Video games help me write, seriously.

I love to write but I also love to play video games. I’m very good at procrastination. My game of choice is Sims 3. It helps me work out story problems. Yes it really does. I can put my Sims in situations and see how they react (when I have free will turned on). Plus just as with characters in a book, my Sims need Lifetime Wishes (or goals). On top of their Lifetime Wishes they have daily (smaller) wishes. The daily wishes usually help them get closer to the Lifetime Wish. If your Sims (or characters) don’t want anything you’re just moving them around aimlessly, with no purpose. Where’s the fun in that? Just like in stories the characters need to want something. They need a goal they’re trying to achieve.

The Sims 3 goals aren’t that hard. Some of the Lifetime Wishes can take a while which can make the game even more exciting. Especially with aging turned on. You always have that goal to get your Sim to their Lifetime Wish before they die of old age. And with each expansion pack you get more Lifetime Wishes to choose from. If you have the Supernatural expansion pack you also have different playable life states. My vampire and witch Sims have very different wishes than my regular Sims.

The problem with playing Sims 3 is it takes away a lot of writing time. I get caught up in my Sims lives, in achieving their goals, in uncovering new things in the game. Just like when I write my stories. I get caught up in my characters lives, in them achieving their goals, in uncovering new plot points I didn’t know about. Now that I have a shiny new expansion pack that took away most of my Saturday, I have to use play time as reward for getting the writing done. After all, I want to find out what happens to my characters but I also want to know what happens to my Sims.

Short blurb of my November release, Tempting Evil:

In Satisfaction Guaranteed a wannabe succubus meets her match for her last assignment: The college boyfriend who broke her heart. ~ In Scale Deep a reporter learns more than she bargained for when she discovers that dragons are real…and they walk among us. ~ In School Bites a woman bumps into her high school crush at a reunion. Curiously, he hasn’t aged a day in 15 years. When the bodies start turning up she finds out why.

Visit me at: http://www.keirakohl.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/StoriesByKeira
Follow me on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/KeiraKohl

The title of this blog doesn’t mean a thing. I just liked the way it sounded. But it was the first thing I thought of when I saw this little guy hanging around my patio door. Don’t you love his wicked, sticky little fingers?

I’m having trouble getting back to work. Last week was spent getting ready for a Studio Art Tour. Folks traipsed through our basement studio and out onto the patio where my daughter and I set up a table with an array of pendants we put together. We enjoyed ourselves, sitting in with a breeze filtering over us and a nice autumnal sun warming us up, mostly. The first day, last Friday, was nippy in the morning so we wrapped up in afghans. I guess I should have taken a picture of that. 🙂

This is a pic of some of our offerings.

The sales were nice, but some of the things that happened during the weekend’s event provided more excitement. We were asked to display pendants in a shadow box at a local restaurant and to place them in an artsy consignment shop. Also, a woman who is involved with a Dickens Christmas play, which they’ve dressed up in steampunk costumes, asked us to provide some of our steampunk pendants for their concession area during the play’s run!

So how to balance what I want to do (hammer metal and glue gewgaws on dominoes) with what I have to do (write stories) is the question. Any suggestions for how I should talk myself into keeping first things first? Because right now, I feel just like my froggie friend—caught in a spotlight and hanging on for dear life. 😯

Delilah, thank you for having me as a guest today.

I should be comfortable writing a blog post. I’m a writer, right, and writing is what I do. But there’s a difference between writing fiction and well, writing as if I’m sitting next to you chatting while drinking a cup of coffee.

You see I live an ordinary life. Not like the characters in one of my books. I’m from a large Italian family—my parent’s raised four daughters. I’m twelve years younger than my oldest sister and the ‘baby’ of the family. My dad’s grandparents lived next door, my mom’s grandparents in town along with numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. We always had family and friends stopping by. It was a time when invitations were never needed.

