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31 October 2012

Sisterhood of the Travelling Blog - Day 1 - L.S Broomfield



The first day of Sisterhood of the Travelling Blog is here! Please give a warm welcome to the guest author on my blog today: L.S. Broomfield,  as she talks about the inspirations behind the location her book is set. Comments are most welcome on our travelling blog, and anyone who comments or joins any of the participating blogs will go in the draw to win an e-book from one of the travelling blog authors. (A list of possible choices will be made available to the winner upon completion)



“Where in the world did that idea come from?”   

Sisterhood of the travelling blog – copyright L.S. Broomfield

Blog 1:

I have read books, magazines and short stories through the years and have often thought, Where in the world did they come up with these ideas?! I could never understand where an author would take one idea and build this intense, creative and stimulating world that lasted chapters and pages and with every turn of the page, or click of a button, somehow managed to keep me immersed in their make believe world, so much so, that I didn’t want it to end.
That very question eluded me for many years.  Until now.

I don’t exactly remember what I was doing when the Cruentus world took hold of me. All I had in the beginning were names and even searching for those were a task within itself. I didn’t want just any normal name; of course I had to make it hard for myself, right? Through the help of a past, dear friend of mine, she helped me find the name Cruentus. Immediately, I fell in absolute love with it and from there Dragos Cruentus was born.

He was a warlock and in my mind a badass. Arms and body riddled with tattoos and a mouth that a mother would love to wash out with soap. He was toned but not overly muscled and had the bluest eyes and the most sinful smirk that would make a female weak in the knees. I had no clear direction of where Dragos Cruentus would take me so in the beginning I wrote random things for him.

Why did I choose Italian roots? That’s a good question. Why did I? Well, I have always loved looking at pictures of Italy and have always been in love with the language. For argument sake, we’ll say he’s fluent for character integrity. So here I had this amazing character in my head, a warlock so I figured why not root his family from a place I have always wanted to visit. Italy.

But my vision didn’t end there. My vision of the Cruentus name grew and took on the life of not one but many. The first to enter the scene was Lucio Magus Cruentus, brother to Dragos. I felt there needed to be a yin to his yang. Where Dragos was firey, in your face and the mouth of a sailor; Lucio was milder, softer and a bit of a jokester. He enjoyed life and loved to live it. Dragos was definitely more serious in my mind. It was a perfect combination.

Over the months that followed the birth of Lucio Magus and Dragos Cruentus, my mind began to swirl of ideas, situations and even giving each old and new characters a greater depth. I felt I needed to explain Dragos and in order to do that I needed to show where he came from. How would I do that? By writing about his grandfather Arturo and his parents Donato and Emiliana.

The Cruentus world that budded from the mere name of Dragos Cruentus has completely ensnared me. It brought the desire to write and transformed it from a simple ‘want’ to write and made me feel like I needed to write it. So that’s how my creation began.

If there was something I could say to those wanting to start writing it’s this: Don’t get caught up in details, they’ll come. All it takes at times is just a name and a vision of your lead and then the rest will just breathe from that.

Copyright @ L.S. Broomfield

My blog entry can be viewed at this page:



Here is a list of the other travelling blog participants:






29 October 2012

SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELLING BLOG



Only two more days until the start of "Sisterhood of the Travelling Blog" and it's all systems go! I have my blog entry written up and all ready to post. It's been sent off to Patricia, as it will appear on her page along with my author interview. Come 31 October, I will be posting Lisa's blog entry on my page here. I can't wait to see this all unfold, I know there are going to be some great entries.

Another exciting thing that will be happening is - we'll be giving away an e-book at the end of the blog tour. All you have to do to be in to win is comment on one of the blogs in the tour. It couldn't be more simple! Plus if you sign up officially to follow any of the blogs particpating (by clicking the join button) Then you get an extra entry. A list of the books (By some of the authors in the blog tour) will be made available for the winner to choose from.



