If you didn’t know, I finished the second Corine Solomon book last week. Since then, I’ve been relaxing. What kinds of things have I done?

Well, I read an ARC of Eve Kenin’s Hidden. It’s so fabulous! What a follow-up to Driven. I’m hoping there will be more books set in this world because I am completely hooked. Now I’m about partway through an ARC of His Wicked Sins, my first foray into her Eve Silver titles. It’s gothic and atmospheric so far, and I’m digging it.

I’ve watched Futurama, hung out with my family, and played Mass Effect on Xbox 360. I so cannot wait for the sequel. This weekend I didn’t do anything I didn’t absolutely have to do. Since it was Mother’s Day weekend, my family couldn’t even argue. I got a bottle of Mediterranean Breeze by Elizabeth Arden and cards from the kids. Alek made me a picture frame that he painted himself. All in all, it was very relaxing.

How was your weekend? What did you get for Mother’s Day?

PS- If you didn’t know, I’m running a contest over on my blog. The prizes are awesome, and this is the most important contest I’ll run all year.

As per Let’s Gab:

From Shiloh Walker:

I’ve got an auction up on ebay to help raise money for the cyclone victims and I’m trying to get the word out.

Right now, it involves a couple of ARCs, several books, but more have added, and a GC to Barnes and Noble.

It’s up on ebay thru missionfish-the charity I chose was SAVE THE CHILDREN since they already have people in the country and have had some success getting much needed supplies. And they have an excellent rep for putting their money where their mouth is- 90% of all monies received go to their programs, which is beyond excellent for a charity.

I know some people feel not doing anything might be best considering the actions of the junta and hold off waiting until that situation changes, but I don’t think letting people suffer is a viable option either if there are ways of getting help in.

From Save the Children’s 5/9 update-

And this is part of the reason why I chose them-they already have people inside the country and they seem to be a trusted by those within the country, making it easier to get help in.

So far, the auction includes:

• Signed copy of Private Places, historical romance anthology, not due out until 8/08 with stories by Robin Schone, Allyson James, Claudia Dain & Shiloh Walker
• The Perfect Ten, signed, donated by Janice Maynard
• The Legacy & bookmarks, signed, donated by Beth Williamson
• Hard as Nails, signed, *7/08 release* ARC donated by HelenKay Dimon
• Signed books donated by Rosemary Laurey-titles to be listed at a later date
• Hunters: Heart and Soul, signed, by Shiloh Walker
• Hunting the Hunter, signed, by Shiloh Walker
• Hunter’s Salvation, signed, by Shiloh Walker

Recently donated but not yet listed items include books from Patrica Sargeant, Ann Jacobs, Charlene Teglia, Kate Angell & a gift card from the Brown Literary Agency for Barnes & Noble.
Recently added items include:

• Wild, Wild West-signed-donated by Charlene Teglia
• Eternally His & Full Circle-both signed-donated by Ann Jacobs
• Boys of Summer Series - Squeeze Play, Curveball & Strike Zone - signed-donated by Kate Angell
• $50 Gift Card to Barnes & Noble donated by The Brown Literary Agency
• You Belong to Me & On Fire-signed-donated by Patricia Sargeant

And more…

• Hands On, Built & Nailed-signed- by Amie Stuart
• Dark Hunger-signed-by Sara Reinke
• Signed books from Devyn Quinn
• Witch Fire & Witch Blood-signed- by Anya Bast

Anybody interested in bidding on the auction, it can be found here

<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270236138496>

Authors interested in donating can contact me shilohwalker at gmail.com

A Medieval Scotsman!  Woo hoo! 

BRIDGE THROUGH THE MIST
Denise A. Agnew
Available now at Ellora’s Cave www.ellorascave.com

When Alenna Carstairs is hurled through time into 1318, Scotland’s medieval world brings her face to face with hot, sexy Tynan of  MacBrahin. Infuriated with his barbaric manners, and yet sensing
vulnerability within him, she vows to discover the heartbreak that has scarred his soul.
World-weary knight, Tynan of MacBrahin lost two loves to the brutality  of other men. He can’t forgive himself for failing to protect the women who depended on him. When Alenna saves his life, her independent spirit  stirs desires so strong within him he can’t resist her. A depraved baron soon wants Alenna for his own, and Tynan must find a way to conquer this  powerful man to save her.

