July update: it still hasn’t rained much for this month but the heat index is high. Our AC doesn’t stop. The electric bill is ridiculous… thanks for the new meter Duke energy. We trimmed the Crocus but the gardenia pops out a new bloom every time it sprinkles. We’ll wait. ~~~Eliza

I’ve never seen my yard so dry and dusty. For 33 years it’s been self reliant. If an established plant can’t make it without supplemental fertilizing, watering, or chemicals then this isn’t the acre of land it’s meant to be growing on. But I’ve been very tempted to give Mother Nature a hand this spring. Today she may pull through for my plants for the second time this week. The greening of my yard has been slow and painful. The rabbits don’t have much to graze on here. Fortunately we have neighbors who water. The rabbits have gone out to dinner next door.

Are you ready to wrap up summer? No!

So let’s party and stock up on our TBR pile before we ‘fall’ short. Ha! Join me and a ton of authors at the Romance Studio Party site August 21-25 2019.

So I’m writing this fantasy salon and spa series and the characters feel like family. Strange family but who doesn’t have a strange family member or two…or more? They’ve become co- workers and family to me.

Teamwork! It doesn’t matter if they’re shifters or faeries or gargoyles, when it comes to getting the demon bridal party from hell presentable for humans…literally…it’s all about teamwork and respect!

My husband and I went out to dinner and observed the dance of the staff, and we commented to each other about their seamless grace in getting their jobs done and working together. Tall, short, slow, quick…each did their one-step or two-step to the right or left, trays high, drinks low, swaying or dodging–doing the dance.

I see this same team work in my story characters when the stakes are high and the chips are down!

Yesterday, Frankie was late. The Halfling twins, Rolf and Dolf, weren’t there on time either… I had to create the salon dance until the Calvary arrived.

What happens if and when the system breaks down? This is what sets up this story…Delia’s goal to fix Frankie!

Sick of juggling schedules because of Frankie’s curse, Delia spends her time in the next Luna de la Mar adventure with her best friends Carrie and Jen hunting down the witch who was dumb enough to trust the alpha Werewolf with her heart. While Delia struggles with answers to her own dilemma: What is she? She re-discovers, beneath the scales, fur, and fangs of her friends and foes, everyone suffers the same great pain when loving and losing. You love who you love! Even if you know from the start it will cause you pain. Is that what awaits our heroine?

#shifters #fairies #werewolves #romantic #comedy #witches #charms #magic #love #ghost #mermaid #siren #dragon #vampires #atlantis #poseidon #comingofage #soulmates

Every day I get up with a list of stuff I’m going to blog about…and every day I get slammed when I open my email or turn on the news.  I should probably tackle the blog before my good thoughts are tsunamied. Today was one of those days when one thing led to another and another until I was so far away from my immediate goals I couldn’t see or recall them…I think I’ve caught up and actually managed to do a bunch of other things in the process…I haven’t gotten dressed yet, and may not at this rate.

In any case I have a very busy schedule.  Three of my back list books are with a new publisher. That’s exciting! And I’m adding a new pseudonym to this website and separating my super erotic romance from my other romance writing. To use an example, Hot Highland Fling is a romance but the story is about the sexual journey of the heroine. I’m going to publish those under author name E.L. March so you know what to expect. they don’t come with a warning but I don’t want my erotic romance disappointed if  the book they pick up with my name on the cover is on the tamer side. Eliza March will still write sizzling romance, but the story won’t revolve around the sex, like Witch of Air and Fire where the lives of the characters depend on the consummation to break a spell.

Next week, if I can get back here, I’d like to share a few new works coming up this year. The work in progress is A Witch’s Tale from the As the Chair Turns series. Frankie and Delia are still trading quips while Aelric is just trying to keep his intended alive.  I’m hoping for a late spring release … a cover will be coming soon! Read the some Hair of the WERE reviews. One click to all sites:  Hair of the WERE

FB page, if you haven’t heard from me then it’s because I’m writing, which is what I’m supposed to do. Instagram, I love you but my productivity is gaged by words I write in a book not about what I’m eating. Twitter, hello did anyone notice when I stopped by? Nope… gone in a blink of an eye, right?

