Vixenwriter

Blerg, okay so I *think* I’m on the better side of this darned flu. Yesterday after I finished up a slight revision, I pretty much just laid in bed, sweated and watched reality television. I still don’t get the appeal but I did see several episodes of The Girls Next Door *LOVES*.

But yesterday was the first day of the next 70 Days of Sweat Challenge! I did squeeze in 2K this morning and I think they’re good words so yay for me! That makes up for yesterday and I’m hoping I can get more in tonight as well.

Here’s the welcome to the challenge post:

The main goal of this challenge is to write.

1) We’re looking for a total word count between 60-100k. This means between now and May 16, (77 days total, 7 ‘free’ days worked into the calendar), you will write 850-1500 words a day.

2) Check in here @ the blog every Sunday and Wednesday.

3) Daily inspiration here at the blog~you can stop in when time allows.
4) Time permitting, you can check out the blogs of your sponsors or fellow sweaters, links on the sidebar.

Sponsors this time around include: HelenKay Dimon, Larissa Ione, Stephanie Tyler, Shiloh Walker, Lauren Dane, Diana Peterfreund, Jaci Burton, and Portia Da Costa. The sponsors will drop in on the blogs from various challengers over the next couple of months.

So start writing! But take a minute and check out the above sponsors.

Yesterday while writing, IMing and surfing the intarwebs I saw an interesting post over at the FFF community about author blogs and advice on what we should and shouldn’t blog about. The original post was that an agent advised a client not to blog about getting rejected because of course, industry folks do blog surf and you don’t want to come off like, well someone who gets rejected. And in that comment stream, Jackie Kessler asked what the question, “what is the purpose of a blog?” which I think is an important question.

This is long and totally my opinion…

I tend to agree that authors should think about what they say on their blogs. In fact, I wish it happened more often than it does. An irrefutable truth - there are different standards applied to “public figures” of any kind. Yes, I would be held to a different response if I said the same things a reader blogger said. And to that I respond, “so what?” Because that is the reality and you can accept it and deal with it appropriately or you can be a twat and think you’re doing something important by shaking your fist at reality and saying whatever pops into your head without a thought for the consequences.

There are things you just don’t do. And I know that agitates people. I know people wish we could just be totally open about whatever agitates us, whatever strife we’re dealing with behind the scenes, etc. There are times when I wish that were so as well. But the fact is, this is a business for authors. Your name, how you act in public - these things are part of the whole package.

So, IMO, I do blog about rejection. Because guess what? EVERYONE gets rejected. This business is about perserverence and the ability to bounce back. It is. So when newbie authors read this blog I want them to know I get knocked around too. You don’t sell once and then bingo you sell everything you pitch forevermore. I mean, I’m sure some authors are just that fabulous and lucky, but most of us get rejected from time to time for a whole host of reasons.

The issue is - HOW you blog about the negatives in this business, not necessarily if you blog about them at all. So I’d never get up on this blog and bitch about a certain house or a certain editor or whine and piss and moan about how New York isn’t ready for me or I’m too edgy for New York or whatever. In my opinion, that’s simply unprofessional. Period. Even if an editor at a certain house said I ate kittens in puff pastry and wrote the worst drek ever - although dude, I think I’d have to laugh and at least joke about it with my friends because that would be a horribly awesome rejection. Anyway, I’m digressing (SHOCK!).

Writing about the writer’s life is part and parcel of why I blog. I started blogging before I sold my first book but over time, I’ve had to really think about how I speak, what I say and who I say it to. I’m a writer, this blog will be about my life, which includes writing. I don’t want to jam my books down your throats every three minutes, I don’t want to only be happy, I don’t want to whore myself. I’m a person so for me, when I think about what a blog is about, I think this blog is about my life. Sometimes I’m going to talk about my kids or my husband or the broken headlight I got at the grocery store. Other times I talk about editing or revising, sales and yep, rejections.

A blog should give readers/visitors a feel for who the blogger is so I think authors should think about that carefully. By that, I mean, think about how your content reflects upon you and what people take away about you from that. Is that how you want to be perceived?

