Aphrodisia Authors :: Blog

I know it’s a day early, but this is without a doubt my favorite holiday, so I MUST celebrate. It’s the perfect day: a nice sugar rush to look forward to, costumes, and glitter, and pumpkins (Oh, my!). No family gathering to gird my loins for, no need to cook or clean, everything can be purchased with a quick trip to Sam’s Club. In a word: sublime.

For me, Halloween works the same way my books do. I (or my characters) can be anything I want to be. A sexy detective.

Or the classic maid.

Of course, I’ve never had figures like these ladies and never will, so my costume would cover more skin, but the principle is the same. Sadly, this is also like my books–my heroines are way cuter than me. BUT we can all dress up and have fun tomorrow! It’s the Best. Holiday. Ever!

(And I have to say I love how shocked and surprised this jack-o-lantern looks)

No matter how high you climb, there you are…

I guess that should be one of the universal truths in life. It was something I definitely learned as I got older. I’m getting close to forty years old, and yet, I don’t feel a whole lot different than I did in my twenties–except I can’t stay out all night without paying for it the next day. But you know what I mean. Of course, I’ve grown, I’m matured, I’m more confident, but inside, being thirty-eight doesn’t feel very different from all those other ages. In fact, I remember vividly all those stupid and really fun things I did when I was younger that I’m glad I did! I don’t have a lot of regrets, because even those made me who I am today. And I’m definitely glad I had my wild and woolly days, so I can look back and laugh and enjoy them now that I’m a little more settled. (Except when I’m at RT, but hey, that shouldn’t count…lol!)

Lately, I’ve found out how much this axiom applies to writing and writers. Now, I’m convinced writers are a very insecure breed of animal. I know each and every time I write a book, I’m afraid it’s crap and that the public in general are going to gag when they read it. Then I’m pleasantly surprised when reviewers like it, it sells well and I get emails and letters from readers telling me they can’t wait for the next book in the series. And it’s not just whole books that suffer from this. Every time I finish a chapter and send it off to my critique group, I’m afraid they are going to come back and ask what the hell I’m thinking by sending them this drivel!

I know I’m not alone in this. I have friends who are NYT & USA Today Best Selling authors, as well as those who are just published and those who are pre published. And the universal truth is, all of them (or us, I should say) react the same way I mentioned in the paragraph above.

Don’t get me wrong, we enjoy our successes. As for me, I’m a multi-published author with two pen names and a loyal and very vocal fan base. And it still makes me smile and my throat tighten with excitement every time I see my books on the shelf in a store. I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished. Hell, I was too terrified to even begin writing for publication until 2003 when my husband told me to stop talking about it and just go do it. So, in a short time, I’ve accomplished a lot. I’m happy, I’m proud, I’m still plugging along and know I will continue to grow and improve as a writer. So what’s my problem?

I think it’s back to the axiom above. I don’t feel any different. I know all these accomplishments are real, and yet, they don’t feel different. My friend, the NYT and USA Today Best Seller concurs. Don’t you think that when you get that call that you are on one or both of those lists that your life should change and you should feel like you’ve reached some sort of writing milestone? Hmmm. Well, apparently it’s great and nice and all that, but it doesn’t feel different. You don’t suddenly feel like a “NYT or USA Today Best Selling Author,” and you are still afraid your book isn’t great when you’re writing it. Although, there is then pressure to reach those marks with every book.

Things that make you go “hmmm.”

I guess it’s not just me who feels just a tad like an imposter about to be unmasked every time I sit down at a book signing.

So, if no matter how high we climb (or how much we accomplish), there we are, then it should take a lot of comparison pressures out of it.

I know authors who are constantly comparing themselves and their writing career to others. Some of them spend so much time doing this, I’m surprised they have time to write. It stresses them out and leaves them less creative energy to move forward with their own work.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Saint (and I’m not just referring to all that fun I had in my twenties…lol…and I must admit, my thirties have been pretty enjoyable too…) Now and then I glance at the people above me on sales lists etc and there is a twinge of longing, but I try to shut that down quickly. Comparison serves no purpose other than to undermine my confidence. My concentration should remain on what I can affect–namely, my books, my career and my experience.

Because remember, no matter how high they get or you get–there you are! You are going to be the same person!! Definitely proud of what you’ve accomplished, but it won’t change you as a person. You won’t suddenly become happier with your overall life because you hit a NYT Best Seller’s list, or sold another series. You might for a night–especially if there is champagne involved, or while you’re buying some new earrings with your advance, and you should celebrate! But you’ll be disappointed if you think that these career milestones will suddenly turn your life into nirvana–happiness comes from the inside out, not the outside in.

So, at the risk of sounding like an after school special – be happy for the accomplishments of others, and be happy for your own accomplishments. Treasure both and enjoy the journey. Because the lasting memories will come from the work you did to get there, not necessarily the prize. (Although those are nice too!)

Cassie Ryan

Deborah Macgillivray and Hilary Sares are doing a wonderful thing for an Aphrodisia Author in distress…they are raffling off editors!

