I haven’t forgotten about the contest announcement. I overbooked friends on this blog, so I’ll post the name of the winner and details about the next contest tonight! ~DD

Re-Releasing and a Character Interview

I’ve recently come into rights for a few of my very first releases. Upon receiving the rights back I’ve mulled over what I wanted to do. Of course I want them available for purchase…but as my own? Or released with another publisher?

Therein lay a conundrum.

I won’t pretend that I’ve been around long enough to say I’m ready to self publish. The idea was tempting at first but I have more learning to do and continual growth to plot. Not that I haven’t been learning the past few years. Meeting authors and taking classes has been both a joy and a great continual educational experience.

I come from a degree in Respiratory Therapy where continued education is a state requirement. Finding low cost or free classes weren’t hard at all. There are a multitude of loops and sites that offer core classes on craft honing. When I learned this I jumped on the bandwagon and gobbled up as much as I could. Some classes didn’t lead me more into my voice but in totality all of the classes combined helped me find my voice. My point is…

Because of those classes, when I re-read my first works, I found myself repositioning passages and phrases in my head, looked at how the plotting was put together and like a new puzzle I was eager to jump in and re-create the characters I’d come to love so much.

I wrote Briar’s Champion a sweet revenge love short, when my sister was at St. Luke’s Hospital having a quadruple by-pass. I needed some way to expel the worry and stress on what could happen. My faith was a bit shaken although I prayed every day. My adoptive sister Shannan and I stayed every night at the hospital for a week and then every other night after the surgery for another week.

Briar Thompson has it all, the perfect boyfriend, and the future that promises to bear fruit, until betrayal emerges and she’s forced to face reality. When all hope is gone, what chances are there of having the happily ever after?

Sloan Gutiérrez is a strong man who appreciates all women. After buying the professional baseball team called The Devils, he arrives in town to set up his home. In his lifestyle the ‘real thing’ is elusive and gold digging women are on the prowl. The last thing he expects is to fall for the first woman he meets.

Releasing from Secretcravings Publishing 06/18

Come Meet Sloan, he’s been kind enough to stop in for a chat and tell us some about himself.

We decide to settle on my deck where the sun is shining and there’s a nice breeze. Sloan’s made himself as comfortable in my house as he is in my head, and hands me a nice glass of tea…decaffeinated since he knows all too well I can’t have any stimulants and he sports a cool bottle of Miller Light. I’m sure he’ll tear into me later for not having what he considers the God of all beers in my fridge.

He’s charming with his dark brown eyes and lanky form, wearing a pair of jeans and a V-neck tee.

“So let’s get this party started.” He says while taking a swig out of the bottle. I notice how he brushes off the condensation  from the sweaty bottle.

“All right. Can you tell the readers what you do for a living?”

“You should know better than to start a question like that…what if I said no.” Sloan chuckles and drops down into a patio char next to me, winks and takes a second swig. “I own a Baseball team.”

I decide to change my tactics. “So…would you consider yourself a hands on owner, or the cash cow?” Okay so he looks a bit offended. I grin. Read the rest of this entry »

10 Things Guys Would NOT Say to Each Other

Here are my top 10 phrases which I doubt two guys would say to each other (or maybe I’m wrong).

1. Did you catch Dr. Phil today?

2. I’m tired of beer and wings, let’s make some Cosmopolitans and cut up some veggies.

3. No, yours is way bigger than mine.

4. Do you want all my tools?

5. Let’s go to the mall.

6. It’s nippy out there, come on in and I’ll make us some tea.

7. I wish those Victoria Secret models would cover up more, they’re not leaving anything to the imagination.

8. Not into shoot em’ up movies, let’s see if there’s a good flick on Lifetime.

9. Let’s take that quiz online and see which character we are. My friends think I’mCharlotte, but I think I’m more like Carrie.

10. Do these jeans make my ass look too big?

Please feel free to add your thoughts and what you think is taboo in man-speak land.

Speaking of men, it’s that time of year again…Spring—When a Bachelor’s fancy turns to…Cheesy Pick-up Lines

I don’t believe guys really use pick up lines any longer, but I thought it would be fun to list 10 cheesy lines that some bachelor in an alternate universe may be using. However, I do think us gals have been the recipient of a cheesy line at one time or another in our lives, some of them were funny, hey, some may even have worked for a few of you perhaps?

My Top 10 Cheesy Pick-up Lines:

1. Do you want to have breakfast? Should I call you or nudge you?

2. Are those space pants? Because your ass is out of this world.

3. Love the color of your dress; it would look great on my floor.

4. There’s something wrong with my cell phone. It doesn’t have your phone number in it.

5. You’re so damn hot; I’d marry your brother just to get in your family.

6. If this bar is a meat market, then I’d have to say you must be the prime rib.

7. Stop, drop, and roll, baby, because you are on fire.

8. Is there an airport nearby or is that just my heart taking off?

9. Your daddy must have been a baker, because you’ve got a nice set of buns.

10. I’m new in town. Could you give me directions to your place?

Gals, please feel free to share any lines you may have heard.

