Some days I feel like I can accomplish just about anything.
I have a steady flow of ideas and I can write for hours. Other days it’s hard
to complete a single sentence. Since consistency is a main ingredient in
finishing a story, those days when I don’t feel like writing are frustrating to
say the least.
Everyone has their own way of getting through those low
periods and I thought I’d share mine and ask what others do when they’re in the
same situation.
If I have a day when it’s actual writer’s block that’s
stopping me from working, I’ve found that putting aside my current story and
writing something else helps. If I write whatever catches my interest at the
moment, it gets my creative juices flowing.
Sometimes the ideas are there, but I have something else on
my mind or I’m just feeling down. When that happens I tend to get lazy and
would rather hang around than get work done. One thing that almost always gets
me out of that state of mind is exercise. For me daily exercise makes me feel
energized but also relaxed and helps me focus on work. Sometimes a little extra
exercise, even for a short time, is all I need to lift my spirits so I can get
back to work.
There are times when the desire to work isn’t the problem,
but I’m stuck at a certain plot point. I can write, rewrite and turn over
dozens of ideas, but nothing seems to work. In that situation, I try to find
something that relaxes me. On thing that almost never fails to clear up any
problem I’m having with a scene is to take a warm shower. It might sound crazy,
but it seems like as soon as I’m in the shower, ideas start flowing. The
biggest problem is trying to write down all the scenes in my head while I’m
dripping wet.
What are some of your favorite ways to relax and get
focused? Do any specific activities help stimulate your creativity?
About Kate
Kate Hill is a vegetarian New Englander who loves writing
romantic fantasies. When she's not working on her books, Kate enjoys reading,
working out, and researching vampires and Viking history. You can visit her online at http://www.kate-hill.com
Coming in August 2012
Alaskan Flame
by Kate Hill
From Changeling Press
Blurb:
The son of a sex
demon and a fallen angel, Oliver struggles to keep his libido under control
while on duty as a shadowing angel in the wilderness of Alaska. He needs help
and it arrives in the form of a sexy, no-nonsense former demon.
Henrie, a shadowing
angel with experience, is the perfect woman to assist a man desperate to regain
his self-control. What she discovers is he actually needs to cut loose,
especially on the evil forces that are secretly plotting to destroy him.
The following excerpt from
ALASKAN FLAME is for readers 18 and over.
Henrie awoke with an
uneasy feeling. Her muscles tightened and she sat up quickly.
Oliver stood near
the dresser, searching through her open travel bag.
He held up a red
lace bra and sniffed it. "Interesting."
"What the hell
are you doing?" she demanded, springing out of bed, not caring that she
might as well have been naked. Her snug T-shirt, the material so thin it was
see-through, and tiny boy shorts offered little coverage.
His smoldering gaze
swept her. "I didn't think you'd mind if I looked through your things--not
after you helped yourself to mine."
If she hadn't been
so furious, she'd have been taken aback.
He tossed the bra
aside and continued his search. He pulled out specially made handcuffs that
were strong enough to restrain most demons.
He smiled. "Are
these for business or pleasure?"
"None of your
damn business."
He tugged her red
and black flogger out of the bag. "Even more interesting."
"Get your claws
off my stuff!" Henrie picked up the bra and several other items he'd
carelessly discarded and shoved them back into the bag. She grasped the flogger
and tried to take it from him, but he refused to let it go. Glaring at him, she
said, "Drop it. You have no business looking in my bag."
"But you can
search my closet and that's no problem?"
"What makes you
think--"
"Give me some
credit." He scoffed.
"That's not the
point. Give me my flogger."
"Maybe you'd
prefer a spanking." His eyes glistened and he pulled the flogger away and
wrapped the leather tails around his fist.
"I don't take
'em. I give 'em. And if you don't return my property, I will whip your
ass."
His smile broadened.
"Promise?"
"If you're in
the mood for games, maybe your issues out here aren't so big after all. If
Rutendo finds out you bothered him and me because you're just a lonely
little boy, he won't be too happy."
"Oh
please." He raised his eyes to heaven. "You're actually threatening
to tell daddy."
Despite his bravado
he tossed the flogger to her.
She caught it,
stepped closer and placed the handle under his chin. Curling her lip, she said,
"We both know Rutendo isn't your daddy. How about telling me the name of
the angel who is?"
