Friday Guests: Wendi Zwaduk

Act Naturally

I wanted to thank Isabel for having me here today. I love stopping by the blog and seeing the cool things you’re talking about. So the question you’ve posed to me is, what television show I’d guest on. Whew...what a tough question. First thing that came to mind was that old Beatles song “Act Naturally”.

I know there were others that put the song out and I know the Beatles weren’t the first, but that’s the version I know. And yes, I think if I were on a Hollywood set, they’d say something like “the biggest fool to ever hit the big time and all I’ve gotta do is act naturally”. They just might be right.

So now I’m thinking, there are a lot of shows I’d love to be on if given the chance. I’ll list my top three and why.

1. I’d love to be on Ghost Adventures because they do go to some really cool places to gather evidence of the paranormal. It would be a lot of fun and scary as heck to go walking or wandering through an abandoned prison. Not sure I’d have the gumption to go through with it, but, hey, I’d love to collect my own proof ghosts and spirits really exist.

2. I’m a huge fan of the CSI franchise, CSI: Miami in particular. First of all, I’m in the land of snow and ice right now. Anywhere that’s a little warmer would be good for me. Second of all, I’m smitten with Jon Togo a.k.a. CSI Wolfe. The guy has some issues—gambling, temper, and his style is odd (I love Converse, but on a cop? While on duty?) I’m not sure what kind of part I’d like, but hey, it’s warm and there are hot bods around. A girl can’t ask for much more.

3. Criminal Minds is another can’t miss show. I’d love to be able to write characters as complex as the criminals they profile. Maybe one day. I also love that they show the story from both angles – the criminals and the profilers. In some ways, it’s like the head-hopping we’re all told not to do, but I still like it. I like knowing what both sides are thinking.

It’s kind of funny. The types of shows I’d pick to guest on are somewhat in line with the books I write and yet they aren’t. I love the paranormal, but I think a real vampire would scare me witless. I know people very close to me who have some proof of ghosts—did you know ghosts swear? I didn’t until I heard the recordings. Also, I have a thing for cops apparently, and I’ve written them in more than one book, but I’m still working on the level of complexity of those characters.

I’m glad I got to think about the shows. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. So I ask the readers, what show would you be on?

Thanks, Isabel! Can’t wait to come back.


He’s her kinkiest desire, if she’s willing to open her heart and believe in him.

Blurb:
The dead don’t always rest in peace. Some stick around to make the lives of the living hell on Earth. Ryan Black knows the frustration of dealing with the dead. He’s a Ghost Explorer. He’s conquered houses filled with apparitions, abandoned school buildings that house angry vermin, and managed to woo the female population of Snake Falls, Ohio. But he’s about to face his toughest challenge, convincing sceptical Samara Jacobs she not only shares his gift, but holds his heart.

Women fall at Ryan Black’s feet and Samara’s determined not to be one of the many—that is until she’s forced to work with him. He’s certain ghosts exist and willing to prove it. The more she gets to know the man behind the television persona, she decides the handsome klutz who chases things that go bump in the night isn’t so silly after all. But is he worthy of her love?

Excerpt (PG):


“Look around at the scenery. Ohio girls are the stuff of legend. For example, Meredith has those legs a man fantasizes having wrapped around his waist.”

“Engaged.”

“Well, then there’s Caren. She’s got a nice rack and she’s single.”

“Implants.”

“Pick nits.” Eddie snorted and shook his head. “You’ll shoot down all my ideas just to be right.” He scoped the cafeteria room once more. “What about Samara? She’s cute in a girl-next-door kinda way. All peaches and cream. I’ve caught her checking you out once or twice—a day for the last year.” He pointed to Ryan. “She’d make a perfect forever girl.”

“I had my forever girl. But I could be wrong.” Samara checked him out? Hmm... Kinda nice to know the attraction wasn’t a figment of his undersexed imagination. He’d spent many a night fantasizing about her, holding her, making love to her, waking up in the morning and seeing her smile.

At her table across the room, Samara curled up in her chair, paperback book propped in one hand and concentration written on her face. From his position, he couldn’t read the title, but he’d passed her desk enough times to know she liked romance novels. In the two years he’d worked in the same building with her, he’d heard her speak a total of three times but he knew her voice like his own.

“Ryan?”

