Author: Dee S.

Gosh, answering this presents a smorgasbord of choices and I can only pick five?? On the other hand, it’s like someone comes up to you on the street and says, “Tell me five of your favorite things in the world,” and suddenly you can’t think of a one. So… (tapping index finger against chin while deep in thought) who do I choose?

1. Margaret Mitchell: Who wouldn’t want to meet someone who came up with the line “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”? Mitchell wrote a soap opera about one of the worst times in American history and made us all want more. Then she dusted off her hands and didn’t give us more. That’s a woman who knew what she wanted to write and did it. End of story. Literally. (Shake turnip at sky and vow always to be hungry for more Gone with the Wind.)

2. Lauren Layne: I love her work! She writes some of the best dialogues and her characters are always interesting and multi-dimensional. I’d like to have coffee with her, and maybe a Danish? (A pastry, not a man.) And laugh. She seems like a person who would laugh a lot.

3. Agatha Christie: My mom was a great reader and loved Agatha Christie so I reaped the benefit of always having her books around the house to read with a good apple. Such staying power! She wrote really good mysteries (though not always fair mysteries—she did often make the killer someone no one knew about until the final chapter) and led a very interesting life. Once I wanted to be an archaeologist and I’d love to hear all about her journeys in that arena.

4. Jane Austen: Like most of the world’s female population, I too fell in love with Mr. Darcy. I was an adult when I first read Austen. I’m not sure I would have appreciated her humor and her take on the gender wars of her time if I’d read her in high school or maybe not even in college. I think she must have been quite interesting but I might have had to give her a shake if we’d met and yell, “Live a little for yourself, woman!” Doing so could have caused a stir in the Bath teahouse where we were enjoying crumpets and scones.

5. Henry Fielding: If for no other reason but than I loved Tom Jones (that eating scene was messy but still a bit sexy), I’d like to meet Fielding. But he also seems like a genuinely nice person. Learning about his times from his perspective would be a great experience.

Did you notice a food theme throughout? Time for dinner…

I consider myself truly fortunate to have met some fabulous authors when I became part of the Liquid Silver Publishing group. I wrote a book (Resolutions) with three of them: Leigh Wyndfield, Jasmine Haynes (for erotic romance, Jennifer Skully for the sweeter stuff), and Vanessa Hart (for erotic romance, Cheryl Norman for the sweeter stuff). Terri Schaeffer is also a friend from LSB, and another Terri, Terri Olson, I met later on. All of these ladies are smart, interesting, and some of the most fabulous writers ever. I’m so lucky to be among their colleagues!

Check out the next post in this blog hop.

Thanks!
Dee
Coming soon: Naval Maneuvers from Black Velvet Seductions

Is a rose by any other name just as sweet really? Maybe not. Names carry meanings, after all.

As writers, we often spend an inordinate amount of time searching for the best names for our characters. I particularly have a hard time finding a name easy to type (yes, it’s true. I use the two finger method and not all names are created the same for us non-typers. I named a character Margaret once and had a devil of a time typing those letters in the right order.), that sounds and means what I want. Most of us want a male name to sound strong. Maybe a female name, too. Or maybe a sweet name for the female protagonist would be nice and a mean sounding one for her nemesis is just the ticket. So out of curiosity, I decided to look up name meanings. For both the girl and boy names below, I used a baby naming site.

Boys:
Aaron (Hebrew, Exalted one)
Brand (English, Proud)
Cullen (Irish, Handsome)
Morgan (Scottish, Sea Warrior)
Will (English, Resolute Protector)

Girls:
Cherri (French, Beloved)
Haley (Scandinavian, Heroine)
Patricia (Latin, Noble)
Sonya (Russian, Wisdom)
Yvonne (French, Archer)

It was fun just reading down the lists to see names I’d never heard of before (Dawnette—Sunrise or Wacian—Alert) or names not much in use anymore (Mildred—Gentle advisor or Valentine—Strong). There are lots of different sites to learn about names and the research is good—if you don’t get too carried away. Not that I ever do… 😉

Visit me and other authors on Nomad Authors for sweet romance (Anne Krist), shifters and ménage (Jenna Stewart), when you just want MORE (Francis Drake), and historical sexy romance (Amber Carlton)!

I just read a blog post by Javacia on See Jane Write that has sparked a goal for the month of February. She advocates that we need a break from working blinding toward a goal. Rather, she thinks that we will work better and with greater faith that we will reach our goals—including our writing goals—for the month if we treat ourselves a little each day. I agree! It’s like being able to work with a clearer mind if you take a short break. So let’s try to give ourselves a treat of some kind every day. Here are some of Javacia’s suggestions. My own suggestion? Find a quiet place to close your mind off from work and close your eyes for 10-15 minutes. Just open you mind and let your thoughts quiet. You’d be surprised what that little bit can do for your well being. And your work!

Will you join the challenge? How will you treat yourself today?

Love ourselves, love each other, love our writing!

I will always thank my mom for instilling in me a love of reading, from Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys to Sartre and Kant. At the risk of sounding kinda shallow, however, the books I’ve loved and turn back to time after time are not on the Sartre end of the reading scale. The first book I remember reading outside good old Nancy was a YA offering called When Sara Smiled (Kathleen Robinson). That book has stayed with me all these years because it had a smidgen of romance and was about a girl about my age, plus, it led into other growing up type books like Then Came November (Nan Gilbert) and Minnow Vail (Winifred Cover). But another reason Sara stayed with me is because of the contrast between the early 1960s and the cultural change that smashed into all of us just a few years later was so extreme. The teens in those books had problems, sure, but those problems paled in comparison to drugs, free love, and rebellion that went far beyond rock and roll.

