With my book coming out I started to Google “launch parties” and everything I found dealt with large venues that were rented and inviting the businesses in town with the town’s officials. It was all about sales and presence.

And that is not what I wanted. I didn’t want an “event”. I wanted a celebration with my close friends and family of what I had accomplished.

I took the concept of ”launch party” and I pulled it into an intimate setting and started planning what I saw as the perfect way to celebrate years of hard work.

Invitations were done word of mouth and by Facebook. Nothing fancy.

Food was planned; just a cake and ice cream with a variety of beverages. For the cake, it took three calls in town to find a baker who could make one with a photographic image on it instead of mere icing.

Suggested decorations for the venue:

* About six or eight small place cards set around the room with character facts. In my case “Jaime doesn’t like chocolate” (above) and “Stephen doesn’t listen to anything produced after 1979.”

* A playlist that represents your book playing softly in the background. For us, it was Stephen’s classic rock.

* Recipe cards might be featured. One recipe that works for him, one for her. I made the Sangria that Jaime loves and served it in cups the color that matched the cover of the book. Guests took the cards home.

* 8.5 X 11 covers of the book displayed in acrylic frames. Not only for this book, but others, if you have them. I put them around the room with a note on two: “Ask Me about My Next Book.” It was a great conversation starter.

* A couple of disposable cameras for guests to use to capture spontaneity.

* Balloon bouquets, steamers, silk rose petals here and there. Things that say “party”.

* Most important: Your new release displayed. Stacks standing next to one that stands alone and strong.  Keep a pen handy if someone wants a copy autographed. We sold ours at cost to our friends and family.

A Launch Party doesn’t have to be an official occasion to promote name and sales. Sometimes it can be a mere celebration of this wonderful thing you worked so hard to achieve. Let your family be there with you. Have your friends come and see why you were always so busy. And have fun. In the end, that’s all it is about sometimes!!

I’ve been a sport flirter since the first grade. I played first string in middle school and was a varsity flirter in high school and college. I was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia for my tour in the Navy, and with a ratio of one hundred men for each woman in that town…well, you do the math. Talk about a kid in a candy store.

But wait. Why is the title about age if this blog is about acting confident, sensual, and flirty? Simple. Harry S. Truman may have been president when I was born and I may write about heroes and heroines who are younger than my children, but I’m not giving up flirting any time soon. I plan to be a force to be reckoned with when I check into my nursing home some day.

In French Women Don’t Get Fat, Mireille Guiliano has this to say about older women: “The French rightly acknowledge there is a particular mystique to une femme d’un certain age, an expression with layers of meaning, including respect but also worldliness and hits of seduction. In Europe men naturally find women of this age group desirable, even sexy, and are often caught turning to look at them.” Embrace it, ladies. Just because one has reached a certain age, doesn’t mean she can’t continue to let her confidence and sensuality shine through in a look or a smile—that might possibly be held a nanosecond too long. On purpose.

I’m a happily married woman of 37 years, so the kind of flirting I’m talking about is no longer wooing some guy into bed (unless it’s Mr. Ashby, who has no complaints about being married to a romance author.) It might be a little banter with a salesman at the hardware store. Or striking up a conversation with a handsome man while waiting for your train. Maybe sharing a laugh about something witnessed together in public. Perhaps a smile with your thank-you for a gentleman who has held the door for you. Instead of seduction, it’s more “Catch and Release.” You get the rush of catching the fish, but you’re not planning to take it home.

Sometimes it’s not appropriate to actively flirt, but that doesn’t stop me from checking out guys I might want to put in a book. As a romance author, I get to chalk it up as “research.” I write a Navy romance series called “Love in the Fleet.” Since I live near the Navy base about which I write, there’s plenty of research available. If I go to the base gym to work out around 0730 on Friday mornings, the crew of the USS Stud Muffin is there performing Command Physical Training. I get to watch the show—completely incognito in my old lady body—and they have no idea I’m taking mental notes. I mean, who knew a man’s pecs could behave that way when he’s doing pull-ups? Just because you’re on a diet, doesn’t mean you can’t look at the menu.

