Vixenwriter

Wow, time flies, eh? It’s Titilating Tuesday and I’ve got some excerpts of Sword and Crown up at my messageboard should anyone like to take a sneaky peek.

Speaking of Sword and Crown - I got my author copies yesterday so I’m going to have a contest to celebrate. If you’d like to win an early copy of S&C - respond to this entry by 5 pm pacific/8 eastern today April 17 and I’ll choose a winner. Easy as that.

RT madness continues around here. I leave a week from today, whee! I haven’t had much chance to read, I’ve written a lot, packed a lot and made a lot of lists though. Between all the stuff I’m bringing and all the stuff Megan is bringing I’m not sure if there’ll be room for us to sleep in the hotel room, LOL!! The big decision hasn’t been made yet though - what book to bring on the plane to read. I wish Charlaine Harris’ new Sookie was going to release this month instead of next, sigh. What’s good? I’ve read a lot of great stuff lately - give me some ideas please. Anyone read La Linda’s new Nocturne yet? I have Gennita Low’s Virtually His on pre-order but it looks like it might be shipping already - that would rock! I’ve been waiting to read this one for some time now.

Okay, I’m off to make some lists and deal with my kitchen, sigh. Have a great day!

My world is suddenly all about RT, pretty much all the time. My husband gets that glazed look in his eyes when I start talking about bookmarks and tassles and costumes and shoes. Of course he’s got to hold down the fort while I’m gone so he’s got his own stress to deal with.

I finally ordered a costume for the Moulin Rouge party today. I know. I was going as the green fairy but I couldn’t find a costume that wouldn’t show a third of my ass and/or make me feel too old or slutty. So I went with a dancer/saloon girl type thing and hopefully I won’t feel old, slutty or like a heifer in it.

My front room is awash with promo crap, suitcases, shoes and other stuff. My husband just looks at it and then me and sighs. He’s the best, LOL! I’m taking 8 pairs of shoes, this is wrong on so many levels but I’m doing it anyway.

I’m getting a lot of writing done too, which is whee! Megan’s crit makes me laugh because it’s wicked helpful but it’s so imbued with her personality (stuff like, “whee!” and “guh!” in the margins).

Let’s see if I can keep my weight level this week shall we? Stress and time pressures can lead to bad eating habits but I want to save that for RT, LOL.

Right-O - gotta go for now. Who else will be at RT next week?

I’m into Chapter Six of Battlefront and I’m so loving this book. Happy sigh. It’s way more than I need for a partial but I’m going to finish up this chapter, send it to Megan who is critting, finish the synopsis and wait until after RT to pelt my agent with it. (Hi Laura! XOXOX!)

Anyway, then I’m going to finish up Reading Between the Lines. It’s not due until August but I’d love to have it out of the way early and right now I’ve got several things done, out for submission and waiting so I have the time and the story is one I want to tell. So yay for that.

Okay, back to the grind - this has been a busy weekend and now I need to finish up getting clothes together for the kids for the week and at some point, deal with the mess in my front room where I’ve got RT crap everywhere.

The winners of the Shiny contest are:

Judy Cox and Rhian

And because there were 70 entries I did one last drawing of a name and it was:

Jaci

All right all - email me with your title choice and format. You can choose anything I’ve got available including Sword and Crown (but I don’t have my author copies yet so it’ll be between now and the 25th) in any format the book is available in.

You have seven days to claim your prize!

Okay, got some caffeine in me now…

Last night I finished Kat Richardson’s Greywalker. Holy smokes! What a marvelous book this was. I had it in my TBR pile and I kept getting interrupted over and over and finally I got to it again and once I started reading I couldn’t stop. Richardson’s world is rich and interesting and Harper is a great character. I’m biased because I live in Seattle of course, but I think the setting was perfect and the choice of Pioneer Square as a hang out for loads of ghosts and dark things was marvelous. Great action, fabulous worldbuilding, just a great book.

I checked Kat’s webpage and she says the second book, Poltergeist is coming out in August and I’m definitely going back for a second helping of Richardson’s world.

I also finished Nalini Singh’s Visions of Heat and was every bit as enthralled with this installment as I was with Slave to Sensation. The thing with series is that each book should be connected but tell a different story. I don’t want the same book over and over and Singh manages to give us a totally new story while remaining on a course the first book set.

I wasn’t sure about VOH at first, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about Faith but in the end, I liked Faith a lot, even more than Sascha who is a great heroine. And Vaughn? I love how barely leashed he was but always with her. He pushed and listed to his inner voice and he wasn’t a woman in a man suit like some romance heroes tend to be.

The chemistry was well done, unfolding nicely and believably. Singh’s world of Psy and Changeling is ultimately rich and fascinating and I’m definitely looking forward to reading Judd’s book later this year.

