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CAPTURED BY DESIRE – Tour, Author Guest Post and Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY NOW  CLOSED

CAPTURED+BY+DESIRE
From the Publisher:

In 16th century Scotland, young Miss Florie Gilder runs away from her drunken foster father to find her real father and her noble heritage. Along the way, she is accused of theft, becomes a fugitive hiding in a forest, and is accidentally wounded by a handsome local huntsman. The huntsman–a Robin-Hood figure who poaches wild game from the landowner’s estate to feed the starving poor–carries the beautiful maiden to a church where she is guaranteed 40 days of sanctuary from the law. During that time, he learns her true story, falls in love with her, and helps her in her quest, at the risk of his own life.

I’m honored to have a guest post from Kira today.  
 I asked her how she continues to come up with fresh ideas.  
Here is her answer!
“First let me say I’m delighted to have been invited to your blog.  Sometimes we authors get immersed in our virtual world, and it’s nice to emerge once in a while to speak to real people!
I’ve been asked the question many times–where do you get your ideas?  This question used to puzzle me.  I think it’s because ideas are bombarding me constantly.  I can’t imagine NOT having ideas.  Maybe that’s the blessing/curse of creativity.  I have more ideas than I could ever possibly turn into books.
Sometimes the kernel for a story comes from history.  Maybe I’m watching a show on the Discovery Channel about a burial site where an unusual sword has been discovered.  Suddenly I’m wondering who that sword belonged to, who made it, who might have been wounded by it.  Dozens of story possibilities enter my head.  The book I’m working on currently was inspired by the chilling epitaph on a Scottish gravestone about a woman killed in battle.
Maybe I’ll stumble across an odd medieval profession–say, a thimblerigger (a scam artist) or a chapman (a traveling salesman) or a fletcher (a maker of arrows).  Instantly, I start thinking about what kind of man or woman would do that kind of work, what their day would be like, who their job would bring them in contact with for romantic possibilities.
I occasionally learn some interesting tidbit of historical information from a reenactor, which can translate into a scene or an entire character.  For instance, a Renaissance fair knight demonstrated to me that hugging a man in full armor isn’t terribly comfortable.  I also learned a series of tricks from a medieval magician that ended up in one of my books.
Events in today’s world can offer up ideas for historical plots, too.  I might hear a news report, witness an interesting real-life situation, or have a problem of my own that can be translated into the past with interesting results.  If I learn, for example, that a lady rear-ended a police car and ended up dating the officer, I think, how would that translate into medieval times?  A damsel with a runaway cart might crash into the pavilion of the local lord.  Thus begins a tale.
I once wrote a novella based on the stuck-in-the-elevator episode that happens in a lot of TV shows.  In my story, instead of an elevator, the hero and heroine are trapped in a secret passageway beneath a castle that’s under siege, but the emotions and the conversations aren’t much different than what they might be today in that stuck elevator.
Another device I like to use when coming up with fresh ideas is reversing the expected gender of the characters to turn a stereotype on its head.  In one of my books, I had the heroine kidnap the hero, and in another, the scam artist cheating men out of their coin is a woman.
I’ve never had writer’s block.  Sometimes if I feel like I’m painting myself into a predictable corner, I just do something else for a while–go for a walk, see a movie, have an adventure.  Usually a fresh idea will pop into my head.  In fact, my best ideas invariably come to me when I can’t write them down–while I’m driving the car or taking a shower!
If you like to write, how do YOU generate ideas?  And how do you combat writer’s block?
I hope you’ll find lots of fresh ideas in CAPTURED BY DESIRE, and as always, I hope my stories keep you up all night!”

So I’m sure that you are ALL excited now, and want to know more.

Okay – so who wants the chance to win a copy?
Well then it’s your lucky day, because thanks 
to Anna and Hachette, I have 5 copies:-)
Here are the Rules:
Giveaway open to residents of the US and Canada.
Hachette will not ship to P.O. Box addresses.
To Enter: Leave a comment with a valid email address.
Extra Entries:
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Please be sure to leave a separate comment (with email address)
for EACH entry.
Giveaway ends at Noon Central Time
August 30th.
Good Luck Everyone!

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