July 2011

I've run out of BABIES IN THE BOARDROOM Books to talk about in this ezine. Typically, we wouldn't have any more ezines until my next book was out in November. But we're doing so well with the POWER OF QUESTIONS workshop (only 4 more lessons) that I thought we should keep going with ezines. Surely, we can wing it with things to talk about for four issues? This way you will get the rest of the workshop in the next four months.

Okay, so what do we talk about? Well, I started a new duet for Harlequin Romance that will be out next year. I also signed a contract for a Continuity Series that will be out next year. Not sure who all the authors are who signed on for this, but I do know Melissa McClone and Myrna MacKenzie are among them.

Next month, as you will see in Coming Attractions, I'm giving JOURNEY STEPS for NEORWA (http://www.neorwa.com/index.php/Workshops/Workshops). Info is below. If you're one of my writer fans, that's one of my best workshops on plotting.

But I think my most fun venture this year has been to write short stories that accompany the Andreas Brothers Series. I called these Happily Ever Afters because they happen happily after the series ends. Thirty years to be precise.

Why did I go and do something like that? Well, I wanted to show you that the Andreas Brothers' marriages lasted. And 30 years certainly proves that. LOL. But also, I wanted to have the chance to write about the romances of the BABIES from the Babies in the Boardroom.

You know, this is a wonderful time in history to be a writer. With the Internet, and my own website, I can pretty much write what I want to write and post it somewhere. (Laughing again.) But that also means I can let my creativity sort of roam and ramble. I won't get paid for these, unless I decide to put them up on Amazon and B&N and Smashwords. So while they're free on my website they are a gift to my fans.

Also, some fans wanted me to actually write about Darius, Nick and Cade ten years into the future, which might have been fun, but I simply itched to write the stories of the Babies in the Boardroom.

Especially Gino's story. Now, imagine this: You're filthy rich because your dad left you one-sixth of a shipping conglomerate. The rest is owned by your half-brothers. The only problem is your half brothers are thirty years older than you are. And one of them raised you as his son.

From the time he was in diapers, Gino has been groomed to take over the family's shipping empire. Oh, he's had his fun. The kid was raised in the lap of luxury. His "main home" is in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the world. He has a half-brother who owns oil companies and a ranch. He has another half brother who lives on the beach in North Carolina. He's been all over the world. Had every kind of fun you can imagine from yachts to gambling. He's got looks and money and will soon have power.

So what would this kid be like at thirty? And who would he marry?

Those questions tickled my fancy enough to write something I wouldn't get paid for! That's curosity!

So to keep with our format, I've posted an excerpt from GINO MEETS HIS MATCH below. You can simply click the link to get to the actual story on my website. Lesson 5 from the POWER OF QUESTIONS is next up in the ezine. The COMING ATTRACTIONS section lists more info about JOURNEY STEPS and PREPPING FOR NANO. There's a Cat Tail. And I decided to go back in time and give you an excerpt from one of my older titles. Still a Harlequin Romance. I don't think my old Silhouette Romance back list has been digitized yet. So we'll stick with the HR's.

So happy July! I hope you have a vacation planned or at least a fun Fourth of July party. Me? I'm slaving away, working on the first book in what I'm calling my MONTGOMERY MOGULS duet. (But my family's having a 3rd of July party, I'm going to an amusement park on the 4th and there may be a beach adventure at the end of the month...good stuff for me!)

Enjoy lesson 5 and GINO MEETS HIS MATCH.

See you in August.

susan

FOR THE WRITERS AMONG US

THE POWER OF QUESTIONS Lesson 5

Lesson 5: The ‘other’ side of questions…Using questions to get you out of trouble.

We’ve gone over core story question and reader question and scene questions that keep your action/reaction/decision train going. So now we’re going to talk about the other side of questions. Using them to make your work better. Your plots sharper, tighter. Your characters’ goals, motivations and conflicts fresh and unique.

But before I say a word, we're going to do an experiment. Right now, everybody get out a piece of paper and a pen and write down twenty reasons a father would NOT go looking for his beloved daughter when she runs away.

You have one minute. Write as many reasons as you can. Stop at twenty or when the time runs out. Go. (I’ll hum the Jeopardy music twice while you write.)

Okay…if you’re reading this that means you are done with the exercise. If you didn’t do it, stop now, give yourself a minute and do it! Seriously, you’ll be glad you did! Take one minute and try to write out twenty answers to that question.

If you did the exercise, I now want you to take the bottom or back of that sheet and write down twenty reasons why a FATHER would NOT GO AFTER his PREGNANT DAUGHTER when she runs away from home.

One minute.
Jeopardy music.
Jeopardy music.

Time.

Okay, sorry, but one more time, somewhere on that sheet write 20 reasons why a KING would NOT go after his PRINCESS DAUGHTER who is PREGANT WITH THE NEXT HEIR TO HIS COUNTRY’S THRONE when she runs away.

One minute. Jeopardy music. Jeopardy music. Time.

Right about now, you should notice you have 3 similar lists, but each list became more specific as the question became more specific.

What we just did is the list of twenty. Decades ago Andrew Carnegie commissioned an "efficiency expert" to spend some time with him. He told the man (Ira something…sorry…most important guy in the story and I can't remember his name…) Anyway, Carnegie told Ira, if at the end of the time they spent together he could give Carnegie 1 idea that revolutionized his life he would pay him a million dollars. (A tidy sum at the time.) Ira said, you're on.

They spent the time together (either a week or a month) and at the end of it, Carnegie said, Well, what's your suggestion to revolutionize my life and Ira said, "Every time you have a problem, rather than coming up with a solution, trying it, possibly failing, spending time to come up with another potential solution and trying again, and potentially failing again, and taking time to think of a third potential solution, trying it and again potentially failing, and again spending time to come up with another solution…Write your problem on the top of a piece of paper and write out twenty potential solutions to the problem. Don't stop. Don't say hey this one is the right one. Don't monitor. Write everything from the ridiculous to the sublime. Keep going until you have twenty. Then….choose the BEST ANSWER and try that one."

Ira didn't merely make this recommendation because he wanted Carnegie to sift through all the possibilities in order to come up with the "right" idea, so he and his team would make fewer mistakes. Ira wanted Carnegie and his people to push themselves beyond one potential solution and even ten potential solutions so that they would release their creative energy and come up with some revolutionary ideas. Things they might not have thought of with the trial and error method. (Because by then frustration would have set in!)

I heard this story on a tape by motivational speaker Brian Tracy (tapes available through Nightengale Conant). Tracy explained that using this system to find solutions to your problems will revolutionize your job not just because you come up with the right idea or even something you might not have thought of; but also because it shows you wonderful things…like how doing the opposite of what you're doing now might be the answer.

But, if you’ve been paying attention, you also have probably noticed that for this system to be really successful, you must come up with a great question.

Remember those three lists we made? Each time we refined the question our answers got a bit more specific.

And that's the real power of the list of 20.

Not only did the very specific question "control" the answers that we got so that we weren’t all over the board; but also the very specific questions got us very specific answers.

The broad and general list-of-20 question is okay when you're working on your synopsis, but you need a more specific question when you have a specific problem you must solve for your story to work.

Let's take another look at the 3 lists you wrote when this lesson started.

In the first list…why wouldn't a dad go after his daughter when she runs away? You probably had reasons like…He didn't know she'd run away. You may have said, she lied and told him she was with a friend for the weekend to give herself a head start.

On the second list…The one that answers the question why doesn’t a dad go after his PREGNANT daughter when she runs away…You may have had answers like: She's an adult. She had a right to "run away" if she wanted. Because the word pregnant changed your perception of who the "runaway" was. You may have said: He didn't go after her because he assumed she was running to the baby's father. (Intimating that the dad believed that was where she belonged.) Which, again, potentially changed something big for the story.

But in the last question when I said, why wouldn't a king go after his daughter who is pregnant with the next heir to the throne… then we not only had a more defined story, we also had a more difficult time coming up with answers.

We had boundaries. Our answers had to fit.

That doesn't seem like fun. Having the sky as the limit is a lot easier. But typically the sky isn't the limit. The more specific the question, the more specific the answer and the more often that answer will work!

I actually did this a few years ago when my editor called and told me my book was going to print, but she’d found a hole in the plot and I had 24 hours to solve it. Oh, and the answer couldn’t be more than one sentence.

Yikes!

After working with two vague questions, I made the question very specific and in 8 tries, I answered my question. Not merely satisfactorily, but with something that was smooth and efficient. Something most readers would read and believe without the blink of an eye!

The gist of the story in PRINCE BABY is that a pregnant princess ran away from her father, the king of a small island county. She ran away to see the man who had gotten her pregnant because she didn't feel it was fair that he didn’t know he was about to be a father. When she gets to the hero’s house, she goes into labor and the hero delivers the baby. But she can’t travel across the Atlantic for a few weeks, so he persuades her to live with him (with the baby) until she’s able to travel. And, of course, they fall in love. (I do write romance! LOL)

When I turned in the completed manuscript, my editor was thrilled with the book, but a few weeks later she made that phone call telling me that she kept stumbling over why the princess’s dad doesn't follow her. I mean, after all, she's pregnant with the country's next heir. He might not be able to stop her from running, but why wouldn't he run after her? Would a king really let his daughter stay in America with the peasant who got her pregnant?

It was a problem! And all I had room for was about 2 sentences of explanation. One sentence would work better … So after two tries with vague questions that didn’t net me any results I did a third list.

With a better question…

Why would a king let his daughter who is pregnant with the heir to his country's throne leave the country AND not go after her for the six weeks she needs to fall in love with the hero?

It’s a cumbersome, weird question I know, but note that it took in lots of background information, in order to get and keep my brain going in the right direction! The question had to take in a lot of information because the answer had to "fit" certain circumstances. Which means that the more "tightly" your answer has to fit, the more specific your question has to be.

So how did my list turn out?

My answers were something like this:

She sneaks out of the country and the king can't find her.
He doesn't know she's gone.
He's afraid if he chases her to the United States the press will discover the future king was conceived out of wedlock and his PR people won't have time to "spin" it. (NOTE: This one is good, but not quite complete. It frustrated me…so I walked away, glanced at the newspaper and saw Bono doing something and voila…number four was born.)
The king can't chase his daughter because he's touring with U-2.
He's at Michael Jackson's trial. (Still reading the paper…)
He's a juror.
He's somewhere that he can't leave.
He's the head of his country…so when parliament is in session, he must be there! And if he leaves mid-session, the press will know something is horribly wrong and they will discover the future king was born out of wedlock and his PR people won't be able to spin it!

Notice how walking away and reading the newspaper really shifted my thoughts, but also notice how shifting my thoughts in another direction ultimately ended up uncovering the key I was missing for my story!

I combined #3 and #8 and came up with something that I could say in one sentence. I didn't even need the two sentences I was allowed…LOL.

But -- just as an aside here. Notice how the power of the ridiculous came to my aid. Walking away and reading the paper jumpstarted my brain, but the ridiculous answer I created was what really got me going in the right direction. Touring with U-2 wouldn't work in a million years. I also couldn't use "The king was at the Michael Jackson trial," but both of those led me to number 7…He's somewhere that he can't leave. And that led me to number 8.

(As another aside…I don't generally stop at 8. If I hadn't been on deadline I would have gone on and I might have come up with a better answer.)

So that's a quick and dirty explanation of the List of 20. Really a remarkable tool. Next month, Lesson 6 goes into a detailed explanation of how to use this tool to help in all aspects of your writing process from synopsis to problem solving. So come back next month!

For your homework? Using your current work in progress, create a question for a problem that’s bedeviling you.

susan

COMING ATTRACTIONS

August

Journey Steps. NEORWA
http://www.neorwa.com/index.php/Workshops/Workshops

Journey Steps, Taking the Train to Somewhere Ever wonder what you’re supposed to “put” in between those four or five turning points of your story? Susan Meier’s Journey Steps, Taking the Train to Somewhere provides quick, easy solutions for any author who has ever wondered “now what?” Topics include the “magic formula” for plotting, the list of five, explanation of plot threads versus subplot and tricks for writing an “edge-of-the-seat” read. Learn to tell your story in one straight-forward paragraph that can be used for pitches! Beginners, intermediate and experienced authors will benefit from this workshop.


