Much Gnashing of Teeth

ACK!!! Edits are the bane of my existence. The literal bane.
'Nuff said.

New Cover for Fallon's Flame

Fallon's Flame, the first of my Dawn Endeavor series, comes out next month. I love the cover! Thanks to Justin James, the artist.

Slackfest

Ack! Bad writer. Instead of doing some writing this weekend, I saw a few movies and read books.
Pandorum (scifi/horror)=B+
Tron (the original scifi flick from the 80s)=A+ watched it again, still great
The Truth About Lord Stoneville by Sabrina Jeffries=A+
Dark Slayer by Christine Feehan=B+/A-

I'm going to review The Truth About Lord Stoneville later this week. Man, Sabrina Jeffries just keeps getting better! Score another winner, and another keeper for my overcrowded bookshelf. Oh, and more on Dark Slayer this week as well.

Book Club at Hitting the Hot Spot

Today I'm blogging at Hitting the Hot Spot. Stop on by and read about my first experience with a book club. And have a great Friday!

Supernatural... It's Baaacccck

I have been waiting FOREVER to see this show again after its lengthy hiatus since Thanksgiving. Supernatural just keeps getting better. Tonight at 9pm EST, on The WB. This week, the Winchesters have to find out what's going on in an insane asylum, where the patients keep dying. Can't wait!!!

Nook vs. the eBookwise

Well, I have been the proud owner of the nook (they don't capitalize the "n") since Christmas, and I've owned my eBookwise (from the old Fictionwise) for a year and a half. The differences?

The eBookwise has a battery life of 11-13 hours, must be plugged in to download, is backlit, but is hard to read outside due to contrast problems. You can organize your folders and files via the library software ($14.95) on your computer. It also takes A LOT of formats: .rb, .txt, .doc, .html, and .rtf. It costs $89.95 and can hold a 64 MB internal memory card.

The nook is aesthetically pleasing, has a supposed battery life of 2 weeks if you don't use it much, but actually lasts about 2 days if you read constantly, has a color, touchscreen at the bottom, and is wifi for download purposes. You can plug it in , but then you have to drag and drop books to a general folder with no current way to organize. In other words, you can move your all 250 of your books into ONE folder. Ack. It also has eInk technology that looks just like bookpages. Nice to read. Can take PDF, PDB, and EPUB formats. It plays MP3 and displays JPG graphics. The nook is $259 and has 2G of memory that can be expanded with a memory card.

So what do I, a rabid booklover, think? I think the nook will be stellar once they work all the bugs out of it. I love the eInk tech and the look and feel of it. I love being able to wirelessly download. But I love my eBookwise because I can put my own writing on it, organize it, and read at night without waking up my husband. It's a lot cheaper and easier to use, in my opinion. When I got my nook at Christmas, I couldn't download anything for two days because the B&N servers couldn't handle the massive transactions from unhappy owners. The problem has since been fixed, and it's very nice. But I'm spoiled by the automatic page turn on my eBookwise, whereas the nook has a slight delay. But you know, both are great devices in their own ways.

When I go to the Desert Dreams conference in April, I'll take my nook full of books, and now that I have a book light, I can read in the dark. I'll keep the eBookwise at home close to my computer. A great device, but better for my personal writing stuff than the nook.

New Releases & MLK Jr. Day

Two new releases today from Total E-Bound. Engaging Gren, a futuristic romance, comes out in ebook. Over the Moon, in which my story, Enemy Red, resides, releases in print. The electronic version released in Nov of 2009. Click on the covers to take a look at each book.

And take a moment to reflect on the contributions Martin Luther King, Jr. did for us and our country, as the U.S. celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Ebook Sale

Meant to post this yesterday. I like books. I like to buy books. And I like sales. So all that equals= there's a sale ongoing at Total E-Bound. As a reader, I'm bound by the rules of good reading karma to pass on good deals. And no, none of my books are on sale, and I'm not getting one red cent for sharing, except to maybe turn you on to a good author. Who knows?

Anyhow, check out Total E-Bound's sale. Select books are 20-60% off. (If you're Stateside, make sure your currency selector is set to USD.) Enjoy, I'm off to bed!

And the winner is...

Katie Dupuie! Congrats on winning a print copy of Circe's Recruits. Thanks to all who participated, and look for next month's contest in the February newsletter.

The Late Night Wars, My Take

I just had to share this video clip. It's too funny.

As someone who doesn't watch late night television but enjoys enough TV to be considered a media fan, NBC's actions strike me as beyond stupid. They gave O'Brien a ton of dough (in the contract) and promised him the gig, which should have meant Leno's passing. Instead, they give Leno a ten o'clock spot, hurting O'Brien with a poor lead-in, then decide to bump off O'Brien and move the Tonight Show to... tomorrow? (And the ten o'clock Leno show bombed. Wrong format, wrong time, unfunny host.) I don't watch Conan either, but you know, after NBC screwed over its own guy, I'm going to follow Conan now. And I definitely won't watch NBC's new "Tonight Show."

Ack. My two cents. For more information, check out this post, written by Ryan Tate. It's got a great quote from Conan.

Don't Forget!!

My newsletter contest ends tomorrow! If you'd like to win a print copy of Circe's Recruits, containing Roane and Zack & Ace, enter fast. The contest ends tomorrow night.

For details, click here.

