Michele Fogal's Blog

Hi Peeps,

Can you come see this?? I’m on the panel!

Hi bebes!

Here’s the goods from my talk at the Emerald City Writers Conference, Oct 2018. Hope you likey…

 

Including Diversity in Your Writing – Emerald City Workshop

 

XO

The post Including Diversity in Your Writing appeared first on Michele Fogal Author of Quirky and Diverse Love Stories.

What is Creative Ink?

It’s a great writer’s festival in Vancouver, BC Canada, May 18-20th, 2018, at the Delta Burnaby Hotel. You can sign up here! Here’s the programming timetable as well. I went last year and had a great time in a very welcoming and warm community of writers and book lovers. I’d highly recommend it and invite you to attend the sessions I’m presenting in, listed here…

My Solo Workshop, 1pm Sunday Mar 20

Guided Meditation for Writers with Michele Fogal

Find out how to unlock your imaginative world using simple, reliable techniques. Don’t just visualize your scenes and communicate with your characters—step into an otherworldly experience that transports you right inside the story that you’re working on—or the story that’s working on you.

Panels that I’m On
Starting is The Hardest Part – Fri, 2pm

Chloe Cocking (M), Donna Barker, Michele Fogal, Tyner Gillies, Jane Whittingham

Have you always wanted to write but could never even think how to get started? Whether it’s blogs, news reports, reviews, short stories or novels, how does one get the pen (or keyboard) rolling?

The Grey Side of Anti-Heroes – Fri, 3pm

Michele Fogal (M), Joshua Pantalleresco, T. G. Shepherd, Bevan Thomas

We should hate them, but we love them. They have major flaws; they sometimes do the right thing for the wrong reasons or vice versa. How do you create an anti-hero that will draw in your readers and never let them go? (Discussion of what an anti-hero is may also come up!)

Feeding Your Muse – Sat, 11am

Mel Anastasiou (M), C.C. (Chris) Humphreys, Michele Fogal, Jim Jackson, KT Wagner

The creative process can often be a tricky one, and it is easy to fall into ruts or hit a blank wall. Our panelists will discuss how to develop ideas, create compelling subject matter, and what do next when you find yourself stuck, not knowing what to do for your next piece of art, writing or other creative project.

Silence Your Inner Critic – Sat, 2pm

Jim Jackson (M), Adam Dreece, Michele Fogal, Lisa Voisin

How do you shut off that voice that tells us we’re not good enough, not talented enough, not enough to write? Should we? Or does it serve a purpose? Join panelists as they discuss why this happens, what you can do about it and how to make it work for you, not against you.

Is All Procrastination Fear? – Sat, 7pm

Sylvia Taylor (M), Chloe Cocking, Michele Fogal, Jane Whittingham

Do you sit down to write but find yourself roaming social media? Or do you get the sudden urge to do laundry or make phone calls instead? Do we procrastinate because writing is too hard? Or is it out of fear and if so, what are we afraid of? Or is it a lack of motivation or ideas? Join the panelists as they discuss procrastination and how to deal with it.

 

Hope to see you there!

The post My Workshops at “Creative Ink” Writers’ Fest! appeared first on Michele Fogal Author of Quirky and Diverse Love Stories.

At the first ever GVWA meeting, we’ll be running a workshop! Super excited!

GVWA

Greater Vancouver Writers Association, Romance and Beyond, is the new incarnation of a well established writers group, the Greater Vancouver Chapter of the RWA – Romance Writers of America. We have disaffiliated from that larger, international organisation and have become our own nonprofit.

Vision Boards for Writers 2018

facilitated by Jan Irving & Michele Fogal

This workshop will touch on the concepts of: the law of attraction, visualization, inspired action, and manifestation. We’ll share a bit about how these big ideas have impacted creative people’s lives and will also facilitate a hands on vision board making session. As a new year begins, we hope this will be a fun uplifting experience, to imagine and seed our best next chapters, together as writers. NOTE about Materials: We will bring poster boards for everyone, and would appreciate people bringing magazines or cuttable print materials—preferably with images! If you’d like to create a vision book instead of a board, please bring an empty journal or binder with paper. Your favourite scissors are a good idea too!

Materials – what people need to bring for the workshop

We will bring poster boards for everyone, and would appreciate people bringing any and all magazines, or cuttable print materials – preferably with images! If participants want to create a “vision book” instead of a board, please bring an empty journal or binder with paper. You can do both board and book, but time will be limited.

Bio – Michele Fogal

Michele loves vision boards, meditations and finding ways to talk to our deepest selves. When we get specific about what we want in the future, we allow ourselves to open up and tap into our creative source, both as writers and as people.

