Home

Back

  • Jul. 2nd, 2009 at 7:07 PM

Got back late Tuesday night from NC. It was a sort of working vacation, in that I had about 1-2 of business each day to take care of, but it was the closest thing to a real vacation that I've had in years. Here are some things I learned while away:
 
1. It's not that I don't like to be outside. I just don't like to be outside in Florida.
 
I went to the mountains in North Carolina, where mornings were in the low sixties and afternoon highs were in the upper seventies. Aside from the lack of blistering heat that I'm accustomed to dealing with as a South Floridian, the sun's rays in NC also didn't feel as laser-ish against my skin as they do here. I was outside for hours every day and loving it. People who know me, know how unusual that statement is.
 
2. I really want to move to the mountains in North Carolina.
 
Yes, I've been saying this for years, but I'm serious this time. I've been there twice in the winter, twice in the summer, and once in the fall, and each time, I love it a little more. My husband, for whom this was his second trip, loves it, too. Even my dog seems to prefer it to Florida. All I need is for the housing market to get out of the toilet (big dream, I know) and I can finally shake the Florida sand from my feet to head north.
 
3. There's lazy, and then there's just damn nasty.
 
While driving, my husband and I were listening to a local radio show where people were encouraged to call in and describe the laziest thing they've ever done. Now, I am all about being lazy, don't get me wrong, but some of these callers had my eyes popping out of my head. The woman who "won" did so on the basis of her story of how she'd gone the entire weekend while wearing the same outfit. The exact same outfit, down to the same pair of panties. No showering, no brushing her teeth, and no changing her underwear. Why? She didn't feel like it. And she laughed about how it was a nice weekend spent on her couch watching TV.
 
Folks, I've had lazy weekends on the couch watching TV. I like them just as much as the next sedentary person, but you can bet I didn't neglect basic hygiene. In summary, I hope that woman was single, and I'm glad I never had to smell her.
 
4. Some things should not be done for any price.
 
While I was watching TV up there, something like "wackiest videos" came on (can't remember the exact title). Anyway, it showed a clip of a game show where the contestants, lined up in open stalls where everything but their laps were visible, had to compete against each other to see who could take a dump first. No, you didn't read that wrong. They were all on special toilets that were rigged to flash a light above the contestant's head to showcase the first person who did a number two. This horrified me even more than Lazy Stinky Woman on the radio. I may never recover from seeing that.
 
5. "You can't miss it", when spoken by a local, actually translates into "let's have fun with the tourists!"

For every time someone gave us directions with a  "you can't miss it" description of a landmark, we were guaranteed to get lost. And our GPS system didn't work in most areas of the mountains up there. Neither did our cell phones. Luckily, as I am sitting here typing this, we didn't get so lost that we couldn't find our way back.
 
6. When you set up a river trip and the guide says the location where he will pick you up and drive you back to your car doesn't require a map because "you can't miss it", see item number five!

Don't fall for it again, idiot! Or, you might find yourself dragging a canoe a quarter mile up river, against the current, cursing and tripping over river rocks while your out-of-shape legs are screaming in pain, back to the area where you last saw some locals so you can borrow their cell phone to call the guide and say that obviously you can miss the pick up spot!

7. Avoid queen-sized, firm mattresses.
 
My husband and I have always had a king-sized bed. Usually, a soft one, too. The bed in the cabin we rented was a queen, and it was so hard I swear I have bruises more firm than I am used to. Combine that with my tendency to stretch out my limbs like a crab when tired, all while my husband kept jockeying for his own space, and we didn't get a lot of sleep (not in the good way, either ;).
 
8. I love the NC mountains, but I'm glad to be home.
 
Hey, my big, soft bed is here. And I can drive around without getting hopelessly lost. It might be sweltering hot here, and capable of giving me a sunburn just by walking to the mailbox, but I have those two things to comfort me while I wait, and hope, that the real estate market recovers.
 
Now, to get caught up on my inbox. It's amazing how things can pile up, even after just five days.
 
