Writers Plot

Snippeting: The Reckoners

posted by Doranna

It's sharing time!

From the first chapter of The Reckoners....


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Sklayne stretched his awareness into their new location, sheltered by an unfamiliar spreading bush. ::green sharp smells, twittering dry feathers, hard glossy beetle--::  A satisfying crunch and swallow, beetle no more. "Think cat," Trevarr said, his tension battering at Sklayne's edges.

Sklayne knew cat. Sklayne had done cat in the darkness not long ago. Sleek reddish feline, leggy and much with the ears. Sklayne held his mind still, pushed; he expanded to encompass everything and anything before abruptly shrinking back to the cat shape. Now...vision of washed-out colors with sharp edges up close, fuzzy edges across this green expanse of manicured growth. Scents just as sharp, just as stingingly dry--and the recently consumed beetle had left its own aura. A prominent needled branch caught Sklayne's attention; he sniffed, then delicately rubbed his face against it even as it bent out of his way. "Mrow," he said, an experiment.

"Very convincing." Trevarr stood tall beside him, shaded beneath a pampered cottonwood, squinting into the too-bright sunshine of this place even through his newly acquired sunglasses. Trevarr in disgrace. Looked much like Trevarr not in disgrace, but felt...

Tension. Guilt. Determination.

Trevarr ignored the brush of Sklayne's thoughts. "Now behave yourself, and let's go deal with this."

"Mrrp," Sklayne said, and liked that one even better. He found their target--not very large, not in the least aware of them. Sitting on a curvy wooden bench in the shade, bent over a printed binding. ::Get herrrr,:: he added.

It sounded like a purr.

For I have Succumbed, and It is Good

posted by Doranna Durgin aka...er...no aka! 

It was the one thing I was never interested in doing.

Not because I felt there wasn't intrinsically any point, but because I rarely watched one that...well, that I finished watching.

Book trailers.

At first blush, they seemed like an exciting opportunity...a chance to add some Shiny to web sites, and a way to reveal the true sense of a book.

Problem is, I tend to look at things from the inside out when it comes to the web. After nearly fifteen years of building web sites (yes, there were web sites way back then, smarty-pants), I look at shiny new things and ponder not just how shiny they are, but whether they're robust across browsers.

Translated, that means how many people will throw their hands up in frustration, experience browser crashes, or stare blankly at a "missing plug-in" message.

The answer is, lots. Even now.

And then there's the whole "added value" aspect of things. If a method of showing off a book doesn't, in fact, reveal more about the book than previous opportunities, then its only value is the shiny. I like to play as much as the next person, but I'm also a little prone to peeking behind the yellow curtain.

Or maybe it's the emperor has no clothes. Pick your metaphor!

Point being, I wasn't seeing book videos that captured my imagination, or that told me more about the book than I could learn by reading the cover flap/ looking at the cover (and at my own pace, at that). And the visual slideshow of image...text...image...text...

Not workin' for me. As a reader, I mean (because shoot yes, I swing both ways when it comes to books).

So there wasn't a whole lot of chance that I'd be getting myself a book trailer. La la la. Busy doing other things, kthanxbai.

Well, things change. Embedded YouTube videos are a decently stable format, for one thing.

And out there in promo-land, some book trailer folks are finally hitting the sweet spot--taking true advantage of the medium's potential while offering some decent modest-budget packages along with their holy cow, you want what for that? services.

I stumbled across one such company last year, and instantly targeted The Reckoners for my first book trailer. I had fun with it, too--co-writing the script, tweaking the visuals...and getting all excited when the artists on the other end took my comments and came up with solutions I hadn't imagined. I'm not used to being on this side of the fun!

And that, of course, is the point of this whole blog. TO SHOW OFF THE BOOK TRAILER, PEOPLE!

I hope you think it's keen. I sure do!

Voices in my head

posted by Doranna, who is in no way Kate and apologizes for that fact

Write write write write....so the Sentinels series is in full swing, and I'm having a blast. I hope (ooh, do I!) to write more of these! In the meantime, sometimes I get deliciously evil impulses from the muse...and sometimes it's fun to succumb.  Even when it results in an interview like...well, this.  
================

I'm here with Mr. Joe Ryan and Mr. Fabron Gausto, who have (somewhat cautiously, it must be noted) agreed to a joint interview.  Mr. Gausto arrives early, somewhat impatient to begin.  His tailored three-piece suit is immaculate and his mannerisms formal.  He does not.  .  .quite.  .  .indicate that he expects some sort of formal acknowledgment.  This is good, as I lost my will to curtsy some years ago.  Joe Ryan arrives.  .  .well, we won't call it late.  We'll call it casual.  This suits his appearance--those jeans are worn, and I would guess they've seen work this morning.  The sleeves on his flannel shirt are rolled up and he's possibly forgotten to shave this morning.  