Michele received a BFA in Creative Writing and then set aside dreams of being a writer for more practical endeavours. Writing, however, had other plans. After battling doubt and writer’s block for years, Fogal is now finding ways to include creativity as a part of her long term life approach, while maintaining her family relationships, her household, her business and her sanity! She is the author of 3 novels, published by 2 presses.

michelefogal.com

Bio – Jan Irving

Jan learned to make vision boards during a life and death health crisis. Using visualization and the law of attraction, she found that her books were not the only story that she could become empowered to write. We can become the heroines of our lives… and careers.

Author of over forty books and novellas, Jan Irving has written historicals, westerns, contemporaries, suspense, multicultural romance, and gay romance. Currently she is working on young adult, romantic urban fantasy and even a memoir. You can find Jan on her facebook where she shares both writing news and her latest creative projects: facebook.com/janice.irving

Hope to see you there!

The post Vision Boards for Writers – Workshop! appeared first on Michele Fogal Author of Quirky and Diverse Love Stories.

Hi readers!

I’m pleased to host M. Jane on her marathon blog tour as she shares 48 installments of her latest and greatest book, “Consequences”. I’m stop #18 on the tour! See below if you want to start at the beginning and follow the whole great story…

Enjoy!

COMING OUT, Ch 18 of Consequences by M. Jane Colette #audiobook #excerpt #listentothis #ConAudioTour

Welcome to Stop 18 of the Consequences AudioBook BlogTour

COMING OUT

from CONSEQUENCES (of defensive adultery)

an EROTIC tragedy with a HAPPY ending

by M. Jane Colette

performed by Elisa Kae

18+ ADVISORY: Consequences is intended for an adult (18+) audience. It deals with mature subject matter, and contains explicit language and sexual content. Listener and reader discretion is advised.

The tour is bringing romance readers and listeners the opportunity to listen to all 48 full, unabridged chapters of Consequences well in advance of the audiobook’s Christmas release.

Plus, there are fabulous prizes at every stop, and 48 chances throughout the tour to enter to win a COMPLETE set of M. Jane Colette’s paperbacks!

Today, we bring you Chapter 18: COMING OUT. (Synopsis and links to earlier chapters + readable version of the chapter below.)

https://mjanecolette.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/18-coming-out.mp3

If the audio link won’t work for you, click here: https://mjanecolette.files.wordpress....

PREFER TO READ? We’re on it. Here is a password-protected link to the written version of this chapter for tour participants’ eyes only:

***** CHAPTER 18: COMING OUT. (password: michelefogal)*****

WHAT’S THIS BOOK ABOUT?

An affair. HEARTBREAK. Consequences. ABSOLUTION, redemption, and LOVE… in the most unexpected places–a steamy second chance romance unlike any you’ve ever experienced… featuring an ALPHA lover-confessor you haven’t DARED dream about.

Elizabeth did not plan to break up his marriage when she had an affair with her law school professor. But she did. Fifteen years later, she’s still coming to terms with the consequences of her youthful infatuation: a stepdaughter who hates her, an ex-wife who will never forgive the betrayal, a sister-in-law who’s determined to make Elizabeth her confidante. Compelled to reveal the “tragedy of her life” to a nameless lover, Elizabeth finds herself forced to reconsider her definition of love, commitment, and responsibility—a process that finally releases her from the shackles of her past mistakes and shows her the way to her own happily-ever-after.

A NOTE ABOUT STRUCTURE: The story unfolds over the course of one night, as the narrator Elizabeth relates the “tragedy of her life” to her current lover as they, to quote a reviewer “do lover things.” The story Elizabeth tells spans 15 years. The scenes between Elizabeth and her lover are pure dialogue, and interrupt the “story proper.” There is no “he said/I said” in the dialogue between Elizabeth and her lover… a challenge the narrator solved masterfully, but which may give the first-time listener pause. To increase your enjoyment of the story, an opportunity to read, as well as listen to, the chapter, is provided.

Enjoyed what you heard/read? The tour continues on Mon Oct 16 with Chapter 19 // PRETTY BOY

hosted by REAL TASTY PAGES.

FIRST STOP: If this blog is your first stop on the tour, you might want to head back to stop number one, hosted by Tome Tender Blog: The Photograph, or to the Tour Home Page, and start from the beginning. There are chances to win prizes at every stop!

****TODAY: WIN $50 AMAZON GIFT CARD + MORE!

ENTER ON RAFFLECOPTER****

ENTER UNTIL 12:00 am Nov 29, 2017

PLUS: GRAND PRIZE TREASURE HUNT ENTRY, PART 18: For a chance to win one of two COMPLETE HARD COPY SETS of M. Jane Colette’s novels, send an email to TellMe@mjanecolette.com, and:

put #ConAudioTour Day 18 in the subject heading,
ask to be added to her Rough Draft Confessions newsletter (or tell Jane you’re already on her mailing list, and it’s awesome, when’s the next love letter coming?) and,
answer the question: “What’s Sasha’s lover’s name?”