**ETA**

[info]calico_reaction  is running a contest on her blog giving away books in Carrie Vaughn's series, Melissa Marr's series, and Your Truly's series. If you're interested in how to enter to win, go HERE for details.


DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE book trailer

  • Jun. 26th, 2009 at 2:34 PM

This will be a short post because I'm supposed to be on vacation, but I couldn't resist showing the book trailer for my fourth novel. This is the first trailer I've done, and the process of working with the production company to pick out the pictures, music, script, etc., was really interesting. I must say, I'm very pleased with how the trailer came out, and I'll probably do one for my next book, too.

So, without further rambling, here is the trailer for DESTINED FOR AN EALY GRAVE, book four in the Night Huntress series. It does have sound, so if you're browsing at work and don't want to get caught, click your volume off :-). Otherwise, hope you enjoy! If you want to enlarge the trailer video, click the second to last button from the right on the very botton (under the word You in YouTube).

Good news and thoughts about good news

  • Jun. 22nd, 2009 at 1:24 PM

In the past two weeks, some friends of mine have had nice things happen. Yasmine Galenorn's new book, DEMON MISTRESS, debuted at #16 on the New York Times. Yasmine's other novels have been consistently hitting the USA Today and the extended NYT, but this was her first time hitting the printed NYT list. Congrats again, Yasmine!

 

Melissa Marr's first foray into the adult market was just announced. Because I am lazy, I'm copying the notice from Publishers Weekly: "YA author Melissa Marr has closed her first adult deal with her longtime publisher, HarperCollins. Merrilee Heifetz of Writers House brokered the deal for two books for mid-to-high six figures. Jennifer Brehl at HC took North American rights. Heifetz described the first book, Graveminder, as “Six Feet Under laced with ancient Irish evil and a dash of Faulkner”; the second book is currently untitled." I’m so excited for this book to come out.   

 

Rachel Vincent is celebrating her latest release, PREY, by holding a contest giving away a new Kindle (side note: wow! That's a big prize!) Details are here.
 

And I just found out that my books have sold foreign rights in Hungary and Russia. Native-Russian speaker and my friend, Ilona Andrews, assures me that she will let me know how Chapter 32 translates into her mother tongue, lol.

 

Recently, author Maggie Stiefvater did a post talking about self-confidence and optimism as an author. My favorite part from her post had to be "Success in the book world is not like cheese dip, where one person will get the last dip and then it’s gone. It’s more like pinkeye. The more people who get it, the more there is for everyone else." I totally agree with that. Aside from the obvious fact that when more people read, it's more people reading (and reading engages the imagination in ways that can be almost magical, IMO), there's also a practical side. Whether it's my books or someone else's, the more people read, the better the publishing industry does, which means a better chance of more books being produced. So one author's success is something every author can be happy about.

 

Knowing this, I'd love to say that I've never been bitten by the Envy Bug, but on occasion, I'll wish for bigger success, better book deals, having multiple popular series', book tours, turning my husband into my full-time naughty Cabana boy...you know. The usual ;-). Then, I slap myself out of it by remembering all the amazing things that have happened in my career. Someone (many someone's, in fact) will always have more, so comparing myself to others is the biggest waste of time I could indulge in. I still have dreams - without dreams, life is stagnant, IMHO - but I am happy with my writing career just as it is. I think Maggie's post was a great reminder that no matter where are you, try to be happy about it. Still strive for more, sure, but as a goal toward making yourself the best you can be, not as a measuring stick of why others have more than you do. There will never be enough "more" for anybody, and he/she who dies with the most is still dead anyway ;-) 
 

Is it "bragging" to talk about good news? I think that answer will vary depending on who you ask, since diversity of opinions is what makes us individuals instead of having a hive mentality. When good things come my way, it makes me happy (if it didn’t, that's like daring fate to never throw a good thing my way again, in my opinion). When I’m happy about something, I usually want to share it. When something good happens to my friends/friendly acquaintances, I’m happy about that, too. Therefore, on my blog, I'll continue to post good news when I or my friends have it. I’ll try not to overkill it, but good news cheers me up, and I hope seeing good news cheers up most of my blog readers, too.

