Writer's Workspace: Sandra Orchard

PHS is delighted to have a sneak peak into Love Inspired Suspense Author Sandra Orchard's fantastic office!

 

What a treat to be invited to share with you! I hope you enjoy this peek into my workspace.

Over the years, I’ve gone from commandeering small corners of the house to now having my own office with every organizational perk I’ve ever wanted. Like the journey to being published, my dream office took years to build.

My first investment was this large bulletin board, which I use as a storyboard. I divided it into four rows of five chapters each to see at a glance where my major plot twists should happen. When ideas come to me, I write them on post-it notes and then pin them in the general area where I think they might fit.

Along the side of the board are charts outlining the typical plot points I’ll want to touch on in the hero and heroine’s journeys.

The cupboard is great for laying out materials I’ve gathered in research, not to mention all that filing space. I love filing space, which brings me to my next acquisition…

I looooove this organizer. It’s actually a little empty since I cleared away the notes and drafts from my two now-published books. I keep workshop notes from online classes in the binders. For another series I’m working on, I use a portfolio with clear plastic sleeves to store the character, setting and plot details I’ll need to remember from book to book.

I use that spool of paper on the bottom right shelf when brainstorming. I write out ideas and connect them like a giant mind map diagram.

Of course, my desk is the heart of my writing center. My husband gave me the iMac for our anniversary last year. Isn’t he a sweetheart? It’s made a world of difference to my productivity--much less fatiguing than working on the old PC laptop and 100x faster. I use MS Office for Mac, and save my documents to Dropbox. That way, when I want to sit somewhere else to write or edit, the documents sync to my netbook.

A few weeks ago I added a RollerMouse Pro 2 to my ensemble. It’s a roller bar that sits below the keyboard so that you don’t have to keep reaching to the side for the mouse. Hopefully, this will relieve the repetitive strain of hours spent at the computer. I’m also contemplating adding a ball chair to help tone those stomach muscles at the same time. Yes, I’m serious! I see that they now sell them with swivel bases. Of course they wouldn’t offer the same toning benefit, but I’d hate to give up my ability to swivel because this is the other side of my desk.

Yes, I know. I am totally spoiled. Of course, I’ll often curl up in the recliner near the woodstove with my notepad and pen, instead. Words seem to flow more effortlessly when writing in longhand.

One last item I want to share is a screenshot from my computer. For years I’d heard authors who use Macs rave about Scrivener software, so to celebrate the release of my debut novel last fall, I treated myself to the software. Ironically, now that I finally have a Mac, they’ve just released a PC version!

I’m currently using Scrivener to organize my next book. I’ve barely scratched the surface of its extensive capabilities, but I love how I can keep my research files, photos, character sketches etc., at my fingertips along the right sidebar, as well as, scene summaries, notes and a myriad of other details along the left sidebar. The screen pictured is called the storyboard which lines up all the notes I’ve made for each scene, or in this case, plot ideas I’ve collected. The only downside so far is the need to repeatedly export scenes to a Word doc to send to my critique partner.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this cyber walk through my office. Have I inspired any changes to your own workspace?

Sandra Orchard hails from rural Ontario, Canada where inspiration abounds for her romantic suspense novels set in the fictional Niagara town she's created as their backdrop. Shades of Truth (March 2012) is the second book in her Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense series, Undercover Cops: Fighting for justice puts their lives—and hearts—on the line.
Sandra is currently running a giveaway on Goodreads. It close soon.

Sandra enjoys offering her readers book “extras” to enhance their reading experience. You can check these out, along with other resources for readers and writers, at her website: http://www.SandraOrchard.com or connect at: http://www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard

A Date With Kate - My Mother's Legacy

Next Sunday would have been my mother’s birthday. She would have been 96. She was born in Clones County Monaghan in Ireland - the same place as the boxer Barry McGuigan but years apart. She was, quite simply, an amazing woman. But then I would say that – wouldn’t I?

