Skylar Kade's Dominating Grammar

The Impotence of Proofreading
By Skylar Kade

A publishing house runs like a well-oiled machine: the author writes, the line editor checks grammar and syntax, the content editor catches errors and polishes that sucker until it is a thing of beauty. Every person has their role—but how much should a writer rely on his or her line editor?

This is not to say an author should distrust an editor—far from it. But should an author be responsible for knowing basic grammar? Should a manuscript go to edits with “there” for “their” or comma splices adorning its pages? In my humble opinion, the editors are there simply to catch what we as writers may overlook—a misspelling we always misread because we know what it’s supposed to say or a grammar technicality that only grammar geeks (I’m one of them!) even notice.

But of late, I have found myself throwing books across the room, or vehemently deleting them from my eReader, because I can’t take one more error. Minor things, like a period where a semicolon is better suited, doesn’t bother me in the slightest. But major errors, like run-on sentences or homonym confusion (peek and peak) are truly frustrating—especially when they’re repeated so frequently it can’t be excused as an “oopsie.”

My first manuscript, Maison Domine, went through two edits with me and one with a beta reader before even being submitted. After that, Samhain and my fabulous editor Laurie gave it three rounds of edits for content before going to a line editor, who found still more errors! Maybe Samhain has extraordinary standards for editing, or maybe I’m a grammar snob, but I just don’t see how multiple errors can slip through the rigorous refining process.

So what do you think? Is it the writer’s responsibility to be knowledgeable about grammar and spelling? Are frequently repeated errors excusable? And finally, what is your pet peeve in a book, that one thing that will make you chuck it across the room?

I look forward to hearing your comments, and I hope, after all this, there are no egregious grammar errors in my first release, Maison Domine (click here for an excerpt).

Skylar Kade
www.skylarkade.com
Twitter: @skylarkade

Maison Domine, part of Samhain’s Binding Ties anthology, released on September 29th! To celebrate, my fellow authors Natasha Moore, Jenna Ives, and I are giving away a beginner’s bondage kit. To enter, send an e-mail to bindingties-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Winner of Cat Johnson's Rough Stock

There were 17 of you competing for Cat Johnson's Rough Stock this week. I'd already bought a copy of Cat's book as a prize, but then Cat said she'd throw one in, not realizing I'd already bought it, so I'm going to make an executive decision here and give away two copies!

Congratulations, Marley and Booklover

I'll be contacting you regarding what format you'd like your ecopy in so check your inboxes!

There were 17 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Marley

2. Booklover

3. Susan Helene Gottfried

4. HockeyVampiress

5. RK Charron

6. mamasand2

7. Karin

8. Tetewa

9. Inez

10. Joder

11. Natasha A

12. Amy M

13. Lisa Philpot

14. Crystal GB

15. Iokijo

16. Host

17. Sue L

Timestamp: 2009-09-29 20:21:12 UTC

JK Coi's Destiny is Definitely not Trouble

You may remember today's guest blogger. JK Coi and I got together with Kimber Chin and did a fun free cross-genre story back in June, then JK guest blogged on my Birthday Bash. She's back again with the re-release of her Trouble with Destiny.

This past Saturday I was wondering what I would blog about when I stopped by here and saw that Snippet Saturdays was all about first paragraphs (and Leah’s was great!—but then again I’d read it before).

First paragraphs tell a lot to the reader about the kind of story they’re in for. The one downfall of many online ebook stores is that they don’t allow a preview to the potential purchaser of those first few pages. I know that when I go into a brick and mortar store it’s usually for something in particular (Like this week when I bought my copy of An Echo In The Bone!!), but I might happen to see a cover that catches my interest and I’ll pick it up to read the back. Before I buy anything though, I always need to open it up and see the first few lines to get a feel for the writing. It isn’t necessarily that I want to know what the story is about—I can get that from the blurb—but I want to know what the author’s voice is like.

So here are the first few paragraphs for my new release from Samhain Publishing, The Trouble With Destiny

From the youthful age of eleven or twelve I planned on being an accountant when I grew up. I could even maybe see myself doing something a tad more adventurous like pushing paper at a law firm. Modest, respectable dreams. Achievable. Safe. Right?

It probably seems like a very dull career choice, but I’ve thought about it a lot since then, and even more so over the last few months, and I think I was on the right track with the pure simplicity of the plan.

You see, I was the kid who always found herself knee deep in the middle of every schoolyard fight and at the heart of every childhood prank. I must have subconsciously known that this predilection would only get more pronounced as I got older, because even at so young an age, I realized it would be smart to try and head off my inbred propensity for danger by going the opposite way and striving to become the most boring person imaginable—and that’s where the accounting degree was supposed to come in, although it also helped that I’d always been a whiz with numbers.

But facts are facts and let’s face it, trouble and I go way back, so it’s no wonder it came around to bite me in the ass when I least expected it.

Still, divine troublemaker or not, nowhere in all my childhood imaginings did I dream I would end up being Buffy the daemon slayer.

Ah, yeah, that was daemon, not vampire. No vampires in my neck of the woods. Thank God. Because, come to think of it, if there were, I’d probably be stuck hunting them down, too.

As an author, with these first paragraphs I’m saying much more than the sum of the words would suggest. I’m warning the reader that this book is not going to be about the life of a respectable, safe accountant. It is going to be dangerous. It is going to be in first person point of view, and that person’s voice is going to be a little bit irreverent and a lot snarky. There will be action and humour and daemons—but thankfully, no vampires (at least not this time)

I hope that being able to flip the page and read the first few paragraphs of this book has whetted your appetite and you’re desperate for more!

Thank you for letting me visit with you today!

J.K. Coi writes dark and edgy paranormal romance where love is all consuming and the stakes are always high.

www.jkcoi.com
www.jkcoi.blogspot.com



I'm going to be giving away a copy of JK's Trouble with Destiny to one lucky commenter. And don't forget that each comment you leave during the month also enters you for my end of the month Reader Appreciation Draw. So take the time to leave a comment for TWO chances to win. (I'll announce the winner on Thursday.)

Where the heck did the day go?

Aw man, it's been a crazy-busy day today that's just flown past. I'm sorry I never got the Twitter post up - I'm going to have to schedule it for Friday. Tomorrow I've got guest blogger JK Coi, on Wednesday Skylar Kade's dropping by, on Thursday it'll be October 1st which means it's time for my Protect Yourself blog. So Friday - I promise I'll have the Twitter 201 post for you up on Friday!

Oh, and I'll be announcing the winner of Cat Johnson's Rough Stock tomorrow as well! You still have a few hours to leave a comment on her post from last Wednesday.

Congratulations to Karin (Pianosong) and Hockeyvampiress who won for stopping by at the Samhain Cafe and were such good sports while Inez and I played silly devils over there tonight. Thanks to everyone who came out to support the Banned Book Week event.

Banned Book Week

I'm having two posts today - I'll be posting the one about the Twitter Programs later.

For now here's the Banned Book Week blog post I screwed up on last week.

You'll probably be seeing a lot of bloggers mentioning that this week is Banned Book Week. We've all heard about the battles to keep Harry Potter out of schools. But did you know that there have also been challenges to Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones? Or Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. Classics aren't exempt - look at the challenges to Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? Or John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. And OMG the worst of the worst, Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mockingbird!  (Want to see a list of books that were challenged in 2007-2008? Go here for the PDF list)

I must admit to a lot of teeth grinding when I hear people agitating to "ban books" in this day and age but I'd also thought most of it was going on down in the States in the Bible Belt. Uh uh. Canadians did you know that Catholic schools in Halton Ontario actually pulled Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass from its shelves for a while? As did ones in Calgary Alberta. Waterloo and Kitchener Ontario challenged Nancy Schniedewind's Open Minds to Equality and wanted it pulled from publicly funded schools because it is morally neutral toward homosexuality.  OM f'g God. Do these closed-minded people not see how ironic that is to want to ban an book about keeping an open mind?

