Ready to be provoked?

I'm happy to announce I've recently sold my third book to Ellora's Cave, a novel entitled Provoke Me. * insert manic squealing* Along with being the longest book I've written to date - over 80K - it's also the one closest to my heart. To be honest, I'm having a bit of trouble letting the characters go! But the good thing is the series will wrap up with a Quickie about them so I'll get to visit them once more.

For those that have read Reveal Me, Provoke Me is the next story in the Baring It All series (tentative title) and involves Kelly, Alana from Reveal Me's best friend, and Spencer. I've just finished the series proposal for the stories revolving around Kink, the voyeurism club that connects all six books I have planned. Even though a sex club plays a role in each of the stories, these are still pretty emotional books - or at least I hope so. And of course, they're pretty fun too.

Right now I'm working on Need Me, the third book in the series. This one is about Spencer's sister Marcia and her lover Tony...and his best friend Kale.

Here's a little (unedited) snippet of Provoke Me to get you going... ;)

“I’d like you to get started on that redesign of the romance section we talked about yesterday. Marcia recommends you,” Spencer said when she didn’t speak.

“You said I could do it when I got time. With the two day sale, I’ve barely had time to pee never mind artfully reshelve books.”

His benign expression registered nothing. “You redesigned the café last year, did you not?”

The bright, cheery café that got raving comments from customers on a daily basis? Oh yeah, that was her work. She’d chosen everything from the glossy sepia photos for the pale green walls right down to the glass-topped tables bearing wicker baskets of Leigh’s lemon cookies.  “Well, yes, but—“

“Your eye for design is well known around this store. Are you saying you’re incapable of fitting the redesign into your schedule?”

Even as Kelly seethed at his impervious tone, she plastered on a smile. “Never said I was incapable, Spencer. Just that it will be difficult.”

“The sale’s over today. I expect you’ll be able to start the redesign tomorrow. If that’s a problem, come see me and we’ll find a way to make room in your daily duties.”

“What if I don’t want to do it?”

She knew she sounded pouty and didn’t care. She hated that he never seemed to see her as anything but another cog in the wheel. No matter how many department redesigns she executed or innovative ideas she voiced, he never saw her as anything but his goddamn day manager.

Yeah, he’d ogled her breasts for all of two seconds. He’d also given her a couple hot looks. But then he’d gone right back to business as usual.

“I think you know the answer to that question, Ms. Crossman. And I don’t appreciate being baited.” He slipped her folder into a drawer, a succinct dismissal.

Get out of my sight.

Before the guy she’d so stupidly lusted after for years banged any more nails into her coffin of shame, she got the hell out of his office.

And one more announcement before I go...the winner of a pdf ebook of Lynne Roberts' First Date is greenduckie13! Congratulations! I'll be sending your prize out to you ASAP.

You never forget your first...

It's October 9th, and today I'm thrilled to welcome debut author and fellow Scarlet Rose Lynne Roberts! First Date is out now from The Wild Rose Press Wilder Roses, and to commemorate popping her publishing cherry, Lynne is celebrating in a big way on her blog and elsewhere. And I'm happy dancing with her! She generously wrote up this great post about her journey to this day, and I hope all of you enjoy it as much as I did. Then go off and buy First Date! ;)

Take it away, Lynne!

In the spirit of my first release, First Date, I’m here to write about being published for the first time.

When I sat down and to write this blog, I thought I could focus on the road to publication or the tricks of the trade (not that I know many).  Definitely, I could write about perseverance and how to handle rejection. But as I thought about it, I realized that the road to publication is different for everyone. So instead of going into generalities, I thought I’d stick with a brief glimpse of my road I’d like to call: There is a contract with my name on it. Ready?

There it is, in your email. You feel the excitement bubbling up inside of you, perhaps a little squeal escapes. So what do you do? Well, tell everyone. You receive the congratulations with a kind of stunned disbelief. Yes. This is really happening to you. I bet you’re even looking forward to the editing letter. Hello! It’s. An. Editing. Letter! Like from a real editor, at a real publishing house.

It seems like you’re waiting forever. And then you get it. Deep breath, okay, you can do this. You’re a writer *teehee* At this point you giggle because it still feels kind of like cheating to say that.

You work hard and send that editing letter back way before the deadline. A few weeks later, here it comes again.

Mmm. Not quite so excited to see this one, but okay, obviously you didn’t get all the kinks out. You glance through the letter. Holy Moly! No kidding didn’t you get all the kinks out. Who knew you could even use the word ‘pull’ that many times. I mean pull? And how many times can there be ‘as’ in 8K words? Hold on a minute:  1,2,3…20! Yikes. 20!

So back to work and the manuscript you slaved over becomes a puzzle. You can’t use groan here because you’ve used it on the prior page, but growl is out too. Twine, wind, bury…. It’s time to play the synonym and clever rewording game. I’m not even going to go into the autonomous body parts—my mind is wandering.

Okay screech stop.

Somewhere around this point you get to see your cover for the very first time. This is truly an overwhelming moment. And yes, you’ll celebrate… as soon as you get those revisions done.

Suddenly it dawns on you. This book is actually getting published. You need someone to buy it! So, you jump right into the promotion whirlwind, which begins to feel more like a tornado. Blog? Website? Trailer? Oh my! Yes, you will feel like Dorothy.

Eventually, you finish the last revision (after try number 6) your editor said it’s a go and by this time you don’t want to see the !@$%^ manuscript for a long time.

No! I’m joking. It’s great! Buy it. Please.

Okay seriously. You’ve worked hard and under a deadline and you’ll celebrate, as soon as you get a little energy. *cue dramatic music* and then here come the galleys.

Galleys, piece o cake right? Um, no.  Galleys:  in which you pick apart every single word you’ve written... several times… to get them all just right… again.

But then comes the day, the long awaited release day. There it is, your book, available for purchase and suddenly, everything was worth it.

And then you get your first review… LOL I haven’t gotten yet. Stay tuned. : )

Cari, thank you so much for letting me borrow your blog! You rock! 

Right back at you, Lynne! Huge congratulations and wishing you many more release days! Now I'm off to buy First Date...

Edited to add... because I was a remiss blogger last night...don't forget to pick up Helen Hardt's Blood Wolf, and J.A. Saare's Soft as Moonlight. Both released TODAY!