Hot Boyz/Hot Girlz Virtual Christmas Party on Marissa Monteilh's FB Page 12/20/11

Okay, so if you want a chance to win this gorgeously classy yellow Dooney & Bourke handbag, all you have to do is 1) purchase Hot Girlz on Amazon or B&N (now reduced to $4.99/Kindle and Nook) between now and 12/19/11, 2) email your receipt to ylgore74@gmail.com by noon EST on 12/20/11, and 3) come to my FB page on Tuesday, 12/20/11 at 8:00 p.m. EST to see if your # is chosen by a special guest - it's a Hot Girlz Virtual Christmas Party where we'll also give away: a Hot Girlz tee-shirt, 2 book copies, a Bath & Body Works gift card, and a bottle of red-berry Ciroc (for these items you do not need a proof of purchase, just be prepared to answer ?'s about the Hot Boyz series - proof of purchase is required for the handbag - value $300). Merry Christmas from Marissa Monteilh!

www.facebook.com/marissamonteilh

Please join all 6 GA Peach Authors this weekend - 11/19/11 @ 12 noon!

Hot Girlz: The Hot Boyz Sequel

In the continuing tradition of the hit novel Hot Boyz, celebrity, sex, money, and violence are all components of the long-awaited sequel called Hot Girlz, a family drama that explores the lives of three women, Mercedes, Venus, and Sequoia, the wives of wealthy brothers, Mason, Claude and Torino Wilson. This time it's seven years later as the housewives return to tell their stories. The ladies quickly prove that even with their fancy cars, big homes, designer clothes, and luscious spending sprees, the scandalous drama still continues in the upscale neighborhood of Ladera Heights, California.

If you enjoy family drama and the ups and downs of marital relationships, you won't want to miss Hot Girlz, which hit the shelves on October, 29 2011! And remember, this sequel to Hot Boyz will be followed up by the final in the trilogy called L.A. Husbands and Wives, in October of 2013. The Wilson family is not done just yet!

HOT GIRLZ - Amazon - Link

Hot Girlz Book Video!

.

Twenty (20) days and counting until the release of Hot Girlz, the sequel to Hot Boyz. This is my first sequel and I'm so excited! Wanted to share the new book video that my son did for me. I'm smiling ear-to-ear - enjoy!

It's all a blur!

Help! What has happened to my eyes? I have five pair of reading glasses, two that are hiding from me (guess I need my glasses on to find them) and three that I have either on my desk, in my purse, or on my nightstand. I'm far sighted - I can see the very top of the roof across the street and tell you if there's a dime or a nickel on the third shingle from the right. But close up - please!

My granddaughter actually reads the price tags for me when we shop - how sad/cute is that? Now, I am glad to have my eyes and my sight and I'm happy to be able to see at all, far away especially - I don't need glasses when I drive, so yes, I am blessed. I love my eyes.

Don't get me wrong.I just can't help but to wonder if I would need to rummage through the dollar store eyeglass section (1.75 to 2.00) as often (and yes, I have gone to the eye doctor for prescription glasses, I lose those, too) if I weren't a writer. Also, these days we all use computers so much and the strain we put on our eyes is worse than ever.

I watched a report on CNN that said young children are in need of glasses at a younger age now because they're playing games on small screens and using computers. We use our cell phones and that adds to the problem. And yes, we're reading books on devices, many on screens that are smaller than actual books themselves.

After four to six hours of writing (sometimes more) I force myself to stop and give my eyes a rest. My eyes can get red and dry, so I use eye drops often, but my eye doctor told me that our eyes can get addicted to the drops and we shouldn't use them too often. If we do use drops, the artificial tears type brands are better.

So, this post is a way of checking in with my fellow writers to see if I'm in the minority on this or not. I've had great 20/20 vision for years - this just started about six years ago, though it is also true that I'm no spring chicken so maybe this would've happened anyway.

All of you young folks who laugh when grandma pulls out her spectacles, beware! You, too, could one day have five pair, three that you can find and two that are hiding from you! I'm just saying!

