addisonbrae

People constantly ask me where the ideas for the colorful bar patrons in Becker Circle come from. Are they real people? Did this stuff actually happen? The raw truth is sometimes yes and sometimes no.

The world is full of quirky people—often more interesting than I can make up, like Whistle Bitch, one of the servers in Becker Circle. She was a real bartender we met in an all-night bar/diner near the Space Needle in Seattle. She whistled quite well while she worked and earned the nickname from her coworkers. She’s one of my favorite characters in the book.

A couple of weeks ago, I encountered a server in a bar that will likely show up in a future novel. Two friends and I had just been to an amazing P!NK concert at our local Dallas arena. Afterwards, we grabbed a drink at a bar across the street. One of my friends bumped into a waiter at the server station on the way back from the ladies’. He stopped her and said, “I’m already lost in your eyes.” She’s married and honestly not that gullible, so she rolled those eyes he’s lost in and ignored him.

A group of 30-40 something-year-old small town ladies had ventured into the big city for the same concert. We were standing outside the bar about to call our ride when we heard them speaking very loudly. These ladies were giggling about the photos of his junk a waiter had just showed them—actions that might land him in a book someday. Same waiter, it turns out. I asked if they at least knew his name before seeing his privates. Yes, they did, but none could remember it. The event entertained these ladies. A few cocktails likely had something to do with their reaction, but all three of us were shocked they didn’t see anything terribly wrong with what happened-especially after seeing such an empowering P!NK performance.

I’d love to hear your crazy stories! Please message me on Twitter, Facebook or on my website if you’re willing to share.

Truth is often better than fiction.

Tweet this:   These ladies were laughing about the photos of his junk a waiter had just showed them—actions that might land him in a book someday. https://addisonbrae.com/?p=1046&preview=true #BeckerCircle #TruthorFiction #Reading

Welcome Constance Bretes, author of Jade’s Redemption, a romantic suspense that deals with the most complicated situation – stepping into a professional environment where the heroine has to deal with her own guilt while she falls for her boss. I got to chat with Jade, the heroine about how she did it. Read on to learn more.

Patrick is an overworked police chief, and Jade’s a disgraced cop. Can he rescue her from her own depths of hell without losing his heart to her in the process?

Someone is kidnapping newborn infants and selling them to the highest bidder. Police Chief Patrick Carter has his hands full investigating the case. To complicate matters, he’s short on staff.

Jade Harlowe has secrets, ones that she vowed no one would ever know. She used to be a police officer, but when a tragedy occurred—one that everyone held her responsible for—she resigned and moved to another state to start over, accepting a job as a dispatcher for the police, fire, and ambulance departments.

When Patrick discovers Jade’s past police experience he offers her a job on the force. He needs help working the kidnapping cases, and Jade previously solved a similar case, so she could be a valuable asset. But will they be able to fight the attraction that’s sizzling between them? Something that could be very distracting if they can’t control it.

The clock is ticking. They have to find those babies and prevent more from being taken. But a very nosy news reporter may compromise everything if she digs deep enough to uncover Jade’s past.

Neither Patrick nor Jade thought they had room for each other in their lives, but working so closely together makes it impossible to deny the chemistry. Can Patrick break through the wall Jade has built up around her, or will her past finally catch up with her and she loses everything once again?

Hi Jade. Thanks for sharing more about you with us.

Addison: How would you describe yourself in a personal ad?
Jade: Reserved, quiet, love to run, love flowers, non-judgmental.

Addison: What would you change about your life if you could?
Jade: The past hangs over me like a black cloud never moving or going away. I can’t forgive myself.

Addison: What would you like to change about yourself, and how would you do it?
Jade: The one thing I would change is what happened all those years ago, when I disobeyed orders and pursued a criminal who robbed a bank, and a civilian lost her life. If I could do it over again, I’d obey my boss’ orders to stay put until backup arrived.

Addison: What are your thoughts on love?
Jade: I never believed or thought I’d find love and fall in love until I met Patrick. I was always afraid that if they found out about me, they would walk away. As it turned out, he already knew about me before he hired me on the force.

Addison: What are you most afraid someone might find out about you?
Jade: I am responsible for a baby’s death.

Addison: What’s in your fridge right now?
Jade: Hardly nothing, I eat carry outs.

About Constance Bretes
I started writing contemporary romance and contemporary romance suspense fifteen years ago, and after multiple rejections, got my first contract for Delayed Justice, released in 2014. I live in Basin, Montana, where three feline furballs own me and my husband. I currently have seven books published, and a number of other ones in various stages of edits. Learn more about Constance on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads or email.