Several months ago I read a blog entry where the author had been rejected by a certain house (one I write for actually, just to disclose that bias) and she spent quite a bit of time really dogging the house and the editor who rejected her. Another author replied in the comments several things I personally knew were untrue but the real issue is that to me, it ended up looking like sour grapes. Because when I read that I think, “EVERYONE gets rejected! Do you think you’re too special to be rejected? Are your words so sacred that any editor who reads then will be ensorceled by them and if not, they’re out to get you for some reason?” It gave me a very negative perspective on both the authors because it was vulgar. Now, I’m sure that author who’d been rejected was hurting. Rejection sucks. But there are appropriate ways to vent and it’s not on your blog naming names.

Also, filters and boundaries are important. There are things you’d say to your child’s teacher and things you’d say to your best friend - right? All kinds of things occur to me and yes, at times here I’m random and stream of consciousness but believe it or not, I am accutely aware of what’s appropriate. Occasionally, I’ll see author and sometimes industry blogs where completely inappropriate things are discussed and the owners of those blogs always seem so surprised when they get heat. If a professional uses her industry blog to bash another competetor I’m going to walk away with a negative feeling - AND SO WILL READERS. If an author uses her blog to whine about a review in great detail, I’m going to shake my head. Bad reviews are another thing that happens to EVERYONE. Suck it up and move on. Vent to your buddy on IM, eat some Ben and Jerry’s and don’t blog about it.

You can be goofy but still stay professional wrt this business. You can post pics of your dog’s new sweater or your new horse or the halloween costume you made for your kid but I really find discussions of the size of your partner’s wedding tackle to be outside the scope of a professional writing blog. Again, just me. I write sex, but I think we can talk about it unshamedly and openly without crossing the line into TMI. I don’t want to hear about fungal infections either. Nor do I want to see bigoted stuff.

Whew! Okay so that’s totally long winded and 100% opinion. My point is - it’s all in the execution. There’s a time and a place for things. Sharing ups and downs of a writer’s life is interesting - I don’t only want to see sunshine and rainbows, some days you really just feel like laying on the couch and eating fried foods while watching Rock of Love. Shrug. We can be human, we are human, but like anyone else in any other professional situation, it’s how we choose to address things that makes all the difference.

WHEEE! Today I got notes from Amazon that The Outlaw Demon Wails AND Grimspace have shipped. Yes, that’s right, I have read Grimspace but I’m buying a copy too, LOL! Also about half an hour ago, Rhyannon Byrd’s new Nocturne showed up on my doorstep. Much squeeing on my part. OH, and I’ve got an early copy of something that won’t come out until the fall.

I’m trying to recover from being sick, which sucks but with three young kids, it’s sort of old hat. I’m sweaty, dizzy and now annoyed at my children but such is life, LOL. Anyway, I’m thinking a lot about three things:

First - The Romantic Times Booklover’s Convention in April. This will be my second year and I’m totally thrilled to be attending again. I’m trying to figure out all the basics, the promotion stuff, the swag for our reader party, costumes and clothes - all that good stuff.

The trip will be jam packed with stuff - I’m flying into Anya’s neck of the woods and she and I are driving to Megan’s! Then we’re getting our author shots with the super fabulous Scott Church. I’ve wanted so much to get him to do my headshots but he’s in PA and I’m in Washington so I wasn’t sure when to make it happen. I’m totally thrilled about it! And then there’ll be a signing and Megan, Anya and I will do a fun live webcast probably Monday night before we head into Pittsburgh for RT on Tuesday. Then you know, RT stuff for days and days. Books, authors, readers, dancing, friends old and new, it’s going to be fabulous.

Second: The release of What Happens in Vegas May 1! (and I’ve heard it’ll be available early at RT!!) Oh my goodness how excited am I about this anthology!! We sold it in late 2006 so the four of us have been waiting a while now for it. Recently we’ve received some early reviews so I’ll be posting those at my website soon and now it’s a matter of making sure the ads are in place, getting my prize baskets ready for RT and contests elsewhere and trying not to break my neck looking at Amazon and Barnes and Noble every three minutes.

Here’s a longer blurb for my story, Stripped:

Dahlia Baker had a reputation in her hometown. It was one of the things a woman with a body like hers had to contend with. As if large breasts and legs for miles made her a dumb bimbo. But it wasn’t like anyone cared that she had a 4.0 and a free ride to UNLV and so she grabbed opportunity with both hands and headed for the sunny heat of Las Vegas.

