Writers Gone Wild

Lightning Rider: A cover story

2012-02-02T00:01:00.001-05:00

LIGHTNING RIDER: A Cover Story by Maree Anderson (for Writers Gone Wild)

Hi ya'll,

Here's the cover story I meant to post a couple of weeks back. Good things take time.... Oh, and cross-posting from my personal website, but I'm hoping y'all will forgive me for cheating ;-)

***

I'm very excited to have a new cover to share with y'all. And I thought it might be interesting to share just how this cover came to be.

The book is Lightning Rider, a bit of a "different" romance in that it features two heroines and two heroes -- and no, it's not a menage-a-quatre. *g* It's a contemporary paranormal romance with a sci-fi twist.

Here's the high concept:

Andie Brennan dies in a lightning strike and is miraculously healed and brought back to life. But now she’s sharing her body with an alien—the same alien who rode the lightning bolt that killed her.

So the gist is that Andie, the heroine, has a Lightning Rider Elemental named Karylon trapped inside her. And the two heroes of the piece are Jake, who'll do anything to protect Andie from her manipulative ex, and Novik, a Lightning Rider who'll do anything to help Karylon break free from Andie and return to the Elemental plane. Plus, the omniscient Keeper of Portents is about to use Novik to further its grand design. How much is Novik prepared to risk to be with Karylon again? And more importantly for Andie and Jake, who is he prepared to sacrifice?

See? Not exactly a normal romance.

First up, I decided to change the title from the original "When Lightning Strikes" to "Lightning Rider". I did this because with an eBook cover, you have very little time to impress readers, and very little space in which to do it. By that, I mean that generally eBook buyers are perusing thumbnails. So aside from pictures and fonts that are going to be clearly shown on even the tiniest version of your cover, you also have to have an eye-catching cover that conveys what kind of story it is straight up.

I figured if I used "When Lightning Strikes" readers might expect a straight contemporary romance--it didn't really speak to the paranormal aspect of the story. And "When Lightning Strikes, a paranormal romance with a sci-fi twist" didn't really do it for me as a title, even if there had been enough space to stick all that on a cover and still have it be readable in thumbnail form. I went with "Lightning Rider" because I felt it had more chance to immediately convey to the reader that this is a story with a paranormal or sci-fi aspect.

BTW, I subscribe to Joel Friedlander's insistence that eBook covers need to be treated differently to print covers. For me, it's clear, clean and simple concepts, with clear easy-to-read fonts that stand out in a thumbnail all the way, baby. So if my independently published book covers look a little simplistic to you, it's because I want them that way. (And as Joel complimented my cover designer for the covers of The Crystal Warrior and Freaks of Greenfield High when I submitted them for his October eBook cover design awards, I think I'm on the right track.)

For Lightning Rider, Rob (my husband) and I wanted to include a slickrock landscape element: Rob, because he thought the slickrock landscapes were visually stunning, and me, because the slickrock setting is an integral part of the Lightning Rider story for 3 reasons:

Lightning Rider was inspired by an article I spotted about slickrock bike tours in Moab. The article mentioned that Utah has the second-highest incidence of lighting strikes in America. That kicked the warped authorly part of my brain into gear, and I came up with the idea of aliens who ride lightning and use the bodies of humans who're killed in a lightning strike.

The story starts off on a slickrock bike tour in Moab.

The story's climax takes place on a 4WD trail in Moab called Hell's Revenge.

We also toyed with including a mountain bike in the photo, provided the cover model had her helmet off, and was looking directly at the camera. And we were both agreed that "lightning" had to be a part of the cover.

Now came the difficult part: finding the right cover model to represent Andie, the human heroine of Lightning Rider.

After scouring royalty-free stock photo sites (like, every spare moment for an entire week until my eyes felt like they were bleeding!) to find just the right model, and hoping she'd be as perfect as the model I found to use on the cover of Freaks of Greenfield High, I lucked out big-time. And, BTW, I'm using "lucked out" in the Kiwi sense of having No. Damn. Luck. At. All.

I was very specific in the kind of "look" I wanted--a little to0 specific, as it turned out. Both Rob and I agreed that we wanted a strong stance and a serious expression for our heroine, and she had to be in casual clothes--or at least, exercise clothes. Plus, I envisioned Andie with curly auburn hair and green eyes. We had major headaches with this too-specific brief. It's about as difficult as finding decent stock photos of good-looking guys with long blond hair! *cough* From The Ashes *cough*

This time it wasn't me who found the perfect photo, it was my long-suffering husband. And after checking out his "Andie" I had to agree. He'd found two strong photos, both with the same model.

The first had the model on a mountain bike, sans helmet, looking back over her shoulder directly at the camera. And I thought, "Whoa, awesome! That could be straight out of the book! " The second photo had her standing, staring straight into the camera.

In the end, after much debate we both chose the second photo. It was a much stronger photo, and we felt it had more visual impact than the one with her on the bike--the whole keep it clean and simple and go for visual impact thing again.

"But hang on," I hear you splutter. "This cover model sure doesn't have curly auburn hair!"

Excellent point. I was happy to compromise on the "curly" hair, because in the story, I mention that Andie's ex-boyfriend didn't like her curls, and used to insist that she straightened her hair--it speaks to the power he had over her that she would adhere to his wishes about how she looked and dressed, BTW. And yes, he is a thoroughly unlikable guy. As for the hair color? Well, Rob didn't want to muck with it to that degree as he's not a professional cover artist and he worried it would look too fake.

So here's one of the really cool bits about being an indie-author: I went back to the manuscript and rewrote Andie as a brunette. Sometimes an author's gotta do what she gotta do, especially when she's one of those nit-picky people who hates it when cover models don't match up with the author's character descriptions.

Right. So we had our stunning slickrock landscape scene, we had our "Andie", and we had a really awesome shot of a lightning strike that made me want to "squeeeee!".

Next, Rob mocked up a cover to see whether the three specific photos he wanted to use would "work" together before he purchased a license to use them--no point in spending money to purchase them if the photos didn't work together.

We both really liked the look of the cover mock-up, so I approved the design, and Rob purchased the licenses for the three royalty-free stock photos we'd chosen.

Now it was up to Rob to do his PhotoShop magic.

He had to cut "Andie' from her background so she didn't look like a bad cut 'n paste job when overlaid over the background, warm up her skin tone, and play with the lighting so it looked more like an outdoor shot. He also had to shorten her reeeeally long, French manicured nails, which just didn't work with the whole chick-on-a-slickrock-bike-tour look we were going for! The devil is in the details....

Once he'd found the perfect title font from the thousands he'd purchased, he played with positioning of all the cover elements, color shading, tones, layering, and perspective. Next, he mucked with subtle font enhancements for the title. And finally, he scanned hundreds of different fonts to find one for my author name. Ironically, he ended up using the same font we'd used for my name on my Crystal Warrior series covers.

Total time spent? Around four solid hours--not counting the hours spent squinting at thumbnails on stock photo sites and choosing the final photos.

And the final result?

I love this cover! It looks great in black and white, too.

And, as an added bonus, Rob and I are still speaking to each other ;-)

***

**Lightning Rider is out now**
To find out more, please visit my Books page.

Cheers!

Guest Blogger Roni Loren

2012-01-31T00:01:00.000-05:00

Posted by Jenna McCormick for Writers Gone Wild

5 Writing Tools I Don’t Want to Live Without

by Roni Loren

First, thanks ladies for inviting me to the blog! : ) I was going to title this post “5 Writing Tools I Can’t Live Without”, but really, nothing would stop me from writing. Even if I had nothing to write my stories on, I’d probably still be weaving them in my head. But these five things are the things I hope I never have to go without.

My Laptop - Okay, I know this one seems kind of obvious, but really it’s vital. If I had to sit at a desktop all day, I’d go nuts. My laptop lets me move my work with me when I get antsy.

The Shower - Get your mind out of the gutter. ; ) I’m a mom and a wife--quiet, alone time is hard to come by. Plus during routine tasks like a shower, my mind tends to wander and that’s usually when I get my best ideas or fix problems I’ve been having with my story. My husband has learned that when I announce randomly that I’m going take a shower at like five in the afternoon that I must be having a bad writing day.

Books - My love of reading is what led me to become a writer in the first place, but sometimes reading for pleasure can get set on the back burner because I get busy. However, I’ve found when this happens, my own words dry up. If I’m dumping words on a page every day, I feel like I need to refill the well by reading fiction or my creativity will shut down.

Music - When I’m writing, I only listen to instrumental music because music with words distracts me (mainly, because I start singing.) But during non-writing times, music really has served as great story inspiration for me. The song for CRASH INTO YOU is “Outside” by Staind. I’d already started writing the story, but that song came on one day and it gave me goosebumps because it was so perfect for my characters. And more recently, I heard an old Reba McEntire song, “Somebody Should Leave”, and got the idea for my novella STILL INTO YOU (coming out in June).

Inspiration Photos - This is more fun than necessary, but I do enjoy spending some time on my tumblr. Sometimes it’s a landscape that can inspire a setting, or a sweet photo of a couple that helps me capture the mood of the scene I’m writing, and many times it’s just yummy mancandy, lol. (You can see my tumblr here--http://roniloren.tumblr.com . But be warned, some of it can be not safe for work.)

So those are mine. What are some things you wouldn’t want to live without either for your job or your hobby?

CRASH INTO YOU Blurb:

Sometimes the past can bring you to your knees…

Brynn LeBreck has dedicated herself to helping women in crisis, but she never imagined how personal her work would get, or where it would take her. Her younger sister is missing, suspected to be hiding from cops and criminals alike at a highly secretive BDSM retreat—a place where the elite escape to play out their most extreme sexual fantasies. To find her Brynn must go undercover as a sexual submissive. Unfortunately, The Ranch is invitation only. And the one Master who can get her in is from the darkest corner of Brynn’s past.

Brynn knows what attorney Reid Jamison is like once stripped of his conservative suit and tie. Years ago she left herself vulnerable only to have him crush her heart. Now she needs him again. Back on top. And he’s all too willing to engage. But as their primal desires and old wounds are exposed, the sexual games escalate—and so does the danger. Their hearts aren’t the only things at risk. Someone else is watching, playing by his own rules. And his game could be murder.

Find out more:

Website: www.roniloren.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/roniloren

QUALITY AND THE INDIE AUTHOR

2012-01-30T07:42:00.005-05:00

In the last year or so, self-publishing - or indie publishing, as some prefer - has taken off exponentially. Thanks to the Kindle, Nook, and digital publishing, what used to be called "vanity publishing" is now a truly viable way for writers to earn a living from their work. Established authors are republishing their out-of-print back lists. New authors whose work doesn't appeal to New York because it's somehow too far outside the traditional box are finding readers, and an income. Readers are grabbing up books that are less expensive because there are fewer middle men.

Win-win? Maybe not totally. The indie revolution has its drawbacks. Many readers and writers are learning (or being reminded) that those nasty “gatekeepers” did perform a valid function in terms of maintaining quality. Without a publisher standing between her and the reader, the author is solely responsible for editing and proofreading. Many indie authors – including Writers Gone Wild Jenn, Maree, Robin and Saranna, who’ve taken the indie plunge – accept the responsibility that comes with the freedom of indie publishing. They’re making sure their self-published works are of professional quality, including the production values. But this is a self-imposed requirement. There’s nothing to stop a writer from offering total garbage for sale, and some are doing just that.

For example... in early December, I discovered that a multi-published author whose work I enjoy had self-published an old novella, and it was available for free (reduced from 99 cents). So I grabbed it up for my new Kindle. The results, from my posted review:

“This book is funny and sexy and exactly what readers of [the author’s trad published books] would expect from her. It's a quick, light, enjoyable read.

"However... this is also the kind of book that gives indie publishing a bad name! OMG, the typos, typos, and yet more typos! And this is the "second edition" - why didn't [the author] clean up the mistakes from the first edition? If I'd had to pay for this book, I'd be seriously annoyed.”

I kid you not, there was a typo on almost every page! Clearly the manuscript hadn’t been proofread, or even run through spellcheck. And two months later, I’m still pissed off. I can’t understand why the author, whose career I used to think of as one to copy, would allow her name to go on such a totally shoddy product. It feels like she disrespected her readers; like she believes we'll accept, and deserve, any old crap. And even though I know her traditionally published books will be edited, I feel more wary about buying them. She’s lost some of my trust.

Indie writers, what, if anything, do you do to make sure editing, proofreading, and formatting problems don’t diminish the quality of the reading experience? And readers, have you experienced quality problems with indie books?

Lust and Other Drugs

2012-01-24T10:00:00.001-05:00

I have been out of the game for some time. I've missed you! *smooch*

But I'm back with something to show for my confinement, as it were:

****ta da****

Lust and Other Drugs goes on sale January 27th.

Blurb:

For months, Anne’s been indulging in a porn site that caters to women. She’s even got a favorite model; a hottie who gets her juices flowing every time. Until she finally sees his face—and discovers she’s been jilling off to videos of her lifelong best friend, Chase.

Now Anne can’t even look at him without imagining his big, hard…everything. Worse, she’s just become Chase’s new roommate. How can she possibly keep her hands off all that Grade-A beefcake when it’s within arm’s reach? Does she even have to? A friends-with-benefits arrangement is looking more appealing by the second…

Starting with the world’s dirtiest dance, Anne and Chase’s physical relationship builds to the point of combustion. However, no-strings is harder than Anne ever imagined. Her lust for Chase is like a drug…but she’ll soon realize other, more complicated emotions are far more potent.

This is actually one of my favorite tropes to read and write. I love it when best friends fall in love. From the initial taboo of wanting that person to the accidental touches that lead to that delicious tension to when everything explodes in a rush of sensation and desire. YUM.

Do you have any favorite books in that theme? What are they? Or what's your favorite trope?

One-Stop Shops for Readers and Authors

2012-01-19T00:01:00.004-05:00

One-Stop Shops for Readers and Authors by Maree Anderson (for Writers Gone Wild)

Hi ya'll,

I was intending to write a featured post for my website/blog about the evolution of an eBook cover, and cross-post it here. But I'm kinda all mushy-brained from an intense round of edits and the shock of kitting out my kids with new school uniforms, bags, stationery, shoes.... KACHING!

So the serious article I'd planned for my post this week didn't happen. Sorry guys.

And rather than whip something up and have it be total rubbish, I figured I'd share some info with y'all that might hopefully be of benefit to both eBook readers and authors. (Especially those authors who've dipped their toes into the self-publishing arena.)

So without further ado, here's a bunch of sites that promote eBooks.

Readers: you may find some of these sites make your browsing and trying to decide what to buy experiences a whole heap easier! Nothing like a one-stop shop *g*

Authors: you may find some of these sites useful to promote your book. Some are free, some will cost you. I don't endorse them all by any means, but for your information, I'll put ** by those I've personally used and include a link to my "page" so you can see a sample of what each site offers if you're considering submitting your book.