Yrs Trly: Good morning, gentlemen.  

It's been more than two thousand years since the days when Rome and Gaul lived in uneasy occupation, although it's understandable that people did intermingle.  One thing is clear--one young woman in particular had two sons--one fathered by a druid of the old lines, one by a Roman.  

The druid's son turned out to be a man of unusual talents, including the occasional ability to shapeshift, albeit at great cost.  The woman's younger son had none of these earthly abilities.  He hunted other ways to acquire power, stating it was necessary to protect the area from his powerful and wayward brother--which, in turn, prompted his brother to codify and develop his own skills.  

The Druid side of the family grew into the Vigilia, now known as the Sentinels, while the younger son founded what turned into the Atrum Core.  To say the family feud has continued would be an understatement, wouldn't you say?

(Ryan sorts in amusement; Gausto seems annoyed at the familiarity.)

Yrs Trly: (clears throat) Er. . .is that summary satisfactory to you both? Mr.  Ryan? Mr.  Gausto?

Ryan: Call me Joe.  Sounds good to me.  

Gausto: It's a vast oversimplification, of course.  Even what they call themselves--Vigilia, Sentinels--speak of their arrogance and their underlying goals to control.  

Yrs Trly: And the Atrum Core's name?

Gausto: Dark Core.  Of course.  They gave us that name, long ago.  It amused us to keep it.  (he smiles with lots of teeth.)

Yrs Trly: (not hastily at all) Let's take things in a more personal direction.  Why do you think you, personally, were chosen to represent your organizations in this interview?

Gausto: Because I exemplify Core values and goals.  This interview demanded someone who could be decisive and assertive.  (pauses for thought) Let's just say I consider this an opportunity. . .and I know exactly how to take advantage of opportunity.  

Ryan: I wouldn't say I was chosen to represent the Sentinels.  I'm pretty sure they wouldn't say that, either.  (he pauses. yes, he'll stick with that.) I just think brevis figured I could contain the situation, if necessary.  

Yrs Trly: (waits for elucidation.  none forthcoming) Okay then.  You know, looking at that history.  .  .one might say that mistakes were made on both sides.  .  .do you each have a comment on that?

Gausto: That's a vast simplification of a complicated situation.  If you truly understood the circumstances, you would see that the Atrum Core only responds to minimize threats from the Sentinels.  Of course, this requires development of the means to deal decisively with them.  This kind of necessary defensive action never comes without cost, but that cost is justified by our success, and by the nature of the threat we face.  

Ryan: Well, sure.  That first Sentinel. . .he took the boar, you know.  Our current brevis consul takes the boar, and they can be-- (he pauses & starts again) I don't think that first Sentinel realized the impact his nature would have on the people around him.  I think he probably frightened some of them.  So it created an. . .opportunity.  And the Core filled it.  

Yrs Trly: What has it meant to you, personally, to have a position in your organization?

Gausto: As drozhar for this region, I carry a tremendous responsibility; it is, of course, a position of great prestige.  (glances at Ryan) I'm surprised that the Sentinels couldn't be bothered to send someone of commensurate status.  Read into this what you will about the respect they offer this opportunity.  My position may be familial, but I never cease my efforts to improve our status.  

Ryan: (rubs a thumb along the knee of his jeans for a long moment, considering the question) There's a cost.  But it's an honor I take very seriously.  

Yrs Trly: What is your best vision of the future between you?

Gausto: Obviously, we need to break this stalemate.  In the best of outcomes, the Core will finally gain control over Sentinel arrogance, at which point we will assure that their skills are put to good use.  

Ryan: Our world faces a lot of challenges right now.  We'd be better off if we all-- (he stops, focused on some distant thought)

Yrs Trly: Mr.  Ryan? Joe?

(outside this office, someone shouts in protesting surprise)

Ryan: Sorry.  Gotta go.  (he gives me a wry look) Wouldn't hang around if I was you.  

