The Lovestruck Novice Welcomes Diana Cosby!!!

Welcome back, TLN'ers!!

Today is a very special day! One of my all time favorite peeps is visiting the TLN Hot Seat! Ahh!! I'm so excited!

I met DIANA COSBY via Facebook. I loved the premise of her MacGruder Brother Series and decided to review HIS WOMAN for her. Since then, Diana has become a much loved friend and a person I look to when the writing gets tough. She's so very generous with her time and never fails to dust off my worries and set me back to rights. What's more, she hooked me up with Kim of SOS America who kindly showed My Hubs and I around Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base when we were in Honolulu back in April.

HIS CONQUEST, Book Three in the series, hits bookshelves in November. What better way to ring in colder weather than by keeping warm with a hunky Highlander in your hands?!

Hope you've got a sweet treat on hand and your cup topped off, because we're definitely diving into the good stuff!

1)If you were a book, what would your blurb be?

Diana Cosby is determined to be a New York Times Best-Selling author as well as Sponsor a house for Habitat For Humanity and aid numerous other charities. She is blessed by the ability to craft stories, and looks forward to meeting the many characters to come as well as people whom her stories have touched.

2)Using three words, describe your voice.

~strong, melodic, and evocative.

3)Tell us a little about your journey to publication. What was your favorite aspect of the trek?

~I'm a retired Navy chief. While stationed in Hawaii, as an avid reader and hopeful author, I took a creative writing course at the University of Hawaii. I struggled with the course, and finally the light began to turn on with my writing the final essay. Except, after I turned the paper in, my teacher was convinced that I wasn't the author. So, he wrote on the top, "Whoever wrote this paper gets an A-, and you get a D+." I was devastated that he thought I'd have someone else craft my work, and I set aside my hopes of writing and focused on my career.

Years later after I retired, I still had the desire write. So, I again started and discovered that I loved writing and I've never looked back. A wonderful lesson I learned is the power of words, how they can hurt or help, the choice is up to the author. For me, I cherish the gift of story with my goal to make a positive difference in others lives and to encourage them to pursue their dreams.

My favorite aspect of the trek?

The people, my family, my friends, those whom I've met, those who I will meet in the future.

4)Novice to Published Author: How have you grown as a writer?

~Finding clarity of my voice, confidence in my abilities of story, and understanding a word's placement as well as impact.

5)Do you have any advice for aspiring authors? Something maybe you wished you might have known back then?

~I wish someone had told me to focus both on writing as marketing, and to follow your heart on both, and to never settle, ever.


6)How do you structure your writing? Are you a pantser or a plotter?

~I'm a major plotter, which means I write the synopsis first and have the major story points plotted out before I begin.

Last, what sort of goals do you set for yourself when starting a project?

~When I'm writing new pages, I write five pages per day. Each day I go back and review the scene and edit up before I write new pages. This allows me to tighten as I go and end up with a fairly clean rough draft.

7)What's up next for you?

~I'm waiting to hear if my editor will pick up books #5 & 6 in the MacGruder brothers series. :)

Paragraph from back cover of His Conquest:

Seathan MacGruder, Earl of Grey, is not unused to cheating death. But even this legendary Scottish warrior is surprised when a beautiful Englishwoman creeps to his cell and offers him his freedom. What Linet wants in exchange, though—safe passage to the Highlands—is a steep price to pay. For the only thing more dangerous than the journey through embattled Scotland is the desire that smolders between these two fugitives the first time they touch . . .

News:
~I'm thrilled to share that I will be signing my books at the 25th Annual Texas Scottish Festival and Highland Games in June, 2011 at Maverick Stadium at UTA in Arlington, Texas. I'm also planning a July 2012 book signing tour in Scotland! :)


All I can say is, "TAKE ME!" I've been wanting to experience both Scotland and a Highland Festival forever. *sigh* Talk about a fantastic voyage especially if trekking about with my pal, Diana! :)

I'd like to thank Diana for letting me interview her. It was a real treat, that's for sure! If you'd like to know more about Diana Cosby and her books, please hop on over to her beautiful website: http://www.dianacosby.com/index.html

THANK YOU, TLN'ers!! With the weather finally being kind to me, I'm lovin' life, so how about a classic to send us into the weekend? Here's CCR and DOWN ON THE CORNER! It's one of my favs and such a fun toe-tapper, too. Have an awesome weekend!!!

Aloha! It's Show and Tell Day!

Today I'm showing off some of the pics from my recent trip to Oahu, Hawaii! I tagged along with my hubby on his five day, four night business trip and loved every minute of it.