Growing up, I had strong women as role models. My mother’s advice was to make my own way in the world and not to rely on a man. And, pretty much that’s what I did. So when I started writing, I was caught by surprise when I realized my male characters were more interesting than my heroines. When I switched to male/male romance it all clicked in place for me.

But I still love a good book and movie with a strong female character.

Here are ten of my favorite heroines:

1. Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility
2. Bridget Jones from Bridget Jones Diary
3. Sally Albright from When Harry Met Sally
4. Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice
5. Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind
6. Arwen (movie version) from Lord of the Rings
7. Dorothy Gale from the Wizard of Oz
8. Princess Leia from Star Wars
9. Margo Channing from All About Eve
10. Fran Kubelik from The Apartment

Post a comment and tell me your favorite heroine and you’ll be entered into a drawing for one of my digital books – winner’s choice! You can check out my book list at http://www.vikilyn.com/books. I’ll pick a winner using a random number generator.

Current release – Lover’s Trill:
Let the musical magic of Vienna weave a second chance at love.

Rocker Leo needs a break. From the band, roadies, everything related to his present life. Wandering the streets of Vienna, he chances upon a poster that just might change his life. Andre Revele, renowned violinist, and Leo’s ex-lover, is performing in the city. It’s been years since Leo slipped out of Andre’s life, but he’s never forgotten their passionate love of music and each other.

Andre is shocked when Leo shows up backstage after his performance. He is angry, but he can’t walk away. Against his better judgment, he invites Leo to his hotel for a drink. Not sure what he wants from Leo, he knows what his body wants. A night of passionate sex leads to another, until he’s lost his heart to Leo again.

When Andre finds his trust in Leo tested, Leo must prove his loyalty by using their one common passion – music – to bind their hearts.

Excerpt and buy link

You can check out my bookshelf at http://www.vikilyn.com/books

Happy Reading!

Viki Lyn
http://www.vikilyn.com
http://www.vikilyn.com/blog
http://www.facebook.com/VikiLynRomance
http://www.twitter.com/VikiLynRomance

I’m still knee-deep in the Studio Art Tour, but I thought I’d introduce you to two upcoming books I think will appeal. One’s coming out in a few weeks, the other just after the new year. One’s the next in my sexy BDSM Delta Heat series. The other is the first book in a new paranormal series.

If you love what I write, it’s not too early to show your support. First, click on the cover or one of the links for Shattered Souls and go to Amazon to “Like” and click on “tags.” I don’t know the whys, but it’s supposed to help other readers find the book. Second, and this would be the biggest thing, pre-order the books. Doing it now will save you some cash, because hey, you know eventually you’re gonna want to read them both. Why not be a little budget savvy? 😉

That’s my pitch. Not too heavy-handed, was it? I love my job and hope you love what I produce. If there are things you’re dying to see more of, or even something completely off the wall, I love hearing your suggestions.

This week I have three guests coming, but on Thursday, I plan to start a new contest. Be sure to check in!

* * * * *

A Perfect Trifecta — Coming November 13th

Playing with pain can put you in a world of hurt…or bliss.

Playing switch in front of a La Forge BDSM club audience was supposed to be a one-time fling. A favor for a friend. Instead, when Craig Eason realizes he’s caught the attention of an enigmatic, powerful Dom across the crowded room, he senses this could be the man he’s been looking for to test the boundaries of his own sexuality.

Firefighter Aiden Byrne is a very private man with strong S&M longings he keeps in check for everyone else’s safety. His sub, Jennifer Callum, thinks she likes it rough, but he can’t let go the way he’d like to. Until one defiant stare from the handsome cop on the La Forge stage causes Aiden’s most dangerous needs to uncoil from the deepest, darkest part of his soul.

With the blessing—and active involvement—of his sub, a seduction is set in motion that ends in a scene that shakes them all to the core…

Product Warnings: Contains a powerful, burly firefighter who plans to take everything a hot cop thinks he knows about himself and send it up in smoke. Please replace the batteries in all your smoke detectors before reading this book. Contains scenes with m/m/f, m/m, spanking, flogging, restraints, and one wild orgy of pleasure.