Alenna struggles with soul-staggering desire for Tynan, but most of all, she must convince Tynan his love is not lethal, and she is the one who can bring shine to his armor again.

Buy it here!

“Recommended Read! There is one word to describe Bridge Through the
Mist…sensational…”
Fallen Angel Reviews

“Four hearts…an exceptional tale of medieval times…The sexual
tension between these two characters was scorching…I highly recommend
this to anyone looking for a lot of action, sizzling passion and a
battle of wills that will keep the reader completely engrossed to the
very last page. Great job, Ms. Agnew. I look forward to reading more
from this wonderful author.”
Romance Studio

A water witch, Isabelle Novak has always led a chaotic, nomadic existence. But her life spins out of control when her sister—her only friend and emotional anchor — is killed by a demon. Driven by grief and a desire for revenge, she turns her back on the Coven and the rede they hold sacred: Harm thee none...

When Isabelle first encounters Thomas Monahan, she’s running on pure rage and sorrow, channeling her pain into power — and trying to freeze the life out of a warlock she holds responsible for her sister’s death. Together, they form an uneasy alliance to hunt and destroy a demon of tremendous power. As head of the Coven, earth witch Thomas must thwart Isabelle’s dark impulses, but his very presence stirs deeper desires she never knew she had…

Buy here! Or here!

I had everything a woman could want.

My husband James. The house on the lake. My life. Our perfect life. And then Alex came to visit. The first time I saw my husband’s best friend, I didn’t like him. Didn’t like how James changed when he was around, didn’t like how his penetrating eyes followed me everywhere. But that didn’t stop me from wanting him. And surprisingly, James didn’t seem to mind.

It was meant to be fun. Something the three of us shared for those hot summer weeks Alex stayed with us. Nobody was supposed to fall in or out of love. I didn’t need another man, not even one who oozed sex like honey and knew all the secrets I didn’t know, the secrets my husband hadn’t shared. After all, we had a perfect life. I loved my husband.

But I wasn’t the only one.

Buy it here or here or here.

I hope all of the mother’s out there have a fabulous day!

Thanks to the Bradford Bunch for having me here today!  For those who don’t know me, I’m Christie Kelley and Laura Bradford is also my agent.  I sold in a two book contract May of 2007 to Kensington for their Debut Author program.  Every Night I’m Yours was a February 2008 release and I’m currently working on revisions for Every Time We Kiss, which is scheduled for March 2009.

So what do I write, you ask?  I write Regency set historical novels that are sexy and emotional.  Or so I think.  Every Night I’m Yours was definitely sexy but Every Time We Kiss is much more emotional.

I was recently asked by a reader why my book was so short.  I was a little confused by the question as my book was about the standard 348 pages or close to 100,000 words.  The reader said she usually only reads longer books and while she loved Every Night I’m Yours, she wanted more.  My first thought was more what?  Sex?  I thought there was plenty.  Emotion?  Again, thought I was okay there. 

She just wanted more story, a bigger plot.

It was hard to explain that most romances are meant to be quicker reads.  But it did get me thinking.  The older romances I grew up on were indeed much longer and more sweeping with exotic settings and bigger external plots.  I kind of miss those stories.  And yet…would I have time to read them today?      

Not a chance.

Between working, writing, two boys, a husband and a house under major renovations, I’m lucky if I get five minutes a day to read.  I need those faster paced less complicated stories. 

I’m curious about how others feel.  Do you miss the long, sweeping novels with bigger plots?  Or are you satisfied with shorter, less complicated stories?

I’ll give a copy of Every Night I’m Yours to one lucky commentor!

 The mind is an incredible thing.  I occasionally entertain the possibility that it might wear out the way my body is, but so far it keeps chugging along.  Infrequently, I check the fluid levels and clean the windshield, but I’ve never needed a new transmission or tires.  (note to self, get tires rotated)

A couple examples of this well-running machine (no matter what anyone says to the contrary, this is my story and I’m sticking to it).  Not long ago an unexpected writing opportunity fell in my lap.  I’m in the middle of an 80k story for Aphrodisia so haven’t been mentally searching for new material.  In other words, except for Untamed, the brain is blank which is how it best operates.  Then along came this new gig and with it a need for at least the faintest hint of a plot and characters. (funny how fiction is like that)  Two days after hearing about the opportunity, I was talking to a professional horseman who had just taken on the challenge of training a wild mustang for an upcoming competition.  For an hour we sat in his living room with the sound on his TV muted and my mother snoring while he enriched me with his knowledge of horse psychology.  As I drove home, I rolled down the windows, cranked up my favorite country and western radio station and grinned.  I had it!!!  The core of what I’m going to write about.  Thanks for the shot to the gray matter, Harry.

