Vixenwriter

I am finally finished with revisions on Undercover. They were pretty light but I wanted to be sure they were as good as possible so I was extremely careful with them. Whew. Now I’m on to a last polish of Sensual Magic, which is due to Harlequin April 1, that shouldn’t take more than a day or so, and finally I can get back to Unexpected. Yay!

I have to say, I got pretty sweaty when I read back over the sex scenes in Undercover. It’s hard when you’re writing something and then editing the first time. You’re very close to the book so you can’t really gauge. But reading it over again, some months later I was like, “wow!” I think this is the hottest book I’ve ever written but also, I was pleased to see the emotional depth in places too. I feel better about it and I already liked it before. Sweet relief.

I ordered some goodies for RT for our Love Shack reader party on Friday (don’t miss it folks!) This party will have goodie bags filled with excellent swag that’ll be exclusive to the party including books from the participating authors. I also ordered postcards for Undercover and Vegas and they turned out so pretty.

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to Frauke, the person behind the creation of this website (and also the hosting service for it, Janus Portal Hosting) and a great many other websites you you see around. As well as the person who designs my bookmarks, my RT ads and other various graphics like business cards etc. She is truly wonderful. I will give her a few elements and she always turns them into something wonderful. I’ve been a client of hers for several years now and I’m always just so awed by her talent. Plus she helps me with technical stuff when I just can’t figure it out. She always takes pity on me and with good humor. So thank you, Frauke - truly, you make my job so much easier and you do it with style.

Totally UNconnected to any of the above - did you know there was Fraggle Rock fic? I sat in a corner and rocked for a while once I found that out. And then I saw a guy in a furry suit with black leather assless chaps. Don’t ask where I found it. But, well just don’t ask. I think I may have bad dreams.

Now, I’m off to catch up on the stuff I let slide today to finish up with Undercover. Happy Hump Day!!!

In closing, to combat bad dreams - my dreamboat, let me show you him…

Marcus Patrick

Via Booksqure and then Book Club Girl - Funding for RIF (Reading is Fundamental) is cut in the 2009 Federal Budget You can get involved through this link. And by cut, I mean their book distribution program has been totally de-funded.

From Kay McSpadden’s article in the Charlotte Observer: Despite the overwhelming research that shows literacy is the most important skill for any child to acquire for future success, President Bush’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2009 eliminates the Inexpensive Book Distribution administered by RIF. Authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (SEC.5451), the Inexpensive Book Distribution program is not funded by earmarks and has been supported by Congress and every administration since 1975 until this one.

There are a lot of children in this country who don’t have huge libraries in their neighborhoods. Their schools are underfunded and they don’t have support at home for reading. It’s programs like RIF who have supported and encouraged kids to read and in doing so, gives them tools to overcome these stumbling blocks.

From RIF’s Site: RIF programs offer enriching activities that spark children’s interest in reading. And every child involved with RIF gets to choose and keep new books, at no cost to the children or their families.

Although RIF programs are run in a variety of communities, some of RIF’s most important work occurs in communities where students are at great risk of educational failure. Wherever kids are served—at schools, libraries, childcare centers, Head Start programs, parks, community centers, health clinics, migrant camps, or domestic shelters—RIF can make a difference!

This article by teacher Kay McSpadden is illustrative of just exactly why a program like RIF is important. It’s a small thing to most of us with bookshelves to the ceilings, but to a kid who never had a book to call her own until they got one from the RIF program, it’s huge.

Hey all, I’m guest blogging over at Novel Thoughts - head on over to say hello and enter for a chance to win booktype love.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a Witches Knot book release! This one is Minx and Connor’s story (you met them in Vengeance Due) and it comes out April 4 from Ellora’s Cave.

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Okey dokey - so how about a little something from my most recent Samhain release - Cascadia Wolves: Standoff.

Adult content behind the cut. Oh and werewolves too.

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I meant to post some excerpts yesterday but kept getting interrupted. Here’s a bit from Witches Knot: Thrice United from Ellora’s Cave (BTW, I saw this at Amazon from a private seller for nearly 200 bucks. Now, it had to be a typo. I know it’s not available through Amazon, which makes me sad but you can get it directly from Ellora’s Cave in print and in digital at considerably less than 200 bucks)

Full on adult style paranormal erotic romance behind the jump.

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I meant to do this last week but I’ve been insane with deadlines and then this plague flu so I didn’t get to it. I’ve got quite a few books to comment on though so hold on!

