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So I’ve been dating a new guy for a few a months now. (Okay, five months exactly as of tomorrow, but who’s counting?) I’ve codenamed him–as I codename all the people in my “real” life–the Professor Moriarty. Actually, he codenamed himself after Sherlock Holmes’s arch-nemesis, which I think is awesome, but I’m pretty fond of him regardless of his mad scientist/evil genius qualifications.
But that’s not the point of this post…well, I’m not entirely sure this post has a point, but there we go.
We were walking through this little town near my house after dinner, but before the movie were going to see. We passed a bookstore, and both of us being big readers, we went inside. They had a few of my books, so I took them up to the counter and asked if they wanted me to sign their stock. Of course, they said yes, and the sales clerk had apparently never met an author before because she blushed and gushed adorably. She chatted with me about her friend who wants to write romance, and I told her about Romance Divas, which has a forum that helped me hone my writing skills.
This advice giving caused more gushing about how nice I was and how she wanted me to sign one of the books to her so she could buy it herself. Color me tickled.
I’m walking out of the store with Prof. Moriarty, who’d watched the whole exchange, and he said, “That was so cool.”
He’s now a big fan of having me sign stock when we hit bookstores. He even keeps an eye out for my books in stores even when he’s not with me. I recently got a text message about how he’d seen my new book in a store by his work.
I have other friends and family who keep a look out for my books for me, which is nice because they’re all over the US and I get a good idea of nationwide distribution that way. Hey, some people have publicists. I have friends. My best friend, especially, is good about keeping an eye out and texting/emailing me pics from her cell phone. It’s awesome. I love those messages.
And…yeah, I knew this post wasn’t going to have a real point. Ah, well! Win some, lose some, confuse the heck out of others. It happens. Just roll with it.
Ordinarily, early in the month I have a new book out, I do promo posts encouraging folks to grab it off the shelves–but Things Are Different Now. LAW OF ATTRACTION got caught in that limbo of Dorchester releases…supposedly coming out in digital format now and in print format next summer. As it was to be the first of a really cool series, that saddens me. Already I have readers asking “What’s the hold-up? Why can’t I get your new book?” And I don’t have an answer.
But isn’t that a gorgeous cover? And didn’t my new website turn out beautifully, based on the coastal Oregon locale and the quirky/fascinating series characters?
I could whine about hopes and dreams once more doing a slow swirl around the porcelain bowl of publishing before finally going down–because this has happened to me more than once in my 20+ years as a novelist. But in keeping with that LAW OF ATTRACTION theme– “what goes around comes around” and you get back what you send out into the Universe–I will instead go with an attitude of gratitude here. Please feel free to chime in if things have taken an unexpected turn for the better in your writing life! And if you choose to commiserate, or to vent about your own circumstances, that’s OK, too. As for me and my house, well–we’ve been in lots worse situations, so we’re happy to be where we are!
First, I’m extremely grateful that when my editor, Alicia Condon, suddenly left Dorchester first of this year, to fill the gap Kate Duffy left at Kensington, she still loved my writing: LAW OF ATTRACTION came from one of those wonderful New York lunch conversations where she and I and my agent were euphoric about this series and its potential! Then we hit some snags and stalls…the poor book got orphaned while it was in the editorial phase, BUT THEN, I wrote a proposal for a new Amish series this summer and in a miraculously short time–10 days–Alicia bought it. The first book of that series is totally drafted now–and I’ve been paid for it!–so I’m in a good place! I love what I’m writing, I’ve enjoyed the challenge of taking on the entirely new mindset/culture of the Amish, and I still adore working with Alicia.
Along this same line, I’m so delighted that my agent, Evan Marshall, heard Alicia say she was looking for someone to write a new Amish series–and my name sprang to his lips! Good man, Evan: his positive attitude about moving forward, and about how to deal with this Dorchester situation, has helped me stay centered. I can whine to him about how much I paid for ads and bookmarks and a website revamp for this star-crossed book, and he listens–and then hears another editor at another house saying she’s looking for an author to write an Amish series, and again my name sprang forth!
Rather than jinx the situation, I will simply say that I’m really excited to be brainstorming with another long-esteemed editor at a different publishing house, and that if all goes as we hope, I’ll be going to contract for an open-ended Amish series that will be lighter while still honoring the beliefs and lifestyle of the Old Order Amish, and will feature a delightful maiden aunt anchor character.
