Aphrodisia Authors :: Blog

Happy New Year!

In December I was in a chat with a publishing professional who admonished writers not to do blogs that are only of interest to their critique partners. I felt a stab of guilt for not being a marketing wunderkind who instinctively knows everything there is to know about book promotion.

To be honest, I’m not sure what is really interesting to readers. I’ve visited some sites and blogs where a writer is chatting about the most recent events on a television show or what mischief their pets have got up to.

Are the blogs of writers supposed to be entirely promotion related? Like the ones with regular contests and give aways and such? I don’t feel a particular yearning to do that kind of blog, either. Not that I don’t offer my books as prizes on occasion, or offer up critiques in support of worthy causes, because I do. But it isn’t part of my regular routine.

I don’t blog on my own site. I blog here on the 6th of each month, and periodically on the To Be Read – So Many Authors, So Little Time, blog that is shared by published RWA members of an online chapter. If you haven’t checked it out, please do! You can find it here http://toberead.wordpress.com/

I’m determined to find more balance in my life in 2009. That balance includes diet, exercise, writing time. But it also includes limiting time on the net, and making the very best use of those limited hours every week.

My question is: why do readers return to blogs regularly? What kind of posts do you enjoy the most? The personal interest posts? The current event themes? Writing related themes?

Or something else I’m missing entirely?

As an incentive, I’ll offer a copy of one of my books. You can read excerpts at www.bonnieedwards.com This contest will run until Friday, when I’ll pick a winner. I don’t want to trample on our Friday blogger, so I’ll make the announcement in the comments on that day.

I hope that the new year brings many blessings, much success, and good health to all our readers and fabulous Aphrodisia authors.

First of all, that’s the whole family in the photo, all of us together for Christmas, including our newest member, little Owen Paul, in our daughter-in-law’s arms. But, I digress…

As much as I love the holidays, I really love it when they end. I guess I’m getting old (hell, I KNOW I’m getting old) but I like my routine and tend to get grumpy when it’s disturbed. Now that the decorations are all put away, the grandkids are going back to school, my Christmas cold is finally getting better and the snow has stopped, (for awhile) I can finally get back to doing what I love best: Writing.

I thought about that this morning when I sat down at my computer and realized I was grinning like the Cheshire cat…how many people can say they’re anxious to get up and go to work every morning? I am so lucky to be doing what I do, and I can’t imagine ever growing tired of this amazing career that I worked so hard to have.

Part of the joy, of course, comes from writing a series filled with characters I’ve fallen in love with. The fact I get to bring them out and play with them on a regular basis just makes it all that much better. The book I’m working on now, Wolf Tales IX, is a compilation of stories from most of my characters relating how they first discovered they were Chanku. I really don’t know their histories, at least until I sit down and start writing, so the entire book has been a journey of discovery for me. When I wrote about Lucien Stone meeting Jacob Trent on a mountain trail and literally saving his life, I almost cried. Shannon Murphy and Tia Mason’s first tentative discovery of their sexual nature was a really touching story to write, but I laughed when Ulrich had to get up and leave the room while Shannon was telling it. Obviously there are some things a father doesn’t want to know about his only daughter!

The last couple of days I’ve been writing about AJ and Mik and how they met in prison, and it’s had me absolutely engrossed. I feel as if I’m learning stories about real people, but to me, these characters are just as real as can be. What’s making Mik and AJ’s story especially interesting is the help I’m getting from my online friend Mo, who was one of the first female prison guards in the California system. She’s an amazing resource and she’s given me information about prison and the inmates that is really bringing this part of my story to life.

So here’s to routines and doing what you love, to the amazingly generous people who are so willing to help with their knowledge and their expertise–and to a wonderful new year in 2009. I am so excited about all the thing to come over the next twelve months. What are your hopes for the new year? Have you thought about it? I’d love to know.

Take care and be safe—and don’t forget to take time for yourself!

Kate Douglas
www.katedouglas.com

Um, what we writers do for the love of our stories anyway. I was thinking about that today when I finished marking up my latest Amazon.com purchase with yellow highlighter and Post-It flags. Never take a book from me because it would make you nuts looking at my notes in the margins.

My latest phase is leaving my bank account a little light. Half a dozen books, tons of herbs, candles, incense and crystals. Guessed yet? Yeah, I’m researching witchcraft and that means I have to drown in it for a while…try it on for size. Being the anal person I am, I have the moon phases posted on my calendar and know exactly when I have to consecrate my space, cast my spell circle, draw down the moon, and only then can I try out a couple of spells I’ve chosen.