Coming in October PREPARING FOR NANO at Pennwriters.com

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Everybody believes NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, which runs every November at www.nanowrimo.org) is a race against the clock, a fight with procrastination and inertia. In some ways it is. But once you’re in the thick of things, you’ll discover NaNo is really all about ideas. Writers don’t stall because they’re lazy. Writers stall because they don’t know what to write next.

The month BEFORE NaNo, get proven tips from Susan Meier—the author of almost 50 books for Harlequin and Silhouette—and let her take you through several different ways to examine the story you want to write, to capture the natural scene possibilities within your idea, to generate new ideas, and to push yourself through the most grueling, but fun, month you will spend this year! Lessons include:


* The List of 20 (How to generate ideas quickly so you have little downtime when your natural ideas run out)

* Turning a “Want” into “Need” (How does knowing why you’re writing this book provide you with both energy to write and ideas for your story?)

* The One-Paragraph Story Summary (Say it succinctly…3 kinds of one-paragraph story summaries: back cover blurb, core story question, and growth paragraph)

* Could, Might, Must and Should List (How to capture ideas that spring up naturally)

* Storyboard Versus Synopsis (Breaking your idea down into manageable bites)

* The Psychology of Pushing through the Hard Times (What to do when you get stuck)

* The Psychology of a Draft (Push, push, push!)

* What Are You Doing in December? (Editing tips)


TESTIMONIALS:

“I was bowled over by how helpful it was. Susan was ever patient and ready to offer feedback and encouragement. The course material was broken down so that it was easy to understand but it pushed me to dig deeper and really understand my story. I would not hesitate to recommend this course in the future or any course with Susan Meier.”

- SGM

Fantasy writer

“Susan Meier generously shares her knowledge and shapes it to fit your needs. She is enthusiastic and encouraging. This course helped me to fill in the gaps, taking my plot from mundane to magnificent! Thanks, Susan!”

- JBS


Cat Tails

So what are Sophia and Fluffy up to this summer?

Interestly, my daughter Sarah moved into her own apartment this year! Yay! (I think she was getting sick of us.) Because her roomie already has two cats, she left Fluffy behind. This was fine with us, but we worried about Fat Fluff because he adores Sarah. But surprisingly he hasn't been half bad. In fact, without Sarah around he's amazingly social. Every night we now have what my DH and I like to refer to as the Every Night Fight. Fluffy comes downstairs, swats Sophie across the head and the fight is on.

I read somewhere that cats see fighting with their companions as exercise. Well, Fat Fluff may not be Fat Fluff much longer if this keeps up! LOL

GINO MEETS HIS MATCH

When Gino Andreas entered the executive offices for Andreas Holdings, a hush fell over the gleaming corridors.

In her office at the end of the hall, Bethany Johnson watched the men he passed all but scrape and bow. Gino was thirty now, about to take his seat on the board of directors with his three half brothers, Darius, Nick and Cade. Everyone anticipated that within five years, the older Andreas brothers would retire early and enjoy their golden years on the French Rivera with their adoring wives.

And Gino would rule.

The women of Andreas Holdings weren’t quite so pragmatic. Even those climbing the corporate ladder, hoping to serve as presidents or vice presidents, had privately admitted to Bethany that their breath stuttered a bit when Gino walked by. Tall and slender like his oldest half-brother Darius, with Nick’s sense of fun and Cade’s shrewd dark eyes, Gino wasn’t just sex appeal in a suit. He was smart and funny. There wasn’t one unattached female in Andreas Holdings who wouldn’t give her next Christmas bonus for the opportunity to find out what he’d be like in bed.

Except Bethany.

Not because she didn’t think Gino was hot. For Pete’s sake, the guy exuded sex appeal. Add a little money and power to that, and some days she honestly thought she would drool. The thing of it was Bethany was broke. No one had told her living in New York City would be so expensive or that roommates could bolt the first time they fell in love and decided it was time to live with their fiancés. She had bigger, more important things on her mind than somebody’s hotness.

“Good morning, Ms. Johnson.”

Deep and sexy, Gino’s voice drifted to her and Bethany’s lungs shivered. If he could patent that voice, he’d be even richer than he already was.

“Good morning, Mr. Andreas.”

“Anything I need to know?”

“Just that your brothers are waiting for you in the conference room.”

Halfway to his office, he stopped, turned. “Are you kidding me?”

“Nope. They called an emergency meeting of the board an hour ago.”

Hands on his hips, he glanced skyward as if seeking help from above. “There is no emergency. They just want me to be late for my first board meeting so they can harass me.”

She laughed. “Probably Nick’s idea.”

“Undoubtedly.”

Their easy camaraderie warmed her heart. She was only a floater – someone who filled in wherever administrative assistance was needed. Gino’s real personal secretary made oodles of cash. But when they’d offered her the job of standing in for Roberta while she took maternity leave, Bethany had seen it as a good sign that one of “the” Andreas brothers liked her. Her goal was to do such a good job for Gino that he would give her a good recommendation, so she’d be moved into one of the permanent assistant positions and actually be able to make her rent.

She just had to keep her lease for the next six months.

***

Gino left Bethany’s office and headed toward the big boardroom just off Darius’s executive suite. Though he knew he should probably be wondering what the hell his brothers would spring on him, he found himself shaking his head over Bethany’s hair.

A ponytail. In an office. It made him laugh.

Actually, it made him comfortable. Roberta, a tall gorgeous redhead whose husband would kill anybody who took more than a three-second glance at her, had been coolly efficient. He’d never had to worry about missing a meeting – even a trumped up meeting his brothers had decided to have for sport – because with her layers and layers of friends within the corporate maze that was Andreas Holdings, Roberta would have heard about it.

But Roberta didn’t make him laugh. She most certainly didn’t make him comfortable. And the truth was he was smarter and more efficient when he was comfortable.

So in some ways he was glad Roberta was off for the first six months he would serve on the board. He didn’t need somebody to prop him up, to help him, to make him look smarter. He was smart enough. He needed someone who helped him relax.

Whatever he had to do over the next six months to keep Bethany Johnson right where she was, he intended to do it.

“So you finally made it.”

Walking into the boardroom, Gino glanced at his three older brothers. Though the Andreas men had different mothers, they shared dark hair and dark eyes. Darius, the brother he called Dad because he and his wife Whitney had adopted him, was the tallest. Nick with unruly curly hair was the handsomest. Cade the shrewdest. It showed in the way his nearly black eyes narrowed every time he came against something he didn’t like.

Nick guided Gino to the chair at the foot of the table. “Thirty years. You’re the only brother who had to wait to get his seat on the board.”

“Yeah, because you guys changed the rules.”

Darius laughed. “After our father’s will gave you – as an infant – an equal share in the company, which came with a seat on the board, we recognized the flaw in not having guidelines for directors.” He pulled out Gino’s chair. “So we wrote some. That’s the fun of being boss. Find something you don’t like, you change it.”

More or less forced into his seat, Gino sat.

Cade strode over. Dressed in a suit and tie, he looked like the billionaire he was, but he didn’t really look like himself. A rancher first and foremost, he typically dressed in jeans and T-shirts. “And don’t think because you’re on the board, we’re going to listen to hair-brained schemes. You’re the newbee. You watch and learn.”

“I’ve been watching and learning for thirty years.”

All three laughed. Taking his seat at the head of the table, Darius said, “You haven’t seen anything of life yet.”

And that was the problem. He’d been raised in the lap of luxury, as Darius’s son, because their father and Gino’s mom had been killed in an accident. He’d never really encountered a problem, didn’t know what it was like to be hungry or cold. Didn’t know a damned thing about struggle.

Darius hit the gavel and brought the room to order, which basically meant Nick and Cade took their seats.

But a board meeting, even for a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate, turned out to be a very dry discussion of business. Not that he didn’t care. He did. One day the responsibility for Andrea Holdings, a huge, multi-national enterprise would be his.

But could he take the reins of a multi-national conglomerate without really understanding the things that most normal people knew? Cade, Nick and Darius hadn’t grown up wealthy. Though Stephone Andreas had acknowledged Darius, he’d basically been raised by a struggling single mom, as Nick and Cade had been. The things they’d learned through their struggles growing up gave them insights into life and people that Gino didn’t have. He didn’t know about the blood, sweat, tears and trouble that had gone into making Andreas Holdings great. He simply knew great. And he also knew that wouldn’t serve him well as a leader.

***

When Bethany arrived home, there was an eviction notice in her mail slot. She leaned against the row of post office boxes and slid down to the floor. She was a few days late! A few days! Surely the building manager couldn’t evict her yet.

But when she took her notice to his office in the basement, he grinned at her around his cigar.

“Yeah, I can evict you.” He took the cigar out of his mouth and blew smoke at her. “We’re not exactly the classiest building in the city and our renters aren’t the cream of the crop, so our lease is a little different than most. You should have read the fine print. If you’re as much as two days late I can start the process.”

“I’ll have the rent money on Friday.”

“Yeah, sure, babe. I get that. But without a roommate you’re going to have trouble every month until pretty soon you’ll be weeks behind and soon after that months.” He guided her to the door. “Only way I take this off the books is if you come to me with a new roommate and prove you can pay your rent.”

Suddenly she was in the hall and his door was slamming behind her.

She straightened her shoulders. Okay. Fine. He wanted her to have a roommate. She’d find a roommate.

Click the link below to read the rest of the story...I think Michael and Lucy pop up first...so scroll down to Gino Meets His Match.

http://susanmeier-happilyeverafter.blogspot.com/




And now...a blast from the past! A little bit from MAID IN MONTANA

Jeb Worthington watched the aging sport utility vehicle chug up the tree-lined road leading to his ranch. He pulled on his horse's reins, stopping Jezebel, and reached for his small binoculars.

Yep. Just as he suspected. His new housekeeper, Sophie Penazzi, had arrived.

Adjusting the glasses, he watched her get out of the car, taking in her straight, shoulder-length brown hair that, if he remembered correctly, was a color almost identical to the dark brown of her eyes.

She stretched, working the kinds of out her back and shoulders from the long drive. The smooth, even tan of her skin brought visions of her in a bikini, rushing into the crashing waves of the Pacific, surfboard under her arm. It didn't surprise him that he'd envision her that way. Not only did her resume list her home as Malibu, but also there was a part of him that would pay very good money to see her perfect bottom in a bikini.

He dropped the glasses to his thigh. Those were exactly the kinds of things he could not -- would not -- think about about his new housekeeper. He'd lost the last one because she'd made a pass at him and he'd fired her. But instead of admitting she'd been let go because she'd tried to use her position as a springboard to becoming mistress of the house, Maria had promptly gone into town and trashed his reputation, claiming she'd quit because he was a grouch, too difficult to work for. The only way he'd recoup his standing with the locals would be to be nice to this new housekeeper, proving Maria had lied.

But being nice came with trouble of its own. Or maybe better said: Being nice to a live-in employee came with rules of its own. A line had to be drawn. He didn't want to be accused of sexual harrassment or even flirting. And he wouldn't. He would find a middle ground.

He nudged Jezebel, urging her to increase her pace.

Sophie bent into the rear compartment of her SUV. After setting several suitcases on the ground behind her vehicle, she lifted out an odd looking thing covered in net, at least four feet long and flat as a pancake. From the brackets on the side, he suspected that whatever it was, it was folded up. God only knew what it became when she unfolded it.

Once again, he nudged Jezebel, this time increasing her walk to a trot.

Adjusting the glasses so he could watch her as he rode, he saw Sophie slam the rear hatch, open the back door and bend inside.

There was more?

She pulled out a small seat and what looked to be a cooler and Jeb took Jezebel to a full gallop. What the hell was this woman doing? Planning to take over a wing in his house? Sure, she had to live with him, but he remembered telling her that her quarters were a bedroom, sitting room and bathroom. She didn't get to spread out all over his home.

