Generations Ring

I've had this story idea floating around in my head for a while, but it's now rising to the surface and demanding attention (which is darn inconvenient, given that the Jewels of Desire series still needs seven more installments to wrap up that story!).

The premise of the new story follows an engagement ring through four generations of the same family, essentially linking four separate but related love stories across a hundred years.  Clearly, there is still some more detail work to be done, but the ideas are now starting to fall into place whether or not I like it.  So goes the creative process.

Don't forget about the Purple Sword Publications' September Blog Party!  Win a free Amazon Kindle just for reading a few blogs.  Details are posted on the PS home page (and while you're there, the latest installment of Jewels is only $2.99...just saying!) and on this blog.

Free Kindle.  How do you top that?  I kind of wish I was eligible...

New Installment!

The fifth installment of Jewels of Desire is out!

Visit the Purple Sword site, or the Lila Pearce website for an excerpt!

Stream of Conscious

Stream of conscious.  Free association.  It's been a while since I've visited these as exercises.  Just write.  Don't stop to think about punctuation.  Don't backspace over anything (this one I have trouble with), even if it's a simple typo.  Write the feeling of a gray and endless afternoon without stopping to think of why this is what has popped into your head.  The endless, repetition.  Monotony.  Why has the world turned into what we saw today.  What we heard and felt and don't want to know today.  The sky has turned a lovely shade of who knows what because the curtains are closed and the night is still.

Accept that ninety percent of what will show up on your screen will be worthless.  It's crap.  Don't kid yourself.  It's like the beautiful monologues that pop into your head when you lie down at night.  Those melodramatic, moving speeches that in the moment seem so perfect.  They're not.  For the ten percent that will yield a nugget that you can work with, the exercise is enough.

So help you Snookie if the Jersey Shore makes an appearance (I'm now mildly embarrassed).  Better redeem yourself with something intellectual.  But the brain waves ebb in stubborn rhythm.  The mind is a nasty set of breakers where the subconscious crashes on the rocks.  The cursor blinks.  Have I done enough?

September Blog Party

Jewels of Desire came to me on a boring, rainy afternoon.  Yes, I know just how cliche that sounds.  I was tired, cranky, and wanted to be anywhere but sitting at my day job, waiting for the phone to ring.  I started surfing for writing prompts, and one I came across asked for erotic fiction under 20,000 words set in exotic locations.  My mind started to drift along the lines of where I'd go if I could go anywhere in the world.  It being a daydream, I decided to imagine places and cultures that I know little about and suddenly I found myself researching Bedouin culture.  So long as I was daydreaming, I figured, "why not time travel?"  Being a particularly long-winded writer, I knew I'd never be able to tell the entire story that was already gelling in my head in less than 20,000 words, and the 12-story series was born.

The last installment to publish--Jewels of Desire IV: Diamond Allure was inspired by a Renaissance history class I once took in college that focused on interpreting historical facts from paintings and portraiture.  Marcos, the poor but oh-so-gifted painter that paints Anya in such a beautiful light, is completely made up, and any resemblance to a real artist is completely coincidental.

Hint, hint:  don't be too surprised if you see the portrait turn up again somewhere down the road!

The next installment--Jewels of Desire V:  Emerald Seduction, will be available soon through Purple Sword.

So here's what you need to email to promorobyn@gmail.com for my portion to participate in the contest:

• Author name:  Lila Pearce
• Inspiration:  Renaissance Paintings Class

Don't forget to pick up all the other authors' inspirations--email promorobyn@gmail.com if you havne't gotten the full list yet.  There can only be one grand prize winner!