DEADLINE author Scarlet Hawthorne: 5 Tools I Use When I Am Writing PLUS CyberMonday 99 cent eBook & GIVEAWAY

http://scarlethawthorne.wordpress.com/2014/11/21/reviews-for-deadline-are-pouring-in/

Greeting, gentle readers!
Today is the last day of Scarlet Hawthorne's blog tour for her new release Deadline. Part romance, part mystery, and part police procedural, Deadline has been on Amazon's "Hot New Release" lists since its debut!

For Cyber-Monday, Scarlet is offering all eBooks for only 99¢! But it is ending soon, so grab your copy at this incredible price while you can

Plus, be sure to enter blog tour giveaway for three signed paperbacks through the Rafflecopter below. Today's the last day!

Today Scarlet tells us the 5 tools she must have when writing.

UPDATE: If you missed out on the Black Friday/Cyber-Monday Sale, you can still get Scarlet's eBook for the ridiculously low price of only $2.99! Cheaper than a latte...

~Colette

5 Tools I Use When Writing by Scarlet Hawthorne

1. A lap desk. I do all of my actual writing in bed, and I have the perfect wooden tray large enough for my laptop and mouse with “legs” that can be adjusted to the perfect height. It even tilts at different levels in case I need to lie back as I write.

2. A laptop, of course, although mine is rather old and presents a few challenges. For example, the “H” is broken. I’ve tried everything to put the little tile back in place, but it only works if I hit this little rubber thingy where the “H” should be EXTRA HARD. Sometimes I miss a few as I write, but spellcheck can help me find most of them unless whatever it becomes without the H is also a word, such as “Thanks” becoming “Tanks.” Where do I go to get an “H” fixed? I also have a mini-laptop I use for travel.

3. Dropbox. Love it. Not only does it keep everything synced across my multiple devices, it also keeps prior versions in case I delete a scene or a sentence and then decide I want to use it after all. I save all my manuscripts directly to Dropbox and never have to worry about a computer dying on me.

4. Assorted electronic reading devices. As Ernest Hemingway said, “The first draft of anything is shit.” I always wait the requisite one month before beginning the second draft to get some distance from it, then I go through and slash and burn or find areas that are too vague that need expansion. Even a third and fourth draft will doubtless be riddled with typos (I am horrible with homonyms), but our brains know what we intended to write and will continue to miss them in our own manuscripts. One way to trick the brain: proofread in a completely different font. I write in Times New Roman but proof in Comic Sans. I am always shocked at the number of typos I find. THEN I reread it on different media – Kindle, iPad, even iPhone – and catch even more. Once I get the printed proof, it is generally clean, but I swear I have found a type in a tenth draft before! So frustrating.

5. A notebook. Although I start with a general outline, it is just the skeleton of the manuscript. It still needs the muscle of the plot, the nervous tension, the heart and blood of the characters. Often I have trouble fleshing out the body of the novel on a keyboard (“H” or no “H”), and I have to go back to my original tools of the trade: paper and pen. Something about having the words flow out of my fingers through the ink helps my creative juices flow. I also keep a pad with me in case a concept, a word, a sentence, a turn of phrase pops into my head. The problem, of course, comes when I have to transcribe all of my handwritten work. That takes far longer than actually writing it!

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"This is a fast paced, slightly twisted, suspenseful erotic read! Sorry that was a mouthful...this book was a real gem. A lovely length with a pace that had me turning the pages and enjoying my Sunday afternoon luxury of reading even without a glass of wine!" - Obsessed By Books

"Deadline is a great erotic romance with a mystery twist. Gillian is funny and entertaining, Sam is sexy and cute, and they play well off each other. The element of the Sword of Michael hunting her adds an element of mystery and suspense to Deadline that allows the story to arc very well. I loved this book and would love to

read more!!" - Hooked on Books Forever

"Deadline is a book that kept me on my toes and devouring it in just a few hours. The author flawlessly and elegantly crafts unforgettable characters and an engaging plot that is fully an erotic romance novel, while still keeping the reader on edge at all times. There is a twist at every chapter and I really couldn't see most coming. The author possesses the ability to capture the mystery, tension, worry, and every feeling during all the events in this book. This is one of the rare books I'll put on my will read again list. Smooth transitions make it an easy, comfortable read with a completely unexpected ending." - Blue Chrysalis

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Scarlet Hawthorne began writing short stories at the age of eight, poems at ten, and wrote her first novella – a romantic tragedy – at twelve. Today she enjoys creating characters who discover integrity and their authentic selves through their sexuality. She has been a speaker at national conferences discussing how power exchange can enhance relationships and refuting the negative stereotypes of BDSM promulgation in the media.

An award-winning and bestselling author in a variety of genres under other pen names, Scarlet was a featured author at the 2014 BDSM Writers Conference in New York City and contributed an excerpt from her upcoming romantic suspense Retrograde to the first BDSM Writers Con Anthology. Always eager to challenge herself as a writer, Scarlet utilized a “panoramic point of view” narrative style, rarely found in fiction today, in her latest novel Deadline.

Scarlet lives with her two dogs and their Master in a lakeside community in the New Orleans area. When not devoting herself to writing or what Erica Jong refers to as the requisite "zitzfleisch," Scarlet spends her free time drinking wine and eating cheese, taking long candlelit bubble baths, and playing with her dogs around the lake. Her next release is the contemporary male/male romance Between the Notes, expected in spring, 2015.