Jaci Burton’s Muse

Crap. Someone forgot to tell me yesterday was Friday. Clearly I need an assistant. Who wants to apply for the job?

Anyway, I totally spaced on yesterday being Friday and that being Free Book Friday day, so we’re doing Free Book Saturday.

So I’ll take entries all the way through Monday just in case some of you don’t get online on the weekends. (Hard to believe some people aren’t tied to their computers 24/7 like me, but I guess it does happen).

My question for this contest–What are you reading right now? I just finished Julie Kenner’s upcoming Demons Are Forever last night and it truly rocked my world in a major way. Next up in my reading pile is an ARC of Charlene Teglia’s upcoming Wild, Wild West. Yee haa!

Say the word ’synopsis’ and you’ll find the majority of authors run screaming in the opposite direction.

Why? Because they’re hard work. They require condensing your entire story down into basic explanation form. This happens, then that happens, and this character reacts this way and feels that way and so on and so on.

Me? I have a love/hate relationship with synopses. They’re a necessary evil of the business, so I know I have to do them. They’re time consuming and a pain in the brain.

But frankly, even before I was required to do them in order to sell a book, I wrote one out before writing a story. They were my outline, my map of where I was heading. I can’t write a book without a story outline.

Now I can’t sell a book without a synopsis, what they call a ‘proposal’, which is typically the synopsis and anywhere from 2-5 chapters. So my advice to authors wanting to break into NY? Get used to writing a synopsis, because you won’t be able to sell a book without it.

I’m working on a proposal right now and loving the creation aspect (this is the ‘love’ part of the love/hate relationship ). This is where I put the story together, figure out who the characters are, what their backgrounds are, and what’s going to happen throughout the course of the story. It’s fun to figure out what happens next, what my characters are going to do, how the plot evolves. Now granted, I sometimes deviate from my synopsis when I write the book, but not so much that the overall story changes dramatically.

For those who don’t plot but just write and discover, yes, writing a synopsis sucks, but it still needs to be done in order to sell a book. My suggestion is to just write a synopsis according to how you ‘think’ the story is going to go. If it changes after you write the story, you can always revise your synopsis accordingly.

Keep in mind that marketing departments write the blurb, or back cover copy, from your synopsis. So if your story changes significantly from the synopsis, you need to let your editor know and revise your synopsis.

As for me, it’s back to my proposal. I need to figure out what happens next.

I’ve become hooked on the Court TV channel.

It used to be just hokey court cases. But no more. It’s a veritable fountain of potential research for a writer now.

Oh sure, Cops is on there. And Cops is fascinating, entertaining television. Sure, some shows are amusing. Because some of the people pulled over or caught breaking the law are just damn idiots and you can’t help but laugh at them. Other times the Cops shows expose the gritty side of Narcotics and Vice, and it’s rife with research potential. Want to learn how to write action scenes? Watch some real life police chases. Yowza!

Oh, but there’s so much more. Haunting Evidence, Psychic Detectives, Forensic Files. You name it, if you’re a writer, you would love this channel. It doesn’t even matter what genre you write.

Last night’s show featured bestselling author Lisa Scottoline giving a running commentary on a case of a man who duped this woman into believing he loved her. She turned over her cash to him, then let him take out $750,000 in life insurance on her. Then he and this other guy killed her and her two children. It took them years to prove it, but the way they worked the case was riveting.

I find the shows compelling in the way a writer can piece together a plotline. Forensics is a step by step process. A lot like plotting. You can learn much by watching these types of shows.

And characterization? Talk about finding interesting characters. Especially bad guys. You want to search for the heart of evil, watch some of these real life murder cases. You could build yourself one hell of an evil character from the files of actual cases.

So while some might think I’m wasting time watching hours of this channel. I’m really researching. Honest.

Emma is a very good friend of mine, and I read one of the renditions of this book a long time ago. It was brilliant then, and it’s phenomenal now.

If you love riveting contemporary romantic suspense, then you want this book. I highly recommend it. You’ll fall in love with Trick Mancini, just as those of us who’ve read him have.

But he’s mine. All mine, I tell you. :sasmokin:

Revenge is a dish best served bold…

Patrick “Trick” Mancini wants revenge. Not only has he learned that his boss, William Ormond, might be implicated in his mother’s death, he’s just found out Ormond has sent assassins after him. After sixteen years stealing for the good guys, Trick is prepared to turn bad if that means he can keep ahead of the assassins long enough to uncover some long-buried secrets.

