So, in joyous, super duper, fantabulous news that is just smothered in awesome sauce, I sold a new three book deal to my Aphrodisia editor in the last month, with the help of my truly talented agent, naturally. (Squeeeee!)
It was basically a deal of sequels, which is cool. I’m doing the sequel to On The Prowl first. For those who read the original, the two stories in this book revolve around Miguel’s cousin and his mate, and Enrique’s (the villain in the last OTP story) younger sister, who now has to find a mate and redeem her family name. No pressure, right?
Then I have the sequel to Every Witch Way (which is going to be renamed, but I don’t know what the new title will be. Stay tuned!). This one has werewolves and vampires and serial killers, oh my! Plus, some seriously wicked naughtiness going on between an elf and a human. You’ll have to check it out to learn more, but it’ll be fun, I promise!
The last one is the sequel to Untamed, and the first story is about Pierce’s cousin, who also has a thing for boys and girls. Must be a Vaughn family trait. Hee. The second story gives you a little more conclusion to Breck and Tam’s story. What, you didn’t think I’d leave you hanging with them, did you? Naaaah!
Oh! I almost forgot! I also got an offer to be in a new shapeshifter anthology, and my novella for that one will be the sequel to my Sexy Beast 9 story, which comes out in August. This one is about Elan’s younger brother Max. He needed to get his comeuppance, and my editor agreed. Can’t wait to write it!
For those who don’t get the Nina Simone reference in the blog title, here’s a sneak peek of her awesomeness. She’s got a voice that can just rip my heart out.
I work with some hot men…all half-satyrs and all sexy alpha hunks from 1800s Italy. But is my husband jealous of any of them? Of Nicholas? Or Raine, Lyon, Dominic, Dane? Not at all. He’s proud of my work and very supportive.
But he is jealous…of the time I spend social networking on my computer. Blogging and chatting with readers on Facebook or via my e-newsletter group every month takes time away from our lives together. But it’s mostly fun for me and it’s what authors do. We want to meet our readers and to talk about our books.
Although he’s very tech-savvy and is a vocal proponent of MACs, my husband is not interested in social networking. He’s never been on Facebook or Twitter or MySpace, and he doesn’t understand their appeal or why they’re useful. I discussed this with a friend who said that her husband resents the time she spends online as a blogger-reviewer of adult and YA mystery and sci-fi novels.
So I’m wondering…are there people in your lives–husbands, partners, brothers, mothers, friends, and/or significant others—who are jealous of the time you spend social networking online? How do you handle their feelings? Do you try to spend more time with them? Bargain about how long you’ll spend online? Explain what you’re doing and why it’s important to you? Or are there some husbands, boyfriends, partners, who hang out in the blogosphere too? And are you jealous of the time they spend online and away from you?
GIVEAWAY: Please drop a comment with your thoughts. I don’t have copies of my June release, Dane, The Lords of Satyr, yet, but I’m giving away one copy of your choice of the other satyr novels (Nicholas, Raine, Lyon, or Dominic) plus an autographed Dane bookmark to one person who drops a comment here within the coming week. Winner announced here April 4th (next Sunday). Looking forward to your thoughts!
Elizabeth Amber
Nicholas | Raine | Lyon | Dominic : The Lords of Satyr series
June 2010: Dane ~ Read an Excerpt
hot historical paranormal romance
Kensington Aphrodisia
www.elizabethamber.com
Okay, I’m having a bit of a crazy weekend and my brain is mush. So I’m just going to share a video that’s pretty freaking funny. Due to some swearing, may not be work friendly. But check it out when you can, because you don’t want to miss it. Great for a laugh
It’s called, “Doctor’s Visit” and was featured in the LA Comedy Shorts ’09 Film Festival.
A lot of authors (including me) have to juggle quite a few other things along with their writing. Things like a full time or part time job, kids, volunteer time, family time, exercise, promotions, emails, writers group, reading to stay current in the genre (and even for enjoyment now and then), and the ever-elusive mythical thing known as sleep. There are only so many hours in each day, and only so many days until a writing deadline.
If you want to be a working author (i.e continue to get contracts and get paid to write), then you need to not only meet your deadlines, but turn in a really good book every time.
