Mercy

Dog Days of Summer

7/31/16

Mercy

Merci beaucoup. You know things are bad when you’re saying “thanks” when it finally comes time for lights out. Arguably the most violent, possibly the most demented, Mercy has been many things – from alligator-hunter to outlaw enforcer – but his favorite title is that of husband. He loves being his girl’s “darling monster,” and he loves being “Daddy.” A great big mess of contradictions, Heathcliff-inspired Mercy remains a personal favorite, who is never less than a joy to write.

 

Maggie

Kadee Strickland is my headcast for Maggie

Dog Days of Summer

7/30/16

Maggie

The undisputed queen of the Lean Dogs, Maggie Teague knows how to hold her liquor, her babies, and her man. Outsiders may think her cool authority is her strong suit, but really, it’s her generosity, and her uncanny ability to read people.

 

Ghost

Dog Days of Summer

 

7/29/16

Ghost

Some love him, some hate him, and we can all agree that his parenting skills pretty much suck. It’s no easy feat serving as president of a massive outlaw organization, but Kenny Teague is undoubtedly the man for the job. Readers like to call all the boys “alphas,” but to my mind, there’s only one alpha male in this jungle, and that’s Ghost.

 

Dog Days of Summer

I don't know what it's like where all of you are, but here in Georgia it's hot as hell, and dry as bone. We are deep in the middle of the dog days of summer, and I thought what better time to indulge my inner nerd and celebrate the Dartmoor crew as we begin the slow countdown to Loverboy?

Tomorrow kicks off a two-week BTS blog event, the Dog Days of Summer. (Get it?? Yeah, I know.) Super geek that I am, I love behind the scenes info, and I wanted to provide you guys with a deeper look into the backstories, research, and writer decision-making that goes into our Lean Dogs crew. There will be a new post daily, including character profiles, my unspoken head canons, research notes, and goodies from the cutting room floor. Consider this your insiders' guide.

It starts tomorrow, right here on the blog, with links posting on FB and Twitter. Be on the lookout for more giveaways!  

Some Cool Things

Dear Comic Con, thank you for filling my weekend with cool, fun, exciting things to look forward to, when the headlines lately are depressing as all hell. My favorite treatment for anxiety is kickass fiction.

Some cool things I'm looking forward to in no particular order:

Sherlock Season 4 (see above trailer)

Luke Cage Season 1

Defenders Teaser

Guardians 2 and Doctor Strange news

Daredevil Season 3 Teaser!!!

#FicPromptFriday: 7/22/16 - Waterlogged

*It rained yesterday – yay! And for the moment, the grass is a little greener; maybe my crispy pastures can get some relief. So blame the weather on the background theme of today’s futuristic continuation. Happy Friday.*

7/22/16 – Waterlogged

It started to rain late in the afternoon. Thick storm clouds stacked up to the west and scudded in, too full to do more than sit and let the wind push them over Knoxville. They carried only rain, though, and nothing dangerous, and water fell in relentless sheets past the windows.

#FicPromptFriday - Girls' Day Out

Today's prompt came from Irene via Twitter. She wanted more Ben, so I hope this works.

Spoilers for my book Whatever Remains, which turns 3 years old in just a few days! Goodness. It's one of my personal faves, so if you haven't checked it out, here's the link. And if you have checked it out, I always appreciate Amazon reviews!

7/15/16 – Girls’ Day Out

The single saddest day of Ben Haley’s life was the day his oldest started calling him “Dad” instead of “Daddy.” Not that he would admit that. Homicide detectives should probably have sadder memories in the bank.

        “Dad,” Clara said, holding up the purple, black, and white-striped leadline she’d picked out. “I want this one.”

        He gave her The Eyebrow.        

        “May I please have it?” she amended.

The Tango Aesthetic

Listening to this song and styling Tango.

The thing about Tango is that he's worn two hats that aren't his in his life: Loverboy from The Cuckoo's Nest, and Tango the Lean Dog. He hasn't had a whole lot of time to examine the Kev underneath, and that, well, it's coming to a head now.

He wishes desperately that he wasn't "pretty." He's convinced himself none of this would have happened if he'd been an unattractive kid. And he's self-conscious, still, hence all the piercings, and haircuts, and tats. Trying to cover up the kid who was taken and used for his physical appearance.

Workshop Wednesday - The Challenge

Today's WW advice is: don't do what I'm doing. Don't set out to write some complicated, convoluted book about damaged boys and their damaging relationships. Just don't. Save yourself the headache. Save yourself the hours of debating, deleting, and fingernail-biting. Seriously, don't write yourself a Loverboy. Just. Don't.

Okay, that's not really my advice. My advice is something that I hope, by the end of this, proves true, and not just something I keep telling myself. On the days when my internal monologue is one continuous strain of ugh, I stop and think to myself, This is frustrating because it's difficult. It's a challenge. And challenging work is probably worthwhile work. It's scary because it isn't a safe bet story. There's no guarantee anyone will connect with the characters' struggles. There's no guarantee the unreliable narrators will come across as sympathetic and sad, rather than just pathetic. This book is a minefield of quietly horrifying moments, and I spend a lot of time reading back through those scenes, wondering if they'll be read as intended, if they have the proper punch.

