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[Books] [Coming Soon] [Contests] [Free Stuff] [Links] [Meet Mary] [Newsletter] [New Releases] [Podcasts] [Home] |
Featured Books
AppearancesCheck out my chat loop and publisher loops! Nothing "officially" scheduled. Other InfoBooks available from Changeling Press Books available from Ellora's Cave Books available from Samhain Publishing To subscribe to my monthly newsletter please send an email or visit my newsletter page for alternative methods of joining. To subscribe to my chat loop please send an email or visit the group site.
Reviews"The storyline was pure reading heaven..." - Talia Ricci, Joyfully Reviewed, for Riding Partner "This
novella is an erotic romance and delivers on both counts - it is quite romantic
and is full of some hot bed play." Marina, Cupid's Library Reviews for Revealing
Photos " UNDER HER SKIN is so much more than a wonderful romance, it’s
a lesson in love and acceptance. It is an experience not to be missed."
Recent Posts
Writing Wednesday: Scruff your inner editor Sexy Feet - Some Thoughts on Cover Art Writing Without Distractions Writing Wednesday: Is it really work? Marketing Monday: Code Everything You Send Finding Your Bliss...Bears? Writing Wednesday: Writer's Organizations Make A Difference Monday: Get out of the Box My March 2008 newsletter is out! New Release - Mission: Carnal (Live Action Hero 1)
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I'm doing a contest on my chat loop (link to the left) to win a cute Breyer stuffed horse. He's adorable, and he's in honor of the release of Juli's Choice this month (Today actually). What do you have to do to win? Join my chat list and post. I'd love it if you said "hi!" to me, but you don't have to. Deadline is September 30. :) Looking forward to hearing from you!  
NEW RELEASE: Juli's Choice My bad for not updating the blog sooner, but I've been busy finishing a novella for Venus Press in time for the Oct 1 deadline, which I'm pleased to have met. I will update soon. For now I am pleased to announce the release today of Juli's Choice. http://www.venuspress.com/catalog/books/julischoice.htm Blurb: Every little girl wants to get married to a doctor, and when Juli has to marry to receive a trust fund, she thinks she has it made. Only her doctor is turning into a nightmare, and Juli fears she won’t be able to continue her veterinary career or her dream of opening a horse rescue after she’s married. Then she goes on a midnight call to pull a foal and meets Riley. A former Olympic equestrian, Riley understands her dreams and his touch ignites her passions. Juli has to choose between the man who will give her the funds to pursue her dream or the man who fills her nights with passion. And if you'd like to read a couple excerpts go ahead and join my chat group (link on the left) and check the recent archives! Happy reading!
Bones I like it. Of course it doesn’t hurt that David Boreanaz is a fine hunk of a man, and I loved him in Angel. In fact, if it weren’t for my eternal love of Riley (Marc Blucas, everyone happy sigh now…..), I’d be a die-hard Bangel shipper. But, I see merits in all her relationships (except for that icky one night stand with Parker), and so, alas, I can’t claim any one ship as my own, and Riley is all mine. So back to Bones. What did I like? I loved the characters. Booth seemed quite realistic as ex-military turned FBI. It’s easy to see he has his own demons with which to deal, and he’s got a thing for the chick. The chick (what was her name again. I’ll just refer to her as Bones), Bones, had some real issues that came from understandable sources. I understand her detached from reality aspect, and her play with Booth quite made the sparks fly. The witty, back and forth dialogue made for some great lines, and the supporting cast all seem like individuals and not just bodies to fill out a scene. What I’d like to see? More DB skin. Okay okay, I’m a woman, what can I say? I also thought a nice ass scene in RoTK would have been nice. I mean, if I were a woman camped out with the men, you bet your chain mail and hefty sword I’d be meandering down to the washing spring for an eyeful. I’m not that thrilled about the previous showing next week dealing with a terrorist plot and a dirty bomb. Strikes me as a bit of bandwagon jumping, though the network is Fox. What can you say? Certainly something I’ll watch again. And you know, I didn’t think of Angel once. DB fits into this character quite nicely, and it didn’t even occur to me to compare Booth to Angel. Kudos!
