Tag: Social media

Breaking it up – WIPpet Wednesday

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 32 Comments

Hi everyone! Hope you’re all well. I’m gradually adjusting to the cooler weather. Here in the UK it’s been quite sudden – we had an extended period of summer weather, but that’s over now and it’s well and truly autumn here. It’s a bit cold and I need to wear a coat when I go out – this time last week I was out in a T shirt!

Oh well – at least WIPpet Wednesday doesn’t change and I can share with you some more from my WIP Teaching Mr Leavis. I’m doing OK with it – I wrote over 1200 words on Monday which is a record for me. 🙂 But the trouble is I seem to have got quite far along in the plot without the word count reflecting that. So as of right now I’ve done 38,000 words and ideally I want to do about 70,000 in total, but as I say the plot’s kind of run away from me.

I think part of the trouble is that although I made a plan at the beginning, I didn’t plan out the middle part of the story as carefully as I did when I wrote Reunion of the Heart. OK, even in ROTH I deviated quite a bit from the plan, but I still had a clear idea in my head of how I wanted the story to get to its conclusion. I don’t have that with this one. I’ve been much more of a pantser this time around and I’m not used to dealing with it!

But at the same time I don’t want to go back and change things – I think it’s VERY important that I finish the first draft – even if I only get up to, say, 45,000 words. Then I will go back and do some MAJOR editing (and hopefully flesh it out a bit). After that I may ask for a volunteer – literally one person – to be an alpha reader for me. I don’t even want to let beta readers see it for some time! If you have any words of wisdom to offer, let me know!

All right, that’s enough writerly angst! As you may have guessed from the title of this post, the excerpt I’m sharing with you this week follows directly on from last week’s, which you can read here if you haven’t already! To recap Rebecca is trying to stop a fight between Jonathan Leavis, an obnoxious parent from the school where she works and Nick, a colleague of hers from the same school. I’m sharing 15 paragraphs. My maths goes like this: 8 +10 = 18 – 2 = 16 – 1 = 15

‘Oh don’t be ridiculous,’ Nick muttered.

‘I’m being ridiculous?’ Rebecca’s voice rose in volume. ‘I’m not the one trying to punch the living daylights out of someone!’ She felt her face grow hot with anger.

‘Yes, Nick, just stop causing trouble,’ Jonathan said, his tone arrogant.

Rebecca rounded on him. ‘I meant both of you!’ she snapped. ‘You’re not exactly whiter than white in all this are you, Mr Leavis?’

‘You can call me Jonathan,’ he murmured.

Rebecca blinked. ‘Right now I’ll call you anything I want,’ she said. ‘If it was in my authority I’d ask you to leave this club, but seeing as you own it…’ Her voice was clear and, as the music had long since stopped, her words carried across the room. There was a collective intake of breath as the audience of clubbers took in her words. Everyone seemed to turn to Jonathan and scrutinise him.

His face went redder if that were possible, and he gave Rebecca a look which she couldn’t fathom.

‘I’ll go,’ Nick said in a loud voice. ‘I was about to anyway before this knob head decided he wanted to have a go.’ Despite his bravado his voice was weary and his expression, although defiant, a little careworn.

He turned and began to walk away and this time Jonathan didn’t try to stop him. Rebecca glanced at Jonathan and saw a dark scowl marring his features as he watched Nick leave. Rebecca too turned away from him and was about to return to her friends when she felt a hand on her arm. She turned around.

‘What do you want, Mr Leavis?’ she asked him. She was blowed if she was going to do as he asked and call him Jonathan. And she was beginning to wish she’d never met him. Was he never going to stop causing her trouble?

His expression was guarded yet a little contrite. ‘I want you to know, Miss Engleton, that there’s more to this than meets the eye,’ he said in a low voice.

