Contest Announcement!!!

Another excerpt from 'Dalara', the first in the lycan series I am working on.  The contest parameters  follow the the excerpt.

Excerpt:
Sage rushed in as soon as he could get out of the car. He had felt Dalara’s fear over an hour ago and couldn't get to her. He knew she was safe and irritated but he was worried still. Council followed him in.
“Dalara?” he shouted just inside the door. He caught her scent coming from the dining room. There she was sitting with Elizabet and and another female as The Warrior stood at the door. He picked her up and held her tight. “Are you all right, my mate?” he asked.
“Fine.”
“Tell us what happened.” Eldest stated.
“I don’t know we were out in the woods.” Dalara said.
“Elizabet?”
“Warrior George was with us. Dalara was the first to catch a scent of two strangers. George was tracking them and sent us here. I assume he alerted The Warrior as well with his call.”
“And who is this?” Sage asked looking at the one female he had never seen.
“Sorry Alpha, I am Mildred Verna Ellis, two hundred eleven years of Alpha Thomas.”
“What are you doing here without my permission?” Sage asked thinking she might have something to do with the others.
“Sage, this is Elizabet’s sister. Council sent her here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Sage she is no harm to your mate. Council did indeed send for her. She is here to help Dalara with paperwork and anything else that is needed. You do not think I would risk my Grandpup’s life now do you?” Eldest asked.
“No, I’m sorry Eldest.”
“It is understandable and I would be worried if you had not reacted the way you have.”
“Sage, I said I was fine.”
“And you know this for sure? You know who is out in the woods?” he snapped.
Dalara knew this was where she had to put a stop to his controlling or it would get out of hand. “Listen here. I am the one that scented them first, I did as I was told and returned home. Now you are not going to control me like this or interrogate me. Do you understand?”
Sage took a step back away from her. No one had ever spoke to him like that. He wanted to smack her but his wolf took control and calmed him down somehow.
“Lucas, join George in the search.” Eldest commanded and before he had finished the order The Warrior was gone.
“Dalara I’m sorry.” Sage looked as if he was a whipped puppy.
“I just don’t want you telling what to do all the time. I have a mind of my own.”
Sage returned to her side taking the chair next to hers. He knew in the beginning it was going to be hard to keep from controlling everything she did. Though this just proved he had been right.

I as am getting close to finishing the first draft, I am starting a contest. The series has no title. I am hoping you, my followers can help. Go through the excerpts previously posted to get the idea of the story lines. Post your suggestions in the comments. If I choose your suggestion you will receive a $10.00US gift card to either Barnes and Noble or Amazon and a few copy of 'Dalara', when published, to expand your reading material.

How Does a Writer Do It?

Question to a Writer

I have had a lot of people ask what music I listen to while writing, if I even do. Well it depends on the scene I'm working on I guess. Mostly it's Enya, Praga Khan, Dean Evenson, Kitaro, and Yiruma, which is also my meditation music. I have it on low in volume so it's just background noise. If I'm writing a fight or sex scene it's 2 Live Crew, Nickelback, Rush,  Metallica and some Queen here and there.

I know many of my fellow authors have their favorites as well. I would have to say it all depends on the mood of the author and our own preferences. Some may not even listen to music but their kids as to not find a mess after a session of writing.

Other questions I get:
1.) What do you do when you are struck?
Well, I message my friend and we go over the scene before and what I want to happen after, I as my son if it's a fight scene, or I get on Twitter and talk with other authors.

2.) When do you write the most?
That's a though one. Mainly at night when the kids are sleeping, but then I also write while they are at school if I'm up. I tend to sleep in late (11am) . If I'm in a bipolar manic state I will write 24/7 in between cleaning.

3.) Where do you get the character names?
Everywhere! Though I prefer old Celtic and anglo-saxon the best. I look them up online or Scrivener has a name generator I like.

4.) Where do you get the ideas for books?
That's a though one. Sometimes I have an image come to me when I'm watching tv, reading the news websites or I just think shoot that's the next one. It goes the same for my plots and twists.

5.) Why just paranormal romance genre?
That's the easiest to answer. I love it and it's about the only thing I read. Being only 6 years into my book fetish I can't seem to get into anything else. I'm hoping to branch out in the next year.

6.) Do you only write adult?
No, my first novel written was YA for my daughter who is an advanced reader. I just wanted to be able to add sex scenes if I felt like it. My Ya had to be cut due to one. I have also thought of doing one for pre-teens though I am not sure about what.

7.) How do you come up with places, like where it all takes place?
Interesting indeed. My bestie and I plan out what we are going to do if we win the lottery. Lots of property looking. Since I am working on werewolves it works wonderfully with the large treed land. With looking at homes and land I get the general idea for it. With the current WIP(work in progress) I drew out the house plans one night when I was bored and had writer's-block. Since it's an old house built in the 1800s circa I googled that type of furniture and downloaded the pics I loved. For the names, they just pop out of my head.

8.)Who is your favorite author?
Okay people, a person with a book fetish can't really answer that question. I have so many, but the one I couldn't live without would be four, J.R.Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon Alexandria Ivy and Laura Wright. Though there are many others I love. Those are the ones I would throw a fit if I couldn't read their books. For the others check out my my Loving and Engaging Authors page.

Well, guys and gals those are the most common questions I get. If you have one not listed ask away.

My your New Year be blessed with good health, love, warmth, family and good friends.

Preparing For NaNoWriMo!

NaNoWriMo is starting in less than 7 days. Stressing about it. This is the 1st year I have participated. 50,000 words in 30 days seems to be a lot to me. Though I usually write 2000 words a day and 5000+ a day on the weekends.

What I've done to prepare:

• Have characters bios done
• The beginning and ending figures out
• Several scenes ready on note cards
• Notebooks full of causes and my thoughts on outcomes
• Scrivener installed and info inputted
• Twitter set for hashtags : #writing, #wordsprints, #writeclub, #FriNightWrites
• Set up with Twitter groups for motivation: @FriNightWrites, @SprintShack, @WriteChain and many more

I am not an outline person so all this prepping is a bit stressful. If you participate in NaNoWriMo please feel free to as me as a buddy, my pen is jessmarkley.