Rhyannon Byrd’s Last Wolf Standing - It’s in books like this in the hands of a fabulous author like Byrd where category can really shine. It takes major skill to write a category paranormal novel because your ability to worldbuild and draw rich characters is reined in by the length. Category novels get a bad rap but it’s hard to do it well.

Luckily for us, Byrd does it not only well but she truly shines in Last Wolf Standing. The story is sexy and fun and the world she’s building is fabulous and interesting.

This is a one true mate story done the way it should be! Mason is a protector, a half-breed wolf/human and he’s a warrior with some pretty deep scars. Torrance is a longer with her own scars but I liked her a lot. I thought her reactions to the various situations were believable - she ran when hello, anyone with sense would have, but she stayed when it made sense as well. She didn’t wait to be saved by the males but at the same time realized they were the ones best trained to fight off the big bad.

I don’t have to tell anyone who’s read Rhyannon Byrd before but the love scenes were really smoking hot and well done for the level of sensuality appropriate for Nocturne.

I’m so on board for the next book, and pretty much anything else Rhyannon Byrd writes, LOL.

Maya Banks’ Sweet Surrender - I read a lot of Heat titles because I like the length for authors to write an actual novel with erotic flavor. Romantic Suspense is really one of my favorite genres so I’m always glad to read them, especially when authors I like write them!! (Jaci Burton, hello!)

Anyway so here’s the lovely Ms. Maya Banks’ second Heat offering - Sweet Surrender featuring cop Gray Montgomery and office manager Faith Malone and Faith has a messed up mom looking for help because of her latest loser boyfriend. Only that boyfriend is the man who most likely murdered Gray’s partner back in Dallas.

Gray’s guilt wars with his attraction to and desire for Faith in a believable way (sadly, this is not always done well!) It’s drawn out sensibly. He’s not a monster, he loved his partner and Faith is pretty much a stranger to him. But because he’s not a monster he begins to see Faith for the innocent she is fairly quickly and he’s a cop - not a man who is prone to harming people who are victims just as much as his partner was.

The D/s is handled with a unique take and one that addresses the emotion as well as the physical aspects. This is not all spanking and handcuffs which is refreshing!

I need to pester her to find out when we get the stories for Faith’s brother and co-workers!

JD Robb’s Strangers In Death - I’m never going to miss a new Robb! The procedural in this one outweighed the personal stuff, which provides a nice flip and a bit of a breather I think. Interesting storyline, the suspect is such a piece of work. More stuff with charles and louise who we haven’t seen in a while and I loved it!

It was a good, solid book, not as emotionally wrenching as the last few have been but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In a series this long, you have to switch things up or it gets old.

One thing - I totally have to say I still don’t think Roarke has done enough to make up for his behavior with Madgalena. I really don’t and when Eve brings it up and says she doesn’t blame him, I still do. He did not take Eve’s side, that’s worse for Eve than having sex with someone else. I really wanted to see him on his knees, totally understanding the depth of the harm he did but I haven’t so it makes me hold back a bit with him and I just love him so much as a character it kills me!

Kim Harrison’s The Outlaw Demon Wails - A few years ago I picked up a paper back book with a great cover and a funky blurb and I’ve devoured eveything Kim Harrison has written since.

Given the deeply emotional crash at the end of the last book, I was wondering how Harrison would write Rachel in this book. I think, with Outlaw, Harrison has written what seems “a day in the life” of Rachel Morgan but Rachel really bleeds. She’s trying to overcome her grief at the loss of Kisten and figure out how to move on. She’s dealing with her true heritage and the rusurfacing of her mother’s place in her life. There’s always Ivy and their relationship to deal with and also, the real fact of the short lifespan of pixies.

In the midst of a whole lot of grief, loss and potential for more loss, Al comes back and Rachel has to deal with demons again. Oh and a new vamp has come to town now that Piscary is gone and of course he’s got his incisors and his eye on Rachel.

Nice twists and turns, a trip to the ever after (which opened a whole new OH MY GOD storyline), more Trent (and who doesn’t love his evil butt), ups and downs with Ivy, a new possible love interest handled well given Rachel’s recent loss.

I loved it and I can’t wait to see what’s next for Rachel Morgan.

The above quote is from George Orwell’s, Animal Farm - one of my favorite books of all time. I’m going to twist the context a bit for the purposes of, well to make my point. (as in, yes I know the original context of the quote and it doesn’t translate here precisely but I love the quote so I’m gonna make it work)

All publishers are not equal. Period. I’m sorry if that hurts people to read but it’s common sense. All shoe companies are not equal either. Nor are all coffee shops or pencils or whatever else. Aside from the basics of personal preference, there’s a pretty big gap in quality between some publishers.

