Vixenwriter

Megan and I are in the homestretch of No Reservations. We should finish up by this time tomorrow and then it’ll be off to our editor – yay!

Saturday I got my final pass pages for Laid Bare and man oh man do I love the packaging. Berkley’s art department is so wonderful. They’ve done such beautiful work for my books, I’m so very grateful. Laid Bare has such a great, contemporary look. I also learned that Tony Mauro, who did the absolutely gorgeous cover for Laid Bare, is also doing my cover for Coming Undone. I’m soooo thrilled! I love his work and I’m so grateful to have him doing my covers. I can’t wait to see it.

So after I get No Reservations turned in, it’s the pages for Laid Bare and then, dare I say I may just take a week to not write at all? I say this now, but I have other ideas and I want to expand something I was working on late last year that I’d like to get back to and I have a book due in August so I can get started on it and get it turned in early, making me and my editor happy to be done.

Megan and I have received some wonderful reviews for Taking Care of Business and I put them up on the book page. All ARCs for Relentless have been mailed and now I’m going to be working on putting together my big contest (and trust me, I’ve got some awesome prizes including signed books from: Jaci Burton, Anya Bast, Elisabeth Naughton, Megan Hart, Beth Kery, Beth Williamson, Cindy Eden, Vivi Anna, Ann Aguirre, Michelle Pillow and Mandy Roth (this is a partial list!))

So I’m off, I need to get back to my revision and steal a little time with my dude. Tomorrow I’ll post an excerpt for something or other, it being Titilating Tuesday and all.

Yesterday was a day I’d like to never repeat. thankyouverymuch universe.

But as I was trying to fall asleep I thougth about how, even on grumpy days, it’s nice to bring something postive to the fore before you end the day. So while I have had zero time to read this week, I can always fit in a bit of time to be thankful for what I’ve had and what I continue to have.

So today’s post is about being thankful, even in the face of chaos.

I’ve got a lifetime’s worth of memories with my husband and now with our children. Each day, even on crazy days, more get added. I remember right after I had our second child, my dude had some leave time and we’d all wake up in the morning and I’d have a cup of tea, prepared by my lovely husband, while my oldest ate his breakfast and I nursed the baby. I’d sit in the glider and rock slowly, looking over my house of men with the weight of a tiny fist resting on my chest as the baby nursed.

I look at them now and they’re far past the point where they fit in the crook of my arm and happily snuggled into me all day long. But I can still feel the whisper of that tiny fist, right above my heart.

So I got the cover copy for Coming Undone last week. Having copy written for you is an interesting thing. People who write copy, by and large, are very good at it. The problem is that they don’t usually read the book or know the characters and story like you do, so there’s fine tuning involved at times.

With Samhain, I do the rough draft of the copy and then they have a professional take your raw stuff and make it all shiny. Sometimes it’s like, “oh just fix this one sentence pls and then it’s great” other times, it’s a back and forth thing as you walk the line between *your* story and marketability.

My Samhain editor and I can totally go at each other and in the end, the final project will be fabulous. The getting there may not be fabulous, especially for her as she is the middle person between the blurb/marketing front and the author so she’s got to make us both happy and make authors realize this isn’t in their heads, it’s got to convey a sense of story AND catch people’s eye. Sometimes, it’s way harder than you’d imagine it to be.

For instance, the process of writing the copy/blurb for Always took something like five rounds of back and forth and things got changed and changed back and fine tuned and in the end, I think it turned out really well and I’m pleased.

Other times, I get the copy and think, “no. HELLLL NO!” and then I have to find a way to say that but not be a d-bag because it’s not like the copy writers are trying to make me hate them, they just have a smaller picture than I do, which puts them at a disadvantage BUT, sometimes having the author’s perspective puts us at a disadvantage too because we’re not far enough away from it see it totally clearly.