(He leaves.  He moves a lot faster than I thought he would.)

Gausto: This is just like the Sentinels.  Especially this one.  My apologies.  What are you doing for dinner? You seem like a perceptive individual.  I'd like to talk to you about the final form of this intervie--

(More shouting.  A crash.  An unexpected. . .roar?)

Gausto: Another time, perhaps.  
------------------------

So...do your characters ever talk to you?  Or...is it just *gulp* me?

(Not truly sure I want to know...)

The Whee Factor

posted by Doranna, like a thief in the night

Ending at the Beginning....  I had no awareness I was doing it that way, or I'm sure it wouldn't have happened at all.  I would have done it the sensible way, you know.  In order.  And what a treat I would have missed out on!

I contracted for the first Sentinel book (Jaguar Night, this May) before the Bites were even launched...and for the second two before I then had the chance to pitch for my own Bites idea.  So I'd written all three books before I sat down to write the novella, Wild Thing,  that would introduce that world to readers.

I'd expected to slip in some world-building as a matter of course--each of these works stands on its own.  I think it's more fun if you read them in order--there's a quiet, three-book story arc in the background, for one thing--and more fun if you read them all, but if you read them totally backwards, that's okay.  If you read one and not the others, that works, too.  So that means each of the books has enough world-building to stand there on its own, and doing it for the novella was a familiar feeling.

It's the same with the characters.  Although each book has its own starring relationship, there are supporting characters who play a role in all three books--and of course there are glimpses of the couples we've seen along the way.  Especially in Wolf Hunt, when the characters from Jaguar Night and Lion Heart find their way back into the active plot (and oh, how fun was that!).  So I was used to introducing them...summing them up, letting them find a spot or two in which to place their own unique stamp of presence.

So what was different?

Usually, when I'm kicking off a series, I'm discovering all these things for myself.  I'm stopping to ponder the supporting characters,and at that point I don't always know how they'll be involved along the way.  (Even with outlines, I do a lot of my writing by the seat-of-the-pants method.  Sometimes, one might say, in spite of outlines.)  And when a supporting character goes full-form during the course of a book and ends up playing a significant part, then I go back and retrofit him or her into the book.  In this case, with the trilogy, characters developed over the course of the series.  The Sentinel team member mentioned in passing in the last third of Book One was, by Book Three, endowed with a name and hints at a backstory.

So the unusual luxury in writing Wild Thing was...I knew all that!  For all of them! And although I do hope very much to write more Sentinel books, the first three-book story arc is complete, all its nuances and participating characters established...and yet there I was, back at the start.  And it meant two things:

I didn't have to pause the writing to make up the details.

But oops...I didn't have my usual freedom to make up the details.

So this was me in the writing:

"Wheee!  Oops (delete)...  Wheeee!  Oops (delete)... *gigglegigglegiggle*"

It's good to have dignity.

A big part of me is tempted to change my ways...to plan so thoroughly, so completely, that I can hit every single book at whee-speed ahead.  But reality strikes...I've had complete and detailed outlines before.  I make it up as I go along regardless, following the outline as one might follow a parallel but separate road.  That's part of the spark and joy of the writing--discovering it all.  In this case, knowing what I already knew left me free to devote that element of discovery entirely to Mark and Tayla and their realization that what they thought they knew about each other...

Well, wasn't.

Wheee!

Mark and Tayla now inform me that they deserve their own full-length book.  And those supporting characters I mentioned?  I've already had requests for one of Jaguar Night's Sentinels to have more air time...it makes an impression!  That's where readers come in...what do you think?  Do you have favorites?  And once you've read a novella about a couple, do you think there's still more story to explore?  Inquiring minds want to know.

After all, the whee awaits!

First posted:  Harlequin's Paranormal Romance Blog

I think I must

posted by Doranna, a Kate step-in for the week

They're words I've gotten used to: "I don't think I could do it."

Truth is, I do wonder how it happens this way. Dog after dog after dog...even the horse. All special children. Animals whose needs are so intense--so exacting--that family, friends, and professionals feel compelled to admit their care would be too much.

Sometimes it's been by choice, especially early on. In my deep Appalachian post-college home, there were no formalized rescue organizations, no shelters. Rescued dogs came and went, but the special ones stayed as long as they needed to...and sometimes they just plain stayed. They fit around our insane Brittany, the handsome ex-feral mutt, and Strider the Wonderhound--themselves all rescues of one sort or another.

