Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Different Faces

"There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." -"The Love Song of J. 
Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot 

I've always loved that quote. A professor of mine in college offered it as a definition 
of persona. It resonated with me immediately. 

I have many different "faces," as I'm sure many of us do. And those faces morph 
and shift depending on the social group I'm with. This doesn't make me superficial or 
lacking in character (in my opinion). It makes me human. Humans have an innate social 
need to be accepted.  A fundamental desire to fit in. There is only one place where I let 
a lot of my "faces" slip, and it's oddly enough in the very place you'd expect 
it to be most prevalent: in my role as Elizabeth. 

My name isn't Elizabeth. Hayley's name isn't Hayley. But those personas are the truest we 
have.  What we post, what we claim, and how we interact with people are the most 
authentic when we are using our pseudonyms because weirdly, we have the most anonymity 
then. But this is a crazy concept. How are we the most real when we're the most 
anonymous?  

The answer's simple: the women behind the curtain have no constraints because we still 
get to have the luxury of going out into the world, meet the faces that we meet, and do 
so without the judgment we'd surely receive if we spent 24/7 being Elizabeth and Hayley.  
Because let's face it-those bitches are nuts. 

So why the hell am I writing this?  I had no idea when I started really.  But as I type, 
I find that I have an overwhelming need to say thank you. Thank you for allowing us to be 
the most ourselves with you. Thank you for letting us drop the mask, and meet you all 
"face-to-face."  Thank you for allowing us to turn "there will be 
time" into this IS our time. Thank you for knowing us, and liking us anyway. 

Monday, March 17, 2014

My Writing Process- Blog Tour

Author Alison Bliss, a totally rocking writer and best critique partner on the planet, invited us to participate in the My Writing Process Blog Tour.  So here we are.  Alison's romance, Rules of Protection, will be released by Entangled Publishing in the summer of 2014.  Check out her website here: http://www.authoralisonbliss.com 

Our romance novels: Pieces of Perfect, Sex Snob, Picking Up the Pieces, and novella Perfectly Ever After are all available for download on Amazon.  And don't forget to follow us on Facebook.  We get into all kinds of shenanigans on there!

Okay, here are a few questions we were asked to respond to.  

1) What am I working on?

We're beginning to plot out our fifth book. It will be a slight departure from the characters we normally write. A little lighter in the sarcasm, but the humor will still be there. And our hero is going to be a hot as sin doctor. 

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?


We're different in that we don't seem to fit into a particular genre. We don't follow conventional romance guidelines, and we're not quite explicit enough for erotica. We actually kind of pride ourselves on thinking outside of the box and giving readers a unique reading experience. 


3)Why do I write what I do?


Because we're dirty-minded little minxes. We're both very sarcastic and love to laugh, so the humor in our books flows naturally. And sex is a natural element in most adult relationships, so to write without it seems lacking in vital details. But mostly, we write what we'd love to read. 


4) How does your writing process work?


We plan out a few chapters at a time and then divvy them up. Once one if us completes a chapter, we edit the other's work. We write on Google Drive so that we can work on a document simultaneously. We go back and forth with comments until we're satisfied with the product. Next we share it with a critique partner or two and revise it again.  After we edit in Drive, we print the manuscript in hard copy.  Then it’s out to our beta readers, back to us for one more set of edits, and then out to the reading public!   


And that's our writing process! Now we want to introduce you to our author friends who will be discussing their writing process next week on March 24th.  Hope you love them as much as we do! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Elizabeth Hayley


MJ Carnal

MJ Carnal is a writer of Adult Fiction.  Born and raised in Ohio, she now resides in Lexington, SC.  Her passion is writing and she loves to live in the world she creates.  Her Moretti Novels are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iBookstore.

Blog:  mjcarnalauthor.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook/mjcarnalauthor 

Twitter:  @mjcarnalauthor


Melissa Joseph

I'm the author of the 'Reunion Series' Books and the upcoming new series "The Sandy Cove Series" Mom by day, writer of contemporary romance by night. 

Blog: mrjosephwriter.blogspot.com


Facebook: www.facebook.com/reunionbook


Twitter: @redkar_m