The other recent example of my faithfully producing brain: I’m writing Untamed by the seat of my pants.  I know and love my characters and absolutely adore the setting.  I believe I’ve nailed the major conflict.  It’s the twists and turns that keep me and hopefully readers turning pages that I haven’t nailed down.  Or rather I hadn’t until this week.  That’s when I turned the plot holes over to my subconscious as I was falling asleep.  The upshot of that process is that I wake in the middle of the night feeling as if I’ve walked into the middle of a conversation.  I’m not sure who is doing the talking, a couple of virtual critique partners for lack of a better explanation.  The latest conversation went something like this: 

     “You must have had a reason for having that dark fog surround your shape-shifting hero.”

     “I just wanted to add a moody-broody quality to the scene.”

     “No you didn’t.  You had something else in mind.”

     “I did?”

    “Of course you did.  How many times do I have to tell you, everything has a reason in fiction.  How about, hey, how about this.  You’ve explained how the shape-shifting takes place so it makes sense that the fog is the catalist for the shift.”

    “You’ve got my interest.”

    “Of course I do.  Don’t I always?  Hey, how about this?  What if the fog also serves as the connection to the past you need?  Your heroine is an archeologist.  You want her to find something incredible.  The fog wants certain historical questions answered so it leads your heroine to a rich historical site, with the hero along for the ride of course.”

   “No one’s going to buy that a chunk of fog can do that.”

   “You’ve already had shape-shifters in other stories and readers haven’t laughed you out of the bookstore.  Get cracking.”

Okay, so maybe I’m paraphrasing but that’s pretty much what happened last night.  Before, I had all these plot pieces sitting there looking like a mass of twine after a bunch of cats had gotten to it and now its pretty much untangled and well on its way to becoming a beautiful sweater.  Now if I can just stay awake.

Question of the day: does your brain ever jump up and do something totally unexpected and exciting?

Vonna     www.VonnaHarper.com  

Well its that time of the year again…royalty statement time.  You’d think I’d be happy for this time, but as it is, I’m not.  Why?  Because I don’t really truly want to see how many books I’ve sold.  I want to remain in this euphoric fog of delusion that I am selling my ass off.

When the truth is, I have no real clue if I am.

On one of my publisher’s loops we are talking about our statements and sharing numbers.  I think this is fantastic and will help all of us in the end, but I have a sense of trepidation every time I open an email from one of the members and see their numbers.  Do I really want to know that Author X is selling more than me?  Um, not really.  It is a huge blow to the ego.

On the other hand it really puts this business in perspective.  And really that’s what this authorly thing is, a business, a career.  And any information, whether it destroys me or not, is good to have to help me advance forward or take a different path.

But still it hurts like hell!

After comparing numbers it makes me wonder what really sells a book.  What factors go into one book doing better than another?  Let’s say they are equally well written and in the same genre…what makes one book sell more than the other?

Cover art - a better more evocative cover sometimes can give a book an edge

Subject matter - maybe one book is about vampires and the other about witches, maybe vampires are selling better

Publisher promotion - certainly that helps, getting that book and author’s name out to more people

Higher print run - goes with publisher promotion, a higher print run sometimes can mean the publisher has confidence that book will sell more in more places

Author promotion - maybe the author is a master at self-promotion

Positive word of mouth - I think this is one of the most powerful forms of promotion and can make a book

What say you?  Any ideas?

So we decided to do our best to support the economy. What better way than by buying…A Wii?

We’ve never had any game system, though when I was a kid we had Atari. But that man I live with and I have never been good enough to our kids to get them any of them thar new-fangled game systems. The Wii will be our first.

And why? Why did we succumb? Simply put, I blame that man I live with. He played one earlier this year and was all “let’s get a Wii!” And I was all “…dude. No.” And he was all “but think of the children!” And I was all “…no.”