But sometimes it goes beyond choice. Or at least, apparent choice. Take my carefully planned puppy, Kacey Cardigan Corgi, whose eventual adult structure and temperament issues meant constant management, constant experimenting. She was a victim of her own genius and self-expectations...and if she was on the one hand perfectly obedient, completely devoted, and intensely personable, on the other she was utterly, intractably incorrigible (I pun. So sue me!). Even my Cardigan expert said (paraphrased), "!!!!" When she was five, I desperately hoped she would live at least half a normal breed life span. Supplements and behavioral tricks and management and never taking anything for granted later, and she quite nearly made it to thirteen--the beloved Spark of the household.

During that time, Belle Cardigan came in as an agility prospect. "Bellevator," her breeder and I called her. Intensely intelligent, quick to learn, light on her feet...agility made her giggle. It still does! But what looked like soft temperament as a puppy turned out to be much deeper than that. Loud voices from other handlers immobilized her into indecision; too concerned about being perfect, she couldn't so much as move. It took years to work through her temperament challenges--and I bless agility for giving us the tools and focus to do it at all.

In the meantime, she fell victim of a dwarf dog cartilage issue in her back. One day she was running...the next day she couldn't use her back end. "She won't come back from it," the vet told me...preparing me. Thus started the exacting crate rest. Experimenting with one supplement regimen after another. Massage therapy. Special beds, special jackets. She came back not only once...but again. And again. And again. The vet is in disbelief. "I didn't think you could do it. The management is too difficult."

So Belle is twice special. And don't get me wrong...sometimes I've wondered if I could do my part. When she's been frozen with her own fears of imperfection; when she went down in her back the first time...the months it took to relieve her pain, and the year it took before I had things down to such a science that I didn't get a sick stomach lurch every time she took a wrong step... She's still a vulnerable girl, Belle is. But we get along. And she still runs with glee.

For years, too, there's been Jean-Luc Picardigan--a dog brain-injured shortly after birth. Jean-Luc was a choice, but in truth...not even his breeder realized the extent of his nature. He came to me an adolescent dog without facial expressions or body language...no tail wagging, near ear-pricking (although he had quite a profound Bug-eyed Stare). He froze if you touched him. He didn't respond to verbal communication (although he can hear and bark at an invisible dust mote landing two blocks away). He compulsively eats outdoor objects, and so wears a muzzle outside at all times.

Jean-Luc ultimately responded to agility training, body work, and endless years of experimenting. Yet in spite of his fundamentally sweet, sweet nature, he sometimes slips into unsafe reactive moments; I don't take his future for granted. I simply celebrate him for what he is now, too--outwardly, so improved by his therapies that on casual acquaintance, you'd have to be told he has a problem. Well, unless you notice that his head is subtly lumpy...

It's not only the dogs. As a young horse, Duncan the Lipizzan was headed for the highest levels of dressage. In early training he used to insert airs above ground as a matter of course. A pasture bully put an end to all that, dealing a crippling stifle injury (think a completely blown-up human knee). Eventually he had surgery at Cornell; the intent wasn't to "fix" him or expect him to be rideable so much as it was to keep him from being riddled with pain. All these years later...while it's certainly kept him from Grand Prix work, he is still eminently rideable. He was the third horse to have the surgery, and their first success story--one of only two so far. My miracle horse.

Not that it's easy. He compensates for that less-flexible joint, throwing strain onto the rest of his body. He has chronic muscle spasms, and has been in massage therapy for years. I ride him therapeutically, using dressage to strengthen his weaknesses and stretch his tight places. And of course there are supplements, supplements, supplements.

So maybe it's understandable that when I acquired my most recent dog, I was really, really looking for a simple animal. A dog who didn't need endless experimental diets or supplements or behavioral brain-wracking and persistence. And so I researched, and I planned, and I waited for just the right litter...and I acquired Connery Beagle.