Note: I've re-coded the html links, meaning that *hopefully!* all the main links will open in a new browser page so you don't have to keep clicking back one page to return here. (I hate that I have to manually code this, BTW. Wordpress gives me a box to tick when I insert the link, and codes it automatically. Just sayin'...)

~~~

The Book Designer**

This website is full of great info for self-published authors but the very savvy Joel Friedlander also runs a monthly cover art contest, where you can submit your eBook cover(s) and Joel will offer sage advice about whether it works or not. There are two categories: fiction and non-fiction. The winner in each category gets a coveted badge for their website.

I submitted two covers: Freaks of Greenfield High and The Crystal Warrior, and Joel was complimentary about both--much to my husband's delight, since he was the designer :) And it was Joel's suggestion I write an article about the evolution of one of my covers.

(Here's the link to the October awards, which includes my covers)

Kindle Paranormal Authors**

(Click here for my Kindle Paranormal Authors page link)

ISelfPub.com**

(Click here for my ISelfPub page link)

eReader Daily News**

(Click here for my eReader Daily news page link)

Super E-Books.com**

(Click here for my Super E-Books page links)

Stories of Romance**

Note: my author spotlight is scheduled for 25th Feb, so can't give you a link yet.

1500 Authors**

(Here's the link to the YA page that features one of my books)

(Here's the link to the romance page that features one of my books)

Kindle Author

The Kindle 3 Books

Book Buzzed

The Kindle Book Review

Digital Book Today

Indie Reader

Kindle Finds

Kindle Spice

Indie Books List

Bargain Books for Your Nook

The Frugal eReader

Pixel Of Ink

There are heaps more, of course, and I'm still compiling a master list. But I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Maree

Trish McCallan: Forged In Fire

2012-01-18T03:18:00.002-05:00

Please welcome author Trish McCallan, who's going to talk about her phenomenally best-selling indie romantic suspense, Forged In Fire. Despite this being her first release, she's got a legion of voracious fans and a ton of outstanding reviews behind her already.

Blurb: Beth Brown doesn’t believe in premonitions until she dreams a sexy stranger is gunned down during the brutal hijacking of a commercial airliner. When events in her dream start coming true, she heads to the flight’s departure gate. To her shock, she recognizes the man she’d watched die the night before.

Lieutenant Commander Zane Winters comes from a bloodline of elite warriors with psychic abilities. When Zane and two of his platoon buddies arrive at Sea-Tac Airport, he has a vision of his teammates’ corpses. Then she arrives—a leggy blonde who sets off a different kind of alarm.

As Beth teams up with Zane, they discover the hijacking is the first step in a secret cartel’s deadly global agenda and that key personnel within the FBI are compromised. To survive the forces mobilizing against them, Beth will need to open herself to a psychic connection with the sexy SEAL who claims to be her soul mate.

Forged in Fire is your first published book. How many manuscripts did you complete before Forged? How long did it take you to write Forged?

I completed three manuscripts before writing Forged. The first manuscript (titled A Matter of Trust) I wrote twenty years ago—more or less—and it was Bad. With a capital B. I had no crit partners back then, no beta readers. Nor did I belong to any writing organizations. After I finished A Matter of Trust, life got complicated, and I quit writing for a very long time. About ten years later, I wrote Yesterday’s Child. I came very close to snagging an agent with that book, and it finaled in a ton of RWA’s first chapter contests.

My third book, The Cat’s Meow, is the first book in a light-hearted paranormal mystery series. The series has this romance that’s going to play out across the entire series, with the hero and heroine going from detesting each other, to trusting each other, to friendship and eventually love. I’d finished the first two drafts on this book and was halfway through the first round of revisions when Forged in Fire took over my brain and I couldn’t focus on anything else. So I dropped TCM to work on FIF. It took me a year to write Forged. I’ve never been a fast writer, and I was limited to writing two hours a day and Saturdays. My plan was to go back and finish TCM after I got Forged out to agents, but then I decided to self-published and all my earlier plans went whack-a-doodle.

You mentioned to me that you had a lot of agent interest in the book but then decided to pull the book from consideration and self-publish. Tell us about that and why you made the decision.

I finished Forged in Fire and started querying agents a week before SEAL Team 6 hit the news. Within a few months I had the full out with four agents and the partial out with even more. And then a friend sent me a link to an essay about why an unpublished author should not hire an agent—the essay was by Kris Rusch, of the The Business Rusch.

The Business Rusch was a wakeup call for me. Kris Rusch covered everything that was happening in our industry, and for the first time I questioned whether selling to New York was the smart choice. I spent days reading through all the essays Rusch had written on the industry, read through all the comments, followed links to other industry blogs and became convinced that selling to New York would be a death sentence to my career goals. If the traditional houses were already reeling, and we hadn’t even hit the tipping point yet, what would the climate be like in two-three years when my book debuted? (Assuming it sold quickly) Once the tipping point hit, and the majority of the book sales were digital, how would a debut author stand out? Print outlets were declining at an alarming rate, eventually everyone but the bestsellers would be selling mostly digitally through the huge online bookstores like Amazon and B&N. So how in the world would a new author find a reader base? I’m on a lot of readers’ loops, so I know there’s tremendous anger at the traditional houses for the prices they charge for eBooks. A lot of readers won’t even buy digital copies of debut authors’ books because of the price.

At this point I started researching epublishers and self-publishing. One of the things I did was track the books on Amazon’s bestselling romantic suspense list in the Kindle Store. This list ranks the books by how well they are selling. The higher up the list they are, the better they’re selling. And I made a startling discovery. The books that were selling the most copies and were at the very top of the bestsellers’ list, (the top twenty bestselling romantic suspense) were all self-published. They were either traditional authors’ backlists or unknown authors’ original titles. And they were mostly 2.99 or below. I started tracking traditional authors’ new releases. And discovered that while some of the bestselling authors in my genre might hit the top twenty with their new release, the book only lasted a couple of days at the top before it plummeted. Yet all those cheaper, self-published titles that had been there when the new release hit, were still there when it tanked. It was obvious that readers were buying on price in my genre, not name recognition. At that point I decided to self-publish. I could control the price if I published the book myself. I couldn’t control the price if I went with a traditional house or an epublisher.

Your book is a military romantic suspense with paranormal elements. Did you find it hard to balance the two genres (ie keep one from overshadowing the other)?

The paranormal elements in my books tend to be light. They aren’t as strong as the romance or the suspense. In fact, my stuff tends to be more suspense focused than anything, the romance often takes a backseat to the plot. I want the paranormal to weave through the plot, the plot can’t exist without the paranormal element, but it generally stays in the background. Yet somehow, the paranormal and suspense twine together at the end. This has happened with every book I’ve written. At the end of the book the paranormal element is critical to saving the day.

What is your writing process like? (Plotter/pantser, how long it takes you to outline/draft/polish, etc.)

I’m an odd combination of a plotter and pantser. What works best for me is a combination of both approaches.

I find that it’s freeing to fast draft the first draft. I sit down and write the first draft as fast as I can, without thinking, without plotting, just letting the character and events unfold. This goes quickly. I wrote Forged’s fast draft in four weeks while working full time. Once it’s done, I print the book off, read it and then delete the file. Then I plot out the book from opening to ending. This is a detailed, chapter by chapter outline that encompasses both plot and character growth. There is always a lot of plot to fill in, elements that weren’t in the original draft, so I added them to beef up the conflict.

After the first draft I have a good sense of characters and events, but the growth is uneven, and plot points are missing. The second draft is basically framing the manuscript. Before each scene I list a set of goals I need to accomplish, things I want to work into that scene. But once again I write the second draft as fast as possible. (But keeping my outline in mind) I print that draft off, read it in one sitting while making notes in the margins and then once again delete the file. From that point on the work becomes intensive and much slower. I start from the beginning. I read the first scene, take a moment to visualize the scene clearly in my mind and start rewriting it. The stuff I liked in the original version, are reworked in the new scene. But there is always new stuff that mixes with the old. I’d say I keep 20% of the previous draft and the rest is all new.

I can’t revise off an existing draft early in the process. When I’ve tried, the scene has never gelled, there was always something missing. When I’ve compared scenes that I’ve tried to revise, verses scenes I’ve completely rewritten- I realized that the new scenes have major elements that are missing in the old scenes. It’s like my subconscious can’t fix an existing scene, but if I rewrite the scene completely, I can craft it the way it needs to be done. This holds true even later in the process. If a scene doesn’t work and I can’t figure out why, if I delete the scene and rewrite it, my subconscious will “fix” it.

During this draft, (the third one) I take my time. I labour over everything. I keep revising the scene over and over until it matches what I envision in my mind. Once it’s perfect to me, I send it to my CPs and move onto the next scene. When I get my CP’s feedback, I go back and revise the scene again. Once the entire draft is done, I print the book off and read it, make notes, and then do another revision based off things I noticed in the read through. At this point I also go through every character’s scenes in one long run. For example, I will go through all of the heroine’s scenes and all of her dialogue to make sure her growth and character is consistent. Then I will go through all the hero’s scenes and dialogue, then any secondary characters, then the villain. Once I have gone through the whole book this way, I send the book to beta readers. Another revision off beta feedback and then it’s time for my last revision. This last one is all about language, combing through for repetition, for unnecessary words, for too much detail, and I sharpen the language as I go. I also do a ton of cutting. I tend to overwrite, so there is always lots of cutting. I cut 19K words out of Forged and 20K words out of Yesterday’s Child. Once this draft is done, it’s ready to go to the line/copy editor.

Your sales have been astounding, especially considering this is your first book. For other authors looking for promo tips, what steps have you taken to get the book “out there”?

I’m only touching on Amazon, because I have never found any promo that targets any of the smaller retailers. My Amazon sales made up 99.9% of my sales back before I opted into the Select program. There are some people who sell extremely well to B&N and Apple, but they don’t know why. Nor did any specific promo I tried affect my B&N, Apple, Sony or Kobo sales, not like the promo impacted Amazon sales.

The key to successful sales on Amazon is knowing what promo opportunities work well with Amazon’s algorithms, and using logic instead of emotion when considering your choices. For a book to sell well, it needs to hit its genre’s bestsellers’ list.

When it comes to Amazon’s bestsellers’ lists, there are three things to take into account: price, (the books that climb the highest are almost all $2.99 or below) how long the book’s been for sale, and slow but steady sales to trigger the algorithms. If an author can get movement on their book within the first month of release, those sales will trigger Amazon’s algos. Once you trigger the algos, Amazon will start sticking the book in other book’s also boughts and recommends. The more the book sells, the more also boughts and recommends it get stuck into. The goal is to get the book onto the first page of your genre’s bestsellers’ list, because thousands of readers buy off that list. Once you reach the top page of the bestsellers’ list, people will find you and buy just because of the book’s location and visibility. With each sale, your book will find its way into more also boughts and recommends, which leads to even more sales. It’s a self-feeding cycle and can last for weeks, even months.

The two promos I’ve found to be the most effective to get on the bestsellers’ list is a virtual blog tour with reviews—or, letting the book go free for a short space of time. What got my book on the first page of the bestsellers’ list was a month long blog tour. The tour needs to start as soon as the book’s released. Most books are only given a one to two month window by Amazon to prove themselves. In that first month or two, it takes fewer sales to get a book into some also boughts and recommends. Amazon basically gives promising new books a break. But after two months it’s much, much harder to get a book on the bestsellers’ lists because it takes a lot more sales to trigger the algos. So your best bet is to promote the book as soon as it goes up. The sales generated by a blog tour seem to stimulate Amazon’s algos and can often launch a book onto the bestsellers’ list. From there, the book’s price becomes key, because books priced over 2.99 usually don’t climb as high, or stay on the list as long. The higher a book climbs, and the longer it rides the top of the list, the more sales it brings in.

What got you interested in military heroes?

Up until Forged, all my heroes were homicide detectives. And I still have a soft spot for them. I dreamed the opening sequence of Forged in Fire, and the men in my dream were SEALs, so that’s how I ended up with military heroes. But there is something inherently courageous and yet slightly dangerous about military heroes. These are men who have been trained to kill. Yet they use this skill for protection. They use it to protect their nation, their brother-in-arms, their families, and the people they love. They’re willing to sacrifice themselves, with no hesitation if the need arises. There’s something incredibly sexy and courageous about that. About a man willing to die for what he believes in, or willing to die to protect the people he loves. It’s the essence of a true hero.

What sort of research do you do for your books? Do you hire a freelance/copyeditor to go over the book before you publish it?

I did a ton of internet research. Thank God for my crime scene loop. But I also lurked on a SEAL board for months and picked up a lot of slang, although some of the terms are so crude they never made it into my book. I also connected with an EOD diver who’d actually been assigned to ST7, and he was a huge help in keeping my facts straight. I did hire a cover artist, a copy/line editor, a proofing editor and a professional formatter when I produced the book. I wanted to mimic New York standards as closely as possible. For the next book I’m adding a developmental editor and a second proofing editor.

Do you tend to identify more easily with your heroes or heroines?

The heroes come very easily to me. The heroines are much harder. I’ve been told my heroes read/sound like real men, which probably comes from working in a male dominated world for 13 years. I was the only woman on a crew of 250 men, and my co-workers forgot I was female. I spent years ease dropping on their conversations. LoL .

What else do you have coming up for us in the future?

Right now I’m finishing the last round of revisions on Yesterday’s Child. I’m planning to publish it the middle of March. Then it’s back to work on Forged in Ice, the second book in the Forged series. I’m planning to publish Forged in Ice on July 15th.

Guest Blogger Sandra Sookoo

2012-01-17T00:49:00.001-05:00

Jenn Hart for Writers Gone Wild

Stick a fork in me people because I am so done! The No Limits Blog Tour was fabulous and absolutely exhausting! I knew from the get go that I couldn't muster one more interesting thing to say this month so I invited the uber talented and always delightful Sandra Sookoo to visit and talk about her new release! Welcome Sandra!

Thanks for having me on back on the blog. I’m so excited to talk about my new book!

In case you don’t know who I am, my name is Sandra Sookoo and I write romantic fiction. Gah, it sounds like I’m intro-ing myself for a 12-step program! Let’s try that again. Hi, I’m Sandi and I’m a big ole softy when it comes to writing romance.

From the earliest age, I’ve always been fascinated with fairy tales. The dashing hero, the heroine with a problem, the bravery that’s needed to beat the monster, save the day then everyone rides off into the sunset for that all-inclusive happy ending. Yeah, I’m a sucker for them, so much so that I’ve read fairy tales from all over the world and in many different versions.

When Liquid Silver Books announced their Silver Slipper call for reworked fairy tales, my brain went into overdrive thinking about what I could do with that. I was in heaven. Because I always put my own spin on everything I write, I knew doing retold fairy tales wouldn’t be any different. I’d already had a reimagined fairy tale (which came out last December) but I needed more—more of the HEAs, more of the “old world” drama that’s indicative of a fairy tale, more stakes, more romance!

And here’s a little tidbit for you: I came to the sci-fi genre late in my life. When all the kids of my neighborhood were reenacting scenes from Star Wars, I was tucked away reading Anne of Green Gables. When my dad spent every Sunday watching episodes of the original Star Trek on TV, I was doodling away on notepads creating my own worlds. It wasn’t until I married my complete geek husband that I got onboard with sci-fi. Now, it’s almost like a craving, and that’s why I decided to set FRACTURED in a futuristic setting. Seemed like a great idea for me and it made my brain happy.

Here’s the blurb: What happens when beauty is the beast?

Major Rick Keenan has a near-impossible mission: repair his broken shuttle, rescue a missing crew member and get off an almost-dead planet. Angry that the U.S. is discontinuing the space program, he wants to find a discovery that will revise the government's position. Unfortunately, that discovery might just kill him.

Marin is one of the last of her people. Forced to flee to the planet in her childhood, she's kept herself hidden away in darkness, safe in a castle-like fortress, only coming out when she needs to feed--from human blood. Convinced she'll never fit in, she shuns all contact, yet taking Rick hostage as a food source chips away at her perceptions.

Though their differences threaten to tear them apart, their humanity binds them together. In a world where only the strong and determined survive, does a happily ever after stand a chance?

Book video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3hiQHxMW2w&feature=youtu.be

Now for a short excerpt. In this snippet, the hero Rick and his teammate have just encountered a welcoming party from the planet they’ve landed on.

"I am Sharn. This is my daughter, Elisa. Welcome to Oolita, the village of the damned." The man rubbed a shaking hand along his forehead.

"Damned?" Rick narrowed his eyes. "How do you figure?" He made another sweep of the medieval-style village and assessed his hosts' period clothing. This planet's not as advanced as Earth. Fantastic. Won't be able to grab some guys from the village to help with repairs.

