Vixenwriter

I took off word verification (cause I hate it) but had to put the damned thing back on this morning due to the spam pruning I had to do. Sigh.

Is this not just a breathtaking cover? I am in total love with this cover and Syneca is just, sigh, the best. it’s my new favorite with Enforcer a close second. I LOVE the fonts and the poses of the people and Holly, she’s so hot!

AND - on top of this marvelous cover and the RR for Giving Chase - I now have a release date for Vengeance Due (book Three of the Witches Knot series) - August 2nd! Happy Dancing all around.

Sigh, it’s a good day, people!

I got this email yesterday but I’ve been rushing around today and didn’t notice it until just now! Thank you Joyfully Reviewed and Melissa for making Giving Chase a Recommended Read!!

The most wonderful Melissa at Joyfully Reviewed has this to say about Giving Chase: I’ve long been a fan of Lauren Dane, grabbing whatever she writes as quickly as I can. In my opinion Giving Chase has to be the absolute best book she has ever written. Maggie is heroine who is spunky and independent while Kyle is just the kind of to-die-for hero that I love to read about. Lauren Dane has crafted not only the sensuous passion between them, but also the deepening emotional bonds, in such a way that I became enthralled. Add to this the knowledge that each of Kyle’s three yummy brothers are slated to have books of their own and Giving Chase is a book should be on the top every romance lovers list.

Cool, huh! Thank you, Melissa.

I just spent the better part of my day sparring with Yahoo and hosting the Excerpt O Rama day at the EC Reader Board.

Dude, that was really a lot of fun. We had a shitload of excerpts and prizes and it kept hopping even when yahoo wouldn’t let me on the damned board for several hours so I had to post blind.

In August we’re doing a De-lurk day and we hope to do other things to get more folks to the board and posting, authors and readers both. I have to say I was bowled over by the level of participation from authors who sent me excerpts and donated prizes.

And well, EC readers are just the best. How can I complain about people who spend their days goofin off and hanging out for LM days?

I want to say all of this because well, it’s true but also to point out that this is the kind of thing that’s the norm. Not fights, not a divide, but this fun and celebration.

Here’s the KNOCK IT OFF PORTION OF OUR PROGRAM:

Knock it off. That is all. This can’t go anywhere postive for any of us. Just stop it now before sides start forming and it goes wrong for everyone, readers and authors alike.

If you check my sidebar to your left you’ll see the cover for Reluctant, my quickie in the Autumn Animalia series. It’ll be out in September sometime.

Reluctant is a prequel. The story of when Layla (Lex and Cade’s sister from Enforcer) meets and bonds with her mate Sid. She’s not a happy camper.

Blurby Bit: Layla Warden had a ten year plan and it sure as heck didn’t include a mate. She had her flashy car and her corner office and all was right with the world until Sid Rosario sat down at her table and turned her life upside down.

Sparks fly right off as the two werewolves flirt over dinner and it’s no surprise to either of them when they end up back at his hotel room, naked and sweaty. But what is a surprise is that Sid is her mate and they don’t figure it out until the bond is sealed.

Angry and off balance, Layla asks Sid for some time to think and he gives her a day and a half to get herself straight. Any longer than that and the lack of the anchor of the tri-bond, the stabilizing third bond for a werewolf female, will begin to take its toll on the female mate’s sanity.

Layla, driven by confusion and fear, heads out of contact while a frantic Sid looks for her. What comes next helps a reluctant wolf find her way to acceptance

I had one of those dolls, or rather, a very cheap knockoff version of her. My sister got one too. I used to think it was lame that we had to have the same presents but now that I have kids of my own, I see why.

ANYWAY, I’ll be chatting tonight at Novel Talk with some of the most wonderful Night Whispers Authors at 6 pm pacific/9 eastern so please drop by and say hello.

Okay so I finished A Breath of Snow and Ashes this last weekend (I mentioned that below) and as always when I read Gabaldon, I go back to pick up Voyager to at least re-read the scene where Claire walks into Jamie’s print shop after being gone for twenty years.

