Hearts and Handcuffs

Hot and Hotter

2009-06-21T06:20:00.002-04:00

It's 80 degrees already. It's 6:20 a.m. and it's 80 damned degrees. I know there are places on earth for which this is normal, but Orlando isn't one of them. It's hot.

But I digress.

Here's what's really hot. Dara Edmondson, author of hot contemporary women's fiction like Compromising Positions and Falling Star (her recent Wild Rose Press Titles) and Captured (Red Sage), will be joining me next Saturday on Jose Miranda's Yo Soy Latino radio show. This one-hour 'magazine' show has been host to me twice before, and it's always a lot of fun. Jose has a really relaxed attitude, and he--and his crew--LOVE romance and romance novelists.

Dara and I are both giving away books, in case you needed another reason to listen.

Here's the where and when: Saturday, June 27, noon(ish) - 1(ish), WEUS 810 (a.m.). If you aren't in the Orlando area, listen to us on the web at the Yo Soy Latino website. There's a "listen" button on the top left. Note: in case you're concerned about the name, Jose's show is generally directed to a Hispanic audience, however the show is in English...and always about something interesting.

Updates

2009-06-11T20:37:00.002-04:00

A few quick updates: First, I cancelled my website, www.laradien.com. I wasn't making the use of it that I should have been to justify continuing to pay for it. Hopefully before my registration expires in December I'll be able to bring it back up. For now, though, it's kaput.

Second, I have a title, finally, for my latest contracted story. We switched settings to Ireland, and the new title is Emerald Ecstasy. So now we start the editing process.

I have a new deal with my critique partner. She's promised to beat me over the head with a stiletto (the shoe, not the knife) if I don't meet my weekly writing goals. This is especially important because I'm going to try to keep working on Dreamwalk while I'm doing revisions and edits to Emerald.

Back to it...I have work to do before I hit the hay! Yes, it's nice to say I get up at five to go to the gym, but I pay for those bragging rights...

Dreaming, Doing, and Deadlines

2009-06-06T06:22:00.002-04:00

First...woohoo! It's been just about 3 weeks since my last post...I'm getting better. I think. Actually, I have several things to write about, so if the clock gods will work with me, I may get back to a productive schedule.

Which brings me to today's topic.

I am deadline oriented. I've known for years (decades, really) that I work better under the pressure of a clock. There are times this is good, because I don't crumble under pressure--I step up and do what needs to be done, even if it is someone else's emergency, and I do it reasonably well.

On the other hand, I don't do as well taking the long-term view of things. It may be a side-effect of my type A personality, where I'm so focused on the urgency of whatever I'm doing at the moment, that I don't have time to attend to longer-term patterns.

I have plenty of goals, short and long term (let's call them dreams, shall we? Just so my title makes sense), but I'm better at taking aim at shorter-term goals and working on them. Hard for me to map out my entire career, for example, easier to look at today's writing goal.

So in the "doing," I have a bit more trouble. Procrastination, some people call it. Easily distracted, I've been told (an ex-boyfriend of mine used to actually laugh at me--kindly, he really thought it was funny--about my "hobby of the week," because I throw myself into things, and if it's the wrong thing for me, *poof* something replaces it a week later, and I'm stuck with, well, stuff. Beads, yarn, books on various topics, etc. But I digress.). I've been working on the same big areas of my life for, oh, 20 years or so, without much progress.

Then I got a deadline. Okay, not really a deadline--let's call it more of a cosmic ultimatum. I have to dial my type A personality down to a type B and make some drastic changes. It's a health issue, but my immmediate realization was that it isn't a medical issue, it's a lifestyle issue. I move too fast, too hard, too crazily, and my body is protesting. Vigorously.

To bring myself back to healthy, I have to slow down. Figure out what's important and do only that. Stop grousing about how I don't have enough time to do everything, and recognize that, duh, no, I don't. No one does.

A few months ago, I was looking at a garden--herbs, flowers. prayer flags, a fountain--stunned by the beauty and peace of it, and wondering why I shy away from tranquility. Now I have to learn to make friends with it, revel in the depths of it. Calm down those firing nerves and bring my focus back to center.

My to do list has gotten a lot shorter recently. Writing. Yoga. Cooking healthy food. Going to the gym. Writing more. Journalling, clearing up the past. Volunteering...only not so much. Meditating...only not so little.

Nothing like a kick in the ass from the Universe to get your priorities in order. I've dreamed, I've done...now I'm doing more with less. Never mind the deadlines.

Contract and Contest

2009-05-14T12:09:00.002-04:00

The good news: This morning I received a contract offer on my ero/rom novella Highland Fling. As with my other three ero/rom shorts, this one will be published by The Wild Rose Press Scarlet line.

