Vixenwriter

So I started off the day pretty well. My kids were mostly well behaved and my husband looked handsome and smelled good as he headed off to work. He called me a few minutes later with an idea he had about a title connundrum I’m experiencing and it was really good and cascaded into something I’d already been thinking on.

And then. Okay, I’m trying to be circumspect. Because this is a public blog and all but honestly, I get so frustrated by some things.

Firstly, a bookseller for any RWA approved conference who won’t order books from an RWA approved publisher but who wants me to bring them myself and then take 40% from me? After treating me like crap? Oh, I don’t think so. For the record, if I’m going to an RWA conference of any kind I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the bookseller be willing to order books from RWA approved publishers. Especially when I know for a fact that two of my readers went into the very bookstore chain and ordered copies of A Touch of Fae from them and it arrived. They have to use Ingrams or Baker and Taylor but they do for other titles too. So uh, thanks but no thanks. This only further deteriorates my opinion on this particular bookseller.

Edited to add - Have you ever read Kafka? Or watched the old Newhart show? You know, there’s one rational person watching insanity and she tries to be rational and use a rational worldview but the system keeps on applying rules that are just insane? Okay, so this day keeps on getting worse and more Kafkaesque. When someone applies a rule and you say, “oh, but that doesn’t apply because your facts are totally incorrect” and then they repeat the same incorrect info and shrug - that shit drives me up a wall. Why? Why do people repeat the same damned thing over and over when it’s wrong? And then instead of just saying, “yes, it’s wrong but I can’t help you” which at least would be honest, they just say it again, like somehow that makes it correct.

Secondly, is it too much to ask that employees for a business actually do their jobs? Even just like, oh forty percent of the time? If you say, think answering emails is above your station in life, could you please answer your voicemail as a compromise? Because if you aren’t at your desk all the time, one has to leave a message. But if you don’t answer your phone, reply to your email or deal with repeated emails, it’s sort of impossible for me to get my problem taken care of. Do you see my connundrum? Good, so glad we could have this little chat.

Let’s see -

If you haven’t gone over to Cobblestone and picked up Crystal Jordan’s Full Swing, why not? It’s a short, it’s under 4 bucks and it’s really good. So go on, you’ll thank me.

It’s release day at Samhain! And a good day indeed. Mandy Roth, Meg Allison, Lorelai James, Brenda Williamson and Emelia Elias all have books out! Go check out the homepage for the blurbs and buylinks.

I got a signed cover flat for Lacy Danes’ upcoming Aphrodesia book What She Craves. Because Lacy is a sweetie. It’s gorgeous and if you’re in the Seattle area, she’s having an author event at Third Place Books on Saturday the 26th! Check out her blog for all the relevant details.

I’m at the EC board today (link in the post below) and having a great time posting some fabulous excerpts. Of course the problem is that I want to buy everything I read. Well, that’s not a problem really but my husband will hide the debit card one of these days!

There was a great article in the Detroit Free Press about erotic romance and my agent was quoted! Go Laura!

Oh and I’ve gotten a few notes recently about the font on my website being hard to read. I’ve adjusted it larger so hopefully it’s better now. Please let me know if you continue to have problems!

Joyfully Reviewed is having a very long, totally fabulous One Year Anniversary party at their loop. I’ve had a blast. There are theme days and prizes and loads of excerpts and chat. Check em out! I love Joyfully Reviewed, it’s a great site and it’s always so nice to have another review site that writes comprehensive reviews and explains what about the book worked and didn’t.

I think that’s it for now. I’m over at EC if you want to come and wave hello!

Don’t forget that Anya and I are going to be hosting the “Powerful Paranormal Women” day at the EC Readerboard tomorrow, August 22nd!

We’ll have some great excerpts, chances to win great prizes, it’s going to be fabulous! So come on by! I’ll be rolling in at about 9 am eastern/6 pacific!

My most fabulous editor, Angie has informed me that the release date for Taking Chase has been moved from January 30, 2007 to November 21! Yay!

So I pop on over to Kate Rothwell’s blog, because I love to read her and she’s got this marvelous post up inspired by this hilarious one, in response to this eye goggling, seriously wackadoo chick whose blog is full of ads but who tells us all she’s way too good for the rest of us.

So, inspired by Kate’s clever little meme idea, I thought I’d play too! I’m going to list all the reasons why I am the shit, teh hawt, and frankly, way too good for 43.8 percent of men without jobs who live in their mother’s basement.

1. I’ve had three children. This means while they have taken years off my life, they will provide a decent workforce as they grow older. They also probably have kidneys they can donate if I need one.

2. I know loads of words for different genetalia, which is good for about ten minutes of amusement on your part.

3. I know how to make food items look like novel things to try and entice children into eating healthy. How can you turn down a celery stick with peanut butter and raisins that is “ants on a log?”

4. I’ve taught two sons how to pee sitting down. This makes me a superhero.

5. I know how to use a phone and computer, these are things Cleopatra could not do. I am so much hotter than Cleopatra was.