Yes, okay, I'm starting to get back up on my soap box.  As part of the effort to raise public awareness about the efforts to ban books even in this "enlightened" day and age, Samhain authors are going to be taking over the Samhain Cafe at various times during the next week.  The wonderful and witty Inez Kelley and I are going to be chatting over there tonight between 6 and 8 p.m. giving away copies of books. (Yes, mine would definitely be on that banned list, and frankly it should be kept out of schools, it's not age appropriate. But from libraries? Uh uh.) So drop on by tonight and have a chance to win.

Twitter 101

On Friday, I received an email that one of my followers Elaing8 was now following me on Twitter. As I welcomed her to that strange and wonderful world, I realized that it takes a little getting used to. So I figured for those newbies out there, I'd do a short introduction to some of the terms and ways of

First, choose a name to use. It can be your real name or an alter-ego. Since I want my fans/readers to be able to find me easily I use my name LeahBraemel as my Twitter ID. Others, such as Inez Kelley use a funny name - hers is @iamachiapet (I am a chia pet - her avatar is even a head with the chia herbs growing around it, which she says she resembles.) Don't make it too long because when people reply to you it'll cut down the number of characters they'll be able to use. Shorter is better.

So I've decided upon a name and signed up. Now what?

Now you need to figure out who you want to follow:

Following:  These are the people whose tweets you want to be able to see when they post them. They may be your friends, or people whose blogs you follow such as Jane from @DearAuthor or Sarah from @SmartBitches.  They may be writers like me @LeahBraemel or @VivianArend (or the ones I've mentioned in the #FF section below). Even the big names are there @JKRowling recently joined the ranks, though she's not sure how much she'll twitter. Or you can follow people in your industry. For authors, we tend to follow editors such as my former editor (I miss her) @AngelaJames or my new editor @TeraK *waves*, publishers such as @avonbooks, or reviewers such as Coffee Time Romance @CoffeeTimeRoman or All Romance eBooks @allromance.

You can follow your favorite celebrity -- I'm sure you've heard about Ashton Kutcher's  attempt to reach a million followers. (he's @aplusk by the way) or his equally famous wife, Demi Moore (@MrsKutcher) You can follow news people such as Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) or Ann Curry. Or news groups such as @BreakingNews or maybe you'd rather follow a local news station or program (I follow City's Breakfast Television - @BTtoronto In fact I replied to BT once and they put my twitter page (that includes my covers) up on their morning program. Score!) You can follow bookstores and corporations, you name it.

By the way, for the more famous Twitterers, such as Ashton or Demi or JK, look for a blue check mark beside their name - that tells you that Twitter has proven that it is the real person twittering, not someone who is twittering under an assumed name. Which is the reason JK ended up joining Twitter because other people who posting as if they were her.

Then you'll want to have your own Followers:   A follower is very simply someone who follows your tweets (in other words, they can see what you tweet.) A fan if you will. They find you by various methods - maybe they've seen someone they follow reply to you, or they've clicked on someone else's twitter page and gone through the list of who that person follows.  (That's how I started off, I found people I admired, or friends, and looked to see who they were following and picked and chose from there.)  Another way you can get followers (and these usually aren't ones you want) is people who follow the general twitter stream - yes, everything you tweet is out there for anyone to see if they follow the main twitter stream. That's how you end up with people trying to promote their latest get-rich-quick scheme or their Britney porno videos.Yes, even twittering garners you spammers. The thing is, just because they can see your tweets doesn't mean you can see theirs. Some people block them automatically, some people don't because they can't see their tweets. The choice is yours.

You may also gain twitters because you've mentioned a keyword that someone has searched for.  I once mentioned I was rendering a video using Final Cut Pro while I was making a book trailer a while back. Within minutes I had a whole whack of video editors following, along with the Final Cut Pro people. I asked a question about insurance and had an Australian insurance company follow me. I mentioned I'd taken a BDSM course and ... well, yes, I ended up with a half dozen professional Dominatrixes following me. (Or is that Dominatri?)

If you don't want someone to follow you - that Britney porno video pervert for instance, then you can choose to "block" the follower from seeing any of your tweets. (Twitter will send you an email saying someone's following you and give you a chance to block them there, or you can go to the person's profile page and on the right hand side bar you'll see

• message [their id]
• block [their id] <== Click here, and you'll get a screen to confirm your choice. They'll be blocked from your stream from then on.
  

Note:  It is possible to "lock" your account so only people who follow you can see your tweets - they won't be put on the public stream. And they can't follow you without your permission. (People do this to limit the spammers.) However, just ask @HockeyVampiress how that can affect your entries in Tweet contests. If someone's tweets "The first 5 people to Tweet me win a copy of (insert book here)" and they don't follow you - they will not see your Tweet no matter how many times you send it. It's extremely frustrating.

Do I have to follow someone because they're following me?  Nope. You definitely don't want to follow the porny gals, or the "Get Rich Quick" people. Well, maybe you do, I don't. If you take a look at Ashton Kutcher's account, you'll see while he's got 3,688,808 followers (at least he did at the time I wrote this), he only follows 220 people. There are people who will autofollow anyone who follows them. I don't. I can't. I already follow over 500 people and the stream is getting unwieldy.

Don't forget you need to Tweet:  The main rule here? Your message can contain no more than 140 characters. (I believe because that's the limitation imposed in text messaging on a cell phone.) So you end up using a lot of short forms. Srsly, Ppl, U may need 2 shorten Ur msg. Oh, and no, once sent, you can't edit your message. You may be able to delete however. But it has been sent so anyone who has already received it ... yeah, they've seen your error in all its glory.

Your tweet can be personal:

eldest son came home and said "why's it smell like maple syrup in here" Um, that's the burnt coffee pot :(

Or maybe you want to offer the Twitterrealm a recommendation:

Finished @CatherineWade's Another Time Around. A wonderful classic contemp romance (no sex) Read it with tissues handy http://bit.ly/Mst7F

You'll need to Reply (sometimes called a Mention) to other Twitterers (Twits?): When you want to reply to a person's tweet, you need to draw their attention to your post - they'll be able to see it whether they follow you or not if you put in their id.  It'll look something like this:

@Christine_dAbo I'm editing, I'm supposed to be cutting OUT words, instead I keep adding, LOL. @jkcoi

That's a reply I made to author Christine d'Abo. Notice that I have included JK Coi's twitter ID there too as it was a three-way conversation. If I hadn't included JK's ID, she may not have been able to see my reply to Christine. What's that again? If you're following Christine's posts but not mine, you won't see my reply to her. Or vice versa. So often conversations can appear one-sided. This can be avoided somewhat by putting another character as the first character in a tweet. Some people do it by simply putting a period in front so it would appear ".@Christine_dAbo I'm ...."

What's that RT in front of a message mean? That stands for ReTweet. It means the tweet is important enough that someone's felt it necessary to repeat it, to pass it on to their followers.  It might be a news announcement - there were a lot of retweeting of death announcements in June :( Or maybe it's a warning about a virus being spread around.