I blog when I have something to say or share because it’s so much more personal. You can read it whenever you want or not… Sometimes social media is entertainment and sometimes it’s connecting with the world because I’ve been writing alone in an empty house with no human contact. Not entirely true. My husband comes by and asks me where the bread is, my son wants to know where his keys are, the tv keeps telling me what’s going on in the world in spite of my reluctance to participate. I use social media to watch animals and comedy and happy stories about heroes and heroines who are kind to others. I write romance the ultimate escapism in books and movies.

Social media, you are adding too much realism into my fantasy life. Commercials, politics, news, weather, education, shopping… the list goes on. Too much everything!

If y’all don’t mind, I’m going to go write a book. Why don’t you go read one of mine and I won’t have to remind you on FB that I’ve just published the third book in my series. Many people are reading it and liking it. You too can escape into an unrealistic, impossibly funny, fantasy world for a few hours.

Mayhem, Magic, and Mistletoe by me, Eliza March.

You know where to find my books?

Right! On Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Apple Book, just about anywhere you want.

The Draft2Digital universal link below will take you there.

https://www.books2read.com/u/bxZl8J

This will help you find my recent book.

After working all my life with five children and a husband who liked to eat but had no imagination for cooking I came up with necessary ways around tedious meal preps without skimping on taste or appeal.

This is one of those meals.

Ingredients:

• 6 sweet peppers (red, green, or yellow…or all or any combination thereof)
• 16 oz. tomato sauce (Italian style)
• 3 clove minced garlic
• 1 medium onion
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 lb package of mozzarella cheese cut into 1 inch squares
• Chinese cooked white rice
• 1 lb. chopped meat
• 2 eggs

I don’t know  about you but I don’t eat the Chinese white rice I get with my Chinese food order. I love fried rice so I usually order that. What can you do with the white rice? I began freezing it.  One day I was out of rice when I thought to make stuffed peppers, then I remembered my stash in the freezer. I defrosted it and mixed it with my chopped meat,  added two eggs, seasonings (oregano, basil, pepper, sauteed onions and garlic), four ounces of the canned tomato sauce, and a little parmesan cheese…blending well.  Wash and cut the peppers in half, lengthwise, and clean out the seeds then stuff them with the meat mixture. Put them in a glass casserole dish and press a chunk or two of mozzarella cheese into the middle of the meat and rice mixture. Finally, pour the rest of the tomato sauce over the top of them., cover with aluminum foil and cook in a preheated 350 degree oven for forty-five minutes.  Between prep and cook time this one dish meal is ready to eat with a red or white wine in under an hour.

Dialogue Tags

I have a love/hate relationship with dialogue in general: I love reading it when it’s written well.

When I’m writing it, I don’t want to pause during the mental conversations that my characters are engaged in long enough to add tags or description. Hey, the conversation is in progress–no interruptions allowed, except from the characters. But without narrative something is lacking. Long dialogue passages frustrate and leave me unsatisfied. I’m frustrated reading scenes when I can’t figure out who is speaking, or being unable to identify where or when the dialogue is taking place.

When I’m reading scenes, including dialogue, I want to be in the moment, but it takes precise design to create clarity.  Who is speaking? What sort of words do the characters use? How high pitched or deep is the character’s voice? Where are the characters? What does the location feel like? Look like? Smell like? Sound like? How are the characters moving? Acting? Gesturing? What is the point of view character thinking?  When a scene can draw all that together…now that is a dialogue scene I want to read.

Things to check:

He saids/she saids may be necessary to keep from confusing the reader, especially when there are more than two characters. Name them or characterize them. Characterizing is a way of defining a character with an accent, favorite movement, affectation, or phrase. Always read through your dialogue to ensure the flow is clear, readable, understandable, and that it makes sense. Make certain a response isn’t too far from the original question or comment.

Mixing narrative with dialogue? Wonderful. Be careful not to interrupt too much of the interactive dialogue. Keep narrative limited to short descriptive actions until there is a natural breaking point to add more detailed narrative or deep point of view. Then when appropriate, begin interactive dialogue again.