Elisa took a step forward. "There are beings who hunt these woods. If we do not bring them offerings or they are not interested in what we give, they come to kill. The victim is drained of blood and left as a soulless shell."

What could you say to that? He glanced at Reigen. "Well, that doesn't sound good."

Sharn laid a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Forgive Elisa. The stories still fascinate her. The monsters have not come to the village for months."

"Maybe they found a new hunting ground." Reigen shifted his weight from foot to foot.

"No. It is said after they feed, they are satisfied for days before the need arises again and there are many villages scattered in the jungle."

Rick shook his head. "Be that as it may, we're here for a couple of things. First, do you have any idea where we can find one of these?" He reached into a pocket on his utility vest and pulled out a flat, square crystal, holding it up for Sharn to see. "We're also missing a crew member. He'd be wearing clothes like us. Have you seen him?"

Sharn shook his head. "Anything we find of value we take to the ackarn orcha."

"And that means?"

"Place of death or place of infinite sorrow. Both are interchangeable." Sharn crossed his arms over his chest, hiding his hands in the robe’s wide sleeves. "We have not seen a man such as you. If he is lost, the monsters may have taken him."

"Thanks." Rick tapped his thumb on his weapon. "Any idea how long it takes to get to this place of death?"

Elisa gasped. "Two hours on foot, but no one goes there without an offering."

“I never did believe in monsters.” Rick shrugged and nodded to his teammate. "We'll just have to wing it and pray the ‘monster’ will go for my boyish charm." He chuckled at the joke, but when the villagers merely stared at him, he sighed. "Okay, obviously stand-up comedy is before your time."

ARe

Amazon:

Liquid Silver Books:

I hope you’ll pick up a copy of this book. I had the greatest fun writing it, and besides, the ending is sigh-worthy!

Want to connect with Sandra? Find her here:

Website: http://www.sandrasookoo.com

Believing is Seeing blog: http://sandrasookoo.wordpress.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sandrasookoo

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sandra.sookoo

Giveaway: One random commenter will receive book swag (bookmarks, postcards, etc) plus a cute little fairy tale themed necklace. This giveaway is open to US residents and Canada only. Please leave your contact information. Winner will be drawn January 19^th.

Protect and Serve: The Big Blue !

2012-01-13T23:15:00.003-05:00

Yeah I know - it's not my day to post. **looks around** Kind of quiet around here so I thought I'd share a bit about my new release with you. This is my second book in the Protect and Serve series, and it was just as much fun to write as the first one!

Series: Protect and Serve
Title: The Big Blue
ISBN : 978-1-60521-754-3
Genres: Erotic Romance, Futuristic, Paranormal, Action/Adventure
Themes: Shape shifters, Men and Women in Uniform
Release Date: January 13, 2012
Author: Anne Kane
http://www.AnneKane.com

Publisher URL Changeling Press - Erotic Fiction

BUY NOW!

BLURB:

Tundra is a polar bear shifter with a hankering for some Big Blue. Polar bear shifters are rare these days, and most of them keep a low profile. Tundra knew the rules, but tonight she needed to get laid and it would take a strong man to satisfy her.

Alex's buddies called him Big Blue, and they were closer to the truth than most of them knew. Trolls had a nasty reputation in this brave new world.

The very first time Tundra saw Blue, she knew she had to have him. What she didn't realize was that she'd never want to let him go. When Alex goes to confront the head of a vicious cabal, Tundra follows to make sure he doesn't get hurt. After all, even a troll's hide isn't as thick as a polar bear's.

EXCERPT:

“Turn here. Second place on the left, the one with the blue trim.”

Blue wheeled his monster of a truck around the corner and swung it into my driveway without bothering to slow down. I held onto the dash with both hands as he hit the brakes, skidding to a halt with inches to spare.

“Got here safe and sound.” The sheepish grin on his face was endearing as he gestured at my home with a dramatic sweep of his arm.

He jumped out his side of the cab and came around to open my door, grasping my waist and swinging me to the ground as if I weighed less than a feather. His strong arms held me tight against him, and I leaned into his warm bulk, savoring every luscious inch of muscle. He used one finger to tilt my chin up and seared a kiss across my waiting lips, sending lust curling through me in heated waves. Then he bent down and scooped me up without breaking lip contact, striding up the stairs and kicking open the front door after I’d unlocked it.

We traversed the long hallway in record time, turning into a doorway to the left. I caught a glimpse of my oversized bed just before he ended the kiss with a sharp nip of his teeth to my bottom lip, and tossed me onto it.

Blue was busily undoing the buttons of his shirt, divesting himself of his clothing in quick order. The shirt. The pants. The shoes. The socks.

I propped myself up on one elbow to watch the show. I suppose I should have taken advantage of the lull in the action to tell him a bit about myself. Or at least tell him I’m not entirely human. Maybe he deserved to know that up front but it could put a damper on the night’s activities, and there was no way I was going to miss out on this. Time enough for show and tell if Big Blue was still around at breakfast.

“Go, Blue, go!” It might have been the beer I’d downed earlier but in the dimly lit room, his skin seemed to have a bluish cast to it. Amazing what an imagination can do. I worried my lower lip with my teeth as his hands went to the elastic waist of his boxers, the only thing left covering him. Time to get down to the payload.

He grinned, mischief sparkling in his eyes. He knew how horny I was, and he was going to make me wait. He didn’t know me very well.

Surging to my feet, I grasped the material and ripped it from his hips with a quick twist of my wrist. His cock sprang free and I stood staring at the impressive shaft curving up from his groin. By now, I was sure he really did have a blue tint to him, but I couldn’t recall what species that indicated. Elf? Fairy? Why did I care? That was one impressive cock! “Wow.” Again, I lacked the words to express myself. “Just wow!”

“Glad you’re impressed. Now it’s your turn.” He circled the shaft with one hand and gave it a long, slow pull, his voice lowered to a sexy impatient growl. “Strip.”

I’ve never been accused of being shy. Climbing on the bed, I stood and proceeded to give him the best damn strip show I was capable of. I danced and twirled, humming loudly in time to my own movements as I slowly shed each frilly bit of clothing, tossing garments right and left until I was stark naked. Collapsing on the bed under his heated gaze, I licked my lips and grinned up at Big Blue. “So. How do you like me now?”

BUY NOW!

Where have I been?

2012-01-06T00:21:00.003-05:00

For someone who is supposed to be posting on a bi-weekly basis I sure haven't been holding up my part of this blog! Ijust checked and it seems that the last time I posted was December 2nd. Yikes!!! So, here's a sample list of excuses to choose from as to why I've been so very absent.

Excuse number one: Christmas was coming and I had so much to do. Now this would be way more believable if I had small children all excited about a visit from the man in red. My youngest is now, let me see (does a quick math calculation) thirty five. He's learned to control himself. Somewhat. The nerf-gun battle on Chrismas morning was lots of fun!

Excuse number two: I had the sniffles and I was sneezing and sniffling so much I couldn't type. Yes, I am a wimp. Ask anyone.

Excuse number three: It snowed and I spent all my time shovelling . No one who knows me is going to buy this one. I rationalize my hatred of snow shovelling, by saying I did not make the mess so why should I have to clean it up? Or - If I wait long enough maybe it will all melt.

Excuse number four: I was so busy catching up on my writing and other things that got neglected during my ove, that I'm now behind on my blogging. Honestly. I have a new release coming out on the 13th, and it was so late getiing to my editor that I'm lucky she lives on a different continent and can't just come over and wack me upside the head for cutting things so close.

So, which one do you believe? Or do you maybe thing I have a more sinister excuse?

Anne Kane

http://www.annekane.com/

Freaks, Warriors, & Erect Male Parts

2012-01-05T22:36:00.016-05:00

FREAKS, WARRIORS, & ERECT MALE PARTS by Maree Anderson (for Writers Gone Wild)

Hi y'all,

It's a fly-by post today, I'm afraid--especially since it's practically Friday and I'm supposed to have posted this on Thursday. Ooops. Apparently time moves differently when you're chock-full of antihistamines....

So rather than a post about anything in particular, I'm posting little sound-type-bytes of hopefully interesting stuff *g*

1) Remember my first independently published book, The Crystal Warrior? Well, since I last posted about it when it was first released in around August last year, it's had some wonderful 5-stars reviews:

“The chemistry between these two jumped off the page, and there was no putting The Crystal Warrior aside until I’d made it all the way through. Loved it from the first page to the last!” ~ InTheBook

“The sexy alpha male hero had me hooked from the beginning and I loved the sassy heroine who tamed him (just enough). The plot unfolded at a fast page-turner pace. Finding The Crystal Warrior was like finding a Paranormal Romance Gem. I can’t wait for the next book in the series.” ~ BookLover1960

“... an intelligent, fast, action packed read with a feisty, sassy heroine Chalcedony and a really hunky hero, Wulfenite. This book has it all including laugh out loud humor, danger, twists and turns, and both protagonists have gut wrenching choices to be made that leave you wondering right to the very end.”~ rowenamaywrites

“... the author has crafted [this story] with enough emotion, suspense and twists that I found it hard to put down. It’s easy to see why it won the Clendon Award! I sure hope Ms. Anderson doesn’t make us wait too long for the sequel!” ~ Anne Kane

“... everything about it was beautifully crafted. Characters felt real – even ancient warrior Wulf – and I loved the interaction between modern day independent heroine, Chalcey, and her hero. There was humour, angst, passion, the works! ~ Jennifer Lynne

2) Being 90,000+ words, I've decided to raise the price from $2.99 to $3.99.

So if you'd like to give The Crystal Warrior--and/or Book Two of the series, Ruby's Dream--a try, then now's good *g*. (Note that as at today, the price has been raised on Smashwords and already rolled out to iTunes, but the lower $2.99 price still applies to Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Sony, Diesel, and All Romance eBooks.)

3) Can't remember The Crystal Warrior from a bar of soap? Don't worry, I'm not at all offended. August was a long time ago *g*

Here's the blurb:

She’s a dancer, and the most important thing in her life right now is the success of her new dance studio. He’s an alien Crystal Warrior with one big-ass curse hanging over him. In a moment of weakness she lets him seduce her. Now they’re magically bonded and his life is in her hands. (Winner of the Romance Writers of New Zealand Clendon Award)

Chalcedony (Chalcey) has given up on men. Who’s got time for all that angsty dating crap when she’s got a new dance studio to run? Then she’s given a piece of wulfenite crystal and Lord Wulfenite, Keeper of the Shifting Sands fief, literally pops out of the crystal and plants one on her. Wulf is the man of her dreams… or at least, dressed like an ad for We Love Leather, with killer abs and delectable pectorals, he sure looks like the man of her dreams. But if there’s one thing Chalcey’s learned: If it looks too good to be true, then it sure as heck probably is too good to be true! And Wulf proves to be no exception.

Wulf doesn’t stop to wonder why he’s so attracted to Chalcedony. All he knows is he’s finally escaped from a centuries-long hell and he wants this woman – more than anything he’s wanted in his entire life. Chalcey doesn’t stand a chance. Before she realizes what’s at stake, she’s bonded with him and his life is in her hands. She knows she should walk away and leave him to his fate. No way is she planning on getting stuck with a guy who used to steal women for breeding stock! But the more she learns about Wulf and his past, the more conflicted she becomes.

Only when the Crystal Guardian’s curse threatens everything Chalcey’s worked so hard for, does she finally realize what’s truly important. But even if she can figure out how to save Wulf from his fate, it might be too late.

For reviews, buy links and to read an excerpt from The Crystal Warrior, visit my website Books page.

***

4) Have you checked out the calorie-free 99c eBook treats on offer at the Book Lovers Buffet yet?

There are around 140 eBooks on offer -- all 99c each -- from a huge variety of authors, including moi. Sale ends January 15th so don't miss out. I've already bought a heap *g*.

Speaking of 99c eBooks, my paranormal YA, Freaks of Greenfield High, is included in the Book Lovers Buffet YA and paranormal sections. Just sayin'...

5) Freaks has also garnered some great reviews since it released in September last year:

“If you liked Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles you will love this YA book. I devoured this book in two nights. It totally played out like a movie in my head. Anderson’s descriptions of cyborg Jay were amazing. It was fast paced, riveting, real teen language that I loved and I didn’t want it to end. I seriously hope Anderson will write a sequel featuring more cyborgs.” ~ Renee Pace (Nitty Gritty YA Writings)

“[ Jay and Tyler’s] personal growth as well as their relationship issues are true to life–both heartbreaking and heart warming. This author has become a must read for me. Although this book is a YA, I found I couldn’t put it down and read into the early morning hours.” ~ L.J. Charles

“This book has one of the best heroines ever. When I started the book, I was just going to read a little before going to bed. I ended up finally shutting off my Kindle at 2am. I finished the book the next night. A really enjoyable story. It moved fast, and I think adults will like this as well as teens.” ~ E.S. Rose

“There are three things I’d like to see more of in fiction: ninja, bionics, and cyborgs. Maree Anderson has provided us with the latter, enclosing it in a YA tale of…well, coming to terms with feelings, but the author takes that sap and executes it superbly so it’s no way near as cheesy as it sounds. Read this, and you’ll understand why Jay Smith is so awesome – she’s my new favourite heroine.” ~ Tez Says

But the reeeeally big news is....

6) Freaks of Greenfield High was chosen in December by the Wattpad crew to be one of their featured stories. Huge coup because it means mega-exposure, and a way for me to get my story out there to my target audience.

As at about five minutes ago, Freaks has had more than 103,000 reads from Wattpad readers, and more comments and votes than I can poke a stick at. The feedback has been incredible and the support I've had from the Wattpad community continues to astound me. Looks like I'm going to be writing a sequel to keep the Wattpaders happy *g*

7) If you can't remember what the heck Freaks of Greenfield High was even about (hey, it was released in September, after all) here's the blurb:

When a teenage cyborg is forced to hide out at a small-town high school, the unthinkable happens: she falls in love. (Winner of the Maryland Romance Writers Reveal Your Inner Vixen contest, YA category.)

Jay’s a cyborg who looks just like normal teenage girl. She’s super-strong, super-smart, and she can even appear to grow and age like a human. When a covert organization intent on using Jay as a weapon comes after her, she needs to find a place where she can blend in. Greenfield High seems perfect… except that the boys all think she’s totally hot and keep hitting on her, and she has no clue how to handle the attention. Who knew high school could be so perilous?

To add to her confusion she’s evolving – experiencing human emotions for the first time. And when she encounters ex-jock-turned-outcast Tyler, he sends her logical brain into a spin. She’s just starting to get the hang of this girlfriend/boyfriend thing when her pursuers track her down. Now’s sooo not the time for a cyborg to fall in love and get all emotional!

***

And finally, just for fun (and because we're all grownups here on Writers Gone Wild)....

8) This from Jim Johnston:

"There are some literary subjects that have become total cliches and an attempt to describe an erect penis is one of them." Click here to read more "On the subject of penises".

WARNING: Do not attempt to drink coffee--or anything for that matter--while reading this or you will be sorry.

Cheers, and Happy New Year!

Maree

Touch Me

2012-01-04T15:29:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! To start off what I hope will be a much more productive writing year than 2011 was, that naughty Callie Croix has a brand new release out from Carina Press. It's a hot friends-to-lovers story, which is one of my favorite romance story lines of all time, and of course it features a military hero. Because both Callie and I are addicts.

Blurb: Arriving home on leave from his tour of duty, Army Captain Alex Montoya knows there’s a beautiful woman waiting for him—his best friend’s sister. She’s always been off limits…until now. He fully intends to move them out of being “just friends” and encourage her to release the sexual needs he senses she’s buried deep.
Tianna McIntyre is starting over after her marriage ended. Her ex-husband weakened her self-esteem and caused her to deny her true sexual desires. But being around Alex brings all her dormant fantasies to the surface, and now Tianna feels the stirrings of her secret, submissive wishes.
Determined to help repair the damage Tianna’s ex did to her self-worth, Alex will use whatever means necessary to convince her they’re meant for each other, including tying her down to make sure he has her full attention while he takes her to the heights of pleasure she’s always dreamed of…

Excerpt:
She swallowed, mouth too dry to speak.His seductive touch wreaked havoc on her nervous system, but she was still unsure of his motives. Did he feel sorry for her now? Was she so lonely and desperate for his touch that he could tell?
“Alex.”
“Hmm?”
“What are we doing?”
His thumbs pressed deep on a spot that made her toes curl, and she bit back a moan. “Enjoying each other. Is that okay?”
She nodded. But was that all they were doing? Was that all she meant to him? She’d never had a fling. Didn’t think she could be just that to Alex.
Those clever fingers stroked higher, behind her knee, and paused. Her heart drummed loudly in her ears as she stared at him. God, she was already wet and throbbing for him, and all he’d done was touch her leg.
“Stop.”
She licked her lips. “What?”
“Stop thinking.”
Impossible. Her brain was whirring like a runaway carousel.
His fingertips moved a few inches higher, up her inner thigh. “Just feel.”
More than the words, the tenderness overlying the command in his voice sent a ribbon of heat curling through her. Her leg muscles drew tight while he continued to caress her over-sensitized skin in a lazy, slow pattern. Lighting up her entire body with no effort at all.
Alex’s eyes seemed to glow in the soft lamplight. “Feel good?”
She nodded, afraid to speak. God, it’d been so long for her. She wasn’t sure she could get through this without crying. He meant so much to her. This meant so much to her. But under the heat the nerves crept back in, those vicious little doubts that pricked her with sharp claws.
You take too long. You’re too much work.
You’re not sexy enough.
You’re not even wet. You need serious help. Her ex’s voice.
The hand around her ankle firmed, and she sucked in her breath. “Your skin’s so soft.” He sounded almost reverent, and it made her throat ache. Watching her, almost daring her to look away, his fingers trailed back and forth over her inner thigh, just inches from the edge of her damp thong. “I’m going to ask you something, and I want you to be honest with me.” When she didn’t answer, he finally spoke again. “Are you wet right now, Tia?”