Still, she has bills to pay and if she wants to keep herself in books and a roof over her head, she has to get a job. And that’s where The Dollhouse came in where she worked as a burlesque dancer.

She’s got a plan for her future. But into her life strolls Nash, the brother of the man who owned the Dollhouse and a reputed player. Nash was literally the hottest man she’d ever clapped eyes on.

And he wants her.

Despite her reservations, they enter into a fiery affair and soon Dahlia’s heart is involved.

Nash knows Dahlia is skittish and over time, he begins to understand why. He may be a playboy, but he knows what he wants and he wants forever with Dahlia. It’s just going to take a very skillful combination of extremely hot sex and unconditional love to get her to see it too.

Third (and related to #2): Getting Sensual Magic finished. This is the follow up to Stripped, the novella I’ve got in the Vegas anthology. I’m nearly done and if I can stop feeling like I’m going to hack up a lung, I’ll be done by the end of this month and have plenty of time for crit and revisions. This is William’s story, he’s Nash’s brother and he owns The Dollhouse, the burlesque club Dahlia (heroine from Stripped) works in. This one has a paranormal storyline (as do the others in the second anthology!)

oy, there’s “pull my finger” talk going on in the other room, must put a stop to it before I get “the talk” from teachers.

Okay so it’s not really a secret that I get crushes on my heroes. I’m a hero-ho. While I’m writing him, he’s number two in my heart (right after my dude, who is sort of the template in some way or other for all my heros). ANYWAY, so I’m writing Sensual Magic right now. It’s the paranormal follow up to Stripped (coming in the What Happens in Vegas antho in May!) and it’s oodles of fun to write - my favorite kind of heroine, Nell is a cop of sorts. She totally KNOWS William is meant for her even though he’s all wounded and stuff, making him irritable at times and always arrogant.

Now William has been in my head since I wrote Stripped (fall of 2006, god that’s forever ago it seems) and with eighteen months of him in my head, I’ve really got a crush on him. The other day, I was looking at something at a celebrity site like Go Fug Yourself but not one and I can’t remember now anyway. So, I came across this man and I thought, this is him.

Josh Lucas. Who can be effortlessly sexy, classy, elegant and yet, he’s also fabulous in jeans, white cotton oxford shirts and no shoes with a corona in his hand. I like that range. I like the amusement in his eyes. Now every time I write I see him and William lives inside.

I’m currently attempting to hack up a lung so I’ll leave you with pretty pictures of pretty mens and stuff.

Blarg, all the sudden I got hit with some stuff and had to finish it so I was in the land of deadline. But when I came up for air, I discovered several wonderful things!!

To wit - Undercover, my December 2 release from Berkley Heat is now up for pre-order at Amazon!

Here’s the blurb since there’s not one up yet at Amazon:

Journey to an erotic future universe of passion, danger and deceit…

As a lieutenant of the Federation military, Sera Ayers is more accustomed to giving orders than taking them. Now she must obey the one man she can’t stand—and can’t stop thinking about.

With the enemy Imperialists gaining ground, a new covert team is assembled by Ash Walker. Ten years before, Sera had lovingly submitted to Ash’s dominance in the bedroom. But when he was forced into a political marriage, she left him rather than become his mistress. His marriage now over, Ash wants Sera on his team—and back in his bed.

The third team member, Brandt Pela, has an elegance to match Ash’s savage sexuality. And when their undercover plan requires Sera to pose as Brandt’s lover, it ignites a passion among the three of them more dangerous than their mission…

And, Making Chase is also up for pre-order at amazon. It comes out in print June 24 and I’m totally thrilled. This one is the last Chase Brother book so I hope folks who haven’t read it yet enjoy it.

Still cooking on Sensual Magic for Spice. I’m hoping to wrap it up next week! I’m off again, more busy! I’ll be back in a moment to draw a winner for the Grimspace contest!

She answered a great many of the questions so I’ll post two of them for now and follow up as I get them. Thank you so much to the totally fabulous, shiny and sparkly Laura Bradford for your time!

1. is she looking for anything in particular in submissions at the moment as regards to genre?

