Karen McCullough

My blog is feeling terribly neglected these days, and it has every right to feel that way.  I’m afraid I haven’t paid much attention to it for the last few weeks.

There’s a good reason for my distraction: new grandson!

Cassian James Gerdon was born on May 9, 2013 at 7 pounds 9 ounces!

Today I stopped by Lois Winston/Anastasia Pollack’s Killer Crafts and Crafty Killers blog to talk about an issue dear to all our hearts: money. Right. I give a few tips about managing your money, gleaned from my own life experience of poverty, mismanagement, and struggles to keep on top of it. Stop by and offer your own ideas for better ways to manage your cash flow:

http://www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com/2013/04/money-matters-with-sheila-guest-author.html

This post is part of the Lucky in Love blog hop. Scroll down to the end for information about prizes available and other participants.

Why “Fated Mates” Annoy Me

You’ve read about them, those couples where a man or woman looks at another and suddenly sees colors, an aura, or gets some sign that this is the one, and it’s meant to be.  Two random people see each other, the rockets go off, and they just know that they’re right for each other at some deep, primal level that guarantees happily ever after. Because they’re soulmates or fated mates, so it has to happen.

It seems particularly common in paranormals, where forces beyond normal bring two people together like two separate halves of a whole.

I call BS.

The whole “soulmate” thing has a certain appeal, but for all the wrong reasons. It’s way too easy.  There’s no risk in the relationship. You may argue with each other, but because this is your soulmate, you’ll find ways to work it out, and it won’t create any permanent damage. You can do pretty much anything or say anything because you’re meant to be so it won’t be a problem.

I understand why the idea appeals, why it seems so romantic. To find the person who is your perfect partner for the rest of your life is a goal worth striving for. To find someone so completely right and perfect for you is an ideal.  But that’s really all it is: a fantasy.

You don’t need to work at finding ways to accommodate each other, to live with each other, to settle the issues that divide you.

It’s lazy storytelling because the author doesn’t have to work at showing a developing relationship. The subtle back and forth of people exploring their interest in each other, learning about each other, trying to decide if there’s more than lust at work, and if they can manage to forge a bond and create a family, gets lost when we already know it’s gong to happen. Because it’s fated. I tend to avoid stories that use that trope because it skirts over what interests me most in the romantic storyline: how two people figure out why they’re drawn to each other and how they can combine themselves into a couple.

So…Does the idea of fated mates or soulmates work for you?

My most recent release, The Wizard’s Shield, features a romance between two people who are clearly meant to be together, but they’re not fated mates in the sense that they know the minute they see each other that no one else will do for them. At the start of the story, they have been separated for a long time by circumstance. When they come together again, they have to work hard, overcoming a lot of painful history, numerous differences, and conflicting goals, to reach their happily ever after.

Blurb for The Wizard’s Shield: A powerful  wizard with a physics degree and a checkered past invents a shield to ensure  he’ll never again be tortured almost to death. The wizarding powers-that-be fear the repercussions of such a device and send  his former girlfriend, an accomplished wizard herself, to retrieve the device  or destroy it.

When the shield is stolen by the magical mafia, Ilene McConnell and Michael  Morgan have to set aside their differences and work together to recover it.  Michael claims he needs the device as insurance against the kind of injury and  injustice he suffered once before. Ilene maintains its potential to upset the  delicate balance of power makes it too dangerous and that it needs to be  destroyed. But none of that will matter if they can’t retrieve it before a ruthless,  powerful wizard learns how to use it for his own ends.

Trade Paperback    Amazon Kindle     B&N for Nook         Smashwords

Finally – about the prizes: To enter all of the contests, comment here and be sure to include your email address!

My Prize: One commenter here will win their choice of ebook from any of the following: A Question of Fire, Programmed for Danger, The Night Prowlers,  A Vampire’s Christmas Carol or a paperback copy of A Gift for Murder.

Blog Hop Grand Prizes!

We have TWO grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times!  Everything BUT the swag prize is international.

1st Grand Prize: A $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

2nd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!

More information: http://www.carrieannbloghops.blogspot.com/

Smashwords is having a “Read an Ebook Week” sale, and most of my books are included at GREAT prices:

The Wizard’s Shield is only $1.00 with the 75% off coupon code.

A Question of Fire is only $1.00 with the 75% off coupon

The Night Prowlers is $1.50 with the coupon code.

Programmed for Danger is $1.50 with the coupon code.

Be sure to use the coupon code listed on the order page to get these great prices!