Pre-order the eBook

* * * * *

Shattered Souls — Coming January 29th

When her mentor is brutally murdered by a supernatural force, an alcoholic former cop turns to her past lovers—her ex-partner and a powerful sorcerer—to help her hunt down a demon terrorizing Memphis.

Caitlyn O’Connell had it all: a career with the Memphis PD, a passionate marriage, and the satisfaction that her work made a difference in the world. But she also had a secret, a supernatural “gift” that cost her everything. Now she scrapes by as a private investigator, taking cases the cops won’t touch and counting down the minutes until happy hour. But when Sam Pierce, her former partner and estranged ex-husband, comes to her for help with a bizarre murder case, Cait can’t say no. And not just because Sam is still as irresistibly sexy as he was on the day they met. Something sinister—and demonic—is terrorizing Memphis, leaving a bloody trail of bodies and clues only Cait can read. Together she and Sam will venture into a dark world of magic and unholy terror, hunting a killer who will lead them to the brink of reality as they know it—and back into the thrall of their stormy past. Steamy and suspenseful, Shattered Souls is the pulse-quickening new offering from romance author Delilah Devlin.

Pre-order the paperback
Pre-order the eBook

The End: An Author’s Mourning

I’ve been writing books since 2005 (professionally, anyway), and there’s a particular experience that I (and many of my fellow authors) go through when we finish a book. Writing ‘the end’ can (and often is) like taking a deep breath of fresh air after being in a cave. From page one to those two words, a book is a journey—not only for the reader but also for the author. We spend countless hours, days, months, even years, planning and plotting, dreaming and writing, agonizing and rewriting. All through that time, we’re not alone. Our characters become a part of us—extensions of ourselves, as close as family sometimes.

There have been many times when I’ve written ‘the end’ and felt an almost indescribable sense of emptiness. Writing a story is the literary equivalent to baring one’s soul. ‘The end’ is like saying goodbye forever to a soul mate (or mates).

Shayne and I have gone through it with our series, The Prince’s Angel. We just released the final book for Mael and Cian, the main characters, and we already miss them. Although their story is done, they may make cameos in later stories, but nothing more will ever be written specifically for them. As a solo author, my biggest “the end” moment hit hard when I finished Dragonblade, book two in my Secrets of Socendor series with Samhain Publishing. It’s not even out yet (still with my editor for a look-over, as a matter of fact), and it’s not the last book in this series, but when I wrote “the end,” I almost cried.

The Lost Son (book one in the Secrets of Socendor series) set the stage for Dragonblade, but I wasn’t prepared for the shocking twists my characters put me through in book two. By the end of the book, I was in shock—both from the unexpected plot turns and the profound sense of melancholy that hit me when it was done. Out of all the books I’ve written in the past several years, Dragonblade affected me the most. It’s only book two of a trilogy, but its impact on me surpassed anything else I’ve ever written.

Dragonblade had a lot of surprises, even for me. There were moments when I thought my men had completely lost their minds, but, of course, things worked out eventually. There were also parts that broke my heart, to the point where I had to stop writing just to breathe normally again. But trials like these are what make the characters human, and they are what make the books so memorable. We authors–like readers–get so wrapped up in our characters’ lives that when we write ‘the end,’ it can be as devastating as it is refreshing.

Mychael Black:

What do online gaming, Spongebob, cooking, writing, and an unnatural addiction to Mountain Dew all have in common?

Not a damn thing, which is what makes Mychael Black an interesting bird indeed.

