Vixenwriter

Generally, I’m not that picky about stuff. As a writer, I often break grammatical rules in dialog for instance. But generally, I see several errors made repeatedly and they drive me up a tree. I am by no means a grammar goddess. I make mistakes all the time (hello, queen of the comma splice here) but I want to improve them!

An apostrophe means two things: Possessive, as in, “Susan’s coat was red” here the apostrophe denotes the coat in the sentence belongs to Susan.

Or it marks a contraction. That is to say, the merging of two words: “It’s raining today” Here the apostrophe splices the word it and the word is.

YOU DO NOT NEED AN APOSTROPHE IF THE WORD IS PLURAL UNLESS THE WORD IS PLURAL POSSESSIVE!!!

This drives me nuts and I see it all the time. “The ducks on the lake looked happy.” You see? It is not “The duck’s on the lake looked happy.” or I’d be saying, “the duck’s what? Their bills? Their feathers? Their mothers? What?”

Irregardless IS NOT A WORD. The word is regardless.

Your - indicates possession - “Your hair looks nice.”
You’re is a contraction of the words you and are - “You’re smiling a lot today!”

I’ve seen these errors countless times in books and also used by writers all over the place. If it’s in IM, I don’t care. Heck, I usually have a kid on my lap when I’m online. But it’s inexcusable in a book or on your website. If you see any errors like this on my website PLEASE email me so I can fix it. I think I need chocolate now.

I have a daughter. More than that I’m a woman. The emphasis on weight and body size in our culture can be so harmful. A friend of mine posted this elsewhere it’s from JK Rowling’s blog and it’s a great article and I thought I’d put it here too. Because I want us all to love ourselves.

For Girls Only, Probably

His bemusement at this everyday feature of female existence reminded me how strange and sick the ‘fat’ insult is. I mean, is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ’shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’? Not to me; but then, you might retort, what do I know about the pressure to be skinny? I’m not in the business of being judged on my looks, what with being a writer and earning my living by using my brain…

I went to the British Book Awards that evening. After the award ceremony I bumped into a woman I hadn’t seen for nearly three years. The first thing she said to me? ‘You’ve lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you!’

‘Well,’ I said, slightly nonplussed, ‘the last time you saw me I’d just had a baby.’

What I felt like saying was, ‘I’ve produced my third child and my sixth novel since I last saw you. Aren’t either of those things more important, more interesting, than my size?’ But no – my waist looked smaller! Forget the kid and the book: finally, something to celebrate!

So the issue of size and women was (ha, ha) weighing on my mind as I flew home to Edinburgh the next day. Once up in the air, I opened a newspaper and my eyes fell, immediately, on an article about the pop star Pink.

Her latest single, ‘Stupid Girls’, is the antidote-anthem for everything I had been thinking about women and thinness. ‘Stupid Girls’ satirises the talking toothpicks held up to girls as role models: those celebrities whose greatest achievement is un-chipped nail polish, whose only aspiration seems to be getting photographed in a different outfit nine times a day, whose only function in the world appears to be supporting the trade in overpriced handbags and rat-sized dogs.

Maybe all this seems funny, or trivial, but it’s really not. It’s about what girls want to be, what they’re told they should be, and how they feel about who they are. I’ve got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don’t want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I’d rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before ‘thin’. And frankly, I’d rather they didn’t give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons. Let them never be Stupid Girls. Rant over.

Angel at Romance Junkies was kind enough to send me an early look at an as of yet to be published review of Enforcer. I LOVE to open my inbox and see stuff like this!

She gives it 4 1/2 ribbons and says in part:

ENFORCER is a fantastic story that readers will find hard to put down once they start it. Lex is dangerous with an intense sensuality that will make your heart stop. Nina is one tough lady who is not intimidated by Lex and his alpha attitude. This couple is a perfect match in every way and their sparks are constant both in and out of the bedroom. Love scenes are wonderfully sensual and the heat is enough to make you turn up the air. Lauren Dane knows how to weave a tale of adventure and romance that takes the reader on an emotional journey. I cant wait to see whats in store for the next book in the CASCADIA WOLVES series.