Connery was a goofy, cheerful clown of a puppy. In his vocabulary, he was bawhsome! He started his agility career with a bang; he hit the Beagle top ten nationally in obedience, rally, and agility trial rankings. But at eighteen months, my plans for "normal" flew out the window. Connery not only cropped up with severe allergies, he turned out to be a "target dog." So...intensely expensive medications, meds reactions, daily baths and bedding changes, diet experiments and special needs, emergency visits to Doggy ER for rehydration and support (when he goes down, he goes down), and regular infections. And then...target dog...as most of you reading this already know, he's been attacked on a regular basis for most of his adult life. Most of the time he doesn't even see it coming;sometimes it's horrifyingly serious. For the last eighteen months--as many of you also know--I've been working to get him over his fears.  Not just of dogs, but of everything.

His vet--the one who's helped me keep him alive from those allergies--says, "This isn't something I could personally handle." The trainer I consulted for help after that last attack--highly recommended, foremost in his field--told me, "This isn't something you can handle. Get a new agility dog." (Um. I didn't.)

Looking back, it makes me wonder. I didn't go looking for special needs dogs. I sure didn't go looking for four intense special needs dogs and a horse in my small household at the same time. But the special needs animals...they find me. "It's because you can help them," I've been told. "Because you do help them."

But wow, it's exhausting. And yet...it's not like I don't enjoy the process--seeing the differences and improvements and the glimmers of hope in their expressions. Or that I don't use what I've learned in my writing--not just in the obvious ways, but more subtly, too--ways that celebrate them. Seeing the world through their eyes sometimes allows me to show it to readers in a fresh way.

And beyond all that...

They understand me, too. The connection we build during the bad times shines through during the good. The attention I give them comes back to me in so many ways. Deeper bond, deeper trust...better communication. As much as they count on me, I count on them. We are family.

So really...I don't know how I could not do it. And I'll bet a lot of you reading this know just what I'm talking about.



This post was inspired by Lori Foster's anthology TAILS OF LOVE; proceeds from the book go to a no-kill animal shelter.  There's more info and a month of celebration at Wendy Keel's blog, My Book Addiction & More.

Making an Impact

posted by Doranna, officially substituting

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

They make you think.

Many of you who follow Writers Plot are probably not entirely familiar with me, although I started up the blog beside Loraine, Sheila, Leann, and Jeanne.  When changes happened in my life--a fairly profound illness that's made quite the impact--Kate graciously stepped in, filling Wednesday's spot with remarkable aplomb.

And changes sometimes beget changes, as they have for me.  Instead of returning for frequent Saturdays and substitutions, I've remained sporadic while I stay on the roller-coaster ride.  Different body, different home, different state, different living arrangements altogether...and still in process.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!  Totally make you think.  About everything.  Even the things you might have come to take for granted.

Like, why the writing, anyway?  Why do I do this thing?  Why when--in spite of my best efforts--production for three books overlaps deadlines for a book, a novella, and a proposal AND the move...and it's all barely living wages?

What am I even thinking?

It was Leslie McDevitt who reminded me of  the answer.

Leslie is the dog trainer/behavioralist/writer who penned Control Unleashed--a book for vulnerable dogs who need extra tools for their journey.  Thanks to a sharp-eyed reader who was appalled to learn of our struggles following the (3rd!) attack on ConneryBeagle, I heard about the book.  I was still in a wrist brace; Connery was recovering from an ulcer, a smoldering infection, shoulder damage, and a stress interaction with his allergy meds, all triggered by the attack.  He was afraid of sounds, afraid of people, afraid of unusual objects.  He had learned his lesson well:  The World is Not a Safe Place.

And I had just consulted with one of the most respected clicker trainers in the field, who told me: "Get a new dog.  You can't fix this one."

Give up on ConneryBeagle.

So I was by golly moved to tears when I picked up a book that had tools for us. 

There are no quick fixes, not when it comes to a dog so profoundly damaged.  But that's okay--there weren't any quick fixes for me and my health and my own fallout from that attack, either.  So Connery and I settled in to work on the long haul, drawing on many resources but always with the foundation tools from Control Unleashed.

And it's eighteen months later.  Now we're trialing again, and getting out to train in our  new stomping grounds, and the people who don't know us, who never saw Connery implode with fear at the mere distant sight of a larger dog, now give me looks of clear disbelief when I refuse to let other dogs approach us.  (The rule stands.  I can live with being considered neurotic.)  And after so very many months of losing qualifying agility runs to wariness on the course--that polesetter too close to the weaves, this photographer leaning into the ring, that dog moving outside the ring--at our last trial, Connery ran for 100% Qs, placing each time in his large classes...Border Collies, Aussies, Cattle Dogs...

