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Off the Road & Onto the Page – Orr What? Wednesday

Great Read, Kindle Bargain, Writers Life,

Country BridgeThirty-three years ago I gave my first writers’ conference presentation at what may have been the first New Jersey Romance Writers Conference. This past weekend I gave what may be my last presentation to the same group.

That long-ago conference took place in either a church basement or a community center. I honestly can’t remember which. Probably because I was a nervous wreck at the time. I do remember the space was divided down the middle by an accordion wall so two speakers could present at once.

At some point in my talk a head peeked around the partition and asked if the people in my audience could please laugh less loudly. It was then I discovered that when I get nervous I get funny. I also discovered that the podium comes as naturally to me as breathing.

In the long laugh-filled time since then I’ve been known to appear at as many as twenty-five writers’ events a year. I traveled the U.S. I did gigs across Canada. I even appeared in Europe to audiences of English-speaking authors.

It is a major understatement to say I had a wonderful time and participants in my workshops seemed to share my joy. Way back in the beginning I mastered the art of being witty without jangled nerves as my motivation. I had found that my true motivator was to teach what I’d learned as a published writer and editor and literary agent.

There are still lessons to be taught as I enter what i think of as my fourth career in this business – as an Indie Author now. That was my subject in Jersey last weekend. We’ve Got the Power! – How Choice Changes Everything About Publishing Today. More lessons remain to be taught indeed – But no longer by me.

My main goal and my enduring dream through all of these years has been to write full-time someday. Now I’ve decided to grant myself the gift of fulfilling that dream. I have loved my years at the podium. I have especially loved the wonderful writers I’ve been blessed and privileged to meet and befriend.

I will be around of course. I still love writers’ gatherings and I won’t stop attending them. I’ll simply be in the audience from now on. And in the hallways and the restaurants and the cocktail lounges too. Wherever my writing sisters and brothers come together – I’ll be there.

But for the most part it is off the road I go and onto the page of the stories I’m so very ready to write. And the blog posts too where I will continue to pass on whatever I may learn to whomever may want to read what I have to say. Maybe that will be you.

In the meantime –  “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.” Henry David Thoreau.

Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com.

RR

My eBook A WRONG WAY HOME – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 1 – is FREE  online. My 13th novel   A YEAR OF SUMMER SHADOWS – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book #2 – is available too. Find them both – along with my other titles – at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B000APC22E. I look forward to meeting you on the page.

Conference Heat Hits Riverton Streets – Riverton Road Monday

Kindle Bargain, Romantic, Writing Tips, ,

Heat Wave imageI spent the past weekend at the New Jersey Romance Writers Conference and I learned a lot. I learned to steam up the heat index of my Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series.

I’m not saying my previous books aren’t hot. In A Year of Summer Shadows Mark and Hailey cook in her kitchen so slam-bang hard the pots and pans are rattling off the shelves. And in A Wrong Way Home Matt and Kara warm the spring buds to bursting in more than the garden.

Still – on Friday night when I listened to my dear friend Anne Walradt read excerpts from the Put Your Heart in a Book and Golden Leaf contest winners – I knew it was time to hit the hot-stuff button until my readers beg for mercy.

That must have been noodling in my head all night long because I woke up Saturday morning and wrote a scene that had my own home fires burning. This scene appears in A Villain for Vanessa – Riverton Road Romance Series Book 3- Bobby and Vanessa’s Story which will be coming – pun entirely intended – soon.

I’m going to see how much I dare excerpt from that scene here. But – I warn you – if sexy situations are not your cup of tea stop reading now.

The roaring winds and yesterday’s rain had done their worst. Colored leaves lay in a blanket of slick stems and soggy points among the tangle of exposed roots beneath the tall, broad tree nearest to her car. Vanessa needed to think about the tangle she was in personally and how to extricate herself.

Instead, she found herself catapulted into the tangle of herself and Bobby in each other’s arms on the Kalli porch. He’d pulled her close and surrounded her with a power she hadn’t anticipated. He was usually careful not to overstep, but he wasn’t careful last night. He hadn’t so much moved past the boundary of propriety between them as he’d crushed it beneath his feet and lifted her into a place that was only him – his scent, his breath, his mouth, his everything.

He held her so tight she couldn’t have pushed him away if she wanted to, and she didn’t want to. She’d wanted more of him, every inch of his body, with no coats or jeans or sweaters in between. She longed to see him that way, naked against her, and herself just as naked pressing into him. She longed for that now.

Vanessa hadn’t put her gloves back on after leaving Wilson’s store. Her hands should be chilled to the bone, but they were hot. She breathed deep, long breaths as her fingers edged her coat aside and wandered over her thigh. She knew that wouldn’t be enough.

She engaged both hands, grabbing the waistband and snap of her pants, pulling them open and pushing the zipper down. Her fingertips were against her bare skin, flaming skin on flaming skin, moving downward beneath the flimsy fabric of her panties until she found the place she needed desperately to touch.

She reached between the….

Okay. That’s as far as I think I should go here. My guess is you get the direction I’m drifting toward. I will simply close by saying this. As the scene continues – a lot more than the autumn leaves whirl wild and end up wet.

RR

A WRONG WAY HOME – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 1 – the eBook – is FREE at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T9RVGGC. It is also FREE at Barnes & Noble and iTunes and KOBO and other online platforms. A YEAR OF SUMMER SHADOWS – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book #2 – is available at those same platforms including http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZBOTH5O. These are my 12th and 13th novels and I keep delivering the heat in number 14. Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com.

 

Go Confidently – Ask Alice Saturday

Kindle Bargain, Promo Tip, Writers Life, ,

Go Confidently Coffee Mug imageQuestion. What is your most important advice at this moment?

Answer. “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.”

 That message is printed on the mug I gave away to ten of my newsletter readers. It’s the same mug I have my coffee in every morning. Not the exact same mug of course. I sent brand spanking new clean ones to the winners.

I wanted to share this particular gift because of what it means to me. I read that Thoreau quote every day and on many of those days I need to be reminded of his words. Whatever path we each may have chosen – life can be daunting. I definitely feel daunted sometimes.

It’s easy to forget how essential it is to “Go Confidently.” Even easier to feel we’ve misplaced our confidence altogether. That’s when we must behave “as if.” Act as if you are your most confident self. Ham it up even. Until you convince others and maybe yourself too.

We must also figure out exactly where “the direction of our dreams” may lie. Most of us have done that already but some are still sheepish about saying the words. As if we might shatter those dreams and prove them illusive after all. Shout your dreams to the universe. Do it now.

Plus we often tend to tell ourselves on some level that we don’t truly deserve “the life we’ve imagined.” Or at least we don’t have a chance of achieving it. I disagree. We each deserve fulfillment and we’re more likely to find by going confidently in our dream directions.

A lot of advice to gulp down with a cup of coffee. That’s why this is an extra-large mug.  I find having these words in front of me every day keeps me mindful of keeping my mind full of the positives. I hope it does the same for my ten contest winners and for you too.

P.S. To sign up for my newsletter and be eligible for my next giveaway go to my website at www.aliceorrbooks.com.

RR

 

A WRONG WAY HOME – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 1 – the eBook – is FREE at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T9RVGGC. It is also FREE at Barnes & Noble and iTunes and KOBO and other online platforms. A YEAR OF SUMMER SHADOWS – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book #2 – is available at those same platforms including http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZBOTH5O. These are my 12th and 13th novels and I’m headed confidently toward finishing number 14. Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com.