LB: No, nothing in particular at the moment. Anything commercial (as opposed to literary), any variety of romance, mystery, urban fantasy, women’s fiction, YA. I like material that is really fresh and different… unusual settings and themes. Unusual mixes of genres.

2. On Laura’s site she welcomes electronic query letters but not electronic submission. Am I reading that correctly? No subbing the synopsis & 3 chpts by e-mail?

If she doesn’t really think the book clicks with what she’s selling these days, will she, if possible, make a recommendation to another agent that she thinks might work out better?

LB: It is really hard to read off the computer screen all day, which is why I prefer to limit electronic queries to query letters only (without sample chapters). As for 3 chapters being enough, if I am hooked by the sample, I will definitely ask for more. If I am not hooked by the first 3 chapters, then that is a problem. If the voice really, really works, I might still ask for more on the off chance there is a plot problem that can be fixed.

As for recommending another agent if I pass, I really don’t do that. If the MS was good, I’d want it for myself. If I pass on it, it usually means I don’t think it is ready for publication. If I don’t handle the kind of material you’ve sent, which is another reason I’d pass, I would generally tell you.

I’ve been watching a discussion about words used in erotic romance and erotica. I’m a word whore, I admit it up front and I do believe that words have a unique sort of power to impact what you read. Not “shock” value but in making choices to evoke a certain feel.

In truth, what the choices mean to me may not mean the same to other people when they read. But if I spend all my time thinking about that, I’m not writing the story as it should be written. So I don’t. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that if a scene calls for “cunt” I’m going to use it. If a scene calls for “cock” I’m going to use it.

I saw a comment - boiled down it was something like “the character wouldn’t have considered what happened fucking” And hmm. That’s fascinating to me on a few levels. Firstly, I love that the book or story resonated so much with that person she felt like she could say that and truly believed it. That’s powerful storytelling, IMO (and it wasn’t about my book so I’m not complimenting myself here, LOL). Secondly, it points to the power of language and words because I don’t see “fucking” as a bad thing or a worthless thing or as a demeaning thing. But some people do, which means the power of the term is watered down by generational/cultural/gender/whatever perspectives. At the same time, what can you do as an author? The author could have said “intercourse” which seems clinical to me. Or she could have said “making love” which is, IMO too soft for what happened between the characters.

There are times when a word can change the scene drastically and yes, that’s using words for a certain sort of shock value. Not in the way it’s meant most often, but words, when used right, can evoke strong feeling.

I didn’t use to use the word cunt. I grew up in a time when it was bandied about as a gender epithet. Admittedly the word comes with baggage. And yet, over time I’ve come to use it in certain scenes because I think the scene calls for it. I don’t actually think only the man should use it, quite the opposite, I’m far more comfortable when my female characters own it for themselves. Still, I know the word carries a lot of reaction - negative and positive. Still? I think it’s a great word. It’s hard. It’s sharp, nearly feral in a sense and sometimes sex is that way.

Anyway, I’m babbling but I’m working on so many things right now I wanted to get my thoughts down! What do you all think about words - strong words like cunt and cock? Do they totally put you off to the point where you don’t read that book or author? Do you skip them? Do you like them?

It’s just before the time when I need to leave my warm house again and take my middle kiddo to school. Madonna’s Ray of Light is playing and I’m drinking coffee and taking vitamins.

When I get back I need to finish up some revisions and get them back to Megan so we can turn Taking Care of Business around and get it to readers. Each book is its own journey and I have to say, Kate (my heroine) was hard to learn at first. Part of it was that I’d been interrupted a dozen times so each time I had to put the story aside to finish up something else, I had to re-learn her all over again. But each story has a sweet spot, at least for me. And that sweet spot is like an epiphany. All the sudden it’s clear - whatever it is that’s been lacking. You see it. You know your hero, or your heroine. You finally get what her big problem is, or you know what happened to him in the past and why it’s making him a dick now, or whatever.

It’s not necessarily writing blind - it’s like tasting the book and suddenly the full bouquet of it comes to you and it’s so vivid. I love that moment! Sometimes it doesn’t even come to me when I’m writing. I can be driving and see something out the window or hear a song on the radio or it comes to me while ironing. With Tri-Mates I had no real outline, I just had the idea of this tri mate bond thing and started writing (the concept came to me when I was writing Enforcer but I don’t do brother menages) and I’d planned on making Tracy good friends with Sarah, the Alpha female of her new Pack. but suddenly Tracy and Nick were fighting about Sarah and Sarah was not the character I’d imagined. She was such a fun villain to write because she was so totally unexpected. The whole money laundering storyline was something that just fell into my head as I was writing the first scene at the Pacific Pack House.