Born in north Alabama, Mychael now resides on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Having run the gamut of labels in regard to gender and sexuality, Mychael now shuns society’s views on normality and embraces a poly-everything attitude. Call Mychael her or him—it doesn’t matter. Just keep reading the books.

http://www.mychaelblackbooks.com/

* * * * *

The Lost Son

One warrior, one sorcerer, and a legacy that will change their lives forever…

Secrets of Socendor, Book 1

In the world of Socendor, humans are forbidden from using magic and elves keep their distance.

Kalen Ysindroc has risen far from his humble beginnings as a blacksmith’s adopted son. Now the king’s general, he investigates reports of magic-wielding half-human, half-elven lithings sighted along the kingdom’s borders. It would be a lonely life, if not for the company of his best friend and long-time elven lover, Micheil Theirauf, the king’s sorcerer.

An attempt on Kalen’s life makes it clear to Micheil that there’s more afoot than random breaks in the land’s defenses. His lover is plagued by dreams no human should endure, and Micheil’s probe into Kalen’s subconscious reveals a past neither of them expected. And a future Kalen can’t escape.

Suddenly, everything Kalen never knew about his life is laid bare. A father possessed of terrible magical power. A half-brother who could be the family Kalen never had—or the catalyst that will rip Micheil out of his life forever…

This title was previously published but has been revised.

Just FYI! I’m participating in a Studio Art Tour this weekend with my mom, aunt, and daughter. We’ve spent months getting things ready to display and sell. Wish us luck! If you’d like to see what we’re doing, be sure to check out my Facebook page this weekend. We’ll be posting pics and giving updates. Should be fun! ~DD

* * * * *

What’s Your Pet Peeve?

One of my pet peeves when I read is character names popping up all the time, even when it’s perfectly clear who is talking or thinking.

Of course every character has to have a name, and I’ve nothing against them. Most of the time. When they’re used so often they whack me over the head while I’m reading an otherwise dynamite story is when I want to remind the author there are such little words as personal pronouns. And there are words of address other than people’s given names.

Whoever heard real conversations like this one?

“Mark, I’m gonna kill you.”
“Oh yeah? Go ahead and try, Sal.”

More likely it would sound more like this:

“Motherfucker, I’m gonna kill you,” Sal said.
“Oh yeah, asshole? Go ahead and try.”

Or this, as a hot sex scene’s coming to a close?

“Oh, Susie, I’m gonna come.”
“David, don’t stop!”

Try, “Oh, baby, I’m gonna come.”
“God yes.. Don’t stop!”

My point is that people don’t usually address each other by name. In fight scenes, they’re more likely to toss in the occasional epithet, and in sex scenes they’ll use pet names or endearments—or nothing at all.

Now I’m not totally prejudiced against using names—occasionally in one-on-one scenes, to remind the reader what the characters’ names are. It’s necessary to use them more often in scenes where there are more than two characters, or where the two characters in the scene are of the same sex. More often, when the character’s voice is strong enough, it isn’t necessary to identify him or her by name more than once or twice during a two-person scene.

Overusing character names when they aren’t necessary for identification purposes sounds unnatural in dialogue and reeks of “telling” instead of “showing” in narrative. It pulls me straight out of stories I’d otherwise be devouring and makes me want to toss the books they’re in—into the nearest wall or at the author, if only he or she were handy.

He, she, him, her, his, her—these are short, sweet stand-ins for names. Authors should use these personal pronouns often, whenever there’s not the least doubt as to who the POV character is thinking about. That’s pretty darn often in scenes where the hero and heroine are alone together. I recently read a sex scene—an otherwise very steamy, yummy sex scene—where my guess is that the two participants said or thought each other’s names at least several hundred times. Those names got me where I was ready to scream for mercy before the scene was done.

Unnecessary use of character names is one of my pet peeves. Tell me what jumps off the pages of books and knocks you out of the scene when you’re reading in a comment, and I’ll put your name in the hopper for a free download of my latest Caden Kink book, SHOTGUN RELATIONS, as soon as it’s released on September 21.