The bad news: I’ve known since shortly after submission that I’d need a new title (Hot Highland Fling is on its way to the Scarlet line at TWRP from another author).

Apparently my creativity doesn’t extend that far, since for the life of me I can’t think of a replacement title at the moment, and I need one quickly. So I’m begging for help.

Story details that might matter:
It’s in Scotland.
There’s a castle, a ghost, a family legend and a treasure (and no, I don’t think my editor will go for “Family Jewels” as a title, plus I already sent out an email to some friends about this and she's seen it).
There’s sex (of course).

And of course it ends quite happily (it is a romance).

If your idea gets picked, I’ll buy you a copy of any one of my books you want (including this one when it’s published, but if you can’t wait that long, there are three of them already out).

Ideas???? You can call me, email me, or post in comments if you want everyone to know.

I'll send a whole bunch to my editor later today and as soon as we have a title, I'll let you know.

Life goes on

2009-04-11T21:14:00.002-04:00

Dad passed a few days after my latest post, sending me into a bit of a tailspin. Okay, more than a bit--in fact, it was one of those months (yes, the whole thing) when I spent half my time figuring out what I needed to do next, and the other half wondering why I wasn't better at the whole enlightenment thing.

Meditation and staying away from the drama is much easier when a) things are calm and/or b) it's someone else's drama. Me? I need work. Good thing that was my big goal for the year.

On the writing front, it's lots of fun. If you pay any attention to the rarely changing list on the sidebar, you noticed that Highland Fling got changed to done/queried after MONTHS of being stuck at the same word count. I spent a chunk of my vacation writing (long hand) and finished it up a couple of weeks ago. Am hoping my editor likes it enough to pick up. It's a bit unusual, and I'll post a bit of it after I've gotten word on whether I have a contract.

I also picked back up Heat Index, a fun short I started a while back and got distracted from. I'm in the middle of a challenge to complete 100 pages by the end of April, and part of that was finishing Highland Fling; it's proved useful (because it's a 3.3 pages a day challenge) to keep on track finishing Heat Index. In fact, I should be done with it within the next few days.

Had a second interview today with Jose Miranda on the show Yo Soy Latino; he's asked me to make semi-regular "appearances" (it's radio). Valentine's Day was my first visit--we talked about spicing up a long-term relationship. Today, it was more about the writing process. Where do ideas come from, why would a former lawyer want to write romance, that sort of thing. After I got over being worried about making the microphone screech, it was a lot of fun. I'll let y'all know when the next show is, in case you want to listen (it's broadcast online as well).

And I expect to be making more-regular appearances here, too.

Wish me luck with both!

Thanks, Dad

2009-03-04T21:35:00.003-05:00

My father is dying. As in, he'll never read this post, won't be around for someone to read it to him. He's been sick for several years now and last week he was admitted to the hospital for the last time. The doctors think he won't make it through tonight. He outlived several prognoses, including the last (24-72 hours) one, but he said then that he's ready to go.

So this is my thank you to him. And to my mom, too, since the two of them together instilled in me a love of books that led me straight here. I swear I inherited my storytelling addiction to both of them. There is one big difference between them, though.

Mom (I really cringe to say this, by the way, since she just might read this post) informs me she really likes my books. Sex scenes (there are lots) included. Dad...well, let's just say that when I got my contract for Fortuneteller, I told him it was on "the risque side of bawdy" and that was all he wanted/needed to know. To the best of my knowledge, he never made it past the cover. It became sort of a standing joke between us. I'm not sure he understood--ever--why I wanted to write romance, but at least he didn't complain when I did.

According to my baby book, I was taking a book to bed at naptime instead of stuffed animals. I learned to read at the age of two or three. The two things you could count on seeing if you visited our house was a vast collection of music--I have Dad to thank for my eclectic music tastes, although I'm pretty sure he never listened to NIN or Modest Mouse--and walls of books. I inherited his appreciation for history, his talent for scrambling eggs, and his love of good beer. Fortunately, I did not inherit his ability to drink bad beer in the interest of trying something new.

He taught me how to play chess and chop wood. Passed on his love of folk music and a good story, the pleasure of an old movie. A curiosity that drives me to pick up the oddest books off the nonfiction shelves at the library. Never got me to like John Wayne or opera, though.

He probably taught me things I don't even recognize yet. I can only hope, of course, that he didn't teach me anything that I'll say and then think "oh, my god, I sound like my father."

So...thanks, Dad. Hope when you get where you're going that all the music is western swing, and all the books are biographies of your heroes. With some punk rock and romance novels thrown in just to shake things up a bit.

Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap

2009-03-03T19:03:00.002-05:00

First: spoiler alert. I will try to avoid giving away details, but, really, if you are a fan of Karen Rose and Kay Hooper, you should know I'm going to talk about them in a second. And their books. Specifically, their most recent books. So if you're on book one of the Vartanian books by Rose, or haven't started the "Blood" titles from Hooper, consider yourself warned.

I admit it, I'm a sucker for the bad boys. And girls.

Of course, I'm not referring to the typical misbehaving, preheroic hero (I really prefer the law and order types), but the villain of the piece. A well-crafted villain (regardless of sex) really makes the story.

Now, there are a lot of books with really weak villains, and sometimes those books are "good" books overall, but really, I want to be wondering one of three things through the entire story: who is this person, are they going to get him (or her) in time, and/or are they going to catch him (or her) EVER!!

Two of my favorite writers -- Karen Rose and Kay Hooper -- recently wrote some stories involving that last "what if." Karen Rose just finished a trio where not only do some of the good guys carry over, but so does the question of who started it all. The most recent two books from Kay Hooper make it obvious at the end (of each) that the villains are mere pawns.

As a rule, this would make me nuts. Alex Kava did it several years ago and I went crazy between books, waiting to see what happened next. Good for her, ulcer-inducing for me!

Back to Hooper and Rose. In "Nothing to Fear," you know who the villain is from page one (well, chapter one, at least). It's the cat and mouse (the villain being the cat in this case) that drags you into the story and doesn't let you go.

Both authors put so much into their villains that reading their books (note: with Hooper, I'm referring only to her Bishop books) a) keeps me up all night and b) not just when I'm reading them. Very scary--and reliably so, which is the best part.

It's all about the bad boys.

It's Valentine's Day...do you know where your hero is?

2009-02-14T11:11:00.002-05:00

Actually, when I first wrote that line, it was Wednesday, and I was thinking "It's 8 a.m., do you know where your hero is?"

Really, do we HAVE to keep track of them constantly? No, I'm not naming the book. Suffice it to say that one I read fairly recently -- an author I'd never read before -- had so much heroic navel-gazing and going to bed and brushing his teeth (well, not really) the book came this close to hitting the wall. And I never, never do that. I mean, it's not the book's fault, right?

We've all heard it--at least those of us who write romantic fiction have all heard it--a million times. Watch your backstory (almost inevitably, navel-gazing is backstory in the key of angst). Don't write anything that doesn't move the story forward. But, you say, I NEED to show everything normal so we can all see what a jolt it is when the shit hits the fan. I know you say this, because I've been guilty of it myself (early on). I still do it too often, but I try to remember to slice up the scene when it happens. Because let's face it, normal doesn't move the story forward. At least not far. Also, it's easy to assume everything used to be normal unless the author says otherwise:

"A flash at the window. Instinct had her diving for the floor a millisecond before the glass shattered. Great. She was already on a first name basis with the locksmith; she'd hoped to avoid meeting the window guys another day or so." (not an actual quote from anything, although I might use it one day, come to think of it ... kind of has that OMG snarky tone I'm so fond of)

An opening like this, and you could be forgiven for not assuming normal was the norm. And you didn't need chirping birds and sunshine to set it up. Or a page and a half of the heroine ruminating on how much she needed to discover what really happened that dark, stormy night ...

One final little bitty note--in an hour or so I'll be doing my first "author interview" via phone to a local radio station. It's a new program, they're focusing on romance, and they contacted me yesterday to see if I'd do a phone interview. Should be fun.

PS Fortuneller is up for book of the year at Whipped Cream

2009-02-03T20:21:00.002-05:00

Check it out--The Fortuneteller's Lay, which got four cherries from LASR/Whipped Cream and was a "book of the week" there, is now up for Best Book of the Year.

If you agree, I'd love your vote.

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/WC/BB2008.htm

I'm currently in last place, and the inimitable and fabulous Wendi Darlin is way ahead of me, and I really couldn't blame you if you voted for her instead...in fact, if you hated Fortuneteller (hah!), follow the link anyway and vote for Rough and Ready, by Wendi Darlin.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2009-02-03T20:13:00.002-05:00

As long as it's snowing somewhere else, that is. Not that I don't love snow, but not to drive in and there's that whole work thing. However...I feel like I'm digging myself out from a giant snowdrift dumped by the Universe.

Now, lest you think I'm just complaining, I know that all that snow will eventually melt and I'll have all kinds of water to nurture/feed everything I've got going on. Enough with the analogy. Any more and my head will start hurting!

I just realized (thanks, Terry) that I haven't posted since I ran off to Tampa to attend the Donald Maass workshop--how sad is that? This would be the Tension on Every Page/High Tension workshop, and it was fabulous. I learned things I didn't know I needed to know. Imagine three and a half days of working through (picking apart and putting back together) everything from dialogue to scenes, exposition to action, even building tension into a query letter. I came away thinking I was a worse writer than I thought, with more potential to be a great writer than I had ever thought possible. Since then, I've done more picking apart than putting back together (aiming for great seems to require rejecting 50% of what I've done and then striving to tighten what's left)., but I'm moving back into the writing from the hating....which, once I can see past this snowbank in front of my dining room window will probably work out really well.