RT Interesting reading @mashable 4 Teens Sued for Obscene Fake Facebook Profile - http://bit.ly/ZceXQ (via @eHqnKatherineT)

Or you may have seen me talking about retweeting my posts about my contest. Here's one that's going on right now by Toronto Romance Writer Eve Silver. 

RT @Eve_Silver: 1 wk left 2 enter my Sept SEDUCED BY A STRANGER website contests! 2 contests. 2 chances to WIN! http://tinyurl.com/lsdkmj

What's with those funny URLs? Because you're limited to 140 characters, and some web links are so long, Twitterers use programs to shorten their links -- bit.ly or tinyurl for instance. (I use Tweetdeck which autoshortens the URL for me. I'll post more on the various programs you can use tomorrow.)

What's a DM?  It's a Direct Message - it's a way of sending a message directly to a person without anyone else seeing it. It's a place where you really can screw up if you're not watching what you're doing. You may think you're DMing someone when it's actually a reply and everyone will see. So like all things on the net, be really careful what you put out there.

Oh, and DM's? You can only send a DM to someone who is following you. For instance, I can send Ashton Kutcher an @reply which he could see, but since he doesn't follow me, I can't send him a direct (private) message, nor could he send me one because I don't follow him.

I keep hearing people refer to Hashtags, what the heck are Hashtags?:  It's a way of grouping responses so others can easily find your tweet by attaching a title starting with a # sign. For instance, there are authors who want to talk about the writing process and get together every Sunday afternoon. They will add #Writechat to their tweet, and then others will set up their various programs (again, I'll discuss them tomorrow) to search for that "hashtag".  Twitter will also keep track of the number of hashtagged conversations and list them in the "trending topics."

What are all these #FF posts? (or #FollowFriday): A hashtag that is used every Friday for tweets recommending people to follow. The best #FF posts have WHY you should follow them.  For instance I might say

#FF @inkyelbows because she draws some hilarious comics about writing and the web.

But I also might just post a whole bunch of suggestions:

#FF @jkcoi @kimberchin @Christine_dAbo @WylieKinson @ruttanamy @Maya_Banks @LaurenDane @iamachiapet

Well, you get the idea. But see how the first one has more power - you know why or if you'd want to follow them, whereas with the second one you might not realize they're all authors. And no, you don't have to follow all of them, you pick and choose which one to follow from that list.

Okay, that's given you a basic idea as you get sucked into the Twitterverse. Tomorrow I'll give you a brief preview of the various programs you can use to make it easier to follow the tweets you'll be seeing. (TweetDeck, Seesmic, Twitter Gadget, and a couple others.)

Then, next week maybe we'll look at getting you a Twitter intervention - because you can very easily be sucked into the void and lose all track of time as you Twitter.

Snippet Saturday - First Paragraph

Today's Snippet is a short one - we're only giving you a teaser, and that's the first paragraph.

The first paragraph of any story should introduce the setting, and the character, as well as give you a hint of the type of story you're about to read - if it's humorous you don't want to start on a dark note, if it's a dark story, you don't want to start with humor. (Well, maybe Inez Kelley might be able to pull that off.) It's what can make you pick a book up and buy it in a bookstore, or conversely, put it back on the shelf and walk away. So writers really stress-out about getting just the right words for their first paragraph.

I've chosen to share the first paragraph from Private Property since that introduces you to one of the main characters, Jodi Tyler. And although she doesn't know it at this point in time, it also hints at the imminent arrival of the very important second and third characters in the story.



A deep reverberating thrum filled Jodi Tyler’s chest and stroked the back of her throat with its raw promise of latent power. The unmistakable growl of a Harley. The sound bounced off the highwalled estate hugging the shores of Lake Arlington, then abruptly stopped.
 



Don't forget to drop by the other participants of today's Snippet Saturday and see what their first paragraphs reveal...

Kelly Maher
Jody Wallace
Shelli Stevens
Michelle Pillow
Lauren Dane
Jaci Burton
Elisabeth Naughton
McKenna Jeffries
Moira Rogers
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
Juliana Stone
Anya Bast
Lacey Savage
Shelley Munro
Sasha White
Ashley Ladd

Friday Book Roundup

Are you a Maya Banks fan? If you are, here's a heads-up - bookdepository.com has her latest -- Sweet Seduction -- on for 50% off. So instead of having to pay $15 for it, you get it for $7.49. Remember, the Book Depository doesn't charge for shipping to most places in the world, so that $7.49 is all you'll owe. Her Sweet Persuasion is still on for 50% off too. (thanks to Elaineg8 for the tip)

Lauren Dane's Laid Bare is also on sale for $7.49, as is Lorelei James' Raw, Rough and Ready.

If you're a fan of JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood, they've got my very favorite of all the brotherhood books on sale for 52% off - Rhage's story, Lover Eternal. It's $3.83! Her yet-to-be-released Covet is also available as a pre-order for 52% off! Instead of vampires, she's following fallen angels this time.

No, I don't get any money for pimping their books, but I love it when I can pass on an opportunity to save money on some of my favorite authors' books.

Also, since it's Friday, you can get a free book if you order two others from Harlequin. It's an inspirational historical from Steeple Hill this time: Ruth Axton Morren's Bride of Honor

The last two nights I've stayed up late reading Catherine Wade's Another Time Around. (You may remember that Catherine was a guest blogger here back on the 9th.) OMG, this is SUCH a sad but sweet love story, I was crying in spots. If you're looking for erotic romance, this isn't the story for you, it's very closed door, but it's sooo romantic. It's only available in eBook format at the moment but Catherine tells me it will be released in print next summer - I know I loved it enough that I will be buying it in print as well for those days I want to cuddle up with a book rather than a computer. You can buy it as the ebook at MBaM or if you've got a Kindle over at Amazon.

Getting Rough with Cat Johnson

I've been following today's guest blogger, Cat Johnson, on Twitter for a while now. She's got the most gorgeous hat on in her avatar.  I stole the one on the left from her blog profile, but you can also see it on her website's header. (Did you know I love hats? I don't look great in them, but I buy 'em anyway!) From that beautiful hat, and a look at the books she writes involving cowboys, I figured she was a native Texan. Uh uh. I was wrong. Cat lives on an 18th century farm in Hudson Valley, New York. She plays the harp professionally (I've been told it's one of the most difficult instruments to play), but according to her website:

on any given day she is equally as likely to be in formal eveningwear as in mucking clothes covered in manure. Most often she is in pajamas on her laptop.

Ah, a woman after my own ... pajamas! So today I introduce to you Renaissance woman, Cat Johnson ...




Hello all.

When Leah asked me to guest blog I of course did my research and read the past month’s worth of blog spots to see what she was looking for. How funny is it that the topic that tickled my fancy most, and gave me inspiration, was her post about research (See Leah’s September 3rd post).

Like Leah I have often wondered about what the government would think if they monitored my internet usage because I have some interesting and probably incriminating web browsing and conversations happening myself. In fact, the active duty soldier who helps me with the details for my military romances recently asked me to send my emails regarding IEDs and OPFOR training to his Yahoo account rather than his army.mil email address.  Apparently they monitor military accounts for terrorist-related key words and the scene I’d emailed for him to check for accuracy was just packed full of them.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. Let me see if I can relate some snippets to give the readers an insight of what life is really like for an erotic romance writer.

RE: Bodily Functions
I would love to have a video of my face when the soldier (in his mud hut at an FOB in Afghanistan on IM) told me the latrine procedures. I won’t get into details in case any of you are eating, but what he told me absolutely boggles the mind. In fact, I wrote our conversation nearly word for word into a scene in my military romance novel A Prince Among Men.

