Radio silence...

This will come as a big shock, I know, but once again, I am behind. I have a story I need to finish and get out to my wonderful CPs and a story I need to crit for one of those wonderful CPs (waves to Lynne) along with writing a few overdue emails and trying to come up with a plan for my writing life. I've recently taken the BIG step of going part-time at my day job in the hopes of freeing up more time to write and I'm excited about that starting soon. I'm only cutting out one day of work a week, but hey, I should be able to knock off 3-5K during those eight hours with the assistance of caffeine and chocolate!

On Friday 10/8, I'll be chatting at Delilah Devlin's blog, talking about the allure of the forbidden. Would love to see you! Click HERE.

If I owe you a crit or an email or a prize or a blog comment, expect that very soon. Right now I'm heading back into my writing cave!

I'll leave you with a picture of one of my favorite pieces of man chocolate, Bradley Cooper. Bradley is also the inspiration for Justin, the hero in Melt, the manuscript I'll be returning to just as soon as I type THE END on Provoke Me.

Release Day Introspection

Normally on a release day, an author pimps their book and advises for everyone to go buy. I will do that, but it'll be at the end of this post. A good friend of mine, J.A. Saare, also has a release today, Crimson Moon, that you absolutely have to go pick up. She's an amazing writer and this book is really a book of her heart.

But before I get to the hardcore pimpage, I wanted to post a little about writing, and insecurities, and how for every step you take, it seems like you take a half-step back. Sometimes more. Either you get less-than-complimentary scores in a contest or difficult edits from a CP or editor or agent, or maybe a scathing review. Or even one not so scathing. As my CP Taryn Elliot and I like to say, "nothing is worse than meh." I'd almost rather you hate something I wrote than feel nothing.

And sometimes the step back is that you lose the connection with the stories you're writing. We all want to make a little money and get a little attention for our work. Writer's prerogative, right? But what happens when you forget the point? When the stories stop being meaningful to you, when your characters become a vehicle for you to get where you want to go as an author...that's scary. And it happens, because I know it's happened to me.

Not with Ex Appeal. No, Ty and Jenny came out kicking and screaming and wouldn't have relented until their story was told. But it's happened to me with other things I've written in the past. I like parts of them, but the original thread of why I wrote them became lost. It also means that now that I know I sometimes lose sight of the end goal, I need to be super-vigilant. The end goal is to become better at my craft, while hopefully entertaining people, along with supporting myself and my family. And to tell the stories that matter. To me, first of all. If I ever feel "meh" about what I'm writing for more than a little while, either something needs to be fixed in the story or I wasn't supposed to be writing that one anyway. Regardless if my head wants to write it, my heart needs to be involved in the process too.

Having confidence in yourself as a writer is a tough thing - and worse, it's not static. You can be flying high this morning and on a one-way-trip to crapsville tonight. But part of becoming confident in your words is trusting yourself that you can keep your promises and deliver the story you've agreed to. As authors, we're offering a sort of guarantee to our readers. "Buy my book, and you'll get 7.99 worth of enjoyment from me." Well, that's not good enough. I've phoned it in before, because I'm human. You get tired and sick of your story. Maybe your CP isn't available or you're not sure she'll like your latest offering so you don't bother sending it to her (red flag, btw.) So parts of that book become your best at that minute, when maybe you could have given just a bit more.

Well, I'm reaching for more. Truthfully, I needed to give myself this lecture. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and undercapable at the moment, so my way of combating that is to come clean and man up. Honesty is one of our greatest tools, and maybe some other writers understand what I mean. I can't claim not to know my tendencies to give "good enough" when excellence is the only good enough there is. And really, what better day is there than a release day to declare you'll only give your readers your best?

With all THAT out of the way... ;)

Today is Ex Appeal's release day from The Wild Rose Press's Wilder Roses. It's now live here. I love this story, I love the cover - which really fits Jenny and Ty to a T - and I never once forgot my connection with these characters. They weren't about to let me use and abuse them, that's for sure. Here's the blurb:

As the webmistress for one of the Northeast’s hottest dating sites, Hunk Du Jour, Jenny Talbot is no stranger to reading the applications of potential clients. But when the latest application that crosses her inbox belongs to Ty Randall, the guy she broke up with a mere twenty-seven days ago, she does a double take. Reading what Ty wants in bed not only gets Jenny hot, it also makes her rethink ending their relationship. All she longed for was a little more spice in the bedroom—okay, a lot more—but he let her go without an argument. Faced with the possibility that Ty may really be moving on, getting her ex back becomes more appealing than ever. But will revealing exactly what she needs allow Jenny to finally experience ultimate pleasure or will she drive away the man she loves for good?

