Dolph Lundgren, the Pirate

The other day I was running errands around my small North Georgia town and chatting via my car's bluetooth (drive responsibly, people) with my best guy pal, Viktor. You've heard me mention Viktor before and if you haven't, you should check out an earlier post on my blog page titled, Dolph Lundgren in a Field...
Anyway- so there I am, on my way to the bank, navigating traffic that well exceeds the amount of people in this town and wondering does anyone around this place even work like a standard 9-5 job.... Apparently, no. They do not.
Viktor and I are talking about my latest book, Diesel and the fact that pending edits, it's finished. (It's Christmas Miracle)
As I've said before, Viktor is an extremely talented story teller and can always be relied upon for help when I get stuck or write myself into a corner with my own work.
As he's always apt to do, in the middle of our conversation, he starts telling this fantastic tale centered around how awesome it would be if we co-wrote a romance novel featuring, none other than Dolph Lundgren, who some of you know I've adored since I discovered the difference between boys and girls.
Viktor regaled me with how this epic love story would begin by Dolph's character discovering a shipwrecked damsel who had been enroute to the new world to marry a man she'd never met. Swept away by the dashing pirate Dolph, she agrees to accompany him to Nassau where he's determined to return her to her family and she develops alternative plans that lead to steamy romance and wild adventures.
Our conversation lasted through the banking experience and on to the post office, which is located on the complete opposite side of town; so approximately 15 minutes but with the holiday traffic, it became more like 30. As we continued batting around story ideas in jest, a real story line began to form in my head though I didn't confess this to Viktor. I went home later that day and fleshed out the first chapter just to see what would happen. The next day, I wrote another chapter and now we're up to four, almost completed.
Most of Viktor and I's conversations usually end up in some form or fashion centering around Dolph and I wonder occasionally if Dolph would appreciate being the focus of so many wild tales. Probably not. For instance, a few weeks ago, Viktor and I were again discussing my favorite celebrity and he asks me:
Viktor: "If Dolph showed up at your door and asked you to run away with him, would you leave everything behind and go?"
Me: Resoundingly, no. I would not. For a few reasons.
Viktor: Which are?
Me: 1. If Dolph Lundgren showed up at my house professing his undying love for me I'd have no choice but assume he's out of his ever-loving mind. He'd have to be crazy. I'm cute, but I'm also 4'11, chubby and poor. Why would he want a hobbit when he can have supermodels and hot actresses? I already have enough crazy in my life and I don't need more. Even if it does come wrapped up in a smoking hot dude who is every thing I ever found attractive in a man.
Viktor: What's the other reason?
Me: Well, I've been married for a long time and while penises do come in all shapes and sizes, they also come with exact same attachments... dirty socks, an inability to accept that the 'little woman' might be right when she tells you to read the directions, and a ingrained belief that the washing machine has a terminal contagious illness attached to it which he'll contract if he washes his own underwear.
Viktor had no response for my answers because well... he's a guy.

That said, while this story is not so effortless as Diesel has been and has required some hardcore research on my part, it's shaping up nicely and I'm loving the ease of its flow.
The male lead's name is not Dolph in the story, just in case you're wondering but he does bear a striking resemblance to the rugged Swede, who is more than just a pretty face, but a brilliant mind as well.

Once again, if you'd like to follow me on face book you can do so by visiting https://www.facebook.com/caribbeandreaming/
Twitter- @LucyMagilicutt2
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The Smell of Diesel...