RE: Sex
When erotic authors get together, both in person and online, we will end up talking about sex. What people have to understand is we’re not really talking about sex; we’re talking about our writing. Bouncing ideas off each other really helps, as does comparing books we’ve written and read, issues we’ve had in our books and how we solved them. However those walking by usually get quite an earful and I’ve had some work-related conversations with other authors and my editors on IM about sex that would probably make even a politician’s head spin.

RE: Embarrassing Questions
Researching my rodeo cowboy threesome, Rough Stock, also spurred some pretty funny conversations on IM with the 22 year-old bull rider who agreed to help me with the details. The most amusing were probably my asking if he rode while wearing a protective ‘cup’ and questioning the post-ride effects of adrenaline on a cowboy’s sex-drive. To his credit, he didn’t blink an eye and answered all my questions. (After a year of working together on three different cowboy ménages and a couple of short stories, he’s used to expecting the unexpected from me now.)  Below is the blurb for Rough Stock so you can see the results of our efforts.

So anyway, if I ever get investigated for inappropriate Internet use because of my research on old Russian automatic weapons or how much money a person can earn filming a porno, I expect you all to back me up. It’s all in the name of romance, I swear!

Thanks for having me.
Cat Johnson

Rough Stock

Cat Johnson

The heart wants what it wants…

Bronc riders Mason and Clay have shared both good times and bad as best friends, but they never expected to share their boss’s daughter, April. Can two friends love one woman, body and soul, without it destroying them?

The heart wants what it wants. For April that means not choosing between the two cowboys she loves, no matter how wrong it may seem inviting them both into her bed.
Life sends the three lovers in opposite directions, but a devastating injury brings them all together again. Their relationship now is no less bittersweet—or complicated—than before. Once severed, old ties leave scars that are tough to heal…

This book has been previously published and has been revised and expanded from its original release.

Warning: When you choose a man who thinks 8 seconds is a long time, perhaps you need two of them. In other words: Watch out, this book contains hot ménage sex with two cowboys and the woman they love.

Thanks, Cat. Boy Howdy, I want to listen in on some of those conversations with that active duty soldier who gives you tips on the guy's POV. What a resource! (My nephew's preparing to head over to Afghanistan with his outfit soon, but asking him the questions I want to ask? That would just be TOO strange, LOL) Now I have to go look for Cat's A Prince Among Men. (Did anyone else's imagination flash onto Prince Harry with his unit when they saw that title?)

In honor of the re-release of Rough Stock, I'm offering a copy to one lucky commenter. (Winner to be announced next Tuesday, September 29th)

Winner of Eliza Gayle's books

I thank you for very patiently waiting - I've deliberately waited a week to give you a chance to catch up on your reading.


If you remember Eliza was offering two books - a copy of her newest release, Obsession of Jayde, which releases next week on September 29th.  And a copy of her  Watch Me Hide. So I plugged the names into Random.org's list randomizer, and took the top two names as the winners.
 
The winner of her Obsession of Jayde is:

FL Chen!

The copy of her Watch Me Hide is:

Estella

There were 13 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. FLChen

2. Estella

3. Inez

4. Amy M.

5. Hockeyvampiress

6. RK Charron

7. Bella

8. Mitzi

9. Shelley Munro

10. Ella Drake

11. Nikole Hahn

12. JK Coi

13. Joder

Timestamp: 2009-09-22 13:13:14 UTC

Ladies, I will be forwarding your information to Eliza and she will be contacting you regarding the formats available. Thanks for playing everyone!

By the numbers

Oy, it's 9 a.m. and I'm only JUST sitting down to the computer. Why is it some mornings take so much longer to get your head together? I haven't even had my first cup of coffee yet!

First off - I don't know where my head was yesterday saying it was Banned Book week and telling you to go to the Cafe - that's not until NEXT Monday. Ugh. Sorry sorry sorry. I mustn't have had my coffee when I wrote that post either.

Second - don't forget Maya Bank's eBook Extravaganza is still going on, it's in its second week. A copy of my Personal Protection is being offered as part of Draw #24, along with a copy of the fabulous Kristen Painter's All Fired Up, the amazing Lorelei James' Miss Firecracker, the spectacular Allie Boniface's One Night in Napa (remember she blogged here a couple weeks ago?), and Maya's own Golden Eyes. You can still enter to win any of those contests.

On a very weird side note, I had a tiny squee moment at being part of Draw #24. (I would have been happy with Draw #26 as well.) I have this weird thing about numbers - I prefer even numbers over odd numbers every time, and certain numbers such as 24 or 26 make me inordinately happy. Strange, huh? Anyone else have a weird quirk like that? Does anyone else watch the clock for times such as 12:34 or 11:11? Yeah, I'm weird.

Third ... oh, yeah, the winner of Eliza Gayle's draw - I'll be putting that up in a separate post so you can find it easily. Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment. Cat Johnson's up tomorrow.

Leah's Soapbox - tonight at six p.m.

Yesterday I wrote how cold it was overnight and complained that Mother Nature didn't seem to realize that fall hadn't started yet, that it was still summer. Well, the contrary bitch gets the last laugh - tomorrow,the weathermen tell me, the first day of fall is going to be hot and humid and we're going to need to kick off our blankets and turn on the a/c.  Figures.


Ooops. Major boo-boo. I posted that I'd be at the Samhain Cafe tonight because it's Banned Book week.  It isn't.  BBW is next week. So join me NEXT Monday, the 28th.

Getting frosty

It's been a long time since I allowed myself one of my trademark rants. So as summer draws to a close, I'm allowing myself one.

Someone needs to tell Mother Nature that summer doesn't officially end until Tuesday. The last couple days it's been dipping down to single digits at night time. It was three degrees when I got up yesterday morning. (That's the high 30s for you Fahrenheit-types.) This morning, I swear there was frost on the grass.

Our bedroom has been freezing, but I'll be danged if I turn on the furnace when it's still officially summer. Heck, I had the air conditioner running last week!

Gizmo Guy and I have a temperature war going on most nights. I'm always freezing cold while he's sweating. He pushes the blanket or duvet off while I'm pulling it up. The last two nights however? He's grabbing the blanket and hauling it over him when I pull it up. (Why is it he won't reach down and grab it himself but waits for me to reach around in the dark to find it?)

We've got one of those fuzzy velour microfibre blanket thingies. It was nice when we first got it, but it wore out really quickly and now there are thin spots and holes forming in it. It wasn't a cheap one, but it sure hasn't lasted. So yesterday we went out looking for a "real blanket". You know, the ones we used to use as kids? Made of wool? With the wide strip of silk around the edge?

Did you know I couldn't find a single wool blanket in any of the stores we checked. Not even our Hudson's Bay - the company world famous for its trademark Hudson's Bay blankets. Maybe because a couple years ago it was bought out by a US firm who has decided to turn it into any other bland box store?

My mother still has sheets and blankets she was given as wedding presents - still in really good shape, except perhaps for the silk around the edges which she has replaced. She's been married 54 years. My blanket - the velour thing? I think it's lasted 5 years. Which is probably why they've stopped selling the wool ones.

It's only September. I'll be damned if I'm putting our winter duvet on the bed at this stage - besides it's too heavy and too warm for fall.

Maybe I'll buy a couple sheep and learn how to card and spin wool and make my own.