 

This doesn't mean being an author is all champagne and roses. I think everyone already knows it isn't, and there are days when I moan, groan, and bitch about my job like everybody else. I just try not to use my blog to post those moans, groans, and bitches unless they have an informative aspect. Take my money post last year, for example. 
 

When I wrote that post, I was in a very tight spot financially. Like, had to borrow money against my house to pay my bills tight, all because I'd planned my budget on what I assumed I'd make in royalties, not what I had contractually guaranteed. Big. Newbie. Mistake. But instead of a post talking about how broke I was, or about finding out that my "reserves against returns" ratio would send me crawling back to my old day job on my knees, I thought I'd do one about some realistic breakdowns of money in publishing. That way, maybe another newbie author or aspiring writer wouldn't make the same mistake I did. That's constructive bitching, in my opinion :). Nonconstructive bitching I’ll try to limit to my friends and family. They have to deal with me, but I figure my blog readers have enough of their own drama and stress without hearing all about mine.

 

So that's my philosophy on blogging, and now, I have to get moving on my copyedits for FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON. Hope everyone is having as good of a Monday as possible - and hey, if something good happened to you/a friend recently, why don't you tell me about it? Maybe a Good News Monday will help speed the week along.  

Contest Eight winners, contest recap

  • Jun. 20th, 2009 at 10:14 AM

As you know, the contest for ARC's of DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE closed at midnight last night (or at one minute to midnight, if you want to be very technical :). There were 767 entries, and let me just say, wow. What a response! I read every entry and I so appreciate the notes people included. Couldn't reply to everyone for obvious reasons, but here's a very sincere thanks for all the happy birthday's, sweet comments, and general well-wishes. You guys rock! I wish I had four hundred ARC's to give away instead of four.

But since I do only have four ARC's to give away in this contest, let's get right to the winners. Randomizer was consulted and this is what it said:

 

Research Randomizer Results

1 Set of 4 Unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 767 -- Unsorted
 

Job Status:

     
Set #1:

<input ... > 116, 290, 588, 17




Contest entries 116, 290, 588, and 17 were  Brittany Hyde, Phyllis Jackson, Stacey Marin, and  evchild124 (email name) . Congrats! I've sent each of you an email, so please reply with your shipping address and I will send you an advance reading copy of DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE. Hope you enjoy it!

Contest Eight was the last of the birthday celebration contests, but toward the end of July/beginning of August, I'll be holding other giveaways to celebrate the book's release. And in about a week, I'll be posting the book trailer that I had made for DFAEG. It's my first book trailer and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I may have to do another trailer for my next book just because I love seeing a mini-video applied to my stories.

Thanks again so much to everyone who entered the birthday bash contests! It was an amazing turnout, with almost two thousand entries spread out over the eight contests. To recap, total prizes given out were one music CD, twenty coverflats, nine published novels, and ten ARC's. I hope that even if you didn't win, you still had a little fun participating in the contests. I know I had fun hosting them.
 
And a Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there! I may be biased *wink* but I have the best dad ever, so I hope he has a great day tomorrow.
 

Contest Eight

  • Jun. 13th, 2009 at 4:37 PM

This is the last of the birthday contests. Whew! It's been a busy couple weeks, hasn't it? Up for grabs in this contest are ARC's of DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE, book four in the Night Huntress series. I have four ARC's, so there will be four winners. From the back of the book:
 
"Since half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her undead lover Bones met six years ago, they've fought against the rogue undead, battled a vengeful Master vampire, and pledged their devotion with a blood bond. Now it's time for a vacation. But their hopes for a perfect Paris holiday are dashed when Cat awakes one night in terror. She's having visions of a vampire named Gregor who's more powerful than Bones and has ties to her past that even Cat herself didn't know about. 
 
Gregor believes Cat is his and he won't stop until he has her. As the battle begins between the vamp who haunts her nightmares and the one who holds her heart, only Cat can break Gregor's hold over her. She'll need all the power she can summon in order to bring down the baddest bloodsucker she's ever faced . . . even if getting that power will result in an early grave."
 