I'll be posting teaser excerpts over the next few weeks. Won't be hard to find some, because believe you me, Jenny definitely knows how to get Ty all stirred up!

And I also mentioned J.A. Saare's Crimson Moon is releasing today from The Wild Rose Press. Another incredible story from an author who gets better with each book. And I love this cover too!

To celebrate my release day, I'm hanging out with my good friend, the amazingly talented author Lynne Roberts, on her blog. We'd love to see you!

Around...sort of

I haven't doing my blog rounds as much as I should be lately, but hopefully I'll have a finished story to show for it soon. My current ms, All Summer Long, was supposed to be a 10K Quickie for Ellora's Cave. It's now 32K and not nearly done yet. I've also planned two Quickie stories to go with it, featuring some of the side characters. Consequently, I've been busy. I also received my cover for Personal Research, which I'll be posting soon. It's delicious, as all of EC's covers are.

So I leave you with a question...have you ever had a story where the characters would just not shut up and demanded to have their way with you in a much longer format than you'd originally planned? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

New contract!

For those who follow me on Twitter, I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I never officially announced it on my blog. I recently sold my first novella, Personal Research, to Ellora's Cave! I'm very excited to be writing for them, especially since I seem to be spending quite a bit of money buying books from their bookstore! We'll be starting edits soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to leave you with the tentative, unedited blurb for PR and the picture that perfectly fits my hero, Nunzio. 

Briefs are Elena Thomas’s life, whether they’re legal at her day job or on the men in the erotic novels she writes. She’s just fine with saving her imagination for her books until temptation appears in the form of Nunzio, the smokin’ computer maintenance guy. Thanks to the scorching scene he discovered shooting out of the printer, she’s not sure if he wants her because she’s inventive or because he thinks she’s desperate. That doesn’t stop her from taking advantage of the servicing he’s offering. Up on her desk. On the copier. And oh yeah, in her boss’s chair.

Nunzio's shocked to learn Elena’s wall-hugging persona hides a wildcat of a woman with delicious fantasies and an enticing wit. She's exactly what he's been looking for in an adventurous lover—and girlfriend. He knows she enjoys their sexual research. Now he just has to convince her that sizzling sex is only the opening chapter of their blazing hot romance. 

Also, I'm at Kaily Hart's blog on Monday April 12th, helping her kick off her awesome Just Published feature. We'd love to see you!

The fear of getting what you want...

That title seems like a misnomer, doesn't it? But it's so true. Not that I've gotten all I want yet - not by a long shot - but it's still a damn scary thing to set small, incremental goals and then to start seeing them come to fruition. I know there will be bumps and ruts in the road, and that's okay. I knew when I signed on for this business that it wouldn't be smooth sailing all the time, and I'm ready to face that. Or at least I hope I'm ready. But the further I go, the more I wonder if I'm in over my head. Will I be able to handle the course I've set? What if I've bitten off more than I can chew? (And yes, my goal in this blog is to use as many cliches as possible - take that, Tara! ;)) My excitement always seems to be buried beneath panic. Before I get excited about good news, I start trying to think my way through any possible complications. I don't know if that's my way of managing my expectations in case something goes wrong, but for today, I'm going to try to be happy about the good and let the rest take care of itself. It always does anyway.

How do you handle the possibility of getting what you want, whether it's in your personal or professional life? Do you always look for the potential problems before you let yourself be happy, or is that just me?

Also...please stop back on Monday, April 5th, when I'm interviewing the AWESOME JA Saare's heroine Rhiannon Murphy, necromancer and all-around kickass chick from Dead, Undead or Somewhere in Between! Rhiannon puts me in my place a few times, I have to say. ;)

It's subbed!

I finished my "quickie" novella and sent it in, so that means I officially have 3 things on submission right now. I've never had more than 2 in circulation before, so this is big news. This novella ended up at 25K, my shortest story yet. I keep trying to write them under 15K, but I'm a wee bit wordy. ;) From start to finish, this story took 5 weeks to write and edit. I'm very excited and hopeful that it will be well-received!

So why the cat photo? Well, A) I love cats and B) I'm imagining that's a happy meow rather than an angry one, though truthfully that photo could go either way. ;)

Now it's time to go to the next in my stack of WIPs. I have, uh, a lot of them. Apparently that I read ten books at a time means I also have to write ten at once, too (well, I'm not writing ten, but close, LOL.)

