Monday, August 31, 2015

Weird Writing Tip #2-Type One-Handed

12:00 AM 0 Comments

The second in a series where I will be dropping some Weird Writing Tips that have helped me in the past fifteen years or so of pounding out stories.

One-Handed Typing

Now I'm the first to admit this tip is super weird, even for me. Honestly, I never would have thought of trying this out even a week ago. Yeah.




Then this happened.
My new pen name: Klutzy McKlutzerton


Don't worry, nothing's broken. At least, the doctor said as much. The back of my hand is still swollen and painful nearly a week later, however, and I have to wear a splint and limit use for the time being. Which is, you know, a GREAT help when you're just back in the swing of writing and getting that word count handled. Well, I wasn't about to let this little setback interfere with my writing schedule, so I decided to peck away as best as I could--and I discovered something interesting.

First, I have to explain a little of my process. Normally, I spit out as many words as I can as fast as I can, something I learned in a "fast draft" course and perfected over years of doing the national novel challenge in November. During editing, I am then forced to deal with the hype, hyperbole, and general hyperactivity that took place in the drafting. This often means cutting out a good deal, sometimes tens of thousands of words, to get things in fighting trim. 

That said, when my hand's unscheduled time out forced me to slow down instead of pounding away Blitzkrieg-style, I found that I was being more selective in choosing my words. Word count didn't climb as fast, true, but fewer words were destined for the axe later. I was more inclined to really think about what needed to be said in a scene, and to get the right words out in a tight fashion. "Right and tight" means a lot less fat trimming on the manuscript later.

It occurred to me that this would be a good exercise for new or seasoned authors who are looking to hone and focus their word choices. Funny how life's little accidents can become our best teachers.

So the weird tip is: Type one-handed when  you need to slow down and focus on "right and tight" words.

Now I'm not suggesting that you bash the back of your hand hard on a metal pole (which may or may not have led to me sporting the single-glove look Michael Jackson made so fashionable). What you can do is set aside a time to try this exercise out. Type one-handed for an hour. Choose your words carefully, and see whether the results are more meat and less fluff. 

Have fun and have at it!


~~~
On select Mondays, I like to gab about writing or whatever's going on with me. For more gab, please join me on Twitter or Facebook. I love talking to people!

J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night.

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Her Master's Eyes -Snippet Sunday

12:00 AM 14 Comments
~~Warning: Adult content~~

On Sundays, I share tidbits of my works in progress as part of Weekend Warrior’s 8-Sentence Sunday.  This week, I continue with my latest project, a bondage fantasy titled Bound to Her Master.

Last weekTi-Hana was finally revealed to eager crowds during intermission at the slave games. We move right along with that scene, where she is just beginning to understand how sought after she truly is.


She heard the appreciative groans and leers in response to her seductively stroking her abdomen, but her attention sharpened to the god seated behind her. She was aware of Lord Stepanyan’s presence, mindful that his eyes were on her, watching every move, judging every expression. Was her Master pleased with her self-assessment? Or did he think her too proud, too vain while in the spotlight?
Her gaze flicked to one side of her view screen doppelganger, and she saw his image there. Her eyes found his by accident, and while it was only a projected image of those eyes, she averted hers right away. Too late, however, to prevent the spike in her pulse and the stab of not-unpleasant shock through her middle.

Her big moment slid away when the Jumbotron cut to a still image of slaves competing in the arena. So, she’d done it--she'd stood before the masses and managed not to faint. All that remained was to hope her Master deemed the performance worthy of the careful anticipation he had carefully constructed.

So, what do you think?

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For more awesome snippets, check out 

~~~~
I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over twenty-five books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!

Monday, August 24, 2015

Weird Writing Tip #1 -Chick Anthems

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In my 15 or so years as a writer, I've used all sorts of tips, tricks, and techniques to help keep the words flowing. Some tips were obvious, others simple but effective. A few were just, well, kind of weird. Whatever works, I say, and to that end, I thought I'd start sharing Weird Writing Tips that have helped me.

Chick Anthems

What's a chick anthem? It's a song that empowers and motivates women. They don't have to be sung by chicks, but many are. Guys have anthems as well. Eye of the Tiger is an example of a pump-you-up, motivational song. My husband has it on his workout playlist.  And heck yeah, ladies can use this as an anthem as readily as guys can get pumped listening to my chosen Katy Perry anthem (see below).