One day I was standing in line at the base post office, silently ogling the back of the flight-suit-clad pilot in front of me. I’m sorry, but there’s just something about a guy in a military flight suit. Not sure if all the pilots are sexy as hell or it’s just the addition of the flight suit—which is doubly sexy when they roll back their cuffs—as this pilot did. Now, flight suits have zippered pockets on the arms and legs to stow survival gear when flying. So this hot pilot goes to pay for his postage by unzipping his shoulder zipper and pulling out a credit card—which was pretty sexy in itself. But then he turned his head, smiled at me over his shoulder, and said, “You won’t tell anybody about my little secret hiding place, now will you?” I managed to smile back and say, “No,” which was difficult because I had already melted into a puddle of goo on the post office floor. Here’s how that experience played out in Book 2 in my series, Forget Me Not, about a playboy Navy pilot named Sky Crawford:

Sky flipped through his Rolodex of smiles, selecting just the right one because he would need the receptionist on his good side if he was going to get on any side of Dr. Untouchable. Usually chicks that didn’t fall for his I’m-the-bad-boy-of-your-dreams-honey smile succumbed to his aw-shucks-golly-gee-ma’am grin. Worked like a charm.

Certain he had Lillian’s attention, Sky unzipped a shoulder pocket in his flight suit and extracted his credit card. He glanced around dramatically, leaned over the desk, and said in a low voice, “You won’t tell anybody about my little secret hiding place, now will you, Lillian?” She took the card, her smile filling the room with sunshine. Too bad he wasn’t interested in the receptionist because it was clear he had her hook, line, and sinker.

Ladies, why do many of us read romance novels? Because we love that rush of new love, affection, and attention. Just because you may no longer be a teen, a twenty-something, a thirty-something, or even a forty-something, (and some of us will keep counting) age is just a number. Attitude is everything. Stand proud, embrace your sensuality, and let your beauty shine through—especially when there’s a hot guy around. Just don’t forget to throw the fish back if you’re not supposed to be taking home trophies.

Thanks for inviting me today, Delilah. I’d like to leave a question with your readers and an e-copy of Forget Me Not for one lucky commenter. Do you enjoy a bit of flattery and flirting now and then? (And if you’d like to stay in touch with the captain of the sport flirting team, Sky Crawford, feel free to LIKE his Facebook page: facebook.com/SkyCrawfordFanClub)

Blurb for FORGET ME NOT:

Suffering from Peter Pan Syndrome and survivor guilt, Navy helicopter pilot and renowned playboy, Brian “Skylark” Crawford, swears he’ll never marry, uncertain he deserves happiness—besides there are too many hot chicks to choose from. War widow and veterinarian, Daisy Schneider, swears to love only animals after her Marine pilot husband is killed in Afghanistan—but work fails to ease her loneliness or the guilt that she might have saved him. Between one matchmaking, rescue cat and a fiery battle with drug runners at sea, the fur flies as Sky and Daisy learn valuable lessons about life, love, and second chances.

Forget Me Not: http://alturl.com/wb6ru

AUTHOR BIO:

Heather Ashby is a Navy veteran who taught school and raised a family while accompanying her Navy husband around the United States, Japan, and the Middle East. In gratitude for her Army son’s safe return from Afghanistan and Iraq, she now writes military romance novels, donating half her royalties to causes that support wounded warriors and their families. Forgive & Forget, Book 1 in “Love in the Fleet,” was voted “Best of 2013” by Suspense Magazine. She lives in Atlantic Beach, Florida with her husband and two rescue cats.

www.heatherashby.com
Twitter: www.@HAshbyAuthor
facebook.com/HeatherAshbyAuthor?ref=hl

J.D. Hart as Pirate!

I’m sure all of us have heard an audio book we could hardly wait to get, only to be disappointed with the narrator. Choosing the right one is so important. Although I think I just got lucky in choosing J.D. Hart to narrate my books, I went through a learning curve. Here are some of the things I’ve learned:

1. As a reader, you know you can search Audible by narrator, right? That means, if you find a voice you love, you can go online and see all the other books he/she has narrated and listen to them as well. This is not something I knew when I first started out, nor did I know that loyal listeners would travel to one author from another when a good narrator is found.
2. As an author, chose a narrator with an already existing following of some kind. Perhaps this person is an actor with fans, or is involved in the music industry and has fans. Or chose a narrator who is willing to or knows how to promote you as the      author. Many will do this, but not all of them will. It is so helpful when your narrator can bring fans to your listening audience.
3. Make sure you take into account the number of characters, accents and special voices you will need for your books, and make sure your sample narration covers some of these. That way, you get an audition of the narrator’s true skills, not just a portion. If you are sensitive how women’s voices sound, for instance, with a male narrator, make sure they read a part where you have the H/H (two most important parts of the romance novel) speaking in dialogue. Or an action scene, or a little of both (a tip from Bella Andre). You’re going to have to get used to a stranger reading your sex scenes aloud. Get over it. You’ll pick yourself up off the floor and learn to actually like it. Honest.
4. Make sure you      allow proper time (usually 1.5 hours for every hour of narration) to properly proof, listen and assist the narrator in giving the kind of command performance you want.
5. Do you want one narrator or two? It can be difficult to edit if there are two parties, but some authors feel having two voices helps readers get a flavor of their story. In my case, I didn’t want that. I wanted the listener to fall in love with the voice I’d chosen, just as I had. I thought they’d be annoyed having to listen to anyone else’s.
6. You can ask      questions about timing and how the narrator handles edits. In this way, you will find out how easy he/she is to work with. Remember, this is an intimate partnership. If you haven’t done one before, you will be excited and nervous as heck when you hire your first and you hear your words translated into the spoken word. Almost like a first date. Your narrator will see the flaws in your story, your writing, errors in grammar and diction, as well as reveal very personal things about your story as he/she tells it—again, the narrator becomes a character in your book, and the reader/listener hears it through his/her interpretation.
7. Don’t be afraid to be frank if you don’t like some thing. Make sure you listen to chapters slowly at first to make sure you are on the same page about things. You don’t want to have to ask for several chapters of re-do. In the end, it is your story, and you are paying the bills, in most cases. You deserve to get what you want.
8. No matter how good a narrator is, some readers/listeners will not be comfortable with that voice. They may have read the character a different way. I have some people that won’t listen to an audio book because they want the experience of the character they created in their own mind.

WHAT IS AMAZING ABOUT THE AUDIO BOOK is that we aren’t duplicating the experience of reading, WE’RE ENHANCING it. It is a different art form. We’re deepening the experience for the reader/listener.

9. At Tucson Festival of Books earlier this month, I asked readers what they liked to use. Last year, people were split 50/50 over using an eReader and a paperback book. This year, I was told over and over again, “I use them all. I read on my smart phone, I read on my computer, on my tablet as well as the print book. If I like the book, I buy the print, eBook AND the Audio Book.

THIS FACT WAS HUGE FOR ME. If not than for any other reason, authors who are not doing audio books are missing the boat.

In short, I just plain lucked out. It could have been a horrible experience and I just jumped in. But I found the most kind and talented guy in the world to do my stories. I’ve learned to ask for what I need, which took some getting used to on my part. I’ve learned to trust him, to allow him to take the lead where he knows best, and to just shut up and let him work.

It has been one of the highlights of my career to get involved with the six audio books I’ve done with J.D. Hart. And the fact that they are selling well, is only testament to how good he is at what he does.

Here’s a little treat for you, a sample reading and a book trailer with his voice. Enjoy!! Leave a comment here and one lucky person will win an audio book of their choice from the six we have recorded. Tell me something you either like or don’t like about audio books, or reveal if you are an audio virgin. We’ll see if we can do something to take care of that right away.

Book Trailer, Cruisin For A SEAL.

Sample Narration, Honeymoon Bite (Marcus/Anne)

Books 1-4 of the SEAL Brotherhood are on Audible now. Books 1 & 2 of the Golden Vampires of Tuscany series also out on Audible.

Sharon Hamilton
Life is one fool thing after another.
Love is two fool things after each other.
Author Page ** Sharon’s Blog ** Sharon’s Website ** Facebook**Twitter

NYT and USA/Today and top 100 Amazon bestselling author Sharon Hamilton’s award-winning Navy SEAL Brotherhood series have been fan favorites since they were first released. They’ve earned her the coveted Amazon author ranking of #1 in Romantic Suspense, Military Romance and Contemporary Romance, as well as Gothic Romance for her Vampires of Tuscany and guardian angels. Her characters follow a sometimes rocky road to redemption through passion and true love.

Her Golden Vampires of Tuscany are not like any vamps you’ve read about before, since they don’t go to ground and can walk around in the full light of the sun.

Her Guardian Angels struggle with the human charges they are sent to save, often escaping their vanilla world of Heaven for the brief human one. You won’t find any of these beings in any Sunday school class.