As an author - it’s your job to use your common sense to note this. There are danger signs - for instance, does your editor or other representative of the company return your correspondence in a reasonable amount of time? Now of course different issues require different speeds of response. But you know, if over a long period of time, it takes months to hear back on issues if at all, that’s a problem.

I write for several different publishers both NY and small press and all my editors get back to me within 48 hours on important stuff. I consider that professional behavior. I don’t consider not responding to author’s emails when you’re an author liaison to be professional. I don’t consider the oversharing of personal information when you’ve messed up professional. I don’t consider publishers or editors personally attacking each other, their competition or authors to be professional.

Also, late payments occasionally may not be an issue, but late payments as a rule? Not a good sign. Authors put on ‘blacklists’ for bringing up issues - a bad sign, even if you’re one of the authors on the good list. You never know when the tables can be turned on you.

Poor customer service is an issue, a big one. (Martha Punches at EC is a goddess! I love her to death, she’s fabulous fabulous fabulous). If your readers can’t get books, if the books are in bad shape and they can’t be returned, if reader correspondence dealing with real issues is ignored - red flag.

At the same time - this is your business too! That means, you share responsibility.

So as unpopular as this might make me, I’m going to suggest that authors really need to do their damned homework. Now, it’s one thing if you’ve sold and suddenly things go south. But once things go south, a wait and see attitude is far better than continuing to submit new work when no one answers your correspondence for years at a time. And if you get paid late over and over and you keep subbing new stuff - you either need to find a way to make peace with that or not sub new material.

I know the desire to get published but if it makes you blind to red flags, you have to, at some point, realize you share responsibility when the publisher you ignored those red flags over goes bad.

Also? You have a responsibility to be a professional as well. Turn your stuff in on time. Meet your deadlines. Address any issues professionally. Be as easy to work with as you can (and that doesn’t mean you’re a doormat). Market yourself.

In the end, I want to say I hate it when bad companies do stupid stuff and then everyone thinks all epublishing or small publishing is the same. It’s not. Samhain is not Venus, nor has it ever been so. When I first sold a book to Samhain they were new, so I watched and waited to see how they’d do. I knew they had a woman at the helm who knew how to run a successful publishing company and when I saw edits and watched the process, I was impressed enough to submit something else. My editor is supah fabulous, my checks are on time and my books show up when they’re supposed to where they’re supposed to. I can market effectively because I get advance release dates on digital and print.

As much as I love writing for them, if they stopped paying me on time or stopped answering my emails or generally started acting hinky, I wouldn’t write there anymore after my contractual responsibilities were dealt with. Sometimes you’re hemmed in and you can’t pull something because the behavior is bad but not bad enough to violate the contract - that sucks, I’ve been there too and I did my homework. So you make the best of it, call it a painful lesson learned and don’t send any more work their way.

No one is perfect. No contract is perfect, no author is perfect, no publisher is perfect. There are publishers who are better fits for different people. But there are things that simply shouldn’t be tolerated - not getting paid is a big one!

This isn’t a trend and it’s not indicative of all epublishing and small presses either. It’s indicative of bad business practices catching up to companies and sadly, hurting authors. That’s the part that sucks. I know many authors, smart, savvy authors, who write for a company who seems to be on shaky ground right now and it makes me sad.

So I said I’d pop up some excerpts for Read an Ebook week. Here’s a little something from Reading Between the Lines

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Sensual Magic
DONE!!!
Since day one of Sven until last night I’ve written 16K. In the midst of that I did a smallish revision on something and had the flu (and it appears to be back, gah!) but I’m thrilled to have gotten this far.

Okay so I’m going to let it sit for a few days while I do my revisions for Undercover and then I’ll do the second draft. After that, it’s on to Unexpected, the next Cascadia Wolves book.

I doubt I’ll be adding much word count on my revisions but once that’s over and I send Sensual Magic in, I’ll be ready to get back to the Wardens and their world of wolves so yay!

It’s Read an E-Book Week and there’s a week long celebration going on over at the Samhain Cafe! Many Sammy authors are hanging out and giving out prizes so get on over there to check it out. Angel is kicking butt this week pulling this together so I wanted to send her my kudos, as always, for a job well done.

I love ebooks and epublishing. It’s where I got my start. Ellora’s Cave gave me my first real break and then Samhain after that. I’ll always appreciate the freedom I’ve had to really stretch and become a better writer and to tell the stories I wanted to tell.

I figure what I’ll do is show up later with some excerpts and prizes - ebooks, natch. If you have any requests for certain books to be excerpted from, holler now.