Blood rushed to her cheeks, engulfing her face in heat.
His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled slightly. “Are you?”
She didn’t know how to respond. If she said yes when he’d only been touching her legs, would she look pathetic? Chickening out, she broke eye contact. “Alex…”
“Tell me.” The heat of his fingers seemed to brand her skin.
Avoiding his gaze, she stared hard at the blanket covering her lap and nodded, praying it was the answer he wanted.
“Look at me.”
The ring of command in his voice brought her head up. What she saw in his eyes stole her breath. They were molten, full of raging hunger. For her. The knowledge shocked her.
“I’m going to keep touching you,” he said. “I want to find out what makes you squirm, makes you beg. And what makes you come for me.”
His words wrung a primal shiver out of her. She couldn’t believe what he was saying. How could he be attracted to her when he could have any woman he wanted?
His fingers paused, resting hot against her thigh. “Unless you want me to stop.”
“I don’t want you to stop.” Her voice was a mere thread of a sound.
One side of his mouth curved up. “Okay. But I don’t know what you need unless you tell me.”
Her heart fell. He expected her to say it out loud? The thought terrified her. “What I need?” God, did he somehow know about her secret fantasies? Did he think she was depraved or weird?
He nodded slowly. “I want to know what you need from me. Romance and candlelight aren’t my style, querida, but I’ll give them to you if that’s what you want.”
The endearment made her lower belly flutter in desperate longing, gave her hope. He’d never called her that before. “I don’t need them.”
One coal black brow rose. “Yes you do, and you deserve them. But that’s not the real me.”
Her throat dried up, her heart skipping frantically. Was it possible he wanted the same thing she did? “What…what’s the real you?” she asked before she could stop herself.
A sardonic smile curved his mouth. His tempting, edible mouth that had given her such pleasure this morning. “Not sure you’d like the answer to that.”
Oh yes, she might. Gathering her courage, Tia sat up and placed her hand over his. Her pulse hammered in her ears. “Then show me.”
*end excerpt*

It's a short novella on sale for between $2.69-$2.99, depending on the site you purchase it from. This was another fun story to allow me (er, Callie) to let my hair down and have some fun, but my future stories will be longer with more plot development.

I'll be at the Carina Press blog and Manic Readers tomorrow, giving away copies of Touch Me if you're interested.

Here's hoping everyone has a fantastic 2012!

Kaylea/Callie
www.calliecroix.com
www.kayleacross.com

Ain't Technology Grand?

2012-01-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

Jenna McCormick for Writers Gone Wild

I apologize if this post is a bit manic, but I am running on caffine fumes and sheer force of will here! Holiday hangover, oy.

Happy New Year and may 2012 be the year of the wild writer! And happy release to me because my very first big six published novel, No Limits is now available from Kensington Aphrodisia!

*Throws confetti*

Yeah baby, I have been waiting for this for a LONG time. Well, not this book since it has been less than fifteen months since I wrote it but for the big news of a big sale on a new release. So, to celebrate I'm giving away a big prize to one winner of my No Limits blog tour! A Kindle Fire!

These babies are wicked cool and pure fun. It will handle all of your cloud storage entertainment needs. I bought one for my ten year old and steal it whenever I can. The picture is glorious and the fact that I can hold in my hand something that looks like it was beamed of the bridge of the starship Enterprise sets my little geek heart a flutter. I want one for myself but am holding out until they come out with an effective way to write with it.

Honestly, the way technology changes astounds me. My husband and I snicker over the clunky cell phones and monolithic type hard drives from eighties and early nineties movies. The music may have been bitchin' but being able to listen to it on an iPod is soooooo much better. Imagine watching something like the original Tron or Star Trek: The Motion Picture with obviously dated technology on a Kindle Fire, Nook or iPad. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

And speaking of which, I'm going to share a pretty kick ass invention of my own. Designed by me, to enhance the future, well at least in the confines of No Limits.

Excerpt from No Limits by Jenna McCormick

Alison smiled. “Sure, a little history then. As you probably know, scores of corporate pleasure troves emerged when prostitution was legalized in 2059 after the advent of personal health shields. Most of those starter businesses were individuals or small groups, specifically geared toward male clientele. Prostitution is of course the oldest profession known to humanity, and with the safety screens preventing both transfer of disease and unwanted pregnancy, well, it was really just a matter of time until everyone wanted a piece of the action, so to speak.”

Gen nodded “From what I read, that time period was chaos—people misrepresenting themselves on online databases, moral objections, especially from women’s rights groups.”

Alison smiled. “Exactly so. What sets Illustra apart is the packaging. We abolished the skeeve associated with prostitution, the old style whorehouse concept, while still offering a taste of the forbidden. We were the first to make our database women-friendly by acquiring male therapists, who then agreed to give out free samples, keeping quality control of our roster. Our commitment to excellence is what sets us apart.”

Real history, make believe future history, plus my total germaphobia and Bam! We have a new society filled with well equipped randy people!

Stop on by my blog for the official schedule detailing all my stops on the No Limits blog tour and the official rules. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter. Plenty of chances to win copies of the book and a stellar new start for a new year.

Intergalactic Princess out.

Getting all linky with Maree... again

2011-12-22T00:01:00.001-05:00

GETTING ALL LINKY WITH MAREE... AGAIN By Maree Anderson (for Writers Gone Wild)

Hi all,

Before I forget....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Or,

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Or,

HAPPY [INSERT MEANINGFUL GREETING THAT

COULDN'T POSSIBLY OFFEND ANYONE, HERE]!

On the personal front, you know how things were basically shite in Maree-land when I last posted? Well, I'm happy to report that DD's operation went well, and she's slowly but surely recovering. The surgeon saw her again today, and we're all hopeful that the procedures have worked a treat and she'll be back to playing hockey and doing karate and going to school, and just generally hanging out without feeling sick and nauseous and in varying degrees of pain all the time.

I can't ask for a better Christmas present than that! (But damn, I'm sure gonna try my best to appreciate the heck out of the Kindle I bought for my DH to give me for Christmas *g*)

Anyhoo, I thought it was about time I shared some more of my favorite websites. Yes, my friends, it's time for Maree to get all linky again.

***

First up is Chuck Wendig's blog "terribleminds" -- specifically this post:

25 Things Writers Should Know About Rejection.

*Warning: Do not have drink in hand while reading. Especially do not risk actually drinking anything while reading.*

Here's a sample of the delights ahead should you choose to click the aforementioned link:

4. Rejection always stings. It stings me, you, everybody. Nobody likes to be rejected. A writer who likes being rejected is a writer who is secretly a robot and must be smelted down into slag before he tries to kill us all because he hates our meat. Pain is instructive. And it’s not permanent. Not if you don’t let it be. Some writers savor misery like a hard candy endlessly sucked in the pocket of one’s cheek, but fuck that.

6. It’s not about you. It’s about the work. I mean, unless it is about you. I guess it could be personal. If you send a story off to an editor, and you once shat in that editor’s fishtank, well. That might be personal.

13. Objective rejections will take you to task for two primary things: one, you didn’t follow the submission guidelines. (Can I just say: always follow the goddamn submission guidelines? Even if the submission guidelines are like, “Each corner of the manuscript must be dabbed with the urine of an incontinent civet cat and the writer must write his name backwards for the magic to take hold,” you do that shit because you’re not a pretty pretty unicorn, you’re a horse like the rest of us, goddamnit.)

***

Second up: Joe Konrath's "A Newbie's Guide to Publishing" -- specifically, this post:

Konrath's Resolutions for Writers 2012

He adds to the list every year. This one from 2008 resonated with me:

"I Will Feed My Addiction

Life is busy. There are always things you can and should be doing, and your writing career often comes second.

So make it come first.

Right now, you're reading A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. Not A Newbie's Guide to Leading a Content and Balanced Life.

You want to get published and stay published? That means making writing a priority. That means making sacrifices. A sacrifice involves choosing one thing over another.

If you can't devote the time, energy, and money it takes to pursue this career, go do something else."

And this one from 2012:

5. This is a marathon, not a sprint. You're a writer. You're in this until the day you die. As long as you continue to write good books, you'll find readers.

***

Another great blog to check out is Passive Guy's: "The Passive Voice: Writers, Writing, Publishing, Disruptive Innovation and The Universe"

PG (Passive Guy) takes relevant chunks from a huge variety of blogs--anything from The Washington Post, to Amazon, to the mega-successful indie author team of Saffina Desforges, and posts them in one handy dandy place for you to peruse. He may or may not provide a commentary on those posts--and if he does volunteer an opinion, it's always worth a read.

He provides links to the full blog posts, so you can check them out in their entirety if you like (i.e. if you have enough hours in the frickin' day!)

Here's an example: "How Not To Blog: 22 Things For New Bloggers To Avoid."

For this post, PG selected five little gems of wisdom from the list of 22. (There are full explanations of why these are big, bad, no-nos for newbie bloggers, but I'll just list the titles here):

1. Ignoring comments
4. Whining
5. White text on dark backgrounds
13. Acting like you're a rock star from Mars
21. Letting blogging take over your life

And if you have a burning desire to read the full list and explanations, the link to Anne R. Allen's blog post is provided.

I like PG's method of posting snippets, because when I'm busy, I can scan the summary post and see immediately whether the full post will interest me and it's worth clicking on the link to the full post.

For example, PG posted this one: "How much should an ebook cost?" The article was by Seth Godin and it began like this:

"This is the wrong question.

The right question is: How much will an ebook cost?

Because the answer isn’t up to one author or one publisher or even a price-fixing cartel. It’s up to the market, which is a far more complicated entity. There are no shoulds in the market, just reality."

And although a few more paragraphs were quoted, that intro was enough for me to click through to The Domino Project, and read the full article by Mr. Godin.

***

Last on today's list is Joel Friedlander's "The Book Designer".

Joel's blog is a Mecca of excellent advice from anything from Getting Ready To Publish, Understanding Fonts & Typography, Self-Publishing Basics, EBooks & EReaders, to his weekly This Week in the Blogs summaries.

For those dipping their toes in the wonderful world of blogging or designing covers, here's a good one:

Finding Photographs for a Book or Blog Gets Better, where he talks about a couple of little interface enhancements that have made shopping for royalty-free photos on stock photo sites a whole heap easier.

I also learn a lot from checking out his monthly e-Book Cover Design Awards. What I especially like about this site is that Joel will generally only comment on covers that he really likes, or feels could be improved with some practical advice. They're not open to commenters, so that cover you've slaved over won't be ripped to shreds by a bunch of people who don't "get" the genre.

Here's the link to his November e-Book Cover Design Awards & October eBook Cover Design Awards. (Pssst. If you scroll through October's, you might see a couple of covers submitted by a Wild Writer *g*)

And last but not least, a word of wisdom from an unknown dog... who doesn't seem to mind his owner doing weird-ass things to his face while someone takes a photo which goes viral.

Smile while you still have teeth :)

See you next year!

Hugs,

Maree

More Hot Ex-Military Cowboys

2011-12-21T11:26:00.000-05:00

Just in time for the holidays, Callie Croix's last erotic romance novella in the Dumen Ranch series is out. This time it's big brother Dillon's story, and he's quite the delicious alpha male.

In keeping with the season of giving, Callie would like to give away a copy of Dillon's Claim to a commenter here on WGW. She's always on the lookout for a hot new hero to read about, so if you have any recommendations, fire away!

Blurb: Charissa Myers attends a bachelorette weekend at a Texas guest ranch, knowing she’ll have to confront Dillon Dumen. The sexy cowboy is everything she’s ever wanted in a man but, gun-shy after a previous BDSM encounter gone bad, she denied her need to submit to the irresistible Dom. She expects his anger, but what she doesn’t expect is Dillon’s determination to finish what they started all those months ago.

Dillon doesn’t understand what spooked Charissa in the first place, but now that she’s on his turf, he wants a hell of a lot more from her than answers. He’s got two days to weaken her resistance and stake his claim once and for all. And this time, he’s not letting her go without a fight.

Excerpt:
Shock rippled through her at the sensual feel of his mouth on hers. Her hands immediately went to his shoulders, palms pressing against the contours of solid muscle. He didn’t let go, the gentle pressure of his hand at her nape reinforcing his control and heightening all her senses. The kiss was hard, possessive, but his lips were soft and warm on hers. A startled moan escaped, her body tingling with a rush of pleasure.

She wanted this. Had craved it for so long. God help her, her fingers curled around his shoulders instead of pushing him away. Her lips softened and parted beneath his, the tender stroke of his tongue making her sex clench in anguish. He kissed her like he’d been dying to taste her, licking and caressing all the sensitive places inside her mouth, that strong hand cradling the back of her neck.

All too soon, he pulled back, leaving her hot, confused. Wanting more.

Dillon raised a hand and trailed a questioning fingertip over her cheekbone, holding her spellbound.

“Something spooked you the last time I did that,” he said in a low voice, his eyes far too knowing. “What was it? This?”

Before she could pull away, he threaded his other hand into her hair and held her head still. Letting her feel a taste of his authority, making her even wetter at the thought of exactly how it would translate into the bedroom. The dominant side of him frightened her as much as it aroused her. She swallowed, hating the betraying stillness in her body as she softened, wordlessly affirming her desire to give up control. His steely eyes pinned her mercilessly, gauging her reaction, watching for any sign of vulnerability. This was the predator she’d sensed lurking inside him, and this time there was no escape. She closed her eyes to block out his scrutiny.

“Look at me,” he commanded softly.

Fighting with herself, she drew a deep breath and forced herself to meet his gaze. She swallowed again as his long fingers rubbed against her scalp, his grip commanding, yet so tender it tied her in knots. For the life of her, she couldn’t make herself pull away.

“What were you so scared of, Charissa? Maybe this?” He bent and brushed his mouth over hers. Gently this time, a beguiling caress of lips and tongue that made her catch her breath, press closer to him. Tempting her in ways a more forceful touch never could have. The man was lethal with his mouth. She could just imagine how well he’d use the rest of his body.

*end excerpt*

Hope that helps stave off the winter chill! Happy holidays, everyone.

Callie Croix (Kaylea's evil twin)

www.calliecroix.com

What I want for Christmas

2011-12-20T00:54:00.000-05:00

Jenn Hart for writers gone wild.

Winner of the autographed ARC of NO Limits, Ranae Rose!
Ranae, send your mailing address to me at jlhart79 at gmail dot com and I'll send you your book!

I've started a trend of being greedy this year. Not so much with money or buying stuff for myself but, I'm becoming more greedy with my time. There never seem to be enough hours in the day to do what has to be done what should get done and what I want to do. So the shoulds, like folding the clothes immediately when they come out of the dryer, the floor getting swiffered every day or inviting the relatives over for a meal, falling by the wayside.

In essence my family is walking around wrinkled and a little bit less stressed because I am less stressed, at least in my personal life. I've even had time to be a little bit bored. ;-)

So, in the greedy spirit, I have to say what I want for Christmas more than anything else is a DOOR! Specifically an office door with an office behind it. I have office stuff but it's scattered throughout the house. Desk is covered with kiddie flotsam, mail in the deal with later pile, receipts for personal AND business taxes and just crap that I don't know what to do with but haven't gotten up the wherewithal to pitch yet.

The computer on the desk is majorly jacked up; spyware, adware AND a Trojon horse. Never let it be said that when I set out to snarl something up I give it less than my all. But I still have stuff on there that I need to extract, specifically pictures of my kids from the last decade so it sits there, waiting to explode.

My laptop, when not on my lap sits on my end table which also holds out compressor for my son's nebulizer, remote controls, tissues, pens, my glasses case and whatever hasn't been dumped on my desk but the menfolk think needs to be dumped somewhere where I will eventually deal with it.

And this space which has over the last year since the downfall of the old PC, has become my writing zone of sorts. Problem is, it's in the living room, i.e. the hub of activity in our house. Front door is five feet away. Christmas tree blocking my view of the outside. T.V right in my line of sight and often there's a husband or son wanting to watch it.

I was supposed to have an office. Back in 2006, when we moved to this house I mentally claimed one of the upstairs bedrooms for my office. But in the midst of moving a bed got parked in there and it became the guest room. And then, when we needed to split up the boys who were sharing what is now the playroom, it became my oldest son's room. Best view in the house and he keeps the blinds closed. Breaks my heart.

Sure I have a bedroom, which I share with a husband and a neurotic beagle. I also share the living room, the kitchen and the den/junk storage area with them. How the hell in a 2,400 square foot house do I not have even a closet of space to call my own?

So yeah, I want a fricking door for Christmas, something I can symbolically use to shut out the world, or more realistically, I can use it to shut out some of the noise so I can hold a thought.

How about you? What are you wishing for this holiday season?

See you next year!

HOLIDAY CHEER

2011-12-19T14:14:00.012-05:00

I've always thought of myself as having a little Grinch in me. I'm not the holly jolly sort and usually don't go in for a lot of sappiness. But the last week or so the spirit of the season has caught up with me big time!

It started on Friday when I read this link Kaylea posted on Facebook to a news report about good Samaritans anonymously paying off the Kmart layaway accounts of struggling families with young children. By the time I was halfway through the article I was all choked up and close to honest-to-God tears.