Bring on fantasy!

At a mystery writers’ conference last week (yep, I write those, too) I was talking to another author (male) and the subject of what women want came up.

Well, the subject was 50 Shades of Grey. When authors get together they always want to talk about books that sell millions of copies.

If we could figure out the formula, we’d sell millions, too!

The conversation went beyond book sales, though. The guy was truly wondering why millions of women bought and read the book.

“Do women want to be taken against their will? I thought that was rape,” he said.

Whew, this was way beyond my understanding of all women’s psychology and fantasies.

Fantasy is the key here, though. Many women have fantasies of having sex when they have some hesitation. But it’s the wooing, the convincing that matters. The woman’s pleasure is paramount in books like 50 Shades.

This book opened the floodgates for BDSM literature, as well as bringing erotica out of the shadows. And looking at the number of books and oceans of sales, women have wanted outlets for their fantasies for a long time.

I have an acquaintance who looks like someone’s grandmother. She should be rocking in a chair by the fire, knitting afghans and reading to her grandchildren. Instead, she writes erotica—pretty hot erotica—and I always wonder when I see her together with her husband of maybe fifty years.

When I read 50 Shades I was beginning to write The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles. I didn’t want my characters to go down the BDSM route, but I surely wanted my protagonist, Maxie Gwenoch, a regular woman, to have a complete fantasy. She was falling in love with a vampire. She loved his caring, his competency, his money, his lifestyle, his urbaneness.

And the fact that he was five hundred years old, had made love to countless women and knew his way around a woman’s body was a giant plus.

In SNAP: White Nights, the seventh book in The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, the relationship between Maxie and Jean-Louis deepens and a new romance between Nik and Jazz begins. Jazz now has Maxie’s previous job as Managing Editor of SNAP, and Nik is a four hundred year old vampire and a leader of the Kandesky family. Nik’s been with women over the past centuries and Maxie knows Jazz is in for a treat.

My conversation at the conference didn’t resolve anything and the guy went away still not knowing what women want. I couldn’t figure out how to tell him that sometimes we don’t want to be responsible, sometimes we want our partners to (gently) coerce us, sometimes we want romance and always we want foreplay.

A few hundred years of experience would help a fantasy, too.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Michele Drier was born in Santa Cruz and is a fifth generation Californian. She’s lived and worked all over the state, calling both Southern and Northern California home.  During her career in journalism—as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers—she won awards for producing investigative series.

SNAP: White Nights  the seventh book of her paranormal romance series, The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, was published March 20. She’s working on the eighth book in the series, SNAP: All That Jazz, scheduled for publication in late spring 2014.

She also writes the Amy Hobbes Newspaper mysteries, Edited for Death and Labeled for Death. A third book, Delta for Death, is coming in 2014.

SNAP: White Nights buy links:
Amazon | Kobo | B&N

I’m not feeling like myself at all. This time of year’s always terrible for me—allergy season. I cough all night, dose myself with cough syrup and Nyquil, and then sleep around the clock. With so much work on my plate right now it’s very inconvenient!  But I’m taking time away from my desk today to rest. So no new posting from me, but I can point you toward something really fun and interesting.

Megan Mitcham, one of the fabulous contributors to Cowboy Heat, posted a blog about “Cowboy Culture” on our collection website. Go check it out. Give her some encouragement, because I do believe she has more on the subject to share!

Cowboy Heat blog

Idea Spark Realized

There have been many times I’ve been asked how I come up with ideas in my novels. I’ve discussed how anything can spark an idea. Below is the original information about an idea spark I had because of something I saw.

Idea Spark – A Fro Affair

I was on my way home the other day when I passed this woman who was sporting a slamming Afro hairstyle. The woman’s fro was big, high and poufy. I think it was a wig but it was so good I couldn’t tell. She was also sporting the clothing to go with the fro. She looked fierce. People were turning and looking at her. Me included. People were complimenting her on her look. Like any good diva she said thank you graciously and kept strutting. As I watched the woman stepping looking cool and fierce my mind was racing.

Yep another idea was taking shape. As I walked home I thought of the Fro. The idea took shape for a book with a woman in a fierce fro and clothes to match.

A fro brought so much more than viewing pleasure. It brought an inspiration. I’ve mentioned before that there are inspirations for ideas all around you. Taking something that happens in the everyday life then using it create a concept and make it yours. The unexpected can lead to so much more.