Yeah.  It was a moment.

Serendipitously, my long-awaited set of Control Unleashed companion DVDs arrived the next day, even as I dove back into doubled deadlines and pending production work and doubts.  And that's when it all came together:

The impact of that book on us--that's why I write.

Suddenly I was back in my little work nook of over twenty-five years ago, clutching my latest book--Katherine Kurtz, I think it was--and wanting so hard to be able to share my worlds with others in a way that would make them feel the same magic she had given me.  I wanted, so badly it hurt, to make that impact on other people.  To change something for them, if even only for a short time.

I don't know that Jaguar Night or the Wild Thing e-novella or even the ambitious Reckoners series later this year can make the same kind of impact on readers that Leslie McDevitt made on me.  But it's definitely my profound hope that the magic of it touches you, and lingers with you, and, if I'm very lucky, gives you a little bit of a new way to look at things.

Impact.

The Sex Talk

 posted by Doranna, slyly sneaking in on this day

No, not that sex talk.  You're on your own for that one.  But good luck with it.

This is about the books.

My books.  Because...things change.

I started out writing fantasy, and I still love that genre; I hope I'll always be writing it, one way or the other.  Then I branched out into franchise work, and dabbled in science fiction shorts, and ended up writing some mystery, and then, suddenly, I was invited to write for a Silhouette anthology.  Femme Fatale.  And boy, did it sound like fun--three intertwined spy chick stories, the other two of which were written by authors I had long admired.  And when the editor mentioned that each story would include not only a romance, but an explicit scene, I didn't hesitate.  "Sure!"

That job led to the Bombshell series, one of which had explicit stuff but most of which didn't.  And that gig led to me Nocturnes, where I made what I consider the biggest shift of my career--from plot-driven work to relationship driven work.  (Oh, I'm still doing plenty of the other.  Reckoners, coming out at the end of the year, is a healthy mix of both.  And then there's the Ghost Whisperer books, on the shelf now--the first of those is up for an award.  And of course they're all character-driven, but that's another thing...)

Anyway, as a reader, I'm just what I am as a writer.  I like it all.  I like different things for different reasons, and I don't have a hard time shifting from one thing to another.  But I do recognize that people come to have expectations.  And I'm not entirely clear whether those readers who might have first encountered my fantasy books or the franchise work or the Dale Kinsall mystery series will be familiar enough with the various category lines to know that picking up a Nocturne means to expect...

Well.

Steam.

I've been pondering this right up until the last minute.  Beyond, actually, as (two paragraphs ago, while I write this on the 20th), I got a first sighting report on Jaguar Night.  (Honest, I thought it would be out in May.  What's the author know, anyway?)

Everyone's comfort zone is a bit different, but even if you're perfectly comfortable reading steam, it might come as a surprise from an author who's managed to write twenty-five (or so...yes, I've lost count) books without a whole lot of that so far.  On the other hand, "warning" folks about such content would imply that it needs a warning in the first place.  Well, that's not it at all.  It's about the changed nature of the beast.  (We'll pretend I didn't just pun on the whole shapeshifter thing.)

So do I make a big deal of it?  Shoot, I don't think it is a big deal.  Do I try to slip it into my BSP* (...andohbythewayit'sgotsex)?  Do I figure out a new system for my web site and label all the books from mild to spicy (or, you know, something actually clever)?  They'd all have to be labeled, because otherwise it's very Doctor Seuss:  Some books have stars on thars, and some don't.

(Yeah, Dr. Seuss and the sex talk.  Wrap your brain around that.)

So what do you think, O Readers?  Would you want to be warned?  Would you be upset if you weren't?  Or is it too obvious to even bother saying out loud:  Buy a book from a romance category line, and intimacy could happen?

I'm still pondering...

*Blatent Self-Promotion, y'know

A Thing of the Past?

Kate's just back from vacation and trying to catch up.  She'll return next week! Meanwhile ....

posted by Doranna Durgin

I was beginning to think it was a thing of the past.   You know...

music of impending significance

...Customer Service.

I do my shopping over the phone or online, mostly--I always have.  First because I lived remotely, and then because I simply prefer to avoid packed humanity.

I'm beginning to rethink.