Kate Crawford, Ormond’s niece, wants a normal life. Not that she knows what “normal” would feel like. When Trick drags her into his pursuit of the truth he threatens the last few things she still cares about. Forced to help him, she’s determined there are some secrets he won’t discover. Including the real reason she was compelled to break up with him ten years ago.

Now Trick and Kate are racing against time to find out what’s hidden in Ormond’s black files, fighting a passion that never went away…and trying to stay alive.

Buy the book here

Okay, here’s the deal. If you posted on my Hunting the Demon ARC contest blog entry that you have a blog and you’re willing to read the ARC and post your thoughts about it, you win!

So all you have to do is email me with the following information:

1. Your name as it appeared on your blog post (this helps me to cross reference who you are, because often email addresses are different)

2. Your blog url so I can verify you have a blog

3. Your full name and address so I can have an ARC sent to you

IMPORTANT - You have until 12 noon Eastern time this Friday, June 29th to contact me. Those who don’t email me by then will be removed from the list of eligible ARC recipients. Sorry, but I have to gather all addresses and get the ARCS sent out asap so I can’t wait any longer than that to hear from you.

Thanks to everyone who entered! Hope you enjoy the book!

As promised, two winners from the last Free Book Friday contest!

Congrats to CherieJ and Kris! Please email me with your full name and address to jaci @ jaciburton. com and I’ll get an autographed book out to you asap!

Thanks to everyone who entered. Another contest coming up this Friday. :hips:

Back from New Orleans! Had a wonderful time. Am exhausted. Will tell y’all about the trip later.

Doing today. Have nothing in the house to :popcorn:. Clearly it’ll be pizza night tonight.

I know I didn’t do Free Book Friday yesterday, nor did I pick winners from last week’s. So I’ll choose two winners from last week’s entries.

And I have to draw winners for my Hunting the Demon ARC/blog contest.

So I’m officially closing both of those two entries right now. Winner’s to follow as soon as I can breath again.

Much to catch up on. Hang in there. :hips:

Do you want to read this?

Well, of course you do!

ARCs are ready to go, and I’m ready to start this contest.

So here’s the deal. This worked really well for Wild, Wicked & Wanton. Readers got the ARC, read it and posted on their blogs about it. And I really appreciated all the honest feedback and spreading the word about my book, so I’d like to do it again for Hunting the Demon.

What I need is to hear from those of you interested in receiving an ARC of Hunting the Demon. First, you need to have a (verifiable) blog. Second, you need to vow not to blog about it until close to release date (August 28th). Third, you have to promise to read the book before then. (Duh).

So if you’re game, post here and when I get back in town after this coming weekend, I’ll choose some winners. How many? Don’t really know yet. I’ll see how many people are interested. :sasmokin:

I’m really pathetically excited for folks to start reading this book.

1. I painted my toenails last night. Then I kicked a bag on my way back to my desk and ruined the polish on two toenails, so had to do those two over again.

2. Then I dropped the polish wand on the floor (Am sure Biker Dude will never notice the faint stripe of Revlon’s Pink Freeze on the hardwood floor). I should have just gone to Wal Mart for a manicure and pedicure.

3. Ants are making an appearance on my kitchen counter, no doubt in desperate attempt to save themselves from drowning after 3 months of nearly nonstop frickin rain. Can’t say as I blame them, but ants all over my counters mean more are coming, and that makes me want to do the heebie-jeebie dance.

4. Oh, and all my plants are infested with bugs. Our poor daughter. She has no idea she’s house sitting in bug land.

5. Biker Dude and I are packing more clothes than the planned suitcases. This is so not my fault. You should see all the clothes he’s packing (I’m blaming him. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. )

6. Are we there yet? I so need a vacation.

It’s Free Book Friday again!

So, I leave tomorrow for a week in Louisiana. I’ve been looking at places I want to research, because I’m setting a book there. Fun stuff. I’m really looking forward to this trip.

It’s rained here in Oklahoma every damn day this week. Usually we get spring rain, then by June everything dries out and it’s sunny and hot. I’m tired of rain. I want summer now.

How’s your weather, and what are your weekend plans?

Post here for your chance to win one of the print books from my backlist!

Oh, and last week’s Free Book Friday winner hasn’t contacted me yet. Tsk tsk. So, if said winner doesn’t email me by the time I pick this week’s winner, I’ll choose two winners this week.