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Vicki Batman: A Gem of a Blogger @vickibatman #RLFblog
In preparation for the move from Blogspot to WordPress, I’m sharing the RLF Gem Bloggers of this site. Each Saturday for the next few weeks, I’ll showcase a different author.
2013 Star Blogger: Vicki Batman
Vicki has appeared on the Romance Lives Forever blog 15 times since 2013 as an individual author and twice as part of an anthology. She has been an RLF Gem multiple times and in 2013 was the number one blogger twice. The position is chosen by the amount of visits the author’s post receives.
I’m proud to present Vicki with the 2013 RLF Gem Award.
Honorable mentions: Marilyn Baron (7 visits) and EM Lynley (5 visits)
Others who won monthly top blogger awards in 2013 were Elle James, Delilah Devlin, John Steiner, Susan D Taylor, Boroughs Publishing, Liquid Silver Books, and JMS Books.
About Vicki Batman
Like some of her characters, award-winning author Vicki Batman has worked a wide variety of jobs including lifeguard, ride attendant at an amusement park; a hardware store, department store, book store, antique store clerk; administrative assistant in an international real estate firm; and a general “do anything gal” at a financial services firm–the list is endless.
Writing for several years, she has completed three manuscripts, written essays, and sold many short stories to True Love, True Romance, True Confessions, Noble Romance Publishing, Long and Short Reviews, Museitup Publishing, and The Wild Rose Press. She is a member of RWA and several writing groups and chapters. In 2004, she joined DARA and has served in many capacities, including 2009 President. DARA awarded her the Robin Teer Memorial Service Award in 2010.
Most days begin with her hands set to the keyboard and thinking “What if??”
Website: http://vickibatman.blogspot.com/p/more-about-me.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VickiBatman/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/293iZIz
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/vickibatman/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4814608.Vicki_Batman/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/vickibatmanVicki Batman’s Latest Book
Temporarily Insane, a romantic comedy mystery: Bad job. Wrong love. And Murder. Hattie Cooks is still searching for her dream job and one might be available…in the Big Apple, far from friends, family, and Allan Wellborn, the man who still makes her heart race. In the meantime, she finds temporary employment at an accounting firm where two auditor friends turn up dead.
Detective Allan Wellborn dropped Hattie for Blonde Bimbo who, coincidentally, is employed at NLB where fishy things are taking place. When Allan interviews Hattie, he must determine why all signs point to her as a suspect.
Can Hattie discover why Allan dumped her and who is murdering auditors before death strikes again?
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Temporarily-Insane-Hattie-Cooks-Mystery-ebook/dp/B01JBSHE0K/
Amazon print https://www.amazon.com/Temporarily-Insane-Vicki-Batman/dp/1509209158/
The Wild Rose Press http://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/4520-temporarily-insane.html
The Wild Rose Press print http://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/paperback-books/4576-temporarily-insane-paperback.html
Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/temporarily-insane-vicki-batman/1124273024?ean=2940157032470Coming next Saturday…Top Blogger for 2014. Come back and see who it is!
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Wanted: Romance Characters. Wounded Hero Apply Within @romancebysusan #RLFblog
Girls’ Night Out Welcome to RLF! Today’s guest post is by Susan Arden / Susan D Taylor.
It’s business as usual in writing
scorching romance. I power up the computer, drum my fingers, and
inhale. Time to find “him” and “her.” How about this time I
hand over the reins to you to locate a pair of lovers? Would you start with
an open casting call in which you hang a sign: hot men and women need apply?Writing a romance requires that an
author open their heart and imagination in the creation of a pair of lovers. In
order for the lovers to exist within a story, I need a hook that gets me thinking…excited.
As a writer of nuclear heat-level romance, I begin with a visualization of a plot
line that begins in a physical spot. A church parking lot, a ranch, a stadium. Someplace
where two people might meet and fall in love. But that isn’t the place where the
story begins. It’s a trajectory point where I aim, more than likely a place about
sixty-percent of the way through the book where the characters hang out.Once I get a feel for where the characters
and I are headed, I throw open the doors and the casting call begins and that means
it’s time to dig deep into their lives. The expectation for romance stories is that
these contain people who have attributes such as beauty, wit, strength, charisma
as well as a host of other attractive characteristics that are displayed throughout
the story—sky is the limit. But alas, every author knows that in loving our creations,
we must do our writer duty in our creating reflections of humanity by making them
human. And as humans, our lovers must have flaws.So in writing, I draw from what I
know and as a past educator, I draw heavily on my education and classroom where
I had the honor and pleasure to spend my days with funny, energetic, sensitive,
stubborn students who were as varied the colors of the rainbow. But the one characteristic
they and I shared is we are learners…people who learn differently. I taught special
education and ironically have ADHD and facets of dyslexia. I understand what it
means to be reduced to a statistic and boxed into a category. Learners with special
needs require supports to actualize strengths to compensate for “things”
we don’t do so well. I can’t tell right from left, but instinctively know cardinal
direction regardless of where I’m at. I can do simple math like a calculator but
can’t understand high order math. I need to use a computer over pen and paper. I
read chunks of information but can’t read word for word. Numerical order and word
order are atypical or are repeated in the wrong order unless I close my eyes and
read from the picture in my mind.In this go round in Girls’ Night Out
(GNO), I wanted to have a character who reflected those I know. Brett Gold has dysgraphia,
a form of dyslexia, and this helped to balance out extreme strength. Brett became
the hero with a wound (i.e., wounded hero archetype) in which that “flaw”
would affect him starting at a very young age. The hero in GNO had the love of a
parent to help him have the confidence to keep striving rather than to become embittered.