6. My stretch marks are better than yours.

7. I know lots of ways to describe oral sex with a vampire.

8. I’ve seen Anya Bast take tequila shots and you haven’t.

9. I can eat a whole can of sour cream and onion pringles.

10. I know the words to about 93.2% of Pearl Jam’s song catalog, including their rarities. Yes, I am a freak but I draw the line at looking around town for the band members (although I’ve ridden in an elevator with Ed at my old job and didn’t even stalk him so I have self control, bitches)

11. I snickered when Jackie there talked about her libido. Let’s see if she can get it regular with three kids. I can. Therefore I am hotter than Jackie. Even if I am old, clearly my time management and libido are better than hers so nanny nanny boo boo.

12. I’ve been with my husband for 2o years. He’s seen me as a high breasted, big haired 18 year old and a slightly graying (hey baby, love that feria cardinal red!) 38 year old who can nurse a baby, write a novel and make ants on a log. Hands down that makes me sexier and more desirable than Jackie any day of the week.

13. I know the words to Silly Hat and most other Barney songs and I am not afraid to break em out to stop a tantrum on a road trip.

I may be old and not as thin as the percentages Jackie there gives, I’m not actually single or looking either, but I am still way too good for Jackie who will never be able to make a celery stick look so good or sneak a jar of pureed veggies into macaroni and cheese to trick her kids into getting their vegetables. I am way more devious.

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

First let me start by saying how much I love librarians. I adore them. I’ve never met a librarian who wasn’t fabulous. When I was on vacation, my hold on Twelve Sharp came up and of course I lost my place because I didn’t pick it up in two days (a good rule for books with lots of holds). So when I saw that I’d missed it and looked to see NINE hundred holds (I’m not exaggerating) I was bummed and figured I’d have to wait a month or two to buy it or go to the end of the line and get it next year when my hold came up.

Anyway, my husband told the librarian my tale of woe and she told him to have me call her and she’d put me back near the top. I called and she did and yesterday I picked it up and I finished it last night.

I love the Stephanie Plum books. I love that Stephanie is a woman who has issues and a messed up but wonderful family and a sense of community and who is just a mess on several levels. Evanovich has created a really complex and wonderful world with her Plum books and I know I’ll always laugh out loud at least three times when I pick one up. I’ve been hooked since I picked up One For The Money.

So last year when 11 On Top came out in hardback, I rushed out and bought it and ended up profoundly disappointed. I thought it seemed rushed and there was a lot of fertile ground for expansion but she didn’t. And many wasted opportunities with Ranger that seemed more frustrating than tantalizing. There were some great moments (the scene with the dogs had me laughing for days) but overall, it felt like it got cut off halfway through the story.

I worried that 11 was the end of the Plum series.

But I was wrong and I’m relieved.

In 12 Sharp, Evanovich has brought Stephanie back to her former glory and given us a great mystery and a story I really loved. This isn’t a review site really so I’ll skip the synopsis of the plot. You can get that and the first chapter at Janet Evanovich’s website.

But this is a Rangercentric book. Dreamy sigh. Up front, I like the bad boy. I like the dark and mysterious bad boy even more. I’m a Ranger girl so a whole book about him and his past? Yum.

Quick dialog, no dragging moments. Nice tension about the mystery. Stephanie is still messed up but she doesn’t do anything that made me scratch my head in annoyance. We get lots of Grandma Mazur and Lula and the funeral home has new owners. Morelli is there in his hot and sexy glory although I wish Janet wouldn’t close the door on the sex scenes! I don’t need the full monty (okay, I’d like the full monty but I can live without it) but I’ve loved it when she’s given details in the past. It adds something to the story and helps me understand why she’d stay with Morelli when Ranger is so yummy and lurky ready to pounce.

I thoroughly enjoyed 12 Sharp and I highly recommend it!

Anyway, I also have Kitty and the Midnight Hour and Kitty Goes to Washington in my TBR stack. When I finish Threat of Darkness I’ll read them both.

Hey folks, TJ Michaels and I are going to be chatting at TRS at 6pm pacific/9 pm eastern tonight, Thursday, August 17th!
http://www.theromancestudio.com/trs_chat.htm

We’ll be chatting about our current and upcoming books from Samhain and Ellora’s Cave and just hanging out and having fun.

Anyway, come by. We’ll give stuff away and talk about upcoming books!

Lauren

The winners of my blog contest (reader’s choice of a download of any of my available titles) is:

Cherie J
and
Lass

Please send me an email (laurendane @ laurendane. com - no spaces) with your title and format preference.

Congratulations!

Firstly, congratulations to Anya, her Edge of Sweetness is out today from Ellora’s Cave! It’s a BDSM themed quickie that I was fortunate enough to get to read early and I loved it. So go buy it already!