Because as memorable scenes go, it’s one of the big ones for me. It’s like the wedding night scene in Outlander - it’s so well written and unexpected on many levels that you can see the depth of the chemistry and connection between these two people.

Claire thinks about how she wants to run her fingers through his hair to feel his skull after all that time has passed, she sees the bump on his nose and knows it’s been broken at some point. It’s those little details that make the scene so powerful.

And when they come together the first time when she comes back, it’s hesitant and shy as well as needy and passionate. I love that.

What memorable scenes to you return to over and over?

I’m probably going to be sorry for this but I’d like to talk about the perceived “reader/author” divide a little bit.

First and up front - I love my readers. I do and they know it and I do my level best to show them how much I appreciate their support of me and my work. I know that without them I’d be writing books for my hard drive instead of getting them published.

That said, simply because I write books instead of putting tires on cars or practicing law or making shoes in a factory does not mean I’ve signed on to not have opinions. Sorry, I’m opinionated. I have feelings and opinions and sometimes I share them and sometimes I start to share them and delete my response because along with my feelings I’m also somewhat of a public figure and so I need to be aware of that.

God, I don’t even know what the hell that sentence means. See what happens when I try to walk a middle line and not offend anyone?

Okay fuckit, here’s the thing - we all have opinions and yes, we know what they say about opinions, right? The expression of an opinion does not, simply by its expression, make me any more bitchy or poorly behaved than anyone else. I’m already a bitch, that comes with the opinionated part. But my having feelings doesn’t make me bitchy. How I express my opinion is another thing entirely and that’s the crux of the issue that gets missed so often. (For instance, see the difference between Lydia Joyce expressing her opinion at AAR and a certain other person - one is opinion, the other is opinion expressed in a manner destined to get people upset)

I don’t like it when people think that because I write books, I have no right to have feelings. See, that’s an opinion. I don’t like it when they talk the worst kind of hateful stuff about authors as if we’re merely laptops with arms. See, another opinion. You see, I’m not an animatronic person placed on earth to serve you. (if I was, I could eat all the chocolate and pringles I wanted and my ass would fit into my jeans. Oh and I wouldn’t have those evil stretch marks).

And I’m not talking about Karen S, let’s say that explicitly right now. I happen to like Karen and her ability to laugh at herself as well as other people. I have my own opinions of the flap at her blog but it’s not even a thing and I’m not going there - enough people have spoken about it.

Frankly, I don’t think there is an author/reader divide at all. I think there are some authors and some readers who get into it - to extrapolate that out to all of us is irresponsible. I love my readers, you can go to my loop and ask em if you like, or you can read this blog, shrug. I appreciate them and their support. And most of all, I respect them. And it appears they respect me too, which means a lot to me.

I’m looking out on the loops and blogs and I’m not seeing it. I see trouble spots but I’m not seeing a “divide” at all. I see some people who thrive on drama and shit stirring (on both sides) but for the most part, the rest of us are doing our own thing and getting along quite well and it pisses me off to have a few people trying to stir people up and make a problem when there is none simply to amuse themselves or get attention.

Not everyone is going to like you. That sucks of course, LOL, as everyone should love me and erect shrines to me with cupcakes and Pearl Jam CDs. But I’m as flawed as anyone else, hell, moreso because I’m neurotic as well as opinionated. I’ve got opinions folks and sometimes I’m gonna share em. If you want to share yours, it’s only fair I share mine. Not that I will all the time you see, but I hold that right just in case something pushes my buttons and my husband can’t talk me down.

Okay, I’m out.

Hello everyone! I just sent off my final edits for Vengeance Due and I hope, most fervently, to get a release date this week sometime!

I’ve decided to finish Battlefront, I got some really good work done on it last night, too! I’m just about ready to write the first big sex scene between Sera and Brandt - woot!

How is everyone? Did you all have a good weekend? Mine was tiring but good. The kids wore me out but they did sleep really well last night, LOL. It’s my oldest’s last week of school (yikes!)so I’m trying to enjoy the relative calm before the storm.

Finished Breath of Snow and Ashes on Saturday. Yep, made me cry. Twice