Eventually books like When Sara Smiled led to my favorite book of all time, Doctor Zhivago (Boris Pasternak) that taught me through beautiful prose and imagery about another cultural revolution. Let’s face it. There are too many wonderful books to pick just one! 😉

Thanks!
Dee
Naval Maneuvers coming soon from Black Velvet Seductions

The other night hubby and I were at one of our favorite family-style restaurants in town. Our server wore a pair of glasses that one couldn’t help but notice—and I did. They were tortoise shell in color but with large frames that boasted small little flares on the outer tops. Like wings or cats’ ears. I loved them. Finally, I had to comment on how cute they were. She proudly told me that she’d bought them online and how inexpensive they were. “And they’re prescription, too!”

Now, it wouldn’t have occurred to me that she would be wearing a pair of glasses with plain glass in the frames. She wasn’t purely showing off. She needed glasses and she bought flamboyant frames to hold the prescription glass. I loved it! They really seemed to suit her personality.

I have worn glasses since I was 15. I’ve never considered wearing contacts and the main reason is I’ve always considered glasses to be a way to hide. I was always kind of shy (still am in groups larger than four or five) and glasses were a good method of holding myself back from others. Since seeing our cute waitress and how happy she seemed to be “out there,” I’ve thought about the difference between us and how it shows in something as simple as a pair of glasses.

What’s your style? Do you hide behind glasses or some other device?

Or do you happily let your personality shine?

To write or not to write. That is the question, to paraphrase the bard. I took this question to mean what would I be if I couldn’t be a writer, instead of what would I do if I couldn’t write books on the side. Let’s see. If not a writer, I’d have been a clerk, a librarian, a truck driver, a teacher, a technical writer, and an editor, in various, multiple scenarios.

Fact is, I never planned to be a writer. I didn’t grow up saving journals stacked high full of stories I’d imagined for years, or regaling my friends and relatives with fantasy and other tidbits of make believe. I’d always planned to be something in medicine or archaeology. When I attended college there were no writing courses or fine arts degrees, so I suppose it’s not so strange that I never thought of writing as any kind of pastime, much less a career. Instead, a few years after graduation, hubby and I went trucking. Then suddenly I had lots of opportunities to make up stories about places and people we’d seen stories I kept stored in my mind.

Years later, when I was hard up for something to do with myself for a few months, my husband suggested I take some of those ideas and put them into a book. That’s the first time I ever considered the wonderful world of authorship and for a few years all I did was write. It was glorious! If someone had tried to make me stop then, I’d have poked them with my virtual pen. Then life stepped in and I went back to work full time. Now I’ve come back to writing again and it’s like coming home in the best way. So what would I do if I couldn’t write? Nothing else so rewarding or satisfying.

Dee S. Knight website
Naval Maneuvers coming soon from Black Velvet Seductions

As an erotic romance author, my biggest goal is to have my work appeal to readers who enjoy their romance on the steamier side. Well, I’m a reader as well as a writer, and I love noticing how other writers bring out the best qualities of a sexy hero and heroine. After all, if those main characters don’t make our hearts go pitter patter, it’s likely the book as a whole won’t either. So this week, my question to you is, what makes a hero—the male lead—someone you can root for and love?

Years ago, a reviewer said of Cooper in The Cinderella Curse that “Dee sure knows her men.” That comment made me happy because I love men and I love making them come alive in my books. Cooper, the photographer who makes over Charlotte, Cinderella style, is more of a beta hero. He is strong and confident and right there on hand to help Charlotte recognize the beauty he saw in her even when she was a “plain Jane.” He helps, but he doesn’t rush in and impose his will on her.

The space jockeys in The Bride of the Pryde, however, are all alpha men: domineering, quick to make demands and even quicker to expect them to be carried out. Good thing the heroine, Susan, is just as alpha. Still, as a woman, she responds to their total maleness when she comes up against them (pun intended).

I’ve written all kinds of heroes in my erotic romances, but I’m interested in what you think make a hero wonderful. Is it his strength, his humor, his decisiveness, or tenderness? Do you like a man to stand strong but silent beside his heroine when they’re with others but take charge between the sheets or do you like him to express his will with the heroine in all ways?

We all have men in our lives, fictional or real, who make us sit up and take notice. Let me know your favorite hero and what appeals to you about him. Thanks!

Someone just asked me the other day if a character I wrote in Passionate Destiny had anything to do with my husband, Jack. The character’s name is Jackson, and while his character is not much like hubby’s, I like to include some variation of Jack’s name in most of my books. (Ever notice how many heroes and/or villains are named Jack?) If I don’t actually use his name, I usually add something of him, like noting his alma mater, Virginia Military Institute (go, VMI!), in Impatient Passion, or a description of where he took me on our honeymoon in my latest book, Naval Maneuvers. I think every author puts something of themselves in their books—we draw from what we know or have experienced, right?

I think also, that writing itself is such a personal endeavor. We’re often writing alone, in our own little worlds. I feel like each and every book is a kind of mini-Me in some way. Can’t get much more personal than that. 😉 My biggest goal is that the personal bits I add to my works will be liked and enjoyed by readers!

Thanks!
Dee S. Knight
#MFRW Blog Hop
Impatient Passion
Passionate Destiny
Naval Maneuvers: coming soon from Black Velvet Seductions