Winners of Angelica and Zi's guest post

Angelica Hart and Zi were sweet enough to contact me with the winners of their three blog contests. Congratulations to all three of you!!!

WINNERS!!!

Commenting on Blogs Contest

We held our drawing last evening for all who

commented on our various blogs over the past week

The following are our winners and have received a free e-book

ANNA

Heather's Reading Romance

ALAINE

J. Kaye's Book Blog won

LISA

Romance Junkies

READ ON!

Angelica Hart and Zi

KILLER DOLLS ~ September 2009

SNAKE DANCE ~ February 2010

CHASING GRAVITAS ~ July 2010

angelicahartandzi.com

KILLER DOLLS can be purchased at

Champagne Books

http://www..champagnebooks.com

Angelica Hart and Zi-- Guest Post

Thank you for coming back and guest hosting my blog Angelica and Zi. I can't wait to see what you have in store for me and my friends.






IS IT REAL OR IS IT MEMORY

Angelica Hart and Zi are writers published by Champagne Books.

Storing away memories and odd events to add to a story gives that story realism. Anne Rice once said, "No matter how long we exist, we have our memories. Points in time which time itself cannot erase." And most of our memories are indeed gifts that we open again and again.

I was at an Evelyn Woods Speed Reading Class and the instructor said, "We are the sum of all our experiences." There it was a truth that stood above simple truths. As I began to write I recognized that I had very limited experiences upon which to pull. My early work was unquestionable shallow. So I began a quest to discover, in the name of wanting to be a better writer? No! I realized I was shallow.

Every submission sent to publishers was returned or ignored. I recall critique suggesting I needed more depth in both the way I dealt with the subject and the technical writing style. As time ate at my life I waited as I worked. Wrote daily. How much life is lost to wait? That is an apt question, but my wait was filled with discovery. I became a student of people. Discovery. Examined other styles and broke them down mechanically and technically. Discovery. Tried to create more complexity. Discovery. Expanded my vocabulary. Discovery. Read... read... read. Discovery. Wrote... re-wrote... re-re-wrote.

That wait was not shallow but an aggressive tutorial for my growth. I continued to submit work. And slowly pieces were accepted.

So the question is who am I? Angelica or Zi. Ironically, we took the same path and had the same challenges and failures. We met as more mature adults prepared to be writers and we have written daily as writing partners. We found a synergy in our styles and complexity in what we wanted to create. Are we good? We don't know. Have we found that depth needed to portray characters as real people? Hope we have. Have we found enough intrigue in our plot and our words to keep readers interested? You tell us. As Jacob Bronowski, a mathematician, well-spoken and a celebrity of the BBC show The Ascent of Man and was the inspiration of Carl Sagan to make the Cosmos wrote, "The world is full of people who never quite get into the first team and who just miss the prizes at the flower show." If runners up is what we are, we're proud for our journey has been wonderful.

Zi believes, "Be the best you can be by growing every day."

Having said that, goodness, that was something (our hard work) we doubt we'd forget.

(Wow what an insightful post. Memories are very important in our lives and they are definitely something that cannot be taken away from you)



Our release KILLER DOLLS is a wonderful romantic thriller based in bio-terrorism. SNAKE DANCE which is about to be released is a fantasy adventure romance placed in a unique culture. CHASING GRAVITAS is a gentle paranormal romance which provides an unfolding mystery.





EXCERPT SIX
"Why are you asking me so much about Rud?" Her query accompanied innocuous though concerned peering.

"Just curious. I'm a bit of a techie myself." He thought he had vamped to cover himself.

"I see,” she said, not quite stirring her tea, more toying with the spoon in imitation of stirring. "So, you're into computers? I mean, just what do you do, other than make
me hot and feed me?” Laughing at her own humor.

He grinned at that and blurted his cover story about being an IT contractor, working for various companies as a troubleshooter.