I ordered business cards and bookmarks today. I’m so excited. I’ve had business cards before you see, but they were for the law firm or agency I worked for, never for me. And these are just gorgeous and of course, designed by the everwonderful Frauke at Croco Designs (who also designed my website, this blog template and my newsletter as well as my banner ads - can you tell how much I love her?)

Anyway, I got them from Printing for Less on a recommendation from Kate Douglas and so far so good. They’ve been quick, amazingly helpful, their prices are reasonable and if the product is as good as I hear, I’ll be ordering other things too in the future.

I’ll be at Love Romances all day on the 11th! Please come and hang out with me for the day. The more the merrier. Plus I’ll be posting excerpts for my upcoming books and giving away swag. (and who doesn’t like swag!)

Oh and word of the day - Pagina = your lady parts - which I prefer far more than va jay jay. Cause I’m all about edumacation and shit. No, really? I’m just goofy.

Oh! A few places to check out today - Booksquare has nice things to say about Ellora’s Cave including a really wonderful response to the article linked below and in her entry.

MSNBC has a story about erotic romance.

Let’s see, what exciting stuff do I have to share with y’all? Hmm. Oh! I totally added a past fling with the pirate guy from Thunder from Down Under in Goddess With a Blade! I didn’t use his name or anything but heh, he certainly inspired part of the book so I had to give credit where it was due. I named the vampire lord actor dude at my version of the vampire theatre, Marv. It makes me giggle. I also used the poodle line because I like to think I’m clever. It’s really lucky for me that you all tolerate me.

Oh and in news that makes me blush, I actually watched the Flavor Of Love “Reunion” show this last weekend. Oh. My. Listen I have to say that the entire staff of VH1 as well as me and anyone else involved in the making or watching of this show should be embarassed. It’s the worst kind of entertainment and I could not tear my eyes away for a moment.

Flav actually looked pretty okay except for the gold teeth, which I will never for the life of me understand the attraction of because it looks awful and uncomfortable. But anyway, again with the digress - moving on.

Of course you must know they brought back all the “contestants” and showed how they all ratted each other out and every gross open mouthed kiss by Flav where he just dived into their mouths. Eeek! Oh and all the fights. And I really hate the phrase “cat fight” puhleeze. Are these women angry pussies? Nah, they’re just skanky chicks looking to make a career out of something and lucky for them reality TV is their playground.

There was big time cooch shot action by “Hottie” and a lot of standing up and holding back of hair and yelling. Not sure about the hair thing, that’s what I do when I’m gonna hurl. And don’t think I wasn’t looking at that wastebasket and glad my hair was in a pony tail because all these women proclaiming love for a total stranger wearing a giant clock around his neck made me all queasy. I kept hearing Megan yell at me, “GET IT IN THE CAN!”

But of course, I really watched to see the Pumpkin/New York showdown. Pumpkin outskanks anyone in the cast, which is a monumental achievment I must admit considering these women. So there was more hair holding back by NY and some odd body movement stuff and she jumped at Pumpkin (who needs to DO HER ROOTS! Jeez, she’s going on TV, do your damn roots!) several times and Pumpkin, bless her slutty little heart, ran to hide behind the other women on several occasions.

All of these women kept delivering insults to each other about llooking like a tranny. And you know, I think transvestites have more self respect than hoochies who are past the pull by date at 23. Oooh, did I just say that? I think I did!

And surprise, things didn’t really work out between Hoopz and Flav. I was shocked I tell you, shocked! But they’re best friends apparently and he totally gave her one of those kisses when she walked on stage which had me going for a bit (and not in a good way, hurk hurk).

So…wait for it…they’re doing another season! Bwah! Oh television gold.

