Growing up in Houston, Texas, Andrea has always created characters and stories. But it wasn’t until she was in her late twenties that she started writing novels.

What happened that ignited the writing flame in her fingers? Divorced, and disillusioned by love songs and stories. They exaggerate. She thought. Love and Romance are not like that in the real world. Then she met her husband and realized, yes love and romance are exactly like the songs and stories say. She is now a happy wife, and a mom to three kids (two boys and a girl).

Andrea writes paranormal and historical romance. When not writing or reading, one may find Andrea dancing in Zumba.

She believes in the power of change and counting each moment as a blessing. But most importantly, she believes in love.

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Viking Women were lucky

As I write this, Thor 2 The Dark World is the 2nd top grossing movie. Is there an appeal of Vikings besides their swords, shields, and muscles?

Yes.

Even during the Dark Ages, several factors set Vikings above their counterparts.

1. Hygiene – Viking men were known for their regular bathing and grooming. They bathed at least once a week – compared to the near monthly baths of others. “English cleric John of Wallingford complained bitterly of the Viking men who combed their hair, took a bath on Saturday, and changed their woolen garments frequently, and they performed these un-Christian and heathen acts in an attempt to seduce high-born English women.”1

2. Viking women had rights – They could inherit property, request a divorce, and reclaim their dowries if their marriage ended.2 Widows were free to select their own mates. If a woman’s brothers sought maliciously to keep her from marrying, the woman could marry the third suitor whom her brothers refused.3 All this might not seem like much, but at this time period, women were thought of as property had didn’t have these rights elsewhere.

3. Shieldmaidens – Many sagas and other histories describe women warriors. History of the Dane by Saxo Grammticus in the 12th century references a number of women fighting: Sela – women warrior and pirate; Lathgertha – Ragnar Lothborg’s wife (her and her husband are represented in the History Channel’s Vikings), Hetha, Vebiorg, and Visna who fought the battle of Bravellir, and the Irish mentions of the Red Haired Maiden. Johannes Skylitzes, Byzantine historian, chronicles women fighting alongside men in 971 Bulgaria when Sviatoslav I of Kiev confronted the Byzantines. Afterwards, the victors were stunned at finding armed women among the fallen Varangian warriors. [4]

So Viking women not only enjoyed privileges that their counterparts did not, like inheriting property. They possibly could become warriors. Their men not only had muscles, but also were the best groomed (and no doubt smelled better) than European men at the time. I say that made Viking women lucky.

Bibliography
1 Gwyn Jones. A History of the Vikings. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1968. p. 177.
2 http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-vikings
3 (Ibid., pp. 38-39; Jacobsen, Position of Women, p. 38)
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/hairstyl.shtml
[4] Harrison, D. & Svensson, K. (2007). Vikingaliv. Fälth & Hässler, Värnamo. ISBN 978-91-27-35725-9. p. 71

Viking Fire
By: Andrea R. Cooper
Publisher: Crimson Romance
Published: July 29, 2013
Genre: Historical Romance

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856 CE, Ireland is a land of myth, magic, and blood. Viking raiders have fought the Irish for over half a century. Rival Irish clans promise only betrayal and carnage.

Kaireen, daughter of Laird Liannon, is suddenly forced into an arranged marriage with her sworn enemy, a Viking. She refuses to submit. With no mention of love, only land and the protection of her clan, she endeavors to get her betrothed banished from her country. Will love find its way around her stubborn heart?

Bram, the Viking, finds himself without future or inheritance as a younger son in his family. A marriage to the Laird’s daughter would grant him land if he swears fidelity and if his men will fight along with the Liannons against any foe—Irish or Viking. However, the Laird’s feisty daughter only holds animosity for him and his kind. Is marriage worth the battle scars of such a relentless opponent?

With the blame for a rival laird’s death treacherously set against the Liannons, Kaireen and Bram must find a way to lay aside their differences as an unforeseen darkness sends death snapping at their heels.

Ana lives just outside Washington DC with her very supportive husband and three rather demanding cats. She loves the ocean, Indian food, Ikea, and cooking. Ana admits to watching too much television and she swears that someday she’s going to learn how to play the guitar resting on the bookshelf in her office.
Ana is a member of Romance Writers of America.

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Oh the internet, it’s like every writer’s favorite frenemy. On the one hand, we do legitimately need to research and study whilst writing and then promote once we’ve published. On the other hand, we can easily lose entire days to clever gifs from the Hunger Games movies, Wikipedia articles on pagan holidays and tumblr posts pointing out the parallels between various couples on Once Upon a Time and other famous couples.

If we want to complete any projects, writers do need to learn how to balance their internet use. We need to figure out which sites are really worthy of our time. Because, as we all know, time could always be used to write instead.

I’m going to make the case for Pinterest. Writers should hang out on Pinterest more often. Seriously.

So you most likely already know about Pinterest. It’s awesome. Pinterest is essentially a virtual corkboard, or more precisely a site to create dozens of virtual corkboards. You can collect links to recipes or cute pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s a great place for readers to build a To Read list. They can link back to the actual review that made them want to read the book or sort the titles into mood categories. The possibilities are nearly endless.

Pinterest has great potential to help writers too.

First off, it’s a lovely place to create inspiration boards that help you picture your characters and the setting of your tale. I create boards for individual works in progress and then also have boards for quotes and images that may inspire a future project.

Next, Pinterest is a great place to keep track of your interviews and visits to book blogs and reader sites. I like having all the links in one convenient spot, and, as a bonus, those pins often draw additional traffic to those blogs.

It’s also a great way to cut down on time wasting. I know, you’re skeptical, but hear me out. We’ve all tried to look up just one quick thing, only to be distracted by six other things before we realize that time is escaping us. I’m suggesting that when you see that article with a quirky title that is pulling your attention away from whatever you ought to be working on, you pin it for reading later. You can make a secret board of all the silly or not so silly links that could be keeping you from writing and save them for when you’re sitting in the doctor’s office or waiting for your kid to be finished with her karate lesson and have three minutes and a smart phone.

I have several boards that are not directly writing related, but I’d argue that they are also helping me with promotion. I think there is certainly a chance that someone who follows me based on our mutual interest in veggie gardening also likes sexy books. And, even if that is rare, I think it is a really fun way for readers to get to know writers they enjoy. I’m sure my boards are a lot more interesting and telling than the little bio that appears at the bottom of my blog. A quick look at my boards will tell you that I like the color turquoise, recipes with mushrooms, actors with British accents and …well, I don’t know. Why don’t you take a peek and tell me?

A Late Thaw
By: Ana Blaze
Publisher: Entranced Publishing
Published: Oct. 28, 2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance

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The town’s too small for Kiley St. Claire’s reappearance to be a surprise, still seeing her hits Cole Thomas like a punch to the gut. She ripped his heart apart when she turned to ice and ran away all those years ago. Now that she’s back, Cole’s going to say his piece and move on.

Even if she does look damn good in that uniform.

Kiley St. Claire is back in the small town of Barrett, Vermont, for one reason and one reason only: to earn some cash so she can survive her final semester of grad school. She’s not there for the sexy Christmas tree farmers.

Even the one who once held her heart.

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