But wait, there's more!

2008-11-05T19:37:00.004-05:00

Because of some weird timing (weird for me, anyway), I have two announcements to make:

1. I've gotten my fabulous cover for Hungarian Masquerade.

Here's the blurb:

Samantha Michaels is getting over her ex by taking an exciting vampire tour of eastern Europe. When she shows up at a costume ball in an incredibly sexy witch outfit, she knows she'll keep the Hungarian hunks drooling over her lush body—and guessing about her identity. She's sworn off relationships, but she’s willing to walk the wild side for her last night in Hungary. And the man she's set her sights on is a dangerously handsome highwayman.

Professor and tourist Nick Tremaine fell for Sam the first time he saw the sexy siren on the Hungarian tour, but his attempts to be friendly were headed off. The ball is the perfect opportunity to prove to her that even a good guy can be a bad boy when he wants to be. He’ll give the sultry witch a night she'll never forget at the Hungarian Masquerade.

I'll be posting an excerpt on my website after I get back from the Donald Maass workshop in Tampa Sunday.

2. Okay, now that you're done ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the cover, and have caught your breath over the blurb, here's my second announcement:

Hungarian Masquerade will be available at the Wilder Roses site November 28--just in time for you to take a break from standing in line at the local discount retailer where you've been since 4 a.m. and oh boy do you need a break from screaming children and screaming parents who will obviously just DIE if they don't get the hello-whatsit in day-glo orange because day-glo orange IS the new black and what do you mean it's in your cart they NEED it so just as soon as you get home you're going to grab a cup of hot cocoa (go ahead, spike it, we won't tell) or glass of wine (it's 5 o'clock somewhere) and go to the Wilder site and buy your copy of Hungarian Masquerade because oh GOD look at the guy on the cover and oh, yeah, this is just what you needed....

It's good to be bad

2008-10-31T08:50:00.003-04:00

It's here, it's hot....

Recommended use: send the kids trick-or-treating, and treat yourself!

www.wilderroses.com

Are you ready to be bad?

2008-10-29T06:30:00.003-04:00

Okay, first let's get all the mea culpa crap out of the way, and like so many people in this world today, we're just going to pretend there isn't a three month gap between my last post and this one (gulp). Sorry about that, really. Life just sort of took over and hit me on the head with a 2x4 and you know how those things hurt. Plus, you know, there's the whole political thing, but I went to the downtown library last weekend and voted, so I'm ... well, I don't know what I am, but at least it's done. And it took me only an hour and a half. I love early voting--no need to fight for parking at my precinct--but I've never seen these kinds of lines. A friend in Palm Beach County waited TWO and a half hours. But he, too, got it done.

But I'm not here to talk politics (aren't you glad?). Much better than that--Bad Enough is going to be released on Friday, October 31. No tricks, but lots of treats! You can buy it at The Wild Rose Press (in the Wilder catalog), link conveniently provided here.

And to entice you, just a little bit, here's an excerpt:

Rafe had never kissed her before, not once in all the years they’d known each other. Their flirtations had never gone beyond looks and words.
Where his touch had been gentle, his kiss was anything but. His mouth took hers like he was starving and she was dinner. Lindy opened her mouth to willingly accept the assault. The hard thrust of his tongue was like being fucked, his lips firm and soft at the same time on hers, the attraction that had always been there escalating until she knew why they said it was like fireworks.
His body was hot and solid against her. Like steel reaching for a magnet, she arched her back, lifting her hips to him. His erection was a ridge of iron-hard heat under his pants, the denim coarse against her skin. He slipped his free hand under the edge of her bikini, a finger sliding between her labia to her opening. The touch of his calloused finger slipping along her most sensitive skin was unbelievably erotic, and when he pushed inside she couldn’t control the moan that had been building from the moment he touched her.
He pulled back from the kiss, drawing a whimper from her as he sucked her lower lip into his mouth before breaking free. Nerves fired at top speed as his teeth scraped across her lip.
“You are so fucking wet,” he whispered hoarsely. “God, Lindy, do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?”

Remember, Friday--perfect birthday present to me would be to sell about a million copies (I'd settle happily for 999,984).

I'm moderating on the 15th and blogging on the 19th

2008-07-31T20:30:00.003-04:00

The summer just got a little steamier...

It's Hot in August in the Garden.

If you love Erotic Romance, join the Scarlet Rose authors for 31 Sultry Scarlet Nights!