“What? I’m checking out the scenery. It’s—” he drew a breath, feeling more than the oxygen stirring something within his body. His sex drive? He shifted in his seat. Yeah, there was a definite tingle below the belt. “It’s intriguing.”

Thursday Progress

Some days writing is harder than others. Those days it's better to walk away than continually bang your head against the keyboard.

Lately, life has not been that way. OK, to clarify, WRITING has not been that way. Writing has been flowing rather smoothly. Dark Inheritance is going along very well, I adore the plot and the characters, but mostly right at this moment I'm loving the way it's all flowing! Not just meshing together, not just the way it's all coming out, but the pace of it.

These are the days I love writing, the ones I brag about, the ones I'll look fondly back on in another couple of months and wonder what happened.

And this Friday, my guest will be Wendi Zwaduk who's talking about how to act naturally and her new release, Careless Whisper.

Wednesday Review: In the Shadow of Freedom

I'm not big on biographies. I don't care about other people's lives, who slept with whom, why X became a chef and Y became an actor, or how Z didn't let alcoholism affect the rest of his/her life. I am not fascinated with the minutia of everyday celebrity living, nor do I care beyond the head-shaking headlines of the latest politician to disgrace him/herself.

In the Shadow of Freedom first came to my attention through Twitter; I follow Tchicaya Missamou's agent and when it was first released, she (naturally and as a good agent) announced it.

My internal debate raged. But I was in a non-fiction mood, first with The Tiger: a True story of Vengeance and Survival then the thinly veiled fictionalized version of Every Man Dies Alone.

Read the blurb, a couple reviews on Amazon and B&N, and decided why not? Not normally my kind of read, but Tchicaya's story (no idea how to properly pronounce his name) not only tells of his country, the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and its tragic story of war, but his own involvement in it from a VERY young age.

A child soldier who knew what he was doing but did it anyway to a young man who changed his ways and eventually made it to America. Here he lived in poverty and joined the Marine Corp where he rose in the ranks.

Tchicaya's story is a true American Dream story. I loved it.

And this Friday, my guest will be Wendi Zwaduk who's talking about how to act naturally and her new release, Careless Whisper.

Pictures to Smile at

Thanks to Mary Ann who forwarded them!

Soccer Grandmom! I love it.

This one is just too cute.

And this Friday, my guest will be Wendi Zwaduk who's talking about how to act naturally and her new release, Careless Whisper.

Friday Guest: Wendi Zwaduk

Please welcome Wendi Zwaduk! Her new release, My Immortal, is a contemporary paranormal from Total-E-Bound.

What made you decide to write My Immortal?
I wanted to write an action/adventure story. Storm Richardson started out as a plain, old private investigator, a la Sam Spade. Originally was based more on Bogey than the final version, but the farther I got into the story, the more it didn’t seem to flow. I had the story going, but it seemed to be missing something. But, being persistent, I kept at it. It wasn’t until about three quarters of the way through the story that Storm really got my attention. Don’t get me wrong, he peeked over my shoulder the whole time, but it was at this time that he really spoke up. He’d been telling me all along that he was smitten with Stevie—wanted to get to know her more on a physical level, but he hadn’t told me the one thing that would be the make-or-break.

He was a vampire. It through me into a momentary tail spin. I hadn’t exactly set out to write a paranormal story. I’d told a critique partner (who I respect a ton), that I wasn’t cut out to write paranormal. But the more I thought about it and the more I worked with Storm, the more I realized that his confession was exactly what the story needed. What had been more or less a lackluster story became tighter and more interesting because some of his quirks were better explained. So as much as I hadn’t planned to write a vampire story, I did.


What else are you working on?

I’m currently working with a very dear friend of mine on a ghost explorer story. My ideas tend to run away from me... I get so many and can’t keep them straight. But Megan told me she wanted to work with me on a ghost story. Problem? That’s all she said, “I want to work on a ghost story. Write it.” Good thing she’s a very dear person and loves erotica as much as I do.
I also have a story about a secondary character in My Immortal brewing. She wanted her own story and so...it’s in the works. I have the outline done and am slowing getting started on the story. I know this much, it’s going to be hot.

And since I just can’t sit still or work on one thing at a time, I also have another vampire story half done. He was nice enough to tell me early on he was a vampire and exactly who he wanted. No ifs, ands, or buts with Julian.

