THE END by Susan Sands

I've been writing a story for almost seven months. Finally, after much research, and a gazillion hours

When the DNA is strong

of putting in the hard work, I finished the manuscript. My husband asked if I was feeling celebratory. My response was a blank stare. 

After I type the best two words (THE END), My brain goes hard into overdrive. Did I forget something or someone? Did I tie things up? Did I drop something I started along the way? Did someone have a cat and I never mention it again? That's before I dive deep into the editing. Then there's the timeline. Days, months, years. Did I stick with the continuity of it all?

That's when I ask some folks to read it with fresh eyes and give it to me straight. I can't do it alone. I don't trust myself after rolling around in the words for so long. Plus, there are multiple points of view, which makes it even more complicated. Every scene from each POV has to match up the next time I'm in their head. Pardon my brain fog...

But I'm excited about the story--or I will be once it's all cleaned up. 

It's a story of a woman who gets a DNA test as a gift instead of her expected engagement ring. Predictably, for a great story, the results aren't as expected. Not only does she figure out that she was adopted at birth, a minor detail her loving parents never found the right time to tell her, but she's got a sister who shows up on her "connections" profile. This leads her to her birth mother, who doesn't want her to know who her birth father is except to say, "He's a bad man."

But as fate and fiction would have it, she gets an alert on her profile soon after that she has another connection. A brother on her birth father's side. Now, there's a whole new branch on the family tree; one that's far more complicated. 

This is a story about family; the old, the new, and finding out that some things, as unwelcome as they seem, can complicate and enrich one's life in equal measure. 

Set in the Low Country around the Sea Islands.

Let me just say that researching unexpected DNA results was fascinating. I spoke to several people who'd found out they had siblings and parents who were different than they'd believed. One woman in Florida found four sisters she knew nothing about. Her father had impregnated women throughout the state. They expect to find more matches. 

I haven't done a DNA test personally, but I look so much like both my parents that I wouldn't expect any surprises, but I might do one for the sake of genealogy.

How about you? Do you have a good DNA story?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!! 

Susan Sands

You Can Make Lasting Change by Michelle Styles

It is now just over two weeks into the New Year and the shining new resolutions look far less shiny and bright. It is far easier to fall into old habits and to think you can never change. This is not true and it is your limbic system (the flight or fight part of the brain) speaking. Meaningful change never just happens. There is always false starts and falls off the bandwagon. The people who make the changes permanent do so because they see the change as being important, rather than the fall.  They don’t  see it as a perfectionist all or nothing. It is more about the overall picture and trying until you succeed..

When I first became serious about my writing, the easiest thing would have been to give up. In fact, various people  suggested that I would. After all, I had wanted to be a writer from the age 12 and there I was 38, never having written a complete manuscript.   I would get to about the first page, not even the first chapter and find something else to occupy my time but oh how I wanted to be a published author. I knew I had stories to tell inside me. I knew I could write.

 Getting ill with gallstones changed me. It made me realise that I wanted to do something for me.  Equally I didn’t just sit down in three days and write a novel which was instantly accepted. It took me several months and then I received a form letter in the post so fast from Harlequin/Mills & Boon, it made my head spin. However, getting that form rejection letter really spurred me on. My immediate goal became — the next time, they will not be able to dismiss me that easily.

I went back to basics and wrote another manuscript and sent it off. It was over Christmas and I hoped for a slow response. It was a quick one — a request for the full manuscript from a proper editor. That one was eventually rejected as well, but next one (a hugely revised version of my first manuscript) went to revisions and I gained an editor who was willing to work with me and answer questions.  It took several more manuscripts and a change of series to Historical (the editor was hugely support of this) for me to sell to Harlequin.  By that time, the editor had left the company after giving the manuscript we had worked on to her senior editor.  I then had a very long wait of nearly a year while the manuscript was reviewed and then revised.  Since June 2005, I have written 27 more books which Harlequin Historical has purchased. I am currently waiting on my editor’s thoughts for the 28^th one and  there is more to come.

