Happy Hump Day! Now is the perfect time to read a book, and I’d love for you to read one of mine. These are three of my most recent books. Hopefully, you’ll find one (or more) you would like. Thank you.
From the moment she saw him, Rose was lost. His bronze skin gleaming in the sun, his long dark hair streaming behind him in the wind—the proud Ute warrior mesmerized her. But to be with White Owl, she would have to defy her family and forsake everything she’d ever known. Their families were at war, but White Owl would settle for nothing less than Rose’s flame of red hair and her clear blue eyes. He would risk his honor and his life, because when one soul calls to another, true love knows no bounds. http://www.amazon.com/White-Owl-Veronica-Blake-ebook/dp/B004IK92PM/
Treasure lies deep in the Superstition Mountains, but is it worth the price… Mateo Two Moons’ family has guarded dark secrets and unspeakable horrors for centuries. His Apache Blood Clan is dhampyre—half human, half vampire. But he will risk revealing the truth concealed in The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine, exposing his entire family, and even his own existence to claim his human mate and change the perilous fate of his clan. Dawn Malone’s move to Arizona to teach middle school has expanded her horizons. Meeting new people, hiking the desert wilderness, and the lure of gold fever in the old mine is exactly what she needs. The handsome Apache she encounters seems almost too good to be true. Mateo Two Moon’s sexy, dangerous air draws her in, seducing her heart and soul. But her intrigue concerning the secrets he keeps turns to confusion and horror as she begins to realize the man she’s falling for could be something she didn’t even believe existed.
Adopted by the Sioux as a young child, Meadow thinks of herself as one of the People, until a white visitor to their camp notices her pale coloring and begins to question her background. On the verge of consummating her vows with the virile young chief who’s captured her heart, she is torn from the life she loves while he must risk his freedom to rescue her. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BT8WB2M/
One more day! I’m more than a little excited to finally see Superstition go live. Once again, thank you so much to all of you who have hung in here with me through all the trials and errors of the past few years.
Today I’m going to tell you about the promotions for Superstition that will be going on for the next few days and I’m going to be doing a question and answer session here on my blog. Ask me anything about writing, or whatever. Let’s talk!
Superstition will be featured or presented on the following sites in the next week:
Affair de Coeur Cover Contest: I will be posting more information about voting.
TWRP/ Some Like It Hot: This is a Facebook Blog Hop from June 9-12. Over a hundred Wild Rose Authors are participating in this exciting event. That’s over a hundred chances to win a prize! Please stop by my page tomorrow for all the details.
Thank you for sharing this incredible journey with me. I couldn’t do it without all of you!
Ask me some questions here in the comment section and I will get back to you as quickly as possible. Tomorrow I will be hanging out on my Facebook Page where I’ll be celebrating the release of Superstition! WooHoo! Please stop by and help me party.
It’s hard to put into words how much music affects my mood and enhances my life. This is especially true when I’m writing. The sound of songs I love playing in the background adds to my creativity in so many ways. My taste in music is very eclectic. Rock will always be number one with me. But, I can get into a good country or bluegrass song, too. The following links are the songs I listened to over and over again when I was writing Superstition. I’ve really been enjoying listening to all of them again while I’m putting this post together.
A few years ago I wrote this little blurb and I think it sums it up best: Music…moves me, inspires me, touches my deepest emotions and my darkest desires. It gives me wings to soar over the highest summits. A song can change my day, my mood, my world. Sing to me and I’m yours forever. Take my music from me and I will simply fade away like a vanishing mist…Veronica
Superstition Play List
Casper: Derek Blake
This is my amazing oldest grandson, aka D-Rock. I’m biased, but I think he’s just great! He lives in Fort Collins, CO, and plays regularly all over Colorado and on many nationwide tours. When he released this song last year, I just couldn’t stop listening to it, especially when I was writing.