Hint: The answer’s contained in today’s chapter.

(The small print: Each tour stop offers you one opportunity to enter the GRAND PRIZE TREASURE HUNT DRAW, for a total of 48 entries if you complete the tour. The books that comprise the GRAND PRIZE are the novels Tell Me, Cherry Pie Cure, and Consequences, and the non-fiction collection of essays Rough Draft Confessions, including its controversially titled, available-only-in-Canada, beta reader / limited edition predecessor.)

CAN’T WAIT? BUY THE E-BOOK NOW:

in ALL FORMATS for any DEVICE at ALL RETAILERS

including iBooks ❤ Kobo ❤ Amazon ❤ Barnes & Noble ❤ Google Play ❤ Inside Romance

Softcovers at all the usual places, including Chapters ❤ Amazon ❤ Barnes & Noble ❤ Book Depository ❤ Powell’s Books and your favourite retailer

AUDIOBOOK COMING CHRISTMAS 2017

sign up for M. Jane Colette’s Rough Draft Confessions to get advance notice of its release

REMEMBER: The story continues on Mon Oct 16 with Chapter 19 // PRETTY BOY

hosted by REAL TASTY PAGES.

M. Jane Colette writes tragedy for people who like to laugh, comedy for the melancholy, and erotica for women and men who like their fantasies real. She believes rules and hearts were made to be broken; ditto the constraints of genres.

Connect with her on Twitter / GoodReads / FaceBook / Instagram and subscribe to her newsletter, Rough Draft Confessions, to stay in the loop on her WIPs, new releases, and fab multi-media, multi-author projects. You can also email her at TellMe@mjanecolette.com.

For more information about the tour & its other hosts, visit mjanecolette.com/ConAudioTour or check out the schedule below.

 

