The Winter Not-So Blues: Reading, Writing, and Photographs

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Karyn Good

Sexy Suspense

Off The Grid will be touring around in February and the first part of March on a review tour.

Come join the party at The Romance Reviews for a chance to win great giveaways including books and gift certificates, play games and meet authors. The Grand Prize is a $100 gift card.

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On the homefront, January was filled with books and writing. The sun is rising earlier and setting later. But there is still much writing to be done and many books to be read. The weekends are for reading the paper, omfort food, and shoveling snow. It is for digging in and perserving against harsh conditions. At least, in my neck of the woods. Although to be fair, the conditions have been rather pleasant for January.

Over my Saturday morning cup of tea I open the Weekender section of my local paper and head to the Books page. I check out the best sellers in hardcover and paperback. Then I read the article of the week which is usually an interview with an author. I love learning where other writers get their ideas, what their process looks like, and I love it when they share their opinions. On occasion they are forced to defend their writing.

One such interesting article stayed with me. It was an interview with Val McDermid, a crime novelist who addressed the notion of female crime novelists and the voilent subject matter of their books. Or more to the point, the suggestion that because she is female, it is somehow wrong for her to write about such matters. These questions arose, perhaps in part, due to the backlash against the overwhelming number of faceless female victims in books in which their only role is to be beaten, violated, and then hacked to pieces.

What I found interesting, however, was her perspective on the psychology of females writing crime fiction.

“It’s because of the way society conditions us growing up. We’re told that there are bad men out there who will hurt us given half the chance. We are brought up to imagine our victimhood even before it happens to us. I don’t think there is a woman alive who hasn’t walked down a street late at night and heard footsteps, who hasn’t immediately thought about the terrible things that can happen to her. So when we come to this subject (violence), we have imagined it already. We have lived it in our heads. Men don’t grow up with that sense of themselves in the world.”

I know know I have walked and listened and wondered. Now I’m wondering how much my gender affects my writing, perhaps not when it comes to my vicitms but when it comes to the villains in my story. To this point, they are one hundred percent male. All dominant personalities in positions of power with violent tendancies. Not that women can’t be all those things. But maybe the things I’ve been conditioned to fear and protect myself against manifest themselves in these characters. Something to think about…and maybe think about mixing it up a little!

How about you? Any book recommendations with regards to crime fiction? Have you read any books with a fascinating female villain?

Set in McDermid’s hometown of Edinburgh, The Skeleton Road centres on a Cold Case investigation. A skeleton is discovered, hidden at the top of a soon-to-be renovated Gothic building. Detective Karen Pirie is tasked with identifying the decades-old bones and soon finds herself unearthing a series of past conflicts, false identities and secrets that have long been buried.

This month I’m happy to be visiting the Laughing Ladies Literary Book Club who’ve chosen OFF THE GRID for their January read. I’ve had a blast oming up with discussion questions and anticipating more questions about the characters and the setting and the inspiration behind the book. I’m also hard at work writing the third book in my Aspen Lake Series. Mike and Grace’s is coming along. For me, the hard part of writing is getting down the first draft. I love revising. Taking the bare bones of a story and turning it into something someone might want to read someday.

I love taking photos. I’m not very good at it and definitely fall in the amateur department. But I decided to take part in a photo challenge this year. You can read more about it here. There is a prompts to help you out every day. Here’s a sampling of mine and you can find me on Instagram @karyngoodauthor.

Prompt: Circle
So…me in a circle.

Prompt: Morning
My desk!

Hope the weather is being kind to you. And if you’re being subjected to nasty weather and storms I hope you have plenty of good books to keep you entertained.

Feeding Your Ego

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Karyn Good

A road trip with girlfriends is a good thing! Listening to one of my favorite celebrities speak at the end of it is even better. Jann Arden is a seriously talented singer, songwriter, and author. She’s is also one funny individual. She talked about many things Monday night at The Silver Spoon Dinner with Jann Arden event. That’s the wonderful thing about Jann Arden. Her honesty and the feeling your making a personal connection with her through her very personal stories.

