New Release and Book Giveaway!

I’m Randi Alexander and I write cowboy erotic romance. My first book, Chase and Seduction was released May 27 from The Wild Rose Press’ Cowboy Kink line. I want to thank Delilah for letting me guest blog today. She and I share a love of cowboys. We both blog on Wild and Wicked Cowboys with 12 other erotic romance authors.

Some of the 14 published authors on W&W are full-time writers, others have day jobs and write evenings and weekends. I’m a stay-at-home author, and I wonder if sometimes I’m not as focused on the actual writing as someone who works a day job. Someone who needs to get things done in a condensed amount of time.

So, here’s my story. “A day in the life of a full-time writer.” I hear my husband get up at 6:30 AM because I’m a light sleeper. I get up, too, put on my pull-over robe, which he calls my muumuu, and shuffle off into the kitchen to make coffee, breakfast for two, and his lunch. He says I don’t have to make him lunch, but if I don’t, he goes out and spends $15 a day at a restaurant. (Have I mentioned I’m very frugal?)

I kiss him goodbye at 8:00 and power up the ol’ laptop. Checking all my social networking hangouts takes about an hour. It gets longer every day as I add more favorites. Then it’s e-mails, which can take a little or a LOT of time.

I still haven’t written anything, and it’s already 10:00. Yeay! Time for a snack! Oh, and I put on real clothes right about now, too, because when the mail comes, I want to be ready! Mail is an exciting part of my day!

Now the neighbor guy starts mowing his lawn. I watch him for a while, concocting a story about the lonely stay-at-home writer who falls for the handsome hunk next door. Except Burt is about 83, and has on a huge, floppy sun hat that I’m sure his wife makes him wear, so I really have to use my imagination.

Okay, butt back into the writing chair. Tummy’s full, water glass is full, brain…isn’t so much. I’m outlining a book, and things just aren’t flowing. So, I open my library book on voiceover acting and do my voice exercises. “Unique New York, unique New York, red leather, yellow leather, blue blood, black blood.”
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Around 8 AM, the Red-Headed Hellion, the six-year-old and I will be piling into Yoshi (my cherry-red Scion) and heading out on a road trip. We’re heading to Iowa. I know, right? Who goes to Iowa? Well, my brother and SIL live there—and so does my tattoo artist. We’re making the trip about the journey and have planned stops along the way. We’ve also promised that if we see an interesting sign or attraction along the way, we stop! So a one-day drive will be two, both up and back. I promise to take pictures!

While I’m gone, I have guests lined up. Be sure to drop by to say hello.

6/22—Randy Alexander
6/23—I was supposed to have one here, but she didn’t send me her stuff!
6/24—Gale Stanley
6/25—Sophie Oak
6/26—Taige Crenshaw
6/27—RHH decided we needed more road time at the last minute, so I’ll poke my head in the door again.

Y’all take care now!

Tomorrow, I’ll blog one last time before I head out on the road. So ya know today I have a ton of things to do…get my nails done, get the car’s oil changed, laundry, pack…blah, blah, blah. Today’s post will be short. Just something to get you thinking because you know you need someone to prod you into doing that.

If you had to change your first name , what would you choose as your new name?

The Promo Ho and Cabbage Rose Fairy contests continue!

Comment here, then head to After Midnight Fantasies for another chance to win the fairy journal!

I haven’t done a report card in a while because I haven’t done a lot of writing over the past couple of months. This week I got back on track.

But first, what’s that list to the left?

Yeah, that’s Samhain’s Best Sellers list! What a lovely gift! Thank you, all!

I signed a total of four contracts this week!

Three of them were stories for Samhain.
* The next Lone Star Lovers story, A Four-Gone Conclusion, which will release in September!
* The next Red Hot Winter story, Lone Heart, which will release in January 2012.
* The start of a new series, a five-some that I will tell you about after I start writing it! It’s tentatively scheduled for release in November!

The fourth contract is for another short story collection for Cleis Press, cowboy-themed—and this time heterosexual! I put the call for submission out on this blog a couple of days ago. So, any writers out there who are interested… I can’t wait to read your stories!

This week, I finally made progress on the lesbian vampire story that’s been on my plate for a couple of months. Why have I had so much trouble getting down to business? I haven’t talked about it much here. I mean, who wants to hear about real life stuff, right? But since it affects readers, I thought I might let you know that my lack of productivity hasn’t been because I suddenly got lazy.

About a month ago, my grandfather became gravely ill. My mother headed to Washington state to be with grandma. My brother and his wife relocated her from Colorado, and they’ve moved in until they can build a house on the property. My grandfther died, and now, as of late last night, my grandmother and aunt are living with us too. Add to the fact that it’s summer and the red-headed hellion’s children are constantly underfoot—and the pool is finally a comfortable tempture—and you can see why I’ve been a little distracted.

This next week, the RHH, the six-year-old and I are taking a road trip to Iowa. Not a sexy destination? Maybe not the way most people travel, but I’ll blog all about it when I get back. We’re escaping the madhouse for a week, then I’ll be back to the grindstone. Promise. I have all those shiny new contracts to fulfill!

The Promo Ho and Cabbage Rose Fairy contests continue! Comment today and add another entry for the drawing for that lovely journal. Post an honest review and send me the link, and you’re entered in the other. Thanks to everyone who’s playing!

Recurring themes

My books seem to have several recurring themes: China, vacations, water, and gardens.