Maybe it's the economy.  Maybe companies are frightened enough to institute policies that drive away customers in the name--they think--of protecting their bottom line.  Or hey, maybe they just suck.  (Can I say "suck"?)

It's been a run of bad luck, starting with the toner supply company that sent me the wrong items last fall when I was racing a print job deadline.  Nearly $300 of the wrong item, in fact--since they charged me for what I ordered and then sent me a product worth half of that.  Upon learning of their error, they...

Wouldn't send the correct items until they received the old ones back (but would be glad to double bill me another full $300 even though I didn't have $300 of their merchandise in the first place).  Wouldn't, in the case of a return, refund me the considerable difference of what they'd billed me vs. what they'd sent me until they had their goods back.  And then they required a complicated, pain-in-the- (I'm going to say ass!) internal RMA process that they failed to instigate after that first phone call.  Or the second.  Or...

The RMA eventually came through; the toner went back.  It languished untended for a couple of days, and then... 

Instead of the requested refund so I could get new toner from someone reliable, they sent me an unwanted replacement...of the wrong item.

They again refused to refund me the difference between what I had and what they'd billed (you know, so I could afford to get the right toner).  They again repeatedly delayed the RMA.  They again took their time to process the return.  Total time they had my money?  A month.  Total correct items of merchandise received?  Zero.  Total time spent trying to untangle their mess...three full days' of work-hours (I clocked it). 

Ink Technologies.  Not my friend.

Then there's the Bradford Check Exchange.  They bully you into using their expedited check delivery on their website (the form literally won't go through without it)--guaranteed delivery time.  But when my order was delayed by two weeks, the Bradford people proved utterly, rudely, and profoundly full of--oh, okay, I won't say it.  So I disputed the extra delivery charge with my credit card--the rep laughed at their line of doubletalk and  instantly processed the disputed amount--and I told Bradford they'd lost a first-time customer.  I don't think they care, though I can still feel my surprise.  That was supposed to be customer service?  Maybe they only expect to get you once.  Maybe they plan on it?

And hey, how about Home Depot?  Although they eventually sent a replacement for the mailbox with the known production quality issues, it took three phone calls before they followed through on the promise to do so--and they double-billed while they were at it.  Two months later--finally--we have a working mailbox again.

After years of ordering through catalog and Internet, I'm thinking twice.  I'm thinking that there's a certain value to the option of walking into a store with a Problem Item and a firm voice...possibly even a loud voice.

But then...

Duncan the Lipizzan's transition here has been less than smooth; part of that is a new hay that goes down much faster.  Horses need that chewing and "grazing" activity, so I ordered him a special hay holder called a Busy Snacker.  Stuff it with hay, leave it in the stall...it keeps a horse in grazing mode for a good long time.  But the Busy Snacker, in transit, failed to appear.  Two weeks passed; I contacted the vendor.  As you can imagine, I had that sinking feeling...

But ho!  Jim at Busy Snacker was pleasant.  He was responsive.  He was dismayed that this had happened.  He did what he could to make it right.

Imagine.

Duncan loves it, by the way.  My golly, yes.  I think I'll get another.

I'm Too Sexy for My Fangs

posted by Doranna, first appeared on Agent's LJ Ramblings...

It was the conversation I never thought I'd hear myself having.

"No, no," a certain agent and I agreed, "it needs to be a really sexy animal."

And then we had one of those moments, where if we'd been face-to-face instead of on the phone, we would have just looked at one another.  Uh-huh.  We just said WHAT?

I've already blogged about my love for writing shapeshifters and how it speaks to me personally; this was my chance to pitch a whole shapeshifter series.  First thing?  Choosing  shapeshifter forms.  But as much as I love wolves--oh, yes, right from the start--wolves have been done.  And while it won't keep me from writing wolves (I'm doing it right now with WOLF HUNT, the third in the Sentinel series), I wanted to start with something that hadn't been quite as...pre-explored.

My initial decisions about the Sentinels came pretty easily.  I wanted to play with different species, so that directed the mythology.  The Atrum Core bad guys sprang up with vigor.  Giving the groups an ancient, common origin point--a mixed family with mixed politics and mixed lifestyles and mixed emotions--provided much glee for my twisted little author brain.  The rest grew from there, playing the factions off one another, making the pieces fit...exploring things I wanted to play with.