Rules of the contest: email me at frostlight1 AT yahoo DOT com with the subject line of Contest Eight. Contest starts now and ends Friday night, the 19th, at 11:59 pm EDT. That's almost a week, so it should give people plenty of time to enter. ***Only one entry per person please***  :)
 
Good luck!
 

Contest Seven winners

  • Jun. 13th, 2009 at 8:50 AM

I knew with the lineup in this antho, there would be a lot on entries. There were. 372, to be exact. This means that once again, over 99% of you will not squee at the results, but three people will be walking away with an ARC of UNBOUND. And again, once the book releases and I get my author copies, I'll be able to give away more books. It sucks that quantities dictate the entries will always far exceed the winners, yet I hope those of you who didn't win still had a little fun with the contest.  

And now, the winners. Randomizer was consulted and this is what it said:
 
 

Research Randomizer Results

1 Set of 3 Unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 372 -- Unsorted
 

Job Status:

     
Set #1:

<input ... > 223, 138, 347


Entries # 223, 138, and 347 were Zhye Goatt, Lorri Malone, and Julia Sutch. Congrats! I've emailed all the winners, so please reply with your shipping address.

Later today in a separate blog post, I'll be announcing the final of the birthday contests, Contest Eight. The prize will be four ARC's of DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE.

Contest Seven

  • Jun. 10th, 2009 at 9:03 PM

If you read my previous post, you know what the prize is, but I'll recap: this contest features three ARC's (advance reading copies) of UNBOUND, a dark fantasy anthology releasing August 25th.



Publishers description:
 
"Kim Harrison reveals a hidden adventure, as Jenks and Bis investigate a strange haunting...and find far more than they ever expected. Melissa Marr delivers her first adult story, featuring a young woman struggling to escape the supernatural fate of her family. Jeaniene Frost goes to New Orleans, where Bones must face down a ruthless pair of serial killers, while Vicki Pettersson returns to Sin City and the war between Light and Shadow, and one man's fight for his soul. Jocelynn Drake's tale is set in Savannah, where a strange murder calls the balance between human and nightwalker into question."
 
My contribution to the anthology is Reckoning, a prequel written entirely in Bones's point of view. Let me stress that "prequel" means Cat isn't in this. The story is set about three or four months before Bones first meets Cat. Since this is a dark fantasy anthology, Night Huntress readers shouldn't expect to see Bones at his most romantic, either. Actually, in this story, Bones is at his most badass. I wrote much of Reckoning while listening to Sweet Dreams by Marilyn Manson on repeat. Get the picture? ;-)
 
Rules of the contest should be pretty familiar by now: email me at frostlight1 AT yahoo DOT com with the subject line of Contest Seven. Contest starts now and ends Friday night, the 12th, at 11:59 pm EDT. Considering the other authors in this antho, I'm expecting a lot of entries, though there will only be three winners. Hey, that's all the ARC's my publisher gave me. Winners will be announced Saturday the 13th, which is also when the final contest will be announced.
 
Good luck!
 

Contest Six winners!

  • Jun. 10th, 2009 at 1:38 PM

Um, WOW. Contest six was only open from 3pm to midnight yesterday, and there were 194 entries. You guys are like me - you love free books! I read every emailed entry, and all the "I hope I win, but I never win anything" comments make me so sad. I wish I had more books to give away, but since I was only sent two ARC's from my publisher, two are all I can offer for this contest. Wait until I get my author copies, though. I'll be able to have a LOT more winners in contests then.

Well, once again, Randomizer was consulted and this is what it said...



Research Randomizer Results

1 Set of 2 Unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 194 -- Unsorted
 

Job Status:

     
Set #1:

<input ... > 107, 45




#'s 107 and 45 were Kara Hillman and kjway (part of email address). Congrats! I sent out emails to the winners already, so please reply with your shipping address and I will send you FOUR DUKES AND A DEVIL.