For the first time since they met, Letti felt uneasy. His words sounded rehearsed. Did he hate his job? Was he really a male stripper, could have been, and didn't want to tell her?
What? She found herself asking a little too often. Then he reached out and touched her hand, and for the moment she didn't care.

His next question was interrupted by the ring tone of the song Rubber Duckie.


ABOUT AUTHORS

Their combined accomplishments include book publications in print and/or electronic versions of twenty-four titles, fifteen romance specific, ten manuscripts pending, EPPIE finalist for three books, Cecil Whig award, Hob-Nob Reader's Choice Award, written over 500 shorts with numerous published in both nationwide and small press magazines, articles published in various local, city and statewide newspapers, including four as a Guest Columnist in addition to trade articles. Both are members of various writing groups.

KILLER DOLLS IS AVAILABLE: Unaware that bio-terrorists are using her handcrafted dolls to attack the innocent, Letti Noel finds herself falling for Taut Johnson, an undercover FBI agent. Even as deceit is a growing barrier to their love, it's the stalking terrorists that are a threat to their lives.

We'd love to hear from anyone interested in what we do. Anyone who writes us at angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com and leaves an s-mail address, we will send you a gift and add you to any future mailings.


Angelica Hart and Zi
KILLER DOLLS ~ September 2009
SNAKE DANCE ~ February 2010
CHASING GRAVITAS ~ July 2010

angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com
angelicahartandzi.com




KILLER DOLLS can be purchased at
Champagne Books
http://www.champagnebooks.com/


Thank You again for stopping by and sharing your thoughts and such a wonderful excerpt!

Off a Hectic week and into Playoffs!!

I really need to get myself a new camera!!! I want more pictures of my son in action, but for now this one game will have to suffice. I am so excited. Our little bobbleheads are headed to the play-offs. This week of practice is very important... if you don't go you don't play!! The first game is Saturday at noon. We don't know which team we are playing but we have beaten both teams twice now. Most of us are praying for the guys that we played Saturday, just so our kids have a little bit easier time.

My son finally got his touchdown. I should say he has two touchdowns and an extra point or two under his belt now! Who would have thought my lineman was going to get to run the ball!!

As much as I love the time that we have had with this season I will be happy when it is over. I have had little time to read between getting ready for three games, homecoming court, and a birthday. I have one review that I have to write still. I finally finished Rio's story and have barely started Untouched by Anna Campbell. I am looking forward to more time at home so that I can cook a decent meal for my family and we can just chill in front of the TV or curled up on the couch with a good book!!

I was happy to hear my door bell ring today! I have been expecting a book and it finally arrived!!!



I purchased a couple of books for my Kindle but I can't remember which ones. I am going to have to sift through the books and figure it out when I get more time.

I have they dynamic writing team Angelica Hart and Zi stopping in to guest host my blog again on Wed! I can't wait to hear what they have in store for us this time! So make sure to stop back by on Wed and welcome these two characters.

Guests Angelica Hart and Zi

Welcome Angelica and Zi, thank you for stopping by and taking the time to share a little with us! (What a cute pair!!)

WHO SAID IT FIRST

eBay has engendered itself into our workplace. As an overview, this phenomenon has taken our culture by Perfect Storm. There it is, so common, that governor Sarah Palin used it to sell a state owned jet. And its stock is considered by money people like Michael Nesmith as indicators as to the direction of our market. We have five computers, of which, one seems to be a virtual eBay satellite. As we have written previously, Zi buys! He finds beauty to behold in treasures that unfold on his screen.

Yes, Zi got a few more shirts, today, didn't need them. The day ended up being quite interesting. We'd be in the middle of discussing dialogue between characters, obviously he multi-tasking, and suddenly he'd yelp, "Gotcha!" He won what he thought was beauty. What's thought to be one man's discard is another man's treasure.

Margaret Hungerford wrote, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." She was an Irish novelist in the 19th century who wrote light romantic fiction. However, this saying first appeared in the 3rd century BC in Greek. I find it ironic and inspiring that a romance writer would be attributed to that quote. Every day we explore and sexplore beauty and its play in love and romance.

