Chatting at Ellora's Cave's Readers Loop Today!

Stop by for some fun and prizes! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ellorascavechat/

Well, I'm a little out of touch!

I haven't posted in over two weeks! Things have been hectic lately. Have some good news to report! I sold another short story to Black Lace. IN HEAT will be in the SEXY LITTLE NUMBERS anthology due out in August! Woo hoo!

Mini-Blurbage: Miriam's new neighbor, George, is beyond hot. Just watching him sets Miriam’s libido on high. Unfortunately, because of George’s hate/hate relationship with her cat, Miriam doubts she’ll ever get the chance to check out the promise of George’s hard body. When her cat ends up stuck on George’s balcony, Miriam’s rescue plans goes awry. Her punishment leads to a delicious ménage as Miriam gives into the heat of her passions.

I also finished edits for book four in the Eternity series at Ellora's Cave. The release date for FIGHTING FOR ETERNITY is June 3rd! Another woo hoo! *cackle*

More blurbage: Searching for a murderous rogue vampire, Watcher Estefan Garza’s life is turned upside down by tragic loss and a surprise from his past. His bone-chilling loss is warmed by fires of passion reignited by vampire Karl Brandt.

On a quest to destroy a former friend, Karl is startled by Estefan and his mysterious companions. Karl can’t understand why Estefan hasn’t aged in seventy years. Unwilling to let him leave until Karl discovers the truth, he offers Estefan and his friends refuge and assistance for their common mission.

As a bloody battle for Memphis ensues, Karl and Estefan bond between danger and destruction until all that remains separating them is a fight for eternity.

Note: While a stand-alone, it is recommended the novels be read in order for maximum reading pleasure.

I had a wonderful time at the Northern Louisiana RWA Chapter's conference last weekend. Roomed with my galpals Myla Jackson and Delilah Devlin, which is always a blast. I met with a couple of agents who are interested in the scifi book. I need to finish it first as they want to see a full manuscript. I'm a few chapters in on it. I wanted it closer to completion before the conference but life didn't want to work out that way!

When I returned home, I found a request for a three chapter partial from another publisher for a different erotic romance project. So I've been a busy little bee getting the chapters ready to mail!

I'm going crazy but it's a good crazy! Between the scifi, the partial and another gay romance almost done, I've got plenty to work on. Just not enough hours in the day to do it! But I'm not complaining! I'm loving every minute of it!

Yummy!

I just received my cover for my April release at Ellora's Cave! Looks a little similar to A Helping Hand because it is a kind of sequel. Jeremy in A Helping Hand ended up the third wheel and alone. Now he finds comfort and more in the arms of another neglected secondary character--David from Hidden Force!

Hidden Hands
Coming to Ellora's Cave on April 3rd!

Detective Jeremy Lawson doesn't expect anything from his one night stand except sex. What he gets is a shooting, a mystery plus some of the best sex he's had in a long time. Somewhere along the way, he also finds some tenderness for a lost soul in need of rescuing.

David March has let his troubled past blind him to any kind of happy future. But when a one night stand turns out to be a cop in shining armor, David begins to think differently about his life. As in, he wants one. But to have one, he has to stay alive.

Note: For maximum reader enjoyment, we suggest reading Hidden Force (David) and A Helping Hand (Jeremy) where our two heros were secondary characters.

Click Here for Excerpt

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Blogging at Liquid Silver today!

Stop by and tell me your winter wonders and woes at the SEx Blog! http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/blog/?p=1719

New Release Tomorrow!

Positive Possibilities
Ellora's Cave

Chicago attorney Gabe Layton’s life has just turned upside down. His lover of six years is cheating and his supposedly straight best friend of twenty-something years claims to be in love with him. Throw that his cheating ex has possibly exposed him to HIV, Gabe’s world is a confusing place.

Paramedic Dean Bannon has always been attracted to both sexes but after seeing his lifelong friend Gabe deal with prejudice and hate, staying on the straight and narrow seemed an easier path. But his deepening feelings for Gabe push him to reveal his hidden side. Now to convince Gabe of the positive possibilities of taking their friendship to another level.

A Quick Update!

Seems I haven't posted in a while. AGAIN! I don't know how I get so far behind. I try to read blogs every day but I can't seem to write my own! LOL

So, this week went by in a flash and a half! The weather was a biyotch for part of the week. We had ice on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday afternoon started warming. Today, I think we hit 70 degrees. Arkansas weather is a total pain.

This week I worked on a query and synopsis for Harlequin Blaze. I mailed it Saturday. *crosses fingers* I've been rejected by Harlequin twice already--once by Romantic Suspense and once by Spice. Let's see if third time's a charm!