Contest Seven, the second to last of the Birthday Bash contests, will be announced later today, so check back! I think you'll like the prize. Here's a hint :).



Contest Six

  • Jun. 9th, 2009 at 3:03 PM

We're winding down to the final three contests. They will all be for ARC's (Advance Reading Copy) of books not yet on the shelves. Because these books aren't out yet, I'll give descriptions.

First up as the prize are two copies of FOUR DUKES AND A DEVIL, a romance anthology releasing June 30th. It should surprise no one that I wrote the "devil" contribution in this antho instead of a Duke story ;-). From the book summary.

"Fall in love with the unpredictable and irresistible dukes (and one dog named Duke) of Four Dukes and a Devil. Join New York Times bestselling authors Cathy Maxwell, Jeaniene Frost, and Tracy Anne Warren, along with USA Today bestselling author Elaine Fox and RITA® Award winner Sophia Nash, for tales of noble danger and devilish desire."

I've referred to my story in this anthology as the dark splash in a pretty pond, since it's written in my usual style as far as action, violence, and romance. It's called "Devil To Pay" and is set in the Night Huntress world featuring a new heroine/hero. Some familiar characters will also pop up in supporting roles (Cat, Bones, and Mencheres).  

Tthere will be two winners for Contest 6, and it will have a short entry deadline (gotta get those other two contests in by the 13th as promised! :). How to enter: email me at frostlight1 AT yahoo DOT com with "Contest 6" in the subject line. Winners will be chosen by randomizer. Contest starts now and ends TONIGHT (June 9th) at 11:59 pm EDT. Contest is open to US residents and all international readers.

Good luck!
 

Contest Five winners!

  • Jun. 9th, 2009 at 11:46 AM

Okay, so I thought limiting the time frame for entry to just over 24 hours would mean I'd get a good winners-to-entries ratio. Um, no. There were 177 entries for Contest Five, which once again, means that over 95% of you will say "I never win anything in your contests, Jeaniene!" Well, all I can is say is sorry, but there are three more contests this month alone, and more coming in later July/early August. So a change of luck could be headed your way! 

And now, the winners. Randomizer was again consulted and this is what it said:

 

Research Randomizer Results

1 Set of 5 Unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 177 -- Unsorted
 

Job Status:

     
Set #1:

<input ... > 53, 81, 104, 42, 58



Entries #53, 81, 104, 42, 58 were  Kristie Forester, Rachel Connell, Bloome You, Sara Cummins, and  Trish T. Congrats! I've emailed all the winners (all five winning notifications sent within a total of three minutes, so no one had an unfair advantage :), and as stated in the original contest post, the faster each winner replies means the better chance they have at picking which of the five books to will receive. But again, I really enjoyed all the books, so it's a win either way.

And since - wow - it's already June 9th (this month is flying by!) I'll be announcing Contest Six later today in a different post. Head's up: there will be short entry windows from now on. June 13th, the wrap up date of the Jeaniene's Getting Old! birthday contests, is coming up fast :).

Meme

  • Jun. 8th, 2009 at 6:53 PM

It's been forever since I've done a meme, right? Saw this on falkie’s journal and it looked fun. Feel free to tag yourself if you want to play along. I will add that Rule #2 is SO HARD to follow. For some of these “yes” answers, there are really good reasons why, I swear! So if you see one of the "yes" replies and your eyes bug out, I’ll be glad to explain in the comments if asked about it :).

                The Rules:

 

1.       You can ONLY answer 'Yes' or 'No'.

2.       2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone comments you and asks—and, believe me, the temptation to explain some of these will be overwhelming. Nothing is exactly as it seems.