Find Jade’s Redemption on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and iTunes.

 

 

There’s no better way to bring a story to life than with film. That’s why we authors love a trailer to help promote our books. The experience creating the Becker Circle trailer was fun, sometimes overwhelming, and incredible. It was easier because I have some video experience as a marketer, and I had lots of connections and luck on my side.

The first and one of the toughest steps is cutting 90-someodd-thousand words down to about 150. I drafted four script options and landed on a hybrid of two. It’s tough to find the right balance of intrigue without revealing too much. Thankfully, I have a friend who’s an experienced, talented videographer who created the trailer. Together we watched about 300 examples, looked for what we liked and didn’t, and created our approach based on the script.

Location and cast were next. We identified a pub we both knew. The owner was flexible as long as we shot on a Monday or Wednesday and didn’t disrupt business. Location, check.

Since I’ve been working on a number of videos for clients with this producer/director, I had access to talent. During these shoots, I asked the talented actors if they knew an actress that could pass for the protagonist in the cover art and is also building her reel. We found the perfect person. The actor who recommended her agreed to play the male lead, which was great since they were already friends.

We shot in three locations – packing a car, on the freeway and the main shoot in a pub. The car scenes seemed simple, but dense fog blanketed downtown Dallas and caused us to postpone.

Scheduling the main shoot in the pub had its challenges. We found a date the location, cast and crew was available, and put the call out for extras. We were ready. Then our actress got the flu on shoot day. We scheduled a backup date and put another call out for extras. We showed up on shoot day and found the manager I made the arrangements with had been let go. (Oops!) Luckily the owners knew and the bartenders allowed the show to go on.

Editing is a critical part of the process. It takes special equipment and great skill to put the right footage together to tell the story, select music and add cover art, publisher information and a purchase link, which likely will require someone with graphics skills. With this trailer, we also recorded voice over, another step that requires equipment and skill. We loaded the final video on YouTube and started the marketing efforts, which will require another blog to explain. The video got almost 300 views in the first few days and almost 400 in a month before we replaced the video. We felt the voice over could be better, so we went into the studio and re-recorded. The version you’ll see is the updated one.

This video is full of talent. Dustin Grant, Pink Mouse Blue Mouse Productions, produced, directed and edited the video. John Harrell of Harrell Creative art directed it. Katlyn Folker plays Gillian and Rafeal Villagas plays Jon. And numerous amazing friends played the extras that make the neighborhood really come alive.

The trailer for Becker Circle turned out better than I could have imagined. My favorite words during the process…

That’s a wrap! 

Think about your history with reading. Many of us started out with board books and bedtime stories. Then elementary school when teachers used to have a moment of down time when they’d read a cool book aloud. Fast forward to the later school years when teachers assigned book reports and entire books by when? Next Friday? Write an essay during class? I won’t even start on college. It’s no wonder some lose their fascination with books.

Here are a few facts about reading that go way beyond what you might expect. According to the National Reading Campaign, reading reduces stress for 60%, slows heartbeat and relieves muscle tension. Reading is a stress fighter:  600% more beneficial than playing a video game, 300% more useful than a walk, 100% more effective than drinking a cup of tea, and 68% better than listening to music.

But this study found 42% of graduates never read a book after graduating college.

World Book and Copyright Day is the day that more than 100 nations celebrate books and reading. Celebrate this 23^rd World Book Day on April 23 by selecting and starting a book on a topic you truly love. Then celebrate yourself by finishing it.

Visit our countdown to World Book Day website and register to win $25 Amazon gift card or Kindle Fire!  Becker Circle marked day four of the countdown.

The reasons we read are different for everyone, so…

Read on!

Welcome to guest author M.S. Spencer, who’s introducing her latest romantic comedy mystery novel that sounds like a delightful read!

Thanks for letting me talk about my new cozy mystery The Pit and the Passion: Murder at the Ghost Hotel. Set on Longboat Key, Florida, it takes place on the spot where John Ringling began building a luxurious hotel in the 1920s. Left to slowly disintegrate over the decades, it inevitably came to be called the Ghost Hotel.

An unexpected skeleton, a quirky romance, and a mysterious ring lead to a deadline secret long hidden by the most major circus family in the world.

Enjoy an excerpt from The Pit and the Passion: Murder at the Ghost Hotel

 

Charity dropped the phone. After picking it up and waiting for the panicky breaths to slow, she said as calmly as she could, “Before I shell out any more money, you need to answer a few questions, mister.”

“Fire away. It’s funny—here in France I’m allowed not one but two phone calls.”