A Great Contest for EroRom Authors

If you've ever thought about publishing that erotic romance sitting in the back of your closet, the one you wrote a year ago but were too afraid to let anyone see it, dust it off and bring it out. The Stroke of Midnight contest is back! Some contests can confuse the hell out of you with unclear rules, wacko judging, and uneven scoring. But the Passionate Ink's contests have helped a lot of people find publishers and continue their writing.

Here's information on the contest. I've judged it for a few years, so I know what I'm talking about.

Passionate Ink's Fifth Annual STROKE OF MIDNIGHT CONTEST

Deadline: Deadline: FEBRUARY 5, 2010

**Remember The Stroke of Midnight is a contest for unpublished erotic romance manuscripts. BOTH PUBLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED AUTHORS MAY ENTER. However, if published, this must be a new genre for the author (For example, if the author has published in paranormal erotic romance, she can enter in one of the other categories) **

Five Sizzling Finalists in Five Categories:

Contemporary - novels with erotic elements that focus on the developing romantic relationship in a contemporary setting. Includes series and single-title length romances. Can also include elements of romantic suspense/intrigue.

Historical - novels with erotic elements that focus on the developing romantic relationship in a historical setting.

Futuristic/Fantasy/Sci-fi - novels with erotic elements that focus on the developing romantic relationship in any setting in the future, an alternate world/reality, or another planet. Includes elements such as elves/faerie, sword and sorcery, aliens, etc.

Paranormal/Time Travel - novels with erotic elements that focus on the developing romantic relationship in any setting that includes elements of time travel, angels, vampires, werewolves or other paranormal themes.

Novellas - novellas of 25,000 words or less with erotic elements that focus on the developing romantic relationship in any setting.

1. All novels entered must be at least 25,000 words in length. Novellas are considered 10,000 to 25,000 words.

2. All categories are open to alternative lifestyle entries–and any entry that reflects an erotic romance between two or more people, straight, gay, bi, or any romantic combination.

Judging and Prizes:

First Round : Preliminary-round judging will be completed by three qualified judges - Passionate Ink and other RWA members experienced in critiquing and/or published authors familiar with our genre. All scores will be added and averaged to determine the entrant’s ranking. Every attempt will be made to provide entrants with detailed score sheets and judges’ comments from this preliminary round. Top five entries in each category will move to final round.

Final Round : The top five finalists in each category will be ranked by the following industry professionals:

Contemporary: Susan Swinwood – Harlequin Spice

Historical: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency

Futuristic/Fantasy/Sci-fi: Kelli Collins – Ellora’s Cave

Paranormal/Time Travel: Chris Keesler – Dorchester Publishing

Novella: Theresa Stevens – Red Sage Publishing

First place winners in each category will receive a free one year membership in Passionate Ink ($25 value), a certificate, and an award graphic for their website. (Writing teams will split the membership.) All other finalists will receive certificates and and a finalist graphic for their website. All entries will be returned after finalists are determined and statistical information is complete. Winners will be announced at the Passionate Ink gathering at the Romance Writers’ of America National Conference in Nashville, TN. Results will be listed in Passionate Ink’s newsletter, on the website, as well as have their names published in the ROMANCE WRITER’S REPORT.

For rules and submission requirements, click here. And note, the Passionate Plume contest is for published works, the Stroke of Midnight is for unpublished works. Good luck!

A New Year, a New List

I think I'm going to keep a list of books I've read this year. I've never done it before, but I thought, why not? And so far in January 2010, I've read a bunch. sigh. Wish I was writing as much.

As of January 11th, 2010, my current list:
Born of Night--Sherrilyn Kenyon
Born of Sin--SK
Born of Ice--SK
Street Game--Christine Feehan
White Witch, Black Curse--Kim Harrison
Blood Sins--Kay Hooper
Deep Kiss of Winter--Gena Showalter& Kresley Cole
Fired Up--Jayne Ann Krentz

Yeah, I have an addiction. A bunch of those were Christmas presents. But don't get me started on the ebooks I've purchased that are sitting on my nook and e-reader waiting to be read. Now, back to my current work in progress. Chow!

January Newletter

January's Newsletter is here! I'm trying a new format. The newsletter is posted on my website. But to read the adult content excerpt, you have to belong to my Yahoo group. Check out the new contest as well. If you'd like to win a print copy of Circe's Recruits, containing Roane and Zack & Ace, defintely check it out. And that's for everyone, in the continental USA or otherwise. :) Happy reading.

Update

Good and bad news. Bad news first. I didn't work on Hayashi's Hero today, as I had planned. Good news: I finished a manuscript I'd intended to revise, and ended up rewriting. Ech. So one down, one to go. I'm on deadline to finish Hayashi's Hero by end of Jan...and counting.

Working on the Newsletter

I'm working on my newsletter. The content is done, but I wanted to make the newsletter's style more like my website and blog. Low and behold, I screwed something up. Sigh. So I'm trying to fix it in between writing projects.

I've also got a new contest ready to roll out. I received my author copy of Circe's Recruits, containing Roane and Zack & Ace, and it's beautiful!!! That's going to be the prize. More on that later.

The kids are FINALLY back in school and I'm set on work. Time to wrap up a project I've been working on. Then tomorrow I get right back into Hayashi's Hero.

Happy Mon--er, Tuesday.

I'm feeling OLD...

Can you believe it's already MMX? That's two thousand and ten, as the Romans count. Here's to all of our resolutions and wishes to start anew.

I'll share with you mine:
1. Lose the weight!
2. Be more patient with the kids and husband
3. Write, write, write

Happy New Year!