One of these days, I’d like to finish the follow-up to the contemporary mainstream romance Right Where I Need to Be. The story is written, but it needs edits and polishing before it can go to the editor.


What’s your dream story? The one that becomes a New York Times runaway bestseller, the one you hope to one day write?

Those who know me well know I love racing. If it takes place on dirt and has trucks involved, I’m sold. I was able to incorporate dirt racing into two of my books (Right Where I Need to Be and You’ll Think of Me). Although Storm isn’t much for racing, Stevie from My Immortal sure loved it, so the scene where they watch the race was a favorite for me. (You have to read it to find out why.)

But the book I’d love to write and make gadzillions of dollars or at least be the break through story would be one I already wrote, but haven’t done much with. It’s about a NASCAR driver and the woman who loves him. I know, I know, it’s been done. (There aren’t too many romance stories that haven’t been “done” in one version or another—that’s not my point.) My hero and heroine had a past and they really do like each other when she wanted to rip his ears off for being a man. But unlike many sport themed stories, my goal with mine was to make the sport part as authentic as possible. Lots of times the hero might be a sport legend or on the mend after an injury, but the actual sport part of the story is rather obscure. I don’t know a whole lot about football or baseball so it really doesn’t matter to me. Racing is another story. I understand it and can talk fluently when accidents occur. So when I read a book with race elements in it, it drives me crazy that the racing is glossed over or incorrect.

I probably had the wrong reason for writing the book—to get racing in romance right, but I let the characters dictate which direction the story went. One day I’ll re-edit and fiddle with it in order to make it editor ready. I won’t give up on the dream that the story is the one the world is waiting for, even if I totally miss the mark. That’s the nice thing about writing—what one loves is what another might find awful. So if it’s not the next big thing, it’s not. I’m good.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I think we’ve covered it all. I’ve enjoyed being here and will be around all day. I’m happy to answer any reader questions. Feel free to ask!

Blurb: What’s a girl to do when she finds out the man of her dreams is a 340 year old vampire?

Run like hell or offer her heart.

Being a vampire hasn’t been easy for Storm Richardson. He’s not programmed to kill or harm, unless he needs to feed. When he meets Stephanie “Stevie” Persing, he knows he’s found his mate. But if he crosses the line between work and play, he risks losing the only person who matters—her.

Stevie’s been in love with Storm since the moment she laid eyes on him. He’s brooding, intense, and her one weakness. But is her heart too steep a price to pay for his love, especially when she discovers his deepest secrets?

“What did he do to you?”

As she squared her shoulders, she took a deep breath. “He screwed Gypsy and then claimed he thought she was me. I don’t know how, since she’s five-nine and honey blonde. He said something about being shit faced and needing my comforts. I didn’t buy it then and still don’t even if it was pitch black when I caught them in my bed.”

Storm fought the twin waves of relief and anger. He didn’t like Ace from the beginning and the fact that the jerk screwed her good-for-nothing sister only confirmed his feelings. His heart still ached for Stevie even if she was better off. Life tended to dump on her in garbage truck proportions.

“Why did you think scum like that would make you happy? His name is Ace, for God’s sake.”

A lock of glossy, dark hair swept across her forehead when she looked away. “Actually his name is Herbert Axel Blake.”

He tried to contain it, but the laughter bubbled up on its own accord. She eyed him curiously than burst into giggles, too.

“Yeah, that’s his real name, Storm. I guess he thought Ace sounded cooler.”

Lust surged in his veins. He brushed her tresses from her eyes and trailed his fingers down her cheek. “It doesn’t sound cool at all.”

Her lips parted with a gasp. “I doubt I could’ve married a Herbert. It sounds too old-fashioned.” There was a definite catch in her voice.

He choked on his good humour. Too old school? What would she say when she found out he was 340 years old and grew up in Colonial Massachusetts? That was ancient history, even by his terms.

Deciding to try his luck, he pressed a question. “How about a Jacob?”

She crinkled her slightly upturned nose. “Who is Jacob?”

Flashing his best smile, he caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Me.”

Thanks for stopping by, Wendi! Don't forget to leave a comment for Wendi, she's giving away a download of My Immortal to one randomly drawn commenter