I don’t just try things out, I have to work with them, believe in them, and then see what happens to me. I’m a very “believing” kind of person. Daddy told me to look into the sky because Santa was pulling his sleigh right over our rooftop and I swear I saw him. I walked two miles along railroad tracks to find the “Gurdon Lights” and I know for a fact I saw them swaying in arcs just like a railroad foreman’s lantern might (his ghost carries that lantern). So, if I cast a spell, I know I’m going to discover something new.

Having excuses to do research is the most exciting part of the process of creating stories–for me, at least. I love cold-calling funeral directors and asking them what a body looks like after it’s been carved up for an autopsy and delivered for burial. I ask about the equipment, the smells, their emotions—and you know what? They tell me.

I called a firestation and asked for someone who knew something about cave rescues and found the expert. We spent an hour with him telling me about his experiences. And then I spent hours surfing on the webs for articles about spelunking, websites selling climbing equipment, etc.

And don’t get me started on what websites I’ve visited or the people in the lifestyle I’ve hunted down for some of my sexier research. Some of it I have to try out for myself, but I’m not telling you what in particular. Some things are better left to the imagination.

Delilah Devlin

I had typed up a really great post to put up here today when I forgot how to get in to the site to post! So I wanted to take a moment to thank my dear friends who put up with my absentmindedness and my, oh so not–tech suaveness. Shelli Stevens and I have been good friends for several years and I think I have asked her for the link to this site at least 3 times and Crystal Jordan I have asked a few times too. Thanks babes you so rock. Oh and of course as soon as I receive the link to the site… I have to hit my head on the monitor because I forgot my password!

Note to self… bookmark the log in page.
Note to self two… Make password the same as your other blog.

Does anyone else out there have this issue with all the electronic communications we have?

Okay so on to a shortened version of my post!

This past year I wrote one full book and and short novella. Both of those two novellas are just about to release and I am so excited.

I read back through these stories now and I can see the places I have been and the things I felt when writing these. The memories appear in the flow of the writing, in the story themselves. etc. I wrote them while in Denmark, Seattle, and Hawaii. I wrote them while life was good, and while life was stressful. I wrote them while sitting on the couch, out on the porch, in the coffee shop, sitting by the pool drinking gimlets, during my lunch at work, and sitting on the floor eating yummy traditional and not so traditional cuisine. My drink of choice while writing them was red wine and my munchies chocolate or a can of regular Pringles (which I have now all abandoned due to high calories. I gained about 10 lbs during that time.)

The two stories that are coming out are my novella Torn Desires in a Red Hot Valentines Day from Avon Red, releasing January 6th and Being Wicked my historical release from Aphrodisia Jan 27th.

Reviews for both have been good so far. RT gives A Red Hot Valentines Day four stars and says “All these stories are sure to make for a hot Valentine’s Day.” And RT says this about Being Wicked “The sex is hot, hot, hot in Danes’ latest erotic historical romance.”

Woo hoo!
Great reviews I think.

Hugs, kisses, and the creation of fond memories to you all in this shiny New Year!
Lacy.

The other day I was wandering around the mall with my best friend. She went to buy an iPhone and then we went to the Apple Store to get her a cover for it and some extra accessories. Along the way, we stopped in at one of the mall’s bookstores. There on the shelf were three shiny new copies of Carnal Desires. It also looked like there had once been more, so people might actually have purchased some!

I looked at my best friend and said, “We should find a manager and ask if, you know, they want me to sign these. Or put bookmarks in them or something.”

She looks back at me. “Okay. Go do that.”

Me: “I’ve never done this before.”

Her: “Why are you looking at me? You’re the writer. It’s not like I’ve done this before.”

Me: “You used to work at a bookstore.”

She sighed, finally realized that her best friend duties required her to suck it up and help me, and went with me to find a store employee. I stuttered and stumbled my way through an explanation to a boy young enough to be a my baby cousin, and he went to fetch a manger while very excited that there was an author standing at the counter. So, for my first, I signed stock in bookstores. It was scary and fun. Though not as fun as having the original store employee follow me around trying to see which book was mine. Don’t buy it, little boy! Run for your virtue!