The rest will be all writerly. I don’t normally write about craft here but I notice I have a bit this week. I don’t know why but it just occurred to me and I thought I’d put it up…

I got seven thousand words written on Threat of Darkness in the last two days, pretty good especially as I’d been feeling a bit of that mid book slump. I’m past it now and it got me thinking on how writers deal with periods in every book when you just don’t want to write it anymore.

To ramble a bit, I finally had the time to sit down and read this month’s RWR. I read “the letter” before I left on vacation and that was enough for then. Now I don’t read it cover to cover and think of it as the “romance bible” but I do usually find one or two useful things in every issue. So I saw an interview with Nora Roberts inside and I read it (and I talk about it a few entries ago)

I know some people love to hate Nora Roberts. I’m not one of them. I may not love every single one of her books (and god knows she’s got a million of them and some of them are my favorite romances evar!) but I admire her as a writer. Her ability to sit down and do the work. You don’t have a career like hers without some serious balls and committment and I like that.

Anyway, her main thing throughout the interview was “sit your ass down and do the work.” And I have to agree with that. There are a million reasons not to be able to get work done every day. Your kids are needing you, your partner needs you, you have laundry to do, you have a day job (kids or not), you don’t feel well, you’re tired, you want to watch TV - whatever, they’re all compelling reasons.

I hit that place in every book. Every book. Some books more than once. I. Just. Don’t. Want. To. I can’t get in touch with my characters. I hit a wall in the action. I go from 3K every night to 20 or 50 words. I start thinking about other books. If I get this way in the middle of a sex scene it’s even worse because I can’t write around a sex scene, I have to finish it and each sex scene should mean something and it really gets me.

Anyway, generally, I just push through. I make myself push past it and write. Even if it’s just 20 words. Sometimes I’ll go back and do an over read and edit through to where I’m stuck. This helps most often actually because I feel like I’m back in the whole of the book rather than going scene by scene as it tends to happen to me these days because I’m editing multiple books and writing too and I have to lay things aside and pick them up later which leads to a sort of disconnect fromthe whole of the project.

Anyway, I’m past it for now. This particular book has had two such places for me. I did put it aside two months ago to write Taking Chase which helped but when I picked it up again, the same slump was there and I just sort of wrote around it. Last night I punched through it and dealt with it and I’m hoping to be done with the “I don’t wannas” with this book.

Anyway, I suppose that Nora is right. This is a job. It’s the best damned job I’ve ever had and I want to keep it. And writing is so fun and interesting but sometimes it can be tedious too. You’ve got to work past the tedious to find the fun again.

My desktop is back home. Happy sigh. Still *rolls eyes* when my husband went to pick it up, turns out they hadn’t backed up the data from the fried hard drive. And I’m all, “What? If they didn’t back the data, what have they been doing with the computer all this time?” So the desktop came home and we have to wait, yet more time, for the data, which I continue to hope they can save.

Anyway, I was able to update my website and I can do all the things I needed to but could not on the old, slow Mac we were using in my desktop’s place. My laptop served me well through the difficulties thank goodness and now I can continue to share back and forth between my lappy and the desktop. Yay!

My poor, sweet husband had his first day back at work in a few weeks yesterday, got the computer, found it wasn’t backed like it was supposed to be, came home to a very frazzled wife who had HAD IT with the kids, one of whom was sick for part of the day and still dealt with putting all the programs back on the desktop. He rocks and I am very lucky.

I have no idea what to make for dinner tonight.

I know! I am so darned glamorous! I need to mop the kitchen floor. I HATE mopping. I want a scoomba to do it for me.

I opened up my laptop late last night and was not into writing. But I have this little rule and I must do it, at least for thirty minutes every day unless I’m on a vacation. Anyway, I ended up writing the beginning of Dangerous Beauty - Minx and Connor’s book instead of working on Threat of Darkness. I had to get it down because it had been taking over my brain yelling at me. So it’s down and hopefully I can finish up TOD now that I’ve given in a bit to my muse.

Oh and I finally read the interview with Nora Roberts in RWR. I don’t read RWR from cover to cover like a lot of people do. It’s not that compelling to me, I flip through it and find a few things I like and put it aside. It came before I left on vacation and so I hadn’t read the interview.

I love Nora Roberts. Why? Because she does not pull punches. I loved her advice, which was, in a nutshell, “work your ass off and keep doing it.” There was no, “my way is the only way and if you don’t do it my way you will never succeed.” There was no, “your books are evil/dirty/bad/wrong” It was just a woman talking about her own writing and her own path and I dig that. I like how she’s all, “do it and stop whining about why you can’t!”

She’s not selling magic beans (write a best selling romance in 30 days ring any bells?), she’s not calling on some magical process (unless the storytelling itself is magic, again, yeah!), she’s just saying, “It’s a job, the best job evar, stop bitching and get your butt in the seat”

Okay, enough babbling for now. Have a lovely Tuesday and remember, it’s release day at Samhain! Get on over and see what Liz, Ally, Sela and Silvia have to offer you!