Then Saturday night I caught a re-run of CNN's Heroes of 2011 broadcast (originally aired last Monday) honoring 10 adults and several teenagers for their selfless giving to others. These are people who aren't famous and don't grandstand, just quietly go about their good deeds. The Hero of the Year, midwife Robin Lim, runs a clinic offering free prenatal care, birthing services and medical aid to poor women in Bali. Then there was the teenager who built 18 homes for poor families in Mexico by this 18th birthday, and the world class chef who cooks pasta dinners seven days a week at the Boys & Girls Club in Anaheim, California, and on and on. Again I felt myself misting up at the thought of how good people can be.

In the spirit of the season, I've decided to up my game by making additional contributions to a couple of organizations I've supported this year:

This weekend the news reports told of the last U.S. combat troops leaving Iraq for good, but we're still bogged down in Afghanistan. There, medical personnel with the Army's 10th Mountain Division have launched Operation Spartan Stork, dedicated to winning the hearts and minds of the local population--not as that phrase was used in Viet Nam, by bombing the living crap out of everything that moved, but by truly helping. Operation Spartan Stork is trying to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rates in Afghanistan--the second highest in the world--by distributing birthing kits designed to minimize the risk of infection in home deliveries, and by training local women how to use the kits. The Operation Spartan Stork facebook page has information on how to help by sending supplies so they can assemble more birthing kits.

Also in Afghanistan, the Afghan Women's Writing Project (AWWP) is helping that country's women writers share their voices with the world. The AWWP operates two "writing huts" in secret locations--secret because some Afghan men don't think women should be empowered to express themselves. The writing huts are sanctuaries where women can transmit their work to the outside world through the internet, receive mentoring from American women authors and professors, and participate in writing workshops and reading salons.

Happy holidays to all of you, and may you find joy in giving, whether of your money, your time or your talent, at home or abroad.

Something's Gotta Give

2011-12-08T00:01:00.001-05:00

SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE By Maree Anderson (for Writers Gone Wild)

Hi y'all,

Has it been two weeks already since I last posted? *checks and counts the Thursdays on her calendar* Uh. Yeah. It has. Crikey.

In my defense I've had a heap on, both professionally and personally. So I guess it's little wonder the days are getting away from me. So far this week I've had a junior prizegiving for DD, two trips to the chiropracter--also for DD, one trip to the hospital for an ultrasound and another round of blood tests (DD), one trip to the hairdresser (me), one hurried round of Christmas shopping, and by the time tomorrow comes around, I'll have had four--make that five, counting this one!--guest blog posts go live.

Yikes. Maybe if I say it all really quickly it won't seem so much?

I get to chill a bit over the weekend--as much as a parent whose kid is going into hospital for an exploratory op on Monday can chill--and then it's all on again.

Plus, there's the added worry of finding out yesterday that my mum is going in for an op on her hands next week.

My head is spinning. I've had my gym membership on hold and that's now been lifted, but I can't bring myself to get there. Even getting into my workout gear and driving 10 minutes to the gym to do an hour-and-a-half workout seems like an almost insurmountable task. We're supposed to go to karate tonight, but DD is not up to it, DH is nursing a chronic head cold, DS is bone-tired and just hanging in until school ends for him next week. And me? I reckon I need a night to chillaxe and make like a couch-potato. I suspect if I did summon the energy to go to karate, my brain is so overloaded right now I'd forget everything I'd been taught and the yellow belts would laugh at me. So this is me, crying "Uncle!"

Something's gotta give, I tell you.

And that "something" might well be Christmas cards this year. I'm usually done with them by now, but somehow I just can't even bring myself to start them. Right now, it's all I can do to make sure I've remembered to buy everyone a present and get them all off in the post so they arrive on time. So apologies in advance to all my friends and rellies. It's not that I've forgotten to send you a card, or you've been crossed off my list. It's just....

It's just that writing out a whole heap of Christmas cards is one thing I can choose not to do right now, I guess. (Sorry, guys.)

On a happier note, I've just remembered one thing I can tell you that might be fun for y'all to know.

A group of indie authors have gotten together to organize a holiday treat for anyone who loves buying eBooks.

BOOK LOVERS' BUFFET "HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA"!

From December 1st through to January 15th, all eBooks listed on this website are US$0.99c at a variety of etailers.

The Book Lovers' Buffet is an all-you-can-eat 99c eBook treat!

There's around 140 eBooks to choose from, in a variety of genres--something for everyone!

Here's the direct links to the individual Book Lovers’ Buffet website pages:

contemporary

erotica

fantasy/horror/sci-fi/time-travel

historical

inspirational

mystery/suspense/rom-suspense

Load up!

You won't gain a pound ;-)

Cheers,

Maree

2012: What's in Store for the Wild Writers?

2011-12-07T12:57:00.000-05:00

With the holidays rapidly approaching, I've been wondering what surprises the Wild Writers have in store for us next year. I've got several Callie Croix releases coming out over the next few months, and one Kaylea release in April (um, gotta get my butt in gear and get the next military book done!). What about the rest of you?

Tell us what forthcoming releases we can expect, and I know a couple of you have books coming out with big NY publishers, which is really exciting to those of us that dream of accomplishing that someday.

In 2012 I've decided I have to be more accountable for my writing. When things get hard in a WIP, I've been really struggling to get through and finish. Something's gotta give, man! 2012's my year.

Please share your writing resolutions and releases for the New Year. It's going to be a great one.

It's December already?

2011-12-06T09:12:00.006-05:00

Jennifer L Hart for Writers Gone Wild
Where did this year go? Seriously, it's December, and the clock on 2011 is almost out!
December is always a crazy busy month around the Hart household and this year is no exception. My oldest turns ten on Saturday. As my Nana used to say, Holy Crow McIntyre, I have been a mother for almost a decade! Exactly two weeks after his birthday is Christmas Day, which is a big event around here (whether I want it to be or not.) I plan on foisting the wrapping for the majority of gifts onto DH's shoulders because I am head over heels IN LOVE with my current WIP and can't stand to leave it for very long. Plus, I stink at wrapping. We're talking open sewer kind of stink. My creativity does not translate to manual dexterity. And it would be awesome to finish the rough draft this year, no matter how unrealistic that may be, since I'm only on chapter four.

Then my husband's birthday is New Year's Eve. More shopping, more wrapping, more cake. Plus this year the release of Jenna's No Limits is January 1 so I need to think about promotion and blogs and giveaways, oh my!

The extended family has a habit of stressing me out, asking about cookie baking, holiday lights sightseeing, presents ect. Why are they asking me? Did I somehow sign up to be Grand Miester Christmas Coordinator?

During the holiday season it is way too easy to get overwhelmed, to forget stuff, sometimes important stuff. I missed pastry with parents for my son's fourth grade class yesterday. Totally spaced out. But my terrific easy going kid shrugged it off. This is why I spent my hard earned royalties to buy him a Kindle Fire for his birthday. Because he is just that cool, so sweet, so forgiving. In the midst of all this craziness, he's just happy. It makes me want to reward him.

Other relatives are getting big old lumps of coal. You stress me out, you are getting coal. The end.

So who is your guiding star during the holiday season, who makes all the work worth it for you? I'll pick a winner and send you an advanced copy of No Limits, signed my my sultry alter ego, Jenna McCormick.

Happy Holidays!

The perfect house aka my new home.

2011-12-02T00:06:00.006-05:00

Well I did it. I moved. Packed everything I owned into assorted boxes,threw out more stuff than I thought I owned, took load after load to the second hand store. Now I remember why I don't do this very often. It's alot of work. Hard work! Actually, this is only the third time in my adult life that I've moved, and it's the first time I did all by my lonesome.

Well, not really all by my lonesome. I may be the only one who lives there but I have an awesome bunch of friends, and they all showed up to help. I was truly touched by the amount of help I got. I rented a great big cube van (well it looked big when I tried backing it into the parking space!) and my girlfriend and I loaded it full of boxes and all the awkward breakable stuff on the Friday and took them over to the new place. We unpacked all the kitchen stuff and got that load sorted out so that the next morning, when all the big strong guys showed up, we didn't have to worry about them breaking anything labelled fragile.

By noon on Saturday all the furniture was in place, and by three in the afternoon my bedroom, kitchen and living room were all in a liveable state. Nothing got broken and even the pets love the new place. The cats love all of the windows with the big, wide, sit-on-me window sills. My terrier loves the huge workshop out back with all the interesting smells as well as the huge yard. It is completly fenced so I don't have to worry about her.

The grandkids are delighted with the backyard, which came with a huge sandbox full of Tonka Toys! (All my grandkids are boys) They also love the fact that I now live in town, so they get to drop in lots when Mum and Dad are in town. And this weekend, they are coming to sleep over because the Santa Clause parade is on, and guess who's new house is right on the parade route!

Did I mention this really is a perfect house?

Anne Kane

http://www.annekane.com/

Anne McCaffrey: Gone Away, Gone Ahead

2011-11-24T03:57:00.007-05:00

Anne McCaffrey: Gone Away, Gone Ahead by Maree Anderson (for Writers Gone Wild)

Hi all,

I was saddened to hear that one of my all-time favorite authors, Anne McCaffrey, passed away on Monday. She was 85, and passed away at her home that she'd called "Dragonhold" because it'd been "paid for by dragons".

Anne was probably best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series, which smacked traditional Science Fiction mores into orbit by combining elements of pure science fiction with fantasy. Here be dragons... literally!

I had no idea when I picked up Dragonflight, the first book of the Dragonriders series, that it was written in 1968! I would have been in my early twenties at the time I discovered her books, and to this day, more than two decades later, her books with their fantastical worlds and compelling characters, are beautiful examples of writing that for me, never seems to date. Little wonder I have an entire bookshelf devoted to her books.

Although I love the Dragonrider books, The Crystal Singer trilogy, and series that kicked off with The Rowan--among many others--my favorite Anne McCaffrey book still remains Restoree, which is incidentally the first novel she ever published, back in 1967.

I've read that Restoree was written as a "jab" at the way women were typically portrayed in science fiction stories. Anne remarked she was always reading about "women cowering in a corner, awaiting rescue by the hero". She found this objectionable: she would have been in there fighting!

The heroine of Restoree, Sara, is an "introverted, beak-nosed, 24-year-old virgin librarian from New York" who rescues both herself and the hero.

Here's the blurb for Restoree:

"She was walking in Central Park when it happened...

And afterwards... after it was over... she found she had a new and beautiful body... a new and beautiful face. She was apparently a nurse in a 'home' controlled by guards, doctors, drugs and barred windows. And she was taking care of a man who appeared to be an idiot. But Sara knew she was not a nurse, and that the man was not an idiot. In fact he was Harlan, Regent of Lothar...

But what--and where--was Lothar?"

Anne was a prolific writer, with a boundless imagination. You only need to cast your gaze down this list of her books to understand just how prolific and very talented she was.

As one of the authors on a writing group said, quoting directly from Anne's Dragonrider books: "She's gone away, gone ahead". How very fitting.

Rest in peace, Anne. You will be sorely missed.

Maree

No Holds Barred

2011-11-23T04:02:00.001-05:00

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends south of the border! Yes, I realize it's tomorrow, but I didn't want to miss my chance.

I had another naughty Callie Croix release come out this past Monday. No Holds Barred is what I'm calling a vanilla menage with BDSM elements. It's a short, quick read, chock full of emotion and tenderness. Even if menage stories aren't your thing, this one might be okay. To be honest, I'm still shocked that it came out of my fingertips.

To keep everyone warm this holiday season, I'm giving away a PDF copy to a commenter here on WGW.

Here's the blurb:
During a playful talk about fantasies, Caitlin’s fiancé offers to give her a threesome—with his best friend, Liam, who’s coming to spend the weekend. At first Cait is shocked that Nathan could entertain the thought of sharing her with another man, but once he’s planted the idea her imagination runs wild, leaving her deeply aroused—yet still unsure about what the implications could be for her and Nate’s relationship.

Nathan’s watched Cait struggle to hide her attraction to Liam for years. He knows she’s nervous, but he also knows that by making her most intimate fantasies come true he can bring her to heights of pleasure she’s only imagined, and strengthen their bond. There’s only one way to help her overcome her inhibitions—by planning a night of ecstasy she’ll never forget…

Ha! What do you think of them apples? If you'd like to read an excerpt, you can find one here.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Thanksgiving: Part 2

2011-11-22T00:12:00.001-05:00

Jennifer L Hart for Writers Gone Wild

Okay, I had something shallow and vapid about cover designed scheduled to post and then I read Gail's thanksgiving post and decided that I'm not that much of a tool and I should maintain the facade of being a decent human being.

(For the vapid cover design post see the Laundry List)

What I'm thankful for.

1) Steam fresh vegetables- Because I can always add a side dish of healthy fare to our dinner in under five minutes. This has come in particularly handy when I scorch the pot AND the steamer full of broccoli that we were supposed to have in the first place because I was struck with an idea I just had to write down during meal prep.

2) My husband is currently employed and we have health care with co pays. Because for parts of this past year he wasn't and we didn't. Then he was and then wasn't and then was, and then wasn't and health care without co pays is scary, especially when they charge $97.00 for a doctor to tell me to give my asthmatic child Claritin.

3.) Maree and Robin have helped me navigate cover design, thus enabling me to self-publish and collect awesome reviews on books that would have not been seen otherwise. And Rae Monet for designing Jenna's glorious website and the beautiful covers that make up for a lot! (See the latest here)

4.) Liane, Gail, Kaylea and Logan as well as Candi Wall and Courtney Sheets for taking time out of their extremely busy lives and beta reading for me.

5.) Saranna because she reads every damn thing I send her, good, bad and smutty, fixes it and asks for more. Who listens to me kvetch for hours and is still willing to be my roommate at RT.

6.) My children and husband who are happy and healthy and starting to get the idea that me writing means, unless you are on fire, you better not interrupt.

7.) And lastly, to all the people who have read one of my books. Thank you.

Gotta run before I scorch another pot.

THANKSGIVING - WHAT ELSE? ;-)

2011-11-21T05:00:00.006-05:00

On Saturday I read an excerpt my friend Grace Greene posted from her debut inspirational romance, Beach Rental. In the opening, the heroine, Juli, is working as a waitress at a fancy schmancy catered party. She sees a man across the room and feels a pull of attraction. But he looks right through her. She’s a nobody to him, invisible. This realization triggers a panic attack that sends Juli running out into the garden, where she meets her future husband.

Shortly after reading this excerpt, I went to the commissary at Fort Sam Houston to do my normal weekly food shopping. Piss poor timing on my part, considering it was the last Saturday before our American Thanksgiving. The place was a zoo. I worried I’d be in line forever, but management was on top of the situation with a boatload of extra cashiers. I was out in near record time. As I directed the bagger to the aisle where I’d parked my car, I started planning the workout I’d do when I got home.

Then she said, “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

Say what? I looked at the middle-aged woman. I could swear I’d never seen her before in my life. She was a Juli to me, invisible. Shit! I’m a writer. I should notice things, and especially people.

I mumbled something about how I’d been shopping on Sundays lately. I was pretty sure she wasn’t fooled, but she tried to ease my discomfort by saying, “You probably don’t recognize me because I’m not wearing makeup.” She went on to explain that she’d been called in to work at the last minute and had rushed to get to the store for one of the biggest tipping days of the year (baggers work for tips only).

Then she mentioned that the holidays make her sad, because her husband, who died a little less than two years ago, loved them so much. They’d been married for 19 years. She reminded me of my friend W., a recent widow who’s struggling. My heart ached for them. At least my family is in good health.

We got to my car and I pointed. “That one.”

“Yes, I remember,” she answered, “the fancy one.”

Fancy? I love my car, a Mustang convertible, but it’s eight years old and I don’t think of it as fancy. I’d been wondering if I should paint it red, or replace it, even though it still has low mileage.

All this reminded me of how much I take for granted – how often I look at the hole instead of the donut. In the spirit of this week, I’ve decided to be more grateful.

For my day job, which isn’t perfect but puts good food on a very nice table.

For my family, who aren’t perfect but love me even though I’m not either.

For my car, which isn’t perfect but still makes me look like a hot chick in a convertible.

And for the people whose belief in me as a writer keeps me going when I’m having trouble believing in myself – my agent, Jill; the Sanibel Divas, Liane, Saranna, Jenna and Robin W.; the Uno’s Goddesses, Kate, Peggy and Robin K.; and of course the Writers Gone Wild. May your blessings and the turkey on your platters be abundant!

Ruby's Dream

2011-11-10T00:01:00.002-05:00

RUBY'S DREAM By Maree Anderson (for Writers Gone Wild)

Hi all,

I'm celebrating the release of the second book in my Crystal Warriors paranormal romance series -- kinda. By "celebrate", I mean I put it up on Smashwords and took a break from writing for one whole day... before the need to write started to drive me crazy. Sad, huh? That muse of mine is a freaking slave-driver, I tell ya.

So while I wait for 1) premium distribution approval from Smashwords for Barnes & Noble et al, and 2) DH to find time to clean up my Word-generated html code so I can upload this new book to Amazon, I've brushed off another old manuscript and decided that I really like the story. Hence I'm making it my next writing project. Writers, huh? They just can't stay away from their computers.

But back to my latest release.

It's called RUBY'S DREAM and it's Ruby and Kyan's story.

