Welcome my friend and fellow Austin Romance Writers of America member Alexa Bourne to this stop on her promotional blog tour for her newest book, Dance Away, Danger.

Sensible dance instructor Tessa Gage likes her life organized, risk-free and on her own terms. But when her cop brother goes missing and his crooked partner tries to kill her, a handsome stranger claims he’s come to protect her. With more dance and business sense than survival skills and no idea who to trust, Tessa has no choice but to rely on this man who’d rather be anywhere but by her side.

When carefree carpenter Matt Rylan gets a late night call from an Army buddy who once saved his life, he finds himself where he never again wanted to be—responsible for someone else. Honor demands Matt cooperate, but he never expects his simple babysitting job to test the limits of his self-control. Nor does he expect it to explode into a race against time for his very freedom.

As Tessa and Matt get closer to the truth, and to each other, Tessa learns to step outside the safety of her world to help set the wheels of justice in motion. For Matt, supporting this courageous woman suddenly becomes everything to him.  Yet, his biggest challenge remains sharing his closed-off heart with her before the danger silences them both forever.

Bio:

Alexa Bourne is a teacher by day and a romance writer by nights, weekends, and all school holidays. She also teaches online classes for writers throughout the year. She writes romantic suspense and contemporary romance and is thrilled to have the chance to share her stories with readers everywhere.

When she’s not concocting sinister plots and steamy love scenes or traveling and exploring new cultures, Alexa spends her time reading, watching brainless TV, and thinking about exercising. Find out more about her and her books on her website, www.alexabourne.com.

Get to know her better.   Random questions.

What drew you to write in the genre(s) you do?

I write in contemporary romance and romantic suspense. I’m more comfortable with romantic suspense. I can’t say why, but I think it’s because as a young child the TV shows I watched and the movies I saw were suspense. The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman were my favorites and the only Disney movie I remember seeing as a kid was The Rescuers. With those for entertainment I guess it’s no wonder I love suspense!

What has surprised you the most about being published?

I’m still amazed with how much of this job is more than actually putting words on a page. There is so much “paperwork” involved and sometimes it gets overwhelming.

Where do you read and how often?

I love to read on the couch. I definitely don’t get to read as often as I’d like.

Which of your characters would you most/least to invite to dinner, and why?

I’d actually LOVE to invite Jason, the heroine’s brother in Dance Away, Danger , to dinner. He’s only a secondary character in Dance Away, Danger, but he’s fascinating. Originally he wasn’t even in the story, but he was just so complicated and demanding. In the end, he has a very interesting part to play in this book AND I’ll be working on his own book later this year.

What will always make you smile, even on a bad day?

The laughter of a child. I love the carefree sound.

Complete this sentence. When I want to relax, I. . .

Write. Writing, being creative when putting a story together, makes me comfortable.

Who’s your celebrity crush and why?

I have two. 1- Matt Damon, because he plays my favorite fictional character, Jason Bourne, and because he’s a nice guy who gives back to his community. 2- Chris Hemsworth, because….I kinda think he’s hot. I don’t know enough about him as a person so for now I just have to be shallow and appreciate his appearance.

ALEXA: I hope you’ll visit the sites I’ve been lounging around on this past week. I’ve been sharing something different about Dance Away, Danger each day. If you leave comments anywhere along the way, you’ll be in the running for a Dance Away, Danger prize pack!

