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Archive for April, 2010



April Wrap-Up
Friday, April 30th, 2010

This is something I like to do for me. I figure if I put my accomplishments and failures out there, it will give me a kick in the butt to do better as I move forward.

In April, I wrapped up The Big One. My Vikings in Space project for Berkley. I wrote the final chapters, then spent a week or so editing the crap out of it. I’m praying my editor likes it, because I sure as hell do.

I followed that by writing the second half of the third book in the Lone Star Lovers series for Samhain. It’s sexy and not terribly complicated (which was something I needed after the Viking story). It’s in the hands of my editor, and again I hope she likes it because I’m pleased with it as well.

Then I turned my attention to quick-plotting the big turning points of the second book in the Viking series I have planned. When I had the bullets down, I wrote the synopsis. Thankfully, that is all that is required for the proposal. I really didn’t want to write any pages until I knew the editor liked the first book, because book two starts exactly where book one ends.

I finished the month with the start of a project I’m working on with Sasha White. I hope to have it done in a couple of weeks because I’ve set myself some ambitious goals for May. This is what I want to achieve. I won’t beat myself up if I don’t get to it all, but I like setting the bar high:

* Finish the novella for the co-written project with Sasha
* Write a 12k paranormal novella
* Write the first 6 chapters of the next Viking book
* Write two erotic short stories
* Revise a three-chapter proposal and ship

Guess we’ll see how well I do. 🙄

A Short Story Challenge
Friday, April 30th, 2010

I’ll admit I have a fondness for writing short stories. I’m an author who enjoys a challenge. Calls for submissions for erotic collections offer me an outlet for my competitive spirit. I’m known as a novelist of erotic romance—not so known in the erotica world. So when I receive acceptance for a short erotic work I feel validated as a writer.

I’ve been lucky to appear in the following collections so far: Zane’s Purple Panties, Black Lace’s Sexy Little Numbers, Cleis Press’s Lesbian Cowboys, and Harlequin Spice’s Naughty Bits.

I also will appear in the following Cleis collections this year: Girl Crush, Fairy Tale Lust, and Lesbian Lust.

Something I’ve done in the past with my local RWA chapter and with the Rose’s Colored Glasses loop, when I find a call that interests me, is offer a challenge to other writers to write a short for that collection. We share ideas and critiques. Writing the shorts can offer an experienced writer a quick-win and sharpen flabby skills. For the unpublished author, it provides a supervised challenge to improve budding skills.

Why should authors consider writing shorts? For one thing they don’t require a huge investment of time so you can work on a short story on the side while writing the bigger book. In addition, writing short requires an author to choose every word carefully and make every one count. It sharpens your skills.

It’s been a while since I chimed in with a challenge to my writer’s groups, but looking at the calls for submission on the ERWA website has me stoked. The site lists many cool, different sorts of projects to dive into. I am going to challenge myself to write a story for four different calls. (Egads! Now you’ll be able to track how often I get rejected! :confused:)

I’d love some company while I write these. If you are an erotica or erotic romance writer, or have thought about taking the plunge, this is a cool way to try it out. If you’d like to join me, let me know. I’d love a partner or five. We could bounce ideas off each other and critique each other’s work. We might not sell, but the effort is never wasted. What you produce could be the start of a longer book, or something you could offer as a sample of your writing for free on your website.

These are the calls I’m interested in:

Due 6/1/10: Big Book of Quickies – No more than 1200 words
Due 6/1/10: Carnal Machines – Steampunk Erotica – 1500-4500 words
Due 7/15/10: Dream Lover: Erotic Paranormal Romance – 2000-4500 words
Due 8/1/10: Lesbian Cops – 2500-6000 words

Just 4 Things
Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Psst! The name of the FIRST KNIGHT winner is at the bottom of this posting!

First thanks to everyone for all the support you gave me yesterday. And special thanks to those of you who went out and bought the book. Several of you wrote me later to tell me how much you loved it! That always makes the labor worthwhile!

I saw a really long list of conversation prompts called “Just 4 Things” in an email sometime back and liked the concept so much, I thought it would be fun to use them here—only we will only do three of the questions at at time to get to know each other better. If you’d like to play, post a comment and your answer to these prompts. My answers will be in the comment section too.

1. Four jobs you’ve had in your life:

2. Four jobs you wish you had:

3. Four movies you can watch over and over again:

Okay back to the book release and the winner of the contest. If you read the story, I’d appreciate you posting a review, or just “starring” it on the EC website. Help another reader figure out whether the story is something they’d like. And by random number generator the winner of the handmade, beaded bookmark and the signed book (any book I have in stock) is…Paula! Paula, email me with your choice of story and your snail mail address. Congrats!

First Knight, first look!
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

While hiding her true identity, Maddie must seduce the mysterious Lord Garon to cement their marriage contract to ensure she won’t be returned into her lecherous stepfather’s care.

Fresh from Crusade in Palestine, Lord Garon has a secret he must hide, a hunger that must be fed, and a dark and uncertain future. Having shed himself of a fiancée he never met, he’s home to lick his wounds. The only thing he wants is a warm-blooded meal—but the new housekeeper is strangely insistent on giving him much more.

First Knight out today!
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

The winner of the First Knight contest will be announced tomorrow, so you have another chance to enter today—but you have to post a comment to win!

It’s he-ee-ere! And I can’t wait for you to read it and let me know what you think. First Knight began it’s life as a short story back in 2005, but it bothered me that it seemed unfinished. Some of you who have known me for a while will recognize the opening scene, but be assured that the story has been significantly lengthened (by almost three times it’s original length).

