Vixenwriter

To the Maverick Authors Halloween List Day party!

On Monday, October 31 please join Anya Bast, Megan Hart and me as we
invite our characters to join us at our Halloween bash. Come and chat
and hang out and flirt with these very sexy men but don’t be surprised
when Rori raps you on the knuckles for flirting with Jude!

I expect that things will start rolling around 8 or 9 eastern and go
until about 2 pm pacific. There’ll be prizes and quizzes and other
fun stuff so please join us!

Lauren

So now that Triad is available in print, I have a new obsession.

Like most writers, I had no way of knowing how well my books were doing until I got my sales numbers a month later. So I had to just pretend not to be concerned and do the work of getting the word out there that I had a book released.

But with ebay, you can see the numbers changing as the books get bought. Oh, this is a bad thing. Well no, it’s a good thing, it helps my little control freak problem with the instant gratification of seeing results there on the screen. I have limited myself to checking only once a day, LOL.

This isn’t about money, although I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t nice to have monetary compensation for the worlds I create in my head. No, this is me just giddy about people wanting to read my books. Me excited that my books are in your homes, in your hands on the bus or in your window seats on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It means so much to me. I’ve been in a state of Sally Fieldsesque bliss for months, “you like me, you really like me!” keeps running through my head.

I’m off to not watch any episodes of Laguna Beach today. This show is like Homer’s forbidden donut to me. I chide myself not to watch but it’s like crack. It’s shallow deliciousness in all its glory. Silly girls with too little body fat and too much money and time on their hands, boys with too much testosterone and money chasing them and being chased. Oh. It’s glorious to a snarky girl like me.

I’m so very coherent today! So I’m working on creating the graphics for bookmarks and bookplates. You know, the bookmarks are hardest because as I look around at different graphics I think, “too sweet” or “too scary!” (like the very cool real skeleton heads that had been x rayed). I think I found one thing and I’m gonna play around and see what I see.

Got a very good review from Trang at The Road to Romance for A Touch of Fae: “Not only is this a wonderful story of a woman discovering herself, it is a sensual delight. Con and Em are most definitely compatible in that area! Their encounters are sizzling, steamy and super-charged. Touch of Fae is another delightful, sexy story from Ms. Dane, filled with wonderful characters, suspense, love and lots of magic.”

Dark Justice is cooking along. Got another 2500 words down in a big pivotal scene last night. It left me sad after I finished.

Thanks to one of my readers who just pointed out that Triad is finally up on the Print page for EC!! I am so very excited. This is a few weeks earlier than the November 5 date I had originally.

I’m going to be running a contest just to celebrate this after the Big Big Autumn contest is finished at the end of this month so keep an eye out for it at my webpage.

If anyone wants me to sign their copy, mail it to me: Lauren Dane PO Box 45175, Seattle, WA 98145-0175 and include a self addressed, stamped envelope and I’ll be happy to do it! I’m looking into creating some bookplates as well.

Friday, October 21 we’ll be hanging out and hosting the Ellora’s Cave Reader’s Chat all day long! Come on over for fun quizzes, prizes, excerpts and loads of gossip and chat!

So, the RWA finally got around to defining romance. Aren’t you all relieved that now someone can tell you what you write! (did I say that out loud? Oops)

Now, I happen to love Jenny Crusie. I love her books and I think she’s handled all of the bizarre antics of the RWA in the last year really well. She’s smart and funny and usually quite tolerant to the different voices in the romance writing community. I also have to say I am not in love with the definition of romance created by the committee she chaired.

Now, in a total shift into bizarro world, I actually find myself liking TTQ’s spin which is this: “a romance is a book wherein the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying.” This is satisfyingly vague and open. It allows freedom to include same sex romance, menage stories and maybe even an ending where the H/H don’t end up together but end up happy and satisfied.

What I don’t like is this comment: “the main plot of the romance must concern two people falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work.” Mainly because she says, two people, which means Triad isn’t considered romance. Also, it makes me wonder about stories where the couple is already established and have fallen in love.

Further: “”The conflict in the book centers on the love story.

“The climax in the book resolves the love story.

“A writer is welcome to as many subplots as she likes as long as the relationship conflict is the main story,” says Crusie.”

Uh, okay but what about those of us who don’t always write romances where the hero does something stupid and they spend the next 200 pages finding reasons to be mad at each other and doubting their relationship until the end where someone ends up knocked up or something similar and true love is declared and all is forgiven? Is this what romance is going to be then? The same template story over and over?

What about books with external conflicts? Oh and thanks for the permission to have subplots.

Seriously, I confess to being agitated that so much time was spent on this. It’s so Gladys Kravitz. All of these people trying to peek into my house to tell me what I’m doing is or isn’t acceptable. Does this not just continue to reinforce negative stereotypes about the genre? I don’t write science fiction or mystery but do their author advocacy organizations spend their time on stuff like this?

So last night I picked up Witches Knot and started working on it. I referred to Dark Justice for something, meaning for it to be quick and I’ve been sucked back in. I couldn’t put it down.

So, I am going to listen to her and finish Dark Justice. I’m already 40 thousand words in so I’m not too far from finishing. I was a goner really when I opened it up and saw Simone walking through the evening in New Orleans. For a few months I’ve felt hesitant to write about New Orleans but Simone coaxed me back.