Berkley writes them and then my editor sends them to me and asks for comments. So I might send something back and say, “can we change this sentence here” or “can I suggest a few alternate pull lines” sort of stuff I’ve mildly tweaked two books, really tweaked one and with Coming Undone, I read it and loved it right off.

KEEPING IT TOGETHER

Brody Brown has always been responsible for others. After his parents’ death, he gave up a promising artistic career to care for his younger brother and sister. Now, with his siblings grown, Brody owns his own business, has a nice house, makes a nice living, and for the first time in years he’s on his own.

Elise Sorenson has come to Seattle with her young daughter to find peace. After years as a world-famous ballerina—(and just as many years in a marriage-gone-bad)—she’s looking for neither love nor attention. But she finds both in the handsome, honest man who befriends her with no strings attached.

More than friends, Brody and Elise discover in each other what they need—wild, physical passion without commitment. But it’ll take a shadow from Elise’s past to make them look beyond what they need—to what they truly desire.

What I really like about this is that the story is very simple. It’s not kinky. There are no car crashes or vampires. It’s a simple love story between two complicated people. I think the blurb caputures that perfectly. It’s not SEXSEXSEX, which I must say I personally like. Because, yes, it’s for Heat and it’s erotic romance, but those things are established because it’s for HEAT, LOL. The story is the important thing, readers can impute the sexsexsex part cause they’re smart that way.

So, nothing really super exciting today, but it demystifies the process a bit, I think, which is always a good thing!

SENSUAL MAGIC by LAUREN DANE
part of the WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS…AFTER DARK anthology
Copyright 2009, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, Harlequin Enterprises
Releasing May 1

In the narrow alley, Nell crouched, turning her face to the stiflingly hot blast of air apparently referred to as a breeze in these parts. She shut out all other stimulus, simply waiting for the magic to come to her. Tendrils of energy hung in the air, spicy and unique to the individual who worked the spell. The taste of it wove through her system. Nell’s own magic broke it down, analyzed it, identified the owner.

It was her particular talent. Hunting. Tracking. A family trait she inherited from her mother. Not just a gift but a calling. Who she was as well as what she did on behalf of her Clan.

She stood and tapped a finger against her iPod. Music filled her senses, drowning out all other noise. Dio’s Rainbow In The Dark kept her company as she made a few notes before tucking the pad into the back pocket of her jeans.

Mage magic. The metallic flavor identified it as other. Not the earthy tang of her own magic. Witch magic like hers was inherent and came from the earth beneath her feet, from the air around her and the water under and aboveground. Mages weren’t born with magic, they traded for it. Most of the time with the kind of creatures best left alone.

It cost a lot to trade for power. It cost in lives, energy, dark gifts and money too. This Camarilla was on Nell’s shitlist because they were in possession of nearly a hundred thousand dollars belonging to the Owen Clan.

The Owen Clan—a circle of witches and the Clan Nell belonged to and worked for—didn’t take thefts of any kind lightly.

And what they took seriously, Nell took seriously. Frankly, this Camarilla, their little name for a group of them, seriously pissed her off. She’d spent the last two months traveling from city to city until she’d finally locked onto Las Vegas. Summer in Las Vegas was not Nell’s idea of pleasant and she planned to take her annoyance out in someone’s hide.

A man stood just a few feet away, eyes warily scanning the area, body taut, ready to spring should it be necessary. Galen, Nell’s partner and the physical muscle to her magical strength.

“Got it?” he asked as he stalked toward her, golden skin rippling over roped muscle. His hair was close cropped, pale blond against his skull. He slid dark sunglasses up over his eyes, all velvet cool and alluring.

A smile canted the left corner of her mouth. “They’re here. We need to get in to see that ex-boyfriend of hers. It can’t be a coincidence she’s in the same city.”

Galen shrugged, his dark sunglasses reflecting her face. “Dunno, Nell. From all accounts she screwed him over but good. Could be a coincidence. She might not even know he’s here.”

Nell rolled her eyes. “Please. How could she not know? That bitch knows where the money is. He’s got it big time. Of course she knows. Right now though, I have a trail, let’s follow it to see where it leads.”