His dyslexia would give him perspective, frustrating him at times, but widen his
horizon to understand the suffering of others. Like the saying goes; bamboo is strong
for it bends in the whipping wind where an oak may crack in a strong storm.So, in Girls’ Night Out the heroine, Cory
McLemore, is young and struggling to find her footing away from her over-protective
family when she encounters a man who seems to have the world by the tail. Brett
Gold, an NFL tight end isn’t the persona that he and the pro ball profession projects.
This is part sports romance and Western, and like any creature who bucks, there’s
a time for a heavy hand and there’s a time for giving some space, and that’s what
Brett does for Cory. There is spanking as this is an erotic romance and is utilized
by Brett with Cory in establishing structure. Yet Brett is more than the typical
alpha, he understands his lover’s need to find her authentic self where she requires
his support to allow her the opportunity to stretch her wings.In writing the strong, capable hero,
a flaw of a disability such as learning difference can humanize someone who otherwise
might come off more like a God than a good guy, sweet enough to bring home to meet
mom and dad.Namaste.Buy This Book
Girls’ Night Out ~ A Bad Boys novel (Book 4)Books Coming Soon
In Sweetest Curse, another type of disability is addressed: Undine’s
Curse. Stay tuned for that release coming in March 2014.Double Trouble ~ A Bad Boys novel (Book 5) March 2014 ReleaseLearning Disabilities
For more information on learning disabilities, please visit The
National Center for Learning Disabilities http://ncld.orgAuthor Social Media
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Yoga of Writing @romancebysusan #RLFblog
Romance Lives Forever welcomes author
Susan D Taylor to the blog for an article about writers and writing.– – –The Yoga of Writing, by Susan D. Taylor
The yoga of anything, to me, means the place to find steady endurance.
A place to be grounded and move effortlessly. That is one of the primary definitions
of yoga. The Sanskrit root for yoga means to yoke or bind. Minds out of the BDSM
red room. LOL. Yoga is an encompassing way of life used to ground the restless mind
while centering the “self” within the body. In this way it is possible to move beyond
focusing on the issues plaguing the physical, intellectual, and emotional self.
To be ultimately free.So then what is the yoga of writing? My interpretation is a place
to find the ability to write without hindrances. For some people that place might
be a physical location. Office, desk, laptop. For others it’s a state a mind: peaceful,
exhilarating, motivated. Or this yogic state is as simple as a quality within the
atmosphere.For me, the yoga of writing is all of those and none. The yoking
I experience from writing is the very grounding of my mind when I’m prepared and
able to find creative release. The release experienced in a yoga class, a yoga mat,
or a yogic moment, are the same. A small “aha” or something of an epiphany in understanding.
In writing it is the moment of transcending one realm beyond the chair where I find
the ability to be free to create the movement in a story or simply a sentence that
resonates. Those moments for me do not last long. The human experience, my skill
level, what’s going on in life impact the occurrence, and breath of creativity.
But if I am aware of what I need to get there, it is possible to find my way back.For some writers, blocks occur and it is discovering how to get
around these walls or veils. Learning to let go, I accept maybe not today. I am
free to simply be. The more we push or pull, Newton’s laws may be invisible and in affect.
For every action… We must be careful to create open spaces in our lives where our
judgments are left at the door and we are permitted entrance without regard for
what we produce or not.The yoga of writing is more acceptance than anything else. Learning
to find and own who I am at this moment so that it is possible to show up again
and again. The steady grace of coming back each day, and willingness to start again
whether it be sitting at a desk, walking with my dogs, or on the mat.Namaste.Favorite quote:
“Sexy is a strange thing. I’m not sure it has to do with sex.
Sexy has to do with not knowing what’s coming next. It’s unpredictability.”
― Christopher WalkenSusan Azpillaga-Taylor,RYT 200 Yoga AllianceAuthor of Secret Desire
Amazon http://amzn.com/B00B9126F6/Find Me Here
