Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Guest Post: Confessions of A Romance Author:
Arguing With My Imagination

My sexy blog buddies, please welcome Melissa Blue, an absolutely delightful writer friend of mine.  She's here to confess that she talks to herself like a weirdo.  That's okay -- every writer does it.  Hey, at least she's chatting up a sexy dude!

PS:  Totally buy her book, The One I Want.  Yummy sample and links below.

Take it away, Melissa...

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Micah Stamps, the hero in my latest release, is an alpha male. I love alpha males. They are strong, determined, natural leaders and as solid as they come. I hate writing them for all the same reasons, because at a certain point in the book (usually the third page) they get an idea of how things are going to be. One of the downsides of a being a natural leader includes making decisions that won't be popular. One of the downsides of writing a natural leader is having to write one of those unpopular decisions.

Around chapter two (he behaved for only a while) Micah decided he doesn't want his best friend/potential lover to spend the rest of her life living pay check to pay check. She has a number of qualities that would make her an excellent entrepreneur. So, he goes about this in a way that only an alpha male can—stubbornly.

Thus ensues this conversation:

Micah: Tell me I'm wrong.

Me: You're right, but you're going to go about it in the wrong way. Everyone with an XY chromosome will want to gut you.

Micah: But, I'm right.

Me: See, ok, but you're the hero. They're supposed to want to roll around in bed with you too.

Micah: Write me sexy then.

Me: Already done, but douche-nozzle will negate that.

Micah: Douche-nozzle?

Me: * blank stare *

Micah: * sighs * I love her. Show that and all will be forgiven.

Me: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Micah: * glares *

Me: You can glare all you want to. I'm just saying, who does that? A jackass that's who.

Micah: And that just circles us back to I'm right. I can live with being a jackass.

Me: You know what? I'm arguing with my imagination. I'm not going to write that. Be stubborn all you want, but I'm a writer. I know stubborn.

Micah: * stops talking to me for weeks *

Me: Ok. Ok. I have a deadline. Otherwise I'd have shuffled you off to where manuscripts die. Be all alpha. Farrah agrees with me so good luck with that!

Micah: So, you had to bring Farrah into this?

Me: Yup.

Micah: Throw your best at me and we'll see who gives first. 

And thus is why I hate writing alphas, because he was right. Thankfully, Farrah makes him pay and dearly. Yet, at the end of the day, I can't help but come to the conclusion that I argued with my own imagination and lost.

Bio:

Melissa Blue’s writing career started on a typewriter one month after her son was born. This would have been an idyllic situation for a writer if it had been 1985, not 2004. Eventually she upgraded to a computer. She’s still typing away on the same computer, making imaginary people fall in love. 

Where to find me online or places to sign up for my newsletter to get the latest news:


Blurb:

THE ONE I WANT
By Melissa Blue
When Farrah Kane comes home from New York she doesn't plan to fall into bed with Micah Stamps. He's demanding, stubborn, her boss and...her best friend. Except she makes the mistake of agreeing to be his roommate as well as his co-worker for the next three months. It's not long before their days are filled with work and their nights filled with passion. The question is whether their friendship will survive the heat and his stubborn ways. She wants to take her time getting settled into home and their new relationship. He seems to have other plans in mind...

There's no getting around the fact that Micah's best friend makes his blood run hot. Their platonic relationship could die a slow death as far as he's concerned. The year she spent in New York made him realize two things: He missed his best friend more than he should have and he never wanted to live without her again. Now that she is in his grasp—in his home—for three months, there's no sense in waiting to take the next step. Micah only has to convince his impulsive friend to settle down with him.

Their work and home life brings out all the differences between them and drags them to the forefront. Their hearts get in the way of their their well-laid plans. Now, they have to figure out if it's possible to still be friends now that they've become lovers.

Buy Links:
ARe

Excerpt:
  
THE ONE I WANT
By Melissa Blue 
She gasped. “What are you doing?”

“Something I should have done long ago.” Micah let her get used to the feel of his fingers twirling circles along her calf while he let himself get used to touching her.

Not in a friendly way, but in the way a man caressed a woman who made him go hot. Farrah didn't speak, but her breath panted out and the wonderful sound of it blocked out the voices on the TV.

He now knew how soft and warm she felt. It should have been enough. His face should have heated with embarrassment, an apology should have spilled from his lips, but Micah wanted to be the one to take her places.

So he slid his palm up to one of the thighs that had been tempting him since she'd came home. He stopped, hesitated at the thought of S&M and taking her places. The next move took no courage on his part because, at this point, the safe thing to say was he'd lost it. Completely and without remorse.

