Vixenwriter

1. My husband (Yes, that’s what I mean and yep, it usually works like a charm. He’s very handy that way.)

2. Listen to 80’s music loud and sing to it (usually something especially fabulous like Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Psychedelic Furs, Go Go’s)

3. Eat chocolate

4. Read Welcome To Temptation

5. Read Naked in Death

6. Read Vaclav Havel’s Living In Truth

7. Watch The Matrix

8. Run through the sprinklers with my kids

9. Retail Therapy - shoes, books, purses or music

10. IM Megan or Anya

11. Eat egg rolls from my favorite Thai restaurant (shrimp ones, SO good!)

12. Make cookies with my kids

13. Snuggle with my husband and let him cheer me up

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Preferences, ah, the meat and potatoes (or the tempeh and potatoes) of the book universe. We all have them and they drive our choices. Sometimes we take a chance and discover something we hadn’t expected (always a wonderful thing).

For instance - true mate storylines. Some people hate them and complain endlessly about them while others love them. I’m always of the “why are you reading these books if you don’t like them?” school. I don’t read capture bondage, I hate it. I don’t read “forced seduction” either and I stay away from other storylines unless an author I really trust is writing them.

But back to true mates and why I like them and why I think other people do as well - there’s a lot of emotional power in the idea of seeing someone an *knowing* they’re meant for you, forever. In the right hands, it’s a storyline I adore. Not because it’s realistic, but because the idea is incredibly appealing to me. And based on the popularity of those titles and the sales of the books I write with mate storylines, they’re appealing to a lot of other people too.

An alpha male, probably a man who loves women and loves to play the field, comes into the story. He meets the heroine and that’s it. There will usually be tension, and why not, who likes to be wrenched out of their habits and into an unfamilar place? It’s scary and no one likes to be scared. At the same time, there’s now a solid bond between the hero and heroine and how they end up together is the device. A smart author can work that dozens of innovative ways and even though you know it’ll end up HEA, the journey is wild.

I love the appeal of the big, bad man brought to his knees by something as powerful as connection to another person. It’s why I love werewolf books so much - the males have a reason to be alpha and dominant and wolves mate for life. The appeal of paranormal and fantasy then, is the ability to take real things and twist them. I love that!

I write contemporaries and paranormal/fantasy. I love both for different reasons and a different skill set is needed to approach each sub-genre. I find that each has cliches that appeal for different reasons. Cliches are part of our subconscious and some of them can be drawn upon for the best kind of wish fulfillment.

I think next wednesday I’ll talk about contemporary cliches and which ones I like the most. In the meantime - what are your absolute loves and dislikes about paranormal storylines and why?

(BTW - I’ll take all the responses I get and throw them in the hopper. The winner will receive a download of any of my available titles. I’ll draw a winner on Saturday)

I debate on this a lot - should I talk about the downs of being a writer as well as the ups? And if so, how deeply do I delve? In the end, I think I try to go with a middle path.

Today I want to talk about the in between place. I’ve been here a while now and it’s frustrating and at times, debilitating. What I mean is this - I’ve achieved a certain level of success, which is wonderful and I’m sooo grateful for it. At the same time, I want to take new paths and one of those is to a New York publisher.

(a very long and not always shiny entry behing the “more” tag…

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This is today’s entry - yes, in general, they’re all very erotic so the usual warnings apply. 18 and older only please. Naughty stuff behind the cut…

Also aboard the train:
Rhian
RG
Christine
Stak
Susan Helene Gottfried
Anya

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So as I was catching up with Megan this morning on IM, we were talking about the process of writing. I’m of the “I like to write what I want to write when I want to write it” school. But the realities of writing as a career mean you often sell on proposal and sometimes just a synopsis or blurb. Which means you write what you sell based on a series of deadlines. Creating a whole new set of challenges to a writer because, as fun as writing is, it’s a job. So sometimes it’s about writing what I want to write when I want to write it, and sometimes it’s about picking up something for a deadline and falling in love with it in a new way I hadn’t thought of before. Making Chase was the latter. I had a deadline and I wouldn’t have chosen to pick up that particular project at that time. But once I started it, I fell in love with the book and the characters and I’m hella proud of it.

Everything in my life goes into the book I write at any given time. And by that I mean, the book I write today and this week won’t be the same book I write in a month or next year. What happens in my life, if I’m up or down, if there’s a particular phrase or idea that appeals to me, what I see and hear - it all influences my writing right down to my characters and word choice. I can look back at the books I’ve written and see the ebb and flow of my life, even when I work on something over a long period of picking it up and having to set it aside - and see the influences of my life on the page. It’s not even necessarily something blatant, usually not actually. But there are times when I was going through something very dark when it comes out in my writing.

This isn’t earth shattering, just a glimpse into process, LOL. Or rather, my process because everyone is different I suspect.

