My First Time... at Faking it by Sofia Grey

Fellow author Sofia Grey, is here today to talk about Getting In the Mood … and Her First Time at Faking It!  Mmm intriguing!

My First Time… at Faking It

Having difficulty getting in the mood? No, not like that. No self respecting romance writer would ever admit to that, after all, we all have perfect sex lives. Right?

That’s a whole other story, so moving swiftly on, I’m talking about faking the mood for writing. In my case, trying to write a story set not only in the middle of winter, but during a blizzard, when it was the height of summer for me. I had to work really hard to put myself into a shivery-snow-bound frame of mind when every time I looked out of the window, the sun dazzled me. The closest thing to snow came in the form of crushed ice in my margaritas. Tricky, huh?

I had to bury myself in winter-set books, watch The Day After Tomorrow several times and keep my laptop and iPod stocked with images of snowy mountains and forests. By the time I’d got half way through, I was so immersed in my characters that I didn’t need my external mood-setting, but damn. Those early chapters were hard work.

I’m doing it again now. Somehow, I’m out of synch again. The second in the Snowdonia Wolves series takes place in the middle of a long, hot summer. Sounds easy, but for me, it’s rapidly approaching winter. It’s dark when I leave for my office job, and dark when I get home. Cocoa has replaced chilled Sauvignon, and my t-shirts are now covered in several fluffy layers! Thankfully, as my characters develop and become real in my head, the story gets easier to write, but for now I’m having to surround myself with images of sunshine and sand, and once more, fake my mood.

Do you beat the chills with a summery book, or match your reading to your season?

Some of the winter books that worked for me were:

-       The Bronze Horseman (Paullina Simons) – set in the frozen siege of Leningrad

-       North of Need (Laura Kaye) – Snow God Owen comes to life

Likewise, I really need some recommendations for hot summer romances. Which books do you think I should be looking at?

To whet your appetite for winter, here’s a snippet:

*

The dog moved to sit at her feet, gazing up at her with his strange blue eyes. Eyes the same color as Jake in her dreams. “I guess you need to go out, eh?” She dropped to her knees and hugged him, burying her face in the thick fur of his neck. “You kept me lovely and warm, thank you. I hope you find your way home okay.” He whined softly, and she released him.

“Come on then.” She stood and moved toward the tiny hallway, the dog at her heels. She could feel the cold before she even opened the door, and she gasped when she saw how much snow had fallen during the night. Flakes whirled and danced before her and her bare feet were chilled already.

She nudged at the dog. “Go on, boy, don’t you need to go out?” He slunk down the path, disappearing from view after just a few steps. Snowflakes clung to her eyelashes and Lillian scrubbed a hand over her face. Should she keep the door open for him? Would he leave? Damn. She hadn’t checked his bandage. She was just about to close the door again when he burst out of the gloom and ran back into the house, a trail of wet paw prints in his wake. Feeling absurdly pleased, she hurried after him and found him sitting in front of the fireplace, a strangely expectant look on his face.

She reached down to fondle his ears. They felt cold and damp and she wiped her fingers against her robe before stuffing her hands in her pockets. “I feel stupid, calling you Doggy all the time.” His eyes reminded her of the man in her dreams, but it would be crazy to call him Jake. “I’m going to call you Wolfie. You look like a wolf.”

  

Wolf At The Door is available 13 May 2013, from Liquid Silver Books.

 http://www.lsbooks.com/wolf-at-the-door-p791.php

http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Door-Snowdonia-Wolves-ebook/dp/B00CREX2GG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1368479605&sr=1-1&keywords=sofia+grey

Blog tours are fun to take part in, and I only have a few stops left, see below for details:

Sun 26-May – My own blog (http://sofiagrey.com) My First World Building

Mon 27-May – Allyson Lindt – (http://blog.apathyshero.com/) My First Kiss

Tue 28-May – Jennah Scott – (http://www.jennahscott.com/) My First Shifter

About Author

Romance author Sofia Grey spends her days managing projects in the corporate world and her nights hanging out with wolf shifters and alpha males. She devours pretty much anything in the fiction line, but she prefers her romances to be hot, and her heroes to have hidden depths. When writing, she enjoys peeling back the layers to expose her characters’ flaws and always makes them work hard for their happy endings.

Find her at: www.sofiagrey.com and on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/sofiagrey1

* image courtesy of 123rf.com