Wanna know what Samhain editors are looking for? Check this very informative blog entry out.

I’m taking part in the Brenda Novak auction – you can check out what I’ve got up for auction here and also see the oodles of other fabulous things people are offering up.

The final episode of Battlestar Galactica is this Friday, a two hour series finale. I love where this whole season has gone. It’s dark, like, as my husband pointed out, Donner Party dark. (The husband pinged me and told me I should link). Hope is dim, the ship is falling apart, people are dying and things are falling away from any central leadership or figure. I’ve loved the writing over the course of the show, but I think the character evolution is like, beyond whoa awesome this season and I will be truly sorry to let the show go.

I have my theories on how it will end and what Kara is, but I’ll save them for until after the finale and put them behind a spoiler cut.

Oh and for those of you who are local to my area (Seattle/Puget Sound) some friends of ours are taking part in a fundraiser for cystic fibrosis at BJ’s restaurant at the Southcenter Mall on March 25! It’s a restaurant takeover and 15% of the night’s food proceeds will go to the Alison’s Angels for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Walk.

If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll email you a flyer (the flyer serves as your coupon but there will also be people at BJ’s that night handing them out)

BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse
1159 Southcenter Mall
Tukwila • (206) 439-7500

Dear author who used a book networking site and an author loop to invite everyone on planet earth to vote for her book in an upcoming contest: You may want to rethink inviting authors also in that category to vote for you (here’s a tip, I’m not going to vote for you). I might be the only one who finds this rude, but I do. You might also, if you’re going to troll for votes in the first place, consider saying something like, “If you’ve read my book and you enjoyed it I’d appreciate your vote” instead of just asking for blind votes because you’re you. It’s a far more polite way of calling attention to your nomination.

Contests and awards are fun and it’s always really awesome to find your name in the nominee category. It’s also, frankly, a pretty big honor to be among the company you find yourself in in these contests (I know I look at the list and totally get blown away to be included with authors like Joey Hill, Megan Hart and Beth Kery). Of course it’s nice to win stuff, I’m not denying it. But I think there’s a way of alerting people to the contest without full on begging for votes – especially on a site that isn’t yours. It’s bad enough on a personal blog, but on author loops and sending invites to your whole friendslist at social networking sites is rude.

Oh there’s one contest I consider an exception: American Title, because it’s about getting people out to read and then vote, and I’ve seen most people handle American Title really well. It’s part of the process with that particular contest and you can read the entries right there at the site.

Anyhoodle, I suppose I’m just being cranky here, but seeing the same person do it twice just drove me to say something.

A’la randomizer, I decided to choose two winners –

Winners of their choice of my available titles in digital format:

Christine
Tracy

You two email me with your choice of title and format – I don’t have Always yet, but I expect to get it very soon so if you’d like to wait and have that one, that’s acceptible too.

Congrats and man, now my TBR and TBB pile is even higher. So many of your choices are also mine – there are so many books coming out before summer that I cannot wait to read.

Sometimes you have to go more than halfway to meet in the middle.
Caitlin Moore has every reason to celebrate. She’s through with law-school finals, and out for some post-semester fun when she runs smack dab into Eamon Blake, the Irishman with whom she had a summer fling years ago. Time hasn’t dimmed their lingering friendship—or their sexual chemistry.

But Eamon doesn’t much relish leaving the life he’s been building in Los Angeles—and he really doesn’t like ultimatums. At an impasse, goodbye seems the only direction to go. Ending it is the right thing to do…or the biggest mistake they ever made.

Warning: Like-whoa sexy Irishmen speaking French in the ear of a very willing Seattleite. Sexin with all the big words.

Always comes out from Samhain on April 14, right before I’m off to RT! I thought a wee excerpt would be fun to toss up here as I’m on the very last bit of polishing Coming Undone before I send it to my editor.