Sound like a little bit of pressure? Yup. This is a classic case of be careful what you wish for.
Don’t get me wrong. I love to write. In fact, I wish I could drop the part time job (but it gives us health insurance & extra money) and spend that time on writing and my writing career. However, reality says I can’t quite do that yet, so like many other writers, I have to juggle, balance my time and try to keep all the balls in the air.
Sometimes that list of responsibilities starts to wear on me and I get run down and tired, or even sick. My muse starts taking longer and longer vacations and writing becomes an exercise of pure will – putting the butt in the chair each day and forcing words onto the page that feels like each one was written in my own blood.
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
Here’s a cold, hard fact: No matter how much you love to write (and I really do), writing sometimes feels more like a job than a joy. It’s hard work and often reminds me of labor – a lot of pain, tears and angst that results in something beautiful and wonderful that is all worth it in the end.
But this blog is not about the angst and gnashing of teeth, it’s about 10 things you can do to make sure you’re sending in a great book, even in light of everything I’ve said above.
1. Write every day.
This is harder than it sounds. There are definitely days when life conspires against me and I’d much rather come home and soak in a hot bath and fall into bed that force words onto a page, but writing every day is more than an exercise in self flagellation. Writing every day trains your mind and your creativity that it’s expected to show up daily and perform – and believe it or not, with steady application, it does. Writing every day also helps you make headway toward that looming deadline. A day off can turn into two, which turns into a week and can have a big effect on both your morale and your productivity.
We all remember the story of Pavlov’s dogs, we need to use that same idea to train ourselves. Get yourself in a routine that’s flexible and yet familiar. My usual writing spot is a squishy chair at Starbucks with a hot Chai next to me, my headphones in and movie soundtracks (with no words) playing softly while I write. With this combination of events, I can easily fall back into my story and tune out the world. So what happens when all the squishy chairs are taken, or I can’t make it to Starbucks for some reason (or I’m sick of it because I just finished a gazillion hour shift there?) I use the same scenario, but flex it a bit. I’ve found that as long as I’m somewhere comfy (booth at the Barnes & Noble café, my recliner in my living room, a booth at a restaurant, my back porch) I can still have a drink of my choice next to me, my laptop on my lap, my headphones in and my movie soundtracks playing in the background. That means I can begin salivating…er….writing, nearly anywhere. Find your own “Pavlov’s phenomenon” and put it to work for you.
3. How Do You Eat an Elephant?
We’ve all heard that old joke – and the answer is, a bite at a time. Writing a book is the same way. And while I’ve had days where I’ve sat down and written 11K words over the course of a day (pure necessity since I lost 22K from a corrupt file – eek!), those definitely aren’t the norm. I shoot for 3K words a day. Some days I make it and some I don’t, but I make an effort every day to make progress and keep moving forward. Part of that for me is writing in small chunks throughout the day when I’m able. I’m much more productive in little thirty to forty minute writing spurts with a bio break or a quick stretch session in between. That isn’t always an option if I only have three or four hours in the evening to write. But even within that timeframe it helps me to take short breaks, to get up and walk away from the laptop for a few minutes and come back fresh. Experiment and see what works best for you.
4. Don’t psych yourself out.
I recently posted my daily word count on Facebook & Twitter and in some back and forth comments ended up posting the following: “I still haven’t seen first round edits, so I’m in the ‘crossing my fingers it doesn’t suck’ mode of the editing process Does every author go through that, or is it just me?” The response was surprising. I not only received back comments in the public forum, but emails, texts and calls from a variety of writers who said they go through the same exact thing with each and every book! These writers ran the gamut from aspiring and working on their first manuscript to NYT & USA Today Best Selling authors. I’ve read many of their books and LOVED them! It really helped me feel not so alone. Those authors have the same fears I do – and it helped me convince myself that maybe I can do this again, too.
5. Step out of the cave now and then.
Writing, necessarily means we spend a lot of time alone with all the voices inside our heads. However, some real live socialization is like a breath of fresh air to our muse. This can include getting out and attending conferences, going to critique group, or even just heading out to a girls’ night out with lots of butterscotch martinis flowing. If you want to put an esoteric spin on it – your energy can become stagnant if you never interact with anyone else. Getting out and “airing” your energy and mingling with others can energize your muse and put some life back into your writing.