Gotta get pumped to write!
What's weird about music as inspiration? After all, many writers listen to music while writing. I select pieces that fit the mood of the scene I'm writing (preferably instrumentals so I don't get caught up in the lyrics instead of my own prose). But I'm not talking about playing music for atmosphere while writing. I'm talking about getting amped up and motivated to sit down and write in the first place. Now, I listen to music that will get me feeling powerful, positive, and ready to tackle anything before I get rolling. Chick anthems are great for this, and put me in a go-getter frame of mind.

So the weird tip is: Listen to pump-you-up chick (or guy) anthems BEFORE sitting down to a writing session.

Another "weird" thing about today's tip is that I didn't learn it from a writer. I saw it on videos about how to be a successful YouTube vlogger. (I was doing research for my tween, who is studying vlogs as a school elective.) Successful vloggers recommend getting "amped" to produce their work by listening to upbeat music, dancing around, etc. ahead of time. I figured if it worked for them, it was worth a shot for me...and it has definitely been useful.

This week's chick anthem is great for getting in the mood to kick some writing butt--Roar by Katy Perry:



So put on your best anthems and let 'em hear you roar with your next writing session!

~~~
On select Mondays, I like to gab about writing or whatever's going on with me. For more gab, please join me on Twitter or Facebook. I love talking to people!

J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

A Beauty Revealed -Snippet Sunday

12:00 AM 9 Comments
~~Warning: Adult content~~

On Sundays, I share tidbits of my works in progress as part of Weekend Warrior’s 8-Sentence Sunday.  This week, I continue with my latest project, a bondage fantasy titled Bound to Her Master.

Last weekTi-Hana was preoccupied by the sight of her Master being primped by servants during a break at the slave games.  Let's move straight ahead now, where intermission is over and it is at last time for Lord Stepanyan to reveal his beautiful slave to the waiting crowd.


The door to the dressing area opened, and Lord Stepanyan paused at the threshold. The din of thousands of conversations heightened briefly, and then stopped when he stepped forward. Ti-Hana kept behind him, pressed to his back as close as she could considering her girth and his forward momentum. Silence swelled in the air around her, and she knew all eyes were again focused on the arising lordship and his entourage--including the pregnant slave who was again hidden from view.


With a flourish, Lord Stepanyan stepped aside, a cue for the guards behind her to retreat into subtle obscurity. Then there she was, exposed to the scrutiny of the crowd while wearing nothing but strands of gold chain threaded through her hair and draped strategically over her body. The feel of eyes on her from every direction brought the prickle of goose bumps, and when she caught sight of the arena below, she gasped in shock. There she was, a fifty-foot specter looming midair on some kind of supernatural Jumbotron, staring back at herself with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. Apparently, she’d been deemed enough of a curiosity to win fifteen seconds of big-screen fame. For the first time since her arrival in this strange land, Ti-Hana saw the sensual beauty in her pregnant form the way the gods saw it, and she stroked a hand slowly, deliberately over the round of her abdomen.


So, what do you think?

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For more awesome snippets, check out 



~~~~
I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over twenty-five books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Oh-So Chocolatey Fudge Brownies from Cake Mix

3:04 AM 0 Comments
It's Too Yummy Tuesday!

On select Tuesdays I share delicious recipes either inspired by my books or that are just plain delicious!


Hey guys! Oh, it's great to be sharing a recipe with you again, and I'll have to say this one is an easy treat that will knock your socks clean off. Really. Straight across the room. Forget that it's still the dog days of summer and way too hot to light the oven. Whip these babies up and you won't regret it. (Especially if a scoop of ice cream on the side is involved.)

Brownie Baking Champ!
Mike took Bri camping in the mountains last weekend with the 4H club, and even though I was stuck working down in the "flatlands", I wanted them to be able to take a little bit of mama lovin' along. What better way than to send a batch of brownies to share (or not)? 

There was just one problem: I'd eliminated table sugar and regular flour from my pantry some time back, and I didn't want to buy whole bags of each just for one recipe. So I decided to start with a packaged cake mix. The prep was so simple that my daughter did it all herself. We whipped up two batches--some for fellow campers, some for me to share with my co-workers. Okay, plus a few extra that I squirreled away Just For Me. Oh, my! Mountain folk and flatlanders alike went bonkers for these. They declared Bri a master baker who can make brownies for them anytime.