Any little thing can give you an idea spark.

~~~~~~~~~~

This idea spark has now been realized and has lead to scene in my upcoming book More than Temptation (Singleton, Book #3). That ‘fro and her fierce look stuck in my mind and I knew I would use it for the future. Which I have done. That is one idea spark off my list. Yay!

I have notebooks where I write down things that spark an idea that I can use for something future. Ideas are all around in everyday life and I can be having a conversation which can get the mind going with something that will end up in a book. Or as with the ‘fro was it can be something I saw and it ends up in a story. I love just sitting and watching what is going on around me. So if you see me staring off into space that probably means something had sparked an idea and I’m plotting a future scene.  I’m adding to my idea spark. *wink*

****

Taige Crenshaw is a multi-published author with books available at Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Liquid Silver Books, Loose Id, and Totally Bound. Taige has been enthralled with the written word from time she picked up her first book. It wasn’t long before she started to make up her own tales of romance. With novels set in today, in alternate dimensions, or in the future she writes with adventure, fun sassy heroine’s, and sexy hero’s. Always hard at work creating new and exciting places Taige can be found curled up with a hot novel with exciting characters when she is not creating her own. Join her in the fun, frolic, interesting people and far reaches of the world in her novels. You can find out more about Taige at her website: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com or blog: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com/blog.

Immortal Bloodlines — A stubborn woman is hard to capture, but once you have, what do you do with her? Buy here

Every year for spring break I take my four daughters on a road trip up into the Texas Hill Country and subject them to the (they think) torturous ritual of having their pictures taken among the wildflowers. This is a tradition I love because Texas wildflowers are my favorite and I love any opportunity to take photos of my girls. Unfortunately, this year has been overrun with winter. I wasn’t sure we’d ever see spring, but finally proof it has arrived is here: Bluebonnets.

We didn’t take our annual road trip because of the weather. Plus I have a new job this year and no paid vacation time. So, I took two days and we did things around town instead. But I was thrilled to finally see Bluebonnets blooming in a few spots around Houston. I have to admit I haven’t been writing much lately and I think the dreary weather is partly to blame. Being a pantser, I really can’t force myself to write or nothing good comes of it. Spring is one of the most inspiring times and I already feel the characters shoving each other to be heard first.

My most recent release is an erotic romance. It’s the sequel to Erotic Images released by Ellora’s Cave a couple of years ago. This one is called Erotic Influence and is just as hot. To be honest, I even had to cut a couple of sex scenes. For the first time ever, my editor let me know my characters were having a little too much fun. This is a stand-alone book with a couple of related side characters that were the main characters in the first book. Wes, the photographer in the first book, has a new subject to shoot. Rick is a healthy, hunky, twenty-something that does the erotic photo shoots because he enjoys them and likes the extra money. Then he meets Annie and realizes she could use the money too. Talking her into taking her clothes off for the camera is a whole other issue.

Sequel to Erotic Images.

Annie may be a shy twentysomething who spends her days keeping track of her wayward teenage sister, but Rick noticed her living across the street as soon as he moved in. Now he can’t stop fantasizing his sweet, innocent neighbor and wanting her has become an obsession. He just has to convince her to give him a chance instead of always running away.

Annie has plans for her life but has to help her sister get into college first. Then Rick comes along and proves to be a help as much as a distraction. All she has to do is pose for his friend, an erotic photographer. Not only will she earn the money needs for her sister’s college fund, Rick’s erotic influence just might liberate her enough to become his woman too. It’s a chance she’s more than willing to take…so long as no one finds out what she’s doing.

A Romantica® contemporary erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave
Buy it here: http://www.ellorascave.com/erotic-influence.html

Other than taking road trips to see the wildflowers, I love playing online. You can find me here:
http://www.authormissyjane.com
http://msmissyjane.blogspot.com/.
https://twitter.com/msmissyjane
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Missy-Jane/208776832491620

Ms. Missy Jane is the alter ego of a married mother of four who was born and raised in Texas. A few years ago she finished reading a book by Mercedes Lackey and thought “Now, what if…” and a monster was created. Missy now spends most of her time lost in worlds of her own making, alternately loving and hating such creatures as vampires, shape-shifters and gargoyles (to name a few). When not writing, she spends her time reading, taking photos of her beautiful daughters and training her husband to believe she’s always right.