CONSEQUENCES AUDIOBOOK BLOG TOUR

#ConAudioTour #SteamyListen #ListenToThis

visit mjanecolette.com/ConAudioTour for daily link updates

Mon Sept 25 Chapter 1 THE PHOTOGRAPH hosted by TOME TENDER BOOK BLOG // Tues Sept 26 Chapter 2 PINK PANTIES hosted by KIM KNIGHT // Wed Sept 27 Chapter 3 HARD TO OPEN hosted by WICKED COOL FLIGHT // Thurs Sept 28 Chapter 4 ENTER THE ADULTERER hosted by MISHA ELLIOTT // Sat Sept 30 Chapter 5 THE WOMAN IN RED hosted by ALYSSA LINN PALMER //Sun Oct 1 Chapter 6 THE WHORE WHO WORE TURQUOISE hosted by DIRTY BAD BLOGGERS //Mon Oct 2 Chapter 7 CARELESS hosted by ELIZA DAVID // Tues Oct 3 Chapter 8 REVENGE SEX hosted by CAMERON ALLIE EROTICA // Wed Oct 4 Chapter 9 RENAMING DESTINY hosted by SO…WHATCHA READING? // Thurs Oct 5 Chapter 10 DREAMING OF SILENCE hosted by THE READING CAT // Sat Oct 7 Chapter 11 BABY OIL hosted by JENNA HOWARD // Sun Oct 8 Chapter 12 SPERM DONOR hosted by AMAZEBALLS BOOK ADDICTS // Mon Oct 9 Chapter 13 ALWAYS THE WOMAN’S FAULT co-hosted by Teri Hicks & Co’s READING OUT LOUD + SJs BOOK BLOG // Tues Oct 10 Chapter 14 CUNT IN A BOARDROOM hosted by TL CLARK // Wed Oct 11 Chapter 15 BLACKMAIL hosted by BOOKWORM BRANDEE // Thurs Oct 12 Chapter 16 MAGIC CARPET RIDE hosted by SOUTHERN BRED & READ BOOK BLOG // Sat Oct 14 Chapter 17 CONDOMS IN A SUITCASE hosted by AMANDA SIEGRIST // Sun Oct 15 Chapter 18 COMING OUT hosted by MICHELE FOGAL // Mon Oct 16 Chapter 19 PRETTY BOY hosted by REAL TASTY PAGES // Tues Oct 17 Chapter 20 PROMISCUOUS POLYAMORY hosted by LOVES GREAT READS BLOG // Wed Oct 18 Chapter 21 EDUCATING PHILISTINES hosted by RAMPA PA GROUP // Thurs Oct 19 Chapter 22 FUCKING ARTISTS hosted by JENN’S BOOK OBSESSION // Sat Oct 21 Chapter 23 GUILT IN A TEA CUP hosted by SULTRY SIRENS // Sun Oct 22 Chapter 24 LABELS hosted by TORY RICHARDS // Mon Oct 23 Chapter 25 COERCION hosted by ROXANA NASTASE // Tues Oct 24 Chapter 26 UNGRATEFUL hosted by CASEY’S CORNER // Wed Oct 25 Chapter 27 DUPLICATE hosted by A DREAMER’S BOOK BLOG // Fri Oct 27 Chapter 28 SECRETS IN A VELVET BAG hosted by LOVE INDIE ROMANCE // Sat Oct 28 Chapter 29 BITTERSWEET COFFEE hosted by THE GENRE MINX BOOK REVIEWS // Sun Oct 29 Chapter 30 WORDS ON THE SCREEN hosted by DEELYLAH MULLIN // Mon Oct 30 Chapter 31 ADDICTIONS hosted by ANGELICA DAWSON // Wed Nov 1 Chapter 32 ENABLER hosted by 2 CHICKS & A BOOK // Thurs Nov 2 Chapter 33 FOOLISH COUGAR hosted by A RISQUÉ BOOK AFFAIR BOOK BLOG // Fri Nov 3 Chapter 34 NO MORE hosted by KATE FOREST // Sun Nov 5 Chapter 35 CRASH hosted by MISS J MONROE // Mon Nov 6 Chapter 36 SUFFERING FOR ART hosted by T&A BOOK BLOG // Nov 7 Chapter 37 PLAYING CUPID hosted by MISCHA ELIOT // Wed Nov 8 Chapter 38 EMASCULATION hosted by PHOEBE ALEXANDER // Thurs Nov 9 Chapter 39 RITUAL hosted by ROMANCE NOVEL GIVEAWAYS // Sun Nov 12 Chapter 40 MUSE hosted by SIP READ LOVE // Mon Nov 13 41 CHRISTMAS DAY hosted by DIRTY GIRL ROMANCE // Tues Nov 14 Chapter 42 CAST-OFFS hosted by JOJO THE BOOKAHOLIC // Wed Nov 15 Chapter 43 VIOLATION hosted by BOOK SNIFFERS ANONYMOUS // Thurs Nov 16 Chapter 44 AGAIN WITH THE CONFESSION hosted by WOPSY WOO BOOK BLOG// Sat Nov 18 Chapter 45 FETTERED, FREE hosted by CARRIE AUSTIN REVIEWS // Sun Nov 19 Chapter 46 ABSOLUTION hosted by READS2LOVE // Mon Nov 20 Chapter 47 THRESHOLD hosted by STEPHANIE’S BOOK REPORTS //FINALE: Tues Nov 21 Chapter 48 AN UNSATISFACTORY ENDING hosted by (UN)CONVENTIONAL BOOK VIEWS // Wed Nov 22 Full Recap on mjanecolette.com + Cyber Champagne Celebration of the Tour’s Success! // Thurs Nov 30 – GRAND PRIZE WINNERS ANNOUNCED on mjanecolette.com

The post COMING OUT, Ch 18 of “Consequences” by M. Jane Colette #audiobook #excerpt #listentothis #ConAudioTour appeared first on Michele Fogal Author of Quirky and Diverse Love Stories.

Hi writers and readers!

I wanted to share some info from my workshop “Skeleton Keys” from the Golden Ears Writers and Readers Festival, Sun Oct 1, 2017.

Free Workbooks

I hope you found the workshop inspiring, and that it will inspire you to continue nourishing your own creative spark. If you sign up here, you’ll get 2 free workbooks to download.

1. Skeleton Keys – Workbook

How to customize and select a set of keys that can unlock any locked doors in your creative work.

2. Mama Made It – Workbook

How to build a lifestyle that makes room for creativity, from my workshop “Mama Made It” at the Creative Women Summit.

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First Name

My Writers’ Meditations

This is the Long Version. A good place to start if you’re feeling stuck. It’s about 17 min.

This is the Short Version – 6.5 min. If you’ve already done the long one, you can just touch on the ideas and they spring back to life more quickly.

http://michelefogal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Writers-Meditation-Short-Version-MP3.mp3
My Meditation Inspiration

Dale Adams Segal

More on meditations here.

Resources

In the workshop, I mentioned several resources that people might like a closer look at. Here they are gathered together with links for you to follow. Note: I often have to shorten the workshop so you may not have seen all of these references in the version of Skeleton Keys you saw.