Oh-So Chocolatey Fudge Brownies from Cake Mix

Ingredients

This is the mix we used...and wowee!
1 box chocolate cake mix (we used two different kinds, and I'll have to say the winner by a mile was Betty Crocker's Super Moist Triple Chocolate Fudge-WOW)
1 egg
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee (you CAN skip this, but it really brings out the chocolate flavor, so yeah)
1 stick butter, melted. I go for the gusto here and use the real thing rather than margarine
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup your favorite chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. (I confess, because it was 106 degrees on the day we baked these, I skipped the preheat and gave the brownies a closer scrutiny while baking.) Grease a brownie pan--11x9 is ideal, but 9x9 works great if you like a thicker brownie (expect your baking time to increase a bit). Pour dry cake mix into a medium bowl, then add egg, coffee, and butter and combine well. The result will not look like your usual pourable cake batter. This should end up as a thick, spreadable brownie-style mix. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if using. Spread into prepared pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until it pulls away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick comes out mostly clean (a few crumbs or a bit of fudginess is fine--and watch out that you haven't stabbed a melted chocolate chip by mistake and declared the batter raw). Be sure to let these cool before cutting. Smallish squares work well here, as these babies are rich!

These most definitely need no frosting--they have plenty enough wow factor to stand on their own. That said, I can heartily support serving with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of French vanilla ice cream on the side...yum!


Enjoy!

~~~

J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people!

Sunday, August 16, 2015

An Enviable Task -Snippet Sunday

12:00 AM 13 Comments
~~Warning: Adult content~~

On Sundays, I share tidbits of my works in progress as part of Weekend Warrior’s 8-Sentence Sunday.  This week, I continue with my latest project, a bondage fantasy titled Bound to Her Master.

Last week, Lord Stepanyan hears that his decision to hide his new sex slave under a cloak caused quite a stir--and a round of wagers as to when he would finally reveal her. Now, let's fast forward to intermission at the slave games, where Lord Stepanyan and his slave, Ti-Hana, are in a private dressing area freshening up before her big reveal. Ti-Hana's focus isn't on her own primping, however, but watching her Master be attended--something she's never been privy to before.

One of the servants rubbed Lord Stepanyan’s hard body with oils, an enviable task Ti-Hana had fantasized about early on in their time together. What went through his mind while he was being prepped to demonstrate his Mastery of her? While careful to avoid eye contact, she stole glances at his expression and saw how he eyed himself in the mirror with what seemed careful scrutiny of the job his attendants were performing. Was he mentally supervising the servants’ efforts, or was he judging himself to gauge flaws the public might find in their lord’s manner or appearance?
A third servant dressed the Master’s hair, applying some kind of smoothing balm to the hundreds of warrior braids that had also stunned Ti-Hana. Hours must have been required for the hairstyle alone, an uncustomary show of vanity for a lord she hadn’t found to be nearly as caught up in his appearance as he’d been in dictating her own. Then again, he had no need of fuss to steal a woman’s breath away. Too much window dressing detracted, rather than enhanced, the natural beauty of a perfectly chiseled diamond. Whereas Ti-Hana, with her large tummy and the occasionally swollen feet she could no longer see, needed all the help she could get.


So, what do you think?

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For more awesome snippets, check out 



~~~~
I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over twenty-five books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!

Sunday, August 9, 2015

The Wet Seal's Visit -Snippet Sunday

12:00 AM 12 Comments
~~Warning: Adult content~~

On Sundays, I share tidbits of my works in progress as part of Weekend Warrior’s 8-Sentence Sunday

For today's snippet, we rejoin my work in progress, Bound to Her Master. Last timeLord Stepanyan was enjoying the commotion caused at the slave games by his decision not to remove the disguising cloak from his new sex slave. Now, we join the slave's viewpoint while Stepanyan chats with a noble visiting the high seat's private arena box. Oh, and since the rules for snippets allow for up to 10 sentences, I'm posting a couple more than my usual 8.


Although Ti-Hana couldn’t see Shaz-Nai in her current pose, she remembered his name from the Master’s Walk. He’d been the bald man dressed in shiny black rubber, an effect that made him resemble a wet seal. She stifled a giggle and almost shamed herself by choking on Lord Stepanyan’s cock.
“If I may ask,” Shaz-Nai was saying, “how much longer will you be hiding away this red-haired curiosity of yours, Lord Stepanyan? Speculation on your joo-hai’na’s merits has been the talk of the games. There is as much betting going on over when you will reveal her as there has been for the actual games.”
Stepanyan gave a hearty, engaging laugh that caught her off guard, and her heart gave a little flip at the sound. Her Master rarely laughed, and never with such abandon. The sound gave him an approachable, almost boyish appeal that made her want to give him a squeeze.
“I am pleased to hear my rather uncustomary approach is paying off,” he said.


So, what do you think?