If you've already read The Crystal Warrior, you might remember that Kyan was mentioned a couple of times. He's a kinsman of Wulf's, and a bit of a ladies man... as this excerpt from The Crystal Warrior shows:

Damn this land to Halja for eternity! If he stayed here much longer he would be in danger of becoming as weak and pliant as the females he and his men had captured.

He left his mount to graze, knowing the horse would not stray from such excellent fodder, and strode down from the hillock, calling for his Tehun-Leader. “Malach, have we filled our quota of females yet?”

The older man shook his head. “Not quite, Lord Keeper. This last village ought to be doing it.”
Wulf grunted. “Good. Then let us make haste so that we may depart this benighted land.”

“If I might make a suggestion, Lord Keeper?”

“Speak.”

“It has been noticed that Kyan is eyeing up one of captives.”

“What do my men say of this, Malach?”

“They say nothing. They merely bide their time to see whether or not Kyan will be permitted to take his pick.”

Wulf’s lip curled. “Like the priests, my kinsman has become overly concerned with his own comforts. Doubtless he bemoans the chill, and rather than riding into battle, he desires a female to warm his privates. If he does not take due care he will become a pathetic and sniveling coward—as are the men of this land.” He flexed the shoulder of his sword-arm, working a strained muscle.

Malach remained silent and Wulf allowed himself a moment of pride at the fearsome reputation he had so carefully cultivated amongst his peers. Men learned quickly to hold their tongues around the Lord Keeper of the Shifting Sands fief. One careless word would find a man on the wrong end of Wulf’s fist and leave him with his teeth rattling about in his skull—if he were fortunate.

“The females do not yet comprehend the truth of their situation and I would not have it said my men take advantage of their ignorance,” he said. “If Kyan harbors a fondness for one of them, then he will offer for her on the Choosing Block as is our way. He rides with us. See to it.”

“It shall be done, Lord Keeper.” Malach strode off to deliver his Lord’s orders.

Wulf watched his Tehun-Leader give the blond man the dressing down he deserved. Kyan’s hand drifted to his sword but Malach placed a cautionary hand on his arm.

Wulf met his kinsman’s gaze, unblinking. A silent battle of wills ensued until Kyan dropped his eyes. Then the man shrugged and grinned, appearing to shed his bad humor as easily as a sand-viper shed its skin. Pounding his fist over his heart, he gestured obeisance to his Lord Keeper.

Yep. That pretty much sums up Kyan... until he meets the woman he didn't know he needed, and she turns his life upside down *evil grin*

RUBY'S DREAM is set in New Zealand and all the characters are Kiwis, like me--except for my Crystal Warrior hero Kyan, of course. (Hence a handy-dandy glossary of New Zealand slang at the back of the book. Yanno, because I do have some funny turns of phrase that make my US friends snicker or wonder what the heck I'm talking about *g*)

Here's the blurb:

RUBY'S DREAM

By Maree Anderson

She’s a plus-sized woman with sub-zero self esteem. He’s a Crystal Warrior, and the gods’ gift to women. But for a chance at the Happy Ever After they both deserve, they must learn that appearances can be deceiving... and pass the Crystal Guardian’s test before time runs out for them both.

What’s worse than being plus-sized, boyfriend-less, and turning thirty? For Ruby, it’s getting The Worst Birthday Present Ever from the brother she adores. So other than scoffing chocolate, what’s a girl to do? Why, register for a triathlon of course. Only one problem—okay, two: she can’t swim or ride a bike. And she’s emailed all her friends and colleagues, so it’s too late to back out now.

Then her best friend gives Ruby a piece of kyanite crystal, and when she accidentally breaks it, she encounters the most beautiful man she’s ever seen in her life. He’s her dream man, a veritable leather-clad Adonis. The way he looks at her makes Ruby feel special–sexy even. Wow. Best birthday present ever! But hang on, how could someone like him possibly be attracted to someone like her?

Kyan can’t figure Ruby out, either. He knows only one way to get a woman out of his system, and that’s to seduce her. But making love to Ruby proves to be a big mistake. Now he wants more from her–perhaps more than Ruby is prepared to give. She’ll have to make the next move, though, because now Kyan’s learned about the curse that binds him to her, he refuses to be responsible for taking away her right to choose—even if it does mean he’ll be bound back to his hellish crystal.

By the time Ruby learns the disturbing truth about Kyan’s past, he’s embedded himself deep in her heart. She’s more than halfway in love with him—not that she’ll ever admit that for fear of a humiliating rejection. Still, she’s got plenty of time to sort through this mess, right? And then the Crystal Guardian intervenes, and Ruby realizes too late that time has run out for them both.

I'd also like to share the dedication with you. Because I didn't just write the character of Ruby as plus-sized on a whim:

"This one’s for any woman who’s ever cringed at the thought of buying a new swimsuit, or had someone tell her she should join a gym."

Yep. Been there, done that. Still carry the emotional scars and deal with low self-esteem to prove it. You gotta love being a "real" woman in this day an age, right? *wry grin*

You can read Kyan and Ruby's "first meeting" excerpt from Ruby's Dream by clicking this link -- just scroll down past the blurb.

And if you'd like to read a longer sample, (or make my day by buying the darn thing *g*), here's the link to Ruby's Dream on Smashwords.

That's it for me, folks. It's bum in seat and back to my rewrites.

See you in a fortnight... uh, make that two weeks!

Cheers

Maree

The Worst Kind of Writer's Block

2011-11-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

While a bunch of you Wild Writers are off and running with your NaNo projects (and my hat's off to you, by the way), I'm stuck in the middle of my WIP. I've been stuck before because I wasn't sure how to make all the pieces in a book come together, or maybe I couldn't figure out what direction to take with a plot. This time, it's much more serious and therefore, troubling.

I have the worst kind of writer's block: Literary Constipation. Oh yes, it's real. Symptoms include staring at the blinking cursor in the middle of my Word document, knowing what is supposed to happen in the scene, but no words come to me. None.

Literally, I can't seem to even write a sentence. I know the characters, their GMC, I know that plot, but...nothing. I've gone beyond alarm into distress and am fast sinking into despair. This is book 2 of my Bagram Special Ops series, and I'm a third of the way through the draft. Readers have emailed me asking when it will be out. Angela James of Carina Press emailed to say they were very pleased with my numbers for Deadly Descent, and she hoped I would have another book ready for release in 2012.

Hello, the executive editor contacted me saying they wanted the next book, and I still can't write the damn thing. I'm not sure if it's because I question the structure of each sentence as I write it. (i.e. No, I can't use "and" that much--I'll have to change it so there are more "ing" words. I can't use "As" so much to start a sentence. Too many "then"s in this sentence.) Maybe it's because the plot is similar to the first book.

Doesn't really matter why I'm stuck, only that I am. So I'm asking you writers out there, what tricks do you have up your sleeve that help un-stick you in a WIP? Aside from starting another project. That's too easy, and I'd never get this baby finished. Got any tips?

A NaNo Uh Oh

2011-11-08T14:07:00.007-05:00

Jennifer L Hart for Writers Gone Wild.

Yeah, I goofed big time on National Novel Writing Month. But since a goof has been my theme for most of this year, it isn't really all that surprising.

Instead of doing what I've done during every other national novel writing month for the past three years, which is start a new project and just roll with it, I decided in October to do my fifty thousand words on an already established project. Why? Well basically because I've started way too many this year and am feeling a little stretched. So, a few weeks ago I wrote out a synopsis for my work in progress, a mystery, which took me from my first inciting incident through the end of the book.

Problem was, well, that book was a hybrid mystery novel that had been rewritten and while the plot was solid the characters, especially my heroine, was somewhat schizophrenic. On the first of November I sat down and wrote out exactly what I needed to, 1667 words, which is the daily average to complete a 50,000 work draft in thirty days. Second day same thing, third day, same thing. You get the drift.

I was so obsessed with the numbers, I paid absolutely no attention to the story. It was easy to put away, I looked forward to putting it away. Essentially I had the, well it's good enough for government work mindset. Which meant the book sucked rotten eggs.

Yesterday, on day seven, I deleted my entire first week's worth of progress. 10K, gone. Because while I loved the events, the book was not my best. And if I can't do better than I've done before, what's the point in doing it?

So now, I've started over. 2300 words in today. And I could have done more but I now have a higher word count to maintain on a daily basis, and I find it's better to stop when I know what comes next than to burn out early on and then twiddle my thumbs the next day. I'm still aiming for 50 K of new material by the end of the month, I'm a pro, if I can't manage this, I don't deserve to be a full time writer. Because the whole point of Nano is not just to write 50,K in 30 days but writing 50 K in 30 days that you can then do something with after the word hangover dissipates, with the end goal being a book I love so much I want to read it again and so do my readers. Anything less isn't worth doing.

New Release: Imperial Haven

2011-11-04T00:01:00.000-04:00

Today is moving day, so I'm cheating. I loaded a promo post in advance. Imperial Haven released on October 28th, and is the third book in my Mating Season series

Series: Mating Season
Title: Imperial Haven
ISBN : 978-1-60521-701-7
Genres: Paranormal, Futuristic
Themes: Shape shifters, Magic
Release Date: October 28th, 2011
Author: Anne Kane
http://www.annekane.com/

Publisher URL Changeling Press - Erotic Fiction

BUY NOW!

BLURB:

Caitlin is a high-class data thief. She knows how to get in and out of a mark's house without detection, but this time something went wrong. Kyran not only caught her red-handed, tapping into his computer system, he also seems to think they have some kind of bond-mate thing going.
What's a girl to do when the bounty hunter you were stealing from turns out to be an Imperial Were-Panther with the hots for you?

EXCERPT:

Caitlyn peered around the edge of the railing and studied the ship in dock slip number eighty-seven. A long-range scouting vehicle, it belonged to a bounty hunter named Kyran. What kind of name was that anyways? Kyran? Sounded like a small parasite that the fish on her home planet feasted on.

Satisfied that the docking corridor was empty, she scurried over to the ship and held the sonar lock pick over the security box. It hummed for a few seconds before a soft click let her know the lock was now disarmed. Pocketing the small device, she slid open the heavy outer hatch and entered the spaceship.

Inside, the layout looked exactly as her research had led her to expect. The Mark IV was a popular vehicle, noted for its reliability and low energy consumption. Corridors branched off in two directions from where she stood. The one on the right should lead to the crew quarters and galley, while the one on the left headed to the bridge and all of the computer equipment.

Caitlyn headed left. Talk about a sweet deal. She just needed to locate Mr. Bounty Hunter’s main files and download a copy of the new engine specs he’d been bragging about in the Spaceport tavern last nightfall. Her client was offering big bucks for them, and she could use a fat commission right about now. What with the government lackeys declaring a galaxy-wide crackdown on smuggling, the data theft business hadn’t been so good lately.

She’d been stealing data almost as long as she’d been breathing the rarified oxygen that passed for an atmosphere on the mining droids. She’d discovered early on that her small stature and innocent face were assets she could exploit. The space enforcers had never even come close to catching her. Once she’d started working data dumps on a regular basis, she’d set up a double blind drop system to make sure even the clients didn’t see who she was.

When she turned the corner, the corridor widened out to the bridge. She stopped, staring around in admiration. The walls were sheets of polished titanium, glowing richly in the low light of the ship’s systems. A state-of-the-art pilot’s chair sat dead center of the room, overlooking the navigation and communication station. A complicated array of computer banks lined the walls to the left, and she headed toward them. The info she needed would be stored somewhere in their hard drives.

An unfamiliar chill slithered down her back, and she turned to study the room carefully. Nothing but empty space greeted her, and she shrugged, turning back to the task at hand. She needed to take a break, maybe after this job. Her nerves were shot. The heist last month had gone badly, leaving a sour taste in her mouth, and now she was sensing things that weren’t there. Not good. In this job, you needed nerves of steel.

Spying an access terminal, she glided across the room and pulled her mane of golden hair aside to expose the input jack just behind her ear. Plugging one end of the download cable into it, she slid the receiver into the data port.

Images immediately flooded through the link, blinding her with their sheer volume, and she closed her eyes to concentrate. It took a few minutes to bring the flow under control so she could sort through it, looking for the plans that she wanted. This was the mind-numbingly boring part.

The bounty hunter was organized, she’d give him that. The data banks were neatly arranged, information stacked by subject. She skimmed past star charts and weapons schematics, financial data and the ship’s supply logs. The man kept records of everything!

She found the technical data stored in the back corner of the drive, and began the tedious job of scanning each string of code. It had to be in here somewhere, and when she found it her money troubles would be over. At least for now.

The bounty hunter came out of nowhere, grasping her wrists and snapping on the magnetic cuffs before she had time to react and pull her consciousness out of the computer banks. He pulled her arms up over her head, and the magnetic cuffs snapped into position against the metal frame of the ship, leaving her standing spread-eagled in front of him. With a sardonic grin, he reached up to pull the download cable out of the jack in her head. She felt so incredibly helpless, not something she had a lot of experience with.

She looked up the long muscular length of her captor’s sculpted body. In person, he looked a whole lot more intimidating than he had in the vid pic she’d dug up on the station’s news feed. At least six and a half feet tall, his skintight uni-suit did nothing to hide the sleek ropes of muscle that rippled across his massive chest. Dark hair hung to his shoulders and framed a face more rugged than handsome.

His eyes, though, were what held her attention. Dark as a Zargonian night sky and with swirling hazel streaks, they sent shivers of lust dancing up her spine. She should be terrified, but all her treacherous mind could think of was how good his hands would feel on her naked body.

“Looking for something?” His voice was deep and husky, the kind of voice that could make the meteor report sound sexy.

BUY NOW!

Why November gives me Bookgasms.

2011-11-03T18:23:00.002-04:00

NaNoWriMo...My DD's Birthday...Thanksgiving...Black Friday with my best friend...November is most likely the most busiest and most fun packed month for me--except that I don't do NaNoWriMo. Do I look crazy? Well, perhaps...

I have to say, though, of all the wonderful things packed into the month, my favorite thing of all (yes, even above my DD's birthday) in the Penguin Warehouse Booksale held in Conklin, NY.

What, you may ask, is the PWB? Why, it's the very essence of supercalifragalisticexpialidosciousness. It also seems to be the Southern Tier of NY's best kept secret. Imagine a warehouse filled with books of all types and formats, all at 90% or more off the cover price. Romance, Sci Fi, Cooking, Books on CD, baby board, gift packs; anything published by Penguin is in there just waiting to be brought home.

Preparing for the sale is akin to getting ready for a survival hike. You have to pack food and water, wear layers (the line often wraps around the building and the wait to get in can take hours), have a list made of all the people you want to buy for, and most importantly, have some way to carry all of your goodies. Year 1, I had a backpack. Foolish, foolish girl. It soon had to be supplemented with two cardboard boxes when it couldn't hold all of my treasures, and by the end of the day, the straps broke (total spent, $97. Remember, this was 90% off, so you do the math for the retail.)

Year 2, I changed tactics--I did not go on opening day, but rather one of the weekday nights they are open towards the end of the week. I had my Hubby and Kids, and we used strollers with book bags hanging off the handles. By the end of the night, the kids had been usurped by books, and they were sitting on the floor reading from a large pile they picked out. There were much fewer people (about 1/3--still full, but not as suffocating as opening day) and the choice of books were quite satisfying. My extra special surprise--all paperbacks were 2 for $1. I squealed with happiness. Really, my whole body quivered and I just made this high pitched sound of absolute joy. I call it a Bookgasm. I was able to buy my best friend the whole Sookie Stackhouse series for under $10.

This is Year 3. I am going towards the end of the week, and the whole family is going once again. More than anything, I wish I had a folding shopping cart. Since we don't have that, we are bringing our double stroller and a large rolling suitcase. DD and DS are putting money in their piggy banks for the "huge book sale" and we are crossing off the days until the start.

So if you happen to live ANYWHERE near Binghamton, NY, I have a place for you to be November 12, and then November 14-19--in the former Maines Warehouse in Conkin, NY (it's on Terrace Drive). If there is anything you want me to pick up for you, shoot me comment. The books are so cheap, I'll happily send it over to you!

Get Wild with Nanowrimo

2011-10-28T09:28:00.008-04:00

I imagine we'll hear the wind whistling through this blog for the next thirty days or so. Now, now, quit crying. It's not like we're breaking up with our wonderful readers! But it's nanowrimo time--that insane month of the year when authors and hopefuls fire up the old coffee maker, chain themselves to their keyboards and take on the task of writing an entire novel in thirty days.

I've decided to use the time to complete edits on my upcoming release of "The Fuck It List: Bijoux and write another Christmas novella.

Why a holiday story, you might ask? Because writing those makes me happy in the goofiest kind of way, and in my life right now, deliriously happy is a rare commodity (although I have to admit misery and heartbreak and a marriage careening dangerously toward the rocks is good for the waistline).

A good number of our WGW ladies will be participating, so please, come on over to the nanowrimo site and friend us. Maybe we can all help each other through the insanity. Or, we could just drink a lot. Which works for me. ;)

I'll be uploading chapters of my nanowrimo project, Naughty Noel to
wattpad as I write, so if you follow that amazing application, be sure to friend me there as Liane Gentry Skye. :)

Dating Rules for Daughters

2011-10-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

DATING RULES FOR DAUGHTERS By Maree Anderson (for Writers Gone Wild)

Hi all,

We were watching Jackass and laughing ourselves silly, in between wincing, and making sympathetic "Ooooh!" noises. If you've ever watched Jackass, you'll appreciate what I mean. If ever there was a case for ensuring non-procreation so you can't pass on an idiot gene, these guys would be right up there ;-)

