Excerpts here and there

Looking for places to read excerpts of "Princess Robin"? Well, take your pick:

Bookbuzzr.com Scribd.com AuthorsDen

Of course, you can always "try before you buy" through Kindle at Amazon.com!

Author Hang-outs

You might think from reading this blog that Princess Robin is my only book and my only project and you would be wrong.

Robin is a step into the Kindle world of publishing, but author Dana Taylor has been around...awhile. My first magazine article was published in the Ladies Home Journal in 1979. Echelon Press published my first book, Ain't Love Grand? in 2004 and there was always a lot of writing going on. Here are some places on the web to find more work:

Amazon Author Page (still under construction)
Fictionwise.com--search for Dana Taylor author page

and my latest endeavor,

SupernalFriends.com

See you around,

Dana
Princess Robin at Amazon Free Excerpt at Scribd

Simon the Magnificent

One of the greatest joys of writing Robin was finding Simon's character. I was tired of reading "girly-men" heroes (to quote my governor). I wanted a supremely arrogant man; a man who takes his superiority for granted.

Simon emerged as a sort of Henry Higgins on testostorone. He truly believes women are the weaker, inferior sex. As I wrote dialog I remembered the Henry's lyrics from My Fair Lady:
On men:
"Why can't a woman be more like a man? Men are so honest, so thoroughly square.
Eternally noble; historically fair"
On women:
"Their heads are full cotton, hay and rags"

So we have this guy with a very established world view of meek women who now encounters a brave, strong woman-in-charge: Robin. At first he totally dismisses rumors of the intrepid Princess Robin. No woman could possibly exist! Upon meeting her, she presents a puzzle, a mystery and ultimately a challenge. Oh, yes, in Robin, Simon has met his match!

Doncha love those stories?

Princess Robin at Amazon.com

Download Kindle for PC

Dana

This little speck

Hip-hip hooray, the Princess Robin Blog finally has a follower. Hello Mary!

When friends ask about "a new book coming out" they have no idea what it entails. The writing of a book is a creative adventure; the publishing and marketing of a book is a daunting challenge.

It's like going outside and shouting to the man on the moon. "Hello! I'm this little speck on planet earth. Can you hear me?"

Some days the effort hardly seems worth it, especially when my old writing buds are signing three-book deals for the Harlequin mill. The jealousy bug takes a little bite. But then, that is their path, not mine. I walked away from that.

So I shout and wave in cyberspace, "Buy my book. I promise, you'll love it."

I check the numbers at Amazon, selling one book at a time. Slowly it goes. At night, just as I drift off I wonder, "Is somebody enjoying Robin and Simon right now?"

They are too fun to let languish in obscurity. So, the marketing continues.

Dana
http://www.supernalfriends.com/

Independence Day

I received a Kindle for Valentine's Day and, of course, had to pull up Princess Robin just to see it in my hot little hand. With the announcement of the IPad, the use of I-phones for downloads and the various e-readers, the digital age is finally upon us.

As an author, I am excited about the freedom this will give me to write "outside the box" and not be forced to consider what a publisher is "going with." Of course, quality should still be a high consideration for the reader's enjoyment.

Hooray and halleluia. It's Independence Day.

Download my books!

Dana
www.supernalfriends.com

The Robin in Me

Where did the scrappy character of Robin come from? Every writer has to search through their inner pantheon to cast their stories.

When I think of the inspiration for Robin, I remember a little only child in California circa 1962. She is watching her black and white television in her bedroom and her favorite show is coming on-- Disney's "Swamp Fox" with its fabulous theme song Swamp Fox, Swamp Fox tail on his hat...nobody knows where the Swamp Fox is at. She pretends a cheerleading baton is a sword and she fences her way around the room as the theme song plays. She is the heroic Swamp Fox!

A few decades later that fantasy morphed into the heroic Princess Robin, fighting for justice, leader of the downtrodden.

I think there's a bit of Robin in all of us. Amazon Page

Thanks for your support.

Dana

Writing Robin

It's been fun to get some Princess Robin feedback. One mother/daughter duo took turns reading aloud from the Kindle. When they got to a sexy part the 30 year old daughter just said "blah, blah, blah." She was too embarrassed to read sexy moves to Mom. Overall, they both enjoyed the adventure.