6. Don’t forget to read.
It always amazes me when I talk to writers who tell me they don’t have any time to read. Huh? I consider that not only part of my job to stay current on what’s out there in the book market, but also – I LOVE to read. Reading is what first made me think I might want to write, and is also what always reminds me why I love this crazy job And to get back to the “what’s in it for me?” vibe – getting sucked into a good story someone else wrote can not only give you great ideas for your own book (not plagiarizing, but inspiration!), but can also inspire you to dive back into your characters and bring them to life. You owe it to yourself and your writing career to read regularly. If you’re afraid of shorting your writing time – use it like I do as a reward for meeting word count. Nothing like a celebratory hot bath with a good book after a day of knocking out that 3K!
7. Give yourself permission to suck.
Before you disagree with this point, keep reading. Have you ever had those days where you sit down to write and nothing but garbage flows out onto the page? And you’re convinced that every word for that day is the most utter and complete crap ever scribbled or typed onto a page? Yeah, we’ve all had those days, and they suck. But about 90% of the time, when I come back the next day with a fresh perspective, what was drivel yesterday, is actually savable with a little editing, or if I’m really lucky – is actually pretty good And even on those days when it does turn out to be totally horrible, I wrote that day and trained my brain that writing is expected daily. Gotta keep making that lemonade!
8. Sometimes pure stubbornness wins the day.
There are days when you feel like your brain has oozed out your ears and hidden somewhere so it didn’t have to come to your writing session. On days like that, sometimes gutting it out actually works. What do I mean by this? Those are days where you just start typing – anything. Think I’m kidding? Here’s an excerpt from one of those recent days within my manuscript: “Dear succubus, I really need you to show up to work today, because I can’t write this @#%# manuscript without your participation. So could you please get over there and start getting it on with the uber sexy hot guy I’ve provided for you? What’s not to like? In the last chapter he had a vivid mental image of doing some toe curling things to you in that tub over there, so can you help me out here?” Yeah, I hear you laughing, but I actually had an entire page of that…lol. But a funny thing started to happen toward the end of that page…I started writing again and my succubus got hot and bothered and went over to jump on said provided hero – and kabam! Smoking hot scene So don’t let a few stubborn characters ruin your word count – put them to work!
9. Give yourself a break.
Sometimes all the best intentions are derailed by life. At the end of 2009 our household had two emergency room visits (luckily not for me), a bout of pneumonia, several bouts of cold & flu, and an unexpected funeral just after Christmas. Add my normal list of To Dos to that and it all added up to me having to ask for an extension on my deadline. (Always communicate early and often if this happens, and don’t make it a habit!) Anyway, my point is that sometimes despite all your best intentions – stuff happens. Take care of yourself and your family and keep your editor and agent in the loop so they aren’t surprised at the last minute…and don’t beat yourself up over it!
10. Take Care of Yourself.
Part of your job, not just as a writer, but as a member of your family, is to take care of yourself. That means eating right, getting some exercise, getting enough sleep, doing whatever you need to to reduce your stress level – meditation, yoga, venting to a friend – whatever. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to be modeling in my lingerie any time soon, and I struggle to keep this commitment just like all the others. But I do find that when I make sure to do all these things – I feel better, which means I write better! Amazing, right?
Here’s hoping out of these ten, you found something that helps…
I was lucky enough to receive some early copies of ‘Simply Insatiable‘ the fifth installment of my ‘House of Pleasure’ series. It’s not out until late April/early May, so I wanted to offer one of you the chance to get to read it early!