But that little girl born March 3rd at a time when Ireland was torn by deep divisions and violent rebellion, grew up to become the young woman who won not just one but three different scholarships to Trinity College Dublin, but was unable to take even one of them up because she became ill with tuberculosis. In order to recover, she went to live in Davos, Switzerland where she met, amongst others, the poet Llewelyn Powys. The truth is that she wasn’t terribly impressed by him as a person, but I have several books he gave her that are signed to ‘a beautiful young poetess’ – so he seems to have felt differently about her!

The outbreak of the war brought her home to Ireland and to marriage to my father. She had met him in Dublin, when her brother brought a friend along when they went to a production of Julius Caesar starring James Mason. She spent most of the war years in England, looking after children in a nursery and becoming the Warden of ‘a club for directed women workers’ in Newark, Nottinghamshire. Later, she and my father moved to Yorkshire. She had five daughters, of which I was the third.

Sadly, my parents’ family broke down. She moved out and started training to be a teacher, gained her teaching qualification, a degree, became a teacher, then the deputy head at a junior school, then a counsellor at the local Catholic High School. She worked tirelessly for the local church and community and finally became a female deacon, being awarded a Papal Medal by John Paul II in 1981. She was deeply involved in bringing together differing faiths and communities and even travelled to Pakistan as part of a group wanting to strengthen links between them. When she died we had a dozen different priests of different denominations who all wanted to take some part in her funeral because they valued her so much.

And that’s the briefest summary!

Cancer took her from us too early, just at the very start of my writing career, but at least she did know about it. In the same summer that we learned she had the terminal illness, I got the letter (we didn’t get ‘The Call’ then!) from Mills & Boon to say that they wanted to buy my very first book, The Chalk Line.  It came just in time. I was able to tell her that I had achieved my dream of becoming a published writer and in the last few months of her life to show her the contract when the revisions were accepted and the book finally bought.

Sadly, she never read that book – she wanted to wait, to see it in print and read a published copy, but died six months later without ever having seen it. But she did know about it and for that I will always be grateful.

My mother taught me to read. She instilled in me a love of books and reading. Because of her there were always books available at home to feed the reading hunger she created. She also dreamed of being a writer herself and had several poems published in her early twenties. I have one hazy memory of her sitting at a writing desk we had in our Yorkshire home, writing away on what I thought were letters, but later, discovered that in fact she was working on some children’s stories. I don’t know what happened to those tales – which is such a pity as I think she would have been a magical story teller herself. My sisters and I spent many happy hours listening to the stories she told us as we settled in bed, ready to sleep. None of those stories came from books but were the creation of a vivid imagination that wove long, fascinating stories about ‘Toodie in Booland’ - a place where Rosa and Fanny Rosa lived in a cottage by a pond, with their friend Duck - and ‘The Land of The Beeweedonians’!  She used to leave those stories at an exciting point, always ending with ‘But you’ll have to wait until tomorrow . . .’  so bringing home to hook that a cliffhanger  provided without ever having to explain what  that word meant.

She also read aloud to us – often by a real coal fire so that we cold curl up beside her,  close our eyes, and see the pictures in the story inside our heads where the images were much more vivid in our imaginations than any illustrations – much the same as it’s said that radio plays always have the best scenery because you imagine it for yourself. And listening to those stories, concentrating solely  on what I was  hearing, focusing on the way characters behaved, the dialogue they spoke was the best possible training ground for learning how a novel worked on an instinctive and gut level.

I have no doubt that listening to those stories and then drifting off to sleep with them in my head, I took the first steps on the road to becoming the writer I am today, with a storytelling skill learned, literally, at my mother’s knee! I made up stories to myself, finished off the tales she hadn’t yet  brought to an end, imagined how the characters she had created or read about would have behaved. And I learned the basics of simple, straightforward story-telling , building up excitement, using dialogue as a result.  Though I have to admit that I always say that I got my first book published when I mentally told my mother to go away and stop peering over my shoulder when I was trying to write!