I've just finished reading Contact by Evelyn Vaughn. I've had this novel on my desk here at work for some time, and today, since I didn't bring my laptop to work thinking we'd be extremely busy, I started to read. The book is set in New Orleans. I loved this book, loved it not only because Evelyn Vaughn is an awesome writer, and I've never read anything of hers I thought was less than stellar. I loved it because of the well drawn characters. The tough, yet real hero, Roy. The young, yet wise heroine Faith. I loved the action. The suspense. But most of all, I loved the descriptions. Although I've never been to New Orleans (a fact which I now lament), I felt as if I knew it. As if I were there. And that makes this book one to treasure for more than the excellent writing and thrilling adventure. This book should be treasured for the history. For the fact that it will bring pre-Katrina New Orleans to life for so many people who maybe remember with fond memories or, like me, have never visited. In talking with fellow writers, several mentioned works in progress set in New Orleans. Now, those manuscripts may be set aside. Some will be set aside long enough to figure out whether or not to work the reality of Katrina into the narrative; some will be set aside permanently. That, my friends, is the creative price of Katrina. And I'm sure it isn't just authors. Musicians, Painters, Actors, and Dancers, anyone really who lives in that space between imagination and reality will be affected. This kind of cost can't be quantified. It won't show up on the nightly news in terms of billions of dollars or lives lost. And while my heart breaks for those who have lost homes, families, possessions, pets, and lives in the storm, it weeps for those who find the creative flow stifled. There are hundreds of other costs to this storm, like the creative cost, that can't be quantified for the news media. Katrina's effects will be felt for a long time. The analytical part of my brain wants to put words, numbers to it. The emotional part still is trying to come to grips. I thought I was doing okay, and then I read Evelyn's book, and realized the ramifications are too numerous to count.
Like most authors, I work a Day Job. It's not glamorous, and it's not pretty. I'm a help desk technician for a major financial organization. Mostly I deal with sales people who can sell a multi-million dollar loan, but refuse to take the time to learn the basics of operating a computer. Add to this that they don't listen and are always right and are usually quite mean/rude, well, you get the drift. If they're not that, then they are younger than me and make me really wonder about the state of anybody's educational system. (What city are you in? California. No, honey, California is a state, not a city. Unless you're talking about California, MD, but they're not.) Anyway, many authors run into the situation in which I now find myself, and it's something to think about if you'd like to embark on a writing career. At some point you become either a) so prolofic or b) so stacked with deadlines or c) both and then some, that the eight hours you spend at your day job take a huge chunk of time out of your writing schedule. In fact, you do everything you can to write at work (me, I write in the two-three minutes alotted between calls, which really isn't allotted, but damn it, if the other people can look at the 'net or play games, I can at least write), on breaks, etc. The day job interferes with the real job. There are a couple things a writer can do about such a situation. The first, would be to find a day job that works. The second would be to strive toward writing full time. Guess which one I'm working for? Take care!
When it comes to scenes in a book, think of them as acts in a play. The curtains rise, and what's on stage? Well, if your story starts with dialogue, then there's nothing on stage but disembodied voices. This makes it quite difficult for your reader to identify with a character. After all, the reader doesn't know the gender, the appearance, anything. The phrase "It's not safe out there" has different meanings depending on whether someone is nonchalantly sitting at a desk and not paying attention, or whether they're standing next to someone, holding on for dear life. The first person could be disinterested or even trying to dissuede the character. The second cares, or at least is concerned. Try this..... "I don't think you should tell him." Amy sipped her cup of coffee. "I don't know," Abigail said. "It seems wrong somehow." She shoved her coffee cup away and turned to the window outside. Or..... Amy leaned forward across the formica topped diner table. The sounds of clattering dishes and a cook calling out orders faded into the background. Abigail's stomach churned, though she didn't know if it was from the fetus in her slightly rounded stomach, or nerves. Across from her a toddler gleefully flung bits of toast at its mother, and Abigail tried to quell the pang of envy. A waitress wearing a pink dress walked by noisily smacking gum. The smell of greasy food and strong coffee nausated Abigail. "I don't think you should tell him," Amy, her best friend since college, sipped her coffee. "I don't know. " Abigail said. "It seems wrong somehow." She turned to the windows outside where a mother pushed a stroller and cars zoomed down the road. "It just seems wrong for him not to know." Which one has more emotional punch? The second because the author gave the reader time to get immersed in the scene. And those examples are just off the top of my head so I apologize for any grammar/spelling, etc. errors. :) It's been a busy labor day for me, mostly because I've sat in front of my laptop and worked on several projects. I'm nearly half way through the sequel to Ghost Touch, and I'm pretty excited. Also about halfway through my Capricorn zodiac story for Venus Press. Hope you all had a safe Labor Day weekend.
Welcome to My Blog Well, I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and start my own blog. Mostly I'll be talking about living the writing life, but since I also have a zoo (five cats, a pionus parrot, a cockatiel, five cats, a guinea pig, a rabbit, a hamster, a bearded dragon, a russian tortoise, a horse and a breeding pair of Indian Ringneck parakeets), I suspect you'll be getting pet stories too. :) So, welcome to my Blog. Enjoy! |