31 days of scorching hot downloads from Scarlet Rose - the erotic romance line of The Wild Rose Press.

Each day two downloads from the Wilder Roses catalog will be given away. Check the calendar in the Wilder Roses yahoo loop to see which title will be given away on a select day.

For your first chance to win, stop by the Wilder Roses blog and post a comment on the day's topic.

For a second chance to win, stop by The Wilder Roses Yahoo loop.

Each night two winners will be drawn, one from those who commented on the blog and another from those who posted on the loop during that day.

Everyone who participated throughout the month will be entered automatically in a drawing for the Grand Prize, a $75.00 online gift certificate from Frederick’s of Hollywood courtesy of:

The Wild Rose Press, Wendi Darlin, Lara Dien, Samantha Gentry, Devon Gray, Helen Hardt, Janna Lee Hayes, Liza James, Jane E. Jones, Darah Lace, Mary Martinez, Anita Philmar, Allie Standifer, & KyAnn Waters

It's easy to enter for the daily giveaways and the grand prize. Your participation will automatically enter you.

More information visit
http://www.thewilderroses.com/
http://www.wilderroses.blogspot.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWilderRoses

Reviewed by Whipped Cream!

2008-07-26T08:25:00.004-04:00

Gotta admit, this is the fun part (well, at least since so far everyone's liked the story!). Sorry, Editor Bear, but getting great reviews is just a tad more fun than finding 25 synonyms for various body parts. Not much more fun (hey, anytime you "have" to think about body parts is a good day--see what a great career this romance-writing gig is?), but just a bit.

Yes, I'm spending the rest of my day editing Bad Enough. But what a great thing to wake up to: an email from Long and Short Reviews/Whipped Cream telling me that a) they'd reviewed Fortuneteller and b) it's up for book of the week (technically, review of the week, since voting is based on the reviews). And since I'd love to have Fortuneteller splashed across the top of their review page for a week....

Here's the review, and here's the link so you can check out the other reviews and vote.

Miranda knows it was fate that brought Devon into her fortune telling tent, fulfilling her grandmother's prophecy. But the sexy detective doesn't believe in fate – he's just looking for a hiding place while he figures out his next move. Can Miranda convince him that love is really in the cards?

♥ ♥ ♥

Lara Dien creates characters that captivate you right from the start. They personalities are exciting. The chemistry between Miranda and Devon keeps you reading without wanting to stop until you reach the end. The scenes are very detailed and erotic. I definitely rate this one high on the heat level and written so well you forget you're reading.

The story itself has just enough about both of their lives and their sexual encounters to keep it interesting. Also, I love that it is based on fortune telling and tarot – very unique and unusual. The first scene at the fair was quite intriguing and very steamy – something I might be tempted to fantasize about myself. I would definitely like to read more by this author.

Reviewed by Snowdrop

And notice the reviewer said the same thing as the Orlando Weekly reviewer (Liz Langley) said--"written so well you forget you're reading" ((swoon)).

Reviewed in the Orlando Weekly!

2008-07-24T06:30:00.002-04:00

Today's edition of the Orlando Weekly has an article -- Submerged in Summer Reading -- featuring reviews of several books, both fiction and non-fiction, by local (Orlando area) authors. The Fortuneteller's Lay was one of those books!

Here's the review:

That funny feeling
The Fortuneteller’s Lay by Lara Dien
(Wild Rose Press; 78 pages; $3; http://www.thewildrosepress.com/)

From the pages: “Let’s finish you first,” he said before beginning the most erotic assault Miranda had ever endured.

“Print is dead,” intoned Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters, and 24 years later that end may be closer than we book nerds would like. We love our books, but frankly, I’d rather read something of quality on a screen than some of the tinny, insufferable caca wasting ink out there. Online or on paper, good is good. The Fortuneteller’s Lay, by Orlando author Lara Dien, is an e-book that should come with a downloadable microfiber cloth to clean the steam off your monitor as you read.

Miranda Merrill is a part-time fortuneteller; into her tent stumbles detective Devon Cole, not looking for his fortune, much less his future. The chemistry that explodes between them isn’t so much boy-meets-girl as fire-meets-kerosene. The sex scenes are juicy and numerous, paced deliciously and placed so there’s enough real life between them to make the story a story and not a series of quickies (or longies).

Since they’re forced to part as fast as they came together, finding each other again is going to be a problem, but luck has a way of aiding destiny. The wrap-up is a bit more romantic than the hot, lurid, crazily luscious, very graphic sex that precedes it (which I could have used more of; shut up), but you’re on solid ground when the worst you can say is you wanted more.