 



Kissed any one of your LiveJournal friends? — yes
Been arrested? — no
Kissed someone you didn't like? — yes
Slept in until 5 PM? — no
Fallen asleep at work/school? — yes
Held a snake? — yes
Ran a red light? — yes
Been suspended from school? — no
Experienced love at first sight? — no
Totaled your car in an accident? — no
Been fired from a job? — yes
Fired somebody? — yes
Sung karaoke? — no
Pointed a gun at someone? — yes
Did something you told yourself you wouldn't? — yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? — yes
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? — yes
Kissed in the rain? — yes
Had a close brush with death (your own)? — no
Saw someone die? — yes
Played Spin-the-Bottle? — no
Smoked a cigar? — no
Sat on a rooftop? — yes
Smuggled something into another country? — no
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? — yes
Broken a bone? — no
Skipped school? — yes
Eaten a bug? — no
Sleepwalked? — no
Walked on a moonlit beach? — yes
Ridden a motorcycle? — no
Dumped someone? — yes
Forgotten your anniversary? — no
Lied to avoid a ticket? — no
Ridden in a helicopter? — yes
Shaved your head? — no
Blacked out from drinking? — no
Played a prank on someone? — yes
Hit a home run? — no
Felt like killing someone? — yes
Cross-dressed? — no
Been falling-down drunk? — yes
Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? — yes
Eaten snake? — no
Marched/Protested? — yes
Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? — no
Puked on an amusement ride? — no
Seriously & intentionally boycotted something? — yes
Knitted? — yes
Been on TV? — yes
Shot a gun? — yes
Skinny-dipped? — yes
Given someone stitches? — no
Eaten a whole habenero pepper? — yes
Ridden a surfboard? — no
Drunk straight from a liquor bottle? — yes
Had surgery? — yes
Streaked? — no
Been taken by ambulance to a hospital? — no
Tripped on mushrooms? — no
Passed out when NOT drinking? — yes
Peed on a bush? — yes
Donated Blood? — no
Grabbed electric fence? — no
Eaten alligator meat? -- yes
Eaten cheesecake? — yes
Killed an animal when not hunting? — yes
Peed your pants in public? — yes
Snuck into a movie without paying? -- no
Written graffiti? — no
Still love someone you shouldn't? — no
Think about the future? — yes
Been in handcuffs? — no
Believe in love? — yes
Sleep on a certain side of the bed? — yes


Contest Five (also known as, "I'm Forgetful")

  • Jun. 7th, 2009 at 6:28 PM

I do about half my book shopping through Amazon, and I'm a forgetful person. These two points will become relevant by the end of this paragraph. If I see an upcoming book by an auto-buy author for me, I'll frequently preorder it on Amazon. And then with my attention-span-of-a-gnat memory, I'll probably forget about it. Then lets say a few months go by and while I'm browsing in my local book store, I'll see a book by that "auto-buy" author on the New Release shelves. Will I remember that I've preordered it? Heh. At least five times, I haven't, and I've snatched the book up in a blur...only to have that same book arrive at my house a few days later, shipped by Amazon from my preorder. Ah, yes. i r smart.
 
I'm now better about checking my Amazon order history to remind myself of what I have on preorder, but my prior stupidity is to your benefit! Contest Number five consists of books that I have two copies of from my Amazon preorder/also-bought-in-a-bookstore forgetful habit. They are:
 
RED, by Jordan Summers
UNQUIET DREAMS, by Mark DelFranco
THE TOUCH OF TWILIGHT, by Vicki Pettersson
LIGHT MY FIRE, by Katie MacAlister
FRAGILE ETERNITY, by Melissa Marr
 
So coincidentally, Contest Five will have five winners. Contest entry rules are the same simple ones from before - email me at frostlight1 AT yahoo DOT com with the subject line of Contest Five. Contest opens now and closes Monday the 8th at 11:59pm EDT (yes, a short one, but I've got three more contests to run all before the 13th! :). The five winners will be selected by Randomizer and notified of winning via email, plus being announced on the blogs. Each winner will receive one book only; first come, first serve as far as preference (which means if you're one of the five winners and you really wanted Book X, but you're the last person to contact me, you get whichever book is left. But don't worry. All the books are great).
 
Good luck!

Contest four winners!

  • Jun. 6th, 2009 at 10:55 AM

I was supposed to announce the winners yesterday. Sorry! I know, I suck (and not in the fun, Chapter 32 way ;-).