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert, available here on Amazon
Magic Lessons, a podcast by Elizabeth Gilbert, available here on Soundcloud
Brene Brown – researcher and storyteller, a doctor and professor of Social Work, studying shame and vulnerability. Here’s her book, The Gifts of Imperfection on Amazon. Here’s more about her, including her amazeballs TED Talks
The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, by Julia Cameron. Here’s the book on Amazon.
Short Assignments “Bird by Bird,” by Anne Lamott
Teresa Amabile, Harvard professor and researcher. Here’s a video her speaking at the 99U conference, 2012
“Expansion” a Sculpture by Paige Bradley
Dale Adams Segal’s The Hour Stories‘ meditation technique opens the portal of writing for us
Inspirational works: Dumbo, by Disney, Morning Star by Mucha, San from Hayao Miyazaki’s “Princess Mononoke,” The Muse, painting by Fabian Perez

Here’s what it’s about:

Michele’s Workshop – Skeleton Keys

Sneaky craft tools that trick your brain into getting your story finished

It’s inevitable that life will blindside your creative process, no matter how perfect it is. This workshop focuses on creating a custom set of master keys to fit any locked door you encounter. Find simple tasks that feel so easy, they might even be fun!

Michele’s Bio

Michele Fogal received a BFA in Creative Writing and then set aside dreams of being a writer for more practical endeavours. Writing, however, had other plans. After battling doubt and writer’s block for years, Fogal is now finding ways to include creativity as a part of her long term life approach, while maintaining her family relationships, her household, her business and her sanity! She is the author of 3 novels, published by 2 presses.

Hope these inspire your creative mojo!

The post Skeleton Keys – Free Workbooks! appeared first on Michele Fogal Author of Quirky and Diverse Love Stories.

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Free Workshops and Prizes!
I’m speaking at the Golden Ears Writers and Readers Festival and there will be a draw for a Web Presence session with me.
What?

My “Skeleton Keys” presentation has been selected as the Keynote Workshop – here’s the blurb…

Skeleton Keys:

Sneaky craft tools that trick your brain into getting your story finished

It’s inevitable that life will blindside your creative process, no matter how perfect it is. This workshop focuses on creating a custom set of master keys to fit any locked door you encounter. Find simple tasks that feel so easy, they might even be fun!

When, Where, How?

Festival October 1st, 2017 at 10:30 am to 3:30 pm
Skeleton Keys from 12:30 – 1:30pm
Festival held at The ACT Arts Centre
Free Event

Here’s the ticket info:

Golden Ears Writers and Readers Festival

Here’s the Facebook event link:

https://www.facebook.com/events/29995...

Here’s the promotional poster

https://www.facebook.com/goldenearswr...

Thanks to the ACT Arts Centre for hosting this event and to the Golden Ears Writers for inviting me to speak.

Hope to see you there!

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The post Oct 1 – A Free Writing Workshop in Maple Ridge appeared first on Michele Fogal.

Hi Lovelies,

I’m excited to discover a new awesome MM Romance author and want to say that The Palisade, Rosalind Abel’s first title, was a delight. Small town gorgeous setting, great cast of characters, moving romance and some hard earning growing for both of our heroes. Falling in love can be exciting to read about, but I have a special place in my heart for stories that go deeper into how love asks us to evolve into better people. Please help me welcome Rosalind by commenting below!

Prizes!

Rosalind has generously offered to award a $5 Amazon gift card to one of our commenters, so get your foot in the door!

***

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Thank you so much to Michele Fogal for letting me stop for The Palisade Blog Tour! And thank you to each of you taking the time to check it out!

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The Palisade is the first book of the Lavender Shores series. Each of the novels will be able to be read as a stand-alone or as part of the series. I’m going to let the excerpt and blurb speak themselves, but I will promise you romance, steamy sex, laughter, all the feels, and a happily ever after.

The Palisade is now up on Amazon!!!!!! I might be touch excited!!! (It will also be part of Kindle Unlimited.)

I can’t wait for you to fall in love with Andrew, Joel, and Lavender Shores.

Let me the scene a bit for you. I wanted to share just a snippet to give you a taste of the sweetness and sexiness that awaits you in The Palisade. (And, you’ll get to find out two of my personal all-time favorite chefs are in this portion.) Andrew and Joel have had a stressful day. Both of them are feelings things they hadn’t planned on feeling. This was supposed to simply be a hook up. Andrew is under the impression that Joel is going to move to Lavender Shores. For Joel, that was never the plan… but Andrew is making him begin to reconsider.

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Excerpt from The Palisade

On the way back into Lavender Shores, we got my stuff from the hotel and then stopped at the grocery store. As soon as we walked into the bright lights, the mood seemed to ease. Actually, Andrew’s mood lifted and swept me right along with him.

He stopped in the middle of the produce section and turned to me, eyes bright with excitement. “Okay, so you have choices. My two favorite Food Network chefs are Giada De Laurentiis, who does a killer pea and mascarpone manicotti, and Alex Guarnaschelli, who has the best meatloaf recipe in the world, which you cannot repeat to my father, as I tell him his is the best.” He leaned closer and whispered, “It isn’t.” He straightened again, stuffing his hands in his pockets and causing his chest to flex under his T-shirt. “Which one do you want?”