Here’s the blurb
THE MOST SCANDALOUS PASSIONS…
Lord Minshom is known throughout London for embracing every illicit longing-the more scandalous the better. When his estranged wife, Lady Jane returns with an ultimatum he flatly refuses-even if it means she will turn to other men. Forced to watch Jane flirt shamelessly at the House of Pleasure, Minshom is enraged…and excited. The innocent girl he wed at seventeen has transformed into a voluptuous woman who still ignites a scorching hunger within him… ARE ALWAYS THE MOST PLEASURABLE…
After seven years apart from her husband, Jane is now ready to settle their differences and start afresh. But when she is reunited with Minshom, his attitude infuriates her-and she is determined to teach him a lesson. Yet even as Jane accepts the attentions of other men, it is Minshom she truly wants. For she alone knows how to satisfy all of his wicked needs…
Comment below for a chance to win, and if you’ve read the other books, tell me about your favorite ‘Simply’ character and what you think Lord Minshom is going to be like as a hero!
I’ll post the winner in the comments here on Sunday.
Thanks!
I’m starting with the cover for my latest Ellora’s Cave release because, no matter how we writers feel about self-promotion, its a fact of life. Its akin to the “publish or perish” college educators are well-aware of. I’m proud of my writing, always have and hopefully always will be, but my brain doesn’t naturally make the switch to selling what I write. So if I stumble and bumble along that way, I’m not surprised.
All right, onto the reason for this title: I’ve written fiction nonstop since I first dove into the business, but earlier this month, I set that aside and worked on something that’s been simmering in me for years–a memoir.
How self-important! How self-absorbed! Who gives a darn about my life’s story? Truth to tell, even I’m not that engaged with it because its no different from millions of other people.
Except, I believe, in one way and that’s what I’m focusing on in Grandfather Lost. Actually, I started writing about my grandfather who died at age 38 when my mother was six years ago, tackling it as a biography. I put together a nonfiction book proposal and knocked on more publishing company doors than I want to admit–without success. Okay, I came close a few times but no cigar. Wiser and sader, I put Grandpa aside–or rather I tried to, but the man I never met refused to let go. Finally I came face to face with reality. The only way to do justice by his life and tragic death was by documenting its impact on me.
So there’s where the memoir took hold. Five emotional chapters later plus all the other proposal have-tos such as a marketing plan later, I’m nearly ready to knock on doors again. My grandfather was a writer. His genes are strong in me. His short life impacted me in ways I now accept. I grew up without a father. As I’ve said numerous times, when I was five, my father divorced my mother, sister, and myself. Exit stage left. I have almost nothing of him. At the same time I have a closet full of my grandfather’s writing, both what made its way into magazines and books and the precious, precious letters he wrote to his wife and children when economic necessity separated them during the last year of his life. I also have a half dozen newspaper clippings of the articles written about the investigation into his violent death. Maybe most important, because I grew up in his widow’s home, I understand how his death impacted the family for generations. The family knew a loving, intelligent, fiscally impulsive man while as the result of a single night, the public was left believing Grandpa had been a criminal.
I feel emotionally fragile. At the same time, I know I’ve finally done the best I’m capable of and that’s both freeing and satisfying. For a writer who has laughed and cried with her characters, this latest project has gone deeper than I believed I was capable of.
And such is the joy and responsibility of being a writer.
In less than two weeks, I make my debut under a new pen name, Susan Fox, writing for Kensington Brava.
Oddly, my launch book, Love, Unexpectedly, is the second book in a series that I started as Susan Lyons with Aphrodisia, with the book Sex Drive in December 2009. So, I’m doing my best to get the word out. If you’ve enjoyed my Susan Lyons books, check me out under Susan Fox as well. (And no, I’m not the same Susan Fox who writes for Harlequin Romance, and no, I don’t know if she’s still writing.)
Let me tell you a little about Love, Unexpectedly. It’s the “trains” segment of my sexy “planes, trains, automobiles, and a cruise ship” Wild Ride to Love series. The heroine, Kat Fallon, is one of the four sisters introduced in Sex Drive (the “planes” book). When I wrote the first book, I got a pretty clear handle on all the sisters.
So, I knew that Kat (who’s a PR director at a luxury hotel in Montreal) really wanted love, marriage, and a family, yet had terrible luck with men. She fell quickly and passionately for “larger than life” guys (a NASCAR champ, a gold medal skier) and the relationships never worked out.
