Vixenwriter

Tonight at 6 pm pacific/9 eastern – come and chat with TJ Michaels, Shelley Munro and Lauren Dane over at Coffeetime Romance! We’ll be talking about our upcoming releases and there’ll be a drawing or two at the very least!

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/chat_entry.html

Hope to see you there!

I have an advance copy of NJ Walters’, Craving Candy. This is book 4 in her Awakening Desires series (Erin’s Fancy is my favorite so far).

This entry brought to you in the spirit of Eddie Murphy’s comedy bit “I got an ice cream” (you’ll probably have to be a certain age to get that but still)

So my friend Amelia June had her very first release The Jason Factor, from Venus Press and I’ve been meaning to pimp it for some time but then I got sick and had deadlines, etc.

Anyway, The Jason Factor is a clever little short, a book within a book with a few fun twists that you don’t expect. It’s not wall to wall dumb sex, the sex in it is hot but just right and has a Domme flavor going on and yet, Jason is a very strong man so it works.

Go on, check it and Amelia out, you won’t be sorry.

I just finished Chased about twenty minutes ago. While I had outlined it for my editor, I don’t normally do outlines because I like to let the story go where it wants to go. Still, I’m fortunate enough in my editor that I think she’ll like where I went with it and it’s not a huge departure from the basic idea/outline I’d written up anyway.

But what happened was this. I’m writing along and I’m following the outline but I’m realizing that Liv is way more complicated than I’d thought at first. She’s one thing on the outside but beneath the surface there’s something else. A lot of hurt. And I also realized early on, that Marc was kinkier than I’d thought and the sensuality level was higher than I’d planned.

So I’m continuing to write and the black moment that comes is different than I’d thought it would be. The resolution is the same but the big bad between them is something I hadn’t thought until I was writing it.

But I’m thrilled with the end product. This one is told in a different way than I normally tell my stories and you get more of Marc than I usually give my heroes. I’m putting it down until the weekend when I’ll read it fresh and see if I still love it then, LOL.

I do outlines and synopses when I have to and when they’re necessary like my NY pitches and when I’m trying to sell on partial but I love it when I can just let the story carry me away.

In Thrice United, you find out why Holly’s mother was on the run for Holly’s whole life toward the end of the book. But the truth is that I didn’t even know about that reason until I was writing that scene, LOL. I’d had an idea but it didn’t seem right or fit the story but as I was typing it just came to me. The same thing happened when I was writing Threat of Darkness with the big bad. I’d tried and tried and tried to outline it, hoping to figure out why I’d been blocked but it wasn’t until I started over and just let it all come that the big bad came to me.

Other times, outlining helps me keep the story from running away from me (Taking Chase for instance) or makes me focus when I’m scattered.

Anyway, I’m blathering because I’ve got that “I just finished a book” thing happening to my brain and I’m sort of drunk with it.

Christmas list

Tagged by Lacy Danes - my shopping partner, LOL!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate. I hate eggs. European or Mexican drinking chocolate. A bit of whiskey to make it just a bit spicy is nice too.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrap them of course. My kids love to rip them open and uh, Santa keeps a special roll of paper just for Santa presents so they’re not to be confused with the other presents from mom and dad.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White inside and out. I’ve expressed a desire for colored on the outside of the house and my husband expressed his desire for me to be happy with whatever he gets on the ladder to put up.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, I just grab kisses when I want one.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving. But not this year because I was sick as a dawg. I did it this last weekend.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Hmm, just one? I love baked ham but the husband does not so I do a small one for me and my two youngest who love it too. And all the little appetizer thingies.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? I didn’t grow up with loads of money so often, my parents wrapped presents in newspaper instead of wrapping paper. My dad would address gifts as being from sports people like Tommy Lasorda, etc. I love that, it’s probably one of my favorite all time memories. They’ve recently started doing that for my kids and I think it’s the coolest.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Don’t remember.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I want to but my husband makes me wait. But um, we have some stuff that’s not really openable in front of the kiddos that we open on Christmas Eve now.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Lights, garland and ornaments. I’m not one of those organized people who has a color scheme though.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it as long as no one has to drive in it because we live at the top of an 8% grade and it’s deadly to try and drive down.