(I also spotted Kate Pearce’s new book Simply Sinful. If you haven’t picked that bad boy up, you really should. In fact, get all her Simply books, they’re deliciously naughty.)

My birthday was two days ago. I turned 28 on the 28th. Someone called it my anniversary birthday (which made no sense to me), but this is the only time my date and birthday are the same number. It’s rather odd to be 28, but I’m not sure why. Maybe I should feel more mature than I do, but I don’t. Ah, well.

It has gotten me thinking about what I’m going to do with myself in the next year. Maybe it’s my birthday that always kicks in that line of thought or maybe it’s the new year, but I do tend to think about my plans right around this time.

I have several releases coming out next year, which always sends shivers of delight down my spine. The first is On The Prowl, which comes out in May. Then in September, I have a holiday novella in an anthology, then in November I have the book I’m currently writing coming out. It’s currently titled Untamed, which I think will stick, but you never know.

In between those releases are deadlines for books coming out in 2010. I have a novella with a Big Cat hero for another anthology, then two full books. All this between now and this time next year. Plus, the full time day job.

I think this is the last year I sit down and ponder this without expiring from exhaustion just thinking about all I have to do. I’ll get it all done. I hope.

Happy new year! Best of luck with all your goals for the coming months!

Ah, yes. The hangover. No, not the one from drinking too much. Though that might be preferable. I’m talking about a holiday hangover. Christmas is over and I’m slowly recovering. The Pacific Northwest got hammered with snow storms. As I said on my personal blog it canceled just about any plans I had. Meaning no fabulous holiday parties We’re supposed to get rain today–which in turn will melt AND FLOOD all that snow. But so far I haven’t seen a thing. Just a ton of white stuff on the ground that I’m a bit tired of.

Then I look around thinking once again my child ended up with more presents than she needed. There’s wrapping paper, packaging materials, and boxes exploding out of my garbage and recycling cans. Add to it that garbage service was canceled last week (and maybe this week?) due to snow. That’s quite the back up.

And then I’m calculating the monetary damage to my pocket book from the 2008 holiday season–while trying to ignore the beep of my email which likely signals ANOTHER store have freaking amazing sales. Although, I do confess to hitting up the Victoria’s Secret semi-annual sale online (do you blame me?) with some of my Christmas money that I received as a gift.

Then there’s the bad eating the last couple months, the candy I’ve been receiving, and conveniently forgotten gym membership. And we can’t forgot soon we’ll be taking down the decorations/tree  in the near future…

I had a great holiday over all, but have to say I’m excited to welcome in a fresh 2009 next week. Not like I have any big plans or anything to ring in the actual New Year.

How was your holiday season? Did you get what you wanted for a present? Not shop at all? Or did you do as Sasha suggested and drink a ton of eggnog? Share!!

Shelli

http://www.shellistevens.com

I should probably tell you all some behind the scenes tidbit about my December release PRIMAL MALE, but instead, I just want to say I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season. Here’s some tips to help you enjoy!

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday
buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots,
leave immediately. Go next door, where they’re serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It’s rare. You cannot find
it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000
calories in every sip? It’s not as if you’re going to turn into an eggnog-oholic
or something. It’s a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It’s later than
you think. It’s Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That’s the whole point of gravy.
Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed
potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they’re made with skim milk or whole
milk. If it’s skim, pass. Why bother? It’s like buying a sports car with an
automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your
eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people’s
food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year’s. You
can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for
long naps, which you’ll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a
10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted
Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them
and don’t budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of
attention. They’re like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind,
you’re never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple,Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you
don’t like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When
else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it’s loaded with the mandatory
celebratory calories, but avoid it at all costs. I mean, have some
standards.

10. One final tip: If you don’t feel terrible when you leave the party or get
up from the table, you haven’t been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over,
but hurry: January is just around the corner.

The other day I cranked up the Christmas CD and rocked out to my favorite holiday music. Why? Because I always do that when I decorate my Christmas tree.

It’s my thing. I listen to Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, various choirs and chorales singing their versions of songs for the season and Christmas carols. It’s a personal tradition.

My family, on the other hand, rolls their eyes at the corniness.

But for me, those moments trimming the tree are moments I relive all my previous Christmas seasons. I have ornaments that were old when I was a child. They’re of the finest blown glass I’ve ever seen. I inherited “those old things” from my mom when I moved out of the house and wanted to decorate my first Christmas tree. She saw them as old junk. (Mom loved her new shinies…always!)