He galloped past the outbuildings and barn, slowing Jezebel when they neared the driveway and taking her down to a walk when the reached the pavement.

Obviously hearing the clip-clop of Jez's approach, Sophie turned around. Shading her eyes with her hand, she looked up at him and called, "Hey! Good morning!"

Her bright brown eyes shone with joy, accenting her pert little nose, wide smile and nicely defined chin. Her should have kept his eyes on her face, but the blue top clinging to her breasts and the jeans outlining her perfect bottom drew his gaze downward until he'd taken in every feminine inch of her.

Irritated with himself, he nearly cursed. Why had he hired someone so cute?

A glance at her mountain of gear only increased his ire. Obviously she was all wrong for this job. He reined Jez a few feet ahead of the car, and growled, "What are you--"

Too late. Sophie ducked into her back seat again and he stopped talking. Not only was she providing him with a jaw-dropping view of her backside, but also there was little sense talking when his conversation partner couldn't hear him.

He waited patiently, ready to ask her just how much junk she thought she could get into a small suite of rooms, but when she pulled out of the back seat, baby in her arms, the words he'd intended to say fell out of his head. He was -- for the first time ever -- speechless.

She smiled at him. "I'm sorry. What did you say?"

He stared at her. Then the baby. The kid was small but chubby. Healthy. With pink cheeks and a thatch of thick black hair that poked out in all directions.

The only thing that came out of his mouth was, "What are you doing?"

She frowned. "You said to move in. Today. So I can start working tomorrow. Did I misread your instructions?"

"Apparently! Since I don't remember telling you to bring a baby!"

"Oh!" She laughed. "This is my son, Brady." She kissed the little boy's cheek. "Say hello, Brady."

The baby cooed and gooed and Jeb's heart stuttered in his chest. Willing back the swell of emotions that threatened to overtake him, he simply said, "You can't have a baby here."

Sophie kissed the baby's cheek again. "Why not? The agency said it wasn't a problem."

"The employment agency told you that you could bring him?"

"Yes, when they explained that this job was for a live-in housekeeper, I told them about Brady and they said it was no problem for me to bring him."

"I gave them the exact opposite instructions! I said no kids." Somebody's head was going to roll.

That's the beginning of MAID IN MONTANA...if you likie...go to Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com and get one of the older copies...or maybe digital if you have a Kindle.

That's all for this month! See you in August for Lesson 6 and another Andreas tie in.

BOARDROOM BABIES WINNER

Because we had a little trouble with Blogger last week, I allowed people to email me through my website and I added those names into the drawing.

So...the winner of the BABIES IN THE BOARDROOM series is...drum roll...

SUSAN LEECH!

Susan, contact me through the contact button on susanmeier.com to provide me with your addy to mail the books

Congrats and thanks to everyone who entered.

susan

Contest

Blogger is acting up a bit. If you cannot post a comment at the bottom of the ezine below...send me an email through to the CONTACT SUSAN button on the right and let me know you tried to post, but couldn't and want to be entered in the contest for the Babies in the Boardroom series.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

(Keep scrolling down for the ezine.)


susan

June 2011

Winner of the three books in the BABIES IN THE BOARDROOM series, THE BABY PROJECT, SECOND CHANCE BABY and BABY ON THE RANCH, will be drawn on Monday, June 6.

Don't forget to comment to be entered in the drawing.

Happy June!

I have to admit I'm excited about this month's book, BABY AT THE RANCH, not just because it's the end of a series that I loved writing, a series I'm very proud of as an artist, but because it's my 45TH BOOK for Harlequin and Silhouette!

I'm marching toward 50 books. I can't even explain how exciting that is for me, except to say that thinking about how close I am caused me to remember the beginnings of my career and I, literally, want to fall down on my knees and thank my Maker because I never would have made it this far without some help From Above!

And help from a lot of wonderful editors and an agent or two. Not to mention my friend Denise who talks through my story ideas before I propose them to editorial, and my friends Deb and Jenna who brainstorm with me.

I also wouldn't have made it without lots of very loyal readers. I couldn't do this without you. Not just because the only way I get paid is if you buy my books, but also because I love the fan mail. I love the encouragement. I love that you love what I do.

So thank you.

My respect and appreciation for you is why I've begun posting Happily Ever Afters for my books, as well as little prequils in the What Came Before section. Additional material to the stories is my way of saying Thanks!

I think you're really going to like the ending to the Andreas Brothers saga, BABY AT THE RANCH. Suzanne Caldwell is a former spoiled socialite, who suddenly finds herself flat broke when her beloved grandmother dies. She's also a single mom, having gotten taken in by somebody who was only out for her gram's money. Everybody's surprised to discover her gram had somehow lost over a hundred million dollars and now Suzanne only has her shares of Andreas Holdings Stocks to somehow make a life.

But Andreas Holdings has been on the skids, so she can't sell it. No one wants it. Darius, Nick and Cade know the company is coming back...but they don't quite have the money yet to buy her stock.

So Nick and Darius, who have more than pulled their weight for the company since their father's death, tell Cade it's his time to step up and do right by the family.

Which would be cool, except Cade is unreasonably attracted to Suzanne. The book is funny, yet poignant. Cade's a widower who wasn't there when his wife passed. He feels guilty, and sort of angry because he believes all his life plans died with her. And along comes Suzanne. Full of energy and what my mother used to call piss and vinegar. She's dead set determined to give her baby a good life. She's learned from her mistakes and is willing to work hard and she doesn't take anyone's crap. She's more than a match for sometimes moody, usually bossy Cade!

I have to admit, I cried so hard when I proofread this thing that I couldn't really read the epilogue. LOL! If there are typos, that's why!

So enjoy BABY ON THE RANCH. If you missed the first two books in the series, they're on Amazon and Borders.com. This is a fun family you don't want to miss!

And go to susanmeier.com. Read the free stories in the What Came Before and Happily Ever After segments. Take a peek at the recipes. Do the workshops!

It's all free.

susan



For the Writers Among Us


Lesson 4 Scene Question

So what's the scene/chapter question?

Again, the scene/chapter question is for you, the writer.

Simply put, every scene must have a point. Each must be a step in the characters’ journeys. So -- if you want to be a smarty pants-- you could say every scene begins with the question…What's the point of this scene?

But we don't have to be smarty pants. Once we open our story with an inciting incident -- an action, if you will – there will be a reaction. And once there is a reaction, someone will make a decision and once someone makes a decision they will take another action and the whole thing starts all over again.

So, your scene questions will frequently be things like:

Now that the dam has burst [action] and everyone is running for his or her life [reaction], what decision could the protagonist make to save himself?

Or, if you take the action, reaction, decision example that I use in most of my workshops –

There's a fire in the barn.
The horses die.
The hero decides he's had enough
He leaves town.

You next chapter/scene question could be what does he find when he leaves town? Because that character’s next scene should be a reaction or a consequence. Leaving town was an action. So your next scene would be a reaction or consequence.

If you’re writing a category romance, everything that happens in the book (with a few exceptions for lines that allow the POV of secondary characters) needs to relate back to the hero and heroine. So you can drive the action/reaction/decision train the whole way through your book, bouncing back and forth between those two characters. Easy stuff. The hero takes an action, what will the heroine’s reaction be?

If you’re writing a single title (a bigger, standalone book like mainstream, thriller, suspense, women’s fiction, sci fi, paranormal), however, you will have other character POVs coming into play. The hero could take an action that results in a reaction from a secondary character. A secondary character (a villain for instance) could take lots of actions that jerk the hero and heroine and other characters around for the entire book.

Either way, you should have an action, reaction, decision train for each story thread. (Note that I don’t call them subplots. Very few books have true subplots in them anymore. Don’t get me started! LOL)

My point is that unless you’re writing a category romance or straight mystery or simple science fiction you will have a main story…say your hero is struggling to keep his ranch solvent for the final few months he has before he can sell his prize stallion and make a mint.

Before he can do this, his barn catches fire. He thinks the neighbor did it. So he gets a gun, goes to the neighbor and threatens him. The neighbor gets rid of him without bloodshed, but then we switch to the neighbor’s POV, when he goes into his house and calls the Sheriff. The sheriff promises to settle Jake (that’s a good rancher name) down. He hangs up with the neighbor and calls the hero’s ex-wife, the only person who’s ever been able to talk sense into him and gets her to promise to come back to Texas and get him through this. Then he hangs up the phone and calls someone else…this time he says, Okay, I set the fire in the barn. The horses are dead. Jake thinks it was the neighbor. I called his ex-wife to get her home to talk him into selling the ranch to you but now I’m out of it. And the villain says, “You’re out of it when I say you’re out of it.” Then hangs up the phone.

What just happened there? We have one story, which revolves around the fact that the villain wants the hero’s ranch. But it branched out to include the hero’s ex-wife and a romance, the sheriff being blackmailed by the unseen villain who wants the ranch, there’s some kind of 'thing' with the neighbor…a feud, maybe…and we have the sheriff’s past. What the heck has he done that he can be blackmailed for?

But it all relates back to the story of the villain wanting the hero’s ranch.

Okay, with all that going on you’re going to have action/reaction/decision sequences bouncing back and forth between characters.

And, to keep it simple, your scene question is probably going to be…Who should take this action…and what will the action be? Who will have the reaction…and what will the reaction be? Who should be making a decision…and what will that decision be? Who should be taking the resultant action?

That’s pretty simple, basic stuff. But it is a very quick, easy way to not just figure out what you next scene should be, but also to figure out the best character to take the action, have the reaction, make the decision, take the action.

If you’re getting rejections that say your book was disjointed…it might be because you have the wrong character front and center in the scene or maybe you’re not following the action/reaction/decision sequence.

If you’re getting rejections that say your book was episodic, you’re definitely not following the action/reaction/decision sequence.

But to get back to the purpose of our lesson…the scene question…the scene question really is that simple. Don’t make it harder than it has to be, but think it through…Really … Who should be taking the action, having the reaction, making the decision…and what should that action/reaction or decision be?

Piece of cake. That question can not only make your book more interesting, but by default it will keep you from making tons of plotting and pacing mistakes!

Now for those of you who write books (like fantasy) that seem to have plots running side-by-side that ultimately join, who don’t want to use action/reaction/decision to connect the two plots until you have to, you still have to use action/reaction and decision. You will simply have two (or 3 or however many) plots or action/reaction/decision threads running parallel until they join.

Make sense?

Your assignment?

Read the first three chapters of your manuscript. (Or the last manuscript you worked on.) Do you employ action/reaction and decision? (Lots of people do this naturally!)

If you don’t find an action/reaction/decision sequence…is your pacing off? Does your book have a disjointed feel? Is it slow? Boring? (Ouch!) Unfocused?

If you’re one of those people with parallel plots that aren’t supposed to join yet…Do you have separate action/reaction/decision sequences that keep each individual thread of the story tight and focused?

susan meier
BABY AT THE RANCH, June 2011, part of the Baby in the Boardroom mini-series for Harlequin Romance


Coming Attractions
August

Journey Steps. NEORWA
http://www.neorwa.com/index.php/Workshops/Workshops

Journey Steps, Taking the Train to Somewhere Ever wonder what you’re supposed to “put” in between those four or five turning points of your story? Susan Meier’s Journey Steps, Taking the Train to Somewhere provides quick, easy solutions for any author who has ever wondered “now what?” Topics include the “magic formula” for plotting, the list of five, explanation of plot threads versus subplot and tricks for writing an “edge-of-the-seat” read. Learn to tell your story in one straight-forward paragraph that can be used for pitches! Beginners, intermediate and experienced authors will benefit from this workshop.


Coming in October PREPARING FOR NANO at Pennwriters.com



Cat Tails

Well, it's summer and my famous felines are finally outside again. But now we prepare for the fear of every hot month here in PA...that Sophie will gift us with our own private chimpmunk. That's right, folks. At no cost to me, my sweet Sophie will herd any number of critters into my house and give them homes under my sofa. I once had a chimpmunk skitter up one arm, across my shoulders and down the other arm, when I sat in the recliner with my morning coffee.