I want to write about Sasha White’s Lush and Vivi Anna’s Blood Secrets but they need more page space because I loved them both so much and well, because I think Sasha and Vivi deserve the time too. For now, I’ll say I highly recommend both books, I’ll follow up with more detailed reviews soon.

Sadly, I had a few DNFs this last week but I won’t go into what they were.

Spring break is nearly over thank goodness. This was just a small taste of summer break and boy do I need to try and prepare for that. After RT, I’ll just wait until after RT until I think about it. As it is, because of our crazy weather, my oldest doesn’t get out of school until the end of June so that’s a bit of a reprieve, LOL.

I’m blogging on menages over at the Samhain Blog today - come over and give me your opinion!

I’ll be back with Friday Booktalk in a few minutes, I need caffeine first.

Thirteen Things I’ve Been Interrupted By This Morning So Far

1. “Mom! He’s touching my bionicle!”

2. Fixing Barbie’s crown. Fixing it again and then putting her ball gown back on. Six times since 7 am (and it’s 9 now)

3. Rewinding The Little Mermaid

4. Nexting through all the previews before Happy Feet to start the movie.

5. Juice refills

6 Slow internet this morning making me time out repeatedly. Grr.

7. Choked on a vitamin (yes, I’m pathetic)

8. OOH! Story idea, gotta write it down.

9. Reheating coffee that’s gotten cold. Making a cup of chai after guzzling coffee like a caffeine junkie.

10. Going in to stop fights over pokemon cards. Threatening bodily harm to the cards if I hear another word about them.

11. “Mooooooom! Morrigan is in our roooom! She’s on the top bunk!” Sigh

12. Phone.

13. “I’m hungry!” me - “you just had breakfast and you told me you were full.” him “but that was for chex, I’m hungry for easter candy.” me “go away.” and thinks “Mother of the Year!”

I finished the first draft of the partial for Soul Deep last night. I am happy. Now I leave it sitting for a while until I finish up with Bound by Magic. Sometimes it helps to let things sit for a bit, so when I pick them up again it’s fresh and I can see it more clearly.

It’s interesting writing different heat levels. I don’t approach sex any differently between a “sensual” romance and an “erotic” romance actually. Sex is important either way - it should make a difference in the story, move the story in some sense. But the difference lies in description and the presence of sex in the story. Sex in an erotic romance/erotic novel is a bigger presence on the page. It’s there in a bolder fashion. I don’t have rules about when a sex scene has to appear or for how many scenes there’ll be in a book. I just write the story. I’ve had erotic romances with less sex scenes overall than sensual romances and erotics where the sex doesn’t occur until halfway through the book. I let the characters decide that stuff.

In Bound By Magic, sex is a huge part of the story. It’s not only who the characters are, it’s a big part of their connection to each other. This is different than in Soul Deep where the sex is, at this point, a way of reconnecting. It’s important but in a totally different way.

I’m actually, gasp, outlining. I’m a pantser, big time! But since I’ve started selling on partials and proposals, I outline far more often and while it’s not as detailed as it is for some authors and I generally don’t outline until I’ve finished the first three chapters, I find this new, hybrid way of writing to be helpful.

This week is moving along at a brisk pace and I realize I’m leaving for RT in two weeks. I’d been hand beading tassles for my bookmarks and then I realized I have 1300 of them to do and there’s just no way I can finish so I gave in and ordered tassles. I’ll still have to thread each one, but that’s much less time consuming than hand beading, tying, cutting, etc. So the hand beaded ones will be promo alley ones and in my different prize baskets, etc. They are really pretty but the tassles look good too. They even shipped today, wich is a relief. Yes, I know I should have started a month ago. I had plans to but it never happened.

It’s spring break for my kiddos this week and they’re being very quiet right now. I went in to check on them because quiet = trouble but they’re all snuggled up together on the couch watching a movie. I don’t know what happened to my children and when the switch was made to these small aliens but whatevah, I’ll keep em.

I’m having a chat this Saturday, April 14th at 5 pm Pacific/8 eastern at Romance Reader at Heart - my first one with them! Come on by and say hello and grab the chance to win copies of Giving and Taking Chase!

Excerpts up at my messageboard from Making Chase and Sword and Crown - come on by and say hello!

Okay, I have laundry to do. The pile that never ends. Sigh…

As you can see, Frauke finished with the installation of the new website template and she did a fabulous job! I can’t tell you all how much I love her work. Every single project she’s ever done for me has turned out marvelously. Croco Designs is now her full time job and I can tell you, if she’s got an opening, grab it. You won’t be disappointed in her work.

I’m going to be running a contest - I’ll choose two winners at random from all the comments (from today’s entry until Friday afternoon at 3 pm pacific) who’ll win a copy of any of my available titles, including paper.