I loved the original, but I really LOVE this version. The gritty sound of David Draiman’s voice just moves me. The song didn’t inspire anything in my book. But just listening to it when I’m writing is inspiring to me.
This song was relatable in the worse way when I was very depressed about trying to switch genres from historical romance to contemporary paranormal romance. I listened to it way too much and let it get me ‘down’ way too much.
As I mentioned before, I’m a rocker chick, and not a big fan of country. But thanks to my upbringing, I am a country girl in some ways, too, and there are some singers and some songs that just inspire me regardless of their genre. Chris LeDoux and his songs touch me deeply. I listen to them when I’m writing because they tell a story and I’m telling a story. His words have meaning to me. Tougher Than The Rest…the song and the video just make me what to write about dynamic heroes and the fierce women they love! His songs are constants when I’m writing any book.
Another song I love to listen to when I’m writing, especially when I’m writing a love scene. When this song is playing, I can clearly see my hero looking at my heroine with the greatest love and deepest devotion ever. Inspiring? Oh, so much! Candles burning softly are a must when listening to this song.
Just another Chris LeDoux song that I find has so much meaning to me. Every book hero and/or heroine tempts fate. In a romance novel there is no escape from the destiny set in motion from the very first word, and that is what creates the conflict we all love to read about. For some reason, I wasn’t able to just post the link, so you’re getting the entire video picture. ??
Bella’s Lullaby: Carter Burwell
If you know me at all, you know that I’m a HUGE Twilight fan, also known as Twihard or Twiheart. I love this beautiful piano solo and I love to listen to it when I’m feeling mellow and writing is coming easy. A glass of wine is always nice with this song, too.
Another beautiful song from the Twilight Saga. It was perfect for the wedding scene in Breaking Dawn, Part One, and it makes me think of my own hero and heroine in Superstition. Their love is so great that not even forever is long enough.
Kid Rock is one of my all time favorite musicians. I love everything he does, but this song was just seemed to be one that fit my mood while I was writing Superstition. Mateo and Dawn always feel like makin’ love.
I loved this song as soon as I heard the title, because my hero, Mateo, could only come out at night. Night time felt special—beautiful—when he was with my heroine, Dawn.
Everything Stevie does, I love. This is an old song, but I enjoyed listening to it when I was writing. Mateo is my favorite book hero…I loved writing about him. He sets my world on fire.
I’ve always liked this song. But, it related to Superstition, because it makes me think about how Dawn would get sick when Mateo bit her. His vampire bite was like venomous poison. Perfect!
I Will Follow You Into The Dark: Death Cab For Cutie
My talented grandson played this song at one of his concerts I was fortunate to be at, and the words reminded me of how Dawn would follow Mateo anywhere, even if it meant she could die.
I love Halestorm. I love this song. Sometimes, I just need to rock out when writing. When this song comes on my playlist, I take a break from the computer and dance around the room and do a little head banging. It’s probably scary to see (I’m old), but it keeps me young and it’s inspiring. Haha!
Today is Sunday Funday. I’m going to share some fun stuff that reminds me of scenes in Superstition and some actual quotes from the book that I think are fun. I hope you enjoy them.
“Then they politely said goodbye to me like I was no longer worth their time, and waited out here on the sidewalk until he finished screwing you with his eyes and talking dirty in your ear. They all took off while you finished having a Mateo-gasm back there in the middle of the restaurant.”
No fangs? Nothing about Mateo Two Moons was typical, not even his vampire bite, she determined with an aggravated huff.
Now, I’m not saying this salsa, named Mateo’s, or wine called Superstition, and the street sign by the same name of my hunky hero, are all products of my book, but hey, the salsa does say it’s not responsible for obsession. I wouldn’t mind someone being obsessed with my new book!
Did women in this day and age still swoon, she wondered? That old-fashioned word might be the only one to describe what she was feeling right now, and she knew about these old fashioned things because, after all, she was a history teacher.