So, Witches Knot will stew a bit in my brain as I finish DJ, which is actually before WK in time anyway.

What else? Hmmm, oh, my one year old has now taken to throwing herself on the ground when she can’t get her way. I’m such a bad mom because it makes me laugh. Although I do not laugh in front of her, I do still have great “court” face. My middle kiddo FINALLY potty trained and he did it in just a few days (this after a year and a half of attempts, sigh). Man, I will throw a big party when diapers are no longer a part of my life. (I know, you all thought I had such a glamorous life!)

I just read that Charlaine Harris is staring a new mystery series. I love her writing. Aside from the Southern Vampire books (which I adore) her Shakespeare Arkansas/Lili Bard books are wonderful too. I need to check the release dates for this new book.

I also need to see when Rachel Caine’s new Weather Warden book comes out. She’s another writer that I adore. I keep picking up her books and thinking, “surely this one can’t be as good as the last one” and it’s better. Same with Kim Harris in her “dead” books.

Oh, tomorrow is the last day to answer the question for week 3 in my Big Big Autumn Contest! So get on over to my website and check the “goodies” page.

I watched Laguna Beach last night. Please someone, won’t you help me before it’s too late? I think I may need to find a Twelve Step program for this shallow and yet totally addictive show.

Let’s see:

There’s a scene from Second Chances up at Ecataromance as the Smooch of the Day! Go and check it out. It, together with my scene from A Touch of Fae will be up for Smooch of the month for October starting November 1 so if you like it, I’d be ever so grateful if you tossed a vote my way.

The October issue of Vixenwriter is now out! If you aren’t subscribed, head on over and do so! You can read this month’s issue directly from the board. There’s a sneak peek of Cascadia Wolves in it, some contests, news, reviews and the usual stuff.

I received news on Friday that Triad is now available in paper at the warehouse! I’m beside myself with joy about this and I can’t wait to hold it in my hands. I’m waiting to hear back when it’ll be available to the public and I’ll let you all know when I hear.

In related news, A Touch of Fae will be available in paper March 5!

The Erotic Romance Authors are hosting “A Whole Lot of List Mom” on Friday, October 21 at the Ellora’s Cave Reader Chat. There are 10 of us so expect lots of excerpts and prizes and a good time!

The Mavericks are hosting a Halloween party on our loop. Paranormal themed excerpts, prizes and special guests abound so please come and hang out!

That night I’m chatting at the monthly Ellora’s Cave author chat at Writerspace.

I finished the edits on Cascadia Wolves and have sent it to my editor, more as I hear more! I’m really excited with how it turned out.

Now back to Witches Knot!

At Agent007’s blog, she talked about author pictures on the back of books and also linked an article about the importance of author pictures.

This always bugs me - why is it important to see a picture of the author? I mean, okay, if you want to see me, I’ll post a picture, but does it make me a better writer? Does my picture make you want to buy my books?

Conversely, does a bad picture make you not want to buy a book? Agent007 refers to does the author look like they should be writing this kind of book as one of the things she asks herself when she picks up a book - this confuses me to a certain extent. I mean, what on earth does someone look like who writes erotic romance? Mystery? Sci Fi? Is there a context I’m missing?

Okay I get it if we’re talking about certain narrow subgenres - if I’m writing about my life as an aboriginal in the outback as a biography piece and I’m not, that makes a difference. But other than that, I don’t see any correlation between what I look like and certain book genres.

So tell me, what do you think about author pictures?

So I’ve been thinking on heroes a lot. One of my beta readers hated Con from A Touch of Fae with a passion but most of the rest of the readers have loved him. Another reader commented on my loop the other day that she didn’t like Aidan from Triad.

It gets me musing about the nature of likeable heroes and just what makes a hero to begin with. I’ve talked about how I hate the Alpha Asshole You Want to Fuck type of hero. I don’t equate abusive natures with strength or heroic natures.

I like strong men. I like men who are sure of themselves and their allure. I love smart men, well read men, witty men (nothing sexier than a smart, funny man). Personally, I’m not really in love with the metrosexual man but I do think that a man who does basic maintenance on his appearance is good, I just don’t want him to be hairless (unless he’s a swimmer or it’s that way naturally) or have more personal care products than I do. In any case, the situation with his hair and his eyebrow shape doesn’t concern me overall.

What does bother me is the idea that a man isn’t A MAN unless he’s an asshole who emotionally abuses the heroine and then “redeems” himself at the end by telling her he loves her or somesuch. I don’t think men who force sex are heroes. I don’t think any man who’d call his partner a slut or a whore is a hero. And please don’t get me started on books where the “hero” infantalizes the heroine (who will invariably be tiny and he is very large) and is her strict daddy instead of her partner.

A hero is in the details of his interaction with the heroine and the world. A hero is honest and forthright. He is brave but not stupid. He is in love, without a doubt, with the heroine. He would not hurt her intentionally. He does not force her into sex or call her names. He does care about her feelings because she’s his partner and he loves her.

If this makes him somehow a “shero” I say, better a shero than an asshole.

A great entry on this issue is also over at Smart Bitches.