You see, I’m sure you all imagine I sit around and read Proust but instead after a day with my kids, I’m only able to watch crap on TV. Well, not literally but I wouldn’t put it past Fox for next season.

Woooo! I just heard from my editor last night that EC wants Sword and Crown, my fantasy novella based on the Queen of Swords tarot card to be a part of their tarot themed series in 2007!

I would say I’m really excited about this, cause I am, but I always say that (well because I always am) so I’ll say why instead.

S&C is my first fantasy story. I love to read the genre but I haven’t written any of it until now. This one is rife with magic and as it happens Rhea, the heroine, practices sex magic (yeah baby!). Another wonderful point in this book’s favor is that Anya Bast and I are linking stories through a secondary character in my book, Rhea’s sister, who will be the heroine in her book. It’s wonderful working with someone I like so much.

I’ve been pretty spoiled since I started writing seriously. I’ve pretty much known that I’d find a home for my erotic romance. I could break loads of traditional romance rules but still be within the larger framework of romantica.

But when I was in Las Vegas this idea for a book came to me and this one isn’t really a romance at all. There’s no HEA in the traditional sense. She’s not going to end up engaged or married to either man she’s with in the book. The book is about her, first and foremost.

I do think the book has options in some of the new erotic lines (cause it’s erotic, no denying that). But I’m writing without a net and for the first time in a while. That’s at once exciting and really freaking terrifying. But it’s a good thing because this book had to be written. It’s riding me hard and insisting.

I’d get bored if I couldn’t be challenged and so I’m going to ride this out because I believe in this story and also the importance of stepping out of predefined boxes. We’ll see how I feel in six months, LOL.

Kate Hill, who is marvelous enough to compile our Night Whispers Authors Question of the Week asked about writing heroes recently. I began to think on this and about male beauty in general. The continuum of masculine looks and appeal is so broad for me. Black, white, Asian, young, old, gay, straight - I don’t care because I love em all.

For instance, I won’t put up any more pictures of my secret celebrity boyfriend Clive Owen because all you need to do is look back in my archives to find him. But he encompasses a lot of my favorite male qualities.

Here’s another favorite. The dashing, sophisticate. He loves women and even though he never seems to settle down with one for long, he seems to be held in high regard by his exes. The ever handsome Cary Grant of our time. George Clooney.

And then there’s Lenny Kravitz. Oh the rocker bad boy. I miss his dreds. His skin is gorgeous, his body is HAWT and he’s just gorgeous from head to toe.

And Ai Papi! Eduardo Verastegui makes me all tingly. He’s just one of the many reasons to check out the foreign film section in your local video rental store. Tall, dark, handsome, mysterious - check out the eyes.

And then there are men that, oh I don’t know, just have something indefinable. Brad Pitt is this man for me. I don’t even usually like blond men. When I think about him I’m usually like, eh. But then I see him in a photograph or a movie and he makes me want to jump my husband, like right then. He’s cocky and has a great sense of humor. I know, I know, I’m not going into the whole Angelina thing, but a man who likes being a dad? Sexy.

Now I don’t watch CSI often enough but here’s one of the reasons I do… Gary Dourdan. Holy moly, the man is hot! Handsome, suave, I love to watch him act. Yum.

I’m supremely annoyed that I can’t seem to find any good pictures of Chow Yun Fat, who is beautiful. So to console myself…
I lied, but I looooove him so.

Last night I finished my edits for Sudden Desire and found myself free for a few moments to choose a project from my “hurry up and write me” file. I opened the file for Taking Chase, the follow up to Giving Chase but then I wanted to write something down about the Vegas story I’ve been chewing on since I returned two weeks ago.

And I started writing and I’ve actually, gasp, outlined the damn book. This story is eating me alive. I am her bitch and loving it. I wrote the opening scene and it made me so happy and giddy with energy that I couldn’t sleep for a while after I’d shut everything down. So I guess I’ll be writing it, LOL. I’ll talk about it more as I write. Right now, I don’t want to jinx it.