I’m writing a book, Reading Between the Lines, for Samhain. It’ll be out in October and it started as a short for one of Angie’s Samhain special projects but it grew to novel length way early on. It’s a Fae story wrapped in Celtic mythology. I love Celtic mythology, most mythology as a matter of fact. I love the backbone of culture that mytho-religious stories create. There’s something comforting and mystical all at once when I’m researching and writing about old gods and goddesses. Especially when we see them over and over across time and cultures.

Recently I wrote a book that had sex magic as a component and it was coined a magic vagina book my mrs giggles (who did actually make me laugh and gave it a rather nice review aside from that) and I have to say - preferences are preferences but sex magic isn’t something I made up to titilate.

The idea of magic and/or power coming from the uniting of male and female sexual energies is very old. All through myth and cultural history we see rites dedicated to fertility and sex. Sex creates energy and the uniting of two or more forms in a sexual act heightens that energy - magic - power. It’s one of the most basic forms of energy human beings create, our sexuality is part of who we are.

I’m not offended someone doesn’t like sex magic as a storyline in a book. Like I said, preferences are preferences - we’ve all got ‘em and that’s what makes the world go round. But the idea that somehow, it’s something smutty authors made up to titilate has been bugging me over the last two weeks because I suppose, I love the idea of the sacred coming up over and over across time. It’s a tie that brings us all together and not even in a purposeful way, it’s just part of who we are century after century Celts or Persians, Mayans or Inuits. Aside from the book I wrote (Sword and Crown was a book I wrote based on a tarot card - I loved the idea of the Queen of Swords woman using her hard won knowledge to make a difference) we see sex magic as a component of many things in daily life - from religious rituals and rites to storylines in books and movies. Some things are recurring themes for a reason, they’re part of our consciousness as human beings. They can be cliched and overdone and misued - this isn’t new, but they’re there for a reason.

Oh my gawd. Needing a little inspiration, I head around you tube and wow. Just, guh…

I’ve been working on several deadlines so I haven’t been reading as much as I normally do (despite my yummy TBR pile). I did read two Aphrodisia titles - The Hard Stuff an anthology featuring stories by Karen Tabke, Bonnie Edwards and Sunny and Champagne Rules by Susan Lyons.

I did a reading back in March with Susan and Bonnie - both of them are wonderful people and I bought Bonnie’s Midnight Confessions and Susan’s Hot in Here. I think Midnight Confessions is one of the best ghost stories I’ve ever read (and hot!) and I already loved firefighters and Susan’s Hot in Here singed my fingers as I read!

Anyway, I loved The Hard Stuff - especially Bonnie’s contribution - Bodywork. I’m a sucker for reunion stories (and Tabke’s is as well) and the sex was smokin hot as well as being a sweet, wonderful story. Novellas are hard to write well and Edwards does the job. I also quite enjoyed Stakeout and I’ll be looking for more of Tabke’s stuff in the future. Love the cop thing as well. Sunny’s story, Chinatown, was also enjoyable but the premise pushed some of my buttons. I did enjoy her voice though.

I started reading Champagne Rules thinking the book would be one thing and found it to be something else entirely. I do love Lyons’ books and so I knew I’d like CR but I came away surprised, impressed and really loving it. It’s a reunion story, yes, but more than that, I think she handled the real life complications of career aspirations, our own personal expectations and interracial relationships really well. She didn’t play it down or pretend none of it mattered if there was love. It’s one of the best interracial romances I’ve read!

The last several Aphrodisias I’ve read have all been wonderful winners. I can’t wait to read Midnight Confessions II and the next offerings by what I’ve come to find as a really talented group of authors.

I just got an email from Angie at Samhain contracting the last two Cascadia Wolves books: Wolf Unbound and Standoff (Tegan’s book and Cade’s book)! She thinks we’ll be seeing WU in February and I don’t know the date yet on Standoff but she’ll let me know soon.

I’m excited by this so much! I LOVE working with Angie and Samhain and I’m thrilled to be able to get these books out!

I want to say - I moved this series from EC to Samhain because it’s taking a while to get new contracts. I am not mad at EC. I love writing for them and hope to do so into 2008. With all the craziness on the internet and the rumors swirling, I wanted to make it clear. This is a business decision with regard to getting my books out on a regular basis and knowing the new contract stuff will take months. Nothing more.

1. You want to write? Get your ass in that chair and do it. Even if it’s ten minutes every three days.

2. Stop making excuses about everyone else’s time/schedule/lifestyle/ability - you will never be anyone else but you. Be the best you you can be.

3. Keep your shit together in public

4. Dignity Costs Nothing

5. Don’t email angry. Wait a day, even an hour before you hit send.

6. Just because you can wear your underwear as clothing in public doesn’t mean you should.

7. If you preface something, “Not to be racist/sexist” etc, you are and don’t say it.

8. Suck it up

9. Don’t call your ex boyfriend or look him up on myspace just because you’ve had a fight with your current partner or when you are drunk or PMSing.

10. Don’t tell an editor your manuscript is the book of your heart.

11. Don’t give up.

12. Be grateful and humble about your successes and don’t forget to tell people you appreciate them.

13. Don’t take the low road. There’s not a damned thing wrong with being positive, especially in public.

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