Today, I've concentrated on a concept, world building and synopsis for a scifi series. This series will not be erotic, nor gay. Not to say there won't be sex scenes or gay characters. Scifi has always more explicit sex than mainstream novels. Plus gay characters aren't unusual in scifi. But I want to do something with more mainstream appeal. I probably won't use my Shayla name but I don't think I'll be keeping the new name a secret.

The big plan is to polish this sucker to death then work on getting an agent. We'll see. I have an appointment with an agent at a conference the first weekend in March. By then I want the premise (blurb), synopsis and about 25k words of book one done. Plus, I'd like a premise for at least book two and three. In my head, I have ideas for the second book. Just need to think that one through so I can come up with book three. The characters in book one will probably show up in book three. I also need a snazzy name for the series. So confused! LOL And I've left myself very little time for all of it.

Of course, if I wasn't committed to working for the old day job all this week, I'd have a better chance of getting everything done. Plus I'll be working odd days through February because the audit starts this month.

I'll just have to work harder to get everything done. I have a rough premise and I'm about two chapters into the synopsis now. I plan to do a complete detailed synopsis--nothing I'd send to an editor or agent--like a map of the book for me. Hopefully, I can finish the synopsis this week at night. Writing a synopsis is a lot of "telling" words. Writing the actual book needs "showing" words. Much harder to come up with. Plus I don't need to worry about all the details. If I can finish the synopsis, I can start the book next week when I don't have the day job to deal with.

Oh, and I had a new sale! Ellora's Cave offered for the fourth book in my Eternity series, Fighting for Eternity! We haven't started editing yet so I don't have a release date or anything. Here's the blurb (also unedited):

Searching for a murderous rogue vampire, Watcher Estefan Garza’s life is turned upside down by tragic loss and a surprise from his past. His bone chilling loss is warmed by fires of passion reignited by vampire Karl Brandt.

On a quest to destroy a former friend, Karl is startled by Estefan and his mysterious companions. Karl can’t understand why Estefan hasn’t aged in seventy years. Unwilling to let him leave until Karl discovers the truth, he offers Estefan and his friends refuge and assistance for their common mission.

As a bloody battle for Memphis ensues, Karl and Estefan bond between danger and destruction until all that remains separating them is a fight for eternity.

So there you have it. A short summary of my life. Back to work now! I need a little more to finish the second chapter synopsis!

Revisions Are Done!

My editor requested some changes on a recent submission. I just finished the changes and shipped out the story! *le big sigh* I celebrated with a piece of chocolate cake and some yummy vanilla ice cream! Of course, now I'm freezing. *cackle*

The evil day job that won't go away (EDJTWGA) needs me for three days next week and probably five for the week after. Plus the CFO of the divisions we sold last year has contracted me for some help tomorrow. Some serious cutting into writing time. But the money will be most welcome.

My dryer died the other day. I tossed some heavy shirts and a pair of jeans in the dryer on Monday and ceased to pay attention until I noticed the dryer was silent. Didn't remember the buzzer going off but that wouldn't be unusual. I get into a story and I might not hear an explosion outside my window. So I grabbed some hangers and ran to get the clothes out before they wrinkled. (My momma says that long funny shaped table and the bookend with an eletrical cord will get rid of the wrinkles but I'm not sure I believe her.)

First sign something was wrong. The light in the dryer was out. Oh, and the clothes weren't really dry. My mind was still in my story so I kind of skimmed over the light thing and tried to turn the dryer back on. That's when I noticed how hot the top of the dryer was. Still, I checked the fuse box to make sure that wasn't the problem. It wasn't. So I wrestled the dryer out of it's tight spot and unplugged it. I think it missed the old washer. It died in the fall. Well, as soon as I get a check from somebody--anybody--I have to buy a dryer. Bummer...

Oh, and an update on my wayward cat, Princess. Remember, she found another family who evidently feeds her better? Well after passing the holidays with me--still convinced the other family was out of town--she comes home once in a while. She spent a weekend here a couple of weeks ago. But the other day was just hysterical! Because of her jaw injury, she gets wet food every day. Because I can't afford enough wet food to feed everyone, Princess was fed in the bathroom behind closed doors. She showed up out of nowhere, wasn't even crying for food, just sitting on the bathroom vanity. I petted her some then fed her. As soon as she finished, she jumped down and wanted out of the bathroom. I opened the door and she ran straight for the cat door then scampered back over to her other family's house. I tell, I felt so used! *cackle* Stupid cat.

Well, I'm going to enjoy USA channel's repeats of NCIS. Mark Harmon is such a fox with that silver hair!

Saturday Night Rocked!!