Jann talked about finding your passion. The thing that fills you up. She talked about letting your spirit guide your actions not your ego. About redefining your goals by reaching out instead of looking inward. Ego is about survival and battling for the future insist you see for yourself. Spirit is about effecting change in the world around you and letting your future find you.

I get stuck in the rut of thinking about others egos. Scoffing and muttering over others who seem to wear it like a comfortable coat. But what about my own ego? Am I catering to it and harming my creative process?

Ego is not all about a negative boosting of our confidence and creating an over inflated version of our worth. Ego is also the thing that worries about what other people think of our efforts. It’s the measuring stick of worth that often comes up short. It stifles the creative process with a wet blanket of this isn’t good enough. Been there, felt that.

Jann gave me lots to think about. When we truly listen, when we open up to connections with others and their ideas, when we interact with the world around us in a meaningful way we are less on our own. When we pay less attention to our mind’s worries but settle ourselves and feel more with our gut we’re on the right track.

So I’ll work on it and worry less and create more. May the rest of the week be kind to you. May you find peace in a way that fills you up.

Tilting At Windmills

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Karyn Good

Sanity is a slippery slope at times. We all know this. We’ve all fought our share of four armed giants and lost. None of us as innocent as when we started out. Certainly, as supporters of the romance genre, whether as reader or writer, we’ve defended against countless giants in the form of cynics and naysayers. Some might say we are the Don Quixote of the literary world. The laughingstock. The discounted. The delusional.

Romantic ideals don’t put food on the table. No matter the ideal is food for the mind. Reality must be dealt with. But how we deal with it is up to us.

I saw Man of La Mancha at Globe Theatre last night. Can you tell? In case, like me, you’re unfamiliar, it’s a play within a play. Tax collector, writer, soldier, and unfortunate poet, Miguel de Cervantes, is tossed into prison and is waiting his hearing by the Spanish Inquisition. First, however, he must defend himself against his follow prisoners to save his most precious possession. His unfinished novel, Don Quixote. The trials and tribulations of a mad knight.

Don Quixote is a lot bonkers. He’s read too many books about chivalry and knights and romance. Poor sot. Determined to resurrect the notion of chivalry, he sets out on a journey.

I shall impersonate a man. His name is Alonso Quijana, a country squire no longer young. Being retired, he has much time for books. He studies them from morn till night and often through the night and morn again, and all he reads oppresses him; fills him with indignation at man’s murderous ways toward man. He ponders the problem of how to make better a world where evil brings profit and virtue none at all; where fraud and deceit are mingled with truth and sincerity. He broods and broods and broods and broods and finally his brains dry up. He lays down the melancholy burden of sanity and conceives the strangest project ever imagined…. to become a knight-errant, and sally forth into the world in search of adventures; to mount a crusade; to raise up the weak and those in need. No longer will he be plain Alonso Quijana, but a dauntless knight known as Don Quixote de La Mancha. – Miguel de Cervantes, Man of La Mancha

Yeah, there are days I’d like to lay down the melancholy burden of sanity too. Then again, I am a romance writer and reader. So…there you go. Fortunately, I haven’t read so many romance novels my brains have dried up. Or given me unrealistic expectations, a familiar taunt and most insulting insinuation by the way.

Here’s the thing. You know he’s nuts. But…you can’t help but root for him, even if there’s a little pity mixed in. He sees the world, not how it is, but how he wishes. In this age of text messages and the illusion of 750 Facebook friends, why not dip your toe into the pool of delusion. Not as a full time job, of course.

I come in a world of iron to make a world of gold.- Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha

I loved this play. It inspired me to think and wonder. I’m not quite sure I understood it all, but that only makes me want to see it performed again. Because, you see, I couldn’t help but relate to Don Quixote. And that’s the thing about this play. There’s a little Don Quixote in all of us. Reality can break a person. Therefore, we must bend it a little to suit ourselves.