Listen up!!

Tired of submitting to slush piles and getting rejected before
the editors even see it?

Want a chance to get your book before a print editor???
Want a guaranteed that the editor actually reads it?
You don’t ever get that request for a FULL manuscript??

Well here is your chance!!

Win a chance to have your completed or nearly completed
manuscript read and receive a one page critique from

Hilary Sares
Kensington editor
(Debut, Brava, Approdisia lines)

YES!!!!

FIFTEEN people will win this amazing opportunity.

Yes, 15 people will have their full or nearly completed
manuscripts read and will receive a one page
critique from editor Hilary Sares.

How do you win this amazing chance??

RAFFLE — $100 per entry.
Enter as many times as you want.
(all money is going to a worthy cause)
~~~~~~~~~ Rules: ~~~~~~~~~

You may enter as many times as you want at $100 a “ticket”.
The more times you enter, the better your chances are.

Winners will be randomly selected from a drawing of names.
on December 21st, 2007

~~~~~~~~ What do you get? ~~~~~~~~

15 people with completed or nearly completed manuscripts
(any genre!) will have their manuscript read by Hilary Sares
(Impress her and she could even want to buy you~~ if you are what she’s looking for!)
All 15 will get a one page critique of their manuscript.

But that is not all….

RUNNERS up will get….

2nd place Runners up…. (#16 and #17 winners)

Chris Keeslar
Senior Editor, Dorchester Publishing
(Leisure Books and Love Spell)
~~ will read and critique 100 pages ~~
you get to put a proposal of 100 pages before
Dorchester’s editor, and receive 1 page critique.
Again, he will consider buying if you impress him!
(Historical Romances, Magna, Contemporary, Paranormal)

Leah Hultenschmidt
Editor for Dorchester Publishing
(Leisure Books and Love Spell)

~~ will read and critique a 100 pages ~!
you get to put a proposal of 100 pages before Dorchester’s editor,
and receive 1 page critique.
Again, she will consider buying if you impress her!
(Historical Romances, Contemporary, Paranormal)
3rd place Runner up (#18, #19, #20 and #21 winners)

Leanne Burroughs
Publisher/Editor of Highland Press, will read and
critique 4 full manuscripts -the publisher/owner of
Highland Press will read and giveeach a 1 page critique.
Again, she will consider buying.
(Historical Romance, Paranormal, Contemporary,
Mainstreams YA, Childrens) Trade size PRINT Books

Details….The raffle runs through midnight EST December 15, 2007

The random drawing will be held on:
December 21, 2007

so 21 people will have a very Merry Christmas!!!
winners will be notified by phone and email on that day.

All $ raised will go to help author Dawn Thompson’s hospital
and medical bills. Dawn recently had a bad fall. She is a new
writer so has to wait for nearlya year or more to start receiving
her royalties. She doesn’t have family to help her and has a lot of
needs not being covered by her insurance. Money will go to
help her pay for medicine not covered, and other needs
arising from her recovery.

All drawings will be final. No Refunds

Any questions about the contest
email Deborah Macgillivray
Kensington, Dorchester, & Highland Press author
writer@deborahmacgi llivray.co. uk

To enter

Name:

email address (working email addy for you will be billed $100 through Paypal):
Penname, if any:

Your full address:

Your Phone number:

The Title of your manuscript:

The genre of your manuscript:

Is your manuscript completed? Yes NO

If no – expected completion date

Once your email application is received
you will be sent a “ticket” bill through
Paypal at $100.00 for each entry.
You pay enter has many times as you want to increase your odds.

You will be helping a fellow writer get back on her feet
after trauma, and you finally get that GUARATEED
chance to be read by some top print editors.

Aplogies for cross-posting this blog across the universe, but I just finished writing one book and have a proposal due in a week for another, which I haven’t started yet!

I finally got around to reading “The Jane Austen Book Club” by Karen Joy Fowler, which I have to say, I enjoyed very much. My favorite addition to the book was a list of quotes and reviews from other sources over the last 200 odd years about Jane Austen and her books. What is so amazing is the way she had been perceived over the generations, from patronizing quotes, to damning ones, to absolute admiration and respect.

1898-”Every time I read “Pride and Prejudice” I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin bone.” Mark Twain.

What’s up with that? Is he saying he’s jealous because she’s so good or that he hates every word she’d ever written. And if he hates her, why keep reading her books? I wish I could ask Mark Twain the answer to that one.

1913-”Jane Austen was born before those bonds which,(we are told) protected women from truth, were burst by the Bronte’s or elaborately untied by George Eliot. Yet the fact remains that Jane Austen knew more about men than either of them. Jane Austen may have been protected from truth: but it was precious little of truth that was protected from her.” G K Chesterton

I like that one. that’s how I see Jane Austen as an acute observer of the little things that make up the big picture, the small unpleasantness, the snide snub, the obstacles of class and money. And she writes about them all in a way which I think still appeals to us because we love to see weakness in those who are held up to us as our betters, these days mainly celebrity’s and sports stars, in her day the upper classes.