Plundering for freebies

Ahoy, me hearties, did you know tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day? I've got my pirate flag up in the basement and everything. (I bought it in the US Virgin Islands, reputed home of the infamous ... um, Bluebeard? Blackbeard? I will have to research again...) Anyway, this is the only type of pirate activity I approve of. ;)

So, mateys, do you want to do some plunderin'?

If you'd like a free copy of Kresley Cole's novella "Warlord Wants Forever", click on this link (it links directly to a PDF, so you'll probably want to right click on it) Also included are excerpts of the first chapters of other books such as her A Hunger Like No Other.

You can also download the first three chapters to Maya Banks' Sweet Seduction here. (Again it auto links to the PDF.)

And don't forget to keep entering the eBook Extravaganza over at Maya's WriteMinded blog for your chance to win even more books.

eBook Extravaganza is still going on

Aww, I was just over on the WriteMinded blog where Maya Banks is having her eBook Extravaganza. Draw #15 was for commenters to list the five Samhain books they'd love to win (new or old) and I found my name on several people's lists. You wouldn't believe how that makes me go "Squeee" to be listed among such great writers as Maya and Lorelei James. Thanks for making my day, ladies.

Keep an eye out on the future draws over there as my Personal Protection will be coming up soon. (And you can still enter for the draws already posted - winners will be chosen at the end.)

Eliza Gayle's Hiding her Obsessions

After serving her country in the marines, today's guest author Eliza Gayle now lives in North Carolina with her husband and two daughters. Like me, Eliza writes hot and spicy stories -- contemporary, fantasy and paranormal.  On her bio on her website, she admits to: an irrational fear of snakes (there's nothing irrational about that at all), a chocolate obsession (nothing wrong there either), and that she had two nicknames in the Marines - Annie Oakley (I can figure out where that came from) and Fritz. (That one leaves me baffled. Maybe she'll tell us the story behind it later today.)



Thank you, Leah for having me on your blog today. I thought I’d come by and talk about my split personalities. *g*




That’s right, I have them – in my writing that is. In fact many writers do. No, I’m not talking about the split between the writer who weaves the perfect story and their non-writing life. I’m talking about the ones who can’t write in one genre to save  their lives.

It could be as extreme as writing romance to writing mystery or as common as writing in different sub genres like myself.  When I started writing, I knew I wanted to write erotic romance without a doubt. That’s about all I knew when I got started.

The first book I wrote was a paranormal shifter story and I set it up as a series so I had all intentions of following up with more paranormals right away. And then I got distracted…

A little story called Submissive Secrets formed in my mind and it wouldn’t go away so I found myself writing Contemporary with a little bondage thrown in. Once I finished that I went back to paranormal and thus my path began going back and forth between the two sub genres that I still write in today.

Since then I have had many discussions with writers about the pros and cons of not focusing on a specific genre. I’m hardly alone in writing like this and in fact many many do but many times I have been warned that true success seems to come from a focus, that readers stick with authors who write the genre they read. So…I fought it. Silly me.

I wrote another paranormal and then began another. That next one was so hard I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. It was only a short story why was it taking so long. My other personality fought with me until it gained control and I wrote the contemporary that needed to be written. (that other paranormal is still not completed.)

I learned my lesson.

For one, I’m a reader and while I read primarily paranormal, I do like to mix it up with other sub genres. Not unlike how I feel when I’m writing. I usually write and write on a story until I’m done and pretty sick of it. By switching to another genre I get to change gears completely, work on something different. It’s how I write and it works for me and I can only hope that readers come along for the wild ride.

Recently a discussion came up about having to write with a different voice when you switch genres, even sub genres. Again, something I hadn’t given much thought to. I simply write the story as I see it. So, I asked a few of my author buddies who read my stories before I send them off and asked them if they could tell a difference in my voice between the genres.

The answer: definitely.

I learned that neither genre voice was a favorite with all. One liked my contemporary voice better and one liked the paranormal voice better. One even went so far as to describe the difference.

She explained that the paranormal voice is more raw or earthy where the contemporary is more refined or polished. Neither being of a different quality just a different feel. Huh. I was fascinated. Who knew?

Of course it makes perfect sense. There are favorite authors I read who write in different genres and while I may love their paranormal series, I like the contemporaries a little less. Could be as a reader I’m focused on what I prefer to read or the different voices working their magic.

And as releases go I’ve become pretty true to the need for change with my most recent release, Watch Me Hide being a contemporary bdsm and my upcoming first Loose Id release, Obsession of Jayde a paranormal ménage.

I’d love to hear what readers and authors think about their favorite authors writing outside one genre and if you can see the difference when you read their books.


If you want to know ore about Eliza, check our her website, or follow her on Twitter.

Eliza is very graciously offer two books today - a copy of her Watch Me Hide (Book 2 of Purgatory) from Phaze Books, and her Obsession of Jayde which releases from Loose Id on September 29th.

Here's a sneak peek at Watch Me Hide

 For too long Emerson tried to gain the attention of one man, with no luck. Until she discovers his secret—in a sex club. With a mask and a plan she goes after him and ends up unearthing her own secret desires.

Rio wants what he can’t have but isn’t about to ruin his life over it. Now a new woman has caught his eye and he longs to discover why she hides.
As they get closer to the truth, the tension escalates and the forbidden becomes irresistible.

Driving Stick

I've discovered that for the next semester I've got a new job - Mom's Taxi. Curly, my youngest son, starts his co-op placement today at the funeral home, and he's trying to hold down his part time job at the grocery store. This week, he's supposed to be at the grocery store within a half hour of finishing at the funeral home. He's talked to his boss about starting later at the grocery store so hopefully in future weeks he can take a bus (if we can figure out which one he'd take). But even so, it looks like I'm going to be pressed into service since the local transit can take 90 minutes to get somewhere that would take me 10 minutes to drive.

He's 18, and he has a learner's permit to drive, but we only have standard transmission cars -- and that's giving him major problems as he cannot seem to get the hang of getting the revs of the engine to a point where he can release the clutch so the car goes into a forward momentum.

I learned to drive a standard after I'd had my driver's license three years. AND it was before Sunday shopping was allowed, so Gizmo Guy took me into an empty parking lot where I could practice until I got the hang of shifting. (Poor Gizmo Guy was handed the keys to a company car in downtown Ottawa and told "here you go."  Talk about trial by fire, poor guy.) But nowadays there are no empty lots around here - the malls are all busy, as is the college, and the factories that have closed down have had their parking lots blocked off (probably to prevent vandalism).

Any readers in Europe have any suggestions of how I can help him? Because I'm stymied. It would make things so much easier if he got his license. (Of course, even if he could drive the stick, he'd have to wait to get his license since the people who are responsible for the licensing and testing have been on strike for nearly a month, with no end in sight.)

* * *

Don't forget to check Maya Bank's WriteMinded blog several times a day as her eBook Extravaganza is going on all week.  There are four draws a day, so you do have to keep going back to comment if you want to be entered.

Romance Bookmark - a promo free zone

Today's the day the new loop Romance Bookmark starts up. It's the place to come to talk about books, reading, things you like and don't like and...anything that takes your fancy really. You can talk about favorite genre, your favorite author, favorite books, who you're reading, ask for recommendations. Chat!

And the good thing is you won't find an endless stream of promo posts and excerpts. This is a promo-free zone. Yes, there are a half dozen participating authors, but we're just going to be popping in from time to time throughout the day. We promise we're not posting excerpts or promo either. The closest thing you'll find to promo is a short post at the beginning of each month letting you know what we're are up to and news of our latest releases. Once a month. Because we're tired of all those promo-heavy loops too.