She sighed and looked him straight in the eye, noticing that he was gazing back at her with extreme interest and wondered what he was thinking. Why did he have to give her such brazen looks all the time? It was so unnerving. Rebecca felt fatigue beginning to overwhelm her and her limbs were heavy, as if she’d climbed a mountain. It’d been a long day.

‘There probably is, Mr Leavis,’ she said.  ‘But I’m too tired to hear your story tonight. Maybe another day.’ She resolutely turned and walked away from him, feeling his gaze still on her as she walked towards her friends, who by this time were standing close by in the crowd. Their expressions were a mixture of astonishment and admiration.

‘What was that all about?’ Karen asked laying a hand on Rebecca’s arm, an amazed look on her face.

‘I haven’t a clue,’ Rebecca admitted. ‘I just knew if I didn’t step in either one of them could get seriously hurt.’ She felt her legs becoming a bit shaky. ‘Can we sit down? I think I’ve got a bit of post-traumatic stress disorder,’ she joked.

So there you have it. To take part in WIPpet Wednesday all you have to do is post some of your recent writing work on your blog, then add your name to this. Rule: ideally the excerpt of your writing should relate in some way to the date. Don’t forget to check out all the other WIPpeteer’s contributions.

Thank you K. L. Schwengel for being our lovely hostess! 🙂

Romance Writer’s Weekly Blog Hop #lovewritechat

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 16 Comments

RWBanner

 Welcome to my contribution to Romance Writer’s Weekly. This week we’re answering questions from Beth Carter about how we write about our characters and how much of our own experience we bring  to our writing.

If you’re joining me from J. J. Devine’s blog, then welcome! I hope you enjoy my answers to the questions. 🙂

1. Which type of character do you prefer writing about: Sexy, romantic, sweet, quirky, mean, old, young, smart, silly or other?

I think for me it’s a mixture of sexy and romantic. I like writing about a guy who’s sexy, but also sensitive enough to the heroine’s needs to be romantic, so that it’s not all about him. But I also like to write about someone who’s hot enough to make my heroine start to think twice about him and maybe not write him off for being arrogant or whatever faults I’ve given him.

2. Have you ever killed off (or gotten back at) an ex in your writing? On paper of course.

No, I can’t say I have. I tend to use my intuition a bit when it comes to describing men who let the heroine down, or are love cheats and so on. I find it a lot of fun, though, to create these characters and scenarios, all that tension and heartbreak. It’s good to get creative with ideas about how a guy has treated or mistreated a girl and how she responds to that.

3. What hobbies do you have that you incorporate in your writing?

Actually my latest novel Reunion of the Heart has a writer as its heroine. So for me that was an easy one. I’ve also written about characters who have a love of reading and some of the books I love are the ones they love too.

Now why not hop along to A. S. Fenichel’s blog and check out her responses to the questions!

Fight!

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 35 Comments

Hi everyone! How are you? I hope OK. Here in the UK we’re just about coming to the end of our Indian summer. It’s been a very warm, dry September which is great for me as I hate winter and I want the warmer weather to last for as long as possible!

But at the same time the evenings are drawing in and I’m not used to that yet! It’ll be even worse at the end of the month when the clocks go back. 😦 Anyway, that’s my moan out of the way.

For today’s WIPpet Wednesday I thought I’d share with you 14 paragraphs from my WIP which I’m calling Teaching Mr Leavis. Thank you to all those who helped me come up with the title BTW – you know who you are! My WIPpet maths goes like this: 1 + 10 + 2 + 1. OK so I played around with the date a bit, but that’s what WIPpet Wednesday is all about!

To give you a bit of context this scene takes place BEFORE last week’s excerpt. Rebecca and her friends are at a nightclub. Rebecca has already had an encounter with Jonathan Leavis at the club. She’s seen her friend and colleague Nick (from the school where she teaches)  there too, who she likes. (She’s not keen on Jonathan!) Although she’s seen Jonathan, her friends have shown up and everything is going OK until this happens:

Two men were standing facing each other with their fists clenched, looking as though they were about to engage in fisticuffs. When Rebecca saw who the two men were, her mouth fell open. It was no less than Nick and Jonathan Leavis. What on earth?