Which loops me back to romance. Romantic fiction is necessary. Stories filled with sole purpose of traveling the winding, uphill road to a happily-ever-after are important.When reality presses in, pick up a romance novel. Immerse yourself in modern acts of chivalry. Spend some times with heroes or heroines who you know will fight to figure it out. Let them inspire you. Give you a few precious moments of peace. Of adventure. Turn the pages, dream the impossible dream. At least for awhile.

When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be! – Miguel de Cervantes, Man of La Mancha

If you get a chance to see Man of La Mancha I hope you take it. I hope it inspires you. I hope it brings out the Don Quixote in you, my fellow travelers.

Happy Hump Day

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Karyn Good

It’s Wednesday. Even if I refused to believe it first thing this morning. I was sure it was Tuesday.

So true!

Inspired.

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Karyn Good

Love this quote on Tumblr. Loved it immediately.

There’s too much “I need him, he completes me” and not enough “I complete me yet I want them along for this journey”

Also this!

It’s March and here’s a lovely quote by Charles Dickens. Even though plump white snowflakes are falling as I type and there’s not a ray of sun to be found.

Channeling all these thoughts and using them to inspire in me as I revise away. We all know certain lines, often the cheesiest one in the bunch, get all the glory. But it’s what surrounds them and holds them up to the light that make the story. The quote by C.S. Lewis makes me question the lines I’ve written, encouraging me to see if there is truth in them or I’m merely making assumptions. Finally, my stories would no doubt ripen and flourish with a touch more imagery. The Charles Dickens quote inspires me to color my words.

Those were some of my thoughts this week. What inspired you?

My Favorite Viking

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Karyn Good

That’s it. That’s all I’ve got. A picture of Travis Fimmel.

I’m busy revising while the laundry pile grows and the dust gathers. Not sure what’s for supper as there’s precious little in the fridge. But I can’t stop. I’m on a roll.

Until next time.

Latvia? Where it that again?

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Karyn Good

I love the Olympics! Even though I’m not a huge sports fan, there’s just something about these games. It’s…well, the Olympics. Anything is possible. There are plenty of magical moments.

There is inspiration to be found in the determination, dedication, and spirit of each competitor, whether they make it to the podium or not.

Here in Canada, we take our hockey seriously. VERY seriously. To lose out in the semis would be devastating. Kind of like it was for Russia yesterday, only that was worse…because hometown losses suck worse than others obviously. Like we almost did to Latvia. Because where is that again? Oh yeah, at the corner of Russia and Lithuania.

Yesterday their twenty-one year old back-up goalie, Kristers Gudlevskis, proved he could take on a team of NHL veterans and almost, but not quite thank you, God, shut them down. Although, the rest of his team did have something to do with it. He stopped 55 out of 57 shots. That’s, like, incredible. He’s Tampa Bay Lightening draft and plays on their farm team. Um…I think that’s about to change. He’s probably already filming a Visa commercial.

He left it all out there as the cliche goes. Every drop of everything he had. This kid deserves Latvia’s version of a medal of honour. He certainly deserves our respect.

Greatness. It’s all around us. In every nook and cranny. Waiting to inspire us.

Refilling The Creative Well

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Karyn Good

My creative well is feeling a bit shallow these days. I blame the dreaded January malaise. My work-in-progress is coming along. I’m about halfway done the first revision pass and the whole mess is sitting at about 87,000 words. But I’m at that point in my process where my imagination needs a little rejuvenating.

I love live theater! I don’t live in a huge city, we’re about 200,000 strong, but there are lots of arts and culture events to choose from if one is in the mood. Becky’s New Car is the latest offering by the Globe Theater. Done in the round, with minimal props, it’s all up to the actors. What a fabulous job they did. If you ever get a chance to see this play, I recommend it. So funny.

Becky’s feeling the effects of a humdrum, middle-aged life when she meets an beguiling millionaire. Stuck in middle management at her job, married forever, twenty-something son still living at home, trying to be everything for everybody, she inadvertently gives the wrong impression and finds herself at a fork in the road. With plenty of laughs along the way, it was the perfect way to fill my creative well.

“When a woman wants a new car, she really wants a new life.”

