Vixenwriter

I received a wonderful review from Talia at Joyfully Reviewed! She says in part: “Cascadia Wolves: Enforcer by Lauren Dane was all I hoped it would be and more. Totally enjoyable until the very last page, I couldn’t stop reading it. Now, if only Ms. Dane will find the Alpha a mate, my life would be complete!” Thank you so much, Talia!

I did write a letter to Borders corporate and I have to say I’m very pleased with the very quick response (less than an hour) of the person I wrote to and within two hours I’d heard back from her again after she contacted the district manager. This says a lot about them at the corporate level.

I heard from my editor at EC this morning and Sudden Desire has a release date! June 9, which is a Friday and not their usual Wednesday release. The quickie series will run the whole month and I can’t wait to see who else will be part of the series!!

My chats last week went really well. I have another tonight at 5 pm pacific at Writerspace with the other fabulous EC authors. Come and talk to me.

I’m not even going to give more than a few paragraphs to what surely has to be the most poorly run bookstore in the universe, complete with the surliest manager ever. Here’s a brief rundown:

I arrive at 12:30 as I’ve been advised to do by bookstore girl. “Hi, I’m Lauren Dane and I’ve got a signing here today from 1 - 3.”

Bookstore guy. Blank look. “Who?” (Bwah! This is swell already!) I repeat my name. He calls someone. Looks back to me. “Someone will have a table set up by 1.”

Me - “Well, where will the table be? I’ll need to bring in my books and get set up.”

Bookstore guy. Blank look. (me - inward sigh and prayer for patience). He calls someone (sensing a pattern here?). “They’ll have a table out here in 15 minutes.”

I thank him and grind my teeth and wait.

Manager shows up, shoves a table in my direction, doesn’t introduce herself. “You can get a table from the cafe.” Turns around and walks away.

I actually laughed at that point it was so ridiculous.

Seriously, after dropping the ball and not even ordering my books and making me go to the expense of overnighting them and then trying to shove me to another day AFTER I’d done promotion and ordered books overnight, the least I expected was an actual introduction and a smile from the manager. I don’t think it’s too much to ask. They’re the ones who made all the mistakes, I was courteous the whole time. It’s like courtesy and taking responsibility are dead. I mean, the place sells books, I write them - what a concept!

Suffice it to say, the bookstore SUCKED but for several lovely readers who came by and made my day (two even brought cupcakes!) and the one bright light, Larry the bookstore guy who was totally sweet and made annoucements over the PA about me being there to sign.

BOOKSIGNING TOMORROW, APRIL 22ND! Come by the Borders Store at Southcenter (17501 Southcenter Parkway, Ste 200 Tukwila, WA 98188 Phone:206.575.4506) from 1 – 3 p.m.! Please come by and say hello. I’ll have Frangos!!

Due to circumstances beyond my control (and I’m really trying to deal here and make this a learning experience) I’ll be the one dealing with the sale of copies of Triad. So it’ll be cash only. Sorry for any inconvenience that may cause! Still, it’s not too much cash and you can have chocolate and say hello. So there. If you already have a copy, bring it down and I’ll be happy to sign it, too.

I forgot to do a Thankful Thursday post yesterday so I’ll do one today instead.

Do you know who I love? My agent, Laura Bradford. She’s so wonderful and has given me so much guidance and help with revisions that it amazes me. And I appreciate it and she’s wonderful and I appreciate her and plan to send her chocolate because she deserves it for reading Wolf twelve hundred times.

Anya Bast rocks. Well on a lot of levels but specifically she wrote this great piece on synopsis writing that I saved a while back and I think it really helped me as I was writing the dreaded synopses last night. Gorgeous and smart too, it’d be easy to hate her if she wasn’t impossible not to adore.

Kelly Jackson at Ellora’s Cave/Jasmine Jade who went above and beyond the call of duty and took pity on my freak out and put twenty copies of Triad on a UPS truck with moments to spare to overnight them to me so I’d have books to sign tomorrow.

My readers who’ve been so supportive and kind to me. Thank you for the notes about my books. They make my day.

My husband, who I don’t tell thanks to enough but really, where would I be without him and his support? Thank you so much for believing in me and helping me to make this dream a reality.

