Fire and Ice

The last two days of the week went by quickly and uneventfully. I enjoyed Mom's Night Out at Pastabilities...The drink was good, the food...eh. I've had better. I'm sorry I spent twelve dollars on it, when I could have had another drink instead. We finished the night at Katz, a martini bar. I had a Fat Tire, which is beer, but I didn't want to mix anymore liquor in there. The one I had at the first place was stroooong! The company was more than great and I met another gal, Kathy. I can't wait until next month when we do it again. Dougherty's here we come!

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So, the real purpose for my blog post. Julie Garwood. Fire and Ice.



I think as writers[especially new writers], we all worry about how we're going to label our next book. Is it a cozy mystery? a romantic suspense? a chic lit?

Is it more light than dark? Serious or funny?

I picked up Fire and Ice and expected a traditional Romantic Suspense--this term bugs me to no end because it implies that the story is suspense with elements of romance, but usually an RS has strong guidelines for the Hero and Heroine and their subsequent Happily-Ever-After. That's what makes it a romance. To me, that means it's a Suspentic Romance, but hey! No one asked me.

In any case, I really liked how Mrs. Garwood put her story together. Her characters seemed so real to me. They weren't overboard emotional...though they did reveal themselves poignantly. I did end up feeling like the H/h were meant for each other, but without the drama of melodrama. [does that make any sense?]

The entire book really struck a chord with me. Maybe you'd have to read it to see what I mean... it's possible I'm not putting this to words very well. [shame on me! LOL] The romance in this book was strong, yet strong enough to take the back seat and NOT backseat-drive.

This is my writing perspective of Fire and Ice.
Tomorrow, I'll post my review for it on The Girls on Books [the link is in my sidebar. Click the pic!].

POV Frustrations

I spent the last 5 days at the beach. I had a wonderful, quiet time with my family...my parents, grandmother, sister and brother-in-law, nephews, and my own kids.

I did some reading which I'm embarrassed to say, happens less and less often. I finally finished that Christina Dodd and started a Linda Howard...in the car, I listened to a Julie Garwood. And this is where my story really starts.

In 1999 Julie Garwood's book, Ransom was published. I really liked listening to this story! She's not one of my regular reads but I'll pick one up here or there.

[a quick aside...Am I the only one who thinks of 1999 being not that long ago? I suppose we're coming onto 10 years soon but 1999 is NOT a previous generation [in books], is it?]

My reason for questioning this is Garwood's lack of proper POV usage. She was all over the place in this novel. Bouncing around like a big red ball in seventh grade gym class during a dodgeball game.

My problem has nothing to do with her use of POV! It has to do with the fact that I still enjoyed the story! I had no problem feeling the characters. I had no problems with confusion or wondering what was going on or who was doing what, saying what... Honestly, if I hadn't decided to start writing stories, I probably wouldn't have even noticed.

I've been spending months...months, I tell you!...limiting my writing. Limiting my use of ing verbs, -ly descriptions, that, was(okay, I understand the was and has been and really boring verbs...) and I'm tired of it!

I want to hone my craft but what I've done is hog-tied my creativity. It's why my stuff is flat crap. So, I'm turning a new leaf. This may not be a free for all but it will be all...

All of my skill...
All of my creativity...
All of my instinct...
and all the lessons I've learned and will learn from this day forward.