So that scream you hear will probably be me!



Excerpt from BABY AT THE RANCH

Chapter 1

Suzanne Caldwell shoved against the spot in the door of Amanda Mae’s Old West Diner where the “waitress wanted” sign filled the glass. The scent of fresh apple pie greeted her, along with a rush of noise.

Though there were no more than ten people at the counter and in the booths, the place was as rowdy as a party. Women wearing jeans and tank tops sat with men dressed in jeans, T-shirts and cowboy hats. She didn’t get two steps into the room before the noise level began to drop. As if noticing the stranger, people stopped talking mid-sentence.

She clutched her six-month-old baby, Mitzi. There was nothing like walking into a roomful of staring strangers to make you realize how alone you were in the world.

And she was definitely alone. She’d run out of gas about a mile out of Whiskey Springs, Texas, and, literally, had no one to call for help.

No family. Her grandmother had died six months ago and her mom had died when Suzanne was six. Her dad, whoever he was, had never acknowledged her.

Her mom and grandmother were both only children so she had no aunts, no uncles, no cousins.

And no friends. The wonderful sorority sisters who’d vowed to be her ally for life had dumped her when she got pregnant by a popular university professor. It was her fault, they’d said, and had accused her of trying to ruin Bill Baker’s career. As if. The guy had gone on a campaign to seduce her and had wormed his way into her life because of her grandmother’s fortune. When Martha Caldwell made some major mistakes in money management and lost the bulk of her wealth, Professor Baker suddenly didn’t want to see her anymore. And he most certainly wanted no part of their baby.

So, yeah. She was alone. Alone. Broke. Desperate to make a home for herself and her baby. And she’d left Atlanta bound for Whiskey Springs hoping to find some help.

But after walking the last mile on a hot June day, her heels thumped in her black stiletto boots. Mitzi squirmed in her arms. Her heavy diaper bag was dislocating her shoulder. Still, she kept her head high as she made her way to the first empty booth. By the time she got there, the diner was dead silent.

A waitress shuffled over. “Help you?”

She cleared her throat. “I’d like a piece of the apple pie I can smell, a cup of coffee, a glass of milk and some pudding, please.”

“What kind of pudding?”

She swallowed. Not one person had turned back to his or her coffee or food. They just stared as if she were a zombie or vampire or some other mythical creature they’d never seen before. “What kind do you have?”

“Vanilla or chocolate.”

“Mitzi loves vanilla.”

Without so much as a word of acknowledgement, the waitress scurried away.

“You’re not from around here.”

Knowing the man could only be talking to her, she followed the voice and found herself staring into a pair of the shrewdest eyes she’d ever seen. Cool, calculating, so black the pupils were almost invisible, his eyes never blinked, never waivered as they held her gaze.

Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.

“No, I’m not from around here.”

“What’s your business?”

“None of yours.” She turned away from the penetrating, unsettling eyes and shifted Mitzi on her lap.

To her horror, the man walked over and plopped down on the bench seat across from hers. His full lips pulled upward into a devilish smile. His dark eyes danced with pleasure. “Now, see. That’s not just a bad attitude; it’s also wrong.”

She should have been scared to death. He was big. Not fat, but tall and broad-shouldered. The kind of guy who could snap a little five-foot-five girl like her in two. But instead of fear, a very unladylike shiver of lust rippled down her spine.

“Everything that happens in Whiskey Springs is my business because this is my town.”

Not at all happy with herself for even having two seconds of attraction to an ill-mannered stranger, she said, “Your town? What are you, the sheriff?”

He chuckled. The people at the counter and in the booths around them also laughed.

“No. I’m Cade Andreas. I own this town. I bought all the buildings last year. I lease the businesses back to their proprietors, but I still own every square inch, including the one you’re sitting on.”

Oh, good God. This was Cade Andreas?

Fear and confusion immediately replaced attraction. Wasn’t the Andreas family broke?

She owned one-third of Andreas Holdings stock and hadn’t been able to sell it because the company was on the skids. What was he doing buying a town?

“And I’d like to know what brings you to my town.”

She raised her gaze to his face. A day-old growth of beard covered his chin and cheeks, giving him a sexily disreputable look. His lips were full, firm, kissable. His nose had been broken – undoubtedly in a fight – but it wasn’t disfigured, more like masculine. Definitely not dainty. There was nothing dainty about this man. He was all male. One-hundred percent, grade A, prime specimen sexy.

Finally, their eyes connected. Her chest tightened. Her breathing stalled. She could have blamed that on her unwitting attraction, but refused. A guy who bought a town had to be more than a little arrogant. Definitely past vain. Maybe even beyond narcissistic. And she’d learned her lesson about narcissistic men with Mitzi’s father. It would be a cold, frosty day in hell before she got involved with another self-absorbed man. So she refused to be attracted to Cade Andreas. Refused.

But she still needed a job. She might own stock worth millions of dollars, but nobody wanted to buy it. Potential didn’t sell stock these days. Dividends did. And in the past two years Andreas Holdings hadn’t paid any. So she was hoping that since she owned one-third of the company they could at least let her work there. The choice to approach Cade Andreas, the youngest of the three brothers who owned controlling interest of Andreas Holdings stock and ran the company, was simply a matter of practicality. Texas was driving distance. New York City, the headquarters for the corporate offices, wasn’t. Still, if they gave her a job, she’d get there somehow. She’d go anywhere that she could put down roots and make a home.

Maybe find some friends.

“What brings you to my town?”

This time the words were harsh. Not quite angry, but definitely losing patience.

She glanced at the waitress who stood behind the counter, balancing a coffee pot and Suzanne’s piece of pie, obviously holding them hostage until she answered Cade.

She looked back at him. His already sharp eyes had narrowed in displeasure, and she had the sudden, intense intuition that if she told him who she was – in front of his adoring friends and the frozen waitress – he would not jump for joy. She would bet her last dollar that none of these people knew how much trouble Andreas Holdings was in and Cade would not be happy with the person who announced it.

There was no way she could say who she was and why she was here without talking about something he would want kept private, and no way she could explain her presence in this two-bit town so far from a major highway that no one was ever just passing through.

She glanced around, saw the sign in the door advertising for a waitress and grabbed the first piece of good luck that had come her way in over a year.

“I heard about the job for a waitress, so I came.”

“In your fancy boots, with your baby all dolled up?”

“We put on our best stuff --” she said, making herself sound as if she fit the part of a waitress. She regretted the deception, but if anybody ever deserved to be played, this guy did. Owned a town, huh? She potentially held the future of his family’s company in her hands just by whom she chose to sell her stock to, yet he’d never once considered that she might be somebody worthy of his time. “-- For the interview.”

A short, round, dark-haired woman wearing an apron scampered out of the kitchen. “You’re looking for a job?”

“Yes.” The truth of that brought her back to reality. Her purpose for coming to Whiskey Springs had been to get a job – from Andreas Holdings. Now that plan was on hold. She wasn’t exactly here to be a waitress, but money was money. And she needed some. Now. Today. She had enough cash to pay for her piece of pie and even buy extra milk for Mitzi, but after that she and Mitzi were sleeping in her car.

“I’m Suzanne Caldwell.” Because her grandmother had held the stock in a trust, her name wasn’t mentioned on any documents, so she could give it without worry. “This is my baby Mitzi.”

Mitzi picked that exact moment to cry. The little brunette scrambled over. “I’m Amanda Mae.” She shot Cade an evil look, causing Suzanne to immediately love her. “Real men don’t make babies cry.”

Cade held up his hands innocently. “Hey, I was on my own side of the booth the whole time. I didn’t touch her.”

“You’re threatening her mama.”

His face fell. “I never threatened her!”

“Just your voice is threatening.”

He sighed. “Yeah. Right. Whatever.”

She took the baby. “Would you like a bottle, little Mitzi?”

Suzanne said, “I ordered some milk and pudding for her.”

Amanda Mae looked horrified. “June Marie, where are you with this baby’s food?”

The waitress hustled over, set Suzanne’s pie in front of her and poured her a cup of coffee before she rushed away and got both the pudding and the milk.


Eyes narrowed, Cade studied the woman across the booth from him. She was a pretty little package. Eyes so blue they bordered on the purple color of the wildflowers that grew on his pasture in the spring. Black hair cut in a straight, blunt line at her chin, giving her a dramatic look that didn’t fit with a woman who needed a job as a waitress. And those boots. Black stilettos. The kind a man envisioned on his chest, pinning him to a bed.

He stopped those thoughts. She might be a pretty with her perfect nose and full, tempting lips, but he wasn’t interested.

Still, he had no doubt that he had to keep an eye on her. Something wasn’t right with her. It wasn’t just her city-girl clothes. Her demeanor didn’t fit. Waitresses didn’t have smooth hands, perfect posture, an unblinking stare.

He rose from the booth. “Well, seeing as how you got the job you wanted, I guess we’ll be running into each other from time to time.”

She only smiled. A cool, remote smile that heated his blood and all but challenged him to turn on the charm and see how long it would take to get that smile to thaw. Luckily, he was smarter than that.

Amanda Mae said, “Do you have someplace to stay, honey?”

She faced the diner owner. “I – No. Actually, I need a place to stay.”

“Hotel’s in the next town over,” Cade said, striding back to his seat at the counter and his now cold coffee.

Amanada Mae shot him another evil glare. “Or she could use the apartment upstairs until she gets on her feet.”

“I’d like that.” Suzanne pressed her fingers to Amanda Mae’s hand in a gesture of appreciation that stopped Cade cold. Maybe she was in need of a little help? Her crisp white blouse and fancy jeans could be the last good things she owned. He hadn’t heard a car drive up. He glanced out the big front window into the street. He didn’t see a car. She could be dead broke--

Nope. His business sense wouldn’t accept that. Something about her screamed money. Big money. If she was pretending she didn’t have any, there was a reason.

Damn. He was going to have to keep an eye on her.

***

Don't forget to go to susanmeier.com to read the prologue...What Came Before...for Cade Andreas and check out the workshops, recipes and the Happily Ever Afters...stories about Gino and Michael Andreas thirty years after their parents found love!

May 2011

May! Can you believe it?

Doesn't it feel like just yesterday we were popping corks on champagne, celebrating the new year?

Time certainly does fly, but...I have to admit...I'm sort of thrilled that it's May. I love this month's release in the Baby in the Boardroom series, SECOND CHANCE BABY.

Nick and Maggie were a joy to write! Not only is Nick a cool southern gentleman with a great beach house, but Maggie is a fun, funny, hardworking woman just trying to get her life back together, who returned to Ocean Palms, North Carolina to be with her dad.

She's pregant with her ex-husband'd child, which annoys Nick since he was her first husband -- they'd married as teens when she'd gotten pregnant and they were incredibly happy -- but enter Stephone Andreas. Nick's missing father. At the worst possible time, he offers Nick a five million dollar trust fund. The only catch is he has to be single. Stephone blames his womanizing ways on being married when he became rich. He wasn't able to overcome the temptations thrown at him just because he had money and he cheated on Darius's mom with Nick's mom and Cade's mom and created two other Andreas heirs. So he's offering each of his sons five million dollars BEFORE they settled down to get all that out of their systems. So if Nick wants his five mill, he's gotta be single.

Of course, Maggie overhears the lawyer and of course she doesn't want him to give up his chance at success for her...Oh, wait! The whole scene for this is on my website! It's in the What Came Before section. If you want to read the heart-tugging scene where Maggie pretends she doesn't love Nick and leaves, it's online! You can read it now at susanmeier.com. Click What Came Before.

I loved Nick and Maggie's book and I think you will too!

This month is also my husband's birthday. Can't wait to see how we celebrate that. And I'll be speaking on a panel with Nancy Martin and Jonathan Maberry at the Published Authors Luncheon at the annual Pennwriters conference in Pittsburghon May 13.

This month in the eZine, we also have Lesson 3 of THE POWER OF QUESTIONS. And I'll give you my standard reminder that there are three free workshops on the site, GOAL SETTING, 10-MINUTE SOLUTION and HOW TO ANALYZE THE BOOKS YOU READ.

