Interview with Paranormal Romance author: Lynn Rush!

Today I am pleased to welcome paranormal author, Lynn Rush. I met Lynn

when I landed representation with her agent. She's a ton of fun.

Hi Lynn, Tell us a bit about yourself!

For the most part I’m pretty boring. You can ask any of my friends. I love to stay close to home and spend most of my time at my laptop, writing. Shocker, I know. But when I’m not writing, I love to road bike and go running with my hubby of fourteen years. He’s just signed up for his first Ironman Triathlon and I’m doing a half marathon soon, so we spend a lot of time exercising.

How did you find yourself in the paranormal genre?

I grew up lovin’ all those paranormal-type movies and TV shows. You know, like the Hulk, Wonder Woman, Six Million Dollar man. As I got older, it turned into watching Buffy, Heroes, Charmed, and so on. . . . After the family and friends got over the initial shock of finding out I wrote some novels, they weren’t surprised to learn they were paranormal. J

From your web presence I can tell that you are an active Christian. Do your fellow Christians ever give you any guff about your work?

No, they really don’t. They are some of the most supportive people I have reading my stuff.

Can you share a bit about one of your projects?

Soul Saver is close to my heart right now. It’s really dark and edgy. A lot of my stuff is on the dark side, but this one I let myself go a little bit. I had tons of fun writing these characters. Here’s the little blurb we drew up for it:

After falling victim to a vampire bite, God grants strung-out druggie, Morgan Brooks a second chance at life. Only it comes with strings—she must partner with a moody, mysterious guy, Tanner Webbs, and collect souls for heaven. It’s a battle not only between the two polar opposites, but an ancient demon hell-bent on creating an alternate vampire race—starting with Morgan.

What's your special tip for Writer's Block?

Go for a long bike ride. Okay, I know that doesn’t work for everyone, but it sure does work for me. I don’t suffer from writer’s block much, but when the ideas are slowing down or I’m stuck in a weird spot with my characters or storyline, I hop on the bike for a few hours or go for a long run. Usually things clear out, and I come back refreshed, ready to write.

If you don’t bike or run, find something you love, something that takes you out of the situation and go do it. Then when you come back to things, they should have a clearer view.

Name one thing you'll buy/do if you hit the bestseller's list.

I think I would celebrate by taking my sweet hubby out for a big slice of plain cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory! Now, if I’m one of the lucky ones who makes a ton of money by hitting the bestseller list…then I’d pay off my mortgage. **Refer back to question #1: I’m pretty boring**

Thanks, Lynn for stopping by! Be sure to drop by Lynn's website http://www.lynnrush.com

Catch the Rush: http://www.lynnrush.com/

FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/LynnRushWrites

Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/LynnRush

Overhauling a Manuscript

Back in 2008 when I decided to take my writing seriously, I completed a manuscript titled BLOOD PROPHECY. It was to be the first in a series involving vampires, psychics, sorcerers, and other awesome supernatural beings of my own creation that would culminate in a bitchin' War of The Worlds type awesomeness. And each book would have its own love story.

BLOOD PROPHECY garnered a few requests from agents and even a publisher, but ultimately failed. By the time I was resigned to that, however, I had finally become internet savvy and made some priceless writerly friends. I shelved it and wrote BITE ME, YOUR GRACE and had success. But my previous story kept haunting me. Thanks to my awesome writer buddies, who were willing to endure the disjointed and full of suckiness BLOOD PROPHECY, I have discovered what is broken and what is missing.

One main issue was that there was too much prophecy and not enough blood. But what was worse was that the romance took the backseat and let the subplots take over.
The problems were so intensive that I couldn't see the story for the book.

So here's what I did:

I opened up a blank document and I keep it open next to the original draft. I have then pasted in the scenes I will keep.

Then I am writing new improved scenes to fill in the gaps and keep the story going where it's supposed to. When I have no inspiration for a scene I work on other issues with the existing text. These issues are:

1.) Pronouns: I have abused them excessively in this manuscript for some reason.

2.) Dialogue tags: The talking heads are at it again!

3.) Setting/ descriptions: These characters are in a white room too many times.

4.) Chemistry/ romance: I need to turn the heat up big time.

With these improvements my new novel, WRENCHING FATE is being built.

How about you, dear readers and writers? Have you ever had a broken manuscript that you longed to resurrect? What did you do to fix it? Any tips for me in this scary journey?

Imaginary cover models.

We authors know that unless we are self publishing or extremely lucky, we have no say whatsoever on what our covers look like. And although many design teams do an excellent job, they can't get Johnny Depp to model. :(
But, during the writing process, I can "cast" whoever I want to play my characters. Besides the fact that it's fun and could be useful for a book trailer, I believe that visual images help evoke emotion and details necessary for character development.