This is an erotic romance – no human depths are plumbed but the obvious ones. But it is a gem in its genre, and Dien pulls off writing’s neatest trick, which is to make you forget that you’re reading. Anyone who has ever attempted to talk dirty and failed has glimpsed the toughness of the sex writer’s task. Fortuneteller predicts good things in Lara Dien’s future.
— LL

Bad Enough and other news

2008-07-20T19:41:00.003-04:00

Here's the cover for my new ero/rom, Bad Enough, done by Angela Anderson. Very 'Garden of Eden', don't you think? Who knew paradise was so hot?

Then, there's "Masks," which I sent off to WRP a few weeks ago...and the contract for Hungarian Masquerade (the new title), which I sent off to WRP last week.

And then there's Dreamwalk...bless my CP's tenacious heart (and rock-solid insight into my voice and style, AND her willingness to offer up ideas until there's one that works!). I'm back to being excited about working on it, after Macy gave me something to hang Liz's (that's the heroine) motivation on...

I'm reading Donald Maass' Writing the Breakout Novel and there's a lot of useful information in it. Huh, maybe that's why people keep recommending it....

"...wiggling in your seat."

2008-07-07T20:29:00.002-04:00

I got my first review today--for The Fortuneteller's Lay.

Here's an excerpt...

"I enjoyed this story by Ms. Dien because it oozed with sex appeal from the very beginning. She took me on an adventure that was hot, sexy and I found myself ultimately wanting more. I loved the characters she created and I especially loved the different sides she portrayed of Miranda. This is definitely an erotic tale that I know you won’t walk away from disappointed. This story will have you wiggling in your seat!"

A four-heart review! Thanks, Ms. Coyle!

Here's the link:
http://www.nightowlromance.com/nightowlromance/reviews/Review.asp?ReviewId=2012

It's not a rut if you can see over the top

2008-06-25T19:02:00.002-04:00

At least, I hope so.

Not if there's a difference between conscious time management and, well, I was going to say 'rutting,' but that's just a whole 'nother thing, isn't it?

But every once in a while--okay, frequently--I get into a routine or something and it's tough to get out of it. Habits. Like coming home from work and getting caught up in doing something (housework, dealing with pets, whatever) and poof! there goes the time I meant to spend writing.

Or blogs...not writing them so much as reading them. Reaching out and networking with readers and other writers and what have you, and next thing you know, you've been on the computer for two hours and nothing's done.

Then there's writing. I think it becomes very easy, once you've got an idea in your head (or perhaps even a genre you like reading) to decide 'this is what I'm going to write.' And there are several--well, two, actually, since it's really either do or don't--opinions on how wide-ranging your writing should be. If you write category romance, do you dare write anything else, or do you hone your craft there? If you've got a thing for r/s, should you bother trying your hand at that paranormal dancing at the edges of your brain? What about ero/rom and YA (I do know people who successfully write both, although not under the same nom de plume, of course.)?

And now, cross-genre writing (and yes, it is a little like cross dressing) is become more and more accepted. So that "decide what you're writing" paranormal r/s I wrote isn't as off the beaten path as when I started it. But (now that it's done), is it really what I want to write? Or is it what I THOUGHT I wanted to write? I LOVE r/s--the sexier and more suspenseful the better. I HATE vampire books. Or did until a friend convinced me that JR Ward was worth reading (oh, yes!). Partly it comes down to just loving well-written stories.

So I'm about to take this idea that's been bugging me for a while and work it into my regular (or not so regular) writing schedule, and we'll see what happens.

What about you? Are you a one-genre writer (or reader), do you dabble in a few, or are you exploring where your storytelling voice really wants to take you?

The Fortuneteller's Lay

2008-06-20T07:37:00.003-04:00

The Fortuneteller's Lay is OUT!! Woohoo!

Miranda knows it was fate that brought Devon into her fortunetelling tent, fulfilling her grandmother’s prophecy. But the sexy detective doesn’t believe in fate – he’s just looking for a hiding place while he figures out his next move. Can Miranda convince him that love is really in the cards?

Here's an excerpt: (To be on the safe side: warning--this is not considered PG! Even if you've been to a PG rated movie lately and are laughing at me for being cautious...)