 (For a list of participating blogs, please see my previous entry on this page, where links are posted for easy access)

27 October 2012


I am one of the authors due to participate in a very exciting project, taking place from OCT 31 - 21 NOV 2012. Sisterhood of the Travelling Blog is a group of nine authors who would love to talk about and share our love of writing. We plan to cross post on each others blogs to give you the readers a chance to meet some new authors, and perhaps grant you the opportunity to read some exciting new books. There will be a topic every week, and through out the duration of the travelling blog, all authors will give an interview at some point. It's going to be a lot of fun.

I'm one of the first authors to give an interview, and I've just finished writing that up. I thoroughly enjoyed answering the questions, and can't wait to see how some of the other authors will respond. Next I will be preparing my blog post for the first round of the event. Stay tuned!

Here are the blogs of all the authors involved if you are interested in reading along:

16 October 2012


Here is an excerpt from The Mercenary:


The leopard continued to advance, taking his time. About an arm’s length away he stopped, sniffing the air between them. Lying down in front of Jodie, he never broke eye contact and she was too damned afraid to. When she refused to move a muscle the leopard slowly inched closer, keeping his pale furred form low to the ground. He appeared to be gauging her level of fear.

His paw touched the tip of Jodie’s shoe and she startled. The leopard shuffled backward with alarming speed, dragging himself up into a sitting position. Barely daring to breathe, she squeezed her eyes shut and counted to ten under her breath. It’s going to be okay. I’ve just been working too hard, my brain has gone a little crazy, and none of this is real.

Jodie opened her eyes and stared directly into the gaze of the leopard. The majestic animal sat very calmly at a respectable distance. It watched her with intelligence, never missing a single tiny movement. It’s waiting for something, she thought. Jodie felt drawn to the animal, and she couldn’t understand it. I should be paralyzed with fear, but I want to touch him. Why on earth do I want to touch him?

14 October 2012

End of Vacation


The school holidays (vacation) are finally drawing to a close. During most term breaks I struggle to keep my children entertained and find myself spending most of the long hours breaking up squabbles and separating trouble makers. These holidays however, it was a drastic change. 

At first I couldn't understand it at all and began to wonder if aliens had body-snatched the children or if I was about to wake up from some strange dream, but then I stopped to think about it. We kept very busy this time around. I visited someone different every day, or had someone stop by to visit us. We caught up with quite a variety of people, family and friends, even some acquaintances that I hadn't seen for years. They didn't act out because - quite plain and simply - they didn't have time to get bored.

For five days out of those sixteen I took the kids to the beach. What a glorious break away that was.The place where we stay is in the region where I grew up, and incidentally the region that inspired the fictional community of Redcliffe in my book The Mercenary. Even though I've lived away from this area for more than ten years, I always feel as though I'm coming home when I return. 

So the kids will be back at school tomorrow, and I will be back to my Acar tutoring and my seven year old writing groups/classroom activities. In some ways I'm really looking forward to it, but a small part of me does wish I could have stayed at the beach a little longer. Hopefully once the routines all fall back into place, I will also fall back into my regular writing rhythm. The Fury - which is the second book in the Therian Secrets series (And follows The Mercenary) Is already more than 55,000 words long. I'm off to a good start.

So where ever you are in your little corner of the world, I hope that the change of seasons has settled for you and all is well. I'm off to make a fresh cup of coffee and sit down to write. xxx

6 October 2012

Two new books in a month! Evernight Vol 2 is here!


Wow, the last month has passed by in a blur. Since the book release, my days have filled up with all sorts of unexpected tasks. I've spent a great deal of time working on promotional stuff for the book, and I've also been ploughing ahead with book two. I'm already half way in on the first draft, and my beta readers have the first few chapters to look over. A writer's job never ends! I am pleased I decided to make Therian Secrets a series as I am nowhere near ready to say goodbye to any of these characters.

In other news, Evernight Volume two has just  been released! We have some authors who appeared in the first volume, but we also have some fresh new talent. I urge you to check it out, there is some great stuff in there. If you like paranormal romance, you will find this collection deliciously satisfying. At $4.99 for 13 stories, its an incredible bargain. 

Don't forget too, that authors rely heavily on feedback and word of mouth. Please if you can, take the time to review what you read. It doesn't have to be anything spectacular in terms of length, even a few short sentences to express your opinion can really make a difference. And if you enjoy something, tell your friends. We authors really appreciate it.