Authors, don't sit too long, stand up and stretch out those legs, and don't stare too long, give those precious eyes a rest!

Ciao

Writing a Sequel! Whew!

Most of my books thus far have been stand-alone titles. From May December Souls to Something He Can Feel, I hadn't written a continuation, mainly because I was too excited about all of the new ideas popping into my head - I was eager to bring the new storylines to life.


I will admit I noticed that most of the successful authors who had soared beyond mid-list status had written serials, with unforgettable franchise characters that readers bonded to, and looked forward to revisiting ASAP. And also, I received many emails from readers who wanted to know if there'd be a sequel to my books, mostly Hot Boyz, Something He Can Feel (which I felt was odd because . . . well, I just did), and Dr. Feelgood. My reply was always kind of a, "we'll see," because what always popped into my head was a conversation I had with a dear author friend years ago during which we vowed not to return to a story (actually we said we'd kill them all off, I know, mean huh?), probably because we didn't look forward to revisiting, and also, just to keep it simple and increase our chances of writing, "the one."

Well, I've changed my outlook since then because some of these characters have been unforgettable to me as well. It is true that Hot Boyz has been my bestselling novel to date. The Wilson family was entangled into so much mess, even some unanswered questions, that I felt it was time to give it a shot and bring them back, seven years later, but this time it would be the housewives of Ladera Heights who'd do the talking. And so, I wrote the sequel called Hot Girlz, which is part of the Hot Boyz trilogy, coming out on October 29, 2011. The final book in the trilogy, L.A. Husbands and Wives, is set for 2013.


And in-between, in 2012, I'll bring back Dr. Makkai Worthy from Dr. Feelgood, in a book called Dr. Feelbetter (working on the cover now). Ever since Dr. Makkai Worthy found that note on his windshield at the very end of the book that read, "I will get my daughter if it's the last thing I do. This I promise you, Dr. Feelgood. This I promise you. Love, Delicious," readers have asked about the release date for the sequel. And I will admit that in my Author's Note, I promised such. I am guilty as charged, but I left that publisher and moved on, and the next publisher wanted a different book, so I focused on that. But I never forgot.


While I'm excited about all of the revisits, focusing on some of the soap-opera type drama of previous characters that readers have grown to care about, I will say that from an author standpoint, I give serious kudos to my fellow authors who've been able to write book after book with pretty much the same main characters, bringing them back again yet still staying true to the original theme, cast, setting, issues, details, follow-through, dialect, locales, issues, cravings, phrases used that identified an individual way of communicating, etc., etc., etc. It's much more challenging than I thought it would be.


The good thing is, I know these character's issues so well, it's like a family reunion, though so many books have gone on in-between, so the first thing I did was re-read Hot Boyz, taking notes, and for me, I've had to create a continuation spreadsheet to go along with the character resumes that identifies skin-tone, line of work, pet's names, schools attended, where they lived, the visuals and sounds and feel and smell that was, mixed in with what is to be. It takes organization, focus, and time. And readers will know if you've messed something up, like making someone single with children when they were married without kids, you don't follow-up on an issue that was pivotal, you neglected to mention what happened to an ailing parent, or how in the hell someone who was serving life for murder, is now out of jail yet you didn't explain why and how. Not everything needs to be rehashed, but in my opinion, key issues and drama need to be addressed and followed-up on.

So, high-five to the authors who bring back franchise characters and revisit storylines. I'm excited by the challenge, the possibilities and the reader's reactions as Hot Girlz: the Hot Boyz sequel, hits the shelves in late October. But, yes, I still have a couple more stand-alone titles in me that I will give birth to. I'll keep you posted on their delivery dates as well. Until then, I'll be in labor.

To my dear readers, do you prefer sequels to stand-alone titles? Inquiring authors want to know.

Until next time - write on!

Plotting a Story (link)

Sometimes I get questions on how to plot a story. I've found this link to be very helpful as far as breaking down how to do it. I hope you find it helpful as well!

Write on!

http://www.wikihow.com/Plot-a-Story