Well, considering the contest was only open for a couple days - entries were cut off Thursday at 11:59pm EDT, so if you entered after that, I couldn't count it - there were a lot of entries. 225, to be exact. I'm thrilled by the turnout, but since I only had four books to give away, about 96% of you won't like the winning results. Sorry again! All I can promise is that I have more books to give away, so if you're not lucky now, you may be soon.

Without further ado, Randomizer was consulted and this is what it said:

 

Research Randomizer Results

1 Set of 4 Unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 225 -- Unsorted
 

Job Status:

     
Set #1:

180, 128, 224, 65



I checked my Entries folder and #'s 180, 128, 224, and 65 were: Nicole B,  Breia Brickey, deafel (part of the email address sent), and Facere323 (also part of an email address). Congrats! You will receive your email from me shortly, and please reply to it with your shipping addresses. I hope all of you enjoy THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF PARANORMAL ROMANCE.

Info on Contest Five (more free books by multiple authors, not just my stuff!) will be in later post. Thanks again to everyone for playing in the contests!






 

What's my motivation?

  • Jun. 4th, 2009 at 3:35 PM

For the past two weeks, I’ve tried to start my next book. I have my plot summary handy, my mental character board checked off, and the research on the city I’m setting the story in printed for easy reference. If this were a NASA launch, it would register All Systems Go. Yet when I’ve sat down to write…nothing happens.

When I missed my first “I’m going to write today” goal, I thought I was just having an off day. Then when I missed another goal, and then another, I started to get worried. See, I have this little thing called a deadline, lol. And if I miss it, my editor isn’t the only one who won’t be pleased. Sometimes, if authors are very late on a deadline, which *knocks wood frantically* hasn’t happened to me, it can mean delayed release dates, plus other books in the publishing house’s release schedule being reshuffled, plus less time for review quotes, marketing, and a host of other things I’m probably even not aware of.  So taking deadlines as “suggestions” isn’t something an author should feel comfortable doing, IMO. Now, sometimes big unavoidable life things happen that will make a deadline impossible to meet, but I don’t want to burn my late-on-deadline passes on smaller, preventable issues.

I can plant my ass in a chair and write when I’m not in the mood – that’s part of the job. I’ve yet to meet a writer who’s in the mood to write 100% of the time, but I wanted to try and analyze first why I’ve been having a case of keyboard impotence. I love my story, I’ve been itching to reveal more about Mencheres to show the many layers of his character, I know just how the book will start, down to the specific neighborhood the opening scene will take place in. And yet earlier today when I got to my keyboard…still no words.

Was I experiencing a bad case of writer’s block? Crippling laziness? Both? I churned around my plot and characters in my head once more. Mencheres is easy to do a mental rundown on– I’ve been writing slivers of his character for years. My heroine, however, is new to me. I’ve only been thinking about her for a few months. I can describe her appearance, childhood, relationships, jobs, family, personality, greatest fear, strengths, and flaws, but it wasn’t until an hour ago that I latched onto an important missing ingredient:  her motivation.

I thought I’d had that figured out a while ago, but what I realized was that even though I knew a lot of facts about my heroine, I didn’t know what drove her.  For HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE, if you asked me what drove Cat, I would’ve said revenge and longing for redemption.  Cat’s motivation evolved over the course of the book – and the series – but when I started writing that first book, that’s where Cat was. And it influenced every single thing she did.

So as I sat on the couch contemplating my new heroine, I had a wonderful light bulb moment of understanding what drove her to do all the things that, plot-wise, I knew she was going to do. Before, I was probably letting my other heroine’s motivations creep onto her, but they didn’t fit.  My new heroine’s driving force doesn’t stem from a place of anger or insecurity, like Cat’s original motivation did. Nor does it stem from guilt or grief, like my heroine’s original motivation in the novel I just finished.  No, my new heroine’s driving force is uniquely her own, and apparently, she decided to grind my progress to a halt until I quit assuming I knew what made her tick and I actually discovered it.