I'm also posting a time-management lesson (a very short lesson) on my blog every Monday. So watch for that!

Also Coming Attractions lists the schedule of my online workshops for the rest of the year, with the reminder that I'm only giving each workshop once. So if you miss it, you miss it until next year!

There's a cat tail!

And, of course, an excerpt from SECOND CHANCE BABY.

New recipes go up periodically in the HOME COOKING section of susanmeier.com.

And there are some short stories up too. This month in the HAPPILY EVER AFTER blog, Baby Gino's story is up! If you read THE BABY PROJECT, read the happily ever after that shows Darius and Whitney interfering (ever so slightly) in Gino's romance 30 years after the book.

So visit susanmeier.com and enjoy the freebies!

Happy reading!

susan

For the Writers Among us!

Lesson 3 Your Individual Story Question or Reader Question

Right now you’re thinking that the modified core story question we did in Lesson 2 is your INDIVIDUAL STORY QUESTION. Sorry. It’s the core or heart of your story, but it’s not the question that’s going to drag readers through the book. (So for simplification purposes we’re going to call this the reader question.)

Okay. So what do I mean by a question dragging readers through the book?

Simply put, your story question/reader question is the question the reader should consistently be asking as they are reading your book.

For instance, a few years ago I wrote a book SNOWBOUND BABY, about a hero and heroine who are stuck in the cabin in the woods. The hero is a trucker, estranged from his wealthy brothers, who happened upon the stranded heroine on an icy mountain road and gets stranded himself.

He has a secret. He's got a certified check for hundreds of thousands of dollars in his backpack because he's on his way to Arkansas to pay off his brothers, who bought the mortgage on his ranch, he believes, only to show him that they are always in control. His brothers have only ever wanted to control him. He trusts no one.

The heroine is a single mom. Her ex walked out when she got pregnant because he didn't "do" daddy. But her parents had also left when she was 18. As if 18 was some sort of magic number. They'd been unhappily married almost since the day she was born, but to assure she had a good upbringing they stayed together. But the minute she graduated from high school, they split! Happily. And both sort of forgot she existed. Oh, they send birthday cards, but they behave as if they've been left out of prison, for the first time able to have the lives they want. She feels very unwanted and unloved.

So…he can't commit. He thinks family sucks.

She needs a commitment from someone. She desperately wants a family. A real family.

They are doomed. The worst kind of mismatched.

The reader question isn't what has to happen to get these two together.

Readers won't read for that. That's an author question. We ask ourselves questions like this so that we can ascertain plot points and journey steps and know what to write next.

Your reader question is designed for READERS. It's what keeps them reading. Which means you also need to know it to make sure it stays in the forefront and pulls readers through your story.

So…what were my core story question and reader story question for SNOWBOUND BABY?

Core story: How will the hero and heroine get together when he doesn’t believe in love and she desperately needs to be loved?

Reader story question: Will she have enough time to realize his real problem is that he believes he's unworthy of love and then prove to him that he is?

The book was a sort of race against the clock. Though my heroine didn't realize she was trying to show the hero the power of love, readers knew only she could. But she didn't have a lot of time. As soon as the snow plow went through after the blizzard that stranded them, he would be on the road again.

Worse, he truly didn't believe. His parents had died when he was in his teens. His older brother – barely out of high school himself – raised him. All of his examples of love were examples of either being deserted or being controlled. (Because his poor older brother didn’t know better!)

And the heroine truly was a dreamer. She believed in love like no character I’d ever written. She was actually very fun to write!

Anyway, they were attracted, but had totally opposite beliefs. So there was a tension in there. The fact that they wouldn’t be in that cabin forever came smack dab up against her desperate need to be loved and his desperate need for someone to love him and prove to him that love existed.

And that's what kept readers turning those pages. Will they have enough time together or will he leave before she can prove to him that love exists?

Even better in SNOWBOUND BABY, in the black moment, it looked as if time had run out and she'd failed.

THAT's what keeps readers reading. The very real feeling that the heroine wasn’t going to satisfactorily answer the reader question because the answer was no!

In the black moment, it truly appeared as if all was lost and there absolutely was no way they’d ever see each other again. Because though she cared enough to find out details about him (like his last name), he wouldn’t tell her his address and he never asked for hers. Because they were travelers on a road, neither one of them could assume the other’s city or town of residence.

So the bottom line to all of this is:

The reader story question is something for readers. It's what keeps them reading.

YOU need to know it to make sure that it's always on the readers' minds.

Not necessarily as an actual question that pops up in the story (though sometimes you can have the heroine think or say: Will I have enough time with this guy to show him that love can be real?) but in most cases it actually manifests as something more like a reader reaction.

For example, at the end of one chapter of SNOWBOUND BABY when the hero sees how pretty the heroine is and knows it's been too long since he's been alone with a woman -- and that he doesn't want to hurt her because she's been hurt enough -- he ducks away from trouble by going to bed early …

And I could almost hear readers collectively groaning…Oh, God! He went to bed early. They only have a weekend together! She'll never have enough time to convince him.

That's one way to keep the reader question in the forefront. Consistently make it appear that the protagonist has failed, or is failing.

I realized this during the big romantic suspense craze. The reader story question usually is: "Will the female protagonist figure out who the killer is before he kills her?"

Reading those books, my lightning-fast mind realized that the authors always had to have the READERS afraid the protagonist wasn't quite going to succeed. Either she didn't know the depth of the threat or didn't have enough of the puzzle pieces to put it all together, or had decided to follow a wrong path.

In THE TERMINATOR (one of my favorite movies and a movie, by the way, that I think is just about perfect craftwise…) the “wrong path” technique is used. But it's used very cleverly. All the Sarah Connors in town are being murdered. But the heroine doesn’t know this. When two Sarah Connors are murdered, newscasters speculate that the killer at first got the wrong woman, discovered his mistake and murdered the right one. So, thinking the threat is over, our Sarah goes to a bar. And viewers begin to get nervous. We understand that she's been led down a wrong path…but we haven't been led down the wrong path! We know Arnold has killed others! Those victims simply weren't discovered yet. We want our Sarah Connor home…no better yet, we want our Sarah at the police station where she will be safe! And sure enough, who comes into the bar? Arnold, carrying a gun. The threat we perceived as viewers was very real and but our Sarah had wrong information.

What was the reader/viewer question?

What the hell is going on here that Arnold wants all the Sarah Connors dead and will our Sarah survive?

It takes a lot of the movie to answer the first part of that question for viewers. Mostly because it’s an action movie. The whole explanation can’t be spit out at one time because they’re always running. Second, the whole explanation can’t be spit out because it’s implausible. The man from the future needs to earn some reader/viewer trust before he can fully explain.

But that question…Why the heck does the Terminator want all the Sarah Connors dead and will our Sarah escape? . . . really keeps us on the edges of our seats!

The writers of the Terminator were always aware of their reader/viewer story question. Because in every scene Arnold was after her and she just barely escaped.

So let’s run over one more example of how to do this in a romance.

In my first release for Harlequin Romance HER PREGNANCY SURPRISE the reader story question was:

Will the heroine discover the hero didn't leave her to have their baby alone because he's bad, but because he blames himself for a tragedy in his life and he doesn't trust himself, and if she does will she be able to help him get beyond his grief so he can love her?

One of the things that I have discovered about a story question for a romance is that it sometimes needs to be two-tiered. The first part of the story question pertains to the external conflict. The second part to the internal conflict.

In HER PREGNANCY SURPRISE, the hero and heroine spend a weekend together, he leaves town on business and when he comes back he forgets how "wonderful" she is. (And she is. Truly.) They had a magical weekend, but he’s such a skeptical (hurt by love) guy that he convinced himself that the weekend (and heroine) weren’t that great.

Anyway, he is her boss, so when he returns to the office and she just happens to "visit" him at about 10:00, eager to see him…he breaks up with her. Readers know he's got a problem with blame. Something happened in his past that caused him to mistrust…especially himself and his own instincts.

But the heroine, who doesn’t know his past, believes he just used her because he’s a rich guy who feels he should be allowed to do things like sleep with his employees. So she sucks it up, and leaves his office with her dignity.

But two weeks later discovers she's pregnant. Being as mired in grief and guilt as he is, when she tells him, he thinks it's a trick to get him to take her back and he really doesn’t want anything to do with her then! He FIRES her and she has the baby alone.

So after the baby is born, she doesn’t trust him. Duh. No kidding. He behaved badly. But readers know he's not bad. They know he's suffering and struggling. But she doesn't know.

So the first part of the reader story question . . .

Will the heroine discover the hero didn't leave her to have their baby alone because he's bad, but because he blames himself for a tragedy in his life and he doesn't trust himself . . .

. . .pertains to her getting beyond the "thing" that is obvious and "out there" -- External. He hurt her. She doesn't trust him. There's more to his story than meets the eye, but she’s got to get past his hurting her before she can get to the real heart of the matter.

But isn't that true of all of life? Once you get beyond superficialities when you meet someone, you learn the truth and then you make a second choice. A more informed choice. Maybe even your real choice.

If you’re writing a romance, your book's reader question should work very much the same way. Once you get past the initial layer of a character's personality, the real conflict comes into play.

Back to HER PREGNANCY SURPRISE. . .

By the time she realizes he feels responsible for a tragedy, she's had a week of living with him to get to know him and she quickly realizes that if he could have prevented the accident he would have. Finding out his internal struggle, actually frees her to love him.

But…Will it do her any good?

Not unless she can get him to forgive himself.

Thus the second half of the reader story question is born…and it is based on internal conflicts. “…and if she does [realize he’s not “bad” but tormented by something in his past] will she be able to help him get beyond his grief so he can love her?”


So in a romance, the first half of the reader story question that draws readers through the story pertains to the external struggle; the second half to the internal struggle.

To recap…

The reader story question is a question you set up at the beginning of the book. It's something readers "voice" not by saying, Gee, I wonder if she'll be able to get him to trust himself so he can love her?

But rather, they voice it as reaction…They turn the page and keep reading as they’re thinking…Oh, Gosh, his life has been terrible to this point and the heroine doesn't know! He feels so darned bad that even if he tells her, and she understands and forgives him about the pregnancy, he's never going to let go of the blame enough to love her…

A reader question is born!

If you don't know your reader story question at the beginning of your book, your book will be unfocused. That's okay for the first chapter, maybe even the second, but by chapter three readers will tire of feeling like a candle in the wind.

Not because they want to be led by the nose, but because they want to be entertained. The best way for YOU to entertain them is to know the question they are asking themselves as they read. So that you can torture them…I mean entertain them.

For your homework, I’d like for you to go to your current WIP and define the question you believe readers will be asking as they read through your book. Then I want you to decide if that’s a good question. LOL

If it isn’t, or if there is no reader question, I’d like for you to write a reader question. A good one!

susan meier
SECOND CHANCE BABY, part of the BABY IN THE BOARDROOM mini-series from Harlequin Romance


Coming Attractions


August

Journey Steps. NEORWA
http://www.neorwa.com/index.php/Workshops/Workshops

Journey Steps, Taking the Train to Somewhere Ever wonder what you’re supposed to “put” in between those four or five turning points of your story? Susan Meier’s Journey Steps, Taking the Train to Somewhere provides quick, easy solutions for any author who has ever wondered “now what?” Topics include the “magic formula” for plotting, the list of five, explanation of plot threads versus subplot and tricks for writing an “edge-of-the-seat” read. Learn to tell your story in one straight-forward paragraph that can be used for pitches! Beginners, intermediate and experienced authors will benefit from this workshop.

October Preparing for Nano for Pennwriters. (See Pennwriters.org)


Cat Tails

Our poor sweet Fluffy cat is getting up in years and what's interesting is that as he gets older he seems to associate more to my husband -- the other old man in the house -- than to my daughter. There are times when he sits on the sofa with my DH that they look like two old men sitting on rockers outside the general store! LOL

Now that's a vivid image!



Excerpt SECOND CHANCE BABY

Chapter 1

“Your ex-wife applied for the job as your assistant.”