‘Isn’t that…’ Michelle trailed off.

‘Yes it is,’ Rebecca replied. ‘Why are they arguing?’

‘Maybe they’re arguing about you,’ Karen piped up in Rebecca’s ear.

‘Get real, Karen,’ Rebecca said, then wondered for a moment if she might be right. But that couldn’t be so. She shook her head as if to clear it from troubling thoughts, and she and her friends watched engrossed while the argument between the two men continued. While she couldn’t hear clearly what was being said, Rebecca could tell from their body language that Nick and Jonathan were incandescent with rage at each other.

‘I won’t!’ Nick’s shout reached her ears. He looked as though he were about to turn around and leave, but Jonathan caught his arm and forced him to turn back and face him.

‘You coward!’ Jonathan yelled. He shook his head and turned his face away from Nick for a moment. Bu this proved to be a bad move. Jonathan was caught off guard as Nick landed a punch on his chest, clearly winding him. Although Rebecca couldn’t see well in the half-light of the club, Jonathan’s face looked almost purple. Nick turned to leave again and Rebecca watched, biting her lip with tension, as Jonathan rushed at him, pushing him over.

‘Why doesn’t someone do something?’ she muttered. But it seemed that everyone was enjoying watching what was happening too much to intervene. It looked as though Nick and Jonathan were going to get into a full blown fight. Someone was going to get seriously hurt. She shook her head. Standing up and ignoring her friends’ protestations, Rebecca left the alcove and weaved her way through the crowds of onlookers until she had reached the space where the two men were.

Saying nothing, she walked into the centre of the space and positioned herself so that she was standing in between them. Her lips pursed, she glared at them.

‘What are you doing, Rebecca?’ Nick asked, pulling himself up off the floor. It was the most he’d said to her for days. His face was red and she noticed that his eyes were bloodshot. He sounded annoyed.

Rebecca felt a hand on her arm. She turned to see Jonathan, a calmer, serious expression on his face.

‘Yes, Miss Engleton, this is between Nick and me,’ he said.

‘Maybe it is,’ she replied. ‘But you’re about to hurt each other. Couldn’t you at the very least do it outside and allow the rest of us to continue with our evening?’ She paused, looking from Nick to Jonathan and back again. Jonathan’s face was as red as Nick’s, if not more so. But his eyes were their usual dark hue.

‘Better still, cut it out,’ she said finally. ‘I really don’t want to have to be the one to call the police or worse still an ambulance.’

Hoped you enjoyed that! As always your comments are welcome. WIPpet Wednesday is open to anyone who’d like to share a bit of their writing. So if you fancy doing that just post a bit of your latest work on your blog. Then add your name to this. Don’t forget to check out the offerings from the other WIPpeteers.

Thanks goes to K. L. Schwengel for hosting. 🙂

Romance Writer’s Weekly Blog Hop #lovewritechat

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 6 Comments

RWBanner

This is my first week of taking part in Romance Writer’s Weekly! It’s a weekly blog hop for us romance writers to answer questions about our writing and generally help each other improve as romance writers. So take a look.

If you’ve joined me from Brenda Margriet’s blog, welcome.

This week we’re answering questions set by Vicki Mixon. Enjoy!

1.) Was there a defining moment in your life when you knew you were going to become a writer? If so, what was it?

I don’t think there was ever a defining moment in my life when the mist parted and I knew I was going to be a writer. It was more a gradual process, a slow realisation that writing is what I enjoy and do best.

2.) When you write a story do you see it unfold as one big picture, or do you add layering in subsequent drafts?

A bit of both if that makes sense. To begin with I think about the overall story, how I want it to unfold, and I plan for that. Then as I make a more detailed plan the story becomes clearer to me. But I do change and add things later, following the advice from my beta readers, but also thinking myself about what I feel is working and what isn’t.

