Inspiration

Yesterday I spent the day at my local romance writer's all-day workshop. It was great. While I didn't plot out a new romance, I have three I've got to finish editing, I did get once again inspired to write. And that says a lot. I find with editing I get pulled out of writing so even getting 2,000 words written in a week, with me juggling my kids, is an accomplishment. And speaking of accomplishments I wanted to highlight the fact that on Thursday I attended my friend, Pam Callow's debut launch of her romanctic suspence, legal thriller called Damaged. I have to say the place was jammed with well wishers, which Pam deserves. Pam, a mother of two and a lawyer by trade used her smarts to create the Kate Lange character. What I love about Damaged is that it's set in Halifax - our home town. Her publisher, MIRA, got behind her and I have to say they made one smart move. I came home Thursday night and started Pam's book and now I'm trying to find time in-between edits, and those pesky kids to read it. I can't wait until I can snuggle with hubby in bed (he likes to read beside me) and read more. My time for reading is at night, in the bathroom, or in the bath and I confess that I usually have four books on the go. Reading is essential if you're a writer, it helps you keep up with your market and in my case it helps keep my sanity.

Starting next week I'll be posting excerpts from my Fairy Curses: Kissed sensual paranormal romance I've been working on. I'll be looking for feedback and showing you before and after scenes with my editing process. Plus I might publish pics of my son's pesky cat who likes to snuggle next to my laptop - how annyoing!

I haven't blogged in a while. I know I should but what can I say - life is busy. So let me sum up what I'm doing.

Finished edits of my dragon erotic novella and added another 5,000 to it - I know editing usually means cutting but I felt I needed to add to this one.
Working on cutting more out of Fairy Curses: Kissed, that's my mainstream sensual romance.
Mapped out my new sci-fi erotic novella set on Jupiter called "Red Lust" and totally loving it.
Working on revamping my 2nd Titan romance novel for my publisher, Ellora's Cave, as a stand alone.
And, I just started a totally new writing project - 1st person narrative, mainstream fiction with a Mr. & Mrs. Smith feel to it. I'm psyched to get into this but need to focus and finish edits on Fairy Curses which will take me another week and I'd like to finish 4 more chapters in my sci-fi story...so waiting is good, because by then I'll have figured out the middle of my new writing project.

That's it for me folks.

March Break

March! Yes, that means only three more months until summer. Can't wait. That said, the days are brighter, all thanks to the new day light savings time now taking place in March and the weather is teasing us with warmth. I've stashed all the snow pants, scarves and mitts away and it felt great. I don't dare put away the shovel away yet or it will snow so I'll wait until the end of March for that treat.

Speaking of treat, I'm almost done edits on my new Darklander Lovers series coming out from Ellora's Cave. This is three erotic novellas linked with a common theme. The first is "Be My Vampire Tonight" and then it's "Be My Werecat Tonight," and finally "Be My Warlock Tonight." It centres around three very unique women who go to a charity auction to bid on men who are their blind dates for the night. But these aren't your average men -lol. I'm working on my tag line - let me know what you think of this.

- In a world that exists in shades of gray she brought sizzling color to his life.
-He only new shades of gray until her passion brought color to his life.
- In a world of gray she brought color

Okay, help would be greatly appreciated. What else is new? I'm reworking my sequel to Rapture, which I've called Bliss to become a single-title so it will fit with Ellora's Cave's line. I've got a few more "tweaks" to work on for my dragon erotic and I just plotted out my new sci-fi erotic, which I can't wait to write as I totally love my theme, my strong-willed business women and the world on Saturn I've created.

I'd love to hear from you. What are you working on? What are you reading? Basically, I'm lonely. Drop me a line.

What do you do for a sexy night with your mate?

Okay, I confess to reading lots of Red Book and Cosmopolitan in the bath – my favorite place to unwind and I’ve noticed a trend. These mags hype what we as women are supposed to do for our mate. Hey, I’m not knocking it but seriously, what do men do to sex-up the love life? I’d like to know.

And, all I think of when I read about the chocolate sauce to paint all over your mate is what a god awful mess on the sheets and you just know who is going to be doing the laundry the next day – the woman.

So that got me thinking. What would I like my mate to do to sex-up our love life? Hum, well for starters take things slow. I love the foreplay, the slow tease of what’s about to be offered up to me. I admit to loving public displays of affections and a great meal out, because that would be without any children and it means I haven’t had to think of what to cook for dinner. And those PDAs can all take place under the table or in the back row of a dark movie theater. Hmm, what else? Music. Nothing makes the night sexier than really good “sex” music to add atmosphere to the room.