She never actually did, of course, but it was just that thinking about her - or anyone else - reading what I'd written - was terribly inhibiting and stopped me from writing freely. So I had to put all thoughts of that out of my mind. But I would have loved to have seen her holding and reading that very first book of mine.

One of the strongest and most  important legacies my mother left was the love of books. There were always books available.  Always time to read – and always time for those story telling/reading sessions. The times that I remember even now when I’m setting out to write  one of my own books.

Thanks Mum – and Happy Birthday. I wish you could see the books that are lined up on my shelves now – and I wish we could be celebrating your 96th together.

Who gave you your love of books  and reading? Was there someone who first influenced you to love stories, who read aloud to you  – or who helped you learn how to tell those tales that we all enjoy?  I have a small giveaway of a 3 in 1  collection  By Request – His Suitable Bride to give away to one person who leave a comment. This has a reprint of my story Cordero’s Forced Bride – and it also has a  novel by Abby Green in the collection. Which is appropriate because Abby shares my Mother’s birthday on March 3^rd.  Happy Birthday for Sunday Abby!

Kate’s latest novel The Devil and Miss Jones is out today  in Mills & Boon Modern Romance and will be released in Harlequin Presents Extra in April. You can find out all her latgest news on her Web site or her blog.


Charlie has picked a winner for the copy of His Suitable Bride  - and the winner is
SHERRY
I'm also adding a special extra prize - as a birthday gift for  Rita's sister who share my mother's special day (I'm sure she'll let you share it Rita!)
Ladies, please send me  your postal addresses to kate AT kate-walker.com

Writer's Wedsnesday: Research, Reading and Real Life

Presents Extra Author Natalie Anderson explains how real life can impact books

Often when writing category romance we touch on issues and experiences common to many people. It is very important to me to research properly and I try to have a believable, authentic reaction from my characters to the situations I put them in (given their own personal histories).
The kinds of situations can really vary and you can be sure if you get something wrong, a reader will let you know! The last thing I want to happen is have a reader ‘pulled out’ of a story by something that they know not to be accurate.
So I’ve had characters with a heart condition, who’ve miscarried, who’ve suffered terrible bereavement (so many sad things!). I’ve always taken extra care in detailing medical things – not all absolutely tragic though – for example where drummers get calluses on their hands, or perhaps the more unusual ways in which contraception can fail. And of course there’s research to be done about career, education and setting – you want the Eiffel Tower to be in Paris, not Rome (unless you’re writing some kind of sci-fi or futuristic fantasy).
You really want to make sure you have your facts right and you do try to have everything accurate.
But sometimes, even with the best will and effort in the world, things can happen between writing the story and the book actually hitting the shelves that can really impact on the accuracy of an element within a story.
Back in 2010 I began working on a duo – two linked stories. These two stories were set in Christchurch, New Zealand (my home town) and then in September of 2010 there was a magnitude 7.1 size earthquake. Incredibly no one was killed but many buildings were damaged. Then, in February 22 2011 there was a 6.3. In that one we lost 185 people. We lost hundreds of buildings – whole suburbs have been abandoned. It was devastating. At the time, I’d completed the first story and it was through to the copy editor. I was drafting the second. So, the ‘fairy-light lanes’ that I had the couple in the first book strolling through, no longer existed. Our central city was decimated (and most of it is still cordoned off from public access). Of course, the rugby stadium and team that featured in both books were completely fictional – a good thing as our real stadium is condemned.
In the first book, I was able to put a few sentences into in the very final copy editing stage that just briefly mentioned the quakes. The second book I put a little more reference in. But it was eight or so months off publication – who knew what the city was going to be like by then? I really hoped there’d be no more quakes, I never imagined we’d have been through over 10,000 quakes the year later, or that we’d have had almost 1000 buildings demolished. But all you can do is your best and one thing about the short category romance is that the focus of the book is on the developing relationship between the two characters. You don’t really have loads of word space you can devote to descriptions of setting. So I put in what I could and focused on the characters and very much how they were reacting .
I didn’t have Roxie lose her home because of the earthquake, but I did have it come under threat from something else and how she reacted to that? I was seeing it in so many different ways, every day.
What we’re looking for ultimately I guess, in the wonderful escape that can be romantic fiction, is emotional truths – in the relationships, actions and reactions of our characters. So while the research that we do adds to our ability to convey that, ultimately it is the characters themselves who we must believe in. Their actions are everything.
And with that in mind, I’d like to leave you with the dedication from the second book in this duo – FIRST TIME LUCKY? The people to whom I wrote this dedication showed their great character to the world at our time of need:
For the University of Canterbury’s Student Volunteer Army – thanks for showing, in the most fantastic way, that the brightest lights on Christchurch’s horizon not only have brains and beauty, but also the most tremendous hearts. You’ve been such heroes, and you’ve proved how positive our city’s future will be.

