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!
So I have a whole lot to be thankful for this year. I think I need a reminder of that lately. The economy has left the world a scary place for a lot of people, so I want to take a moment and talk about the things I’m thankful for this year with my writing.
I have some tremendous editors, John Scognamiglio at Kensington, Bethany Morgan at Samhain, and Susan Swinwood at Harlequin. They’ve all believed in my work enough to buy from me this year.
My awesome agent (who I have really made work for her commission this year), Lucienne Diver.
And for my readers, my critique group, my friends…I can’t even say how grateful I am for all of them.
So, that’s my message today. There are so many things to be thankful for, even when the world is scary and bleak. I’m posting this about a week in advance because I’m headed cross country to visit family for the holiday–and I’m very, very thankful for them, too.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
(And as special moment of thankfulness, I had a book come out on Tuesday called Carnal Desires. What a lovely reminder of why this holiday is awesome. Info is below.)
Here’s what it’s about:
Centuries after the destruction of earth, several species of altered humans still survive. These shape-shifters are exciting and exotic creatures, and their human forms do little to mask their most primitive and passionate instincts…
IN HEAT
Mahlia is a snow tigress in heat and now that her tiger king has returned to rule the planet Vesperi, she can no longer deny her desperate need to mate. She greets him as a woman, but their desire for sex is uncontrollable as they come together with a primal passion.
IN SMOKE
When Lady Katryn is called back to her home world to join Lord Nadir’s harim, she is curious to learn more about her weredragon nature. What she discovers is a scorching eroticism that consumes her all over.
IN MIST
Dr. Sera Gibbons is one of only two human survivors after a five hundred year cryogenic freeze. Save by the merman Bretton Hahn, she savors the way her caresses her and makes her live out her wildest fantasies.
I signed a contract for my three book deal with Kensington today, so that’s what’s on my mind right now.
Whenever I get a new contract, I buy myself a little present. It has to be something I wouldn’t normally buy for myself, but that I really want. It’s an extra, an indulgence. Most of my advances go to very practical things, promotion, paying bills, etc, but I get one really nifty thing each time.
The first time I sold, I bought myself a digital camera. Yes, I was in the Stone Age and didn’t have one. I’d wanted one forever, but it seemed like such an extravagance because I didn’t really need it.
But I deserved something nice, don’t you think? I did. Behold the booty for that contract. It’s even lime green…my favorite color!
For the contract I just signed, I got myself a new cell phone. My old one was dying, so I bought it a bit early, but it still counts!
It has all kinds of neat features that make me squeal and jump up and down and hug it. It plays music, interfaces with Bluetooth, has speakerphone, and let me download the Boston Pops playing the Pink Panther theme song as my ring tone. I always have Pink Panther, you see, though my old phone had just a tinny midi file. I tried the standard rings, but it just didn’t register that my phone was ringing. So, I got the awesome new version of my ring tone.
Isn’t it pretty? I love getting presents, and I love buying myself presents. Now if only I could find a good reason to send myself flowers, I’d be all set. Hmm…
So, I’ve been watching a lot of TV lately. The fall premiers have kicked off, and I’m procrastinating on a major level to avoid writing my next novella. Yeah, yeah, I know. Bad Crystal.
I’ll get to it and make it in on deadline, I promise. I’m in the worst part of my teaching semester at ye olde university, so getting myself to write a little and not collapse the moment I get home from work is a challenge.
What have I been watching and what does it have to do with writing?
Well, it’s inspiring my characters, actually. Who knew?
First, I’m loving on Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs. Why? Because unlike a lot of the guys you see on TV, he pulls off manly. I mean, he’s buff and does dirty stuff for my entertainment. Nice.
The next is Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild. I don’t know why, he’s just hot. And all my heroes are hot. So…he’s totally inspirational. It’s research, I swear!
Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Trading Spaces. He’s a carpenter, he has style, he’s a goofball. And he looks good without a shirt on. *happy sigh*
And finally, the whole cast of hot chicks on L.A. Ink. They’re sexy, they tattoo people for a living, and their work is fun to watch happen. This is totally inspiring the new hero I have in mind, who’s going to be a tattoo artist.