God, he was cute. He was practically bouncing on his toes. And I got to see him cook. If this was a precursor, I was going to have a hard time keeping my hands off him. “Am I supposed to pick based on the food or the chef name? I guess since we’re gay, I’ll go with the guy. So, Alex.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re the city boy; you’re supposed to be the cultured one. Alex is a woman. They both are.” He narrowed his eyes suddenly. “And by the way, sexist much?”

I raised my hands in mock innocence. “Hey, I’m planning on getting very, very naked with a hot man tonight. I just figured we should stick with a theme.”

I’d expected one of his trademark blushes, hoped for it in fact, but his expression grew serious. “You’re right. Sex. I should’ve thought of that. Okay, scrap those options. Both of those are heavy. Giada also has a halibut with artichoke-and-olive caponata from her healthy cookbook. We’ll do that. Much lighter. Sound good?”

“Uhm, sure? I don’t even know what a capatopi is.”

He laughed. “I don’t know what that is either. It might be one of those deer-looking animals in the Serengeti. But a caponata is a sauce, typically done with eggplant, but she uses artichokes instead of eggplant and bell peppers. It’s amazing. We’ll do that.”

“Whatever you say, chef. Do we need to go to your house to get the recipe?”

“Nope.” Andrew tapped his temple. “I’ve got this.”

I leaned in and gave him a kiss. “You keep getting more and more adorable. It’s fucking dangerous.”

There was the blush, but he grimaced playfully. “I already saw an example today of the kind of guy you label as adorable. I think I’m going to have to request you refrain from that particular insult.”

I kissed him again and felt a wave of relief. We were back on track to enjoying what little time we had together. Thank God.

Just as he turned, I noticed a particularly wonderfully shaped squash close to his elbow. I snatched it, wrapped my arms around him, and waggled it near his face as I whispered in his ear, “Whatever you’re making, can we get this? We don’t have to eat it, but it looks like a thickness you’d enjoy.”

Without missing a beat, one hand snuck back and squeezed my crotch. “So far, I’m more than satisfied with this level of thickness.” With the other, he snagged a different squash from the pile. “Plus, if we’re going that route, this one has the perfect curve.”

“Wow, you’re dirty. Thankfully!” I kissed his ear before releasing him and returned the squashes to the wild. They were almost the luckiest produce in the world. Although, I was glad I didn’t have to share.

***

I hope you enjoyed this delicious portion of The Palisade. Feel free to explore all that Lavender Shores has to offer by visiting lavendershores.com. Don’t forget, The Palisade is on sale now!

Check out the rest of the blog tour for more information, excerpts, giveaways, and fun.

June 14—Boy Meets Boy

June 15—Love Bytes

June 17—Joyfully Jay

June 20—RELEASE DAY!!!

June 21—My Fiction Nook

Rosalind Abel Information:

Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/2qoiuLC

The Palisade Amazon Link: http://amzn.to/2qTzexT

Facebook Author page: http://bit.ly/2rH8C4o

Rosalind Abel Website: http://www.rosalindabel.com

Lavender Shores Website: http://www.lavendershores.com

Twitter: @rosalind_abel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosalindabe...

(Rosalind Abel Author)

Publication date: June 20, 2017

Cover Artist: AngstyG

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About Rosalind:

Rosalind Abel grew up tending chickens alongside her sweet and faithful Chow, Lord Elgin. While her fantasy of writing novels was born during her teen years, she never would have dreamed she’d one day publish steamy romances about gorgeous men. However, sometimes life turns out better than planned.

In between crafting scorching sex scenes and helping her men find their soul mates, Rosalind enjoys cooking, collecting toys, and making the best damn scrapbooks in the world (this claim hasn’t been proven, but she’s willing to put good money on it).

She adores MM Romance, the power it has to sweep the reader away into worlds filled with passion, steam, and love. Rosalind also enjoys her collection of plot bunnies and welcomes new fuzzy ones into her home all the time, so feel free to send any adorable ones her way.

Blurb for The Palisade:

Confident businessman Joel Rhodes sees the small California town of Lavender Shores as nothing more than a business opportunity and a final stepping stone to the position he’s been working toward his entire life. It was supposed to be just one night in town to close the deal, and sleeping with one of the local men, no matter how gorgeous, meant nothing more than a few hours of fun.

Andrew Kelly is perfectly content with the life he has in his hometown. So much so that the only thing missing is someone to share it with. Going to bed with a tourist was never meant to be the answer to his dreams, just a beautiful distraction. He could get back to looking for Mr. Right the next day.