If I had given up at the first hurdle, at the first rejection or when the words became tough in the first manuscript, none of this would have happened. So if you feel overwhelmed by not fulfilling your New Year’s resolutions, start afresh today. Make the change happen. It may lead to something wonderful. Persistence worked for me.

Michelle Styles writes warm, witty and intimate historical romance for Harlequin Historical, her latest Sent as the Viking’s Bride is out now. Visit Michelle Styles’s website www.michellestyles.co.uk  for more information about her and her books.

Read a little of Sent as the Viking's Bride.

Addison Fox: Ending & Beginnings

I’m fascinated by change. As humans we resist it more often than not, but change is the catalyst that moves us forward. Change is what brings new things into our lives. Change, whether we like it or not, is a guarantee.

I was thinking about this relative to a colleague who is moving on. He’s been at my company for 9 years and is off to a new opportunity that will be exciting and challenging. We gave him a going away party last night and over and over – even with the sadness he had saying good-bye to everyone – there was a smile on his face.

It was that smile that got me. He’s excited about what comes next.

As a writer, life changes are the core focus of my work. Stories, at their very essence, are about change. In order to have a story that captures attention (and lasts for 300+ pages!) you need something to happen to your characters. Something that takes them out of their comfort zone and pushes them forward.

So as I sit here typing this, I know I will miss my colleague. He’s someone whose opinion I value and someone who I’ve always appreciated having in my corner at work. But I’m also excited for him. There are new things to learn and new challenges to rise up to.

Endings and beginnings. They’re intricately linked. And they are the things that move us forward.

Thanks for joining me today!
XO,
Addison



Despite early ambitions of being a diver, a drummer or a doctor, Addison Fox happily discovered she was more suited to life as a writer. She lives in New York and - thankfully - doesn't have to operate on anyone. You can find her at her home on the web at www.addisonfox.com. Her next two releases, AT LAST from St. Martin’s Swerve and A HUNTER UNDER THE MISTLETOE from Harlequin Nocturne will both be out in November. You can visit her at her website at www.addisonfox.com 

Time for Change - Annie West

It’s spring in Australia, that gorgeous time when the sun seems suddenly to shine more brightly. The scent of flowers is in the air and new growth is everywhere. The birds are busier than ever, chattering before dawn (grr) and darting here and there all day feeding and building nests.

I love this time of year, partly because of the warmer weather but mainly because it never fails to lift my spirits. I feel a zing in my blood that was missing just a month ago. I’ve got renewed energy for tackling those tasks that I’ve been putting off. I even find myself making plans for the future, whether it be figuring out how many books I can deliver or masterminding a mini makeover for one of the rooms in our house. For me spring never sneaks in, it bursts with a sudden, vibrant change.

Interesting that my other favourite season is Autumn/Fall. I think again it has something to do with change arriving. With the sense of anticipation as I look forward to some cool weather (I live in Australia where summers are baking hot). I get excited at the thought of brisk walks on foggy mornings (whether I take them or not is another matter), of cooking soups and baking bread and turning my home into a cosy nest where I can curl up with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate.

Change can be disturbing or downright frightening, but some changes, like the beginning of my favourite season, energise me. Right now I feel like starting new projects. I have plans for my garden. Plans for that to-be-read pile that’s grown so much it blocks the light. I have a big family trip to organise (is it true that the best part is the planning?). I have plans to improve my fitness and come out of winter hibernation to catch up more with friends.

I’m also feeling enthused at the prospect of starting a brand new book. New characters to meet, conversations to have with them, emotions and secrets to discover and a happy ending to enjoy. The lure of the unknown with all those blank pages to fill. (Er, maybe cut that last one. It’s easier to look forward to a new story if I don’t think about how much work is involved!).

Does the change of season inspire you? What changes do you look forward to? What plans do you have for exciting change?Annie will give a copy of her latest release THE DESERT KING’S PREGNANT BRIDE to someone who contributes an answer.

The book is available this month in the UK or Australia and in April 09 in North America. In this story Maggie, a hard working country girl faces the biggest changes of her life after a man in a tuxedo rescues her from the worst night of her life. You can read more on Annie’s website. She also has a contest running all through this month (go to her contest page) to win books and chocolates.