Nick Andreas glanced up at his current assistant, soon-to-be-retired Julie Farnsworth. He’d just flown back to North Carolina after six weeks in New York City. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go to his beach house, get out of his monkey suit and take a nap on his hammock. He’d only popped into the office because he had a huge bid due to renew the government contract that was the bread and butter of his manufacturing plant. He had to get an assistant in now.

He just wasn’t sure hiring Maggie Forsythe as Julie’s replacement was the best way to go. When he had a bid due, his assistant worked with him – directly with him, at his side – ten hours a day, six days a week. No man wanted to spend that much time with his ex-wife. Not even an ex-wife he hadn’t seen in fifteen years. An ex-wife he barely remembered.

He tossed his pen to his desk. “You wouldn’t be telling me this if she wasn’t qualified.”

“She’s qualified. Over qualified in some respects.”

“And she actually applied?”

“Well, we certainly didn’t drag her in off the street.”

He laughed and leaned back in his chair. So Maggie wanted to work for him? He smiled skeptically as weird feelings assaulted him. He hadn’t thought about Maggie Forsythe in over a decade. Now, suddenly, he could vividly recall how the sun would catch her red hair and make it sparkle, her wide, happy smile, the sound of her laughter.

“Sorry if I’m finding all this a little hard to believe, but we didn’t exactly part on the best of terms. Andreas Manufacturing should be the last place she wants to work.”

His sixty-five-year-old assistant caught his gaze with serious dark eyes. “She needs the money.”

She was broke? The way he’d been when they’d met?

Memories of his childhood and teen years cascaded through his brain like water spilling from a waterfall. Maggie at six, toothless in first grade, dividing her morning snack with him before they went into the building so no one in their class would see he hadn’t brought one. Maggie at twelve, fishing with him so he and his mom could have something for supper. Maggie at fifteen, hanging out in the souvenir shop where he worked, entertaining him on long, boring afternoons before the tourist season picked up. Maggie at eighteen, swollen with his child.

A long-forgotten ache filled his chest and made him scowl. The woman he was remembering with such fondness had dropped him like a hot potato when she’d lost their baby. She hadn’t loved him. She’d only married him because he’d gotten her pregnant one reckless night. Twenty minutes after they returned from the hospital after her miscarriage, she was out the door of his mom’s house. Out of his life.

“She should have as many reservations about working with me as I have about working with her.”

“Her stepmom died while you were in New York. Rumor has it that she came home for the funeral and decided her dad needed her. She quit her job and moved back permanently but in three weeks of looking she couldn’t find work – unless she wants to commute to the city.” Julie peered at him over the rim of her glasses. “Aside from tourism, you’re the only real employer in Ocean Palms.”

He picked up his pen again. “Hire her.”

Julie gasped softly. “Really?”

“Sure. We were married as kids. Fifteen years have gone by.” He wasn’t such a selfish, self-centered oaf that he’d let someone suffer because she had the misfortune of having a history with him. He knew what it was like to have no options. He’d spent his entire childhood living hand-to-mouth. He wouldn’t ignore the person who, as a child, had shared with him, helped him, even rescued him a time or two.

Plus, if Julie said Maggie was the person for the job then she was.

Julie rose. “Okay. She’s in my office. She said she can begin today. I’ll bring her in and we can get started.”

Nick sat up in his seat. Today? He didn’t even have ten minutes to mentally prepare?

Julie walked to his office door and opened it. “Come in, Maggie.”

A true southern gentleman, Nick rose from the tall-back chair behind his huge mahogany desk. Ridiculously, he couldn’t squelch the pride that surged up in him as he took in the expensive Persian rugs that sat on the hardwood floors of his office, the lamps from China, the heavy leather sofa and chair in the conversation area, the art from the broker in New York City. He was rich, successful, and his office showed it. He’d fulfilled the promise of his youth. He had brains and skill and he’d parlayed those into wealth beyond anyone’s expectations. One look at his office would tell Maggie he wasn’t the eighteen-year-old boy she’d deserted anymore.

The click of high heels on the hardwood announced her arrival two seconds before she appeared in his doorway. Her gorgeous red hair flowed around her, but it was shaped and curled in a way that framed her face, not straight as she had worn it when they were married. Her once sparkly green eyes now held soul-searching intensity. Her full red lips rose slightly in a reluctant smile.

Just as he wasn’t the eighteen-year-old she’d left behind anymore, she didn’t look a thing like his Maggie.

He relaxed as his gaze involuntarily fell from her face to her dress. A simple red tank dress that showed off a newly acquired suntan, but also couldn’t hide her only slightly protruding stomach.

She was pregnant?

He gave her tummy a more thorough scrutiny.

She was pregnant.

And suddenly he was that eighteen-year-old boy again. Seeing his woman, the love of his life, swollen with his child. More memories washed over him. The dreams he’d had for the kind of father he would be rose up as if he’d been lost in them only yesterday. Love for her, the woman bearing his child, burst in his chest.

But this wasn’t his child. She’d lost their child.

And she didn’t love him.

Hell, he no longer loved her.

“Come in,” he said. His voice was tight with a bit of a squeak but he ignored that, motioning to the chair in front of his desk.

Maggie took a few hesitant steps inside. Now trim instead of lanky, she wore her pregnancy the same way another woman would wear a designer dress.

That was when he realized she was probably married. Happily married. Not scared and hesitant, but with no other options because her stepmom had kicked her out of the house. But happy. Having a child with the man she loved.

He swallowed the knot that formed in his throat, reminding himself that these emotions churning through him were ridiculous. He was over her. Plus, they hadn’t even seen each other in fifteen years. The feelings weren’t really feelings. They were residue. Like cobwebs that had clung to the walls of his brain and would disappear once he got to know the adult Maggie.

“Julie wants to hire you but I have a few reservations.”

He didn’t even try to stop the words that flowed from his mouth. Though he’d already told Julie to hire her, now that he saw that she was pregnant, he had some concerns. Not about the “feelings” seeing her pregnant aroused, but her ability to do the job.

She gracefully sat on the chair in front of his desk, smiled softly. “You mean because we were once married?”

He snorted a laugh, but Julie’s hand flew to her throat. “You know, I think I’ll just go get us some coffee.”

Nick said, “She can’t drink coffee,” at the same time that Maggie said, “I don’t drink coffee.”

Julie said, “Then I’ll get some coffee for myself.” She fled the room, closing the door behind her.

Nick sat back in his chair, reaching deep inside himself for the calm that was his trademark. He had to treat her as any other employee and speak accordingly.

“For the next four weeks I need to work ten-hour days.”

“Six days a week. I get that. Julie told me.”

“Can you keep up?”

“Of course, I can keep up. I’m pregnant not sick.”

The room plunged into eerie silence. Memories of the day she’d lost their baby haunted him like menacing ghosts.

As if recognizing where his thoughts had gone, Maggie sighed. “Nick, I’m fine. Really. And I need this job. If you don’t hire me I’ll have to get work in the city and commute an hour each way.”

“An hour commute might be better for a pregnant woman than racing around the plant looking for documents I need, assembling information from different departments--”

He paused to catch her gaze and when he saw green eyes sparking with fire, everything he intended to say fell out of his head. He remembered that look very well, remembered how many times it had taken them straight to bed.

“I already told you I can keep up.”

He took in a quiet breath, reminding himself that Maggie was a married woman who wanted to work for him. The last thing he needed to be thinking about was how her fiery need for independence had played out between the sheets.

“Yeah, well, maybe I want some kind of proof.”

She smiled sweetly, calmly. “In a couple of months, I’m not going to be pregnant anymore. Then you’re going to be sorry you lost the chance to hire me.”

A laugh escaped. Dear God. This really was his Maggie. Fiery one minute, serene the next. And the common sense, logical Maggie could be every bit as sexy as the impassioned one.

But she was married.

And he was a runaround now.

Having a father who’d abandoned him had made him want commitments, but Maggie leaving him had set him straight on that score. And he’d changed. He wasn’t simple Nick Roebuck anymore. The guy who hadn’t taken his father’s name. The guy who wanted commitments. A wife. Family. Nope. Nick Roebuck was gone. He was now Nick Andreas, playboy.

“Besides, my father needs me.”

Shifting in his chair, Nick blew his breath out in a gusty sigh. Who he was didn’t matter. Who she was didn’t matter. She was off limits. “I’m sorry about your stepmom.”

“Thanks.”

“I was out of town or I would have paid my respects.”

Her gaze dipped. “I know.”

“Was everything – you know – okay?” He nearly bit his tongue for his clumsiness. But what could he say? How could he ask if she and Vicki had mended fences? If they’d ever gotten beyond the fact that Vicki had favored Charlie Junior over her? If Vicki had ever forgiven Maggie for getting pregnant? If Maggie had ever forgiven Vicki for kicking her out of the house?

“It was fine.” She shrugged. “Losing someone is always hard.”

Which told him nothing. Not that it was any of his business. He scrambled for something safe to say, but the only thing he could think of was, “Yeah. My father died last January. I know how hard these things can be.”

She smiled and her eyes brightened. “Oh, so you met your father? You had a relationship?”

“Yes and no.” He tapped his fingers on the edge of his desk, tamping down the sudden, unexpected urge to tell her everything. They weren’t friends anymore. She might act like the girl he’d known and loved, but she wasn’t. And he wasn’t the love-sick boy she’d married.

Still, he couldn’t ignore her question. “I met my father but we didn’t really have a relationship. Unless you call having dinner every other year a relationship.”

“That’s too bad.” Genuine regret colored her voice. “So how’s your mom?”

He chuckled. “She’s just like a little general at the daycare. Loves the kids, but keeps them in line.”

Maggie’s laugh was quick and easy. “God I missed her.”

“We missed you.” The words slipped out and he knew why. He was getting comfortable with her. And that was wrong. If they were going to work together, he had to draw lines. Be professional.

She looked away. “No point in staying once I’d lost the baby.”

Hearing her say that now hurt almost as much as it had the day she left. “Right.”

“Before I got pregnant, we both had plans.”

“Is that what you were thinking about while I was talking to my father’s attorney?”

For years he’d wondered. What kind of coincidence could it have been that the dad who’d ignored him his entire life suddenly wanted to give him a trust fund? Had it been a gift from fate to Maggie, or a curse of fate for him?

She caught his gaze. “Yes.”

When his heart squeezed, he swore at himself inwardly for asking the stupid question. He’d already reasoned all this out in his head. Gotten beyond it. There was no point going over it again. Certainly no point rehashing it with her. Fifteen years had passed and he loved the life he’d built without her.

If they were going to work together, the past would have to be forgotten. His only goal should be to make sure she really did have the education and experience to do the job.

“So you’ve have a business degree?”

“Yes.” She shifted on the chair. Her shoulders went back. Her expression became businesslike. “But I’m not looking down on this job. I think there are a lot of ways I can help you.”

“What did you do at your last job?”

“I was an analyst for a firm that put venture capitalist groups together with struggling businesses looking for investors or a buyer.”

“Do you know much about manufacturing?”

She laughed. “Most of the businesses looking for investors or buyout are manufacturing companies.”

He tapped his pen on the desk. He needed somebody and, as Julie said, Maggie was qualified. Now he and his ex-wife would be spending ten hours a day, six days a week together.

He looked over at her just as she looked at him and the years between them melted away. Her eyes weren’t as wary as they had been when she walked in the door. Her smile was genuine.

Doubt rumbled through his soul. In the sea of women that he’d dated since he’d hit puberty, she was the only one he’d loved. It had taken almost five years to really get beyond her leaving; years before he stopped hoping every ring of the phone was her calling; years before he stopped looking for her in crowds. One five-minute conversation had already brought an avalanche of memories. This was not going to be easy.

Don't forget! The prologue for SECOND CHANCE BABY is up on susanmeier.com!

And SECOND CHANCE BABY is out now!