Sure, these guys are fun to watch, but the stunts they pull are often just plain idiotic. They seem to relish hitting each other in the balls with various things, too. (Must be a man thing. So far as I know, women don't whack each other in the boobs with heavy objects for fun... and then film it.)

The image of Steve-O lying naked and spreadeagled on the bonnet of a car, and going through the carwash, is forever seared on my retinas. Hot wax, anyone?

Hence the laughing combined with wincing. Not to mention covering your man parts if you're man, and thanking God you don't have man-parts if you're woman. That's usually followed by thanking God one of these idiots isn't your son-in-law.

And it was that vein of thought that led DH to turn to DD and say, "No way would I let you date any of these guys."

Which led to DH establishing some dating rules *VBG*

No dating anyone named Jonno. Or Robbo. Or Jacko. Or any guy with a name ending with "O", come to think of it. Especially not "Steve-O". (If you've watched Jackass, you'll know why any guy who calls himself Steve-O would be a no-go zone. That guy takes Jackass to a whole new level!)
No dating anyone named Chad. Or Chaz. Just because I don't much like those names.
If you decide to become a lesbian, that's fine. But no way will I let you date Lady Gaga. That woman scares me.
No dating guys who ride motorbikes.
No dating guys with souped-up cars who make like boy-racers.

I gotta say, these rules are a work in progress. They seem to be added to frequently. Poor DD has no idea what she's in for.

So. What are your rules for your daughters' dating? Do you have any favorite "You have got to be kidding me!" no-go types?

Just curious....

:-)

Maree

Everyone Has an Opinion

2011-10-26T05:02:00.000-04:00

Do you ever read a super negative review of a book you just loved, and wonder if the reviewer was reading the same book you were? Happens to me quite often.

Everyone will have a different opinion about a book, but it always amazes me how varied the responses are. The subjective nature of a reader's experience with a story makes each instance unique. It also proves that an author can't please everyone. What one person loves, another will no doubt hate. The writing advice I keep hearing over and over is to stay true to the story you want to tell. Do you think that's true? Or do authors have an obligation to deliver something that their readership wants/expects?

I'll be honest--the wild swing of opinions about a book makes me scratch my head sometimes. Even famous/popular authors get slammed every now and again. I don't mind when a reviewer states that they simply didn't care for the book or point out legitimate problems with it, but when someone starts slamming the author and saying how the book should have gone, it always takes me back to that original question: Do authors owe it to their audience to deliver an expected or popular product? Or do they have an obligation to themselves, to write the story in their heart, even if it's unpopular with readers? (I'm thinking of the turn JR Ward took with her BDB series, which disappointed a lot of fans, including me!)

It can't work both ways.

What About B.O.B?

2011-10-25T00:01:00.001-04:00

Jennifer L. Hart for Writers Gone Wild.

So, you know we creative types, we're sprightly creatures full of dreams and whimsy. And sometimes, just sometimes, the practical stuff gets missed. I have been recently made aware of a rather big whoopsie daisy type gaffe in my bestselling book (seriously, that will NEVER get old ;-) Who Needs A Hero?

*****************SPOILERS AHEAD. SERIOUSLY, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!!!!!*******************************************************

The set up: Maggie, the nanny heroine, is all alone on her birthday. Neil, our hero/ mental train wreck, is off being super SEAL, the children are asleep and she's throwing a very festive pity party, table for one. Enter Leo, the neighbor who cooks like an angel and cusses like a sailor and has brought Maggie a special birthday present.

A vibrator, A.K.A a battery operated boyfriend. Or B.O.B for short.

So there is my sweet little former bible thumping heroine is, trying to come up with a polite way to decline said awesome gift, and her go-to excuse is "it's just not sanitary". Leo insists that B.O.B is dishwasher safe, top rack only, and then proceeds to plop it in the dishwasher between the sippy cups.

And the front door opens. Uh oh, Neil's back. Wouldn't do to be caught with the gay neighbor and a sex toy by the boss man. So Maggie slams the dishwasher and the next morning when she checks, B.O.B has disappeared and Maggie and Neil have bigger issues.

So....what happened to B.O.B?

No, I did not forget that he was M.I.A. Somehow, in the stretching the book from 67 to 80 thousand words, the ending changed entirely and the fact that B.O.B never made a cameo at the end got missed. Nothing worse than setting up for a joke and never giving the punch line.

"Daddy, Daddy, come see my sword!" One of Neil's eyebrows rose in a speculative arch. Setting down his seabag he looked over at me for an answer. I didn't have the foggiest and shook my head. Though I might not be the world's greatest nanny, even Marty knew better than to let the boys play with sharp pointy objects. "Let's see, buddy." Neil called out. Josh marched in, a giant grin on his face, a dish towel draped across his slim shoulders and B.O.B gripped in his small fists, wielded aloft like a big phallic beacon for all the world to see.

This was actually the original ending to the book, instead of the wedding on the beach. The romantic horse outpaced the comedian in this particular race, but I am sorry I missed this rather big (giggle) edit.

I will remedy in all electronic versions ASAP.

Never say NEVER!

2011-10-21T00:01:00.002-04:00

The last time I was neck deep in boxes, I swore I'd never do it again. Move, that is. And I should know better. Every time I say never, it comes back to haunt me. I am quite happy in the house I currently occupy. At least I thought I was until a friend dragged me along to look at real estate with her. And that's when I saw it. The cutest, more perfect house in the whole wide world! And it isn't out of my price range (blame the economy for that!).

So here I sit surrounded by boxes, with my fingers crossed while I wait for the sale on my current house to be final. Talk about stress! The new house has a hot tub, a huge backyard with a six foot high fence around it to keep the grandkids in, a garage, a big shop in case I decide to try my hand at .... something..... It's small enough for me to keep clean ( Mrs. Martha I'm not!) Cross your fingers for me, I'd hate to lose it now. Isn't it adorable?

I'm off to do some more packing!

Anne Kane
http://www.annekane.com/

A Little Faith from My Four-Year-Old

2011-10-20T07:51:00.000-04:00

My writing, sadly, has been put on the back burner (and I’mtalking about one of those industrial-sized restaurant stoves) in my life, butalmost every day, something happens to remind me that yes, I am a writer, andyes, there are those who see me as such.

This week, my Dear Daughter was that reminder.

It needs to be said that for awhile, I wrote, and wrote, andwrote. DD would be in my lap, napping. She’d be in her bouncy seat, watching.She’d be eating lunch in her highchair while I jotted down notes. I don’t thinkthere ever was a time she didn’t see me with a pen, paper, or laptop. That washow I wanted my life to be—full of the things I love, existing side-by-side.For awhile, I had that.

Then this spring, our lives changed. I had been lookingforward to going to RWA, my daughter was in Pre-K all day, and my Darling Boyhad taken up her position while watching me write. In one day, we’d become astatistic, one of the many who were suffering from the economy and strugglingwith the turn of events. Our lives, and most importantly, our positions inthose lives, dissipated like so much smoke, and we were left with just onequestion:

What the hell are we going to do?

We needed a long term solution in a very short term way.When we bought our house, we marveled at the space downstairs: a whole floorthat was once a daycare area. I’ve always worked with children, and it seemedfeasible that one day, I should do so again, and I’d be able to do it in thecomfort of my own home. We laughed and said “Just in case the worse happens. Wecan fall back on this.”

When the worse happened, I went into survival mode. Withinthe hour of my husband’s phone call that he no longer had a job, I already hada child lined up for me to take care of. Less than a month later, we made thedecision to start the daycare. I was going to be a small business owner.

In the swirl of classes, paperwork, setting up the area andadvertising, writing fell behind. DD started kindergarten, I got my first rushof kids and soon, I had a few days a week where I worked 12 hours (thoughusually, my time runs about 10 hours a day, not including the cleaning andpreparing for the next day). It’s allvery satisfying, but I truly miss those days where all I had a kid hanging offof each arm while I wrote and wrote and wrote. Now I still have kids hangingoff my extremities, and I do write, but it is more of singular letters thanwords, or perhaps some shapes, and more often my creativity is in the form of alesson plans for the week.

Last week, my DD came home from Kindergarten with a newbook. We read it that night before bed, and she proudly told me the parts ofher new acquisition. She pointed out the spine, the cover, the title page. Shetold me that the illustrator draws the pictures, and the author writes thestory. Fiction means it’s made-up and non-fiction means it’s real.

“You know quite a few authors,” I pointed out. “There is Aunt Debbie, and Shannon,” I tickedthem off with my fingers. “Aunt Debbie writes non-fiction, and Shannon writesfiction. “ Her intelligent eyes lit up with that knowledge, and she snuggledinto her blankets, getting comfy for sleep, but not before she smiled one moretime at me, a thought hitting her like a lightning bolt.

“I know you, mommy. You are an author, too.”

Sometimes, my heart is so full, it hurts.

A Real Life Alpha Hero

2011-10-18T10:00:00.001-04:00

We talk about Alpha males and awful lot here at Writers Gone Wild, so I decided to show off my Alpha male.

See that up there? That's genuine, Grade A, beefcake Alpha male. He can't even put his arms down. If he could, his knuckles would drag the floor. He's a total caveman. *grin* That's 6 foot 2 inches and three-hundred pounds of man. (Sometimes 6'3 after he's been "adjusted")And it's mine. His ancestors were explorers and conquerors, taking to their longships and sailing uncharted waters hoping for glory, gold and battle. Yep, those legs have pillaging thighs. I truly believe he could tear down a castle with his bare hands if he were so motivated. Oh yes.

Like all romance novel heroes, he's a considerate lover. Very considerate. In fact, there is no lengths to which he won't go to please me. As evidenced by his many injuries he's received in said pursuits. At one point, he even tore the skin under his tongue. Ruminate on that for awhile. I'll wait. *blushes* Yes. Uh-huh.

But that's not really the best part.

I've had some fellow writers comment on what they perceive as his lack of interest in my writing. He doesn't care for the genre I write in. It doesn't engage him so he doesn't read my work. But I don't find that unsupportive. Why? Because he's worked two jobs for twelve years so I can pursue my writing.

When I told him I'd won the Textnovel contest, he wasn't surprised. In fact, he'd squirreled away a little bit of money already to take me out to dinner because he said he knew I'd win. Just like he says he knows my other books are going to hit big.

I asked him what if they don't? He said it doesn't matter because I'll be doing what I love.

A friend invited me to Ireland and he's always wanted to go, but he sat down and started looking at our budget to see how much overtime he'd have to work so I could go.

He remembers what I was wearing when we first met. We celebrate our first date more than we do our anniversary.

My favorite heroes are scarred because it's physical evidence of sacrifice. My husband's are in the lines around his eyes, when he falls into bed exhausted, when I can see how badly he needs a new watch because his old one doesn't keep time anymore, but he spends the money on something for the kids. Or on more cat food for the strays he feeds.

And he never complains about how tired he is. Never looks for recognition for how hard he works, how many hours he puts in. Never complains if I'm caught up in whatever project I'm working on and I forget to do the laundry.

We just had our 12th anniversary on the 13th. We didn't really do anything. We'll celebrate more Christmas Day. That was when we started dating. We'll celebrate again on New Years because that was our first date.

And I haven't even touched on the banter... but I think I'll save that for another post.

Tell me about your Alpha male.

The thing about Relativity

2011-10-14T07:56:00.005-04:00

Liane Gentry Skye for Writers Gone Wild

I got hit on the other day. At Sam's Club of all places.

Big deal, right? For me, yeah, it was. Let's just say the last three years have plunged me firmly into frantic-mom-wife-sometimes writer mode. One who has begun to wonder if the everyday bedlam would slow down just long enough to even consider getting the look-at-me, I'm all that, groove back. Somedays have found me looking in the mirror wondering, is it even possible to rehabilitate *that*?

But wow, what a difference a day makes. Somewhere out there is a guy with a serious swag of silver hair and a toothpaste commercial smile who thinks I never lost it. Who in fact thought me so adorable that he followed me out to the parking lot to enquire whether I was married. He didn't care that I had no makeup on. He didn't care that I wasn't dressed to the nines. He just saw something he liked enough to risk the dreaded feminine brush off.

And damn if his car wasn't hot, too!

Yes, I owned up to being married. And yeah, a part of me remembered a time when I'd have been all over it. I chose a different life. A married life. But I have to thank him. Because now I can't stop smiling. All because some poor nearsighted dude out there got all worked up over sweats clad, no make up, hair in an impossibly sloppy bun moi! I feel like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer when his lady love told him he was, indeed, cute. "He thinks I'm hot. He thinks I'm HAWT!"

It's a silly thing, granted, and vain to the bottom of the ninth, this woman's desire to feel gorgeous in the eyes of the opposite sex. But when I got home, I found myself washing my face, righting my pony tail and putting on a nicer pair of mommy kick arounds. For just a little while, I saw myself as someone else did. A very manly someone. When I bopped out of the bathroom, my husband said I looked different. Pretty. And instead of brushing the compliment off, or getting aggravated that he doesn't always think me pretty, I shot him a wink and replied, "damn right I do."

And the shit eating grin hasn't left me yet.

Grey is NOT my favorite color right now!

2011-10-13T00:01:00.000-04:00

Grey is NOT my favorite color right now! By Maree Anderson (for Writers Gone Wild)

Hi all,

*Warning* Please do not read on if you're expecting an uplifting or humor-filled post! (In other words, I have a feeling this is going to be a bit of a "I'm feeling sorry for myself" whinge-fest. So consider yourself duly warned.)

It's like this: I'm 46 years old, and I've been going grey since my early twenties. It's hereditary for some of the women in my family. Starts out with a stripe of greys right down the middle, about where someone would part their hair, and that stripe gradually gets wider and wider. And in this age of DIY hair-dyes, it's not been too much of a drama. Heck, I've been dyeing my hair for around 25 years! But alas, now it looks very much like I might not be able to dye my hair anymore.

You see, I have a weird, unexplained, officially un-diagnosed sensitivity to chemicals. These days, it's become more like an allergy, and it's gotten so bad, I can't even use shampoo or conditioner without being affected. Which means it probably wouldn't be the smartest idea to go to the hairdresser and ask her to bleach the current darkish color from my hair and put a grey color through it.

So I'm probably going to have to do it the long way: by letting the greys grow in naturally.

I know it sounds pathetic to be feeling sorry for myself when there are so many terrible things happening to people in the world right now. Yes, it's even kinda shallow--I'll happily own that, OK?

But for me, given that I can't use toothpaste, perfume or scented lotions without my eyes puffing up and my skin breaking out in weird red patches, and that the fumes from pumping gas or the out-gassing of toner particles from my laser printer are a nightmare, and I haven't been able to use skin care or wear a skerrick of make-up for the past 8 years, being able to dye my hair was about the only thing I could do to enhance my appearance. (BTW, I used a very mild permanent color with no ammonia or other nasties, and had antihistamines at the ready in case the reaction went further than the expected slightly swollen eyes and red patches of skin.)

I've learned to live with the no make-up thing, and I don't feel self-conscious about it too often. Well, for day-to-day things, at least--parties and evening functions are a different story, of course. And the prospect of watching the current 2 inches of grey regrowth slowly inch its way down my chin-length bob? So not good for the already lowish self-esteem.

And now? The thought of socializing, or even going to my usual weekly karate and Ceroc dance sessions fills me with apathy. Frankly, I feel like total crap and I don't want to go out anywhere in public. Plus, there's the whole, OMG, what will I look like with grey hair? Will it be a "nice" grey color, or a patchy salt 'n peppery one? Will I suddenly look a whole heap older?

Might not be so bad if I could wave a magic wand and go grey overnight. (Or better still, go kinda silvery, like Jay Manuel from ANTM.)

I'm trying to figure out why I feel this way. And I think it's not only vanity, it's also a social thing. My mother only went grey in her late 60s. And she did it gradually, with the help of a hairdresser. My DH, when I broached this subject after the stint in hospital with anaphylactic shock that kicked off this whole weirdass allergy thing, opined that he thought I was far too young to go grey. And my hairdresser insisted the same thing: "Oh no, you don't want to do that at your age." (Her expression of horror kinda summed up her feelings about the idea in no uncertain terms.)

And now I've left it too late to have any kind of chemical assistance, and I have no choice in the matter. I can't enlist a hairdresser's help to do it gradually, because if I can't even handle hairspray when I get my hair cut, how on earth would I handle the chemicals that would be needed to lighten my hair before the new color is applied?

Funny how no one bats an eye when men go grey. It's "distinguished", don't you know.

Yeah. Right. There's nothing distinguished about putting up with an ever widening grey skunk-stripe for the next six months to a year until the dyed hair finally grows out. Sigh. Sure wish that pink wig of mine would stay on during a karate lesson, or when some guy does a Ceroc dip, drop or layback with me.

See? I told you it was gonna be a whinge-fest. *wry grin*

And yes, the purpose of this post is that I'm totally fishing for sympathy. Not to mention some suggestions for cool hats, and maybe even how to wear a scarf or something to hide my "problem".

Bring it on, Wild Readers. Pleeeeease?

And thanks heaps for letting me whine and get this off my chest. I love you guys!

Maree

(Who is trying really hard to imagine what this halfway decent photo someone took of me a few months ago would look like if I had grey hair.)

Sometimes you just have to say " F@#k it!"

2011-10-11T00:10:00.000-04:00

Jenna McCormick for Writers Gone Wild.

When you've spent your life playing by the rules, doing the right thing and getting absolutely nowhere, when is it time to say enough already?

For Mary, a.k.a, mystery writer Maryanne Diamond, the moment comes when she's been given a death sentence. Her heart is giving out and with no hope of receiving a transplant in time Mary is determined to make ever moment count. With no time for regrets, Mary sets off to seduce her personal assistant, the mysterious and handsome Luke.