3.) How many drafts do you usually write before you send your work to your editor?

I write the first draft then go through it with a fine toothcomb to improve on it, creating a second draft. I often change scenes or add bits. I also check for spelling mistakes, typos and so on. That is the version that will go on to be edited.

Now why not go and check out Veronica Forand’s blog and see what she has to say about her writing process.

‘Lower Education’ Cover Reveal!

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ Leave a comment

I’m pleased to be able to share with you today the cover reveal for Lower Education, the upcoming novel by my fellow author and WIPpeteer Amy Leibowitz. Read on to find out more and to see her great cover!

Lower Education

By A. M. Leibowitz

Publisher: Supposed Crimes, LLC
Publication date: November 1, 2014

Synopsis:

Phin Patterson is an educational consultant dissatisfied with his job and his life. On a mission to complete one last assignment before escaping his unfulfilling career and figure out what he wants, he accepts a commission from Donald Murdock at the New York State Education Department. Suddenly, he finds himself on his way to evaluate a tiny school in New York’s Southern Tier, not far from the town where he grew up. Now his only goal is to get in, do his job, and get out before anyone from his past remembers him.

That turns out to be easier said than done. Dani Sloane, the sharp-witted administrative assistant to the principal, learns the truth about why Phin is really there. With the help of her friends, she sets out to unmask him and force the local board of education to stop the plans that could ruin their school. Discovering that her sometime-lover is an old business associate of Phin’s only complicates both the situation and their relationship.

Meanwhile, Phin, who has committed himself to keeping his emotional distance, can’t resist the charm of the town and its residents—especially the school psychologist, who turns out to be an old friend he hasn’t seen in over twenty years. While Dani works to take him down and save her school, Phin wrestles with learning how to do the right thing, including telling the truth to the man with whom he’s already falling in love.

 

And here’s the cover:

Lower Education Cover

Excerpt:

He pulled out his phone and glanced at it. “Listen, I need to go. Dani, what time do you want me to come over to help Jake draw his display board?”

“Is nine okay? We need to be at the school by eleven to set up, and the fair starts at noon.”

“Sure thing.” He grinned at the group. “Good night, ladies. Alex.” Once again, his face colored just a little when his eyes flicked to Alex. With that, he was off.

Dani watched him go, shaking her head. “Pied piper,” she muttered.

“What?” Eunice asked.

“You know—the pied piper. He got everyone to follow after him, thinking he was solving the town’s rat problem, only then he stole the children.” She laughed. “I’m just being paranoid. Where are the kids? We should get going—long day tomorrow.”

 

Purchase Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lower-Education-M-Leibowitz-ebook/dp/B00NCA48TE/

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/473664

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lower-education-a-m-leibowitz/1120325979?ean=2940046149760

Author bio:

A. M. Leibowitz is a spouse, parent, feminist, and book-lover falling somewhere on the Geek-Nerd Spectrum. She keeps warm through the long, cold western New York winters by writing romantic plot twists and happy-for-now endings. In between noveling and editing, she blogs coffee-fueled, quirky commentary on faith, culture, writing, and her family.

Find me on the Internet:

Web site: http://amleibowitz.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amymitchell29 (personal profile); https://www.facebook.com/UnchainedFaith (author page)

Twitter: https://twitter.com/amyunchained (@amyunchained)

Pondering – WIPpet Wednesday

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 33 Comments

Hi everyone, hope you’re having a good week so far. I’m getting back to doing more  work on my writing than I have been. I managed over 1100 words on my WIP Teaching Mr Leavis yesterday which is good for me. 🙂

What’s not so good is that  I can’t access Facebook on my laptop at the mo. It keeps telling me there’re no posts to show and that I should find some friends. The cheek! I can get it on my tablet and my smart phone so you might think it’s my laptop that’s the problem, not Facebook. But actually my husband helped me rejig the internet yesterday and it’s still not working.