ALWAYS by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2009, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, Samhain Publishing
Releasing April 14

Caitlin woke up to a slight headache and sore thigh and groin muscles. Stretching experimentally, she bumped into the hard wall of warm, naked man and smiled.

Eamon.

It was then she realized what had roused her from slumber after a night where he’d woken her up twice more to make love.

She nudged him gently. “Eamon, wake up.”

“We’re out of condoms, darlin’. I can run out and grab us some if you let me sleep just a wee bit longer,” he mumbled, making her laugh.

“I’m not sure my muscles are up to another romp with you just now. Your pants are ringing.”

He opened his eyes and groaned. “Shite.” Rolling out of bed, he scrambled to his pants and fished out his phone, answering it quickly.

Not wanting to intrude on his call, she eased out of the warmth of the blankets and headed to the kitchen. Once she’d turned on the coffeepot, she headed to the bathroom and turned the hot water on for a desperately needed shower.

It wasn’t but about ten minutes later before he tapped on the door and stuck his head in as she was drying off.

“You have no idea how much seeing you that way makes this even harder.” He groaned. “I have to go. The PR guy from the record label needs to reschedule one of the bands to today. I need to get back to my hotel and change and grab some supplies before heading over to Bellevue where they’re all waiting.”

She frowned, disappointed. Still, she understood the demands of a career. “Oh, okay. I understand, believe me. Work comes first. It was lovely to see you.” She grabbed her robe. “Let me give you my cell phone number. Give me a call if you have the time while you’re still in town.”

Rustling through her utility drawer in the kitchen, she found some paper and a pen and wrote the number down along with her home number and handed them to him. “You want some coffee to take with you? I’ve got a million travel mugs you can take.”

He looked damned good as he cocked his head and gave her a sexy smile. “That would be fantastic. Thank you. Aren’t you going home for the holidays then?”

She avoided his eyes as she grabbed a mug and poured the hot coffee into it. Hell no, she wasn’t going back to Boston to be harassed about her choices by her family. “Sugar and milk there if you like.” She indicated their spot on the counter. “And no. I’ll be here. My mentor and her family will have me over for Christmas. Anh is a cross between a mom and a big sister. Her kids will run me ragged all day and I’ll eat too much. Her husband is a sous chef so there’ll be plenty on their table.”

“Well, good then. I’m sure your family will miss you though.” He looked at his watch before securing the lid on the mug and sighed. “I really have to get moving. I’ll call you soon. We didn’t do much talking last night. Not that I’m complaining. Still, I want to know what you’ve been up to.”

“Call me and I’ll tell you. I’ll even make you dinner if you like.” She cocked her head and smiled. How could he resist such an invitation?

“Sounds like a very fine offer.” He kissed her quickly before rushing out and she sighed, tossing herself onto her bed, loving the way the pillows still carried his scent.

wanna win something? Since it’s the tail-end of Read an Ebook Week – I thought it would be fun to give away an ebook, or two even. So how about an easy contest? What books are you looking forward to picking up between now and June? Winners will receive their choice of my backlist available in digital format! I’ll choose a’la randomizer at noon pacific tomorrow (Saturday the 14th)

I’ve been a tardy blogger lately, I know. I’d hang my head in shame if I wasn’t too busy finishing up the last polish of Coming Undone, LOL.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some excerpt goodness and maybe even a fun contest.

For today, can I please just assure all you spammers that I DO NOT want to watch incest porn, nor do I want to read about it. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say I’m disgusted by it. I also don’t want cialis or any other ED drugs, cause I have no penis you see, therefore I have no problems with the width of my stick or keeping her satisfied all night or whatever else you say in the comments I delete by the dozens every day. Moreover, I’d like to urge anyone who does have a penis with ED issues to deal with an actual medical doctor instead of medication via the internet. Silly me.

Also, for the record, I’d prefer to not watch animal/human sex or glory holes. Call me quirky.

The Bradford Bunch today, talking about families in romance and hosting a contest….