A Little Bit of R&R: Guest Post & Giveaway(Adults only): Time For Death by Christie Silvers

Blurb: Liz Baker, a 32 year old small town bar owner, thought it would be a normal evening of sex in a cemetery with her longtime beau, until she spotted someone in the distance, and all normality in her world ceased to exist.
After several murders in her small town of Tremmel Crossing, Georgia, Liz comes to the realization that the murderer is coming after her, and he’s more dangerous than any human could possibly be.
With the help of her dead mother, bar bouncer, and cemetery lover, Liz learns that the murdering vampire was sent by her biological father to claim her as his own. Only then does she discover her real parentage and underlying special powers.
However, the vampire sent to claim her has powers of his own, most importantly the power to control her mind, emotions and desires. She wants him, needs him, her entire body aches for him, but she soon finds out that she must fight back to save the lives of her friends and loved ones. Only death will release her from Marcus’s powerful hold, but who will die first?

Writer's Block: What I do when I get stuck.

All writers deal with some sort of blockage in the flow of ideas from time to time. Some call it writer's block, while others refuse to believe that such a thing exists. While I do believe in writer's block, I don't believe that it lasts for weeks, months, years. After that amount of time you've pretty much given up and gotten out of the habit of writing daily. A few days is a blockage; a few months is surrender.

It could be a story that just isn't flowing the way I want it to. Or a scene that's leading me down a path I wasn't planning for. What ever the problem, I have a few simple things that help me get through the dreaded writer's block.

If I'm at home and a blockage starts to form--slow-forming sentences, more deletions than additions, easily distracted, etc.--I set the story aside and do housework. Usually it only takes a few chores for my mind to clear and the story issue to resolve itself. Laundry, sweeping, cleaning the kitchen, all are items I have to do anyway, so why not do them instead of sitting there staring at the computer screen wondering what the next word will be? After the kitchen is clean, or all the laundry is folded, I'm in a better mental place and have worked out what my next step in the story should be.

If the writer's block is so bad that housework doesn't fix it, it might be time for me to leave the house. I have two indoor dogs and two outside dogs that tend to enjoy their barking time. Not to mention the days when my phones never seem to stop ringing, or beeping (text messages). That's when it's time to run away from home, run some errands, go to the library, or just sit at the local park and enjoy the day. Getting out in public pushes me to step away from the writing environment, interact with new characters (yes, all the people I encounter are potential characters), and end up grabbing for my red notebook and any available ink pen to jot down the fix to my story problem. I suggest pulling off the road before doing that though.

Have you even noticed how mind-numbing weeding a flower bed can be? Pulling weeds out by the roots; getting your hands dirt; wondering if the neighbors can see your ample boobage falling out of your tank top while digging up the three foot tall milkweed you've been neglecting for weeks. I recently spent four hours over two days weeding one flower bed and the only thing I thought about was the story waiting inside. It was giving me one hell of a time and I didn't know what the next move of the main character should be. She was being stubborn and didn't want to listen to direction, so I just left her. Walked out the door, got my hands dirty, and left myself with a clean flower bed ready for new plants. I was exhausted, and filthy, but at least I knew what would happen next when I was finished. By the way, she wouldn't listen because she didn't want to go in the direction I was pushing her. Once I realized that the story moved right along.

I've heard many authors say they get their story ideas from dreams, and I've often been quoted as one of them. It's no surprise to me to find a resolution to a story problem hanging out in my dreams. For especially hard problems it might take a few nights for my subconscious to work it out, but in the end I wake up with an Ah-Ha moment and an ink pen flying across the page of my notebook.

While I always hope writer's block will leave me be during a new project, the fact of the matter is we all deal with the debilitating tribulations of a blockage from time to time. It's how you deal with the problem that will pull you from its death grip and push your writing career forward. Look writer's block in the eye and declare, "You can't hold me down, you big meanie head!" Okay, so that's my 7 year old talking, but it still works.

About the Author

Christie Silvers is a wife, mother, and writer of urban fantasy with a touch of naughtiness. Creatures that go bump in the night inspire her. From time to time those creatures turn to the saucy side of things and that's when Christie dabbles in the paranormal erotic side of writing. She never knows what the characters will do until they're already doing it, which makes for some interesting late night writing sessions.

Christie lives in north Georgia with her husband of forever, three daughters, four dogs, nine chickens, and numerous outside cats. Aside from reading, writing, laundry, rushing her children to a variety of school functions and trying not to have a panic attack while teaching her 15 year old to drive, Christie spends her spare time wondering when she'll actually have spare time to spare.