First Time Lucky? was out in the UK in January and is coming out as a Harlequin Presents Extra in May 2012.

Forced to grow up too quickly, Roxie skipped too many all-important “firsts”. Now, armed with a six-point checklist, she’s ready to get going – staring with the big one – losing her “V” plates! A hunky doctor, Gabe Hollingworth, has moved in next door. He’s a one-night only pro – and smoking-hot! Perhaps he could help her out...?
Only, Gabe wants to be more than just another tick on her “to-try” list! He sets Roxie a challenge he’s sure she can’t accept: walking away from their insane chemistry...

USA TODAY bestseller Natalie Anderson writes fun, frisky, feels-good contemporary romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon and Entangled. With twenty books published, she’s also been a Romantic Times Award nominee & a finalist for the R*BY (Romantic Book of the Year). She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her husband, four children and what feels like a million ducks.
Find out more at her website www.natalie-anderson.com
On Twitter @authornataliea
On Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/authornataliea

A Writer's World - Learning Through Teaching - Annie West

Hi everyone, and welcome to the second instalment of my 'Writer's World'. Thank you to those who've written to me with suggestions on topics you'd like covered. You've given me great ideas for future posts.

In the meantime, I'm touching on an aspect of writing I hadn't really thought about before: the way we learn through teaching.

I'm not a teacher but in the past several years I've enjoyed running some workshops for aspiring writers. Yes, workshops publicise your books (I'm hoping at least a few of the attendees were interested enough to check out my books) but that's not why I agreed to get involved. For me the underlying sense was of giving back a little to the community of readers and writers that I've always found so supportive. It was at a workshop talk by Emma Darcy and Miranda Lee that I got the idea for what was to become my first Harlequin Mills and Boon book. More than that, reading articles by published authors and attending workshops by people who knew so much more about the writing world than I do helped me understand and hone my skills. They still do!

But I've discovered another huge benefit to a little teaching. I learn too. The enlightenment isn't all one way. Every time I've taught in a workshop (whether a large one at a conference or a small one at a library or festival) I've learned from the participants and other presenters. Sometimes it's a different way of looking at something - an angle I'd never perceived before. Sometimes it's a comment that makes me look at my own work a little harder and more critically.

The process of working out a schedule of topics and exercises to be covered, the finding of examples and quotes, the preparation of handouts for participants and the other research is time well spent. It's so easy to focus on the next book, the article that's due, the blog that needs to be written and the emails to be answered. Taking time out from my normal routine to focus on the theory and practice of romance writing is a little luxury that pays off for me too. I usually find some new teaching resource or quote that makes me think about what I'm doing with my own work.

In addition to the research, there's the need to distill ideas to get your point across to people who may not at first understand what you're explaining. That synthesising down is a wonderful process for me as, again, it makes me focus on whether I'm using that particular principle in my own writing.

The same happens when I read entries for a contest. It's so much easier to spot a problem in someone else's work than in your own. But when you read a first chapter overburdened with back story or with stilted dialogue, it's a wake up call to check if you're doing the same.