The BABIES IN THE BOARDROOM series completes next month with A BABY ON THE RANCH. And, believe me, it was worth the wait. :)

OH! Almost forgot! COMMENT FOR A CHANCE TO WIN a copy of SECOND CHANCE BABY. Then check back on my DearReader blog on Monday May 30 to see if you're the winner. Winner must provide me with his/her snail mail addy within 10 days of the announcement.

So comment! And get a chance to win SECOND CHANCE BABY.

And don't forget the FREE story on the HAPPILY EVER AFTER section. If you're reading the series, you'll love Gino's story!

Susan Meier Ezine April 2011

Hey! Happy April!

There is no month I like better than April. Why? My birthday. LOL No matter that I add an extra year. I still love the day...the whole month actually.

So for me there is no better thrill than having a book out in the month I love. Especially when it's the first book in an amazing series.

Why do I call this series amazing? Well, first off, the characters just sort of appeared to me one day. And each came with a fabulous backstory. But, second, their romances were a cut above the romances I'd written before.

Darius is a wealthy bachelor, who, with the deaths of his parents about a year apart, suddenly realizes he's alone.

Except he's not really alone. He has some half-brothers. Nick and Cade. Products of affairs his father had. He doesn't like them. They only serve to force him to share his inheritance. But when they discover there's a fourth Andreas son, at the reading of the will, and this son is only six months old...and Darius gets custody...shared with his father's beautiful attorney...Well, let's just say Darius's whole world changes.

Especially when he finds out Whitney isn't just a smart, beautiful woman. She's a widow.

Whitney is so devistated by her loss that she doesn't want to come back to the land of the living, but getting custody of Gino forces her to at least pretend. Falling in love with Darius, however, will press her smack dab up against all her fears and force her to face them.

It's a wonderful story. (If I do say so myself! LOL) I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts after you read it.

This month, I'm posting lesson 2 of THE POWER OF QUESTIONS workshop. Follow me through the next few issues of this Ezine and you'll get the whole workshop.

Remember, there are three free workshops on susanmeier.com. Goal Setting, The 10-Minute Solution and How to Analyze the Books You Read.

I'm also posting my schedule for online classes this year and some links that will take you to short stories and "prequils" I'm posting on my website. In fact, go to the website right now and you'll find "What Happened Before" for Darius. How did he become the person you'll meet on Page 1 of THE BABY PROJECT? It's a neat way to get some information that didn't make it into the book.

There's a Cat Tail. What issue would be complete without a story about Sophie or Fluffy?

And an excerpt from THE BABY PROJECT.

So enjoy! And meet me back here next month for the next lesson in THE POWER OF QUESTIONS and some dish about SECOND CHANCE BABY!

susan

For the Writers Among Us!

Lesson Two: Core Story Question

Like it or not, every time a reader picks up a romance, she expects certain things. Every time a reader picks up a thriller, she expects other things. Every time a reader picks up a sci-fi, she expects a totally different set of things.

And how do we know what readers expect from every book in the genre or subgenre currently popular?

Because at its heart every genre and subgenre has a core story question.

Every genre or subgenre has its own "signature" question that makes a book fit that genre. It’s a marketing tool for booksellers to know how to shelve books, but more than that it's also a tool that helps an author keep his or her book focused so it not only results in a tight book. . .it also ensures a book hits its market.

Some of you are going to rebel against this because you WANT to be writing mainstream. You WANT to appeal to a broad audience.

I agree. I applaud you, but don't turn away the tool that might jumpstart your story and give it enough focus that readers will love you.

For instance. . .

In CJ Lyons’ workshop, Thrills, Chills and Spills, How to Write the Modern-Day Thriller, she says, the story question of a mystery is Who. Who done it? LOL. The protagonist works to figure out who killed the cop, who murdered the mom, who blew up the bishop. Who done it?

The story question of a thriller is how? How will your protagonist save the world (albeit his or her own personal world) from the evil villain intent on destroying it?

That’s pretty obvious stuff. But how do YOU as author use it? How can it make writing your book easier? How can it make your book better?


To answer those questions, let’s look at the movie AIR FORCE ONE with Harrison Ford.

After the plane of the president of the United States is hijacked and most of the secret service agents on board are killed, it's pretty clear that the president is going to have to save himself. So the question becomes how.

How will an aging military hero save himself when he's trapped on a plane, has no weapon, is outgunned and the villains are using his family against him?

Did you notice what I did there? I took the broad and general 'GENRE' question for a thriller (How will the protagonist save the world) and turned it into a concise story question for a specific story.

Because that's what makes your book unique. If you’re writing a thriller, the way you twist or turn or enhance YOUR version of “how will the hero save the world” is the way you make your book great, or different, or unique.

So right off the bat you need to know what genre you are writing so you know how to direct your story, but once you know that, you can manipulate the question with your story facts and make your story the best it can be.

Why is this important? Very simple. If you can write a clear, concise story question, you can show yourself (and potentially an editor) that your story fits your genre, making it marketable. Even better, as we did with the core story question for AIR FORCE ONE…you can almost “outline” your story for yourself to keep yourself on track.

Think it through. Is the AIR FORCE ONE story question not a mini-outline?

How will an aging military hero save himself when
he's trapped on a plane,
has no weapon,
is outgunned
and the villains are using his family against him?

We first hear that Harrison Ford is an aging military hero in the setup. The press is questioning his ability to do his job – President of the United States - because he’s getting up in years. He was elected as a hero. Now he’s getting old. He’s not the guy the American people elected.

Then the terrorists take over Air Force One, and he realizes he’s trapped.

But he can’t do anything because he has no weapon. So he knocks somebody out and gets a gun.

But guess what? One gun against five isn’t such good odds. (LOL)

So he stealthily “takes” the terrorists one by one.

Until he’s coming so close to having the upper hand that the terrorists tell him (over the loudspeaker) that they have his wife and daughter, more or less forcing him to give up.

That’s pretty much a summary of the plot points. And the core story question contained all that. So, the core story question created for this movie contains the highlights, or plot points, of the story.

And you can do that too. The trick is…Know your core story question for your genre, then give it life and energy with the specifics of your particular plot!

But Mystery and Thriller aren’t the only two genres. My followers are typically romance writers, so I know that lots of you write romance. So let’s breakdown the core story question for Romance. . .

The question of a romance seems to be How? How will the hero and heroine get together?

But that isn’t really a romance. You have to take that question one step further. The real question is: How will the hero and heroine get together in spite of their differences – and the intense internal conflict (incorrect core belief) that separates them?

Why did I add more to the original question? Because all romance novels have conflicts. If you didn't have that distinction in your core story question, the answer to "How will they get together?" could be that a neighbor arranges a date and they have seven more dates and, boom, they get married.

You'd still have a book, but you wouldn't have a romance novel because your story wouldn't be rich or deep in the way that today's romance novels are. So adding the conflict into the core story question reminds you that you must have a conflict that keeps your novel focused.

How about a coming-of-age story? This isn't a genre. It's a story type, but story types also have a core story question. . .For a coming-of-age story the core story question is: What will it take for the protagonist to learn his lesson and grow up?

Let's look at the coming-of-age movie Sixteen Candles. As the heroine and her family prepare for her older sister’s wedding, the heroine is bummed because it’s her birthday and nobody’s noticing. Her lesson is. . .seriously. . .LOL . . .THIS is her lesson:

You will have lots of birthdays in your lifetime but your sister (hopefully) will only have one wedding day. It's time to grow up and not be a special princess today and let your sister have her wedding day in the sun.

So the core story question is…What will it take for our heroine to realize she will have lots of birthdays in her lifetime but her sister (hopefully) will only have one wedding day, so it's time to grow up and not be a special princess today and let your sister have her wedding day in the sun?

Let’s look at the movie a little closer to prove to you that this really is the core story question (LOL!) . . .

At first we sympathize with the heroine. It's her birthday, nobody remembers. We're a tad bummed for her. But as the story progresses and everything goes wrong with her sister's wedding, we suddenly realize the heroine is sixteen, having one of many birthdays, her sister is getting married. Hopefully for the one and only time in her life! This is a more important day to her sister. And everything that can go wrong is going wrong!

Amid all the craziness of the wedding, our heroine comes up against the lesson she needs to learn several times. Instead of truly learning her lesson, she 'pretends' it doesn't matter that everyone's forgotten her; but it does. She sighs and accepts. But deep down, she still feels bad. Then finally, finally, in the end she goes beyond acceptance, to actually being happy for her sister and we realize she's grown.

The implication is that in a coming-of-age story the protagonist has to have several opportunities to 'grasp' the truth, face the truth, learn his or her lesson, and though he or she grows a little bit through every stage of the story, it takes several tries before she gets the lesson completely.

And could you, if you were writing a coming-of-age story, use those “opportunities” as plot points for your story? Couldn’t you put them into your core story question and make it very easy to focus and direct your story? Of course you could!

So your assignment for today is to figure out the core story question for your genre/subgenre/story type and then modify it to fit your story.

If you're writing a romance, mystery, thriller or coming of age, you’re in luck! We’ve done half your work!

If you’re writing something outside the examples I gave, you've got a little more work to do!

susan meier
THE BABY PROJECT, 4/11, Part of the BABY IN THE BOARDROOM mini-series from Harlequin Romance

Coming Attractions


Release of THE BABY PROJECT, April, 2011
SECOND CHANCE BABY, May 2011
BABY ON THE RANCH, June 2011

April
http://starrwa.org/on-line-workshops/

April 4 – 29, 2011: Can This Manuscript be Saved
SUSAN MEIER IS ONLY OFFERING THIS CLASS ONCE IN 2011!
Instructor: Susan Meier
Deadline to Register: April 3, 2011

Course Content: Rejected? Can’t get an agent? Can’t sell, even though your critique partners LOVE your work? Susan Meier reviews the seven most common rejection catch phrases and explains how determining whether your problem is a story, scene or word problem, a first step on the road to recovery. She’ll shares tricks-of-the-trade to finding and fixing your errors before you submit. Following the assignments at the end of each lesson, attendees will learn how to “skim-read” their manuscripts quickly, marking specific problems with post-its. Susan also demonstrates how to use a storyboard, a list of twenty and a one-paragraph blurb to create a plan of attack for fixing your book’s trouble. She can’t revise or rewrite your manuscript for you, but with her tricks you’ll not only see how to revise the book of your heart; you’ll also see how published authors are able to write four, five and even six books a year without breaking a sweat!




August

Journey Steps. NEORWA (Info not up on site yet!)

http://www.neorwa.com/index.php/Workshops/Workshops

Journey Steps, Taking the Train to Somewhere

Ever wonder what you’re supposed to “put” in between those four or five turning points of your story? Susan Meier’s Journey Steps, Taking the Train to Somewhere provides quick, easy solutions for any author who has ever wondered “now what?”

Topics include the “magic formula” for plotting, the list of five, explanation of plot threads versus subplot and tricks for writing an “edge-of-the-seat” read. Learn to tell your story in one straight-forward paragraph that can be used for pitches! Beginners, intermediate and experienced authors will benefit from this workshop.

And ... for the first time ever...In October, I will be doing a 4-week workshop for Pennwriters PREPARING FOR NANO!

Cat Tails!

Poor, sweet Sophia is sitting around the house waiting for spring. She's a hunter. She doesn't like this sitting-around-the-house stuff. Last week, the weather was exceptionally warm but there was still snow on the ground. She'd paw at the door. I'd open it and she'd see the snow and look back at me as if to say, "You have got to be kidding."

So now she doesn't paw at the door. She sits on the window sill and sighs!

Hopefully, by the time this is out, she will be too!




Excerpt

THE BABY PROJECT

Chapter 1

“The Andreas brothers have arrived.”

As the secretary’s announcement came through the speaker phone, attorney Whitney Ross turned from the window in her father’s law office. The gathering January storm clouds above the New York City skyscrapers concerned her, but the Andreas brothers’ visit would be every bit as tumultuous.

Gerard Ross pressed a button on his phone. “Tell them I need five minutes.”

He caught Whitney’s gaze, his green eyes bright with something she decided was a cross between trepidation and humor.

“You’re enjoying this.”