What’s you’re favorite way to rejuvenate your imagination?

Ready, Set, Write!

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Karyn Good

Today it’s all about the ghosts and goblins but National Novel Writing Month starts tomorrow. And that’s all about the writing.

November is also about mustaches and raising money for a good cause.

And that’s a random picture of Kim Coates who plays Tig on the TV show Sons of Anarchy which I love and don’t know why. He sports some pretty awesome facial hair. Anyway…

I’ve never written a story about a guy with a ‘tache. But I’m writing a story about a guy with a Dodge Demon he calls Veronica.

He’s into grunge rock and wood carving.

And he’s falling for Kate. Who lives in this tiny apartment above her boutique.

So while I won’t be doing NaNoWriMo, I will be writing. I’ll be participating in a writing challenge along with other members of my writing peeps, The Saskatchewan Romance Writers. They’re an awesome bunch. And November is the perfect time to get some writing in before all the Christmas festivities start. Although I’m Canadian and therefore have already celebrated Thanksgiving. Some of you will have to write and cook a turkey.

When Kate Meets Seth…

Kate’s quick scan started at his scarred work boots, past cargo pants with more pockets then she had good intentions, she lifted a brow, and not in favor, at his Pearl Jam t-shirt. Great hair. Six feet plus in height. His stance made it clear he didn’t give a crap about any of it which added a little bit of wild to the Mr. Long and Broad look he had going on. Her fingers twitched. That made her nervous. And nervous didn’t project the right image.

“Can I help you?” She plunged into the Kate Logan act. Relished the comfort of the fit. The shaky Kate disappeared behind a raised brow and the strut that had made her famous.

My second Aspen Lake novel is taking shape. Happy writing, Everyone!

A Sneak Introduction to Off The Grid, My Next Endeavor

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Karyn Good

Well, my edits are back in the hands of my lovely editor. I have a feeling Off The Grid is this close to preliminary gallery territory. Yay! I’m so excited about this story. Besides creating (hopefully) engaging characters, I loved exploring the widening gap between the rich and the poor in this one. Off The Grid takes place in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, which has long been dubbed Canada’s poorest postal code. My heroine, Dr. Sophie Monroe, is a Doctor for a Downtown Eastside clinic and an activist. Caleb Quinn is a Family Law lawyer, ranked one of Canada’s Top Lawyers Under 40.

Working Blurb for Off The Grid

A committed doctor to Vancouver’s inner city, nothing fazes Sophie Monroe. Until a pregnant teenager shows up at her clinic on Christmas Eve requesting sanctuary and claiming the baby’s father is one of the city’s most influential businessmen. One who has threatened to do whatever it takes to safeguard his reputation. Sophie is in over her head and thankful when aid shows up in the form of an attorney who’s a little too confident and a lot too sexy.

All Family Law expert Caleb Quinn wants is a date. One chance to prove he isn’t the elitist jerk Sophie assumes. Helping deliver a baby is not what he has in mind. But before long protecting a traumatized teenage mother and her son become his first priority. Even if saving them pits him against the baby’s father, a childhood friend. A man who will do anything to keep his dark side private.

But justice never comes cheap. Will doing the right thing cost Sophie and Caleb their reputations? Or their lives?

The First Paragraph

Dr. Sophie Monroe lifted her face to the cold sting of falling snow. The flakes cooled her heated cheeks. Their fresh scent cleansed her mind of the day’s battles. On the ground it covered the everyday debris of crack vials and castoff condoms. Litter from the urgent business dealings conducted in the shadowed alley behind her clinic. In the waning light of the gathering storm she studied the dark doorways relieved to find them empty.

A Look At Who Inspired The Leading Characters

I feel bad that I don’t know the name of the gorgeous guy from The Bay flyer. I was struggling finding a real life image of the hero in my head but the minute I saw this flyer I knew.

This is Diablo Cody who, among many other accomplishments, wrote the screenplay for Juno.

There you have it. I was getting too excited not to share. Can’t wait to share more, like cover reveals and release dates! Here’s to surviving Monday and the last days of summer.