1/7-8- Just Romantic Suspense  http://www.justromanticsuspense.com/

1/9- Get Lost in a Story  http://getlostinastory.blogspot.com

1/10- RomCon  http://www.romcon.com/blog-romantic-suspense-thriller

1/11- JF Ridgely’s Blog http://rpridepublishing.wordpress.com /

1/12- Happily Ever After Thoughs http://www.happilyeverafterthoughts.com/

1/13-SJ Maylee’s Blog http://sjmaylee.com

1/14- Gretchen Rix’s Blog   http://gretchenrix.com

1/15- All Romance Ebooks http://www.arecafe.com/

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Away-Danger-Hanover-Haven-ebook/dp/B00HPAWYSY/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389143717&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=alexa+bourne+dance+away+danger%2C+version

Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dance-away-danger-alexa-bourne/1117971061?ean=2940148199755

All Romance Ebooks:

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-danceawaydanger-1389725-149.html

BACK TO GRETCHEN RIX. My new short story collection came out last week. TWISTED RIXTER, devilishly twisted short stories by the author of Arroyo and Talking To The Dead Guys.  TWISTED RIXTER can be found here http://amzn.com/B00HQ0PH1O.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  The Baron and the Bluestocking by G.G. Vandagriff.  The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman.  Grave Passage by William Doonan.  Rusty Nail by J. A. Konrath.  Let’s Get Visible by David Gaughran.

By the time I finished Whittled Away the author had made me care about the characters. That’s a roundabout compliment, because there are way too many realistically detailed Civil War battles in this novel to be my sort of book. And Phil McBride definitely makes you feel like you’re in the middle of the action. But I kept on reading anyhow.

DISCLAIMER: Phil’s one of my critique partners in the small town we both live in, so naturally I’d be reading his books.

Phil’s put a lot of research and accurate detail into his one, which is a little too much for me, but not for his target audience. If you like military history (and lots of it), and especially if you’re interested in Confederate soldiers’ experiences, this is your book.

Whittled Away is about the decimation through war of the Alamo Rifles Company K of the Sixth Texas Infantry regiment as they experience the Civil War from the Confederate side (obviously). There is a reason he named it Whittled Away. Harrowing at times, at other times humorous, enlightening, horrific, Phil takes two fictitious friends through the hell of war, prisoner of war camp, triumph and defeat.

I’ll be reading it again someday, especially if I need inspiration writing about war, battles, and soldiers.

WHITTLED AWAY  http://amzn.com/B00EBYO372

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Whittled Away by Phil McBride.  Stuck on You by Heather Thurmeier.  Release Me by Julie Kenner.

You can find the novels and short stories of Gretchen Rix at http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

I did this last year (making an effort to buy e-books from my indie-published Twitter followers).  I  think it’s what we indie-published writers need to do–buy some of our peers’ works.

I’ve spent the past two days trolling through my Twitter feed to find what I’ll buy next.

Seumas Gallacher has been nice to me (as one of his Twitter friends). I’m considering his books http://amzn.com/B008H45KJC .

Robert Storey  had a very enticing come-on for one of his books, plus it’s only 99 cents. I seriously considered his book and then bought it. http://amzn.com/B009XGVBDM.

 COME FOR THE BBQ, STAY FOR THE PARADE!  OR COME FOR THE DICKENS FESTIVAL, STAY FOR THE BBQ! Either way you can’t lose. This upcoming Friday night, and all day and half the night Saturday is the A DICKENS CHRISTMAS IN LOCKHART festival. If you’re young enough you’ve never seen a small-town old fashioned Christmas parade, you’ve got a chance to see one Friday night at seven. If you’ve never come to Lockhart to see its beautiful courthouse or taste its famous barbecue, here’s your chance.

Close by are Smitty’s and Blacks. Out on the highway is Kreuz. And just about on the corner near McDonalds is Chisholm Trail. Each one different, each one memorable. And if you don’t want barbecue? Well, you’re pretty much out of luck. Lockhart isn’t called The Barbecue Capital of Texas for nothing.

On Saturday there be vendors, and I’m one of them. We’re selling my paperbacks ARROYO, THE COWBOY’S BABY, TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS, and my newest, THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN. At our booth we’re also featuring our friend Patrick Kampman’s two YA horror novels CHANCE IN HELL and THE HAUNTING OF PICO. I’ve read them; they’re good. Bargain prices, too.

And if you’re looking for old cookie jars, we’ve got a few for you.