Both Andrew’s and Joel’s worlds are turned upside down when a few hours of pleasure get extended to a couple of days. Even that shouldn’t have been a big deal. You can’t fall in love in that amount of time. That isn’t how it works. However, if destinies collide, a few short days may be all it takes to find your soul mate. Even so, when secrets and motivations get tangled, fate may do nothing more than leave two hearts in pieces.

 

Celebrating our divine diversity!

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The post Win Prizes as we Welcome Rosalind Abel, MM Romance Author! appeared first on Michele Fogal.

I’m pleased to introduce to you M. Jane Collette, author extraordinaire!

M. Jane Colette’s third “is it romance or is it something else?” novel, Cherry Pie Cure, was released on June 15, 2017. Colette and I met at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference back in October 2016. Our conversation covered all manner of things quirky, queer, and diverse, so I was surprised when she described Cherry Pie Cure as a “pretty straight-forward straight romance”—and less surprised when she added, “with, like stealth queerness and diversity in it.”

I asked her to explain. Here’s M. Jane Colette on what she calls “casual queerness and stealth diversity” in her work:

All three of my currently published novels are, first and foremost, straight F-M stories. But each one of them really plays with the “what” and “why” of what’s considered a successful relationship and happy ending, and each one of them challenges, very casually, assumptions people might make about what’s “normal.”

I think it’s extremely powerful—revolutionary, can I say revolutionary?—to present a queer character, for example, very casually. In Cherry Pie Cure, the heroine’s 18-year-old son’s coming out story weaves in and out of the main plot—like I said, very casually. I won’t even call it a subplot, because there is no angst or drama there, and that was very much a purposeful choice on my part. He just says, “I’ve had my first thing with a boy” to his mother in the course of a conversation during which she tells him she’s started dating, and his gender-fluid romantic explorations pop in and out of the story through to its end.

In my second novel Consequences (Of Defensive Adultery), the heroine’s stepdaughter’s sexual growth and exploration provide the catalyst for a number of the explosions between the “adults” in the story. At one point she self-identifies as a lesbian, at one point her father tries to label her pansexual, at another point she moves in as a “pet” with a couple who’s into BDSM, somewhere along the line she takes on the polyamorous label, and so on.

As she creates and recreates her identity, I draw this subtle contrast between the non-monogamous, non-binary world she’s attempting to create and her play with labels and roles with the very rigid and dysfunctional but conventional roles her parents and stepmother find themselves thrust into.

But it’s all very subtle and understated. It doesn’t get moralistic or dogmatic, you know? I don’t hit the reader over the head with it, and I don’t make any “this is good” “this is bad” pronouncement. It just is. Life, love, sex, gender—all of that is… complicated. That’s what makes it so fun (and, also, painful, right?).

I do the same thing with ethnic and cultural identity. I’m a first generation immigrant, I live and write in a pretty multicultural city. My novels have non-practicing and “born again” Muslims in them, new immigrants, Canadian-born children of immigrants from Poland, Cuba, Egypt, the Sudan, Iran, Syria (I even have escapees from America among them)—again, not by design, really—I didn’t sent out to write novels with diverse characters in them—I set out to write novels that, fiction though they were, accurately reflected the world I live in… and the world I want to live in.

I want to live in a world in which a child’s coming out story is just not that big a deal—it’s sandwiched between “Pass the mashed potatoes” and “What are your plans for Friday?”

I want to live in a world in which romance and the love story don’t end with the wedding cake or the cum shot (although, for the record, I write fantastic cum shot scenes), but continue well past that.

I want to live in a world in which people are whatever colour of the rainbow they were born with, or choose to manifest in this lifetime… and there are two things I can to do create that world. First, through living it in my real life as much as I can. And second—by writing it. Right?

That’s our secret power as writers. We can create the worlds we want to live in.

Author: M. Jane Colette

Publisher: GENRES were made to be BROKEN (indie)

Release Date: June 15, 2017

ISBN (softcover): 978-0-9958102-6-6

ISBN (e-book): 978-0-9958102-7-3

Word Count: 50,000 (45,000 novella + 5,000 in bonus material)

Genres/Categories: Contemporary romance, rom-com, chick lit with bite

A woman scorned. A blog. An outrageously sexy stock boy. A tribe of strange Internet friends. Flying packages of sex toys. And, a to-die-for cherry pie recipe.

When Susan discovers her husband of twenty-two years is cheating on her, she is sure her life is over. And she thinks her friend Marcella’s advice that she work through her feelings in a blog is stupid. She just wants to sit on the couch in her ex’s old bathrobe, feel sorry for herself, and chain-smoke. But her growing blogging tribe and a delectable (“OMFG how old is he?”) real life stranger have other plans for her… if Susan’s brave enough to embrace them.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Susan as The Heroine. Baker extraordinaire, yoga-hater, Luddite, and an innocent prude. “I don’t think an exercise routine developed by half-starved men in India is particularly suitable to short, curvy, booby white women. My breasts get in the way of everything. OMG, I just typed breasts. How do I delete this post?”