So the delicate old bulbs go on the high branches. During that phase of decorating I think of childhood Christmases. I think of my parents, both gone now and sniffle a little. (When it was closer to their passing, I flat out blubbered, and didn’t care.)

Then I add my “Baby’s First Christmas” bulbs that take my mind to the Christmas mornings I watched my little children tear into their packages. Once, my daughter opened the kitchen door to let out our dog and she found!!! LO AND BEHOLD!!! A strip of red velvet adorned with sleigh bells hanging on the back fence. “Santa! Mommy! Santa lost some sleigh bells off his sleigh!”

By then, I’m smiling and singing along to Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”. The ornaments I use at that point came from my years buying home made ones from craft fairs. You know the kind: cork reindeers, crocheted Santas, I even have some plastic wineglasses with miniature scenes inside them, complete with snow, trees and Santas. (I know it’s kitsch…don’t care, someone made them with their own hands and the funds went to good causes.)

Then, I come to my favorite song, the Harry Simone Chorale’s version of “Little Drummer Boy” and I’m at the bottom of the tree with the unbreakable ornaments. These I bought for all the cats we’ve shared our lives with. I’ve never had a tree that my cats haven’t played under, or my dogs haven’t hit with their tails. The tree shimmies and shakes, but hasn’t fallen over yet. But if it ever does, and if I lose my oldest bulbs from the high branches, it’ll just be another Christmas memory.

My daughter once told me she loved her boyfriend’s house at Christmas time. His mother had “theme” trees. All decorated with expensive bits of this and that: matching, of course, and totally in keeping with the house decor.

Me? Gimme my “memory” tree…that’s my theme, Christmas songs and all. As for my family rolling their eyes at the corniness? One day, seeing me sing along, sniffle and chuckle while decorating will be one of their memories. A happy one, I hope.

Have a happy happy holiday and may your memories bring you joy, even if they bring out a sniffle or two. Sing along, be corny! I think it’s good for the soul.

Good rainy/foggy morning from southern Oregon. I had to include the qualifier ’southern’ Oregon because today I’m very glad I don’t live in the northern part of the state right now. Wow! Talk about the area forced to a halt due to the snow. I love accessing the road cameras online, especially since I can sit here in my warm house instead of having to put on chains and praying I can reach my destination. For the uninformed, the Portland area knows rain, in spades. What throws a monkey wrench into the works is snow, freezing snow, a lot of it.

On my way up to my office this morning, I tried to put my mind to what I wanted to write about. A number of possibilities came to mind, but in the end I decided I didn’t want to write about writing for a change. Instead, I’m going to give a shot at creating a Christmas wish list with the hopes that others will chime in about their own lists.
1. Number one top of the list: I wish all the best to our incoming President and those he has gathered around him to lead this country. We need direction, strength, and courage as maybe we never have. The bottom line goes beyond how deep and long this recession will take us. Unrelenting economic worries eats away at our hearts. We worry for ourselves, families, friends, strangers, businesses, local, state, and federal institutions. Lately it feels as if there’s nothing but negative news, but a year ago most of us felt secure and optimistic, and that can happen again. Maybe what this all boils down to is that I hope everyone goes into the new year with a positive attitude. We Will stand strong. And we’ll come out of this mess stronger and wiser.
2. A positive future for our planet. This ground beneath our feet, the air we breathe, the water we drink are all being stressed. Mostly I want to hear frogs which my biologist son says are symbolic of an area’s health.
3. Taking on the weight of the world is exhausting so I’m heading closer to home for my next wish. A dear friend has been battling cancer for years. Now there are no more treatments to try, no more tests to take, nothing except facing the end to her life. Pat, I hand you more of the courage and acceptance that has taken you through this journey.
4. Alex, dear 5 year old Alex. My wish for you is that you will always be protected and safe, that your smiles will never fade, and you’ll spend your life surrounded by those willing and able to guide you through a world defined by Downs.
5. Finally, because 5 seems like a doable number, I hope that no matter how much the local wild turkeys aggitate our dogs, they never catch one.
Vonna
www.VonnaHarper.com

Happy holidays and season’s greetings to all our readers! Thanks for the support you have give all the Aphrodisia authors throughout this year of 2008. You are appreciated, as it is our readers that give us a reason for being here. We hope you keep coming back for the New Year!