Today she really did feel like she had been rode hard and put away wet. She would never leave home without her vibrator again.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes and tried to focus on the note. Please don’t let it be filled with bad news like, ˜Dear Easy One-Night Stand, Wish you had higher morals, but you don’t, so I won’t be seeing you again. Bye Bye.
Chloe walked into the apartment and snickered. “And you’re obviously still trying to catch up on sleep. He must have worn you out, big time. Seriously, you look like hell. But in a good way, of course.” She smiled and shook her head. “Wet dreams. Pizza Porn. And now this.”
This is one hell of a sexy look you have going on here, Miss Malone. You are giving a whole new meaning to fringe.” He cocked one brow, adding, “And my people do know our fringe.
Tomorrow I will talk about my book dedication. Thank you for joining me on this journey.
Now available for pre-order in eBook and paperback! Watch for news about the
upcoming release of the audio book. Release date: June 9, 2017
My first eleven books were Historical Romance. I wanted to do something different–something I had always wanted to do. I wanted to write a Contemporary Paranormal Romance about vampires. Switching from writing about the people and lifestyle of the 1800s to present-day shouldn’t be a big deal, right? WRONG!
In my humble opinion, I was pretty familiar with the customs, language, mannerisms, etc., of the Old West. As I’ve talked about before, I was so lucky to have a ‘real’ cowboy dad, who lived by old-fashioned values, and loved to tell stories about the days of the American West. It was fairly easy to write my own stories of romance and adventure in the Old West based on tales I had been hearing all of my life.
It only took me a couple of chapters into my new book (and new genre) to realize I was in trouble. Writing in a contemporary voice as opposed to a historical voice was a whole different writing style. I rewrote those first chapters over and over again. They just didn’t sound right.
I decided to write the entire book and then I would worry about finding my contemporary voice. Easier said than done. After writing a chapter or two, and sometimes even just a few pages, I would delete it all and start over again. I wanted to give up. I desperately wanted to write this book. It was a vicious circle.
My beautiful daughter-in-law, Heather Blake, was my oldest son’s wife. She was also an avid reader and one of my biggest fans. Ever since she had became a part of our family, she was my writing mentor. I would call her constantly while writing a book and bounce ideas off of her. Heather was always straightforward, and I knew I could rely on her to tell me exactly what she thought. We had talked many times about my idea to write a vampire book, but when I was finally ready to give her a rough draft…whoa…I was not prepared for her response.
I will just write the highlights of her comments the way I remember them. Keep in mind, this book was also my first attempt to write erotic romance. “Oh my God! Why didn’t you warn me that this book was so explicit? Do you know how hard it is to read that stuff knowing that your husband’s mom wrote it? I just skipped those parts. Okay, so Mateo is magnificent. I can picture him clearly in my mind. What a hunk. Love him! But, Dawn…yuck. She’s supposed to be this experienced camper and big-time hiker, but she can’t remember to bring matches? Please! What a ditzy blonde. Can’t stand her. Mateo deserves so much better.”
Ditzy blonde? Yuck? Mateo deserves better? Oh my God! By the way, there is another blog post here called ‘Ditzy Blonde’ that was inspired by Heather’s reaction to that first draft. Needless to say, it was back to the drawing board. I started over again, virtually changing everything but the locale and the names of my characters. Heather had also mentioned that she wanted to know more about the history of Mateo’s vampire clan, so I worked hard on developing a story about the Blood Clan and their origins.
Motivated (and a little gutted) by Heather’s candid remarks, I rewrote this manuscript over and over again. There’s another blog post here entitled ‘The Death of a Manuscript’ that was inspired by my relentless quest to find the voice I needed to finish this book.
It took me five years to write this book, which was just insane. I gave up completely on it several times, and stubbornly refused to work on it for months at a time. But, I thought about it constantly, and my love for my characters, Dawn and Mateo, kept drawing me back in. They had a story to tell and they deserved a chance to tell it.