Guys, if you delivered a line, please feel free to share as well. We promise we won’t judge….much.

About Selena Robins:

Selena Robins writes genre-defying romances, with a sprinkle of mystery, suspense, heavy on the comedy, plenty of snap on the dialogue and heavy on the steam for the sexy. A chocolate guru, Selena loves to dance with her dog, sing into her hairbrush and write in her PJ’s. In love with her family, friends, books, laughter, hockey, debating and red wine (sometimes all at the same time). Selena loves writing sassy heroines and hot heroes (the ones your mama warned you about, but secretly wished she’d dated a few in her life.

To learn more about Selena Robins and her books, you can visit her website at: https://selenarobins.com/ or stop by and chat with her on her blog: http://selenarobinsmusings.com/

The Two Book “Two-fer” Contest

Don’t forget! This contest ends on Tuesday. For details of what you have to do to win and which prizes are up for grabs, go to my Contest page!

Sunday Report Card

If you’ve stopped by recently, you know I have a very full work agenda through January 2, 2013. Every time I count, I remember something else I committed to doing, so the list expands. I began this surge on May 1st. I thought it was 12 projects which made me nervous enough, but it’s actually 18. Luckily enough, I’ve stuck to my plan. 4 projects are already complete.

The current list looks like this:

4 full-length novels (2 paranormal suspense, 2 BDSM)
3 2 novellas (1 Delta Heat, 1 Lone Star Lover, 1 TBD) — Delta Heat: Fournicopia, done!
3 2 short stories — Red Dawn, done!
2 anthologies I have to edit (Wild at Heart, Smokin’ Hot Firemen)
4 novels to extensively edit & expand (it’s a secret!)
1 novella to extensively edit and publish — Dragon’s Desire, done!
1 short story anthology to edit and publish — Licks, done!

I’m making progress at last on the paranormal novel for Montlake. Starting Monday, I’ll begin work on the next Western for Samhain. It won’t be part of the Lone Star Lovers series, will be longer, category length, I think, and not menage, but it will still be plenty sexy with a suspenseful damsel-in-distress plot with a small-town Texas sheriff that will keep you turning the pages. I’ll be reading through more Wild at Heart submissions, too. So if you see me playing around online, be stern with me. Tell my I better have my pages done for the day FIRST!

Y’all have a great week!

I have one of those mini-books you find in the book store by the counters. It’s tiny, maybe 3″ by 3″. I don’t know why I bought it. It must have been my Writers’ ADHD (WADD–if it’s not an actual affliction, it ought to be!). I hate waiting in lines, and my eyes are always going to the racks of things they place strategically close to the counters for impulse buys. It has a sparkly cover, so I was sunk. This little treasure is entitled, The Woman’s Book of Simple Delights.

So, I’m going to open the book at random and pick out a “simple delight”. I need something to take my mind off what’s coming. Today’s going to be stressful. My mother decided to host the local art guild Plein Air event—it’s an outdoor event where painters set up their easels and paint the day away. It’s kind of like a writers’ “write-in” only writers are smarter. We meet at a coffee shop with AC running. These poor artists will be trying to find shade in 90 degree weather to paint their masterpieces. Okay, I’m not being snide. I think it’s really nice. I just can’t imagine taking my laptop outside on a day like today, but to each his or her own.

Let’s see, a simple delight… Okay, here’s one. Practice writing your name repeatedly with a fountain pen. Huh? I collect fountain pens, so that part’s nice. But what delight do I get from writing my name? Maybe when I was ten years old and dotting my I’s with hearts!

Can you think of some better simple delights? Maybe we should collect our own favorite secret delights and publish them ourselves!

I decided to go a little out there, and I’ve started a “hotwifing” series. Most of you are probably asking what hotwifing is!  I had to ask the same question when a friend of mine told me that several of my Courtesans stories were about hotwifing. And here’s the explanation: it’s where the woman in the relationship steps out with other men, but her husband (or boyfriend) doesn’t have other women. Nope, it’s all one-sided in the woman’s favor. Often she’ll come home to tell hubby all about it. They’ll most likely have some really hot sex reliving her experience. Of course, the couple has to have rules, things they can and can’t do, etc. If you want a much better explanation than I’ve just given, you can read my friend’s book: Hotwifing by Cody Alston. She does a much better job of it than I just did.