To join you can either click on the link above, or the button at the top of my sidebar. Everyone who joins Romance Bookmark before Oct 14 will go into a draw to win books or downloads.

Need a laugh today?

I'm busy running around today, but thought I'd share with you a link to a site that has had me laughing out loud so hard I had tears running down my cheeks and at times I was unable to read out the rest of the story to Curly and Gizmo Guy.

Head over to Janis' The Blackraven's Erotic Cafe blog. She's got two hilarious posts up this weekend. The first one talks about a little boy who takes his mom's, um, toys to school for show and tell. The second one is about how not to test your taser.

Weekend Roundup

With my youngest heading back to school, this week's been really busy. Curly's in his last year of school - in fact technically he graduated high school in June although the ceremony won't be until October. But he couldn't decide what he wanted to do "when he grew up" until this spring and realized he needed to have taken a co-op course since to get into the college course he'll be taking requires work placement experience.  So he's back in high school for one last year. Though his study load should be a lot easier, he's going to be busy as not only will he have to go to school for a couple hours a day, but he'll also be working at his co-op placement every afternoon, and he'll still try to be holding down his part-time job at the grocery store to help pay for his college tuition next year. I'm going to have to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't burn out.

Guitar Hero has just worked his last day at his full-time job, and is taking a week off and then starts his new course in Toronto on the 21st. Maybe, just maybe, I'll have the house to myself during the day after that. I haven't been alone in the house during the day since October 2001. I'm really looking forward to having some quiet time to concentrate on my writing. (I'm doing my stretches and warmups for the happy-dancing I'll be doing on that day, I tell you.)

Coming up in the writing world: 

Starting Monday, the fantastic Maya Banks will be kicking off an e-book extravaganza over on her WriteMinded blog. During the week she'll be giving away over 100 ebooks. No, the winner doesn't get all 100, there will be four posts per day of five books. So you'll have lots of chances to win. More details are available here. Yes, I've kicked in one of my books for the contest.

Also starting Monday, a group of authors have gotten together to start up a brand new Yahoo group specifically for romance readers. It's called Romance Bookmark. (There's a "Join the Loop" button over on the sidebar.) I can hear you groaning already - "Why would I want to join another loop? I'm in too many already."  Because Romance Bookmark is going to be all about chatting about reading. No author promos will be allowed. Authors will be allowed to join and participate in the discussions but they have to wear their reader hats. They're not going to be allowed to pimp their books or flood the loop with blurbs and excerpts. The moderators so far are: Shelley Munro, Tessa Radley, Christina Phillips, Tawny Weber, Leah Braemel (Me!), and Beth Andrews. We'll be popping in from time to time throughout the day to say hi and shoot the breeze, but no PROMOS. We promise! From time to time, there'll be contests giving away both print books and ebooks. We've all donated some of our own books but I've also donated some brand new free print books I've picked up along the way by authors such as Eloisa James, Tessa Dare, and Maya Banks, amongst others. But the whole point of the group is to have a relaxed atmosphere where you can talk about what you are reading, books you like or didn't like, tropes you love or despise, what you had for dinner last night, you name it. It's going to be all about the reader.

And finally, today is Snippet Saturday, but I didn't have a snippet to post today. But don't forget to check out the other people who do have snippets up to read. Today's snippets are all about worldbuilding.

Michelle Pillow
Kelly Maher
Mark Henry
Jody Wallace
Jaci Burton
Elisabeth Naughton
Ashley Ladd
Moira Rogers
Taige Crenshaw
Lauren Dane
Victoria Janssen
Vivian Arend
TJ Michaels
Juliana Stone
Anya Bast
Lacey Savage
Eliza Gayle

Another free* Harlequin book - today only

Harlequin apparently has "freebie Fridays" where they give a book away.

Today's book is Someone Like Her by Janice Kay Johnson

Finding his mother is the only reason Adrian Rutledge would set foot in this backward place. In fact, he can't get out of town fast enough. At least, that's his attitude before Lucy Peterson works her magic on him. The café owner is nothing like what he thought he needed, yet she's all he wants.

Then the job pulls him back to the city and Adrian slips into the life he once worked hard to achieve. And while it may not fit the way it did, he can't simply abandon it. Or can he? Because suddenly he's tempted by everything Lucy's offering.

The regular price is $5.50, but ONLY for TODAY they're giving it away free.  Go here.

**edited** ah, found the fine print - in order to get this book for free, you have to purchase two other books.

***

I found this over on Smart Bitches Trashy Books - Cookie Maker Peek Freans (drooling now, I love Peek Freans cookies) is giving away a Harlequin book too - you can either download the PDF or download the "boss friendly" version as a Powerpoint demonstration. (Wow, that's an original idea, how cool is that?)

Winners of Catherine Wade's Another Time Around

I'm going to do things a little differently today. First up, instead of using randomizer to choose a winner, I'm going to award the prize based upon the best ghost story. Second, Catherine has generously offered a free copy, but I've also said I'll be providing one too, so TWO of you win copies today.

Nancy

Starryann 

Nancy told us about her boyfriend handing her his classring and then her finding out that he'd died in an automobile crash miles away, and Starryann told about 'someone' telling her to check her door and discovering someone was trying to break in.

Ladies, please send me an email to leah DOT braemel@gmail.com with your choice of format (LIT, HTML, PDF, PDF for Sony, Mobipocket or Rocketbook) and we'll get your prizes to you.

Want some Free eBooks?

Do you like Harlequin books? Harlequin's British counterpart, Mills and Boon, is celebrating their first anniversary of their eBook Programme by giving away ten ebooks. Go here to see the list to choose from, then download one (or all of them) for free. They are available in epub which means they can be read on your computer using Adobe Digital Editions, or if you have an iPhone with the Stanza app you can download it onto your phone. I used Calibre to transfer them over to my Sony Reader. Or if you use a Mobipocket reader device like a Blackberry or a PDA, you can read them on it.

Winner of Inez Kelley's Myla by Moonlight Draw

Yesterday I asked Inez if she wanted to draw the winner of her book, Myla by Moonlight or if she wanted me to. She replied it was up to me. I am sorry to say, I got distracted and totally forgot to do the draw. Sorry sorry sorry.

Congratulations J Hunter

There were 21 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. J Hunter
2. Elaineg8
3. Natasha A
4. Chey
5. Lesa
6. Marley Delarose
7. Amy M
8. fcammer2
9. Karin
10. Joder
11. Blanche
12. Dani
13. Book Junkie
14. Bridget
15. Llehn
16. Chelsea B
17. PamK
18. Maggie J
19. Host
20. FlChen
21. Estella

Timestamp: 2009-09-10 10:33:14 UTC

Congratulations, J. you will be contacted shortly to ask what format you'd like for your copy of  Inez's book.If you do not respond within 7 days, I will draw a new winner.

Catherine Wade dropping by for Another Time Around

Today's guest blogger, Catherine Wade, and I joined the Samhain family at about the same time, and throughout the past year (where has it gone, Cate?) we've exchanged quite a few emails pondering the "huh?" moments of publishing. Yesterday, Cate's second book, Another Time Around was released as an e-copy (it'll be released in print next summer.) Like me, she's surrounded by a houseful of testosterone. Unlike me she actually has musical ability. Like me? She's seen ghosts....

* * *

Have you been haunted? Haunted by a memory, by a mistake, by the ghost of your late husband? Brin’s haunted by all three, and the dead husband’s getting a little out of hand. That’s the subject of my new book, Another Time Around. But the question today isn’t what my book’s about, it’s why I wrote it in the first place.