Throughout all this time, my wonderful daughter-in-law was my constant sounding board for all the story changes and ideas. Tragically, she suddenly became ill two years ago and passed away on July 29, 2015. I loved her (and still love her) like my own child and one of my best friends. Her loss is indescribable for all of us, but especially for my son and their two boys. How I wish Heather could be here now to read the finished book, and to celebrate the release of Superstition with me. I would give anything to hear one more ‘brutally honest’ critique from her. On release day, I will be looking up at the Heavens and whispering, “Thank you, my beautiful angel.”
Tomorrow is Sunday Funday. I’m going to be posting some fun (and silly) stuff about Superstition. Thank you for joining me on this journey.
Now available for pre-order in eBook and paperback! Watch for news about the upcoming release of the audio book. Release date: June 9, 2017
Mateo Two Moons. He is compassionate and loving; tender and protective. Of course, he’s drop-dead gorgeous and a magnificent lover. He’s an Apache, and oh, did I mention he’s also a centuries old vampire?
Dawn Malone has got her act together. She’s a woman looking for adventure and loving life when she relocates from Colorado to Arizona. She only wants to concentrate on her teaching career and explore her new surroundings. Falling in love with an ancient, but irresistible, vampire who plans to take her to a hidden village in the Superstition Mountains and make her his eternal mate was definitely not in her plans.
Although I knew the Superstition Mountains were the ideal location for my clan of vampires to dwell, in the beginning I was not sure about having a contemporary vampire hero who was Native American. I had read many books about vampires and seen lots of movies about immortal blood suckers, and a present-day Native American vampire just didn’t seem to fit the part. It only made sense he would be an Apache if he lived in the Superstitions, but I still struggled with this when I first started writing this book.
In my previous historical romances I’ve had several dynamic Native American heroes, but this one had to be entirely different. As I finally started to envision this unlikely leading man, I could see a gorgeous man dressed casually in jeans and boots, but still with long raven hair, a shimmering dark gaze, and smooth bronzed skin. He would drive a big truck that would be as sexy as he was. A modern-day vampire hero of Native American descent was starting to look pretty darn good. The name Mateo Two Moons just popped into my head somewhere along the way and it seemed to fit.
Once my hero starts to become real to me, it’s easy to create my heroine. She just needs to be the woman of his dreams. That’s easy, right? I knew I wanted Mateo to have an Apache name to call her by once in a while, so I did some research. I found the name Udaya, which meant Dawn in the Apache language. It was perfect. Both of my main characters were now ready for their story to unfold.
When developing characters for a book, I sort of feel like I’m giving birth. In my mind, I know everything about these people that I’m creating—from the time they are born until they die—even though I’m only writing about a brief period in their lives. While I’m sitting at the computer writing, I literally become these characters and feel as though they are just letting me be the instrument that chronicles their story, because they truly do write their own narrative once they become fully developed in my mind. Even though they are like my babies, and I give them life, I never know what path they will take us on until they lead me there. I love them as if they are real. If they are sad, I cry. When they are happy, I rejoice. If they are in the throes of a wild sexual escapade…well, I wish I could join them.
While surfing the Internet one day I saw a picture of a guy that took my breath away. The instant I saw him, I knew he looked exactly like I pictured Mateo. Not long afterward I saw a picture of a beautiful blonde girl that looked just how I imagined Dawn. This was the first time I had actual pictures of the characters I was writing about. In my past books, they were only images in my mind or resembled an actor/actress in the movies or on TV. It’s been so fun to be able to look at those pictures and feel like I was actually looking at Dawn Malone and her sexy vampire, Mateo Two Moons.
I learned that the man in the picture was a model from Sweden named Filip Gustavsson. If he only knew how his picture has inspired some of the most erotic love scenes I’ve ever written, well, he’d either be flattered or embarrassed.