Wow! I haven't blogged in a week! Time got away from me. Can't say I'm surprised. I did a full week's stint with the old day job. My creative side curled up in the fetal position and whimpered. I don't know how I worked full time and wrote. I was brain dead every night when I got home. I couldn't even keep up with the blogs I read! I'd stare at the computer screen or the TV and not absorb anything. I have to go back to the ddj on Tuesday. Don't know about other days this week. I'm hoping Tuesday will be it.

I spent most of Saturday working on edits for HIDDEN HANDS. Finished the edits and sent them off then frantically got ready to go out. Author Shada Royce had her 30th birthday party Saturday night. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some of her friends and family. Her mother is a hoot and now I know where Shada gets her sense of humor from! *cackle*

I wasn't exactly sure where the club was since I'm not real familar with North Little Rock. I left the house with an hour and forty-five minutes to get there. Google Maps worked like a dream and I was there a half hour early. And right next door was a Books-A-Million! I LOVE that store! The one in Little Rock closed years ago. NLR is a little out of the way when there's a Barnes & Noble in west Little Rock so I never went over the river to check it out! ("Over the river"-- the Arkansas River separated LR from NLR)

With a half hour to kill, you know I headed straight for the BAM! And of course, I started out looking for MASTERS OF DESIRE! They had a nice sized stack! I asked about signing stock and the staff were so nice! One of them, Chris, came over and talked to me for a long time. He's a Little Rock firefighter who works part time at BAM. He loves talking to authors. Check out his picture from his MySpace page! Gotta love a man in uniform!

Chris took my picture with MASTERS OF DESIRE for the BAM MySpace page. (And I remembered why I hate getting my picture taken! Unless I'm grinning like an idiot, I look like I'm angry! *cackle* My smile just isn't there!) And no, I'm not posting it here. If you want to see, go look for it on Chris' sites! LOL

We were talking about authors and I mentioned Delilah Devlin. He remembered her from years ago when he was working at the Bentano's. He said she had a sister who wrote too. Yep, that would be Myla Jackson--one of the authors in the anthology MASTERS OF DESIRE!

I chatted with Delilah and Myla today and they remembered Chris! It's such a small, small world!

So while the week was nothing to write home about, my Saturday night rocked! Getting to meet Chris and sign stock, then Shada's party with her crazy clan made for a great night!

Plus, today, my creative side woke up from its catatonic state and threw the most interesting curve in my current WIP. I'm off to Google erotic asphyxiation! *cackle*

Chris friended me from both his MySpace page and the NLR BAM MySpace! Go check them out!

Masters of Desire is actually out there!

Yesterday, I went to town to get my nails done--going back to work Monday, must have nails--and check Barnes & Noble for my book. And Masters of Desire was there!! *insert crazed Snoopy dance here* See! I took a picture!

As I took the shot, a couple of kids started to walk in front of me but stopped as the flash went off. I laughed and said something like "I know, strange to take a picture of a book but it's my book!" The teenagers thought that was cool and they moved on.

Then a woman in the same aisle walked over, said she'd overheard me say that was my book and asked which one.

I pointed out Masters of Desire like a crazed proud mother.

She picked it up and read the blurbs and said she'd buy it. Since it was my book.

I managed to contain my squeal of delight--just barely--and offered to sign it for her. She said sure!

So Joanne, wherever you are, you made my day! Thank you!

MASTERS OF DESIRE now available!

MASTERS OF DESIRE
Kensington Aphrodisia

4.5 Stars from Romantic Times! These three deliciously erotic paranormal romances are about cursed characters and the lovers that free them. Packed with blazing hot sex scenes, likable characters and just enough suspense to fully engage the reader, this is one anthology that's bound to heat up any winter night.

"Pirate of Mystique Island" - Myla Jackson.

A magnificent man rises from the sea before the siren Melodie and she is enchanted in an instant. Lord Rafe Herrington is naked, his skin a shimmering blue, his muscles outlined by silvery rivulets. She longs to trace the water's path...down, down, down...and caress him tenderly. A deep spell binds him prisoner but a shattering climax can free him...

"Ghostly Legacy" - Layla Chase.

Know me. Know my body. Reidun's whispered command arouses a potent response in her Norwegian warlord. He vows to give her the utmost pleasure...until fate parts them forever. Then a modern woman hears his voice as she wanders through an ancient castle - and the warlord lives - and loves - once more...

"Keket's Curse" - Shayla Kersten.

Given as a handmaiden to the ancient temple of Goddess Hathor, Jamila's body and beauty mesmerize all men. Cursed by a jealous priestess, she can never be truly satisfied - until centuries later, still young, still beautiful, she is saved by David. His kiss explodes her bonds - and sexual ecstasy is next...