Since I was a little kid, I’ve been fascinated by the so-called occult. I played with Ouija boards and tarot cards, but nothing really cemented my beliefs until I was in high school and met my sister’s friend. Since I was a small child, I’d always felt just odd in my parents’ basement. Not scared, necessarily, but like something was just off. Then I started having dreams about a man wearing a leather tunic with feathers in his hair. He was never doing anything, just looking at me.  Then my sister’s friend came to visit. Our guest room at the time was in the basement, and that’s where she slept. The next morning, she described waking up in the middle of the night to find the exact same man staring at her. Not doing anything, just looking at her.

Want to talk shivers down my spine?

I didn’t know at the time that my sister’s friend was a psychic -  she’s made quite a name for herself in certain circles around the Rocky Mountain area – but I knew in that instant what I had felt, the man I had seen, was real.

It explained so much for me. Why in a certain church in town I always felt I was being watched, why my mother just couldn’t go into the sanctuary without getting jumpy, and why I’d see things out of the corner of my eye only to find the room empty.

As I got older, I started researching the paranormal as a hobby. I’ve always found it fascinating, though I admit I don’t buy the whole thing hook, line and sinker. Still, I think there’s something out there which we can’t explain.

So as I stood in the shower one day (is there a better place to get ideas?) my mind wandered to the paranormal. What if a widow was haunted by her late husband? Not the corner-of-the-eye, dream type haunting. A real, life-like man who could touch her, love her, and completely mess up her life just when she’s ready to move on? Sounded like a book to me. 

So I’ll ask again – have you ever been haunted? Tell me about it.

* * *

If you want to know more about Cate, or read an excerpt of her Another Time Around, or her first book, Let's Dish, head on over to her website. Or you can follow her on Twitter - @catherinewade. Or MySpace.  Or Facebook.

I'm giving away a copy of her Another Time Around to one lucky commenter - but you have to tell us your ghost story ...

* * *

Love haunts…

Brin Maxwell once lived the ultimate rock-n-roll fantasy as the wife of the frontman for Hell’s Fury. It all ended in a flash—literally—with a lightning bolt that took Max’s life and left hers in suspended animation.

Two years later she’s ready to move on, but there’s a stumbling block: her sanity. Max’s ghost has decided to haunt her, and he’s got a bad habit of showing up at the most inconvenient moments. Like when she’s about to plant a long wet one on event planner David Lyle, the man she hopes will resurrect her love life.

David is real, solid, and makes her heart do the tango. He’s also curiously inept at his job—yet he has certain other talents that leave her wondering just what he’s hiding in his shadowy past.

Then there are the death threats. As they escalate from notes slipped under her door to full-scale, Kodak-moment terror, Brin realizes Max’s return is no coincidence. And that the only one she can turn to is David.

The man with the skills to save her life—unless he’s there to take it…

She's Baaa-aaack!

During my Birthday Bash, today's guest blogger drew the most blog visitors on my stats counter.  I think it might have been because of her outrageous topic - Do the Lips Match the Tips. You might remember it - it's the one with the discussion about nipple color.  Yup, Inez Kelley's baaa-aaack!

Fair warning? If you have a drink in your hand, I recommend you put it down before reading. Or at least have a towel handy to wipe off your monitor.



Hi Leah!!  I’m back!  And I promise I’ll be a perfect lady this time.

**crickets chirp**

Okay, well then, maybe I should just promise to behave.

**stifled laughter**

Yeah, that will never last. How about if I promise to keep my bra on? Will that work?

Good.

So, is that a jaguar in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Sorry, Myla by Moonlight humor.

Myla is a shape-shifter-jaguar-magical-spell-maiden-warrior-guardian…thing. She is hard to explain. She lives in a burn scar on Taric’s side… damn, I just flashed on Spongebob Squarepants. *whoooooo lives in a pineapple under the sea…* 

Anyway, back to Myla. She was not born, she was created. That was the biggest draw to me in fantasy writing. I am a comic writer by nature but the lure of creating my own world, my own rules, yeah, I liked that power. Developing her powers and limitations, establishing laws of the land, throwing a wrench into all that… PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER!!!  Itty-bitty mental space. 

I may or may not have a slight God-complex—deal with it. Altar is to your left, leave offerings of chocolate and mancandy on the way out.

Now there is some humor in Myla by Moonlight. I am not sure I could write without it, honestly. And I don’t want to. Enter stage left—supporting character Bryton. Bryton has the dubious honor of being Prince Taric’s human bodyguard. In other words, this big hulking tough guy gets shown up by a girl. BOOYAH!!

He deals with this mostly through humor. He loves Taric like a brother and, as brothers do, they verbally jab each other a lot. Bryton is totally irreverent to the Crown Prince, calls him the Crown Prick and Your Hind-ass. He and Myla face off a few times but it’s all good. They both have the ultimate goal of keeping the Prince alive during a war.

Taric sounds like a big old wussy, doesn’t he? I was terrified he would come across like that. He isn’t, I swear. He armors-up and fights in battle, defends his people and his kingdom with his own muscle. He just has the backing of one very large red-headed man and a lethal magical lover. Kinda makes you pity his enemy, doesn’t it?

Don’t. I LOVED writing Emerto Marchen. He is one sick, twisted bastid. Villains are cool characters. I need more of those, I think. Evil is fun! He is sexy in his own way, if you go for the lean, mean, slithering snake type. Think Jafar without the crooked beard. Plus, Marchen has a few magic tricks of his own that might just surprise you.

One thing that surprised me while writing this was the whole issue of… issue. Royal issue, that is. An heir. I mean, yeah, logic says that to have a continuing monarchy, you’ve got to have children but well, that didn’t work so well in my tale. Not only can Myla not get pregnant (magic birth control, got to love it, no missed pills, no messy periods, etc) but I took the whole “Knock her up” to a new extreme. Taric can’t.  It is impossible. His swimmers only swim upstream for one woman, the one he is bonded to.

And one guess who he bonds with? Hint, she ain’t real and has claws.

*insert big cheesy grin here* Man, this playing God-stuff is fun.

A word of warning, though. As much fun as it is to torture my characters, they got their revenge. They broke my heart. *sniff* I hope you find Myla by Moonlight as enchanting as I did.





When you stop laughing, don't forget to leave a comment because Inez is giving away a copy of her Myla by Moonlight to one lucky commenter.

And while you're at it, go over and visit her website, she has some extremely drool-worthy mancandy up this week. Okay, she has drool-worthy mancandy every week, this week's ... well, I have to go get myself a towel now. And a hair dryer to dry off my keyboard. And my monitor. Inez is a dangerous woman if you have a drink in your hand.

First vs Second Drafts

Woohoo!  I finished the first draft of the novella I started last week. (I really think I need to concentrate more on novellas)  I really like the characters - they were so co-operative and let me crawl around inside their heads which makes writing them so much easier.

I have to go back through it now and do several things as I work on it as a second draft.  First off, as you saw on Friday's post, I check my facts. A question I sent out yesterday? Could a truck equipped with a trailer hitch for a flatbed-style trailer (used for hauling landscaping equipment) be able to haul a horse trailer? I have never owned a vehicle with a trailer hitch, but I know there are two types (or more), the ball-type trailer hitch, and a square one that are used for towing mobile homes. I wasn't sure which category a horse trailer fell into.