Recently, I found out the picture of the girl is actress Kate Upton. I’ve never seen another picture of her other than this one that looks like my heroine, but in this picture she is my Dawn. After seeing the cover that was created by my publisher’s artist, though, I realize that Dawn and Mateo have never looked more perfect than they do on the actual book cover.
Although I’ve loved all of my heroes and heroines in my other books, I have to admit, Dawn and Mateo are my favorite. I hope you enjoy their passionate love story as much as I do.
Tomorrow I will talk about how hard it was for me to switch genres from Historical Romance to Contemporary Paranormal. Thank you for sharing this journey with me.
Now available for pre-order in eBook and paperback! Watch for news about the release of the audio book. Release date: June 9, 2017
Today begins my ‘Ten Days of Superstition’. For the next ten days I am going to share something about my soon-to-be-released book, Superstition, and the long journey that finally produced the finished novel. This will lead up to the release date on June 9, 2017.
The first words of Superstition, which I originally called Savage Bite, were written while I was in Forks, Washington doing a book signing for my eleventh book, White Owl. I had been invited to be a guest during the town’s annual celebration for Stephenie Meyer’s vampire series, Twilight. I was staying at the most picturesque place at the edge of one of the most beautiful forests I’d ever seen, and there was a little deck at the back of my suite. I was sitting out on that deck one evening staring out at the lush foliage, completely in awe of being in this magical place.
It was no wonder to me, why Stephenie Meyer had chosen this magnificent area for the location of her Twilight Series. As I thought about her fictional vampires romping around in those thick dark woods, I knew the time had come for me to fulfill my lifelong dream of writing about vampires, too.
Years earlier, I had picked a different genre for my writing path. My amazing father was a real cowboy who loved the history of The Old West. I shared his love of this by-gone era. So, when I started writing romance novels back in the 1980s, I chose to write historical romance, mostly because I had grown up listening to stories about cowboys, outlaws and Indians. I will always be a fan of this time period, and rugged cowboys and sexy Native American men will forever make me swoon.
But, also years ago, I had become a huge fan of vampire movies and books. When I was about ten years old I watched my first Dracula movie with my mom and aunt. It terrified me, but not as much as it fascinated me. That was the beginning of my vampire love and it has only grown throughout the years.
Dracula, whether he was portrayed as a hideous monster or a drop-dead gorgeous hunk, was the ultimate seducer. With nothing more than his intense stare he could entice his victims to do anything he desired. Women eagerly offered him their necks so he could quench his unearthly thirst. Then, after he had stolen all that they had to give, their immortal corpses were devoted servants to him for eternity. Wow. I knew there was some serious romance material there.
So, on that beautiful evening, in that enchanted site in Forks, the idea for my first vampire novel was born. I grabbed my laptop and started writing my ideas down. Tomorrow I will talk about why I chose to write a vampire book with a Native American Hero and the location I picked for the setting.
Now available for pre-order in ebook and paperback! Release date: June 9, 2017
Join the Scarlet Rose authors for a night of books, fun and plenty of heat between the pages to keep you warm on these cold winter nights!
I’m excited to be spending this Friday night with a few of the other authors who write the hot and sexy books for the Scarlet Rose line at The Wild Rose Press. Although I don’t have a release date for my first erotic novel, Superstition, I will be talking about this upcoming book, as well as anything else that anyone might be interested in talking about. I hope you will join us all on Facebook Friday night for this fun event!
FYI…the times listed are for Eastern Standard Time. I’m listed at 10-10:30 pm, but in my Mountain Time Zone it will be 8-8:30 pm.
Dawn. This was the first time I had actual pictures of the characters I was writing about. In my past books, they were only images in my mind or resembled an actor/actress in the movies or on TV. It’s been so fun to be able to look at those pictures and feel like I was actually looking at Dawn Malone and her sexy vampire, Mateo Two Moons.
Veronica Blake, Writer 