But wow.  Which forms to give my first shapeshifters?  Something with power and presence and an indefinable essence above and beyond.  Just size and strength...it's not quite enough.

Start plugging in animals and you'll see what I mean.  Bear, for instance.  I've got a character who takes the bear, and he's quite the impressive fellow--but I don't use him as a primary hero.  Too unwieldy, too...er...hairy.  He's support crew, spanning books.

Same thing with my character who's a boar.  Shoot, you really don't want to mess with one of those things.  Strong, capable, fearless, and they'll rip you to shreds.  But nope...not sexy.  Not even a completely sympathetic character.

Go another direction.  Strength, dignity, size, presence...elk!  Sure!  Majestic elk, charging to the rescue!  And you know what they say about the size of a guy's, er...rack.  But if you ponder the actual logistics of said elk in, say...an indoor action scene?  Suddenly things don't mesh so well.  Plus...well, we eat elk.  So that doesn't seem quite right, either.

Even limiting it to predators isn't enough.  Aside from the aforementioned bear...did you know?  Skunks eat meat--bunnies and baby birdies and lizards...nope, not safe from Mr.  Skunk.  And ferrets!  I think ferrets are way cool, but somehow that image just doesn't work for me.

Let us all pause for a solemn moment to imagine the cover design for FERRET LOVE.

So, okay...I was naive.  You want a sexy animal?  Go back to the beginning, where many have been before.  Think big cat.  Think wolf or wolf-family.  Those are the big guns.  But you know...there are some pretty cool big cats in this world.  They aren't interchangeable, either...they have their own needs, their own quirks, their own tendencies.  Ditto the canines of the various continents (although I'm not sure I'll mess with our friend the aardwolf).  So far, I'm not running out of fun stuff to play with...and I'm not worried yet.

All the same...I'm leaving my options open.  And I have some ideas....

I'm too sexy for my fangs, too sexy for my fangs...

Book Bonanza!

Posted by Doranna Durgin

And where have my sporadic blogs been hiding?  Let me just say...never, NEVER move over the holidays.  And don't do it when you're working two projects toward deadline and three in production.  Just don't. 

(I made deadline, yes.  And am now working the second half of another book, because this year, the deadlines and production chores never stop!  Five books out this year.  I swear I didn't plan it this way.)

In the meantime, I come bearing goodies to make up for all my chaos-caused absence!    No, seriously!  Take a look:

To thank our many readers for taking us into their hearts and homes for 60 years and making us the world’s leading publisher of romantic fiction, Harlequin is giving every person in America and Canada a free book.

See?  Free stuff!  In fact, free stuff involving some of my favorite category authors, although I'm not familiar with them all.  There's a Nocturne, of course!  And you never know...take the NASCAR book.  Not one I would ever pick up; just not my thing.  But I have it on good authority that it's a charming book indeed.  And, you know...FREE!

In fact, we’re giving away 16 free Books that readers can download.

Lots of free!

Check out www.HarlequinCelebrates.com 

 --The titles are available as a PDF and in all eBook formats. There is no drm (digital rights management)
--The titles are also available as a Stanza App for the iPhone and iPod Touch
--The titles can also be found at all the online retailers like Sony, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Fictionwise.com, eReader.com, etc.
--The 16 free books (one for every series) will be available throughout 2009. 

The free books are:

Harlequin American Romance, Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren
Harlequin Blaze, Slow Hands by Leslie Kelly
Harlequin Historical, His Lady Mistress by Elizabeth Rolls
Harlequin Intrigue, Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch by B.J. Daniels
Harlequin Presents, Price of Passion by Susan Napier
Harlequin Romance, The Bride’s Baby by Liz Fielding
Harlequin Superromance, Snowbound by Janice Kay Johnson

Silhouette Desire, Baby Bonanza by Maureen Child
Silhouette Nocturne, Kiss Me Deadly by Michele Hauf

Happy reading!
Silhouette Romantic Suspense, Stranded with a Spy by Merline Lovelace
Silhouette Special Edition, Dancing in the Moonlight by Raeanne Thayne

Love Inspired, A Very Special Delivery by Linda Goodnight
Love Inspired Historical, Homespun Bride by Jillian Hart
Love Inspired Suspense, Hide in Plain Sight by Marta Perry

Kimani Romance, Irresistible Forces by Brenda Jackson

Nascar, Speed Dating by Nancy Warren