Stephanie Cage - Writer

I feel I should be posting a countdown... 'Three, two, one, we have lift off.'  Yes, it's just one day to go until 'Perfect Partners' hits Kindles, e-readers and even i-phones (in fact, anywhere you can install the lovely easy-to-use Kindle app).  Lucky me, I got to celebrate today with a fabulous review from The Book Lovers .  If you don't know this blog, I thoroughly recommend it - there's a great range of books covered, and the reviews are very comprehensive so it's easy to tell if the stories are your cup of tea or not.  I was SO happy with this review of 'Perfect Partners' - if you read it, I'm sure you'll see why.  The reviewer completely understood what I was trying to achieve with the book, and she really captures the flavour of the story - "all the glitz and glamour of the dancing world and the chemistry that poured off Lisa and Red".  Yes, yes, YES! 

Thanks to Maureen Wood , I just discovered squidoo's Reading Meme.  A chance to chat about books and reading?  How could I resist?  There are some really interesting questions for bloggers and others to answer.  If you'd like to play, just visit the site here and grab a copy. What have you just read? Carol Marinelli's 'Banished to the Harem', one of Mills and Boon's more dramatic sheik stories, as the heroine nearly becomes part of the hero's harem!  Although it's loaded with stereotypes, I was fascinated by the interplay of the two cultures.  What are you reading now? I've just started P.D.James' 'Death Comes to Pemberley'.  I love the concept of bringing together crime and high romance, and since I enjoyed 'Pride and Prejudice with Zombies', I think I'll have fun with this one too. Do you have any idea what you'll read when you're done with that? I have a fairly extensive to-read pile, both physical and on...

It's been an age since I posted my favourite writing resources, and as several more have entered the charts since then, it seems like a good time to revisit the collection and see what's changed.  Not surprisingly, there's still a core of old favourites which I've recommended before and probably will again.  These include: The Writer's Journey, by Christopher Vogler Story, by Robert McKee Kate Walker's Twelve Point Guide to Writing Romance Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maas.  Then there are the inspirational delights of: The Writer's Idea Book, by Jack Heffron Writing down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg The Right to Write, by Julia Cameron The latest book to enter my writer's to-read pile, courtesy of a writer's group friend, is Memo from the Story Department, by Christopher Vogler (of Writer's Journey fame) and David McKenna.  Although somewhat piecemeal, I suspect that once I start putting what I've read into practice,...

Have you ever suddenly and unexpectedly found yourself reading a sequence of books on the same theme? I don't mean when you deliberately seek out books on a topic that interests you, but when you pick up a book to read and find yourself thinking, on page 3 or page 30, 'Well, hang on, haven't I been somewhere like this before?' The first time I can remember it happening was with a spate of books about book clubs a few years ago, and all three books had been published at around the same time. This time it was more unexpected, as not all the books are recent, although I suppose the topic is one of perennial interest. It started with Toby Young's How to Lose Friends and Alienate People , which I picked up because the title intrigued me, echoing as it does Dale Carnegie's famous self-help book. I enjoyed the glamorous setting and ironic humour for a few chapters, but soon found myself losing sympathy with the main character (or with the author - it's hard to ...