See, my TV watching procrastination habits are all for the good of my writing. No, really, I mean it.
What, you don’t believe me? Would this face lie to you?
I have to admit, I had a bit of a meltdown when I realized it was finally coming out. And then went into deep denial. A part of me is excited, and the other part is just hiding her head in the sand in terror. Thankfully, I have author authors like Kate Douglas and Vonna Harper in the anthology with me, so it’s not me all by myself.
However, the series I start with the novella in Sexy Beast V continues in my first-ever all-by-myself book, Carnal Desires. Same world, new fun characters to play with. In fact, it’s four planets I’m dealing with this, but the characters are in each book. The planets each have their own specific brand of shape-shifters. There’s tigers, polar bears, dragons, and mermaids. Don’t worry, I made a webpage to help people keep it all straight. You don’t want to try and figure out how it all twists together in my brains, so I tried to make it simple. Click here to find out more.
AND I made a video the encompasses the whole world of Carnal Desires. The awesome Harmonic Threads put it together for me, and I think it turned out really well. I’ll let you decide for sure though.
By the time this post goes up, I’ll be at the RWA (Romance Writers of America) National Conference.
This year will be a lot different for me than last year. In my very first post on this blog, I talked about how I sold to Kensington Aphrodisia while at conference last year. It was exciting and scary to be the total newbie on the block.
I mean, at the time, I didn’t have an agent, had no idea what I was doing, and spent the entire conference running around like a chicken with its head cut off. It was, in a word, in-freaking-sane.
I thought this year would be mellow. Relaxing. Easy-peasy compared to last. Since I wrote this before I left for conference, I’ll have to check back in to tell you if I was wrong or not, but looking over my schedule, I’m thinking this is not going to be a relaxing conference.
On Thursday alone, I have–count ‘em–five parties or meetings to go to. Chapter meetings, agent meetings, publisher parties, agency parties. It’s pretty crazy. Friday morning, I’m holding my critique partner’s hand before she pitches, Friday night is another publisher party, Saturday is just…packed solid again.
It’s good because it means I’ve had a successful year–I have places to go and people to see (who would ave ever imagined that? Not me!). It’s bad because I’m still doing the headless chicken routine.
Selling to New York means writing on proposal. Three chapters and a detailed synopsis of the book you think you want to write next. Now that is an awesome thing if you’re good at it. Me? I run into snags. While I don’t have a problem with synos like many writers do–don’t get me wrong, I don’t enjoy writing them–but I don’t have a lot of problem writing them and making them interesting. That’s when I do the rough outline of the plot in my head. I find they’re helpful for bringing the book into focus for me. I’m not a plotter, but…I need that rough outline in my head because I don’t write in order. That’s just dandy when you’re writing the whole book. It’ll all get done eventually, so the scenes I write will work themselves in later. But, a proposal is just the first three chapters. What if the end comes to me first? What if no one buys the book, then those scene that aren’t in the first three chapters are pretty pointless, right?
Gah!
So, you pound away at the keyboard, hoping that three chapters is enough to make someone love your new idea as much as or more than you do. As pain in the butt as it is to write those whole books, and even if someone tosses it aside after the first page, it’s easier to tell yourself that they had a shot at the whole picture. And, for me, it means I didn’t waste those scenes…they had their shot at a chance in the sun. However. There’s always a however, isn’t there? The good news is, you only need to write three chapter. Then you know one way or the other if they love it. You get paid before you even finish the book. That’s a beautiful thing, you know?
But in the end, it can feel like the nerve wracking, pulse pounded, hands shaking, nausea inducing kind of proposal that men dread the world over.
What do you all think of writing on proposal? Dish!
I’ve been writing for two, almost three, years now, and in all that time I’ve never had any kind of writing down time. There was always a project to work on, a book to finish, a deadline to meet, a contest to enter. You get the idea.
I just finished my first two book deal with Kensington, had a wild selling streak and sold everything that was out for submission (woohoo!), and…now I have nothing to do. I’m waiting for edits and contracts to come back to me, but right now I have nothing. to. write.