Marcella as Her Best Friend. Entrepreneur, musician and happily divorced self-proclaimed “slut” who has an opinion on everything and a solution to everyone’s problems except her own. “Look, Susan, do what you want, but either keep on with the blog or go sleep with a twenty-five-year-old boy. Do you want to be a pathetic blob of goo in your cheating husband’s bathrobe?”

Cody and Tyler as Her Adult Sons. “What were you thinking, Mom?” “Jesus, how old is he, Mom?” “Have you no pride, Mom?” “Oh-my-god-what’s-wrong-with-you, Mom?”

Nika as Cody’s Maybe-Maybe-Not Girlfriend. “I’m totally trolling Tinder for Persian guys now. Just so you know, Mama Susan.”

sugar&spice76 as Susan’s First Fan. “Honey, we’re not strangers anymore. We’re your strange Internet friends. We’re all mothers, and we all do the dirty sometimes, ok?”

FemmeFataleFun as the Sex Toy Peddler. “Smooches. Everything in that care package is therapeutic, kitten!”

mommyshidinginthebathroom3 as The Token Mommy Blogger. “Let her smoke, Marcella. It’s been six weeks. You can kick her ass about the cigarettes in six months.”

ilikeherbooty-full as The Porn Blogger Who Won’t Go Away. “Is this what women really talk about when men aren’t around, or are you doing it all for me?

Caspian00XO as His Friend Who Hears About the Pie. “Susan? Do I get pie now? I’m emailing you my address.”

Reza as Susan’s Love Interest. “This is my telephone number. As soon as I leave, you will type it into your phone. And you will send me a text. It will say, ‘Reza, this is Sooo-zaaaahn.’ If you don’t send me this text, I will assume I offended you and will need to quit my job so I don’t offend you again, so it is very important that you send this text. Yes, Soo-zahn?”

with cameos by

John as The Cheating Husband, Jewel of The Not-So-Spectacular-Boobs as The Other Woman, an assortment of lurkers, trolls, spammers, “Internet idiots,” and casual visitors, Reza’s invisible roommates, and The Lawyer.

a “MISTRESS OF HER OWN DOMAIN” novella

BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kobo iTunes/iBooks Barnes & Noble Google Play Inside Romance Smashwords Chapters (Canada) Powell’s Books (US) Book Depository (Globally)

Want to find out how it got written? Check out How a story is born on M Jane Colette’s author blog.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M. JANE COLETTE writes tragedy for people who like to laugh, comedy for the melancholy, and erotica for women and men who like their fantasies real. She believes rules and hearts were made to be broken; ditto the constraints of genres.

Sign up for M. Jane’s love letter/newsletter– ROUGH DRAFT CONFESSIONS—and visit her at mjanecolette.com. She also hangs out on Twitter & Instagram as @mjanecolette, and on Facebook @mjanecolette2.

In addition to Cherry Pie Cure, she’s the author of the (unconventional) romances Tell Me, an erotic romance for people who like a little bit of angst with their hot sex, and Consequences (of defensive adultery), an erotic tragedy (!) with a happy ending. Her non-fiction work includes Rough Draft Confessions: not a guide to writing and selling erotica and romance but full of inside insight anyway, a collection  of essays about writing dirty, the power of words, taboo language, the freedoms and limitations of genre, fulfilling your creative drive, and the business of writing.

Can’t wait to read it MJ! Thanks for visiting and sharing your news!

The post Casual Queerness, Stealth Diversity, and Cherry Pie: M. Jane Colette on writing the world we want to live in appeared first on Michele Fogal.

I’m applying for a BookBub (a book sale promo thing) and one of the ways they choose who to feature is by the number of reviews a book has.

Right now, Root of the Spark has very low on reviews on both Goodreads and Amazon. If you’ve read the book, would you mind reviewing it? Even a single sentence review counts towards my stats and would really help me out.

Where:

Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQMOSRH/

Amazon.ca https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MQMOSRH/

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Review Ideas:

Here are some of the themes in the book in case this gets your brain inspired to put ideas together.

Themes:

restorative justice, redemption, authenticity, coming of age, masculinity, femininity, vulnerability, intimacy, wrestling with your demons, feeling understood, conquering addiction, reinventing yourself, recovery from abuse, healing, the power of our collective subconscious, and most of all, love and hope in the dark nights of the soul.

Haven’t Read It?

Here’s some more info on the story!

Thanks so much for your support!

The post Book Reviews – Root of the Spark Needs Them appeared first on Michele Fogal.