There is romance, danger, a vamp and a wolf, and a very naughty threesome that the original only hinted at, but has at last been realized! If you’re sold, just click on the sexy cover below!

One Day to First Knight!
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

**Quick update: Sue Barr has a short interview with me up on her website:
Sue Barr’s blog

Remember, you have to post to win. The winner will be announced on Thursday! Details are in yesterday’s post.

There are many reasons why this story will satisfy. Here’s a threesome you can sigh over.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

While hiding her true identity, Maddie must seduce the mysterious Lord Garon to cement their marriage contract to ensure she won’t be returned into her lecherous stepfather’s care.

Fresh from Crusade in Palestine, Lord Garon has a secret he must hide, a hunger that must be fed, and a dark and uncertain future. Having shed himself of a fiancée he never met, he’s home to lick his wounds. The only thing he wants is a warm-blooded meal—but the new housekeeper is strangely insistent on giving him much more.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This cloudy day, he’d sent Raymond ahead to ready the vacant cottage he’d chosen for Maddie’s introduction to Raymond. Garon fought his own jealousy but knew this had to happen to ensure her future. He’d school his face into a pleasant mask, hand her into Raymond’s keeping and leave them alone. Garon thought that maybe Raymond had fallen under her spell as well because he’d noted the leap of heat in his cousin’s gaze when he’d finally told him of the plan to impregnate his lady.

Maddie drew her horse alongside his. “What is the matter? Your eyes are as dark as the thunderclouds above.”

“There’s nothing wrong.” He forced a smile. “And we’re almost there.”

She glanced around the clearing they entered, eying the cottage. Raymond had spent days cleaning it, thatching the roof and delivering a bed and bedding to make it comfortable for Maddie. Smoke wafted from the chimney.

Raymond stepped out of the cottage, his expression shuttered. His gaze went to Garon, to whom he gave a short nod, and then he stepped forward and helped Maddie from her horse.

“Milady,” he said softly, setting her on the ground but not removing his hands from her slender waist fast enough to suit Garon.

“Raymond? What is this place?” She eyed him then turned to her husband. The woman was too clever. A frown knitted the soft space between her brows. “It’s too soon.”

Raymond stood aside, not venturing a comment. But his dark gaze did sweep Maddie’s tall, spare frame.

Garon knew what he saw. Maddie’s figure and her appeal had blossomed. Her soft skin, tawny hair and long, coltish legs drew the gazes of many of his men as she strode by. Her long, loose-jointed gait sprang with a joy she was unable to suppress, making her all the more lovely. To hold such beauty, such vibrant energy, made a man feel worthy.
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Two Days to First Knight!
Monday, April 26th, 2010

To celebrate the release of FIRST KNIGHT, I’m running a contest.
Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win a handmade ribbon-and-bead bookmark and a signed copy of the backlisted book of your choice from my Ellora’s Cave selection.

For some of y’all who may only have read my contemporary stories, you may not know that I LOVE dabbling in a medieval tale. They are my personal favorites to read, and I collect history books about the time period like my mother does hobnail glassware.

I’ve wanted to dive into the My Immortal Knight series again, but I wanted to do something different with it, so I took the story back, way back. And I thought it might be fun to tell a parallel storyline of troubles in the past, that may spill over into my knights’ present at some time. These prequel stories will have everything you loved about the MIKs—uber-alpha heroes, feisty heroines and dangers lurking nearby. This particular story develops into a very sexy threesome.

I hope you enjoy my little leap of faith. The story releases on Wednesday, and I’d love to hear your impressions and whether you will want more.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

While hiding her true identity, Maddie must seduce the mysterious Lord Garon to cement their marriage contract to ensure she won’t be returned into her lecherous stepfather’s care.

Fresh from Crusade in Palestine, Lord Garon has a secret he must hide, a hunger that must be fed, and a dark and uncertain future. Having shed himself of a fiancée he never met, he’s home to lick his wounds. The only thing he wants is a warm-blooded meal—but the new housekeeper is strangely insistent on giving him much more.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Garon approached her, stopping in front of her, forcing her gaze to rise. When he was assured he had her full attention, he bent toward her. “There will be no more secrets. If you have any left for me to discover, you will tell me now.”

Maddie’s wide, wet eyes reflected regret, but the longer he hovered over her, the deeper her breaths became.

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “I have but one secret, husband.” She leaned close enough he caught the heady aroma of her arousal. Her cheeks flushed. “I think you know it already.”

“Are you attempting to distract me, wife?”

Her eyelashes swept down. “Am I?”

“You only delay your punishment,” he murmured, breathing in her scent and hardening.

Her belly rubbed against him, sliding over his rising cock. “You delay our pleasure.”
Garon ground his teeth. “Remove your clothes.”

The corners of her mouth twitched, but she stepped back and shed her clothing slowly. When she stood nude in front of him, he bit back a groan. Her small, round breasts quivered with each ragged inhalation.

He raised his hand, palm up. She slid hers over it. When he wrapped his fingers tightly around it, she only breathed more deeply.

“I should beat you,” he growled.

Her eyelids drifted down. Her head tilted, mouth pouting for a kiss. “Should you?”

“You endangered this keep, our people.”

Her eyes widened and she stared at his face. “I believed in you.” She licked her lips
again. “You won’t beat me.”

He firmed his jaw. “No. Never. But don’t take that as lenience.”

“I won’t. I promise. No more secrets.”

He led her to the bed, debated turning her over his knee, but his cock throbbed with need. He knew a better way to bring her to submission.
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