One of the quirkier parts of the expedition was WHO I saw next to on the plane the over. Unfortunately for me, I had never seen the show Project Runway, but at least I knew of its existence. LOL Fashion isn't a really big topic of conversation in my little countrified locale. So, when I plunked my booty down in the seat and took a gander at the gent who was sweetly holding my seat belt up for me, I knew he was someone, but I just didn't know who! I mean, the way he was dressed was a big tip off. Beautifully cut and of the nicest material, his shirt and pants were top of line. HA! I may not be up-to-date on fashion, but I know good taste when I see it!

MUCH later and after an airline attendant recognized him, I garnered enough brass to ask his name. JAY NICOLAS SARIO! Despite the drama surrounding the show, I found him to be witty, funny, and 100% charming! He even gave me tips on places to see while visiting Oahu. What's more, he showed me pics of his collection on his phone. Too cool! My first celeb experience and it was a blast. LOL Too bad I was too star-struck to ask for a pic! Rats!

As for the rest of my trip, Lady Luck shown down upon me again. My peep, Diana Cosby, hooked me up with one her friends who happened to live in Oahu. Kim Lowe was super cool and graciously played tour-guide for my hubby and I. She took us all around Hickman Air Force Base and showed us the sights. I will have those pics on Wednesday. Sheesh! I have 654 pics of the trip!!

So, without further ado, here is the first installment-- just the highlights, mind you. LOL According to my hubs I took a picture of every plant and flower known to the island. All I can say is: How could I not?!

Here is where we stayed: The Marriot, Waikiki. Believe me, it was a gorgeous and very courteous hotel. I would stay there again at the drop of the hat. Especially for the breakfast buffet and its endless supply of coconut syrup! Yum!

Pics of the open-air lobby:



The view from our room on the 14th floor!

The water is so clear and warm. A definite contrast to the California's cold H2O. See how pasty-colored I was! I now have a little color. Yay!

This is Diamond Head.

Snapshots of The Blow Hole and surrounding reefs.


I ate here and enjoyed glimpses of the beach while I read some of my current Sookie Stackhouse book. The funny part about this awesome burger joint was the fact it was open-air and a 24 Hr Fitness Gym looked down at it. LOL Yep, I was noshing on an Island Burger (a cheeseburger with a slice of pineapple and a smothering of teryaki sauce! Yumx10!) and sucking down a Diet Coke while a cute little gym rat worked a treadmill. I think that was probably the best tasting burger ever!;)

Photo from the Pearl Harbor Memorial
From the sights of the above gun. Let me tell you taking this pic required talent. Those soldiers had to be very bendy to climb up into that seat! I had a heckofva time! Ha! Too many cheeseburgers I guess!!
At the USS Arizona Memorial. These are the names of all the soldiers lost that day. Very humbling to read.
Standing in the middle of the Memorial, which looks down on the mid-section of the ship. You can see oil floating on the surface. Two gallons leak out every day from the remaining thousands of gallons still in the ship's tanks. The Navy will deposit the urns of the surviving ship's soldiers upon their deaths if requested.
From this direction, you face the back end of the ship. Looking down at the watery tomb of some of America's finest really pulls at you. It was breath-taking and definitely choked me up.
The USS Arizona Memorial from a distance. A truly beautiful sight to behold.

I'm going to post some more pics from my tour with Kim of Hickman AFB and the original buildings which still sport bullet holes. If you'd like to learn a little more about my new friend Kim Lowe and her good works, here is the link to her blog, SOS America. And to fall in love with a Diana Cosby Zebra Historical Highlander Romances, check out Diana's website: http://www.dianacosby.com/Here's hoping your Moanday is sweet like a pineapple and just as tasty!! Mahalo!

Whip-It UP Wednesdays!

Well, I didn't win. Rats!

But I'm very happy and excited for the finalist who did, Bonnie Dee. How exciting to know your first chapter is getting read by such an awesome agent?! The New Beginnings Contest was a wonderful experience and I appreciate all of Jennifer Haymore's time and consideration. Seriously! She did a kicking job of paying it forward! Hopefully, one day she'll let me grill her in the TLN Hot Seat. Too cool!

In WIP news:
I've done a little plot restructuring. Thanks to the contest, I had to have my synopsis fine tuned which brought to light some plotting problems. I need to give a big ole Thank You to Diana Cosby for all her advice on writing a synopsis. She really broke it all down for me and made the mountain into a mole hill!

Diana has some good stuff for writers on her website. She is a very driven author who is perfect inspiration for this novice writer! Here is the link to her articles section.

I'm making steady progress, which has been very motivating. With any luck, I'll be right on track to meet my goal of finishing by summer.

What about you? Have you been able to stick to your goals from the beginning of the year?