For Kat, I wanted to write a very special love story. Sometimes, we fail to see what’s right under our nose. Personally, I love romances when best friends turn into lovers (do you know the song “Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You” by Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson? – love it!), so that’s what I gave Kat. But not the “When Harry Met Sally” kind, where they were like middle-aged squabbling spouses from the beginning – but a romance with excitement and passion as well as trust and true friendship.
There’s a twist, in that Kat’s neighbor and best friend, photographer Nav Bharani, has been in love with Kat for quite a while. She doesn’t see him that way, though – or at least, she tries not to. He’s the closest friend she’s ever had and, given her disastrous track record with lovers, she refuses to risk her friendship with Nav.
So, Nav needs a game plan to break out of the buddy trap and win her. And that’s where the trains come in!
I love those old movies like “North by Northwest” and “Silver Streak,” where strangers meet on a train and fall for each other. Trains can be pretty darned romantic! So, when Kat takes a cross-Canada train trip from Montreal to Vancouver for her baby sister’s wedding, the desperate Nav grabs the opportunity.
To spice things up, I gave him a dramatic strategy to open Kat’s eyes and make her see him differently. He has a make-over and transforms himself into an exciting “stranger,” a Bollywood movie producer, the kind of man she typically goes for. If she opts into playing “the stranger game” (pretending he really is the movie producer rather than her old friend), she can explore her secret passion for Nav without consequences. She can have the stranger on the train, and her best friend when she returns home.
Well, of course it’s not going to work out that way! For Kat and Nav, once they start their wild ride to love, there will be no turning back.
So, tell me, what do you think of “friends to lovers” romances – either in real life or in books or movies? And how about train travel? Do you see it as romantic, or slow and boring?
Over the weekend I read a rather negative review of Secrets of Sin. It was the first one out of six or seven that’s been more negative than positive. The reviewer gave it 2 out of 5 something or other. It wasn’t stars and I can’t quite remember was she uses.
She said it had no romance and was just about sex. I’m not sure I can agree with that. I know how hard we worked to specifically make sure there was lots of romance. And several other reviewers have used phrases like “touch me on a deep emotional level”, “delightful lead characters” and “desire and love run wild” to describe the story so they all saw the romance in it too. What I do agree with is that the romance portion of the story didn’t work for her. She said she never warmed up to Reinier, the hero. I have no problem with that. He’s a hard man to love and we knew some people wouldn’t.
Personally as a reader I adore a man that’s flawed and hard to love. Knights in shining armor are fine too but give me a tarnished hero with some kinks (yes pun intended) in that armor and I’m even happier. I’ve read a lot of them lately like Ian in the The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, Leo in Wild Heart and Christian in The Sin of Lord Easterbrook. But they are hard to love in a much more sympathetic way than Reinier.
Reinier is more in the vein of a Susan Johnson “hard to love” hero. And no, I am not comparing Chloe Harris to Susan Johnson, just that our hero is flawed in a similar way as some of her’s. When many historical writers write bad boys the things that make them bad are generally off the page or happen before the hero and heroine meet. SJ isn’t afraid to have the hero turn back to his bad habits after the first meet and we weren’t afraid to show how bad Reinier can be in vivid detail.
In a lot of historical romances the reader falls in love with the hero way before the heroine does and they continue to read to see her discover what they already know. But with Reinier, I think, the reader and the heroine are on more of an equal footing. For the most part it’s going to take just as long for the reader to love and forgive him as it does the heroine, for some readers sooner and for some not at all.
One reviewer called the story “slightly dark in a sensationally passionate way.” It’s set in the Caribbean on a lush island where everything is bright and airy. How can she say it’s dark? The dark she’s talking about, I think, comes from Reinier. There is a darkness in him that invades the story. I LOVE that in a hero. I get the shivers from just looking at the DVD cover with Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII. But I’m weird that way. I’ve always known that.
So what about you? Do you like a hero that’s hard to love or that perfect knight that saves the day? And what the hell, let’s give away another copy to a commenter so you can see for yourself.
So, in joyous, super duper, fantabulous news that is just smothered in awesome sauce, I sold a new three book deal to my Aphrodisia editor in the last month, with the help of my truly talented agent, naturally. (Squeeeee!) 