Along this same subject line, I’m totally jazzed about an upcoming personal tour of homes, shops, etc. in Jamesport, Missouri–the largest settlement of Old Order Amish west of the Mississippi–in just a couple of weeks. This is the sort of on-site sensory experience I need to really ground these books in day-to-details and language cadence and other information you just can’t get from print research.
And now, I’m really happy that I’ve been able to look at my current situation in a brighter light. All the spiritual cues and astrology have pointed to a time when I have to clear out what I’ve done in the past to make room for new things in my future–we all do! As a part of this process, my alter ego/pseudonym got turned down on her last proposals so Melissa MacNeal will be on hiatus…except last week her Aprhodisia editor invited her to write an erotic novella for a 2011 Christmas anthology!
It all works out. Deep down, I always knew it would! Like E.L. Doctorow said, “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
Same could be said for navigating a writing career. I don’t know what awaits me farther down the road, but I know I’m moving forward. Hope you’ve got your lights on and you’re making the trip, too!
It’s been a crazy month this month. That’s not bad, by any means, but it’s kinda nutty.
First off, I met a great guy and now seem to have landed a boyfriend. For someone who’s been the ruling queen of Singlelandia for years, this is a little odd. I’ve codenamed him Professor Moriarty (yes, the villain from Sherlock Holmes–he picked the name, not me!)
Then, last week, I went to Comic Con with my best friend, the Mad Madam M. Here’s a picture of us waiting for the trolley.
Note all the signs at the Gaslamp Quarter station had been translated into Klingon for the “invasion” for Comic Con.
And the moment I got home, I became sick as a dog with a nasty summer cold. Having been single for so long, this is just the natural course of things to handle being ill on my own. Chicken soup? Check. NyQuil? Check. Advil? Check. Hot tea? Check. Okay, we’re as ready to battle the forces of evil as we’re going to be. But things are different this time, because I have Professor Moriarty threatening me with spankings if I don’t get into bed and get well immediately, if not sooner. On the one hand, it’s kind of sweet and a very novel experience to have someone concerned over every little sniffle. On the other hand, I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I think I know how to deal with a cold without someone telling me where to go and what to do.
Ah, well. I think I’ll keep him.
Also, if you haven’t yet, you can pre-order Sexy Beast 9, which comes out in about 3 short weeks. Check out an excerpt of my story here. We got a rockin’ review for the whole antho from Romantic Times. Go us!
Ambition is a strong desire for achievement, rank, success or power, according to several dictionaries.
According to writers? The strong desire is to be published. Early on, it’s to sell a first book, to be validated as a writer or some more personal goal.
As time moves on ambitions change or maybe ambition changes us. I’m not entirely sure what happens first. I just know my goals have changed. What seemed totally unattainable a few short years ago, have now happened.
Recently I went to dinner with a group of writers. We represented erotic romance, romantic suspense, category romance, historical and Regency romance. We’ve written novellas, single titles, trade paper, even a couple of non-fiction books. We’ve all published multiple books with multiple houses. (Wow, don’t we sound like an impressive lot – before writing this I’d have said a bunch of buddies got together at a local restaurant to eat, drink and be merry, but suddenly it sounds like some lit’ray function.)
As we took our seats and ordered drinks, we cheered and called ourselves “survivors” for having been in publishing for a number of years. The talk turned to careers, the business, the changes in the business (the only constant in publishing is change itself).
In the midst of our rambling convoluted conversation I said, “Ambition’s the bitch. No matter that 2 years ago I sold 3 books in a matter of days, I want more and I want it now.”
Yes! Ambition’s what drives us all. We’ve had our thrills, our successes and for a time we were happy with deadlines and plots and characters. But then, ambition worms its way into our thoughts, and we want the next sale, the next hurdle in our personal journey.
For women to be described as ambitious isn’t always flattering. In fact, sometimes it’s read to mean something rather less than feminine. Ambitious women are often shown as, well, um, bitchy, power mad, and manipulative.