There are other vendors, too. And meet the rest of the local authors at book signings in the historic Dr. Eugene Clark Library all day Saturday. There are carriage rides, a petting zoo, glass blowers, a bird show, Aztec dancers, and lots and lots of local school choirs and dancers.

If it rains, we’ll be there. If it snows, we’ll be there. If it’s eighty degrees (not going to happen), we’ll be there.

This is the way we sell my paperbacks, folks. Face to face at the local festivals, and sometimes at the Farmers Market. While some of the local stores also sell my books (and those of the other local writers), mainly LOGOS, and BookPeople in Austin, the hand selling is what has worked best for us (go buy one of my books at BookPeople!!!) If you are also a writer, this is something you should try.

Photos by Roxanne Rix. Book covers by Glendon Haddix.

You can find all my books and stories at http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: The Case of a Cold Trail and a Hot Musket by Janet Christian.  The Scroll Lawyers by R.J. Jagger.  Diving Into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

This is off topic, but one of these days I think I’m going to copy one of the densely-packed Cialis spam comments I get weekly and put it up here, just for the hell of it. (Don’t worry. Won’t ever happen. But I’m tempted).

I’ve recently joined a local writer’s group where we read and critique each other’s work. My fellow writers are pretty damned good.

There’s Janet Christian, author of the published mystery Marianna Morgan, PI  The case of a  COLD TRAIL and a HOT MUSKET http://amzn.com/B009NW7W1G   .

Janet owns and manages the Chisholm Trail Ballroom, an event center where weekly she hosts a free “bad movie” night. They feature live music most weeks, too.    She’s been happily participating in the NaNoWriMo event that’s just about over.

http://chisholmtrailballroom.com

Then there’s Tam Francis who’s shopping her chic-lit novel The Girl in the Jitterbug Dress to agents this year. She’s the literary writer in our midst. She writes short stories, too, and is compiling the best of her ghost stories for publication early 2014. You can see more about her at  http://girlinthejitterbugdress.com

Philip McBride is another of my critique partners. He’s a Texas Confederate soldier re-enactor who’s working on his second historical novel. His published novel is Whittled Away.  http://amzn.com/B00EBYO372

And then we’ve got Wayne Walther, a local clergyman who lets us dissect his sermons and has started showing us  his science fiction WIP. He is featured with a chapter in Volunteers in the African Bush: Memoirs from Sierra Leone  http://amzn.com/B00B9INVGC

And me. I’m taking advice about several of my completed short stories, one of which will appear in my upcoming collection Twisted Rixter. They found an embarassing error I’d missed, helped with the title, and gave me confidence that the story was indeed good. Writers often can’t tell this about their own work, as I’m sure you know.  My books can be found here

http://kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=gretchen+rix 

and here http://smashwords.com/books/view/105559

and here http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix

and here http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

My just published novel is THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN http://amzn.com/B00G99P8WG  

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  After Dead by Charlaine Harris.  Smith’s Monthly #1 by Dean Wesley Smith. Crazy In Love by Lani Diane Rich.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

Magnificent Guns of Seneca 6 by Bernard Schaffer.  Hitler’s War by Harry Turtledove.

Photos by Roxanne Rix. Card design by Molly Humphrey.

All covers by Streetlight Graphics. Books available at Amazon.com.

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

And you can get it here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://amzn.com/B00G99P8WG

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Rescuing Rosalind by G.G. Vandagriff.  Doctor Sleep by Stephen King.  Love and the Proper Fantasy by Dean Wesley Smith.

WHAT I WATCHED THIS WEEK:  The Pit and the Pendulum.  Identity.  Chamber of Horrors.  Scream 4.

NOTICE: For an email alerting you to when my new books come out,  sign up at  

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

First of all I’ve decided to follow in Dean Wesley Smith’s footsteps and sit down to write this blog without a plan, without a clue, with only the directive to write. It works for him (he puts out enjoyable stories and novels using this very same technique), and I have done it to modest success before as well.

