sex scenes in that the heroine and the villainess are chemically altered during the act.
I had thought it was perfectly clear in both cases that the females had already made the decision to have the encounters before imbibing. If I did not, I’d be quite happy to go back and add it. In block caps. In bold. 🙂
There was also a review claiming that the main character only decided to make the relationship permanent while sedated, which also is not chronologically correct in terms of the plot.
Also puzzling, the first of these reviews appeared after the book had been in print for at least a decade. Why is the book being read this way now, as opposed to, say, five years ago during the height of the Me, Too movement?
I’ve always felt that, once a book is released into the wild, it has to stand or fall on its own merits. Reviews are opinions, and nobody’s opinion is wrong—although it could be based on misinformation or misinterpretation, it’s still their opinion.
However, right now I’m sorely tempted to respond to these reviews asking how the readers came to their conclusions. I know that’s an extremely bad idea, so I’m asking here instead. Did they miss the decision points? Was I being too subtle? Is this a delayed change in the general zeitgeist?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks,
Val
That Face When…
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: editing, plotting, writing, writing life
Leave a Comment You realize you need to completely replot your novel, because you’re at 40,000 words and have run out of things to do…and it’s supposed to be an 80,000-word book.
Every day for the past, oh, month or so, I have opened up my work in progress, the story of Beta Tanaka and Danae Childress’s courtship, and stared at it for an hour or so. Adding a sentence here, taking one out there. And I haven’t substantially changed the total number of words.
This week, I had an epiphany. I’ve told all the story I had. What I really need to do is expand the story, which is going to require expanding the plot, which is going to affect the character arcs and the relationship arc.
So I might as well just come out and say it—I need to replot the danged book. Luckily I’ve had a couple of ideas already that not only expand the external plot, but also both protagonists’ character arcs. They also make the relationship issues (and resolution of those issues) more realistic and satisfying. Well, satisfying to me at least.
So, for those of you waiting on Beta Test/Beta’s Test/Testing Beta (or whatever the final title turns out to be), I’m sorry, it’s gong to be a while longer.
But I think it’s going to be a much better book.
Thanks for your patience,
Val
Spooky Man is in Town
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blocks, real life, Spooky Man, writing
Leave a Comment My husband has come down from his mountain lair this week for a visit, a resupply, and to get someone else to brush out the corgi’s undercoat for a while (and he had a magnificent undercoat this year from the mountains).
My six weeks of working from home in peace allowed me to forget how disruptive it can be to have a retiree in the house. He has no respect for my Zoom meetings, deciding he needs to talk to me right as I’m trying to listen to the head of our team giving the daily update from management.
Plus, he drinks two pots of coffee a day, while I go through about two a week. I’ve been to a grocery store three times since Wednesday (because he’s finishing off stuff that should have lasted through the week or longer), when I normally venture out once a week, usually on Sunday. And he wants the food he can’t get in the mountains–sushi, bacon cheeseburgers and sweet and sour shrimp, for example.
He’s adorable, but disruptive.
On the writing front, I’m stuck again, but I’ve got a few vague ideas as to why. This weekend I’ll try to flesh them out and solve them. Have a safe and sound weekend (please don’t defy any public health orders–they exist because people died, and you’re intelligent, thin, and attractive so you know this isn’t a hoax), and I’ll be back at the word mines.
Covid-19: Thoughts from an Ex-Public Health Analytical Chemist
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: pandemic, real life, writing life
Leave a Comment Thirty-mumble years ago when I was in organic chemistry lab, our professors created an experiment specifically to teach lab technique. We had to recrystalize and purify a compound called methyl orange. It’s basically a bright orange dye that sticks to skin particularly well.
We had to start with a given amount, go through the procedures and turn in the amount we ended up with. We also had to submit to an inspection of hands, face, and clothing. If there were any spots of orange anywhere, that was a fail.
Because the point was that chemists work with very dangerous material all the time. All. The. Time. And being sloppy with it gets people killed.
Then I spent five years in the Idaho state health lab. For four of those years, I was up to my ears (figuratively) in hazardous waste two or three times a week, because I received all the samples into the lab. I extracted the bad stuff from water, soil, whatever, into organic solvents that themselves weren’t good for me. We had high-volume fume hoods and we double gloved.
We also washed our hands a lot. Thoroughly. With soap and hot water. Everything was assumed to be contaminated until we could prove it wasn’t. Everything.
Same thing with the novel corona virus that causes Covid-19. You need to assume all surfaces and all air are contaminated. Wearing a face mask won’t protect you from contaminated air, but it will protect other people from your coughs and sneezes, at least a little bit.