But for writers those things can’t help. Bitchiness gets you nothing but disliked. There’s no such thing as real power in publishing for writers because writers have no control over changes in the marketplace. As for being manipulative? You get to manipulate your characters/story/pacing/plotlines all you want so that’s out of your system by the end of every day anyway.
But without ambition, the writers at that table wouldn’t sit down and do the work every day. We wouldn’t dream our dreams, write the stories, do the work that ambition demands.
Ambition’s the bitch that bites us, that rides us, that we feed, that we harbor.
Personally, I love my inner bitch. She takes me places I’d never have been without her.
First, I’m resolved to get some new proposals to my agent and start cranking out more novels. We’ll see how that goes. I have some ideas that I’m pretty stoked about, but can’t say more than that right now. Wish me luck.
Second, let’s talk about what I know is coming down the pipeline this year. My release schedule is pretty locked in already, which makes some of the new year feel more solid. Promotion is never ending for the authorly, ya know?
I have two new books coming out from Kensington this year. The first is the Sexy Beast IX anthology in September with the fabulous Lisa Renee Jones and Vonna Harper. In my part “Between Lovers,” I’m introducing a new world with modern day shifters out and about in the real world. The Between, they’re called.
Here’s the totally unofficial blurb:
The Between. A race of people between light and dark. Good and evil. Human and animal. The world discovered their existence over a decade ago, and so far the balance between humans and Between has been precarious at best. One bite is all it takes to cross the line from human to Between. It doesn’t matter what species of shapeshifter bites a human–only the soul can dictate what kind of animal is most suited to a Between. Many humans think they’re dangerous and should be locked away, while others covet their power.
It’s a perilous time to be a Between and even more perilous to rule the Between. Elan Delacourt’s soul made him a lion, a king, and he’s been juggling human-Between politics since his father unveiled their people to the world. Then Elan finds that one of his own is kidnapping women and turning them into Between illegally. To make matters worse, he’s murdering the women and dumping their mutilated, half-changed bodies where humans are most likely to find them. This shifter must be stopped, and quietly, or all the peace Elan has fought and sacrificed for will evaporate like mist on summer day. When Elan’s security teams finally track down the offender, they find someone else has done their dirty work for them.
Rhiannon Reid never imagined a spontaneous camping trip into the wilderness would end her life as she knew it. She’d never even met one of the Between until one was torturing her for days on end, sinking his fangs into her flesh, and laughing while the agony of change ripped through her body. One moment of inattention is the only opportunity she gets, and she takes it, killing her kidnapper while trying to escape him.
She’s solved a problem by slaying the rogue shifter, but created a whole new one by surviving to tell the tale. Elan he has to ensure her silence about how and why she was turned. Ruthless commonsense dictates that he have her killed–it’s the only sure way to know she’ll never talk. But . . . he just can’t do it. The riskier approach is to make her happy enough to be a Between that she no longer cares how it happened. That’s a challenge he finds himself eager to take on–a king’s duty is never done until his subjects are fully satisfied.
Then there’s Primal Heat in November, which is also in the present day, but has ancient shifters showing up from a distant world to claim what’s theirs.
This is also a totally unofficial blurb.
The world changed in the blink of an eye. The Kith returned to Earth, and humans learned the terrible truth. They were lesser beings, slaves, abandoned to colonize a barbaric planet the Kith discovered centuries ago. They might have gone on in ignorance, but the Emperor of the Kith knows that his One is among the Kin. He sensed her the moment she reached maturity, and he will tear the planet apart if he must to find her, to claim her, to bond his mind and body with hers.
Wicked Lord
Sergeant Major Bren Preston doesn’t believe for a second that the powerful Kith brought an entire armada across space for a woman. No matter what the Kith ambassador claims–or how attractive she finds Lord Farid Arjun–she knows Earth will never surrender to the Kith fleet. But when she finds that her own commander, General Arthur, wants the planet for himself, she’ll have to decide what she’s willing to risk to save her people. Farid might be able to help her. For a price. He’s desired her from the moment he first saw her, and he’s not going to settle for less than everything she has to give. Her body, her heart, her mind, her hard-won independence. She’ll have to surrender herself to him if she wants to save Earth.