LUKE!!!!

This is going to sound sick and disturbed no matter how I phrase the sentiment, but, well, fuck it. I actually envy the hell out of my terminal heroine and the freedom her death sentence has given her. No holding back because there is no chance for a do-over. Balls to the wall, baby! Dying is easy, it's living that's a chore and a half. Plus, she has Luke.

LUKE!!!! I seriously dig this hero, in case you didn't get my oh so subtle message.

Then again, I kind of DO already live that way. Not that I'm out to prove something to anyone other than myself. I do what I have to and when I get let out, man, I'm all out, bringing the wild woman. Maybe that's why so many people think I'm crazy. Yes, I have my moments where I sweat the small stuff but on the whole, I usually know where to draw the line. My priorities are in order. Family, friends, work, Rosa Regale. What more does a diva need? (Bacon chocolate maybe. LUKE!!!!!;-)

So what about you? Do you do like the song says and live like you're dying? Or do you have a fuck it list, stuff that if you got the bad news tomorrow, you'd start tearing through like the Tasmanian Devil on a bender?

Oh and just FYI, Book One of the Fuck It List anthology, Mary's story Letting Go will be available later this month. For more info visit www.sanibelmoon.com.

JOINING THE E-READER REVOLUTION

2011-10-10T13:41:00.003-04:00

Oh. My. God. I'm finally taking the plunge - I've ordered a Kindle!

My longest-known friend (I've promised not to call her my oldest friend) was an early adopter of the Kindle, but when she sang its praises, I hung back. The device seemed expensive, and as a certified technoklutz, I was nervous about whether I'd be able to figure out how to use it. Besides, I really preferred paper books.

Then my friend and chaptermate Hope Ramsay (author of the Last Chance series from Grand Central Publishing) started raving about her Kindle, saying it made the transition from paper to e-books "seamless." And other e-readers, like the Nook and the Kobo, appeared on the market. But they were still a little pricey, and I was still a little nervous.

So I compromised. I settled for dipping my toes in the e-book water by downloading the Kindle and Nook apps for my iPhone. I was still skeptical, but since the apps were free, I thought, what the heck. And I found that while reading a book on the small iPhone screen wasn't totally ideal, by using a large enough font size, it was do-able.

Then last Christmas, the e-reader revolution really took off. Many people received Kindles as gifts in December and went looking for e-books to download in January. Self-publishing -- formerly known as vanity publishing -- completed its move from a scam directed at the naive to a legitimate business model. Now many of my friends had self-published books out that were only available electronically. In addition, the big guys had jumped on the bandwagon. While the Big 6's "normal" prices for e-books were outrageous, they started offering e-book specials that were more reasonable. And the prices of the e-readers themselves kept coming down. I did some tentative research on the characteristics of the various devices. I decided if the Kindle went below $100, I'd buy one.

Lo and behold, that day is now here. So my $79 Kindle is on its way. I can hardly wait!

BPW: Spotlight on Sasha Illyvich

2011-10-08T04:48:00.000-04:00

Author Bio: I started writing eleven years ago. My erotic romances have been listed under the Night Owl Romance and Road to Romance’s Recommended read list, as well nominated for a CAPA by The Romance Studio

I host the Unnamed Romance Show on Radio Dentata and continue to write for Sizzler Editions and Total E-bound. Readers can find my work, plus free reads at http://saschaillyvichauthor.com

I edit for Sizzler Editions Intoxication Erotic Romance line and I’m also part of the WriteSex Panel, a blog group defining erotica for writers in any genre! Find us at http://www.writesex.net

Wolf Magic: An enthralling contemporary fantasy, and a passionate erotic romance. Marco and Selene. Werewolf and witch. He is the sexy, rebellious young werewolf whose anger and violence are legendary. She is a sexy, mature witch into whose care the elders of his pack have given Marco. At once she realizes he is more dangerous and powerful that the other werewolves. To Marco she is the most desirable woman he has ever met, and he knows he will never give up until he possesses her. As she attempts to show him wisdom, he subjects her to his very considerable charms. Something has to give - and does. As nights of torrid lovemaking and nights of the full moon when he tears himself from her side alternate, neither suspects that they are at the center of a conspiracy by the leaders of Marco's pack, or that they may all be pawns in an ancient prophecy from the dawn of time. For the love that binds them both is bringing death nearer with every beat of their hearts. Marco is strong and Selene wise, but these are as nothing to the power of the danger that threatens them.

~*~

Siddella’s Surrender: Prized for her highly sexual nature as a faery, Siddella hides in the fetish Lifestyle amo ng the Cyber-Fae where she can mostly get her needs met while hacking and stealing data to dismantle the Mechanized version of Faery and return it to its former glory.

Frika needs the power of a Faery along with her sexual energy to strengthen his wolves. As the guardians of what lies between, they keep balance on how much good/bad travels between worlds, until recent attacks on them have weakened him and his forces.

Upon spotting her at a party, Frika realizes that Siddella is the one who can strengthen him. Kidnapping her and unleashing sexual pleasures on her becomes his new goal until an enemy stalks them and forces them into hiding. How will the two of them survive?

~*~

Bound to Her: Luka has finally united the local and regional packs of Northern California, but Lajon the Eldest says Luka needs a mate to balance him out. Michele hates the fact that she’s Lupine and wants nothing to do with her heritage since the accidental killing of her parents. Yet the necklace Luka wears intrigues her despite her disposition towards wolves. Can the two lovers share passion and learn to be together from the heart or will the work Luka’s put into building an alliance go to waste?

~*~

Dark Traders: A novel of dark, forbidden love! Miranda is the SEC's sexiest and savviest investigator. But she meets her match when she is assigned to investigate the X Corp, a company founded and run by vampires. But before she can determine if the undead have violated fair trading rules on the NYSE, Jet Curtis, vampire, X Corp's top hit man is sent to kill her.

However, once Jet sees Miranda his thoughts turn to kissing, not killing. The two make passionate love, and then, Jet turns her into a vampire like himself. Miranda disappears. Then a year later, she returns, now one of undead, with vengeance on her mind.

Can she and Jet settle their differences in order to stop X Corporation from causing chaos on the stock exchange and ruining the American economy? Here is a premium blend of dark eroticism and vampiric carnality for those who like their vampires with just a dash of sex.

~*~

Heavenly Bodies (out in print now) Real erotica, full of pain intermingled with pleasure. Love makes the sexual scenes more powerful. Sensuality Level: Scorching." raves Ann Leveille of Sensual Reviews. Two exceptional novellas of fantasy and eros by the author Coffee Time Romance calls "Amazing!" and rates "Four Stars!" In "Sacrifice," Ares, the God of War, is banished from Olympus, falls in love with a mortal woman and is called upon to make a very unusual sacrifice if he wants to keep her. In "Echo s Odyssey," the wars of faery are over, but for the assassin Echo and his lover Alexandrya, a new war is just beginning. They return to faery expecting to be reunited with the third member of their triad, the princess Serenissa, only to find she and faery itself are threatened by even greater peril. Heavenly Bodies is a pair of erotic, romantic adventures dealing with carnal love between humans and gods and fairies with their heavenly bodies!

Wild Trivia:

1. The feminine part of me that I allow to indulge in cross dressing is REALLY feminine. Alpha but still into girly pink…

2. I like classic clothes, classic movies and violent heavy metal.

3. I prefer a room full of cigar and pipe smokers to a club, sophistication to anything less and slightly understated to overly brash

4. I own the first 30 or so Harlequin Blaze novels.

5. I’m an avid practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine.

Every had one of those weeks?

2011-10-07T00:30:00.003-04:00

Well I had a whole blog post typed up to tell you what a lousy week I've had. It was brilliant and quite humorous, but you're not going to get to read it, at least not today. You see, the copy and paste function seems to have fled. I've spent the last half hour trying everything I can think of but it's a no go, which is quite funny since I thought thinks were starting to improve in my little corner of the world. Apparently not :)

So you don't get to read my witty discussion of the many mishaps of the week and I sit here wondering if maybe I've done something to offend the gods. I think I'll have another glass of wine while I contemplate the perils of communicating in a digital world.

Maybe by next week, I'll be able to post the original blog!

Cheers!

Anne Kane

http://www.annekane.com/

The Empty Nest

2011-10-03T07:30:00.000-04:00

My second novel, FALLEN ANGEL, just published, and at the same time, I just handed off the copy edit notes for the final book in the series, NAKED ANGEL. I have the strange mixed emotions of feeling good that I completed a trilogy, and sad that the people who have lived in my head for a year and a half will no longer reside there.
So now I have the writer’s equivalent of empty nest syndrome. I knew this day was coming, and so I’ve been spending the last month or so trying out different ideas of what to write next. Nothing really clicked for me, but now that the series is really done I have an idea and characters that are starting to “breathe.” I wonder if maybe I had to really feel finished with Blue Angel in order to commit to new characters and a new story. I know I can’t let myself be this way; Many successful writers have multiple series going at one time.

I went to Barnes & Noble on 86th street today to see if FALLEN ANGEL was on the shelf. It was, and there is nothing more exciting that seeing that book in the store for the first time. I really hope that ebooks don’t entirely replace the physical book. It is sad to think that a few years from now, and author won’t have the chance to experience what I did this afternoon.
I hope by the next time I write, the new novel will be developing to keep my company full-time.

In the meantime, I will visit my baby on the shelves.

BPW: Spotlight on MJ Fredrick

2011-10-01T05:32:00.000-04:00

MJ Fredrick knows about chasing dreams. Twelve years after she completed her first novel, she signed her first publishing contract. Now she divides her days between teaching fourth grade students how to write, and diving into her own writing—traveling everywhere in her mind, from Belize to Honduras to Africa to the past.

She's a four-time Golden Heart Award finalist. She won the 2009 Eppie Award with Hot Shot and the 2011 with Breaking Daylight. Her romantic suspense titles include Hot Shot, Breaking Daylight, Beneath the Surface and Don't Look Back. Her first book was a contemporary romance, Where There's Smoke.

www.mjfredrick.com

Something to Talk About:

Taking chances is never easy--especially when the whole town is watching.

Ellie Morgan is trying to stay below the radar in a small town. Her break-up with her football coach boyfriend and growing interest in her best friend's
widower are grist to the local gossip mill. Her friendship with the local psychic and the return of her prodigal mother are the cherries on the cake.

Add a meddling preacher, a water-loving dog and a man trying to shake off his past, and Ellie's got more than enough on her plate in her quest forlove.

~*~

Midnight Sun:

Brylie Winston has made some mistakes in her life, but she didn’t think she’d repeat one. She didn’t realize the man whose bed she left this morning after a rare impulsive night of passion was her boss. Worse, he owns the cruise ship where she works, and of course, he’s on board for their trip to Antarctica. And instead of being pissed that she snuck out on him, he seems determined to have a repeat performance.

Marcus Devlin knew his family would make good on their threat to send him to the ends of the earth some day. He didn’t think it would be quite so literal, sticking him on a cruise ship to Antarctica, after his latest scandal. Time for him to learn the family business. Things look up when he spots the gorgeous redhead from last night.

If he thought it would be smooth sailing, he was sadly mistaken.

~*~

Don't Look Back:

When her best friend is kidnapped in Africa, Dr. Liv Olney must return to the scene of her own horrific captivity. The only man she trusts is former Army Lt. Gerard “Del” Delaney, the man who rescued her. Even with him, she can't relinquish control of her emotions, needing to keep painful memories at bay.
Del takes honor seriously, but sometimes neither honor nor humanity are found in the orders he receives. In exile after a court martial that stripped him of everything, he misses his son and his country. When Liv asks for help, his instinct is to turn away. But her courage reaches out to him and he cannot refuse, especially when she promises that she can help clear his name so he can go home.
Together they travel to Africa, where they fight warlords and monsoons, and learn to trust and hope that, together, they can find happiness and peace.

~*~

Beneath the Surface:

In retrospect, perhaps archaeologist Mallory Reeves shouldn't have delivered the divorce papers to her estranged husband mere weeks before her marriage to another man. She knew seeing Adrian again would stir up memories, but she didn't expect so many of them to be good, not after the mess they both made three years ago.

She also didn't expect to want to stay at the dig site on the Yucatan Peninsula. But the lure of the ancient ship and, yes, her sexy ex provide more of a draw than the white picket fence she thought she wanted.

Marine archaeologist Adrian Reeves has good reason to trust no one. His former partner—and former best friend—made off with his last archaeological find. And his wife left him, frustrated by his obsession for professional revenge.

Now both Mallory and his nemesis have returned, and it can’t be an accident that they've turned up in the middle of the most important excavation of his career. Seeing her again unearths old pain—and rekindles never-forgotten desire. Now he has to decide if he can trust Mallory again. More importantly, if he can trust himself with her.

~*~

Sunrise Over Texas:

Kit Barclay followed her husband into the wilds of Texas only to be widowed. Stranded with her mother- and sister-in-law to care for, with no hope of rescue before winter sets in, Kit has only one goal: survival. So when a lone horseman appears on the horizon, and then falls from his mount in fever, Kit must weigh the safety of her family against offering aid and shelter to the handsome stranger.

Trace Watson has lost everything that ever mattered to him. Trying to forget, he heads to the frontier colony of San Felipe, not caring if he lives or dies. But when he wakes to discover he's being nursed back to health by a brave young widow, he vows to repay her kindness by guiding the three women back to civilization, no matter what the cost.

Soon, Kit and Trace are fighting the elements, Indian attacks and outlaws—as well as feelings they both thought were long buried...

Wild Trivia:

I live less than ten minutes from where I grew up, so though I like to travel in my books, I'm NOT that adventurous in real life!

My favorite TV shows are Friday Night Lights, Justified and Supernatural.

I'm a music teacher, so I like to listen to music while I write. Currently loving The Return of the King soundtrack.

I take FOREVER to make decisions in real life. If only they could be deleted as easily as the decisions I put on the page!

I've been married more than half my life, so of course I believe in happy endings!

Sandra Hyatt: Memorial Trust

2011-09-29T00:01:00.000-04:00

SANDRA HYATT: MEMORIAL TRUST

Hi all,

Any of you who either knew our mate Sandra Hyatt from our RWNZ Auckland chapter meetings, had met her at a conference, or had read one of her books, will know she was a very special lady–and not just because of those wild corkscrew curls of hers *g*. She was always generous with her advice and sharing what she’d learned about the business, and I loved chatting with her over a drink at the Thirsty Whale after our chapter meetings, sharing the ups and downs of being a writer. So, as you can imagine, when she passed away suddenly in August over the weekend of the RWNZ conference, we were all gutted.

When someone so young and so full of promise passes away, it’s a hard thing to deal with. And even after you say goodbye, you kind of feel helpless, like there’s nothing you can do except remember what a fantastic person she was, and how lucky and privileged you were to know her. So I’m thrilled that Sandra’s family have come up with a way that she’ll not only be remembered, but she’ll continue to help other romance writers achieve their dreams, like she achieved hers.

Sandra’s family have set up a Memorial Trust:

“Because so many have been touched by Sandra’s life, either personally or through reading her wonderful books, her family has set up a trust to continue her legacy of generosity and kindness by furthering the career of an emerging writer.

Money raised by the Trust will form an annual education grant, awarded to an aspiring NZ-based romance writer to enable them to attend a national or international writers conference, to improve their craft and progress their writing goals.”

So if you’d like to contribute, here’s the link with all the details, or just copy and paste this link:
http://www.sandrahyatt.com/sandra-hyde-memorial-trust/

Sandra met and got to know many overseas writers, authors and fans during she conferences she’s attended throughout her writing career, and her family have asked that we all help get the word out. So if you would please forward this link to all your social networks, that would be much appreciated.

What a fabulous legacy for a wonderful lady.

Worldbuilding in Paranormal Romance

2011-09-28T12:59:00.000-04:00

I've taken a big departure in my normal writing material with my latest contract from Carina. Darkest Caress is a paranormal romance, and the first of a trilogy--if my readers like it enough to warrant me writing the next two books.

I just received "developmental edits" (short for please beef up your worldbuilding) for it from my awesome editor, but I have to admit I'm very daunted by the prospect of diving in. I've never written PNR before, but I've read my fair share. The little kernel of an idea for this series came to me during my trip to the Baltic States two years ago with my favorite cousin. The characters in the book are magical beings that have descended partly from ancient tales of folklore at a special part of Lithuania I visited, known as the Curonian Spit. It was a spooky, breathtaking and magical place, part beach resort where the Soviet Beaujolais spent their summers, and part dark, twisted woods where witches and demons are said to still exist.

It was too good to pass up, plot-wise. I couldn't help myself. Plus my crit partner is a fantastic PNR author with a major trilogy coming out from NAL next year, and she kept bugging me to write a PNR, because it was "hot" with the romance market and surely I'd be able to snag an agent, where my military romance had not. And so Darkest Caress was born. In the end no agent wanted it, but thankfully Carina Press liked the core of the story enough to offer me a contract.

While I wade through these edits, I want to try to make sure I avoid cliches or things that turn readers off of PNR, if possible. Do any come to mind for you? I recently saw a thread on a discussion loop where readers were complaining about how sick they are of PNR in general, especially vamps and weres. Well, my characters are neither of those, but I still want to steer clear of any landmines if I can help it.

Anything bug you/bore you with PNR today? Please share.