So, for the fun of it, I'm going to share some imaginary cast members from a few of my novels.

First is Ian Ashton, the Duke of Burnrath and Lord Vampire of London from my regency paranormal romance, BITE ME, YOUR GRACE. Since this guy's a real cover model, maybe I could be lucky enough to get him. :)

Thanks to the publication of John Polidori's The Vampyre, Ian's reputation among the English nobility is in jeopardy. His life is further disrupted when he meets aspiring Gothic authoress, Angelica Winthrop.

Angelica wants to ruin her reputation to avoid marriage and pursue her writing career. She's not too happy when Ian proposes.


Then there's Silas McNaught, Lord Vampire of Coeur d'Alene and main hero of the first installment of my BRIDES OF PROPHECY series.

Now for some double Depp love!
I give you Razvan Nicolae, Lord Vampire of Spokane! He's the hero of the newly finished AN IRONIC SACRIFICE. When Jayden Leigh begs Razvan to kill her and end the agony of her psychic visions, he has other plans.

And here's Razvan's long lost twin brother, Radu Nicolae. As of now Radu's still sleeping under the ruins of Castle Nicolae in Romania. But when Lillian Holmes is dispatched there for her first vampire kill, they are both in for a few surprises.

How about you all? Authors: Who stars in your novels? And readers: Who do you picture to represent the characters of your favorite books. I always pictured Vin Diesel as Zsadist in LOVER AWAKENED and Alan Rickman as Bishop Waleran in the PILLARS OF THE EARTH. :)

Best Thanksgiving Turkey Ever!

Since Thanksgiving is coming up, I thought I'd share my awesome recipe.

Required Materials: 
Roasting Pan
Aluminum Foil
Turkey Baster
Meat Thermometer

Ingredients:
1: 15-20lb turkey (If larger may need to increase other ingredients)
1-2 stalks celery
1 large orange
1 onion (I prefer sweet)
1/2 to 1 clove of garlic
1 big carrot or 8-10 baby carrots
1 1/2 to 3/4 bottle of ginger ale (2 liter)
1 can chicken broth
1 bay leaf
2 tbs. thyme
2 tbs. parsley
2 tbs. sage
1 tbs. lemon pepper
1 tbs. Seasoned Salt (Johnny's or Lawry's is best!)

(I know it's a long list, but it's totally worth it!)
Okay, here we go.

Preheat oven to 350
Mix thyme, sage, parsley, lemon pepper, and seasoning salt in a small bowl
Chop the onion, carrot, and celery
Peel the garlic and split into segments
Peel the orange and split into segments

Line the roasting pan with enough foil to cover the turkey.
Remove the neck and giblets from turkey
Rub the herb mixture inside both neck and rear cavities of the turkey and a little on the outside.
Stuff turkey with chopped onion, carrot, celery, garlic, orange segments, and bay leaf.
Place turkey in roasting pan.
Pour all chicken broth and half required ginger ale into the cavity.
Truss the turkey and pour more ginger ale over bird and around it.

Make a foil tent over the bird, but try not to have the foil touch it.
Baste periodically and remove foil to allow turkey to brown 45 min to 1 hr before done.
Turkey is done when thermometer inserted into thickest part of the thigh reads 180 degrees.

Here is estimated cooking time by weight:
10-15 lbs = 3 3/4 -4 1/2 hrs. 15-22lbs = 4 1/2- 5 hrs
22-24lbs = 5- 5 1/2 hrs. 24-29lbs = 5 1/2- 6 1/4 hrs

When turkey is done, remove from oven, cover, and let stand 10- 15 min before carving. This allows the juices to resettle.

Bonus Gravy Recipe:
Ingredients: (To taste and as needed)
Turkey drippings/ marinade
Milk
Cornstarch
Parsley
Thyme
Sage
Salt (if needed)
Black Pepper

Using the turkey baster, remove as much liquid from turkey as you need and heat it to boiling in a medium saucepan
Mix cornstarch with milk and add to boiling turkey drippings,
Slowly lower the heat and blend with a whisk.
thicken to desired texture and in the meantime season to taste with herbs and pepper. Try not to burn your tongue!

Taking the week off to finish this project.

Sorry to be neglecting you all, but I'm getting down to the finish line with the first draft of this project. I hope to have something for you next week. :) In the meantime, here's a hot pic of Johnny Depp looking all gangster. MMMM....

When looking for a gun for a gun for my hero, I came across this pic. What is ironic is that Johnny Depp is my imaginary cover model for this hero...and his twin.