Other times, I plot very carefully and follow the synopsis I craft. But even then I still have the epiphany moment at some point or other. Because for me, the process is a surprise. I love that! I love that I find new things I hadn’t even imagined no matter how much planning I do. And sometimes I have to go back and re-craft something, other times it changes the ending a bit. It’s flying through my brain fast and furious or slow and sensual but it’s part of me and I couldn’t ask for a job I loved more.

I finished my part of Taking Care of Business yesterday and now it’s on to blending my part with Megan’s in as seamless a manner as possible. I’m actually quite happy with how it turned out, which is nice, LOL.

Now I need to finish a few synopses this weekend - two are totally done but need slight tweaks, one is 3/4 done and I got an idea late last wee, something I’d been sort of kicking around for a while but I want to get it written while I’m thinking about it. After that, I need to start Sensual Magic, my novella in the second Spice anthology.

In further happy news - Shelley Munro’s Playing To Win - released this week from Cerridwen. If you haven’t read Shell yet, you really need to!

Blurb: Professional rugby player Lane Gerrard is used to women throwing themselves at him, but a scurrilous tabloid article naming him as father of a child sends his temper soaring. The woman he confronts doesn’t fit the blackmailer profile. Kate Alexander is attractive with an enchanting innocence, enticing. A total stranger. Her feistiness draws his unwilling admiration, but the child…he is the image of Lane.

Kate can’t deny her son’s similarity to the sexy man at her door but no way will she hand him over without a fight. Kate doesn’t possess money but she can shower her son with love. With public speculation rife, Kate reluctantly works with Lane to discover the truth. They grow closer as distrust slowly turns to mutual fascination, but the tabloid articles bring out a stalker. Mild pranks escalate into danger, and suddenly Lane realizes Kate is a woman he could love. With Kate and her son, he could have a family. Now, with his heart on the line, this is one game he’s playing to win.

I’ve got it in my hard drive right now and I’m hoping to sneak some time to read it this weekend.

Have a good day, all and if you live round here, stay dry!!

You should pop over to the Sven Blog to check in!

Despite the holidays happening in the midst of the challenge, Sven was really successful for me on multiple levels. First and most important - It helped me to keep writing as my main focus. It made me accountable to myself because I had to think about it every day. And while I tend to do that anyway, it helped me keep on task when I’d have preferred to play scrabulous or check my email or whatever. And because of that, I was ahead on my task list and word count which played nicely into my sale to Berkley when I could turn in a finished manuscript early (yay!).

Wordcount wise - it was huge for me as well. I stopped counting after I hit 120K but I finished multiple books, wrote a few proposals and did a lot of revising and editing. I even finished one book from start to finish (instead of from chapter four to the end if I sold on a partial). I just got caught up in the challenge and it worked out nicely. Some days I did next to no new words because of all the editing I did, but other days, I just sailed through and made up for the low count days.

I’m going to keep the Sven Challenge going for myself because I think it’s been a big help to me. I hope it was for you all too.

We don’t all write at the same speed. We get blocked. We have outside demands on our lives so some days, some weeks, etc, are more productive than others wordcount wise. The important thing is - did you put writing where it needed to be in your life?

I’m old school about this writing gig. People approach it differently but I believe in doing what works for you. When you were tired did you try to get at least a page done or did you fall in front of your television? That’s a choice you make. It’s a choice I make. But it’s a choice nonetheless. You can talk about being a writer, or you can be a writer - again, that’s a choice. You don’t have to write every day if you simply can’t fit it into your schedule. But if you don’t write regularly, into all the time you can, *you’re* making the choice not to.

It isn’t easy. When a story is kicking my ass and my kids are having trouble in school and I have a four foot high pile of laundry to deal with and I haven’t had a moment to myself in weeks and I’m TIRED - I don’t want to do anything. I want to watch television and veg. And sometimes I do, but 9 times out of 10 I make myself get back in that chair and 9 times out of 10 I’m glad I did.