Besides all of that, it's lovely to be with people who are enthusiastic about reading and writing romance. I've included a couple of photos here from a Valentine's Day romance writing workshop I did with fellow author Cathleen Ross in Sydney. I was so impressed with the writing of the attendees and with their friendly and professional attitudes.

How about you? Do you enjoy teaching? Even if you're not a professional educator, many of us have mentored other staff in the workplace. Then there's volunteer work that involves helping others learn. There's passing on craft skills or teaching your children anything from catching a ball to school subjects. Do you get a buzz out of seeing others pick up the skills you're imparting? Do you get something from the process of teaching? What have you learned about yourself when you've helped others to learn?

I'll give a signed copy of my upcoming March release, GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT to one person drawn at random from those who comment. This title was just awarded a CataRomance Reviewers' Choice Award!

Annie has two March releases: GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT in North America and GREEK AFFAIRS: TEMPTED BY THE TYCOON - an anthology of 3 stories available in the UK. To read excerpts of these or her other books, pop by her website, and keep an eye out for her new contest starting there on 1st March.

Male On Monday :: Oscars edition!

The Pink Heart Society editor Jenna Bayley-Burke tuned in to the Oscars last night because we love well-told stories. The artistry of the gowns. And because every man looks better in a tuxedo.

Awards shows give us the opportunity to see our favorite stars at their absolute best. We know they spent as much time getting ready as a bride on her wedding day, and we appreciate the effort...as we sit on the couch in our pajamas.

It all begins on the red carpet - attendees pose for pictures, talk with interviewers, and recite the requisite 'who are you wearing'? I'm still waiting for a cheeky gal to respond that the best accessory is a well-dressed man. One of these days...

Think about it...Angelina and Stacey look better for having Brad and George next to them, don't you think?

People were talking about Sascha Baron Cohen's bizarre stunt of tossing pancake mix on Ryan Seacrest. Needless to say, no one will be copying his style.

True to form, Kermit kept it classy. There are some men you can always count on.

Inside the theater, I was wowed by the men of Cirque du Soliel. The strength, flexibility, and control. Amazing.  

Did you watch the Oscars? Which male has you talking this Monday?

Check in with Jenna Bayley-Burke on her website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, and now Pinterest. Jenna's latest release, For Kicks, hit ereaders everywhere last week.

“For Kicks is as decadent as a chocolate layer cake, as bubbly as a flute of champagne and as exhilarating as a roller-coaster ride. Bayley-Burke writes blood- pumping contemporary romance that will leave readers energized.” 4 1/2 stars, Romantic Times

Call Story plus Giveaway: Robin Perini

The Pink Heart Society is very pleased to welcome debut Harlequin Intrigue Author Robin Perini with her very special Call Story and Giveaway

Have you ever had a day when your life just changed—but you didn't realize how much until later?

It was January, and I was tired. I'd been really hopeful that my story, In Her Sights, would be my first sale. But it had been in a publisher's hands for almost six months. It felt too long (not that I haven't gotten a rejection after 18 months, but you know when you get that 'feeling'). Besides, my heroine was a sniper. Not typical. A risky, strong, powerful heroine. I'd even rewritten the book to strengthen the hero so he would be a match for my heroine. I loved the book. I had a bad feeling.

Flash back to November 2010. I had only waited four months at the time. But, I decided to go ahead and enter the Romance Writers of America®'s Golden Heart® contest. (Okay,…actually, I hadn't planned on entering. I mean, isn't five Golden Hearts enough for anyone? My best friend, fellow writer and Golden Heart Finalist, Claire Cavanaugh, cajoled me into sending them off.) I entered In Her Sights AND my latest completed manuscript, Stolen Lullaby. Both risky books. What was I thinking? Except, I really loved the stories. Danger, intensity and a poignant family drama. Heart-pounding suspense and heart-wrenching family drama. That's what I love to write. It's what I hope I deliver.

I wasn't holding my breath even though I had five Golden Heart finals under my belt. And I had already started a new book called Unwilling Witness.