All the other sites I use are working so I’m fairly sure it’s not my problem. Sort yourself out Facebook! *shakes fist in the air* If any of you are having problems with Facebook too please let me know.

Anyway thankfully I can still access WordPress which I’m glad about. So I can share with you my contribution to this week’s WIPpet Wednesday. My maths is simple as always. I’m sharing with you 23 sentences – 24 for the day minus 1 from 2014.

In this excerpt from Teaching Mr Leavis, a romance about a teacher,  my MC Rebecca is cycling to the school where she works, going over recent events in her mind…

The alarm woke Rebecca with a start. She almost leapt out of bed with shock. Rubbing her eyes she pressed the off switch, wishing she could stay in bed. Was it really Monday already? Where had the weekend gone? It was definitely Monday though; the weekend was well and truly over. Feeling woolly headed as she got ready to cycle to work, Rebecca found herself yearning for a coffee. But there was no time.

Out on her bike, cycling away from her flat towards Wyncliffe High School, Rebecca found the cool air whipping across her face soothing. Then thoughts from her eventful weekend began to invade her mind and she felt less settled. In spite of her best efforts, she found herself thinking about Jonathan Leavis. He was certainly an enigma. Then again so was Nick.

Rebecca recalled his behaviour over the past month or so. When she’d first started work at Wyncliffe he’d been so attentive to her, so kind. He’d made her feel that he felt something for her, and she’d certainly been attracted to him. But he’d never said anything; he hadn’t done wrong by her. She hadn’t exactly had her heart broken.

Thinking about it as she powered up the final hill towards the school, Rebecca found herself becoming convinced that Nick’s distance towards her lately had something to do with his argument with Jonathan. Something had happened between the two men to make them want to duff each other up. But what? She decided she’d try and grill Nick about it today. If he’d talk to her that was.

If you would like to take part in WIPpet Wednesday all you have to do is post an excerpt of whatever you’ve been working on writing-wise lately. The only ‘rule’ is that you relate it in some way to the date. Then add your name here. And don’t forget to check out what the other WIPpeteers have shared too.

Thanks as always goes to K. L. Schwengel for hosting. 🙂

 

Just a short WIPpet

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 36 Comments

Hi all. How are you doing? (Yes, OK I sound just like Joey from Friends!) Anyway I hope all is well with you. I’m still fighting off this virus – I’m taking a long time to get rid of it. Urgh.

So because I’m tired and not wanting to do too much as I don’t want to be too knackered to do go out tonight, I’m sharing with you nine lines for the month from my WIP, which I’m tentatively calling Teaching Mr Leavis. (Thanks to all of you who commented on my WIPpet a couple of weeks ago with ideas on how I could tweak the title!)

In this scene my MC Rebecca is at her sister Maria’s house and they’re having a heated discussion about who should deal with their parents. I should add that Rebecca grudgingly accepted a life home from Jonathan Leavis the previous evening. That’s all I’m gonna say though…

Rebecca watched as her sister shut the cupboard door with unnecessary force and turned to her. Her brow was furrowed; Rebecca could feel an argument brewing and she wished herself back in Jonathan Leavis’s car – anywhere was better than here.

‘I don’t see why you had to dump them on me, Rebecca,’ Maria said, her face red.

Rebecca sighed and picked at the piece of cake on the plate in front of her. She raised her eyes to her sister. ‘I can’t cope with Mum and Dad descending on me at the moment, Maria,’ she said. ‘School’s just too busy and…’

‘That’s always your excuse, Rebecca, isn’t it?’ Maria interrupted. ‘I mean, come on, it’s been months now.’

And that’s all you’re getting! If you’ve never taken part in WIPpet Wednesday and you think it’s something you’d like to do, all you have to do to join in is post an excerpt on your blog of whatever you’ve been working on writing-wise lately. All we ask is that it relates in some way to the date. Then add your details here. And don’t forget to check out the other WIPpeteers’ offerings as well.