So on the flipside of all the ugh, I try to find some self-awareness and think about the fact that on the other side of this, when it's done, I'll know so much more about myself as a writer. Growth isn't easy and under the radar. Growth is awkward and painful and stressful.

So today's message is this: challenge yourself. Staying stagnant, doing the same thing over and over, using tested formulas again and again is comfortable, peaceful, and safe. It also prevents you from growing as an artist. I chafe beneath the MC tropes that keep getting slapped onto my stories, and with each book going forward, I try to push against them in a different way. From monsters with silver tongues and sweet sides, to heroines with conceal carry permits who don't need saving, I always want to push that envelope and bring something unique to each volume in the saga. This is my most challenging book ever, and it's frustrating, sure...but that doesn't mean it isn't worth it. Don't shy from the challenges just because they'll give you headaches and backaches. The artist in you wants to grow: let it.

The Whitney Aesthetic

Currently listening to Sara Bareilles and styling for Whitney.

"No, no I don't want the next best thing."

Whitney is one of those characters with a gift for seeing past people's barriers and looking straight into who they really are on the inside. It would be easy to write her off as naïve - especially given her age - but her brother was killed by his dealers, so...she knows a few things about how dark the world is. That doesn't stop her from feeling things deeply, though. Far from numb, she maybe cares a little too much. And when it comes to Tango, she isn't blinded by his good deeds; she sees that under the biker façade, he is a desperate, scared, deeply damaged little boy in great need of unconditional love. She wants to be his crusader, and her relative innocence is a bright, warm source of comfort for Tango, who feels like he can trust her reactions, since she's never been made to put on a show.

She doesn't really fit into this Dartmoor world. A little too sweet, a little too preppy and genuine, maybe. She likes making breakfast, and she's a midnight painter, and she doesn't like her cubicle job, but likes spending time with her coworkers in the break room.

For some couples, shared experiences are so important. But in this case, Tango needs a lifeline. Whitney isn't thrilling, and not even all that complex, but she's good. And sometimes we need the reminder that there's nothing wrong with just being a good person.

#FicPromptFriday - 7/8/16 – Juliet

More of the future prompt nobody asked for! Largely unedited, so apologies for typos.

7/8/16 – Juliet

When she was a little girl, Lucy knew many things about her father. She knew that he liked to sit quietly and read books on Sunday afternoons; he would pull her up into his lap and she’d doze off in the sunshine, listening to his heart beat through his shirt, and the soft rustle of the pages turning. She knew that he thought Mama’s cooking was the best; his favorite was the lemon chicken, and he said that was the first thing Mama had ever cooked for him when they met. She knew he was a Lean Dog; she liked to trace the shape of the running dog on the back of his cut with her fingers. She knew he was really good at building things with Legos, and that he could make her a dollhouse without a starter kit, and that he always smelled like leather and nighttime when he kissed her good night, and tucked the blankets up under her chin.

Back on Track

I am officially SICK of being sick. June has been a month of endless bugs, back to back, because I have a horrible immune system, and once it's down, all the germs like to pile on, and just...ugh. I spent most of the weekend resting, trying not to pass out, taking lots of vitamins, drinking lots of fluids, and also reading. I also managed to make it to the movies - the 4th is not just Independence Day in my family, but also my dad's birthday, so we took him to see, appropriately, Independence Day Resurgence. We all saw the first one together in theaters 20 years ago (20 years ago!!!! Oh my God!!) and it totally holds up, I think. It was fun.

Being sick and having so much time to read has led to this overflow of creative ideas. And even if I've physically felt like crap, the break has been a good time to reread some of my work, and think about what I want to accomplish with my three WIPs. Yes, three, because I'm a glutton for punishment. You know about Loverboy, and now Dear Heart. The third is as-of-yet untitled, and it's the one I'm most excited about. I would LOVE to have it out before the end of the year. Fingers crossed for that.

The thing about my standalones is...I know there are people who don't want me to work on them. I know it's more Dartmoor that's in demand. I get that. But the other thing about my standalones is...I need them.

Fearless (followed closely by Angels) will always be my favorite Dartmoor book because it felt like channeling something outside myself. I wrote in a frenzied, completely unselfconscious sequence of marathons that inevitably mark my best work. When I write from a place of dampened inspiration, head full of business noise, second-and-triple-guessing each word, the writing suffers. Always. All those people who cry about Fearless being too long - that doesn't touch me. Because Fearless was some of my most inspired work ever.

And that's what's happening with my two standalones. The channeling, the frenzy. The sheer exuberance of reading back over the last few paragraphs and picking up where they left off. They feel raw, and fresh, and almost dangerous, the way the words are just waiting there, ready for my fingers to strike the keys.

I'm going to keep writing Dartmoor - Devin's Green brood needs so much more air time, and Ghost and Mags have something hilarious in their near future. But one thing I've never wanted was to be pigeonholed. I realized about a month ago that I was denying myself by holding off on writing some of the things I wanted to, and that isn't good for the creative side (whole) of my brain. I'm so grateful for the attention Dartmoor has received, but I wrote quite a few books before the biker boys came along, and there will be lots more books in addition to them. There are so many places I want to go with my fiction, so many themes I want to explore, so many characters quietly waiting their turn. So I really hope my Dartmoor readers will be open-minded and try some of the other novels I have in the works. And I really hope I can stay healthy enough to write the damn things.

Happy belated 4th, everyone.