Wednesday, October 31, 2007

What Makes Halloween Sexy? How About Sweet & Spicy Spells




Today is the day! I'm thrilled to showcase that my co-authored EC book with Christine d'Abo, Sweet and Spicy Spells is out today - who couldn't ask for a better candy than that. Check it out at EC and wouldn't you love to squeeze those buns - lol.


Seriously, what could be sexier than Halloween? Lots you’re thinking, but I love Halloween for the obvious reasons – I get to act like a b(w)itch all day and eat candy. Now I could blab all day about the joys of Halloween, that is after I usually have at least two drinks of wine while finishing up the face paint on all my kids, lugging cart loads of candy to my front door, mucking out the dozen pumpkins, but why bother – you get the picture. In all seriousness Halloween makes me feel sexy. I love the whole idea that I can wear a sexy vamped-witch costume to the grocery store and not get arrested – who wouldn’t love that?

Here’s some other Halloween trivia I found on the Internet that I think is neat, courtesy of http://www.funatiparty.com/halloween/halloween_fun_facts.asp.

But before I leave, let me know what’s your favorite part of Halloween? How many of you wait up until midnight (that would be last night) to howl at the moon, how many of you eat your children’s candy (that would be me) and how many of you run around the neighborhood smashing all those happy, smiling pumpkins when no one’s looking – come on I know you’re out there!
The first Halloween celebration in America took place in Anoka, Minnesota in 1921.
More than 93% of children, under the age of 12, will go out trick-or-treating
About 50% of adults dress up for Halloween, while 67% take part in the activities, such as parties, decorating the house and trick-or-treating with their children
86% of Americans decorate their house for Halloween
Halloween candy sales average about $2 billion annually in the United States. It is the largest candy-purchasing holiday, bigger than Christmas, Easter and Valentine's Day!
The first Halloween card was made in the early 1920's. These days, over 28 million Halloween cards are sent each year. U.S. consumers spend about $50 million on Halloween greetings
Over $1.5 billion is spent on costumes each year and more than $2.5 billion on other Halloween paraphernalia
About 99% of pumpkins that are marketed domestically are turned into jack-o-lanterns
90% of parents admit to sneaking goodies from their kids' Halloween trick-or-treat bags
Over 10% of pet owners dress their pets in Halloween costumes
The biggest pumpkin in the world tipped the scales at a whopping 1,446 pounds. This gigantic gourd was weighed in October 2004 at a pumpkin festival in Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada.
More than 35 million pounds of candy corn will be produced this year. That equates to nearly 9 billion pieces - enough to circle the moon nearly 4 times if laid end-to-end.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Pitching Your Life Away

A couple of days ago I got back from the New Jersey “Put Your Heart into a Book” conference and I have two things to say. First a huge thank you to the New Jersey Romance Writers for organizing such a great, well-run conference and for bringing in such wonderfully inspired writers like Karen Robards and Sherrilyn Kenyon – they truly do inspire you to keep on writing. Second I pitched and scored. Well, I should reference that by saying I’ve at least past first base. I have a number of publishers interested in reading the partial for my new dark, paranormal I’ve called The Ungodlies: The Damned Fairy.

Now I’m fairly new at pitching and I confess that I didn’t have my pitch written or nailed down. So immediately I went to a workshop called “How to pitch” where I almost died on the spot. One line or three – that’s it. That’s all the time before an editor will tune out. I went back upstairs to my room, stared at a blank wall for a good ten minutes and then bang it came to me, so I wrote it down on my index cards before I forgot it. I also made sure to bring my index cards with me because it’s very nerve wracking to pitch to an editor.

Here’s my pitch for The Ungodlies: The Damned Fairy: Vile creatures called the Decies once set free will suck the life-force out of every being on Earth and in Tir Nan Og. But not if Einion, the damned fairy, gets his way. It’s a shame too because all he really wanted to do was die for good. Exiled, cursed and damned to Earth by his Tuatha Dé Danann Queen, Einion knows the real meaning of bitch. Women like the Decies can’t be reasoned with. Try telling that to a half-Tuatha, half-Druid woman when she’s on her knees begging for it. The Ungodlies is a dark, paranormal at 93,000 words.

Since I also had time I decided to pitch my new book I’m working on. Hell Bent: The Angel of Fire: Fallen angels are being recruited to join Lucifer’s Apostles army. Will Nathaniel, the Angel of Fire, become unlucky thirteen? After all The Almighty just ripped his wings off to teach him a lesson in humanity. Still though can Nathaniel keep his virginity in tact when the tempting hands of passion cause his wings to grow back? Either way he’s damned. Hell Bent is a dark, paranormal about 60,000 words.

Since I’ve come home I’ve been reviewing my work like mad, and re-reading everything out loud – amazing all the things you catch when you hear yourself speak. I’m very excited about the opportunity to share my work with publishers and my fingers are crossed that one will like my voice. Again, a huge thank you to the NJ romance writers.