What would you like your mate to do? I’d like to know. This is all part of my latest research for my new erotic sci-fi I’m working so please share your secrets with me. I won’t use names, just want your ideas.

Tech Blind

I admit I'm not techie - I can barely log into blog, but I'm trying. So today I signed on to my Facebook page and have added a new "Fan Page". Sign up please - it makes me feel like I have friends and that's sad. Lately, I've been huddled over my computer, stuck in my house working on my stories. Don't get me wrong, I love writing, but mold has started to grow on me. I need to escape. So I signed up for a new dance class - it got cancelled, so now I need to find a new one. I did pole dancing (loved it) but want to try something new. As a writer I need to add something to my creative outlet but it's hard for me to jugggle my kids, their activities, deadlines etc....guess that's life. I'm going to attempt Twitter - wish me luck.

On a happy note - Ellora's Cave signed on for my new Darklander Lovers series. Stay tuned for Be My Vampire Tonight, Be My Werecat Tonight and Be My Warlock Tonight - three erotic paranormal novellas...featuring very hunky men!

Hello Winter

Mother Nature got confused. She hit us (good old Nova Scotia, Canada) with 30cm of snow on Saturday and it’s not even winter. While I’ve been grumping about it my kids have journeyed to the Arctic, built an igloo, traveled to Santa’s workshop to see if he needs any help with his toys and saved a polar bear from drowning on the ever depleting Arctic ice. Yes, that’s exactly what they did and a lot more. The three younger ones journeyed outside by 8am on Sat morning to wade through the snow. They are so excited; I will admit it’s infectious. The almost teenager, who didn’t want the winter boots I made him get on Friday night about six hours before the storm was about to hit, wore them with glee and his snow pants on Sat so he could go sledding in the park. He even said a thank you – will wonders never cease. So, while I’m not overly pleased that the cold (and it’s -6 here) has hit and the white stuff looks like it’s going to stay for a bit longer than anticipated we will endure.

What I did learn is that I too need to journey to the Arctic, save a polar bear or better yet figure out a way to let my dragon escape her ice cavern. Yeah, imagination is the best toy any child can have or develop. Since I’m just a big kid at heart I’ve never lost mine and it’s nice to see at least one of my four children let their creative mind take over so he too can have fun. We could have been inside all day, but they spent most of it sledding, and building snow forts...and that’s exactly what winter’s all about. Now, I just have to embrace my Kodiak boots, fur coat and became a dragon so I can regulate my own body temperature—no laughing, one never knows. Can you tell I’m working on a dragon story? Yeah, hot and cold, fire and ice and it’s diamond sharp. Hope to finish the first draft by the end of January...I’ll keep you all posted.

In the meantime, if you're looking to add heat to your day check out my latest erotic novella, Elemental Love from Ellora's Cave at http://www.ellorascave.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419919114

Rapture - 2008 EPPIE Winner for Best Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

I won! I won! I’m still trembling with joy over my first book’s major win. Rapture, which was my baby for three years, just won for Best EPPIE Fantasy/Paranormal Romance. According to the EPIC website - The EPPIE Awards have been given annually since the first EPIC conference to recognize outstanding achievement in e-publishing. The categories are judged by members of EPIC, all published authors. After the first round of judging, the works of the finalists are sent to another panel of judges, and winners in all eighteen categories are selected. I want to say a huge thank you to the organizers of this award contest, to the many authors out there who donated their time to read and judge all the books in each category and to my fans who continue to tell me they love Rapture.

So what has winning the award meant to me? It’s helped to reaffirm that I’m on the right track. I thoroughly enjoy writing paranormal and I love soul-defining romance. I love creating new worlds, hard-edged characters that we want to love even though we know they are beyond human. And it’s spurred me on complete book two in my Titan series, which will feature Darius (Seth’s twin brother) and he’s not a happy Titan. This book is more than half-way written (and was so last year) but I started another series, The Ungodlies – in between, so had to put it on hold. I can’t have too many characters talking in my head or I would go insane. Yes, my characters do talk to me and usually by the time I’m ready to open my laptop their voice is dying to be released on the computer.

Winning an EPPIE I’m also hoping will provide me with some leverage in my search for a new agent. I fired mine over a year ago and having since recovered from that ordeal I am once again putting myself on the block. This time though I’m going to do my homework.

Thank you once again to the EPIC organizers and readers who love Rapture. I know I loved writing and re-writing it and my fingers are crossed that when the sequel comes out it will be even better.