“Luck,” he finally repeated. “Can you tell me if I’m going to...get lucky?” Yes, please.
“What kind of luck do you need?” She’d dropped the accent, and her voice was husky.
“Luck in the business enterprise I’m working on.” He’d never get lucky in love.
“What kind of business?”
“Personal.”
The fortuneteller began to shuffle the cards again. “Then we’ll use The Fortuneteller’s Lay.”
Devon almost jumped out of his seat. “What?”
A smile tilted a corner of her mouth. “The Fortuneteller’s Lay. That’s the name of the card spread.”
I’d like to lay you. Now. Here.
“Excuse me?”
Oh God, had he said that aloud? “I’m in a bit of a rush. Will this take long?”
“I’ve had longer.” Her lips were curved in a sensuous, honestly amused smile that suggested she wasn’t thinking about the reading. The heat in her eyes intensified as he met them with his own gaze. He shifted again, his dick straining to escape its prison.
Oh, yeah? You haven’t seen it. Yet. Although she probably wasn’t referring to the length of his cock. And it was probably his imagination, thinking she had sex on her mind, just because it was on his.
Her gaze heated. No, it wasn’t his imagination. It was strange—and amazingly erotic—to feel her looking at him as though she was imagining him naked. Color rose in her cheeks, and her rose-pink tongue played over lush lips. It had been months, maybe years, maybe never, since he’d played with such openly sensual flirtation.
“Do you do...private readings?”

Order it from the Scarlet Rose line at The Wild Rose Press. Tell people you know. Well, unless they're the kind of people who would want to light a fire under me (that kind of motivation I don't need ....). Tell the OTHER people you know .... okay, I'm off to work!

PS My apologies for the lack of paragraph breaks. I seem to be having an argument in html this morning. Ok (deep breath) ... work.

Time to catch up ....release dates and contracts and more....

2008-06-17T19:09:00.003-04:00

This deserves about a million 'mea culpas,' which I think is Catholic for "I'm a moron."

Okay, not really, but I've had way more to do over the past couple months than I've had time for, which means I don't get much of anything done!

Except this:

The Fortuneteller's Lay will be released Friday, June 20th at The Wild Rose Press. You can get to it either by going to http://www.wilderroses.com/ or by going to the main website: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/ and clicking on the Scarlet Rose banner or Wilder catalog. All the options you could want.

I have a contract for my second story, Caught. Which did get 'caught' in the name game (there are three or so other ero/rom stories by that title) so it is now officially titled Bad Enough. I just sent the first round back--a couple of revisions and the self edits. BTW, there's a sneak peek--the first scene--at Bad Enough in the back of The Fortuneteller's Lay. Will let you know when there's more news--a cover, for example.

Guess it's time to update the WIP section.

I spent most of May getting ready to move, moving, and unpacking etc from the move. In the midst of it all, I lost my long-time roommate, Bela. He got sick or something--at any rate, instead of adjusting to the move, after a few days he started declining, and Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend he asked me to let him outside, and that was the last I saw of him. He was 10 1/2+ (would have been 11 in October). That's him from several Yules ago. (Yes, that's Yule, not year ....)

So, how is YOUR year going?

Ouch!

2008-04-28T20:05:00.002-04:00

I'll update the WIP info later tonight or tomorrow but thought I'd post quickly while I still have a wrist left. Or a thumb. I am not a hunt and peck typist, so I need my thumb.

I think it hurts because I've been on the computer far too much lately--reading, research, etc. It's that whole mouse thing.

I sent Caught off at a final word count of just over 26k--the longest short story I've ever managed. No dead bodies (woohoo!) but possibly too much sex. No, seriously. We'll see what the editor says. So I've been working on Highland Fling, trying to figure out what to do with my full-length novels (as I just commented on Macy's blog, I'm trying to find my voice in the 'right' subgenre) ... and starting two new short stories that just came to me--no point in trying to remember them later.

So appearing shortly on the WIP list will be "Soldier Boy" and "Hot Target" -- both very fun so far, both very different from earlier stories ... stay tuned!

The exciting life of a romance writer

2008-04-19T14:43:00.002-04:00

That's okay, I can hear you all laughing. Because we live—to one degree or another—those lives. You know, the lives that bear little to no resemblance to the lives everyone THINKS we have. Glamorous, jetting from one fan-filled booksigning to another...okay, SOME of us might live that life, but I seriously doubt it. Even if you are, I'm guessing it's more like jetting from one booksigning (fan-filled or otherwise) while feverishly plotting your next masterpiece (which no one will regard as a masterpiece, except for other writers, who know just how damned hard it can be), if not actually writing, revising, or editing it.

I'm not remotely close to breathing that air, but my life right now is so much the opposite of that, it seemed a good thing to dream about (besides, I haven't had time to blog for over a week now, and I had to write SOMETHING). Warning: spoiler ahead. If you want to continue believing your favorite romance authors live exciting, glamorous lives DO NOT READ FURTHER.

Anyone remember Shelley Long in the move "Don't Tell Her It's Me"? One day, I hope my life is that glamorous. Which should tell you something about the here and now. This week, I'm in the middle of finishing Caught, which keeps getting longer. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, considering no dead bodies have shown up yet. Because I don't read a lot of non-suspenseful romance, I worry that I'm going to be boring if I don't kill anyone off. I'm moving in a few weeks, so I'm spending a lot of my spare time packing and trying to keep up with keeping my apartment clean enough that the health department won't be visiting. For some reason, even though it's just me and one cat, this is harder than it should be. Of course, it doesn't help that I trip over boxes every time I turn around. Thank goodness I have a day job so no one really expects me to lie around in a negligee dictating chapter six while eating bon bons, because the atmosphere really isn't conducive to negligees. It is, of course, conducive to chocolate. Chocolate, like black, goes with everything.