I found the concept very interesting. I fell into it by accident. I was writing the Courtesans Tales (specifically Triple Play in Yours for the Night) and since the heroines in those stories are paid courtesans, I figured they were going to have to do far more kinky things than I’d written so far. But for some reason, I just couldn’t let the hero in my story have sex with another woman. See, my heroine was supposed to be his total focus, and it diminished her if he actually wanted someone else. So I decided that he enjoyed watching her with other men. Sometimes he participated, but sometimes he simply got off on her pleasure. Then they had fabulous sex afterward. Even when she was with other men, she did it for him, to give him pleasure, always thinking about what would make him hot. I had a lot of fun writing that story, and others with the same theme: the woman has more than one partner, but the man doesn’t. In a way, it could be any woman’s dream, she gets all the pleasure, but she doesn’t have to share her man. I just don’t think women are built to share, but some men are.

So now I’ve started the West Coast Hotwifing series. It’s set in the business world because I was an accountant in manufacturing for years, so that’s what I know. And boy, are there are a lot of naughty things going on at this little company I’ve created. The first story up in the series is Revenge Sex. Here, we’ve got a hotwife who can’t follow the rules. And we’ve got another woman who’d love to take her place. Who’s going to get the man in the end?! I’ve also completed the second book, Submitting to the Boss. This one’s got hotwifing and a bit of BDSM! You can read more about Revenge Sex at http://amzn.to/tQ6E4g and Submitting to the Boss at http://amzn.to/H0Cpco.

Be sure to drop by my blog, www.jasminehaynes.blogspot.com, for more excerpts. I’m also joining a new blog with a bunch of lovely slutty ladies. Starting today, May 18^th, we’re going to have two weeks of great giveaways, so I hope you’ll stop by http://69shadesofsmut.wordpress.com/ to learn all about us!

Contest from Sheri Whitefeather!  Leave a comment for a chance to win
a free download of THE VAMPIRE PENDANT e-book and a Gothic cross keychain
to ward off vampires (or simply keep them under control, if you prefer. )
Two winners will be chosen at random.

FIRST TIMES. . .

Thank you, Delilah, for having me as a guest blogger.  I’m thrilled to be here and have to say how much I love your clever tag-line (Get in Bed with Delilah.  Everyone else has!).   I’m sure you hear that all the time, but it always makes me smile.

I’m celebrating the release of my 40^th book, but it’s also my first self-published project, as well as my first vampire-themed story.  Lots of firsts!  So, that’s my subject for the day.  Other firsts that all of us can share.   Ready.  Set.   Here’s mine.

First childhood memory:  I was two years old, and I was with my sister, Lanie, and Nonna (our-great grandmother from Italy).   I was chewing gum and I took it out of my mouth and tucked it into the dirt of a nearby potted plant.  I then laughed my fool head off, thinking it was the funniest thing ever.

First crush:  It was kindergarten and his name was Bruce.  I don’t remember anything else about him.  My first celebrity crushes:  Herman (Peter Noone) from Herman’s Hermits and Monkee Davy Jones (may he rest in cutie-pie peace).

First car I ever drove:  A 1969 Firebird convertible.   Fun!

First movie that made me cry:  Bambi

First song that made me swoon:  I think we’re alone now by Tommy James & the Shondells.   I was about nine years old when it came out (way before Tiffany’s version) and I imagined myself running off with a boy when I got older, much like in the lyrics.

First time I had sex (yikes!):  I was a teenager and his name was Dean.  And, yes, I remember more about him than I do about kindergarten Bruce!

First mentor:  This would be my theater make-up instructor in college.  He boosted my confidence and made me feel smart and savvy and creative.  My other mentors would be the throng of teachers who told me that I should be a writer.   I was quite young during those experiences and didn’t understand that they were mentoring me because I didn’t want to be a writer then.  The writing bug didn’t hit until I was in my thirties.

First muse:   A man known to my readers as the Online Warrior.   He is a romantic friend (yum!) and an artist and art model.   In fact, I keep one of his modeling nudes beside my computer.  Other people have inspired me, but not the way he does.  If you’re curious to see him, here’s a link    http://cheriefeather.blogspot.com/2011/11/online-warrior.html  where I posted his naked image.  You’ll also see that I plan to write a series of books he inspired.

First books I raved about:  When I was a kid, it was WYKNEN, BYNKEN AND NOD.  In my teenage years, it was two classics–THE SCARLET LETTER and TARZAN OF THE APES.  In my twenties, THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT by Sidney Shelton, CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR by Jean M.  Auel,  and RICH MAN POOR MAN by Irwin Shaw.   In my thirties, A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR by Jude Deveraux .  In my forties, Kathleen Eagle’s FIRE AND RAIN and Lucia St. Clair Robson’s heart-torturing epic RIDE THE WIND.  And, finally, in my fifties, it would be Suzanne Collins’s HUNGER GAMES trilogy.

