Getting Lost by Katherine Grey

Please join me in welcoming Katherine Grey as our guest blogger today!

 

I have a terrible sense of direction so I get lost easily. As a driver I prefer directions that say turn left at the big yellow house or something similar instead of take Route 31 and go east, which would be great if I knew which way was east to start with. And as for Route 31 – I lived in my current town for years before I learned the main road which I know by the street name is actually also Route 31.

When I first started driving, I got lost in my own neighborhood. In my defense, let me say that at the time I lived in a city neighborhood with a lot of one way streets. As a pedestrian, I never paid any attention to those one way signs. But as a driver…well they became a lot more important. All those streets I was so use to walking down I couldn’t drive down because then I’d be driving in the wrong direction down a one way street. I did manage to find my way home and I was only fifteen minutes late. To this day, if I’m late arriving to a family gathering, someone will invariably ask if I had to drive down a one way street. (Let me say here, I hate being late to anything so it’s a rare thing when it happens.)

When I write it’s a whole different story, I like getting lost. I like allowing my hero and heroine to take the lead and go where they choose. That doesn’t mean I don’t meander down a few roads that lead to secondary characters and subplots that end up needing to be cut or that I don’t reach a dead end and have to back track a few pages to get back to the main substance of the story, I do. I’m certain it happens a lot more than it would if I wrote from an outline or synopsis.

I do write a one page summary of my hero and heroine and their goals, motivation, and conflicts and usually a one or two sentence outline of each chapter but that’s about it. I enjoy the journey of writing and not knowing exactly where I’m going and sometimes getting lost in the process.

But when I’m driving, nope, I hate getting lost. And detours in an unfamiliar area – they send me into full panic mode. For me, maps and written directions are as necessary as gas in the car. I always try to leave the house knowing where I’m going and leave getting lost for when I’m writing my books.

Blurb:

Known only as Lazarus to the band of cutthroats and thieves he leads, William Prescott will do anything to find his missing sister, even blackmail a fragile young woman into helping him. But he never plans to fall in love with this mysterious woman with a troubled past.

Haunted by the memories of war, Olivia St. Germaine wants nothing more than to live a normal life. But when her brother, a doctor, suddenly leaves town without a word, she is forced to use her medical knowledge to help an injured man who puts her life in danger. Can she keep herself safe as she tends Lazarus, or is her heart more vulnerable than she realizes?

Excerpt:

“If you don’t leave, I shall have Jennings call the constable.” Olivia headed for the door.

“And how will you accomplish that?”

She halted in mid-step.

“Yes, I know there are no servants in residence.” Lazarus sauntered closer. “Did you play the benevolent mistress and give them the night off?”

Eager to keep him at a distance, she scooted around him and stood at the end of the bed. “What do you want?”

“What do you think I want?”

“Why don’t we dispense with the games, and you just tell me?”

Lazarus closed the space between them in two strides. He pushed her backward onto the bed. Olivia bounced against the soft mattress. She dug her elbows into the thick counterpane in an effort to scramble backward away from him.

Grabbing her ankles, he pulled her toward him in one quick jerk. He leaned over her. His hand closed over her hip, freezing her in place. The warmth of his hand burned through her clothes to her skin.

Feeling truly terrified for the first time since he’d announced his presence, she searched his gaze for some kind of sign this was all a great joke. No, it was no game. His eyes were as hard and cold as glass. “What do you want?” she repeated, her voice a near whisper.

“Stop asking questions about me. Forget you ever heard the name Lazarus.”

Buy Links & Contact Info:

The Wild Rose Press: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=905&zenid=19ddc2a69255daafde7f9df62f69e86e

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/An-Unexpected-Gift-ebook/dp/B009Y8APVI/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1362610861&sr=1-1

Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-unexpected-gift-katherine-grey/1114371314?ean=2940016394534

Contact Katherine at any of these places –

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Katherine-Grey/265375626827267?sk=wall

Blog - http://katherinegrey.blogspot.com/

Twitter - @AuthorKayGrey

Amazon Author page - http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PMMHUO

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5159219.Katherine_Grey

Spring - A Time of New Beginnings by Katherine Grey

Please join me in welcoming Katherine Grey as she welcomes spring!

Living in upstate NY, I’m always eager to say goodbye to the mountains of snow, wind, and icy drives to work. What I look forward to most about spring isn’t the change in the weather, though it is nice to drive to work on dry pavement rather than ice covered roads and through blinding snowstorms.  I love the new beginning that spring heralds.

While spring isn’t my favorite season (yes, it’s summer), I look forward to it every year. I eagerly watch the skies for the geese flying back from their winter homes, the birds collecting twigs and string to make nests, and of course that sure sign of spring – Robins.

To me, it’s a time of starting over or starting fresh. The flowers poke their heads through the soil and grow into beautiful blossoms, the trees begin to bud and soon the street where I live is shaded by a canopy of leaves, and every now and then I spot a fawn following its mother across the field. 

I use this time of year to evaluate where I am in meeting the goals I’ve set for myself at the beginning of the year both writing related and not writing related. Some years I’m doing really well with staying on track. Other years, well, I haven’t done so well so I pick myself up, dust myself off, and start fresh. Sometimes I make changes to the goal or eliminate it if it’s beyond my reach for that year.  It has to be pretty serious for me to eliminate a goal. For example, the year I had my knee rebuilt, I had set a goal of walking a mile every day five days a week. Due to complications, I used a walker and then crutches for five months before I was able to graduate to a cane. Needless to say there was no way I could walk a mile every day during that time.

I also use this time of year to learn or do something new or that I haven’t done in a long time. Last year I learned how to play craps so that I could write about the game of Hazard with some authority. Hazard is very similar to the game of craps. This year I’m going to try to learn how to paint using watercolors.

An Unexpected Gift
Blurb:
Known only as Lazarus to the band of cutthroats and thieves he leads, William Prescott will do anything to find his missing sister, even blackmail a fragile young woman into helping him. But he never plans to fall in love with this mysterious woman with a troubled past.
Haunted by the memories of war, Olivia St. Germaine wants nothing more than to live a normal life. But when her brother, a doctor, suddenly leaves town without a word, she is forced to use her medical knowledge to help an injured man who puts her life in danger. Can she keep herself safe as she tends Lazarus, or is her heart more vulnerable than she realizes?

Excerpt:
Olivia moved away from his touch and pulled the book back between them. She turned the page only to have a pair of dice drop onto the book.
“How about we take a break, and I teach you how to play Hazard? Unless you already know how?”
“No, I don’t, and I’m really in no mood to play games.” She set the dice aside.
“Then that is the perfect time to play. Nothing puts a body in a good mood like winning money.” Finch picked up the dice and set them in front of her.
She moved the cubes back in front of him. “I am not gambling with you.”
He looked around the room, then hopped up from his chair and began collecting various curios from around the room. He brought everything back to the table and pushed half of the items toward Olivia. “In place of blunt,” he said by way of explanation.
“You certainly are determined,” she said, feeling the corners of her mouth quirk upward.
“No more than you when I am trying to distract you from that blasted book.”
“Which is what you are trying to do now.”
He smiled at her. “Exactly. Now call a number between five and nine.”

You can find An Unexpected Gift at:
The Wild Rose Press: http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=905
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/An-Unexpected-Gift-ebook/dp/B009Y8APVI/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1361140439&sr=1-1
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-unexpected-gift-katherine-grey/1114371314?ean=2940016394534