Carnal Empress
Jana Townsend was once a normal woman with a normal life. Until the day Emperor Kyber showed up and claimed her for his own. Nothing had ever felt so right, so perfect. But it was over far too soon. General Arthur’s men captured Kyber and spend months torturing him before Jana and the Kith forces can free him. Now, Jana and Kyber can’t find the common ground they’d once had. Both of them have changed, become different people, but the bond between them can’t be broken. They’re too damaged to move forward, but they crave each other too much to let go. The only thing they can agree on is that before the Kith leave Earth, they have to keep the planet from General Arthur’s clutches. For Kyber, justice and vengeance go hand in hand, and working with Jana to fight a common enemy shows him that the one thing he can’t lose is her.
Check out my upcoming releases page on my website to see what else I have coming from other publishers and to see an excerpt from the two books I just mentioned!
It’s a busy month. There’s so much to do in the time sandwiched between major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years. With all the holiday season demands, time is short. For me, a losing round with the flu, a big writing deadline fast approaching, not to mention my first Kensington Aphrodisia title Sweet and Dirty being released the first of January (yay!), makes me about as busy as I’ve ever been.
For these six weeks, reading a full novel is a challenging time commitment — next year will be less impossibly packed, since this is ridiculous. I miss novels. Story is like air to me, an addiction I don’t ever want to break. So I compromise. I read shorter. Many good short stories are available to read, such the ones at Aphrodisia author Susan Lyons’ website. (I found her free story “Finders Keepers” very romantic.) Another Aphro author, Lacy Danes, has an excellent scorching story, “The Invitation,” in an anthology called Naughty Bits.
I occasionally write short too. Here you can kill a short amount of time with my free Choose Your Own Romantic Adventures, and short-short story “Play Money.”
Do you ever read shorties? What are some of your favorite short stories?
To celebrate the impending release of my first Kensington Aphrodisia title, I’m giving away a copy of Sweet and Dirty to one winner out of those of you who leave a comment. Sweet and Dirty has just received 4 stars from RT Magazine Book Reviews. I’m seriously happy about this review, so let me copy it in full here: “Crooks’ two stories explore the world of BDSM, and the author has clearly done her research. The characters reveal the psychological as well as the physical components of D/s sex, which makes the stories that much more real. Fans who like a BDSM twist to their happily ever after should be completely satisfied. Extra kudos to the author for one character’s refusal to buy into the ‘dominance’ theory of dog training.”
In the insanity between Thanksgiving and Christmas (or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Yule or…pick your winter holiday), it’s rough to get any writing done.
I mean, it’s exciting and awesome to get to see friends and family that you might not keep as close in touch with as you should. But this one time a year, you get to see them. That’s fabulous! Something to be truly thankful for.
However, amidst the holiday shopping sales, wrapping paper, holiday parties, family visits, etc it’s rough to squeeze in some you time. For me, the you time means writing time. And I have a Januray deadline! I’m not freaking out at all. No siree, I’m on top of stuff. This holiday thing isn’t sending me into a grab a paper bag and hyperventilate style panic. Pshaw!
All I can say to you is, enjoy your holidays, try not to panic too much, and make sure to pamper yourself as much as you pamper your loved ones. You deserve it too!
I’ve had the same desk setup for nearly 20 years and it’s killing me. Okay that may be a tad over the top, but the strange ergonomics have wreaked havoc on my body.
It’s time for a change. My keyboard sits too high, so my chair seat is too high, which puts my legs and shoulder at risk, because naturally my mouse is also too high. I’ve managed to deal with this for a lot of years and a lot of books.
But, sadly, my body’s had enough. It’s forcing me out into the world to go shop for a new desk. One that fits. One that has drawers to hide the paper that floods my desk. One that’s pretty and new and smells not of wood and lemon wax, but chemicals and glue. (Did I say it had to be cheap…no? Sorry, it has to be, ahem, less than expensive.)
Hold on, that’s my editor calling offering me tons more money so I can buy a better desk that smells of red cedar…hm, I could have sworn I heard the phone . . .
But I digress. . . I’ve dealt with this weird body pretzeling situation by many other means over the years. I’ve done yoga to stay limber, I go for massage therapy (not the feel good, happy, stress-relieving variety; I mean the elbow in the back, pinching the trigger points variety).
I’ve bought a new chair, added a back rest. I’ve put my feet up on my desk, with my keyboard in my lap.