“I presume your first one was to the American embassy.”

“That’s next on my list. This may come as a surprise to you, but I so longed to hear your voice that I decided to check in with you first. Get the money ball rolling, as it were.”

“It’s always about money, isn’t it?”

“Well, in this case, it’s pretty crucial. The French police may be enlightened as to telephone communications, but not so much about accommodations. So what do you say?”

“I say, get on the horn to the embassy without ado.”

He was silent for a minute. Finally, he said gently, “Don’t you want to hear what happened?”

“Let me guess. You were caught in flagrante delicto with a beautiful fugitive from justice.”

“Not at all. My heart is true. I’ve been faithful to you even if you don’t deserve it.”

Charity decided to let that pass—and maybe revisit it later at her leisure. “Tell me then.”

“Well, said beautiful fugitive managed to turn the tables on me. I found her, but instead of consenting to come along quietly, she screamed bloody murder. In a performance worthy of Sarah Bernhardt—you know who she was, don’t you? The greatest actress of her age. The Divine Sarah. Why, her Tosca was emulated by thousands of would-be swans. I—”

“What did she claim?”

“Who? Oh, Isabella? That I—Rancor Bass, author of eleven wildly acclaimed books—had stolen her manuscript! The gall of the woman.” He subsided into incoherent rumblings.

“And?”

“And since this is France, the gendarmes refrained from asking any searing questions for fear of injuring the nymphette’s fragile sensibilities. They swallowed her line without so much as a tittle of qualm and arrested me. It’s appalling, really. These chaps are totally sexist. Chauvinist dinosaurs…”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Well, I’d love the money as soon as you can send it. How’s that done nowadays? They used to say ‘I’ll wire it,’ but I’m pretty sure technology has moved on. No matter, that was five hundred if you recall. I guess I can exchange it here—ooh, I just thought of something. It’s euros, isn’t it? Not francs. What a shame…this Eurozone crap has got to stop. It’s ruining all the color and spice of Europe. Did you know French farmers can’t sell cheese that isn’t pasteurized? Criminal.”

“Rancor? Have you by any chance not eaten in a while?”

“What? No, la bonne femme—that’s ‘wife’ to you Yankees—of Monsieur le Brigadier Dumont provided me with a cheese omelet and a Picardie glass of a refreshing Sancerre. Her name is Antoinette. A very warmhearted woman.”

I’ll bet she is. “All right, then why are you babbling?”

“I think it’s the cell walls—so close, so confining. They’re beginning to get to me. Did I ever mention I have claustrophobia? I’m trying to fend it off with logorrhea.”

“Logo…what?”

“Logorrhea. It’s like diarrhea except with words rather than…well, you know.”

To purchase, visit The Wild Rose Press, Amazon, iTunes, B&N, Kobo, or Google.

M. S. Spencer has lived or traveled in five continents and has published 11 romantic suspense/murder mystery novels. She divides her time between the Florida Gulf coast and a tiny village in Maine. Her upcoming novel is Flotsam & Jetsam: the Amelia Island Affair where two park rangers explore who’s at the bottom of three mysterious corpses found on the sand below Fort Clinch on Amelia Island. Learn about M.S. Spencer’s latest news and events. Follow her on her blog, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Last Saturday at the Dallas Book Festival, I spotted one of the library’s security guards reading a book. He told me he reads two to three chapters an hour during his 10-hour shifts and a book a week—all checked out from the library. Our conversation stuck with me. It’s debatable whether he should read on the job, but he didn’t seem to ignore his duties. And he certainly loves to read.

I’m the same. If I’m not doing something else, I’m reading. About two months ago, I started my signed copy of Dan Brown’s latest, Origin. It’s long—more than 450 pages. Now I’ll share way more than you want to know. I’m almost half finished—and I only read this book while I’m drying my hair about three times per week. It’s a mini escape that makes me look forward to a regular chore.

According to the National Reading Campaign, reading is a stress fighter:  600% more beneficial than playing a video game, 300% more useful than a walk, 100% more effective than drinking a cup of tea, and 68% better than listening to music.

World Book and Copyright Day is the day that more than 100 nations celebrate books and reading. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural Organisation-or UNESCO-proclaimed the date. Celebrate this 23^rd World Book Day on April 23 by selecting and starting a book on a topic you truly love. Then celebrate yourself by finishing it.

Visit our countdown to World Book Day website and register to win a $25 Amazon gift card, Kindle Fire and more!  My romantic suspense, Becker Circle, marked day four of the countdown.

My challenge to you is to pick a time to read something you enjoy.

Make every moment count!