12. Can you ice skate? Never tried. I grew up in Los Angeles. Not much ice to skate on there.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don’t. I did have my oldest in November, which was a great early present. I’ve gotten loads of wonderful stuff over the years.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Making memories with my kids and husband. I love that moment after the presents have all been opened and the coffee is ready and my husband and I look at the kids playing wildly and we’re dead tired but it’s just a wonderful time.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Cheesecake.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Decorating with the kids.

17. What tops your tree? An angel.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving. But I won’t lie and say I don’t love to open presents.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Oh Holy Night and Deck the Halls.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? YUM!

I’m supposed to tag people so I tag Mechele and Lany.

I had this long, philosophical post ready but then I read that Tori Spelling is going to write her memoir. Sigh.

So last night we watched Battlestar Galactica, ate Godiva chocolate and had a few drinks together. This is the equivalent to a wild night for us, LOL. Thank you to a dear friend who sent the chocolate as a congratulations for my Spice sale! I’m a lucky woman in my friends!

Anyway, watching a show that’s as good at integrating meta and micro storylines as BSG makes me think on the “big themes” in our mytho-religious cultural consciousness (and yes, I went to a liberal arts college) – heroism, individuality, love, war, hate, belief, etc.

Here you’ve got Starbuck – Kara Thrace

And I love Kara. Or the Kara of the last few seasons and even the beginning of this one. This Kara is a mess, but she’s strong and loyal and courageous and she does not give up. She’s totally flawed and pushes away the people who can help her overcome those flaws but she’s also someone you can count on in a fight. I hate what they’ve done to her in the last three or four episodes. Gone is her strength. She’s suddenly a drunken whiner who shits on the people she loves. I am hoping last night’s episode is the first step in taking her back to the Kara she was when she retrieved the arrow.

And then just to give your eyes a treat, there’s Kara’s husband Anders

Lookit him. Mrwoow! He was in the resistance on New caprica, fought and fought to find Kara, who’d been taken. But then he sort of gave up on her when they got back and she went all nuts. Hello, does no one think to say, “wow, you want to talk about being kidnapped and mindfucked by the cylons for four months?” They all just sort of what, expect her to deal with that without help? If you love her Anders, fight for her like you did when you didn’t even know she was alive!

And then there’s Lee Apollo. Lee of the very tiny towel and the washboard abs.

I lurve to look at him, oh yes I do. But frankly, I’m not so impressed with his character. He did sort of redeem himself when he showed up to help his dad save the folks on New Caprica but he’s a bit of a whiner. I mean, does he think having a parent more interested in everything else but him or favoring one child or whatever, is unusual? It’s not, especially on TV or in books. The flashbacks on last night’s show did redeem him a bit though.

Anyway, the core of BSG are big archetypes – the hero (the tortured hero -Kara going to Caprica to get that arrow, defying orders to do it, risking her life. Kara going to blow up the resurrection ship, etc); the conscience (Rosslyn); the father (Adama and last night really underlined that when he stepped away from friend mode and fully embraced dad mode again); the multi faceted villain (oh Gaius! Oh Six! The cylons are the finest example of enemy in the mirror I’ve seen in a very long time); salt of the earth – Chief; uncertain hero/timebomb – Boomer/Athena.

In a sense, everything is derivative. But it’s what you do with these foundational archetypes that sets your book/movie/television show apart from the rest.

The always saucy Ciar Cullen is having a poll at her blog for Book of The Year and I’ve been told Tri Mates is on it. I went to look and lo and behold it is!

There are several other fine books in the poll as well so if you’re so inclined, please go and take a gander.

I got this from the ever so wonderful Anya Bast – Name ten of life’s simple pleasures that you like most, and (if you want) pick ten people to do the same. Try to be original and creative and not to use things that someone else has already used.

1. The sound of my children laughing

2. Slow, warm, morning sex with no interruptions

3. The first really crisp fall day

4. A chai latte, light on the chai, in a mug I grip to keep my hands warm on a Sunday morning

5. The smell of my husband’s skin in that space just below his ear

6. Holding very small hands as I walk with my kids

7. Finishing a book

8. Watching butterflies light among lilacs

9. Hearing the people I love tell me they love me

10. The look in my husband’s eyes when he looks at me and really sees me and finds me beautiful

Instead of tagging 10 people, I’ll just say I hope you do it because it’s a fun meme and a nice way to think about things that please you.