So I got that squared away - BlueSue to the rescue again. Poor Sue has been inundated with emails lately. I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate my "experts" and their patience with my probably stupid questions. But I know how much it bugs me when I read a story that has an error in it, so I try to make sure that I've written things correctly the first time. Doesn't always happen--you have to know what you need to ask questions about, and sometimes the most obvious aren't obvious. For instance, regional differences, just because something is done one way in my area, doesn't mean it's done the same way in another province/state/country.  Heck I remember being fascinated watching thunderstorms roll across the country when I visited Louisiana back in 2000. Their storms are completely different from the type we get up here.

The second thing I'll be doing - and I do them concurrently -- is layer the story. That's where I go back and add in more emotion, more internal debate, etc. I get into the sensory part of what the character is experiencing. I change out the "telling" to "showing" ...

So you can see the difference, I've included two examples.  Here's how the story was originally written ... a reminder, this is from the first draft, at this stage I'm more intent on moving the story forward and getting the elements in place.

"Yeah, my truck's overheated." Nikki reached for the latch to release the hood, trying to ignore the shivery feeling that went through her every time she set eyes on her neighbor.

"Whoa, don't touch that - let it cool down a while longer, honey." He caught her wrist and pulled her away.

She landed against him with an oomph, feeling every hard muscle pressed against her. Man, what she'd give to feel this while horizontal. Dream on, Nik.

"You call a tow truck yet?"

Here's the second draft ...

"Yeah, my truck's overheated." Nikki reached for the latch to release the hood, trying to ignore the shivery feeling that went through her every time she set eyes on the hunk of man walking toward her.

He caught her wrist and pulled her back from the still-steaming engine. "Whoa, don't touch that yet. Let it cool down a while longer or I’ll be hauling you off to the burn unit."

She landed against him with an oomph, aware of every hard inch of him. The long length of thigh muscle pressed against hers, his arms banded around her waist, the muscular chest mashing into her breasts. Man, what she'd give to be this close to him horizontal. Before she could stop herself, she filled her lungs with his scent, detecting only a hint of the aftershave he’d used that morning behind a heaping of good honest sweat. Mostly he smelled of machine oil, sawdust, and … what was that smell? She scrunched up her nose and took another sniff. “You been at a barbeque?”

Dillon chuckled, a dark delicious sound that reminded her of humid summer evenings eating barbequed ribs and drinking cool beer, of star-filled nights that promised long sessions of hot sweaty sex. “We’ve been cuttin’ down some mesquites out back of the old Pritchert place. New owners are plannin’ on putting in a pool.”

See the difference? Quite an improvement, isn't it?  Though I'm happy with that second draft, I can guarantee there'll be more changes made yet. So that's the type of thing I'll be doing for the next week or so. (Thanks to Cathy Clamp and eBookPusher on twitter for suggestions about the mesquite scent.)

Oh, and another task? I have to come up with a title for it. Those are always a challenge.

Snippet Saturday - Fight Scene (Emotional)

Today's Snippet Saturday is about an emotional fight scene. My favorite emotional scene in Personal Protection is toward the end, though it isn't between the hero and heroine, Sam and Rosie, but between the hero and his best friend. But if I put that snippet in here it would give away the ending. So you'll just have to read the book to find out which one I'm referring to. ;=)

Instead I've chosen one from early on in the book, where Rosie has been told that Sam didn't want her on his detail, let alone leading it.  She's assumed it's because she's a woman - which has her ... well, read the snippet ...



Sam wandered toward the kitchen. “I was fixin’ to make some dinner. I could grill us some chicken and toss a coupla sweet potatoes in the oven. We could finish it all up with that pecan pie you bought.” Normally she found the way he pronounced pecan more like pehcawn sexy, but now his drawl shredded her nerves.

“No, thank you.” Rosie turned her back on Sam and marched to the spare bedroom. She pulled her suitcase from the closet, tossed it on the bed.

“Is there a problem?” Sam said from the doorway.

“Not at all.” She grabbed the clothes she’d put in the top drawer and tossed them into the suitcase.

He leaned his shoulder against the doorframe, his forehead furrowing. “Then why are you packing like there’s a four alarm fire on the floor below?”

“I’ve decided to switch off with Kris or Andy. We’ll all be happier that way.” Well, she wouldn’t be. Goddamn, when would men realize that just because she was only 5’1 and didn’t have a penis didn’t mean she couldn’t provide proper protection or run an effective op?

“Happier? You wanna tell me why you think I’d be happier with them? What bee crawled up your— What’d I do to send you running like someone tied a bottle rocket to your tail?”

She whirled, her arms held rigidly at her side. “Oh, let’s see, you wanted someone else protecting you, not a little bitty woman who wasn’t a former Navy MP or D.C. City cop or CIA spook. And then when I asked you earlier if you had a problem with me being on your detail, you lied to me. Outright lied! I’ve put up with a lot of crap, Mr. Watson, but I don’t tolerate lies. You don’t want me guarding you, fine. But you should have said that when I asked.”

“I didn’t lie. I never said I didn’t want you protecting me because you were a woman.”

“But you told Chad you didn’t want me assigned to you, didn’t you?”

“Yes, that part’s true. But—”

“Ay bendito. I knew it.” She advanced on him. “Just because I’m short doesn’t mean I can’t take you down—just ask Kris or Andy. Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I’m not a damned good shot. I’ve been trained in counter-surveillance, and bomb disposal.”

“I know that, I—”

“Just because I’ve never worn a uniform or carried a badge doesn’t mean I can’t guard you. I’ve been on details guarding an Oscar winning actor while he was making that movie down in Savannah and got him to safety when the barricades failed to hold back hundreds of screaming fans.” Then the asshole had expected her to put out in the limo. “I’ve protected those three country music singers—did I mention how much I hate country music—and let’s not forget the gentleman from Saudi Arabia with his three wives and sixteen kids, or the dozens of women from the Safe and Sound program.”

“I know you’re good at your job. That wasn’t why I wanted someone else.”

“Ha! So you did want someone else. You admit it.”

“Yeah, I already admitted it. But—”

“But you don’t trust me to protect you.” She closed the cover on the suitcase and zipped it.

“I trust you. But—damn it! I wasn’t objecting to you because you’re a woman, Rosie. Well, yeah, it’s sort of because you’re a woman. Aw, hell, you’re reading this all wrong.”

“For all your bullshit about equal opportunities, it’s still just bullshit. You want to be a big macho he-man who guards the ‘little woman’ but God help you now it’s the other way around.”

“Rosie—Ms. Ramos—”

“I’ll stay until Chad can get someone else over here to replace me, but then I’m out of here. And not just this assignment but D.C. I refuse to work for someone who doesn’t respect my abilities. I’ll expect you to approve my transfer first thing in the morning. Because if you don’t, then I’ll file a lawsuit for sexual discrimination.” She stopped talking, the words clogging her throat. Oh Lord. Fifteen minutes ago, she was feeling so proud and now she was about to walk away from the job she loved.

“Goddamn it, I don’t want you to leave Hauberk, Rosie. I didn’t want you guardin’ me because I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to keep my hands off you!”


Don't forget to visit the other participants of Snippet Saturday - and leave a comment to let them know you've visited. It lets us know someone's actually reading them.

Lauren Dane
Jaci Burton
Elisabeth Naughton
McKenna Jeffries
Moira Rogers 
Taige Crenshaw
Victoria Janssen 
Vivian Arend
TJ Michaels
Juliana Stone
Anya Bast
Lacey Savage 
Eliza Gayle