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Archive for January, 2007

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Thursday, January 4th, 2007
Thursday Thirteen
Thirteen of Lauren’s Favorite Books from 2006 (In No Particular Order)

1. Flirting With Danger - Suzanne Enoch

2. Match Me If You Can - SEP

3. Fistful of Charms - Kim Harrison

4. Breath of Snow and Ashes - Diana Gabaldon

5. Angel’s Fall - Nora Roberts

6. Dead Man Rising - Lilith Saintcrow

7. Born In Death - JD Robb

8. Woken Furies - Richard Morgan

9. Blood of the Damned - Anya Bast

10. Bakra Bride - NJ Walters

11. Scarlet Woman - Shelley Munro

12. Tall Dark Cowboy - Mackenzie McKade

13. Murder of Angels - Caitlin R Kiernan

(I want to say Megan Hart’s Broken was my favorite book read in 06 but it won’t be out until late spring, so that would be cheating. I’d also so Dirty was my second favorite but as the official date wasn’t until January 1, that’s also cheating. I’d add Anya Bast’s More Than Magic which is now Witch Fire and due out in June to that list - but now I’m just teasing you all, LOL!)

Honorable mentions - every single NJ Walters book I read in 06 - Craving Candy, Drakon’s Treasure would be two that come to me off the top of my head. Shannon Stacy’s, 72 Hours, Jordan Summers’ Bacchus, Charli Teglia’s Wolf in Shining Armor, Carrie Vaughan’s Kitty books, Charlaine Harris’ Grave Sight as well.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Posted in Thursday Thirteen | 3 Comments »

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007
Contest Winners!

The three winners of their choice of my available titles, including paper are:

Sue A
Charli
Scooper

Congratulations to you all! Just email me with your title and format preference. If you choose one of my books available in paper, be sure to send your snail mail addy! You can check out my available books at my website.

Posted in Life | 2 Comments »

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007
Writing What you Like, Liking What You Write

Recently, someone said to me, “so, since vampires are no longer in, are you going to write something else?”

Here’s the thing, I write what I like. I don’t write according to fashion or trends. I don’t write vampires because they were new/hot/now. I don’t write erotic because it’s new/hot/now. I just write the stories that come to me.

Sometimes, when I remember back to the not too distant past when I was just a newbie, I think about all the things I thought were important that, with the passage of time, have turned out to be not so very important at all.

One thing though, that I’ve always thought was integral to my own writing and to others’ writing as well has been staying true to the story inside you. And that’s borne itself out time and again.

I didn’t write the Witches Knot books because vampires were big at the time. I just wrote them because they were the stories and characters in my head. I write in multiple POV because that’s how the story comes to me. I write erotic when I’m meant to and not when it isn’t. It seems to me, the foundation of any good book is that the author told you what was clamoring in her had to be let free.

We all tell our stories differently. Some of us painstakingly plot out everything, some pants it the whole time and most do something in between. Some of us think in technical terms about our writing, some of us don’t. We use different methods and voices but the stories that stand out are not ones that are written as a means to hit a trend, but ones that rise above the rest with a take on an idea that grabs the reader. That can’t be boxed, it can’t be trended or mapped, it just happens. It’s organic in that sense and that’s why it stands out.

Writers put a lot of pressure on themselves - we constantly measure ourselves against other people in ways that will only leave us lacking. It’s silly and yet, we do it anyway. IMO, the biggest gift we can give ourselves is the freedom to write what we like so we can like what we write.

Posted in Life, Writerly | 5 Comments »

Monday, January 1st, 2007
2007

Well, now I’m going to mess up my checks and everything else I sign and date for three months because I am a tool.

But it was a lovely New Year’s Eve. I spent part of the afternoon with my friends, one of whom flew up from California so it was really nice to hang out. We had afternoon tea and went shopping in downtown Snohomish, which has many lovely little antique shops. And I came home with Lavender Earl Grey tea, something I first had at another friend’s birthday tea at The Queen Mary in Seattle in May (wonderful place!).

Anyway, then I came home and after we got the kids to bed, my dude and I had drinks and watched Descent. Holy poop on a stick, that is a scary movie. I’m slightly claustrophobic so a horror movie that takes place in caves? Shudder. Anyway, it was very well done and it did not end like I expected it to. But it was cool to have an all female cast and some hard-core ass kicking women in it as well.

Then I watched this show on Everest on the Discovery Channel. I have to admit I’m totally confused and fascinated by people who climb Everest. I mean, people die. People get sick, people lose brain function and get frostbite and they spent tens of thousands of dollars and yet, some go back again and again to try and make it to the top in a place called “the death zone” I don’t get it. I like adrenaline as much as the next person, it’s the death part I can’t quite get past. Human nature totally fascinates me.

Midnight came in with huge fanfare from my neighbors who thought, “hey, let’s set off dynamite at midnight! Won’t that be fun? Maybe we can make that dog at the end of the street lose its voice from barking from now until dawn!” My husband and I snuggled but then the wee monster woke up and stayed that way until nearly 3. I’m a bit bleary eyed this morning but my husband is making coffee and he let me sleep in. I am truly a lucky girl!

This afternoon it’s up to see another friend and her family! Until then I need to wake up and work on some household stuff and some revisions as well.

I hope everyone had a lovely evening last night! Best wishes for a marvelous New Year.

Posted in Life | 2 Comments »



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