Event: Em Woods's Blog Tour

Hello! Have you ever noticed how hard it is to talk about yourself when asked to? I mean, I think it might be a fear of mine! Lol....

I'm not sure how many here know me, so I guess I should start with the basics. I have been writing seriously for about three years. Before that it was just for my own sanity and never anything lengthy or worth talking about. But then I took a Creative Writing class at my local community college (it was waaay better than Bowling 101) and the teacher became my friend. She encouraged me. She helped me with the purple prose - and while purple is a worthy color I adore, it sucks when it is tucked into flowery language in my story.

Because of my teacher, I joined the Romance Writers of America. And despite some writers opinions on the group, I feel they are an excellent organization with so much an author, or aspiring author, can learn from. They are growing, and learning to accept my chosen genre, but they have a great foundation. I am grateful to them.

Currently I am multi-published with Total-E-Bound, and A Christmas Carol is my latest release with them. I love that TEB is constantly challenging the boundaries of romance, that they listen to their authors...and that they've taken the leap with the Classics. As soon as I heard about the Clandestine Classics line I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I proposed A Christmas Carol to them, and despite the story not lending itself to traditional romance, they believed I could do it.

What evolved is a wonderful, heart-wrenching, heartwarming story that - if I've done my job right - will have you smiling and tearing up and rooting for Ebenezer to find a worthy lover. Many might not appreciate what I've done, or what any of the Clandestine authors have done, but I think the love story I've created here will amaze you in its depth. So, what say you...will you give Scrooge a chance to wow you? What do you think?

Excerpt:

Scrooge straightened upon his chair in the counting room, Marley hunched over his work at his own desk. Spirals of dark hair had escaped his pigtail, brushing the pale skin of Marley’s neck. Scrooge clenched his fist to prevent the overwhelming need to touch the expanse of skin exposed.
“What has your attention, sir?” Marley’s dark eyes rose to meet Scrooge’s stare. “Is Townsend’s ledger complete?”
Feeling himself properly chastised, Scrooge dropped his gaze to the columns of numbers scratched on paper before him. They all blurred together, disappointment colouring his vision. Scrooge berated himself silently for the failing. He knew to get his work done. He knew it as surely as he knew the last lump of coal had fed the fire near to an hour ago, and there’d not be another until the morn. “Nearly.”
The scrape of chair legs along the floorboards signalled Marley’s rise from his stool. Heavy footsteps preceded Marley’s declaration to their clerk that they needed to speak and privacy was of utmost importance. Then wood met wood and metal clicked as Marley locked the door. The rustle of cloth rasped against Scrooge’s hearing as he kept his gaze on his desk, feigning work.
“I’ll ask again. What has your fancy, Ebenezer?”
Scrooge shivered at the authority of the question, at the harshness in Marley’s tone. “You, sir.”
His partner’s footsteps were lighter, nearly imperceptible, as he crossed the room to latch the shutters on the window. Softer still when Marley returned to his stool. “Then come show proper attention where it belongs.”
The only light in the room was thrown from a candle on Scrooge’s desk, and it left Marley’s face in shadows, sending another shiver along Scrooge’s spine. He cast a glance around, though he knew no one else occupied the room but he and Jacob.
“You dare leave me waiting?”
Scrooge leaped from his seat, heart pounding, sweat tracking a crooked path along his spine. He stood rooted to the spot where his feet had landed on the floor. “No! Jacob, Sir. No! I…but it is still mid-day.”
“Then best you be quick about it.” One eyebrow rose, daring Scrooge to challenge Marley.

Blurb:

Love at first sight is a beautiful thing, but sometimes, true love waits a lifetime to shine...and then needs a little help from the Three Ghosts of Christmas.

As a young man, Ebenezer Scrooge felt the sharp pain of loss and resolved to protect his heart from all others, taking solace in his gold and silver. Years of discarding his own emotions, and those of anyone around him, has turned Scrooge cold.

When deceased lover and partner Jacob Marley pays miserly Scrooge a late night visit, pride and disbelief buoy Scrooge's courage. As the fabled Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet-to-Come arrive to show Scrooge the error of his ways, they also give him brief glimpses of a love so strong it has stood the test of time.

In an inspiring tale of change, a deep-seated need flares to life, leaving Scrooge without a doubt that love and family are what really matter at Christmas.

Link to buy: This book will be available December 3rd, 2012 at http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1940

You can visit Em Woods at the following links:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4347554.Em_Woods
http://authoremwoods.com/
https://www.facebook.com/emwoodsauthor