Now, back to January. First came the toughest day I'd had in a long time. I received a rejection letter on In Her Sights. I was devastated. I cried. I railed. I ate chocolate. That being said—my upset lasted all of a day. Truly, rejection wasn't an uncommon occurrence. Over the years I've received more than I can count…but this was…I had really hoped… Let's just say it was a real bummer! I had a hard time falling asleep that night, but the next morning I got up at 5:15 am and kept on writing. I had a new book to finish.

Still, in my heart, I loved my heroine, Jazz, A SWAT Team Sniper. Weeks went by. I kept writing. My literary agent, Jill Marsal from Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, asked me if I would be interested in submitting In Her Sights to Amazon for a new romance line they were starting. I said 'yes'. I wanted my sniper heroine, Jazz, to have a home. She deserved her story.

Then, in late February, 2011 (almost exactly one year ago) I was at work in my office. Jill called me and asked me if I was sitting down. Amazon's Montlake Romance wanted In Her Sights. Luckily, I WAS sitting down because my knees shook, my breath caught and I screeched. Several people ran down the hall to my office, hoping nothing was wrong. Montlake hadn't been announced yet, though. I couldn't TELL anyone!

Still, I didn't stop smiling all day! And bit my tongue for several months. Until the end of May to be exact. So, what do you do when you've sold, but you haven't sold a book? You keep on writing.

Remember those Golden Heart® entries? Well, In March, 2011 I finalled with both In Her Sights and Stolen Lullaby. Now I had Seven Golden Heart finals. Was this amazing or embarrassing…or a little of both? I can't deny my excitement though. I knew my books were going to be judged by editors. Sometimes Golden Heart finalists receive requests for the completed manuscript from editors. That had never happened to me…but maybe this time.

And I kept writing on my new book, Unwilling Witness.

Toward the end of May, 2011 I received a phone call from my agent, once again asking me if I was sitting down? You guessed it. During the Golden Heart judging process, my manuscript, Stolen Lullaby, had garnered some attention. The editors were sending the proposal up the chain at Harlequin Intrigue. My heart stopped. I screeched. I screamed. My office mates came down to see if I was okay. I was more than okay. The very next day, Jill called with an offer on Stolen Lullaby. The following day, my amazing editor, Allison Lyons called me.

I never did learn who the Golden Heart finalist judge was, but I owe her a huge thanks. For believing in a risky book. And I owe so much to the amazing editors at Harlequin Intrigue for their faith and belief in me.

And remember that book I kept working on? Well, I sent in the proposal in June, 2011. And in August got a 2-book offer. Four books sold between February, 2011 and August 2011.

And it hasn't ended. In Her Sights came out in November, received a very nice Publisher's Weekly review as well as 4.5 stars from RT Book Reviews. Finding Her Son (aka Stolen Lullaby) comes out next month and received 4.5 stars from RT Book Reviews as well. "Perini keeps the tension taut, the romance irresistible and the mystery...deep." The next two books come out in July and October of this year. (Cowboy in the Crossfire, July 2012 and Christmas Conspiracy (October 2012).

And just this month (less than one year after that first call, I agreed to continue the story of the Montgomery brothers from In Her Sights as Montgomery Justice in a three-book deal with Montlake Romance.

Seven Golden Hearts. Seven Sales. One year. Yeah…it's been a dream come true. I know I keep repeating myself, but I can't help it. I'm giddy still.

I just have to say to everyone out there, keep growing and learning, dare to follow your dreams and be persistent and focused in your pursuit. You can grasp the rainbow, too.

Do you have an example of a way in which you persisted or do you know of someone who inspires you? I'd love to hear any stories. Comment and earn a chance to win an autographed copy of Finding Her So

I love to hear from readers. You can catch me, read excerpts, read reviews, sign up for my quarterly newsletter or mailing list, and even request trading cards or a Kindlegraph on my website at www.robinperini.com. I'm also on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

You can learn more about Robin and her books on www.robinperini.com. Finding Her Son is available wherever good books and ebooks are sold.