It is so dag-nabbit-snap-dragon easy to write about traditional beauty. Easy to love a gorgeous woman. It's equally simplicitic to adore a hunky man but give that dude a goiter and he ain't dating. We believe that love is goiter-blind, and will try to discover a deeper purpose in love.

A movie from 1945 called The Enchanted Cottage played out this concept when what was considered a homely housekeeper falls in love with a scarred soldier. He saw her as beautiful, and she simply could not see his scars.

In our new manuscript, LOVE LETTERS, our hero Rich Longar has a burn scar that is predominate on his face. Our heroine Lauren Pike maybe a bit fleshy, hippy, zaftig, voluptuous, much of the Mae West character. We found great pleasure in building their love-ship. And aptly felt a certain requiting when it unfolded before us.

You have to adore Mae West. She once said, "A dame that knows the ropes isn't likely to get tied up." Additionally, she stated, "A hard man is good to find." She is attributed with, "A man in the house is worth two on the street." and "A man's kiss is his signature." We simply adore M. West. She said, "Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly", "Cultivate your curves they may be dangerous but they won't be avoided", and "He who hesitates is a damned fool". Our last two are these, "I didn't discover curves; I only uncovered them" and "I believe it is better to be looked over than it is to be overlooked".

Lauren Pike is Mae Westian in her sexually overt and vivacious personality as well as her curvaceous appearance.

The question is would every man find her beautiful? And the answer is simply, no. The question is would every woman find Rich Longar attractive? And the answer is simply, no. There is a beauty that each holds that has to find synergy with the other. As writers and especially as romance writers we have to seek that potential interconnect and grow its viability so the reader can feel their raw lust and love.

So every day the beauty is in the eye of the beholder and we are its agents.

In KILLER DOLLS our heroine purports herself as a tad dowdy and our hero has deep emotional scars that hold him in abeyance to accepting love. Neither perfect but perfectly matched. We hope you enjoy the following excerpt.

EXCERPT TWO

They got a room, asked to use the phone, storm had the lines down, asked about a cell phone and the clerk, a man of advanced age, looked at Taut as if he were an alien, paid in cash, parked out of view, and entered a nice but tacky cabin room.

“I see that shabby-chic is nouveau. The guest towels say… well used. Look, a bottle of shampoo. I used this stuff when I was a kid. It bubbles." Letti was rambling and gently ranting to cover her fear. She now understood the gravity of the situation; it was real, though she did not know why two very evil men were chasing them. Nor why they had her dolls. Why? The dual whys came out in unattractive rumbling, its blasphemy a cruel sacrilege.

“I am sleeping where?” asked Taut. The room had one bed.

“Between me and the door… and that window.”

ABOUT AUTHORS

Their combined accomplishments include book publications in print and/or electronic versions of twenty-four titles, fifteen romance specific, ten manuscripts pending, EPPIE finalist for three books, Cecil Whig award, Hob-Nob Reader's Choice Award, written over 500 shorts with numerous published in both nationwide and small press magazines, articles published in various local, city and statewide newspapers, including four as a Guest Columnist in addition to trade articles. Both are members of various writing groups.

We love to hear from anyone interesting in what we do. Anyone who writes us at angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com and leaves a s-mail address, we will send you a gift and add you to any future mailings.

Angelica Hart and Zi

Killer Dolls ~ September 2009

Snake Dance ~ February 2010

angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com

angelicahartandzi.com

Champagne Books

CONTEST: Just write us at angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com with contest in the subject line and your favorite genre in the body and you’ll be entered into a drawing for our latest release KILLER DOLLS

Up Coming Guests!

Friday I have the authors of Killer Dolls stopping by. They have a great post lined up to share with us! A little birdie told me that there will also be a give away involved! So make sure to stop by and visit with this delightful writing team!!