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Once upon a time, four naughty authors dreamed about a pair of ruby slippers. No wait, wrong story. Four naughty authors dreamed of a pair of red stilettos that would grant the lucky girl who wore them her heart’s desire. They agreed the world would be a better place with a little magic to spice up a romance and wrote four stories…

Head Over Heels by Paris Brandon
Red Stilettos, Book One

Bella Jacienski literally falls into sexy philanthropist Rhys Vincent’s arms while wearing her “magic” red stilettos, and wonders if the legend attached to the shoes is true. Has she found her heart’s desire—a passionate, lust-crazed lover who wants only her? Always and forever?

Rhys can’t keep his big hands off the curvy shopkeeper. Her smile captivates him and her lush body has him behaving like a he-man Neanderthal. Heated glances and sizzling touches turn into a hot office interlude and wild, break-the-bed sex that only makes him want her more. Bella is all the magic he needs.

Whirlwind Affair by Francesca Hawley
Red Stilettos, Book Two.

Erika Bergstrom is shopping in an upscale adult boutique when handsome Rodrigo Torbellino asks for help finding a gift. Just her luck! As he flirts with her, she discovers he’s shopping for a bridal shower gift for a friend, not a lover. So when he asks her to model a beautiful negligee then seduces her in the dressing room, Erika gives in to her urge for a wild new experience…a one-night stand.

The next morning, Erika’s body is sated from pleasure. Rigo obtains a promise she’ll call him and tells her that if she doesn’t, he’ll find her. She’s intrigued and thrilled with his obvious interest until she discovers Rigo is the head of the company her brother wants the family to partner with, so she doesn’t contact him. A month passes. When they meet again, the fire between them burns just as bright as ever, but does Rigo want the business deal or her?

Can the red stilettos live up to their legend to provide the wearer with her heart’s desire?

Dear Sexy Lexie by Ashlyn Chase
Red Stilettos, Book Three

Some women should take their own advice…

No-nonsense, thirty-nine-year-old Lexie Burns pens an advice column—Letters to Sexy Lexie—that delivers common sense with a dose of humor and a verbal slap upside the head. Tyler Black, a younger, drop-dead gorgeous cop, has had it with empty-headed, superficial women. In Lexie, he sees the kind of intelligent woman with whom he could build a solid relationship—if he can convince her to acknowledge his existence.

With the help of some magical stilettos, Tyler might get his woman…and Lexie might get a desperately needed slap upside the libido.

Then there’s my little book. But more about it tomorrow.

We’ll get to the picture in a bit. 😉

This week wasn’t a complete bust, but productivity was hampered by the fact I had so many critters and kids pulling at my attention.

I finished a chapter of the big book, began work in earnest on the next chapter installment of my free read, Bad Moon Rising, and I finished another chapter of the third Lone Star Lovers book. Not balls of fire, but progress nonetheless!

This coming week, I have to really knuckle down. (What does that mean? Knuckle down… Knuckles dragging the ground means you’re primitive. That will bug me now.) I want to finish 4 chapters of the big book, and I can if I shut everything out. But I also want to finish the few pages left of the free story. And I’d like to complete one more chapter of the Lone Star book, so that I have a chance of finishing the thing this month too.

So that’s my progress and my goals.

Back to that picture.

Remember those two dogs that mated this week? I took my camera outside with me early one morning. The dogs were standing butt-to-butt while the male was waiting for his eretion to wane to free himself. I snapped the pic, thinking it would be funny to post, but this is more interesting, don’t you think?

What is it? Two werewolves? Two hellhounds? Tell me what you see.

My first magazine story was published in the current edition of New Love Stories Magazine!

My story is a historical-paranormal romance. Could they have given me a less inspiring photograph to depict my little ghost story?

Ah well, it was maybe the first short story I ever wrote. It’s nice to be able to dust something off you thought would never see the light of day, submit it, and get a paycheck for it!

I’m home again. I arrived later than I should have last night because I got pulled over by a state trooper. He said, “Ma’am, don’t know if you realize it, but you were speeding.” I was tired enough I just shrugged and said, “Probably.”

I’m still tired, so guess what? I’m going back to bed.

Darkness Burning was nominated for “Favourite Erotic Romance” by the Australian Romance Readers Association! How cool is that?

Tonight around midnight, when the red-headed hellion arrives home from work, I’m packing up and heading home. I’m supposed to attend the monthly meeting of the Diamond State Romance Authors tomorrow morning, but that’s looking iffy because all I want is uninterrupted sleep—about 10 hours worth—before I pry my eyes open. Last night, I pulled down web sources for my daughter’s college assignment, and stayed up to help her work on it. She was too exhausted to get it done quickly on her own. Our heads didn’t hit our pillows until 2:30. The 6:30 alarm came ALARMINGLY fast. Couldn’t resist that. Sorry.

Dogs are walked, baby fed. Wonder if she will oblige me by going back to sleep so I can nap a little this morning. Do you know how you start to ache all over when you’re really, really tired? I should probably try to get a shower and wake up enough to write, but I’m not sure my brain’s gonna cooperate.

I should have the copyedits for Darkness Captured (my September Avon release) waiting for me when I arrive home. Can’t wait to see what changes the editor wants. Or if she wants huge revisions. My guess is not because she would have gotten them to me sooner if there were huge issues. I’ll be surprised if that’s the case though because DC is way out there. My heroine ends up in the Land of the Dead and has to be rescued. All kinds of strange things and creatures, and kinky sex happen. Oh wait, she should know by now that’s what happens in one of my “dark” books.

~DD

I don’t get those women who want to bear children after forty or, God forbid, fifty! Children are for the young. I’ve only had a small three-day dose, but I’m exhausted. Have you ever tried to tell a 1-year-old that the reason she cries is that she needs sleep? Or that dropping her toy over the side of the playpen out of reach isn’t a screaming offense? There’s no reasoning with her. And although the 5-year-old has some verbal skills, she still doesn’t get the concept of let’s sit so the dog doesn’t get overexcited and stops barking. Nope, she runs circles around the couch yelling at him to shut up. There’s a reason I had a house husband. I don’t have the maternal gene.

It also doesn’t help that there’s so much Irish running through their veins. Everything that happens, happens loudly.

Yesterday when the 1-year-old went down for a nap, I did manage to finish another chapter of the big book, but I didn’t make it back to any of the smaller projects. Maybe I’ll work up the nerve to put the shock collar around the neck of the barracuda with a tail (the dachsund) so he will stop barking and I can think. He’s old and grumpy and likes to check you with a bruising (not puncturing) bite. Or maybe I can just shoo him out the door and he can go play with the pit bull next door.

For stories, that is. I love it when readers tell me they’d like to see a story about a guy and girl who…

Yeah, and I’ve written a few custom stories like that. It’s fun and challenging to take input and then craft something special and unique. So, if you had a writer willing to take suggestions, what sort of story are you dying to read? Tell me, and you might see it in print.

So be creative. Or just have fun. Sometimes the most off-the-wall ideas make the most interesting stories because then the writer has to think a bit about how something like that might actually happen.

You would have laughed if you’d seen me this morning, standing on the back porch watching two dogs, butt-to-butt, getting it on. My life. The 5-year-old is off at school, and I’ll be writing my fingers to the bone while I have some quiet time (if the 1-year-old cooperates).