But then it came time to you know, step up and support the old economy and well, hellz bellz, we’re American, darn it! So now we are the proud owners of a soon-to-be-shipped Wii. With games. And nunchuks. Or something.

I’m not sure how long the joy will last. I told him he had better play it every darned day. The kids are excited, to be sure, and tried tempted me with “GET WII SIMS! GET WII SIMS!” And I was all “…no.” An they were all “BUT YOU LOVE THE SIMS” and I was all “…the Sims is private and I don’t want to play it on a Wii with you people!” and they were all “GET GUITAR HERO!”

And then I was all “…okay.”

But we didn’t actually GET Guitar Hero because it wasn’t part of the option bundle, which guess what, means someone’s got to go looking for it for a birthday or Father’s Day or something present.

Because I’ve already been told that the Wii is for me. For “Mother’s Day.”

Well. It beats getting a vacuum cleaner (which has happened) or some other cleaning apparatus, when all I really want is to be left to sleep in and then given breakfast in bed and let to play The Sims2 without interruption. All. Day. Long.

But not on the Wii.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

M

My character’s that is. And it’s annoying me. So, I felt compelled to write them a little letter. Here’s what I have to tell them. Maybe they’ll listen, maybe they won’t, but either way I tried–I tried to find a little peace and a little sanity for five freaking minutes.

Dear Gabe and Felicity,

I know that you want your story to be told. I get that. Really. But I’m trying to read right now! Reading helps me keep my creativity fresh and flowing. Reading gives me inspiration. So all your poking and prodding in the deepest recesses of my mind? You can stop that. Now. Let me read for a little while. Unless you want your story told in the worst possible way? While I’m feeling stressed and tired? No? I didn’t think so.

Your story will be told. I promise you. Not only because you want it told, but because I want to tell it. So, take a chill pill and let me get some inspiration and freshness from doing a little bit of reading. I will write the next scene which is Felicity’s in a little while. I promise. And then, yes Gabe, it will be your turn again. Demanding Dr. Hottie. PFFT.

Thank you both for your understanding.

Sincerely,

Marissa - The Author

Now let’s hope these demanding characters of mine give me a little breather. When an author says a story takes over their head, they mean it literally. Seriously. I opened a book and tried to read it. I got about three paragraphs and Gabe intruded. Then Felicity. Each fighting for my attentions it would seem.

The worst part of it? I’m trying to read the wonderful Cynthia Eden’s Hotter Than Midnight and I can’t even get a good lead-in.  Maybe now that I gave them the spotlight here on The Bradford Bunch, they’ll be appeased for a little while.  Though I doubt it.  LOL 

I finished Fated on Friday night and now I’ll let it sit for a week or so before I go back to edit and polish it up and then turn it in. Now I’m on to my next book for Berkley, which was called Fallen but now is in “looking at a list of new titles” land. I am sort of weird about titles, it’s really hard for me to write without knowing a title. I’m just that way.  Anyway, I got started on it and it will be my main project until I get it done, hopefully by the later part of June so I can have about a month to get crit and revise and polish.

I like to build in an extra few weeks so I can let the book sit and come back to it and also, if there’s something I need time for, if I get stuck or if I need to add something major I have the time to do it. Sometimes I have less time than other times but I’m lucky to have an agent and editors who’ve helped me set up my schedule to allow for that.

And on a totally non-writerly front:
Last night I saw that someone had done the cover to Dio’s Holy Diver.

Our little Ronnie James is not the spiffiest looking of male specimens but he’s got a great voice (and a perm!) And much like I don’t apologize for my writing of romance, I don’t apologize for my intense love of Dio.

So the band is Killswitch Engage (not necessarily a bad name and thank god not a single hot ironed emo boy in the vicinity - sorry Megan)

I like the “homage” to the original but if you notice, the mixing is all wonked up because this dude is all guitar effects and his voice isn’t RJD. And while I do admit I love the screaming stuff, weirdo that I am, it’s cheating on this song. Dio doesn’t need good looks or decent hair or a distortion box and screaming - because he can sing. I do dig the bald lead singer thing though - I just wish they’d ease back on having the instruments so overpowering you can barely hear his voice.

This rant brought to you by the number - I am too old. Also by pull your damned pants up, are you going to wear that and back in my day…