Ann Jacobs
http://annjacobs.net

Like me on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AnnJacobsAuthor
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/authrannjacobs

Hello Everyone!

Thanks so much to Delilah Devlin for allowing me to invade her space today.

I would like to share a little bit about my new Ellora’s Cave release, Just for Tonight.

I know that most of us enjoy slipping into the fantasy worlds of our books, but every once in awhile I like to visit middle class American people in their own day to day lives to create real life like romance. This story does that.

Kelly Devers has a crush on her co-worker Thomas Brigs. For a year he’s been the object of her fantasies, but she hasn’t dared to make a move on him. But when Kelly finds out Thomas is leaving town, she throws caution into the wind and gives into the yearning she’s suppressed for far too long.

Passion ignites as their bodies come together and Kelly is determined to enjoy the steamy loving. Even if it can’t last forever.

By   reading any further, you are stating that you are at least 18 years of age.
If you are under the age of 18, it is necessary to exit this site.

An Excerpt From: JUST FOR TONIGHT
Copyright © VIRGINIA CAVANAUGH, 2012
All Rights Reserved, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

Kelly turned her head and the skin of her cheek brushed against his. Heat spread across her flesh, radiating from the point of contact. “Th-that’s okay. I really don’t like the stuff anyway.”

His head moved and her gaze went to his mouth as he raised the bottle to his lips, taking a long drink as he sidestepped, coming around to face her. Her heart hammered as she struggled to find something to say. He’d caught her off guard standing so close to her. Never had he entered what she’d call her personal space.

“Nice party.” She wanted to cringe as the words left her mouth. Why couldn’t she have come up with something sexy to say?

His hand lowered as one side of his sensual mouth tipped up. “Yeah. I think it turned out nice.”

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she turned and looked outside at the other employees and their plus-ones conversing and dancing on the patio. Never had she been attacked by a case of nerves this bad.

“Looks like Tammy got lucky on the weather holding.”

Kelly smiled as she thought of her boss’ wife. “That she did.” August usually meant monsoon season in these parts, but the storms hadn’t begun as of yet. Although she had noticed a few clouds skating in as the sun had set on her way over to the party.

“I’m glad you got to come.”

She cast him a questioning glance before returning her attention to the other guests.

“I overheard you say something to Gina last week about having to babysit your nephew, Alex.”

Understanding washed through her. She’d actually made an offhanded comment to Gina, saying that she had a feeling she had to babysit this weekend, but really she was meaning more like she’d volunteer to babysit her oldest brother Kyle’s child, in hopes of skipping out on this party. But being from a small town didn’t work to her advantage. Tammy had graduated with Kyle and his wife Starla, so when she had mentioned it as an excuse, Tammy picked up the phone. It had been fun explaining to Kyle later why he had to let her off the babysitting hook he’d never put her on. Oh well, at least her brother got a laugh at her expense. “Yeah. I got lucky and Kyle didn’t need me after all.” Too bad she wasn’t sure if that plan falling through was a curse or blessing yet.

“Is there something bothering you, Kelly?”

She spun, focusing on Thomas. Boy was there. But it wasn’t as if she could spell it out for him. Fortifying smile in place, she responded, “Why would you think that?”

He reached out and ran his index finger along her jaw, slowly tracing a line down her neck and across her shoulder. “You seem tense.”

She inhaled a shaky breath as the tip of his finger ignited a fire beneath her skin. And she’d worried about trying to start a casual conversation with him. It seemed as if things were swiftly going past casual. Maybe she should have fed him alcohol sooner.

His hand dropped and he clenched it into a fist at his side. “Sorry.”

She swallowed and shook her head, as much as to naysay his apology as to clear her mind of the sensual fog that had descended. “No. It’s fine. You have nothing to be sorry about.” Another smile from him that made her nipples draw up tight as the low buzz of desire ran through her.

“Would you like to dance?”

BUY NOW
Ellora’s Cave
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Best wishes, Virginia Cavanaugh