“Not enjoying exactly.” He grimaced, leaning his round body back in his office chair. He rhythmically tapped the blotter on his cherry wood desk. “How about if we say Stephone used his will to accomplish a few important things?”

Though Whitney had never met Stephone Andreas’s sons, Stephone had been a close friend of her father’s. He’d come to dinner at least once a month from the time she was six, and had talked about “his boys” incessantly. So she suspected she knew what was going on. The senior Andreas had always believed his three sons needed a kick in the pants and it seemed he’d finally found a way to give them one.

“You persuaded Stephone to use his will to force them to grow up.”

“This is about more than growing up. All three are smart. All three are good businessmen. Any one of them could take over the family holdings. But not one of them has a sense of loyalty or family.”

“And this is where the will comes in?”

“Yes. Stephone gave everything important to his oldest son, Darius. Whether or not that divides them for good or forces them to unite all depends on whether Darius takes the reins like a true leader and unites them.”

He rose and headed for the black leather sofa in the comfortable meeting area in the corner of his big law office. After he sat, he patted the spot beside him, indicating this is where she should sit for their upcoming meeting.

“But before I bring the brothers in, there’s something you need to know. Missy had something put in her will for you that Stephone agreed would also go into his.”

Whitney took the seat he’d offered. “Missy put something in her will for me?” She wasn’t surprised. Missy Harrington had been her roommate from the time they were freshman at university the whole way through law school. With an alcoholic mom and a dad who’d left when Missy was young, Missy had adopted Whitney’s family. For seven years, she’d shared every holiday and most of her vacations with the Rosses. Though Whitney had hardly seen her since she introduced Missy to Stephone, when they’d run off to Greece together, Whitney and Missy had a strong bond.

“She didn’t exactly leave you something. In accordance with Stephone and Missy’s wills, you and Darius got shared custody of their son.”

Her stomach squeezed. “What?”

“Okay. Look. It’s been three years since the accident that took Burn and Layla. And though I hadn’t known Missy and Stephone would die so soon when I let them put this provision in their wills, it’s still time you came back to the land of the living.” Her dad pulled a small envelope from one of the files in the stack on the coffee table. “She left this note for you.”

Her hand wrapped around the envelope and she paled.

“Stephone wanted Darius to raise their son, but Missy was adamant about you having joint custody. The Andreas brothers are rich and spoiled. And they don’t even know their father had another son. It’s anybody’s guess how they’ll react when they find out. I believe that Missy made you co-guardian to assure Gino was also in the hands of someone she trusted.”

“But I don’t know Gino either! When Missy and Stephone moved to Greece, we lost touch. I’ve never met Gino. I’ll be no better for this baby than his brother.”

He caught her hand. “You might not know Gino, but Missy knew you. She knew you had a sense of family. A sense of right and wrong. You’ve also been a mom. You’ll get to know Gino and, as young as he is, Gino will grow accustomed to you too.” He squeezed her fingers. “Besides, you need this.”

She tried to bounce off the sofa, but her dad held fast to her hand. When she faced him her eyes were blazing. “No! I don’t need this! I’m fine!”

“You’re not fine. Otherwise, getting custody of Gino wouldn’t make you angry.”

He pressed a button on the phone on the coffee table that sat in the center of the circle made by the sofa and three black leather chairs. “Cynthia, bring in Gino, please.”

Whitney’s heart stopped. Her stomach rolled. Her head spun. For the past three years, she’d avoided even being near a baby. The scent of baby powder, the feel of snuggly blankets, the sight of someone so tiny, so helpless, and so beautiful would have been her undoing. And now her father wanted her to take a baby into her home?

The side door opened and Cyndy Smith walked in carrying six-month-old Gino Andreas in a baby carrier, along with a diaper bag and duffle.

Her father squeezed her hand again. “Your mother and I have been keeping Gino during the Andreas funerals, but it’s time you took him.” He rose and accepted the baby carrier from Cyndy. “Thank you, Cyn.”

She nodded and her blonde hair bobbed. “You’re welcome, sir.”

As Cyn left the room, Whitney’s father set the carrier on the sofa, pulled Gino out and presented the dark-haired, dark-eyed baby boy to her. “He’s yours, Whitney.”

Knowing there was no arguing with her father or he’d send her back to therapy, Whitney slid the envelope into her jacket pocket and took the six-month-old with shaking hands. He immediately began to cry.

“Don’t cry, sweetie,” she crooned, automatically pressing his head to her shoulder to comfort him. “It’s okay.”

Her instinctive response to his crying amazed her, but she wasn’t surprised by the pain that sliced through her – the memories that flashed through her brain. Her daughter had been a tiny blonde with huge blue eyes. She’d rarely cried. Except when she missed her mother. She’d loved bananas and puppies. To Whitney she’d seemed the smartest baby on the face of the earth.

Tears filled her eyes. Her stomach tightened.

She couldn’t do this.

Maybe she did need more time with Dr. Miller?

But before she could say anything to her dad, the office door opened. Wearing jeans, cowboy boots and a cable knit sweater, Cade Andreas entered first. Behind him was Nick, the dark-haired, dark-eyed brother who most resembled the senior Andreas. And finally Darius. Taller than their father, but with eyes and hair as dark as his, striking in his expensive business suit, Darius was very clearly the leader of the group.

Their expressions were solemn, yet strong. Almost arrogant. The head of the Andreas family was dead. They now controlled one of the largest shipping conglomerates in the world.

Or so they thought.

She glanced at the baby in her arms. For the first time in three years she felt a swell of protectiveness only a mother could feel, and she understood why Missy had given her custody along with Darius. The Andreas men were strong. Maybe too strong. And babies needed love.

The question was did she have any left to give?

* * *

“Are you kidding me?”

Darius Andreas gaped at Gerard Ross, his deceased father’s attorney, then his daughter Whitney Ross, a tall, cool blonde with gray-blue eyes who looked nothing like her short, round father. The pair sat on the black leather sofa. The Andreas brothers sat across from them on three black leather chairs. Beside Whitney was a baby carrier and inside the carrier was a baby boy who looked to be only a few months old. His black hair and dark eyes marked him as an Andreas as clearly as Gerard Ross’s pronouncement did.

“I assure you, there’s no joke.” Gerard leaned back, getting more comfortable. “This little boy is your father’s final son. There are four of you now.”

He picked up the will and began reading again. “It is my wish that the remaining two-thirds share of Andreas Holdings be divided equally among my four sons: Darius, Cade, Nick and Gino.”

Gino.

A baby.

His final half-sibling was a baby!

Darius sucked in a breath, forcing that to sink in, but it wouldn’t. His brain had frozen. He was stunned, speechless, and working not to lose his temper over something he couldn’t change. Silent Nick and Cade appeared to be equally shell shocked.

Finally, the business sense Darius had trusted his entire life came to his rescue. “I want a DNA test.”

The smooth leather sofa sighed when Gerard sat forward. He looked down at his entwined fingers then caught Darius’s gaze. “Your father might not have married Missy Harrington, but he’s named on the birth certificate as Gino’s father. Had Missy not died with your father, you might be fighting her for the company right now.”

“I still want DNA.”

“I understand you’re surprised—“

“Surprised? How about shocked? First, our father calls us to the hospital after the accident to tell us that he gave one-third interest in the company to his first administrative assistant. So we’ll never fully own our own damned company. Then he tells us we have no sense of family and unless we pull together we’re going to lose everything he built. Then he dies. Just like that.” He snapped his fingers. “Now you’re telling us there’s a fourth brother?”

“Mr. Andreas, the very fact that you didn’t know your father had another child is proof that your sense of family leaves a bit to be desired.”

Darius nearly cursed. Who was his womanizing father to tell him that he had no sense of family? His father had abandoned his mother. Hell, Stephone had abandoned him until he was in his teens. And then he’d only appeared in Darius’s life because he wanted to assure that Darius went to a good university so he could be groomed to work for Andreas Holdings.

“For decades our father preached that we shouldn’t take family troubles to outsiders.” He rose. “Yet it looks like that’s exactly what he’s done.” He reached for the baby carrier. Now that the shock was receding, things were beginning to sink in and make sense. He didn’t really need DNA to tell him this was his brother. His father had been living with a thirty-year-old woman. It was no shock she’d gotten pregnant. Gino had all the physical markings of an Andreas. With his father’s name on the birth certificate and Gino’s name in the will, this little boy was family. And his father wanted him to care for him. So he would. Unlike his two brothers, Darius always did want their father asked.

“We’ll take our brother and go now.”

Whitney held back the carrier. “Dad?”

Gerard said, “There’s more.”

Darius just barely controlled his rising fury. “More?”

“You, Darius, get custody of Gino but you share it with Whitney.”

He turned his heated gaze on her.

Her yellow hair was probably pretty, but she had it rolled in a tight, no-nonsense bun at the back of her head. Her gray suit hid any hint of the body beneath it. He caught the gaze of her blue-gray eyes. In spite of the fact that she dressed to downplay her appearance, Darius felt a click of attraction. And it was mutual. He saw the flicker in her pretty blue orbs.

“It’s up to you how you divide Gino’s time. If you want to have him three days a week and Whitney four, or if you want to have him for two weeks a month and Whitney two, whatever you choose is up to you two. But she will vote his share at your board of directors meetings.”

This time Darius did curse. But he quickly pulled in a breath, struggling to rein in his temper, and glanced again at Whitney. The click of attraction he’d felt when he’d first looked into her eyes turned into a current of electricity that zapped between them. They were definitely attracted.

If this were any other day, any other time, any other circumstance, he would have pursued her. Peel off a few layers of clothes, take down her hair and he was just about certain he’d find paradise.

But those eyes, those pretty Persian cat eyes, told him to forget it. It didn’t matter if they were attracted to each other. They had a job to do. Raise Gino.

Together.

* * *

Whitney stayed perfectly still under Darius Andreas’s scrutiny, though warm, sweet attraction hummed through her. She ignored it. He was a gorgeous man with his dark, brooding good looks, tailored suit made to accentuate his broad shoulders and trim hips, and commanding personality. Any woman would react to him. Simply from the way his other brothers hadn’t even spoken since introductions were made, it was clear that Darius was the brother in charge. And that was very sexy.

With piercing his onyx eyes boring into hers, she suppressed a shiver. But she wasn’t worried about falling victim to the attraction. Attractions frequently grew into relationships and relationships made people vulnerable. The pain that had followed the loss of her husband had been indescribable. She’d never put herself through that again. She’d never even let herself get close. She couldn’t be attracted to Darius Andreas. She refused.

Darius squeezed his eyes shut in disgust and popped them open again. “All right. Fine.” He motioned for Whitney to follow him. “Let’s go.”

“Go?”

“If this baby’s on the board, he’s working for a living.”

Whitney’s dad laughed. “Very funny, Darius.”

“I’m not laughing. My father left the company in a sad state. There’s work to do. And nobody’s excused. Since your daughter has his vote, she’ll pull his share of the duty.”

“That’s preposterous—“

“Dad,” Whitney interrupted her father. “It’s okay. I’ve never been one to shirk my responsibilities.” She straightened her shoulders and looked Darius in the eye, accepting his challenge. If he thought he’d intimidate her on day one, he was sadly mistaken. She could handle a little work. “If everybody’s working, then I will too.”

“All right,” her dad agreed, “but before anybody leaves there’s one more thing.”

Darius turned. His dark eyes were ablaze now.

Whitney’s dad looked from Darius to Cade to Nick and back at Darius again. “With your father’s former assistant in possession of a one-third share of Andreas Holdings, and four brothers sharing the other two thirds, you don’t have to be a math scholar to know that individually none of you has controlling interest in the whole company.” He glanced from Darius to Cade to Nick again. “Your father has instructed me to allow the benefactor of the final one-third interest to remain anonymous until she decides how to handle her position. She’s in her seventies, so she may simply want to sit back and enjoy the profits. But if she decides she wants to be active in the company, you had better be united or Andreas Holdings will end up being run by somebody other than an Andreas.”



Don't forget to go to susanmeier.com to read What Came Before...The beginning of Darius's story!