I know some will say I should enjoy the down time, but…it’s so not in my nature to have down time. I mean, I work full time and pretty much write full time, too. Call me a workaholic, I’m okay with it.
I suppose I could write a new proposal, though I just finished three of them. Or I could write a short story for one of my e-publishers. But it’s just odd not to have to do anything. I usually have very specific word count goals every day. I write every day. No exceptions. I don’t care if I’m sick or dying or had an icy fall down some very cement steps (March was a bad month for me is all I can say about that).
And now…I can watch TV after work and not have to feel guilty about not doing what I should be doing. It just feels dirty and wrong.
Anyone read any good books lately and want to recommend them? I’ve already burned through my TBR pile in the past five days. This is why I started writing in the first place, I’m easily bored without something. to. do.
I watched the Netflix movie that’s been sitting on my DVD player for a few weeks now. I Am Legend. Will Smith with no shirt is yum. Post-Apocalypse meets Cast Away premise is interesting. Special effects were laughable, and the pacing of the movie was off to me. But Will Smith had no shirt on and he was all sweaty, so I forgive the movie for not being made of awesome.
I’ve also been cruising around YouTube like a fiend. There are some really weird things on that website. Also, some of my favorite songs have fun videos. Who knew?
So that’s my fun update. I’m between contracts and driving myself crazy. Quick! Someone put me out of my misery!
I had a completely different post in mind today, but my editor sent me my newest Aphrodisia cover! Of course, that means I have to share it with everyone. The first novella in this world comes out in the Sexy Beast V anthology in September (though I think it starts shipping in August–never ask the newbie questions. Trust me, the answers will only make your head hurt). Since that cover is so pretty, I’m including it, too. You’re welcome!
On to the new cover, also heavy on the manflesh (thank you, cover fairies).
This one continues with three novellas set in a futuristic world. There’s tiger shape-shifters as you can probably guess from the cover, but there’s also polar bears, dragons, and mermaids. I had too much fun with this world. I even have a webpage for it. Click here to find out more.
But it got me thinking…how much do I judge a book by its cover? I know they say not to, but “they” also told me not to write romance. You see how well it’s going for “them” so far. So, what would I think of my covers if I were a reader rather than the author? Well, as I said, manflesh is good. And not false advertising at all. I guarantee at some point in every book I write, there is a naked man. For one of the novellas in Carnal Desires, there’s even two naked men. At the same time. I think you know what that means. Mmm-hmm.
I think I’d know what was in my books (generally) by these covers, so I guess judging them by their covers is an okay thing right here. Again, did I mention the manflesh? Niiiiice.
So, tell me…do you judge a book by its cover? I know I do.
I like to listen to music when I write. And unlike some writers who theme their music to the mood of their scene or book, I have no problem listening to wildly inappropriate songs. Even when writing the naughty scenes.
One of my critique partners puts her CD player on random and says it’s a little awkward when “The Bear Necessities” from Jungle Book starts blaring while she’s writing sex. My response: um, why?
For me it’s all about background noise. I can happily listen to the same song or CD over and over (and over and over) again. In fact, I find it better when I am on repeat for the background sound. That way nothing is pulling me out of the zone. And, yes, even if that means I’m listening to bears and apes singing about Man Cubs. The bad part about it is, I end up memorizing songs that I had no intention of ever getting that friendly with. When I start humming and singing random bits of lyrics in the grocery store lines, you have to understand it can get a little awkward. Especially when it’s Nine Inch Nails “Closer” and the only part I remember is “You let me violate you, you let me desecrate you, I want to f*ck you like an animal, I want to feel you from the inside, my whole existence is flawed, you get me closer to God.”
Um, yeah. Awk-ward.
I usually stumble across new songs while randomly clicking links on YouTube. This is either a way to find good music I’ve never heard before…or a recipe in disaster. It’s a toss up and has gone both ways for me. (I won’t talk about the time I stumbled across Japanese lesbian cartoons…and they say romance novels have unrealistic body expectations. Riiiight.)
One of my jaunts around YouTube helped me fall in love with the music of Missy Higgins, an Australia singer. I decided to include her video in my post today.
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!