~ * ~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ *~ * ~ *~ *

For more awesome snippets, check out 


~~~~
I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over twenty-five books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!

Monday, August 3, 2015

Passion Planner-Why You Should Have One

12:00 AM 0 Comments

Anyone who's followed my blog for a while can probably attest to the fact that I like schedules. Calendars, too. And then there are the planners. I can tell you that I love buying planners. I like to have them and look at them, imagining how organized I'll be when I get around to using them. But for some reason, I don't. They sit around empty or nearly so until the year is out and it's time to buy a new one. I confess I almost did that again this year, but luckily, I gave my latest find a go. This has proven to be such an invaluable tool that I had to share it with you.

Passion Planner is  my current planner--ironic for someone with a blog titled The Power of Passion. I'm using this thing like gangbusters, and not because of the catchy name. This is no mere calendar with daily to-do lists--although these things are included. This is a combination mind map, life coach, inspirational speaker, and organizer rolled into one. 

Passion Planning for Life

A Passion Planner not only allows one to keep track of normal day-to-day routine, but it helps you identify, explore, and achieve your life's passions and goals. You are guided through a short mind map exercise to identify things you'd like to see happen over the next few months, year, and farther out. Then these goals are chunked down into easily managed bits--and game-changers are thrown in to help you rocket forward each month. Inspiring quotes, room to write in great things that happened during each week, monthly questionnaires to let you examine how things are going, and plenty of room for notes, dreams, and doodles elevates this planner above any I've ever used. (Or, as admitted above, owned without using.)

an image from the Passion Planner website

Passion Planning for Writers
This Passion Planner is ideal for helping achieve writing goals. Use the mind map to draw out a general picture of what you want for your career, deadlines for finishing scenes/books/etc., and break down the timeline so you can keep deadlines on your projects. Since there's plenty of room, you can also juggle in your daily appointments and tasks as well, so there's no need for multiple calendars. 

Where to Get a Passion Planner
I found out about Passion Planner from a Kickstarter campaign a while back. Now the site is selling nicely bound planners in two sizes and a few different styles. If you can't swing the money right now, you can still have one! You can download the pages for FREE right from their website. Print them off, stick in your own binder, and you're good to go. 

Here's the website link. Happy planning! 
Passion Planner: http://passionplanner.com



~~~
On select Mondays, I like to gab about writing, offer helpful tips, or post updates about whatever's going on with me. For more gab, please join me on Twitter or Facebook. I love talking to people!

J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

A Mysterious Beauty-Snippet Sunday

12:00 AM 11 Comments
~~Warning: Adult content~~

As promised earlier this week, after a long battle with writer's block, I finally have a snippet to share as part of 
Weekend Warrior’s 8-Sentence Sunday

This snippet is from Bound to Her Master, an erotic bondage fantasy I worked on for some time before my unscheduled hiatus. I managed a total of 2,355 words on the manuscript this week, plus another almost 1,800 words of extensive notes for upcoming scenes. Fist pump!

For today's snippet: Lord Stepanyan has just been seated in his private box at the annual slave games, where he has brought the sex slave who has caused weeks of gossip and speculation among the other houses. Everyone was anxious to see the pregnant beauty who came to him straight from the Earth realm, but Stepanyan took the Master's Walk with his slave concealed beneath a large cloak. Now sitting in his seat with his slave posed in an act of service to him, he takes a moment to see the results of his controversial actions.


Stepanyan glanced around at a variety of curious stares, more than a few of which registered open disappointment that his slave’s cloak was still in place. All that was visible of Ti-Hana was the tumble of rare red waves at the back of her head while she knelt before him and demonstrated a discipline he hoped would not fail under the strain of nerves or discomfort over her pose. Despite the fact that little of her was visible, or possibly because of it, attention lingered on the high seat box and its occupants.
When Stepanyan’s gaze traveled over to find Vo’Dan glaring at him, he gave his rival a smile and a nod. Vo’Dan had lost his audience by offering up too much too soon, and he did not appear the least bit gracious about it. And he, too, stole frequent glances at the slave nestled between Stepanyan’s thighs, appearing every bit as eager as the rest to see what temptations lay beneath the cloak.
   Soon, nobles paid call to the box to speak with Stepanyan, and part of his Mastery involved carrying on casual conversation without giving away just how maddening it was to have the luscious head of his ridhonna in his lap. As much as his own attention drifted often to the slave who was attached to him quite literally, he was well aware that the visitors coming to pay respects to the arising lordship seemed more intent on glimpsing the mysterious female than in conversing with him.



So, what do you think?


~ * ~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ *~ * ~ *~ *

For more awesome snippets, check out 


~~~~
I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over twenty-five books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!


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