Like everyone else (if you did this earlier, I do not want to know), I spent a fair bit of last weekend doing my taxes. They used to be easy. Next year, thank goodness, they'll be even more difficult, since (I hope!) there will be royalties to deal with, which makes it a good time to start tracking my expenses. How annoying and non-glamorous. Clearly, in addition to the secretary to take dictation, and the housekeeper to make sure there are fewer than six pairs of shoes on my living room floor, I need a bookkeeper.

There are two other half-done novellas waiting for my attention, as well as the various r/s novels that are in various states of being. Oh, look, I look like a writer after all. Except that I suspect everyone else has ideas that spring full-blown into existence, and their only problem is they can't type fast enough. Most of the time, my stories come into the sunlight much like a wildflower growing from a cliff face. The seed is there—blown there, probably—some line of dialogue or half-glimpsed scene that demands the question "what next" ... and battles its way into being from there. But, of course, that's the fun part. Who needs glamour when you have complete control of what happens next?

About those goals ...

2008-04-09T21:01:00.002-04:00

A lot of writers get...interested (obsessed is such an ugly word) in things like word counts. For me, a 'newbie' to the world of professional fiction writing, it's a means to understanding the breadth and depth of a story. And I try to not get hung up on it (see WIP goals to right LOL).

I have no idea what publishers think about it--probably that it's a convenient way to allocate resources, meet reader expectations, blah, blah. I know a lot of writers who have been around for a while, and they think in terms of pages, not words, I think because they know how many word-doc pages it takes to build their story, and if you know you're going to have to write 400 pages, why count the words on them?

Regardless, publishers do have word-count guidelines, and so lots of writers, myself included, think in terms of word counts when we're writing. Because we know that the guidelines for an Intrigue (category) aren't the same as they are for Mira (single title). And because I know from past experience that the body count in my stories rises along with the length, I specifically aim for short stories when I'm planning an erotic romance. Yes, I'm a Scorpio, but I like my dead bodies to be separated from my sex scenes by more than a page or two. Otherwise it gets weird. No, I don't particularly care for vampire romance, thanks for asking. (If you do, though, L. Rosario writes some terrific ones.)

But this is my blog, so back to me. So I posted these word count goals to the right, and you'll notice that even though Caught is somewhat beyond the word count goal for it, I haven't changed it. First, because 15k really is a short story, and second because, well, I'm going to try shortening it when I revise. There are still probably a couple thousand words to be added first, though. But the point is that I probably need to tighten the writing, and anyway, as long as I stay under 20k I'll be happy. Either that, or I'll finally figure out how to write a longer e/r without killing anyone.

Romantic suspense, though, is a different story. The word count for Dreamwalk, right now, is around 70k. And that's at the end of the rough draft. My challenge with this one is to finish developing the story (this is my first full ms, and while I probably should put it under the bed, I still really like the plot) in a way that adds 25-30k words. Either that, or to lighten it up enough to make it palatable for category readers. As it is, it's a bit intense. Anyway, as noted before, I'm going to finish Caught and Highland Fling, and then spend some quality time with the LOML (love of my life).

There was a point to this, but I'm not sure what I did with it. Anyway, what do you think? Do you decide the length of your story based on the idea you have for it? Or do you decide "I'm going to write a novella" and then look for a subject?

Writer's block?

2008-04-06T11:08:00.003-04:00

I just sent an email off to a writing compadre with the subject line car+mechanic=fixed. This friend had offered to take a look at some places in my MIP where I had a serious bout of writer's block going on. Voila, last night, sitting at my favorite cafe, with a glass of iced Moroccan Mint (green tea and mint, yummm...and enough caffeine to count!), all (well most) the pesky little details worked themselves out.

I read somewhere an opinion that there's no such thing as writer's block. Ouch. You can stop screaming now. With all due respect to anyone who holds that opinion...of course there is. A lot of times, though, I think it's like the "wait, wait, I know this" sort of block, where the answer to someone's question (or where you left your car keys) is just out of reach. And when you've given up, boom. There it is, right there--because, of course, you knew it all along.

Now, I'll admit it doesn't always work--sometimes you're just stuck and you either have to say it's good enough as it is, delete it and start over, or go outside yourself for help. If you're a writer, how do you handle writer's block? And does it depend on where you are in the creative process? Or do you believe there's no such thing, it's just laziness?