Long long ago when I was in my twenties, (in black and white land when I was chased to college by dinosaurs according to my 14 yr old) I wanted to be Jane Austen. I tried to write like her and failed miserably because, well, I had to learn to be myself and find my own voice. but I took away certain things from her writing that I believe help me today. The layering of subtlety, the implications of the class system and her sly wit-I hope I incorporate those elements into my love stories.

My favorite Austen book used to be “Pride and Prejudice”, mainly because I have 5 sisters myself and I suspect my father used to worry about how he was going to get us all out of the house. He left a ladder leaning up against the back of the house for 2 years but unfortunately no one took him up on the offer and eloped. Now, it’s Emma, because I love the flaws in her, and the way Mr. Knightly ‘knows’ her and loves her despite herself.

My favorite TV film adaptations are the BBC version of “Pride and Prejudice” with Colin Firth and film-wise I love Emma Thompson’s “Sense and Sensibility” and Gwenyth Paltrow at “Emma”.

I’m not a big fan of “Mansfield Park” I had to do it for my A’ levels and hated every page. Seriously, Fanny is the one I’d like to attack with her own shin bone.

So would anyone like to tell me how they see Jane and pick their favorites?

Coming April 2008

Exposing Casey

Casey Andrews loves sex… but she wants to be loved as well. Of course, being blessed (or cursed?) with abody that renders men speechless isn’t exactly conducive to post-coital cuddling, much less the possibility of commitment to anything except… more sex. Then Shawn Tranner comes into her life at the moment when she needed someone most. The perfect gentlemen and the perfect lover, Shawn could be the man of Casey’s dreams. But with someone bent on turning her dreams into nightmares, trusting the wrong person could be the last thing Casey ever does…

Seducing Lisa

Lisa Millhouse has run from James Brooks for more years than she can remember. He’s everything she thinks she doesn’t want…. filthy rich. When he sets out to prove to her that he’s everything she needs… she’ll find herself in the middle of a seduction so consuming that nothing but his touch will matter.

I’ve been pondering this one for a while. I have a book out in December (ONE MORE TIME), which is being billed as a time travel (in addition to being an erotic historical), only there are more paranormal elements in this than just a time travel. Er, it gets quite mythical in fact.

So I am most definitely putting it in the paranormal category, but what about these other paranormal elements? What is more important to the reader? That they know they’re getting a paranormal fix at some level or to be spoiled (hey, i t’s a huge plot twist) and know exactly what paranormal stuff is in store?

That is what I’m pondering this week. Although that’s not why I was so late today. No, today I’ve been handwashing, going to the bank, picking up prescriptions waiting for the gas and electric company to come out and check a gas leak. Turns out someone’s been spraying beaucoup buckets of pesticide and it all drifted in my front door. No wonder the smell of it made me ill.

Ah, the glamor of a writer. Probably a post I should have saved for another day, but this one seems awfully short just asking about paranormal stuff without giving away my ending!

Are spicy books “hot” in other countries? I’ve heard sales of Aphrodisia titles are great in Australia, but what about countries where English isn’t the first language?

In Germany, “Champagne Rules” is published by an imprint of Random House under the title “Haut wie Samt” (“Skin Like Silk”). It’s a great cover too. To my delight, a writer friend who was just in Germany says the books are being sold at traveler rest stops along the Autobahn. Stop for gas, a pee, buy a bottle of water and hey, why not pick up a little erotic romance too?

Posting a little early as I’ll never get on the computer tomorrow

She spied the ropes hanging from the bedposts and stared at them, her arms crossed over her chest. Strangely, her pinched lips only made her more sensually enticing. He fought the urge to yank off her bonnet, rip out her pins, drop to his knees, and make her come with his mouth.

There is nothing more exasperating than the sound of a woman in pleasure if that woman is not you, and there is very little hope that the woman will ever be you.

Today I received the cover and copy edit for Sins of the Night, my late March 08 release. Here’s a little bit about the book from the back cover:

Once, Adrien Roth was a Shadow Stalker–a hunter of vampires called the Kynn. Captured, he was forced to pay a devastating price and become the very thing he despised. Almost a century has passed since that time and Adrien’s quest for justice has not ended. But only one woman can redeem his soul: a beautiful mortal named Cassie Wilson.
In Adrien’s arms, Cassie will experience the ultimate sexual awakening, for her demon lover is a master of pleasure. Together at last, lost in a shadow-world of unusual desire and risking their very lives for love, she and Adrien are compelled to surrender to the powerful passion that consumes them…

This is the second book in my Kith & Kynn series and picks up where book 1 (Sins of the Flesh) left off with Devon and Rachel. Their story is also continued, along with the introduction of another set of characters, Morgan Saint-Evanston, an immortal assassin with an odd way of doing business and his witchy girlfriend, Julienne.

Can’t wait for this one to come out!