You can catch the damn thing and be shedding virus for two or three weeks before you start to feel crummy. Weeks. Think about that. My state went into Stay-At-Home five days after the first case was confirmed, and that was only two and a half weeks ago. We’ve already had 10 deaths, and there are only 1.3 million people in Idaho, which is about the size of Great Britain.
I worry about the staff at my local Neighborhood Walmart. They’re essential employees, so they at least still have jobs. But more than half of them are over 50, and they’re in a place and a profession where they can’t exactly stay away from customers or each other. The last time I was there (a week ago), customers weren’t social distancing even a little bit.
I worry about doctors, nurses, and the truck drivers who keep delivering in spite of having difficulty finding places to eat on the road. I worry about the Amazon delivery drivers who bring me stuff I’ve ordered to be able to work from home.
I worry, and I stay at home, and I talk to my friends and colleagues over video chat. I keep doing my job. And I try to write stories about people in a situation just as worrisome, but who have a little more agency than I do.
They are going to emerge victorious at the end of the story, after a lot of sacrifice and strife. I can only hope that we do, too.
Quarantine: Day 11
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: real life, writers life, writing
Leave a Comment Most writers have day jobs. I happen to have a great one: I work as a localization project manager for a contractor at HP. I mention this because we were ordered (all HP employees and contract workers) to work from home on the evening of March 12th.
I have a background in public health, working as an environmental analytical chemist for the state lab for five years back in my misspent youth, so I was happy about this. The next day, as we were all gathering up equipment to go virtual for at least the rest of the month, the first Idaho case of COVID-19 was announced.
So I have been practicing “Social Distancing” since Friday the 13th. One trip to the grocery store (where are people storing all that toilet paper?), one visit from Spooky Man, a couple of trips for takeout—trying to keep at least a bit of the local service economy going without a lot of social interaction—and that’s the extent of my physical interaction with the human species for the last week and a half.
Now I know that any extroverts reading this are probably horrified right now. But I’m an introvert with good Internet service. Between Skype chats and Zoom meetings, I’m good. My cats are quite pleased that the servant is here all day. Other than eliminating the (short) commute, my life hasn’t changed much.
Except that I haven’t written a word of fiction since we went to working from home. And I don’t know why. I just…I guess my coping beans are being used for something else, but I have no idea what. I have given myself until the end of the week to be lazy, and then it’s back into the trenches.
I have to figure out the new plot hole that has appeared in my work in progress. And format the first HD collection (Valmont Contingency, Nobinata Gambit, & Ocasek Opportunity). And work on the historical that my critique partners keep asking about. There’s no shortage of author work.
See you after the quarantine!
The Valmont Contingency’s new cover
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cover reveal, new cover, new edition, publishing
Leave a Comment Ta-dah! Cover by Kanaxa, who is amazing.
Now to get the editing finished, LOL.
In Other News…
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: publishing, WIP, work in progress, writing
Comments (1) I have received the rights back to The Valmont Contingency, which means that I am no longer a Harlequin author. Well, right now.
It will be published in a second edition (the first Wylde Hare Press edition!) in the next month or two—gotta save up for a magnificent new cover and re-edit.
Next up will be The Beta Test, the third book in the Dozen Worlds series. I’m about halfway through the first draft, so that’s going to take a bit of time to be ready for real readers.
Happy dancing over here. February is going to be an excellent month.
Master Class with Screenwriting Guru Michael Hauge—in Boise!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: master class, Michael Hauge, writing
Leave a Comment On October 3, 2020, Coeur du Bois Chapter of RWA and the Idaho Writers Guild are co-presenting Michael Hauge on Story Mastery.
There will also be a hands-on workshop October 4th, but that is limited to 12 writers and I think those seats will be snapped up in a matter of minutes. But Mr. Hauge is a master of storytelling, and anything he has to say on the subject is well worth listening to.
This will be his first live master class in approximately two years, so we are giddy with excitement. Michael Hauge! In Boise! In October!
The date and place details have only just been nailed down in the last few days, so I don’t have any information on registration as yet, but the class fee will range from $110-135, depending on early bird status and group membership.
FYI, it will be held at the Hillcrest Country Club, so bring your good jeans or some khakis and nice trainers if you decide to go—they have a business casual dress code.
We’re still working on a block of hotel rooms; we have a hotel, but we haven’t signed anything yet.
I guess that means, technically, that this is a “save the date” post — watch this space, and cbcrwa.com, and https://www.facebook.com/groups/cbcrwa/ for more information.
Michael Hauge! In Boise! This October! Squee!