Do you work on more than one book at a time?

Looking Deeper

I'm busier than usual this week, trying to wrap up a few projects for submission. One down, one more to go, numerous more in various stages of completion. So while I'm typing away, I figured I'd leave you with a picture to ponder.

I'm a visual person. Tell me something and I'll forget it. Show me a picture and there's a better chance I'll remember. So along with using music as an inspiration, sometimes I turn to photos. Do you ever look at certain images and wonder at the story behind them? This is a photo that seems very straightforward on the surface. A woman undressing for bed. But if you ask yourself enough questions, you'll formulate the start to a story. Is she undressing before or dressing after? Is he sleeping or is he angry and trying to seem relaxed? Are they a couple or is she married and going home to her spouse, leaving him alone? Fun prompts like this sometimes can be exactly what you need to get writing again. Do you ever use pictures to inspire your work?

Yes, sometimes a pear is just a pear. But to writers, a pear can be part orange or really a lemon on the inside or even just pretending to be a pear to avoid being returned to his bushel...

Before I go...today is the release day of my good friend JA Saare's incredible urban fantasy, Dead, Undead or Somewhere in Between. I had the privilege of reading this story before its release, and all I can say is...go buy it! Seriously, you won't be disappointed. It's a fabulous story, but FYI, Disco's MINE. LOL Want a copy? Go here.

Hero Worship

...or why do I like jerks?

Don't worry, this isn't a post about my dating habits. Nope, this is strictly about the stuff good romances are made of. Namely, a hot hero. We've all heard how important it is for the reader - and you, as the writer - to fall in love with the hero in a romance novel. All well and good if the kind of man you like is "traditionally" heroic. What happens when you tend to like guys rougher around the edges without that clear S on their capes? Are you doomed to continually hear that your hero is not sympathetic or likable, especially when you're dealing with books that aren't single titles?

Case in point: my favorite Nora Roberts' book, Angels Fall. Yes, I gush about this book to my friends a lot. Take a wounded heroine who's a bit odd, a lot smart and gutsy as hell and pair her with a hero that isn't one the Hallmark channel would have any clue what to do with. Sold! So sold, in fact, that I'm finishing my 4th reread of AF and own the book in both paperback and HC. Brody is my kind of hero. He isn't full of poetry and doesn't always woo. Sometimes he's downright crass. One of my favorite lines is when Reese, the heroine, waits for him to kiss her goodbye after their first kiss and he says, paraphrased, "What, are we going steady now, Slim?" That's Brody.

Brody also is a hero in ways that many men would never be, ways I won't illustrate here for fear of spoilers. He's a man of action, not words. Words are cheap and lots of people buy them on layaway.

He's also the kind of hero I write, or that I've tried to write. When aiming towards a market other than ST, you have to be mindful of reader expectations. A lot of readers expect a traditional hero, and apparently, that means one who thinks heroically at all times. To me, a true hero/heroine is one that sees a way out of doing the right thing, knows they have a choice, but still does the right thing anyway.

What do you think? What makes a hero? Are you okay with rougher edges if the person is, fundamentally, a decent human being?

And while we're on the topic of heroes...take a look at my image of Nunzio, the Italian hero of my current short, Passionate Ink. Mine works with computers and doesn't do a lot of manual labor, but otherwise, he's pretty damn close. ;)

Do you start off with a bang?

Thanks to some contests I've come across recently, I've started re-evaluating my opening scenes. Having cut my teeth on the work of Nora Roberts, an expert at the slow build, I don't necessarily need instantaneous impact in paragraph 1, Chapter 1 for me to buy a book. There doesn't have to be an explosion on the first line, actual or metaphorical, for me to want to continue reading. But we hear over and over again how critical it is to hook a reader immediately; in fact, that's probably one of the first things we're taught as writers. Start "en media res" - in the middle of things.

I frequently rely on voice as my initial "hook," because truthfully, I often like to start just a few moments before the inciting event, to allow the reader to invest in the character a bit first. Some books I start at the point of impact. But lately I see more and more how critical the beginning is - a catchy voice is great, but if there's not a hook, often in the first line, an editor or agent may just give up and move on. And that says nothing about readers.

As a writer - and reader - how long do you give a story before you take it up to the checkout counter (physical or virtual) or put it back on the shelf? And in your own stories, do you hit the ground running or acquaint the reader with the character first? Probably the sweet spot is managing to do a bit of both, but I'm curious if you have to know a little about a character before you care he's about to be eaten by a huge winged dinosaur. ;)