There's something to be said about a strong heroine and her strong male counterpart. There's also something to be said about a book that practically writes itself. For the last month, since the conclusion of my daughter's wedding, which had taken up all my free time for the last six months, I've been writing non-stop. From the time I get out of bed until I get back in it. In all my years of writing both professionally and then later, as a hobby (I still don't consider myself an actual author), I've never felt the drive or the need to bang out a story the way I have with this latest.
The idea for Diesel, both the title of the book as well as the main character, came to me earlier this year after meeting a particular woman named Liesel. Something about that name called to me and I began to think; what if she were rough around the edges, street savvy and capable of surviving on her own but also, refined and intelligent? What if she worked in a blue-collar predominately male field but there was this wealth of knowledge outside of that realm? What if you threw her into a relationship with a man who was living the exact life she was, but in reverse? A Harvard educated attorney with a privileged life and a secret bad boy streak? Before i knew it, I had the first three chapters written on the memo app of my phone.
I wish that I could accurately describe the colorful characters in this book without giving too much away, but I can't. I am so excited for the edits to wrap up on this book because it's killing me not to share it. I've loved each and every book I've written as well as the characters they contained- some more than others, but I fell in love hardcore with the entire crew of Diesel.
To write successfully, I believe you need to become immersed in the lives of the characters you create. You need to feel them, emote with them and identify with them in some form or fashion as well as make sure each one has its own identity and I won't lie, that's something I've struggled with in the past. For this project though, it was as if they were begging to be brought to life; to be born in the creative context in which they developed their own personalities and habits that really had little to do with writing ability on my part. They just suddenly were. There was no forcing them to become.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Diesel will be released early 2017 but you can be sure I'll keep you posted the minute it happens.

Until then, here's my author page on facebook https://www.facebook.com/caribbeandreaming/, if you want to give it a follow, or you can find me on twitter @LucyMagilicutt2.

Texan and a new project...

I was finally able to sit down and finish the edits for Texan a few weeks ago. It's been a crazy, but amazingly wonderful year, so it was only fitting that this book wrapped up towards the end of 2016. It published just a few days before Thanksgiving and I was thankful. Thankful that after 20 years, Morgan and Joe's story finally saw the light of day and thankful that I didn't have to look it at anymore.
As good as you may think something you create is (and I think Texan is a great story); you still get sick of seeing it after so many drafts and I was wholly sick of that book. Whether I was sick of it or not though, I was elated and overjoyed with the way it turned out.
There's some books that just seem to write themselves. Texan wasn't one of them. Maybe the first draft back in 1996 flowed easily, but after picking it up again, nearly five years ago, I gotta say, it was slow going. I dedicated it to my daughter and if you read my blogs, you know why.
Kids, man.... (Insert facepalm here)
While Texan was a harder book for me to write, even if I did love the characters and their story- the new project I'm working on is literally pouring out effortlessly. I'm excited about it. More excited than I was for either Bimini book; even to the point that I'm dreaming about this new project- literally.
Writing can sometimes be a bi-polar experience. You get all these thoughts and feelings in your head/heart and you know they're not yours. They belong to the characters you're creating. But, if you're creating the character, doesn't that in some way mean that they're actually YOUR feelings and YOUR thoughts? Maybe writing allows the writer an opportunity to explore those subconscious articles of emotion and emote them in the form of fiction which allows us to deny ownership? I don't know. I just know that these new individuals are coming to life on paper in a way I've never experienced before. It's more personal, somehow. Darker. Grittier. And unlike anything I've ever written or thought I would write.
The momentum to which this project is progressing has me a little surprised. I'm a pretty big procrastinator when it comes to writing because I abhor editing so much. I also hate sitting still. If we're friends on facebook, likely you've seen my mother type-yelling at  me to get a book finished. I've got about a ten page production average under normal circumstances and I'd have told you a few weeks ago that was on a good day. Lately though, because this story has taken on its own life, it's more thirty to forty pages daily, causing me to go without showering, washing dishes, and to ignore texts for fear of distraction or losing the train of thought I'm riding. Yeah, I'm breaking all kinds of personal records over here... Is there a record for how many days one can stay in the same pair of pajama pants? (I'm only sorta kidding when I ask this question.)
With Texan or either Bimini books, it was more of an, "Oh, I wrote two pages... I guess I'll go get a shower and fix my hair..." Which led to doing laundry, playing with dogs, catching up on Netfix, mopping floors and just about any damn thing else except parking my ass in front of my computer.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this new productive streak I've found keeps up. If it does, perhaps I'll be able to release this before the end of 2017. At any rate, wish me luck.
Peace out, my pretties.

You'll find the link for Texan included here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MTS1MRU
And in the event, you'd like to follow me on facebook, my author page is this: https://www.facebook.com/caribbeandreaming/
Twitter: @LucyMagilicutt2