I call this my off season. I’m in limbo waiting for my cover artist and formatter to finish with The Cowboy’s Baby Goes To Heaven so I can publish it by November, although I certainly don’t have to be. I’ve got a story to edit, two novels to complete, and a critique session to participate in. I don’t need to simply wait and anticipate, but I seem to have some sort of block about wanting to see something that’s this far along actually published before I dive into the next thing.

So, as you can see below, I’m immersing myself into the spirit of the season by watching horror movies. My goal is one horror movie a day for the whole month of October, something I used to do regularly before 9/11 took the wind out of my sails and left me depressed all through the rest of that year. I have never yet completed a whole month of October and the horror movie marathon since then. Until now, maybe. Gosh, there’s only eight days to go.

Some of these horror movies leave me feeling bad as well, but pretty much not the ones I actually select. I’m leaving the really ugly ones alone and going for the over-the-top or the atmospheric or the just plain silly ones. I could swear we had Scream 4 in the house, but we don’t. I’ve added it to my Netflix list.

What should you take from all this? Number one: my new book’s going to be available in November or shortly before. It’s a romantic comedy that leaves readers smiling, if not laughing. I’m really pleased with it and the cover that’s emerging from Streetlight Graphics. THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN. Number two: it’s probably better not to follow my lead about taking time off to see your next book launched. But if you find yourself in what you think of as writer’s  block, following Dean Wesley Smith’s pattern of just sitting down at the computer and putting fingers to the keyboard is the best thing you can do.

Follow Dean Wesley Smith’s progress writing this year through his blog

http://deanwesleysmith.com

And see my books and stories at

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix 

Also available for Nook and Smashwords readers.

Photos by Roxanne Rix.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  The Fall by Annelie Wendeberg.

WHAT I WATCHED THIS WEEK:  The Phantom of the Opera.  Unearthed.  White Zombie.  Willard.  Secret Window.  Scream 3. Drag Me To Hell.

Monday started the two-week formatting and cover gauntlet I am running to finish my next book THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN.I have been working with Streetlight Graphics for several years now. I can’t recommend them too highly. See their work here at http://streetlightgraphics.com

Here’s what I’ve done so far. My formatters started with the CreateSpace paperback book formatting first. I’m used to doing the Kindle e-book first, but the order is no problem. I made up a list of eight things to double-check on the initial finished manuscript they returned to me.

1. Problems I saw while simply rifling through the file.

2. Page numbers. I checked to be sure all the page numbers were there and in their proper place.

3. Headers. It says The Cowboy’s Baby Goes To Heaven on one page and Gretchen Lee Rix on the other.

4. Chapters. All Chapter numbers have to be accounted for.

5. Front material.

6. End material.

7. I check to make sure every page starts in a logical manner and ends in a logical manner. This is my shorthand solution to reading the novel all the way through ONE MORE TIME. If the last sentence on a page continues onto the first line of the next page and seems to be the correct one, then there’s no way anything was lost or transposed on the rest of that page.

8. The indented margins. I take my cursor and put it at the first indented margin that isn’t part of the first paragraph of a chapter and follow it down to the bottom of the page. Then when I get to the next page (this is for paper books), I move it to the other appropriate indented paragraph and then down to the bottom of the page. Everything on the left hand side of the book should align perfectly.

Obviously, all of this takes time and most of it is quite boring. Plus you can get a twinge of carpal tunnel if you try doing too much in a hurry. When I get the corrected draft there should be no reason to repeat much of the above, though it would be smart to do so.

I can’t wait to see what the cover is going to look like!

Photos by Roxanne Rix.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Well, I’m reading several books still, but I haven’t finished.

WHAT I WATCHED THIS WEEK:  THE MUMMY.  THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.  SCREAM.  SCREAM 2.  THE HITCHER. THE INVISIBLE GHOST.

My books and stories can be found at

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

 http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix

http://smashwords.com/books/view/105559