Micah applied pressure to the back of her knee. The dirty and underhanded action buckled her knee and sent her falling into his lap. She landed with a surprised yelp, and a smile tugged at his lips. Farrah was where he wanted her to be, eye to eye and lip to lip. Since he was well on his way to ruining a long-standing friendship, he decided to go for broke.

“What are you doing?” she asked again.

“I'm going to kiss you.” Actively severing their platonic friendship didn't change the fact he'd always tell her the truth if she asked him.

She narrowed her eyes, sniffed at him. “Are you drunk?”

Confused, he frowned. “No. Why?”

“Oh.”

She hadn't jumped up, slapped him, or done a number of things he'd expected. Intent, he took in her face. There wasn't surprise or shock, just curiosity in her knitted brows. Micah wasn't going to break this moment with a question. He'd ask later about her reaction. Instead, he ran his thumb over her chin, lifted up the delicate curve of her jaw. Worries and fears flashed behind her gaze. Before she could voice them, Micah placed his lips against hers.

Monday, August 12, 2013

In Which I Brag, BRAG, I Tell You!

Exalted Blog Chums, I've been busy.  Have you heard about my new book?  I hope so, as I rarely shut up.  And here I am to share more.




I've got a few great reviews for THE DIMPLE OF DOOM!  From Amazon:

This first installment of Lucy Woodhull's new Samantha Lytton series is like Janet Evanovich meets Entrapment. It's art heist hijinks plus steamy romance plus random fried chicken cravings. And it's utterly un-put-downable.

Dude!  She compared me to Janet Evanovich!

Soon I found myself up at 2 am still reading. Both Sam and Nate (or is it Richmond?) are both great characters with excellent chemistry and I found myself rooting for both of them from page one.

From daring (but funny) art heists to steamy hotel moments and shoot outs this was action packed, passion filled and funny from start to end. A must read if ever I have seen one.

Oh, shucks.

Perhaps the most telling marker for me is this: if the second (or third) book in the series was already available, I would've happily clicked "Purchase" at the completion of the first.

Holy crap.  I have such a writer pride boner.  Good thing you can't see me right now.

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I've got an interview up at Female First UK!  I talk about my inspiration for Dimple and where my thief hero got those hazel green/brown eyes.

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I'm giving away a copy of THE DIMPLE OF DOOM to a (hopefully) lucky winner on Marta Acosta's blog.  Stop by and allow me to explain the science of dangerous facial features to you.  You'll "learn" a "lot."  But feel free to purchase TDOD, as it's only a buck for a short time longer at Amazon, AllRomance, and Total-E-Bound.  Where else are you going to get such quality literature at a low, low cost?




Friday, August 2, 2013

Your Long, Torturous Wait Is Over -- THE DIMPLE OF DOOM Is Here!

Blog friends, a journey of 75,000 words begins with a single joke.  And thus did my journey to publication for THE DIMPLE OF DOOM begin with a potato ball (it was super yummy) and a harebrained idea about a secretary and an art thief who fall in love completely unwillingly.

And what a nice inaugural review to get:

"Ooh what a laugh. Here I am sitting reading my book and looking like a complete nincompoop for laughing out loud at what looks to the rest of the world like nothing. ... From daring (but funny) art heists to steamy hotel moments to shoot outs, this was action packed, passion filled and funny from start to end.  A must read if ever I have seen one." -- TheJeepDiva.com



My contemporary romantic comedy is available at most major outlets today FOR ONLY $.99!  (Linkys to Total-E-Bound (my pub), Amazon.com, AllRomance.  For Nook, Sony, & iBook users, buy from Total-E-Bound and choose the ePub format.)

A BUCK!

You could order one size smaller at Starbucks today and have money left over to buy an action-packed thrill-ride of epic proportions, and also filled with lots of sex, because why not?  Or hell -- you get that venti and still read the shit outta my book BECAUSE IT'S ONLY A DOLLA, HOLLA.

Here's the blurb:

THE DIMPLE OF DOOM
by Lucy Woodhull

It may sound like common sense, but never hump an art thief. Turns out, Samantha Lytton's Common-Sense-O-Meter is super duper broken.
Failed actress Samantha Lytton is getting along just fine in her lonely little life when a charming criminal called Sam or Nate or maybe even Richmond kisses her, square dances most provocatively, opens his not-so-wicked heart, and gets her in trouble with not one, but two international art theft rings as well as the LAPD.
She's either gonna end up in jail or famous.  Maybe both.
Along the way, she fights for her life and falls for this funny, sexy disaster of a man… and learns that finding happily-ever-after with yourself is the first step to real contentment. A cute dimple is just the second.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

PS:  I turned in the manuscript for Samantha Lytton, Book 2 (THE DIMPLE STRIKES BACK) yesterday, so more adventures to come!