“Changing Cherry”, “Chinese Love Triad”, and “Terracotta Warriors” (releasing 30 March) are all set in China. I have spent some time in China on business and love their centuries of tradition, the polite, helpful people, their beautiful country. Also, I write a lot of two men/one woman ménages, and in a country with many millions more young men than women, because of their one-child policy, such ménages make excellent sense.

Everyone loves a vacation and vacations leave time for people to discover more about each other, spend long hours having fun together (in and out of bed) and are a great way to move the story forward. “Summer Sizzle”, “Vivienne’s Vacation”, “Huldah’s Two Hikers”, “Three for the Road”, and “Double Satisfaction” are all set during vacations. “Combustion”, and “Flash Flood”, include mini-vacations.

As for water and gardens, my characters love the beach, lakes, the countryside. The “Sex Odyssey” series is set in Resort City, a beachside town. “Dance for Three” has a hot beach scene, “Summer Sizzle” is set at the beach, and the heroine in “Flash Flood” gets caught in a tidal wave. “Tempting Tenealle” involves a courtyard garden, the gardens in “Double Satisfaction” are purely awesome, and “Huldah’s Two Hikers” is set on a hike through a national park.

My newest release, is “Strung Tight” the final book in the “Sex Odyssey” series. Jeff lives in the trailer Park at Resort City and Pete arrives there as a tour guide with a group of very demanding clients.

After a scorching night of sex and sin, two men need to make a decision in their lives.

Jeff works nights playing guitar at a strip club. Pete works days as a tour guide. Neither man is happy and both search for fulfillment. Can they find it in each other’s arms?

While the sex is great, and the orgasms body shaking, how can their relationship survive if they’re separated by time? Surrendering to wild emotions is easy. Real life is messy but the fight for love is worth it.

The two men gazed into each other’s eyes. Lust exploded like a visible force, and Jeff took two hurried paces to close the gap between them. Pete stepped into Jeff’s embrace and wrapped his arms around the taller man’s waist, lifting his face for a kiss.

Jeff gently pressed his lips to Pete’s, then swiped his tongue along the seam of the blond’s mouth. He opened and Jeff slid his tongue inside, enjoying Pete’s taste of coffee and mints and something spicy.

He trailed his tongue behind Pete’s teeth, and along the insides of his cheeks, then tangled it with the blond’s in an erotic dance, before sucking his tongue into his mouth.

They didn’t break the kiss until both of them were breathless. Even then Jeff nibbled on Pete’s lower lip and ran his hands up and down the man’s spine, wanting to get closer, needing to be inside him, right now, but not wanting to seem to be rushing or coercing the blond.
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The Promo Ho and Cabbage Rose Fairy contests continue! See details here! ~DD

Thanks to Delilah for having me on her blog again! I always love visiting here. And I went all fangirl when I met her at RT. (Hope I didn’t make a fool of myself!)

Yesterday my latest book came out. Restraining the Receptionist is a follow-up to Training the Receptionist. A lot of people tell me this series reminds them of the movie Secretary. (Not to be confused with Secretariat, which would be truly disturbing.) Secretary, which I loved, is about a lawyer who hires a troubled young woman. Their relationship turns intimate in a BDSM kind of way – it’s never spelled out in those terms, but they’re playing with the power dynamics of the boss/secretary relationship, and falling in love in the process.

I can see the resemblance, given the office setting and the BDSM element. But there are many differences. First of all, tone. Dana, my heroine, is sassy and quick with a comeback, whereas Maggie Gyllenhall’s character was on the depressed side. Maggie had only one boss, James Spader. He was more than enough, by the way. The two of them smoked up the screen.

But Dana has two bosses. In Restraining the Receptionist, she already has a strong, loving, trusting relationship with Simon, who trained her in the first book. But Ethan is the senior partner and not accustomed to taking second place. He’s going to pull out all the stops to win a place for himself in Dana’s heart. And when he sets his mind to something, watch out. But he’s taking a chance … what will happen to their blissful triangle when Dana and Ethan get in deeper than they intended?

Despite the major differences between my Receptionist books and Secretary, I’m honored by the association. And I can’t help thinking, what if they made a Receptionist movie? Who could do as good a job as Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader?

So, here are my picks. For the strong but tender, green-eyed Simon: sexy Clive Owen.

For the blond, blue-eyed, force of nature Ethan: the one and only Daniel Craig.

And for lucky Dana, I’m leaning toward Emma Stone. Someone with a lot of spunk, who can handle two dominant men like Simon and Ethan.

Of course, the only way they’d make a Receptionist movie would be as a training manual for how not to behave at work. But hey, I can dream, right?

Restraining the Receptionist is available now from Samhain Publishing. (Click on the cover to purchase!)

And if you leave me a comment – I love comments! –
I’ll put you in the drawing for a $5 Amazon gift certificate.

The Promo Ho and Red Ribbon Fairy contests END TOMORROW! See details here!

That picture just about sums up my week. I did complete copy edits on Girls Who Bite and get them shipped. I unpacked from my trip. I swam. A lot.

The question for me this week is whether I can remember how to be a writer. It’s not hosting contests (although that’s fun). It’s not tweeting or FBing. It’s not being “me” on line.

It’s sitting my butt in the chair. It’s fingers poised over the keyboard. It’s isolation. Because only when I find that happy subspace (submissives aren’t the only ones!) can I create. So what I need now is a writer’s Dom to whip me until I feel good and ready to do my muse’s will. Okay, so maybe I should be saving the words for a new book. Later!