I’ve walked for miles, stretched, danced, you name it. All because I refused to see that my desk was the root of the problem.
My daughter was with me while I tried on desks at the store and came up with the brilliant observation that if I’ve done this well with my career under these circumstances, then imagine what I can do when I get everything to fit right?
That sounded quite pithy in the lust of shopping, but now, I wonder if it isn’t the same logic that says new running shoes help you run faster.
At any rate, I plan on getting a new desk and repositioning it to face the room. I’ve hated staring at a wall for 20 years (my desktop is on wall-mounted brackets). I tried to take a picture of my wall, but it doesn’t look all that great. I mean, it’s blank and stares back at me.
I hope this new set up translates into more books, better ideas, hotter characters and more creative storylines.
I’ll let you know next month! Ah, I can feel the relief now.
My next Aphrodisia release is BREATHLESS an anthology linked by underwear above the waist this time. By the time BREATHLESS hits the shelves in late November, it will have been 22 months since Thigh High came out.
I feel like I’ve been in hiding! Which is, of course, wrong. I’ve been here all the time, writing, blogging, tweeting and generally keeping my finger on the pulse of publishing. Thankfully, romances are selling well in these dark economic times. Everyone enjoys a happy ending!
Since Thigh High released, I’ve been to conferences in San Francisco, New York and visited Toronto (home of my other publishing house). I’ve worked on several proposals, have had editorial staff change a couple of times and written two and 3/4 books.
I have been here, working hard, writing hard, and rewriting harder than I ever have. But still, I feel like I’ve been in hiding. A gift from a family member will tell you how they see me in here:
So, now with a handful of months left before BREATHLESScomes out, I get to crank up my marketing skills. I’ll be writing ad copy for a couple of different ads I’ll run. I’ll send out electronic advanced reading copies for review.
My editor generously sent me tons of cover flats! I always staple excerpts inside them and give them away. I’ll also hand them out at a book signing in Bellevue WA in October at the Emerald City Writers Conference. I’m so looking forward to it!
For the first time in a long while, I’ll feel as if I’m out of my writing cave. After being in here for this long, it’ll be great to stretch other writing muscles because ads are different to write than anything else in publishing.
I’ll also be editing and tweaking my first newsletter, so if you haven’t signed on yet, please do! You can find the sign up at www.bonnieedwards.com I’m just about ready to send it out, so I’d love to send the first one to as many people as I can.
And since this blog is appearing on the first Monday of the month, I get to let you know that the Aphrodisia authors chat is on tonight at 9.p.m. Eastern at www.writerspace.com Hope to see you there! Please stop in and join the fun.
I’m a bit of a music fanatic–even though I don’t have a musical bone in my body and can’t play a note–I love to listen to it, love buy it, love to watch the videos, I even love cheesy fan videos (and my best friend likes to send me links to especially awful ones).
So, I play list my works in progress. Sometimes it’s a single album or artist. Sometimes it’s a variety. The novella I’m working on is for a Big Cats shifter anthology (that I think comes out in the middle of next year), and the heroine is really dominating the story for me right now. She’s fiery and mercurial and totally fascinates the very dutiful hero. I just started the novella last week, so we’re in the early stages yet. The hero will add songs to the list as I go, but here’s the play list (mostly for the heroine) so far.
Something in Your Mouth by Nickelback Smooth by Santana & Rob Thomas Crazy Bitch by Buckcherry Gotta be Somebody by Nickelback I’m a Bitch by Meredith Brooks 6 Underground by Sneaker Pimps (Oakenfold Remix) Reach Out by Hilary Duff SEX by Nickelback
And here’s a few videos that I think really work, too.
Circus by Britney Spears. This one is just wicked and, with the flying whips, has a little flavoring of BDSM to it that I totally love.
6 Underground by Sneaker Pimps. This is the non-remixed version. I’m into both versions at the moment. This video is a little dark, a little paranormal, and a little sexy. Nice.
Piece of Me by Britney Spears. It has this “don’t tell me how to live” vibe to it that totally suits my current heroine. She got turned into a shape-shifter against her will and refuses to live how shifters live just because someone took her choice away. For whatever reason, Britney’s attitude in this video flows with that.
