I've been invited to appear on the Excelsior! Podcast this weekend. I'll share that  specific podcast link once it goes live, but please pop over there and listen to Britleigh's other wonderful guests. They're interesting.

What can you expect from my interview? Well, we'll be talking books, naturally, and food, and how romance and food comingle harmoniously in life and fiction. 

A few lucky listeners will also be getting a paperback so be sure to tune in.

Watch for the podcast link here, on my official Facebook page, or on Twitter. 

- Tara
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Excelsior!

I referenced this 2013 blog post the other day on Twitter so the discussion is ongoing. Rather than simply cut and paste the original, I decided to update it. Things change, attitudes certainly do. Mine has.

In my original post, my tastes were decidedly against first-person point-of-view. Looking back, I didn't give it a fair shake. Since then, I've come to enjoy many books and series' written in first-person. A lot of genres are particularly suited to first-person. But I stand by my original assertion that when an intimate relationship is the central theme of the plot, first-person creates a he said/she said imbalance that's both incomplete and unfair to the silenced character.

All we can really know of the love interest is what they express or divulge to the main character. From that, we get the MC's limited, and often flawed interpretation of the other person's words and motivations. It will never be complete or entirely honest. 

In first-person POV romance, the love interest is only as deep as any other secondary character in the story. He lacks a voice. Crop his head off the cover and he doesn't even need a face. He's little more than a prop for the heroine.

Without an intimate peek into his head, all we have are his interactions with the heroine to give him substance. He's as deep as the cat winding around her ankles. Sure, we know at a glance the cat is happy to see her, certainly responds to her strokes with a deep, satisfied purr, but is that really enough for her love interest? I don't think so.

I want to know what he thinks, fears, hopes for, and dreads. What does he withhold and why? What is he dying to share? What does he wrestle with? In a book supposedly focused on a developing relationship between two, his perspective isn't just valid, it's vital. He deserves a voice. Without it, the story may be good, but it feels out of balance. Again, I want to state that I have and do enjoy first person, and I've read some very good first-person romances by talented and more successful writers than me, but I can't help thinking as I read these books, how much better they would have been with a dual POV.  They were fine, but imagine taking a taste of something and, while admitting it's pretty good, there's something missing. Something that will take it up a notch and round out the flavors into a delicious harmony. That's the point I'm trying to make.

In the end, it takes two to tango, so let him speak.

Here's wishing you a safe and stress-free holiday season.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

-Tara

I'm thrilled to announce the return of Accidents Make the Heart Grow Fonder. This is one of my favorite stories and I'm just tickled with the new look.

Get it now from Amazon, your favorite digital ePub source, or order the paperback.

If audiobooks are your thing, you're in luck. Listen to Accidents on Audible or iTunes. 

Enjoy!

Join me at the Mall of America on Saturday, August 17th! Over 50 authors will be in the Parkview Suite located inside Nickelodeon Universe.

Free to public 12:30-4pm.  VIP from 10-11:45am

For more details visit the Facebook Event page  
https://www.facebook.com/events/880151905515496/

Or go to the Royal Touch website and get your VIP tickets today.
https://www.royaltouchphotography.com/event

You can also pre-order any books you'd like me to sign at the event. Just submit the form and I'll make sure I bring enough. Thanks. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZttXR8HTrrYKPW_X1Q0-6W3AFFtRo-DWcj5P4LqWT6h03NQ/viewform

​Dudley is a big dog, a Black Lab/German Shepherd mix. He's got a low, threatening bark that puts most people off their stride the first time they hear it. The kind that will keep people in their cars while he runs around marking every tire before heading back to the driver's side door to jump up and plant his enormous paws on their window with an eager woof of hello. 

We tell those poor souls that he greets us with the same bark, but he''s perfectly harmless - don't worry. They're usually only slightly mollified as we coax them out. Then, as soon as they acknowledge him with a tentative, "Good boy, good Dudley," he's on them, looking for attention, looking for pats, pressing and circling their legs like an affectionate cat ,only he's so solid he can shove them back with a heavy lean.

You'd think this dog would be fearless, but he's not. We've watched him chase cars, snowmobiles, even a Forest Service plane using our house as a focal point when they were dipping into our lake to fight a nearby fire. They'd follow our driveway down to the water and Dudley would follow them, warning them away after every loop. Once we watched in horror as he took off after a wolf a good deal larger than him. We thought we'd lose him that day for sure, but no.  He's chased deer, moose, even bear off our property. None of those things frighten him. Nope, he's afraid of stairs, the vacuum, the Swiffer I use on our wood floors, and now, the broom.

I have never antagonized him with any of those things, nor has anyone else as far as I'm aware. It simply is what it is. If I want him outside for whatever reason, all I have to do is go collect the vacuum. As soon as he hears it rolling down the hallway, he's at the door, his feet doing a frantic dance on the tiles. He wants out. Now!  I realize there are lots of dogs with these aversions, but the fear of stairs? That one surprises us. I've never heard of that before.

He's never been upstairs to our lofted master bedroom. Good for me, but weird.  Even when we have friends and family over for extended visits with their animals, he won't follow. He'll whine and carry on at the bottom of the steps, but he won't venture up with us. It's the same with outdoor steps. He will take longer, much more difficult routes up steep yards, bulldozing his way through thick bushes and stickers just to avoid the steps.

We stay with friends a couple of times a year and always take him along because his buddies are there and they can play and cavort. Those dogs have the run of the house because they don't shy away from all the staircases. Not Dudley. If we want to be downstairs in the family room playing Wii or watching something on the big screen television, someone has to put shoes on and escort our dog around the house so we can let him in the patio door on the lower level. We have never succeeded, no matter how many times or how many incentives, to coax him down a single step. Of course, the house is on a lake and there's a very steep staircase leading down to the boat.

You know what Dudley does? He braves the brambles, the wild, untamed hills on either side. When he comes to the eight foot tall concrete retaining wall at the bottom, he leaps to the grass below. He'd rather wipe out doing a belly flop on the lawn than face those steps.

As he sprawls lazily on our rug nearby, I wonder if he'd be so calm knowing our annual ice fishing trip is coming up. Too bad I can't tell him.

Okay, maybe I antagonize him a little.


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*The blog post was originally shared in 2012. Rest in peace, dear Dudley. Miss you, boy.