I’d thank my kids but they’re working my last nerve right now. Maybe next week.

I’ll be chatting tonight at 4:30 - 5:30 (pacific) at Ecataromance with several other wondeful Samhain authors.

At 6 pacific, those minxes the Maverick Authors will be chatting at Novel Talk. Come talk and maybe win something.

Just a little ditty about point of view. (and a note up front - one of the reasons I don’t write about craft very often is that we all do things differently. Doing things differently doesn’t mean there’s a right or a wrong way. This is just how I do things. There are lots of ways to approach writing. A number of them way better than how I do it. Nonetheless, this is my perspective)

I am not a purist. Up front, I don’t like rules. So I don’t use them very often. As anyone who’s read my books knows, I write in multiple POV. Some people hate that. Some people love that. Most people don’t notice if it’s done right.

Sometimes a scene calls for a single POV for a reason. Sometimes, it calls for multiple POVs for a reason. For me, it’s always about what I want to reveal.

Anyway, I’m just finishing revisions on a book that had a MM scene. At first, I wrote it in the POV of both men and the woman in the shadows watchinig them. As I read back over it, it was jarring. My agent thought so too.

So I thought about it and decided to write it entirely from the POV of woman in the shadows. Because then the scene is really about the person holding the book and watching. And as most of my readers are women, I liked the idea of having a woman’s perspective on a scene where two men are having naughty parts touching. It adds another level to the voyeurism of the scene overall.

Essentially, for me, POV was a tool, not a hindrance. Not a rule.

And as always, your mileage may vary because this is all about the individual writer and we all do things differently for a whole host of reasons.

Nina Reyes is a just barely reformed grifter who has left her past and her criminal record behind. That is until her brother shows up on her doorstep with some rogue werewolves out to kill him.

Nina gets further drawn into the web of intrigue when Lex Warden, Cascadia Pack’s Enforcer, comes to her for help and she ends up needing his protection.

There are missing viral agents, the werewolf mafia, death threats, arson and a whole lot of scorching sex and acerbic wit between them.

Welcome to the Northwest and Cascadia Pack.

What a lovely List Mom day I had today. EC readers are so wonderful! 11 and a half hours of chat and I’m exhausted but I had a great time. I also have a dozen new books on my TBB list after all the great excerpts. I tell you, one of the best reasons to host a LM Day is to get all the great excerpts from the EC authors, LOL.

I’m thinking that I may do it at Samhain when Giving Chase releases to see if I can get great excerpts from the fabulous authors there too, LOL.

So tomorrow is my third book release with EC, my fifth book release in a year. I’m incredibly thankful that I’ve been able to do all of this. There are moments when I still can’t believe this is actually my life. It’s pretty freaking cool.

I love Enforcer. I believe in it as a good book. In my opinion, it’s my strongest writing yet. The characters are people I really like. I think their chemistry is real and hot and I like that they make me laugh. I hope you all like it too!

I’m off to go work on Wolf. Y’all have a great night.

Anya and I are rocking the Cave today! Please come and join us!

Was me falling over. I just finished my newsletter and sent it out, cleared out the bad addresses and put in the new ones that subscribed since last month. And now I have to go deal with the KITCHEN THAT ATE CLEVELAND (honestly, how does it get so darned dirty? How many times a day must I do the dishes?)

My 20 month old decided that playing in the toilet was a super fun idea (and you really need to hear that in a cruise director voice) and as I was cleaning up that mess, she thought she needed to pull the roll of toilet paper she ruined out of the trash. You know, some days I feel like a baby herder.

I’ve eaten way too many jelly beans today. I don’t even like jelly beans. Each time I put another one in my mouth I think, “ugh, god! Why did I just do that? I won’t do it again.” until I do it again. Even now my nose is wrinkled. I’m weak.

I’m doing revisions. I hate revisions.

Enforcer is due out on Wednesday. Anya Bast and I are having a List Mom Day tomorrow at the EC Readerboard so please come and say hello.

I was going to write about revisions today, but the same 20 month old who is driving me nuts decided to be awake between 1 and 4 this morning so it’s not like i’ve got anything coherent to say.

Have a good day!