Thank you oh Queen of the Monkeys K. L. Schwengel for hosting us. 🙂

Workplace Blog Hop

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 10 Comments

IMG_1631

Last week Charles Yallowitz tagged me in a blog hop. It’s to show a picture and talk about your workplace. Then I get to nominate some other bloggers to do the same. 🙂

So this is it: the photo on the left is my desk with my pink (yes pink!) laptop where I work. (As well as my pink camera and phone case! Yes all right, I do have a thing for pink – I just like the colour!) And no the desk isn’t always that tidy lol! I’ve had to play around with how I position everything because I was getting an aching back and limbs.

I got myself the most expensive desk chair that Ikea do, as well as a footrest, stand for my laptop and plug-in keyboard. So now I only get a slightly aching back at times! Honestly I would say I have terrible posture – I never seem to get it right at home or at work.

Anyway my desk is at one end of the dining room, facing the window where I can see our lovely trees at the end of our drive. We are in the middle of a city, but it is a leafy one and I love it! So the view from my desk isn’t half bad. 🙂

I try to write whenever I feel able – I’d like to say I write every day but it just doesn’t happen. I’ve got this lingering virus which isn’t helping at the moment either. Last week I was away for a few days. Hubby, dog and I went down to Cornwall (SW England) for a couple of nights, which was lovely but did mean that I didn’t get any writing done. After that I felt unwell so today is my first writing day for a week!

So that’s me. Here’s the list of bloggers I’m nominating. Apologies if you’ve already done it – I will totally understand if you don’t want to do it again!

Shehanne Moore

Adrian J Smith

Sarah Hart

ReGi McClain

 

Slave Again – A review

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 4 Comments

Slave Again

Hi everyone! Hope you’re all OK. I’m still suffering from this virus that won’t go away. 😦 Anyway enough of that. I’ve got another review to share with you.

It’s a review of a novel by my fellow indie author and WIPpeteer Alana Terry. The novel’s called Slave Again and it’s the followup to her brilliant debut novel The Beloved Daughter.

So without further ado, here’s my review:

I enjoyed Slave Again as much as The Beloved Daughter. Terry writes beautifully and draws you into the story.

Dealing as it does with human trafficking, and unflinching in its descriptions of the physical and emotional torment faced by the young women it depicts, Slave Again has scenes which are brutal at times. But the violence is not gratuitous, just realistic and wonderfully written.

As the reader I felt such sympathy for many of the characters in the story – even those who at times weren’t likeable – as Terry manages to make all of them feel real and human. They’re not black and white; they make mistakes, even do terrible things but I could connect with them and feel their pain.

I would recommend Slave Again to anyone who enjoys a well written, pacy and exciting novel, full of suspense and intrigue.

You can buy Slave Again from Amazon.com and Amazon UK.

I’m still after book reviewers!

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 8 Comments

roth

Just a quick post to say I’m still keen to find book reviewers for my latest novel Reunion of the Heart which I released a few weeks ago.  I’m happy to send a free copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

In case you don’t know anything about it, it’s a romance about a young woman who returns to her school for a reunion.  Here’s the blurb:

After a messy breakup with her boyfriend, Anna is feeling fragile.  So when her best friend Melissa suggests the two of them go to their school reunion, she’s reluctant as Anna’s school days weren’t her happiest.  The evening is going well until she meets the boy who made her school life hell.

But the grown up Will is different and Anna is surprised by the direction her life takes.  The reunion sets in motion a series of events that lead Anna to realise things will never be the same again.

‘Reunion of the Heart’ is a romance that will lead you to ponder whether love can atone for past mistakes.

If you think that it’s something you would like to do then please email me at: elaine (dot) jeremiah (at) gmail (dot) com

Thank you!