To get back to an earlier post. The writing of Robin largely took place during an eight month period of 2003 after my father experienced a stroke. I was forced to leave my family in Oklahoma and become his caretaker in California. That was one of the most difficult times of my life. Seeing Dad's health fail, being separated from my husband and children, I was very low. I'd wake up in the morning under an emotional cloud.

Princess Robin became my light in the tunnel. I'd start out the day feeling sad, but after a couple hours of Robin and Simon matching wits, taking on the dastardly Lord Basil, I always felt better. The story brought me joy.

I hope it does the same for those who happen upon it.

Have a lovely day--

Dana

Free Preview at Scribd.com

The Prologue and opening chapters of PRINCESS ROBIN are now available for your FREE reading at Scribd.com:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24833386/Princess-Robin

For your reading pleasure.

I just downloaded Kindle for PC at Amazon.com. So fast, so easy!

Have a great day--

Dana

The Contestant

Hello from sunny, warm California!

ROBIN has been bouncing around in the Amazon numbers between #32 and #45 in the Kindle Store. I hope she is keeping people entertained in the freezing East and Heartland.

To pick up from yesterday. I wrote the Prologue (Robin's secret birth) and Chapter One (Robin and Simon chase each other around the Chancellor's treasure room) as a contest piece. I can't remember all the contests I entered, maybe four. I know ROBIN finalled in every contest entered and took 1st place in the "Great Expectations" and "Gotcha" contests.

I was ready to stop the story at that point, having proved to myself I could take a 1st place. But my RWA writing pals were so encouraging, I kept spinning it out. Writing the witty banter and painting the colorful scenes was great fun.

In the Spring of 2003 I was taking a walk with a friend when my husband pulled his car around the corner and halted in the middle of the street. His next sentence heralded a complete change in my life.

He said, "Your Dad is in the hospital. He's had a stroke."

During the course of the next several months, writing PRINCESS ROBIN would be my saving grace, my secret escape into a fantasy world so much happier than real life.

To be continued...

Dana

The beginning

Good morning!

PRINCESS ROBIN is ranked #55 in Kindle Store this morning. A shout out to the OK City Chorus of Sweet Adelines that I think must be responsible. Thanks, girls! I hope you enjoy the story.

A short blurb on ROBIN's history: The year is 2003. This author is on the cusp of publication, having contracted her first novel to the first publisher who read it. (Probably not the smartest move.) I'm soon to be ineligible for the unpublished authors contests in the RWA (Romance Writers of America). I've been entering my two contemporary novels and consistently getting in the finals, but never taking first place. If I have any hope of being a successful author, shouldn't I be able to nail a couple of these contests? I decide to "target market" the contest realm.

Here are the requirements, as I see them:
1. Take a familiar theme and twist it
2. Throw the hero and heroine in immediate conflict
3. Obey the rules of romance--no "head hopping," clear POV, immediate sexual tension
4. Make it fun

PRINCESS ROBIN was born.

That's enough for today.

(Books in the Kindle Store can be downloaded onto PCs, I-Phones, BlackBerries via the "Kindle for PC Free download" at Amazon.com)

Have a wonderful day!

Dana

The Susan Boyle of Publishing

I listened to the Susan Boyle CD while I fixed breakfast this New Years morning. Like the whole world I'd watched this brave, but shy, talented woman take center stage and bring a smile to Simon Cowell's face as the audience behind him roared. As I unwrapped the CD I was afraid the album would be a disappointment. Was Susan a one-song wonder? Had her handlers forced unsuited songs upon her?

"I Dreamed a Dream" is an inspiring joy, a mixture of Broadway, standards, and sacred. Susan is allowed to sing the songs from her heart, the story of her life through music. Disappointment, determination and faith all projected through a crystal-clear voice. She became the people's choice of 2009 because we all see ourselves in Susan Boyle.

I'd love to see Princess Robin become the Susan Boyle of publishing for 2010. The little book that the experts called too "old-fashioned"--not "hot" enough. A book the people loved anyway.

Happy New Year--
Dana