Now onto my current release:

THE VAMPIRE PENDANT is the first book in the Blood Genies series,  erotic romance novellas featuring vampire hybrids (genies/vampires) living inside antique jewelry and taking blood in exchange for granting wishes.

As a teenager, Tessa Clarins was damaged by a fire, and now the scarred twenty-five-year-old virgin has been made beautiful by a wish.   But there’s a catch.  Tessa’s wish is only temporary, and so is her affair with Anthony Dumont, the wildly romantic “gen-vamp” feasting on her veins and stealing her innocence.  Night after night Tessa puts her heart on the line.  But so does Anthony, leaving sex, love, and secrets in his blood-hungry wake.

Purchase at Amazon
Purchase at Barnes and Noble

Happy wishes, everyone!

www.sheriwhiteather.com

Just a reminder! The deadline for submissions is a month away! Please pass this along to all your writer friends out there! ~DD

* * * * *

Smokin’ Hot Firemen: Firefighter Romance Stories
Editor: Delilah Devlin
Publisher: Cleis Press in Summer 2013
Deadline: June 15, 2012 (although sooner is better!)

Smokin’ Hot Firemen is open to all authors.

Editor Delilah Devlin is looking for hetero firefighter stories for a romantic erotica anthology tentatively entitled Smokin’ Hot Firemen: Firefighter Romance Stories.

A firefighter is one of those iconic heroes who inspire a jumble of sexy images at just the mention of the word—a soot-covered face, sweat dripping from hard, chiselled muscles, the sexy snap of suspenders—yes, only a fireman can make suspenders sexy!

Smokin’ Hot Firemen will seek stories that satisfy the reader who craves the romantic idea of that soot-covered, smokin’-hot man while exploring stories set in American cities and small towns, as well as international settings. The stories will be contemporary. While traditional themes are likely to be featured, writers are encouraged to imagine greater in order to create tales that, while featuring this iconic hero, may also surprise.

Think about the big-city firehouse, teaming with sexy firemen, responding to a high-rise fire; firefighters arriving at the scene of an accident to pry a victim from a burning car; a strong, sexy man carrying a child from a burning house… All heroic acts we expect from our local heroes. Then think about the smoke-jumper parachuting into the hot zone of a forest fire; the sexy rancher next door, who’s also a volunteer firefighter, responding to an out-of-control brush fire; or even an oil-rig worker whose extra duty is to respond to a catastrophe on a rig in the middle of the ocean…

Then imagine the romantic possibilities of being held against that massively muscled chest by a man whose mission is to protect and serve…

Published authors with an established firehouse world may use that setting for their original short story.

The stories may be as kinky or vanilla as the writer wants—but a deep sensuality should linger in every word. Exotic locations and scenarios are welcome. Keep in mind there must be a romantic element with a happy-for-now or happy-ever-after ending. Strong plots, engaging characters and unique twists are the ultimate goal. Please no reprints. We are seeking original stories.

How to submit: Prepare your 1,500 to 4,500 words story in a double-spaced, Arial, 12 point, black font document with pages numbered (.doc, NOT.docx) OR rich text format. Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch and double space (regular double spacing, do not add extra lines between paragraphs or do any other irregular spacing). US grammar (double quotation marks around dialogue, etc.) is required.

In your document at the top left of the page, include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), mailing address, and 50 words or less bio in the third person to smokinhotfiremen@gmail.com. If you are using a pseudonym, please provide your real name and pseudonym and make it clear which one you’d like to be credited as. Authors may submit up to 2 stories. Delilah will respond in September 2011. The publisher has final approval over the stories included in the manuscript.

Payment will be $50.00 USD and two copies of the published book upon publication.

About the editor: Ms. Devlin has published over a hundred erotic stories in multiple genres and lengths. Her published print titles include Into the Darkness, Seduced by Darkness, Darkness Burning, Darkness Captured, Down in Texas, Texas Men, Ravished by a Viking, and Enslaved by a Viking. Her short stories are featured in Zane’s Purple Panties, and Cleis Press’s Lesbian Cowboys, Girl Crush, Fairy Tale Lust, Lesbian Lust, Passion, Carnal Machines, Dream Lovers, and Best Erotic Romance. She is published by Avon, Kensington, Harlequin, Atria/Strebor, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing, and Berkley. In Fall 2011, she debuted her first anthology with Cleis Press, Girls Who Bite. In 2012, Cleis Press will release She Shifters and Cowboy Lust.

Direct any questions you have regarding your story or the submission process to Delilah at smokinhotfiremen@gmail.com.