The rage in his eyes
nearly took her aback, but she stood her ground, waiting for him to answer.
"My parentage
is none of your business."
"Since it's the
only thing Rutendo told me about you, I'd say it's important to my assignment
here. That makes it my business."
"Apparently
Rutendo has already told you everything you need to know."
"You act like a
child and I'm not the maternal type. If you do one more thing to piss me off,
I'm out of here, got it?"
"Go on then. I
asked Rutendo for help, not hindrance."
"Hind. .
.whether I leave or not I'm going to have to kick your ass."
Maybe it was too
many months of being good, but she hadn't felt this kind of passion in. . .
Too long.
By his scent and the
look in his eyes, he was just as aroused. Or annoyed. Or an intriguing
combination of both.
Watch it. He's
half sex demon.
And she'd dealt with
many of his kind before. After all, hadn't Rutendo said Oliver could benefit
from her brand of discipline?
"Kiss my
ass?" he said with feigned innocence.
"Kick
your ass!"
Leaning so close
that the tip of his nose touched hers, he said, "Either one sounds
fun."
That was all Henrie
could take. Grasping her flogger, she shifted to her winged form and shoved
Oliver so hard in the chest that he stepped back, hit the bed and flopped onto
his back.
She raised the
flogger and as it fell, he grasped it, the tendrils wrapping around his arm. At
that moment he shifted to his winged form and tugged her on top of him. In a
blink he pinned her beneath him on the bed. He was lean but rock-hard and his
body as hot as the flames of hell.
Both furious and
aroused, Henri snapped her sharp teeth at his throat--more a warning than a
bite intended to do real harm. He jerked back before her fangs actually reached
his flesh.
"Was that a
love bite, Henrie?" he purred, his blue eyes blazing.
"Who could love
you?"
"Okay, who
cares about love. How about a fuck?"
She was tempted to
say yes.
"You want it. I
can smell it." He dipped his head toward her breasts and inhaled. Then he
held her gaze again. "I can see it. Like I said before. You're full of
hellfire. We might be shadowing angels, but some things can't ever be driven
out of us no matter how hard we try."
"You're
right," she said, her voice just above a whisper.
His lashes lowered
over his eyes and he dipped his head toward hers. Just before he kissed her,
she shifted her weight and managed to push him off her.
She stood, avoiding
his grasp.
"This isn't
right," she said, her heart pounding. She paced the room, glancing at the
half naked hunk sprawled across her bed. He raised himself on his elbows, the
motion tightening the muscles in his sleek stomach. His long legs parted and
the muscles in his thighs, not to mention his bulging crotch, strained against
his black trousers. His long fingers rested over the flogger and his intense
blue eyes followed her every motion.
"Just because
it isn't right doesn't necessarily make it wrong," he said.
"Oh that's just
great. A little demonic philosophy."
"I'm not a
demon anymore."
"Neither am
I," she said fiercely, because at the moment she felt more demonic than
she had in years.
"Denial is an
ugly thing, isn't it?"
"From what I
found in your closet, I'm guessing you don't abstain much."
He grinned and rose
swiftly, pointing at her with a long finger. "So you did search my
stuff."
"Okay I
apologize. Rutendo didn't tell me much about you so I needed to find out."
"You could have
asked."
"And given you
the chance to lie?"
"Are you always
this much of a skeptic?"
"Show me a
shadowing angel who isn't."
He shrugged.
"You've got me there. Is that men's cologne you're wearing?"
"Yeah,
why?" She liked wearing men's fragrance. It made her feel sexy. Powerful.
His eyes gleamed
with lust and he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Come here." His
mouth descended on hers.
Henrie had seen the
kiss coming. She could have rejected him again. Something told her he wouldn't
push the issue. However she wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her.
She parted her lips
and her tongue met his thrust for thrust. Closing her eyes, she moaned softly
and trailed her long, sharp nails up his back, knowing that she left marks.
Was this sin? No,
there were far worse things than a pair of shadowing angels letting off
proverbial steam.
He broke the kiss
and stepped back just enough to hold the flogger between them. "Are you
really any good with this?"
Her hand closed over
his around the handle. Their gazes locked and she leaned nearer to speak
against his lips. "You have no idea."