And now…I have words. *cue blissful sigh* Back to writing for me!

Happy Thursday, everyone. Winners for Contest Four will be announced tomorrow.

 

Contest #4

  • Jun. 2nd, 2009 at 5:53 PM

As I mentioned before, I'm running contests leading up to my "that number CAN'T be right" birthday. Speaking of my upcoming birthday, a reader sent me the funniest thing. It's a stitched message in a picture frame that says "Life's a bitch and then one stabs you". Yes, some of you will recognize that line as the same one Cat says to a vampire in ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE. Cracked me up all day. Thanks so much, Laci!

Now, onto the contest. The prize? The MAMMOTH BOOK OF PARANORMAL ROMANCE anthology will be sent to four winners.



How to enter? Just email me at frostlight1 AT yahoo DOT com with "Contest 4" in the subject line. Winners will be chosen by randomizer. Contest starts now and ends Thursday at 11:59 pm EDT. Contest is open to US residents and all international readers.

If you've won in any of the previous contests, yes, you can still enter this and any future contests. 

And just as an FYI, prizes for future contests will be ARC's of the upcoming FOUR DUKES AND A DEVIL (romance anthology), UNBOUND (dark fantasy anthology) and DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE (Night Huntress book four), plus a smattering of other books.  Yes, you are noticing a book trend, lol. Hey, I love free books, and I hope others do also. 
  


Phobias

  • May. 30th, 2009 at 7:56 PM

I booked my transportation for the RWA conference in Washington D.C. (July 15-18th). That doesn't sound like it should bear mentioning, but it was a big deal for me. As many people know, I have a rabid fear of flying. Yes, I know the statistics - my father is like an encyclopedia of statistics in general, plus he's a former helicopter pilot, so I've had the safety virtues of flying extolled to me more times than I can count. It still doesn't mean jack when I'm in that airplane, my palm sweating enough to water plants (side note: seriously, people, what vindictive s.o.b. came up with the idea to call the place where passengers arrive/depart a terminal?? Every time I see that word in big letters as I approach an airport, it just seems like a cruel dig at my flying fears).
 
So I've gone back and forth - do I fly to D.C., or take a train? The train costs more, plus it's 21 hours traveling time versus three hours. Seems like a no-brainer, right? After all, I just took a plane to NY in February and that turned out okay. But as I was looking up flights online, I started to get that familiar panicked feeling. I went to Amtrak and looked up their routes. Felt perfectly calm. Tried flights again. Began sweating. Looked at train routes again. Sweat dissipated. Repeated the procedure for three weeks. Finally decided screw it and booked the train yesterday.
 
Yes, you can say I gave into my fears. And you know what? *grin* I don't care. I can spend a lot of those 21 hours working on Mencheres's book - not much else to do on a train, right? - and now I'm not stressed about going to RWA. Well, aside from the stress I always have with a convention, which goes along the lines of "I hope I don't trip/blurt out profanity on a panel/walk around with a rip in the back my pants" (that last one happened to me at my old job. And no, not one of my coworkers mentioned it to me - except to giggle the next day after I asked them how long the rip had been there!)
 
I've heard people say that a fear of flying is linked to control issues. Maybe, though I don't have any control on a train, either, and yet it doesn't bother me. Maybe I've seen too many movies with airplane crashes from mechanical failures. Maybe one of my earliest childhood memories of puking while flying in a helicopter left a deep subconscious scar (thanks, Dad! ;-). But I look at it like this: sometimes, I will have to fly. When that happens, I'll be panicked, but I'll do it. When I have the option to drive or take a train, I'm doing that. I know fear of flying is an irrational phobia, but I don't want to be miserable beforehand trying to prove to myself that I can do it. I know I can do it. But doing it now when I have another option seems a bit like cutting off my nose to spite my face. Sometimes it's better to be happy than to prove a point.
 
Maybe phobias are common. My husband doesn't like snakes, which was why he was really glad he wasn't with me on this day [see picture]. My mother has a fear of heights. My sister's claustrophobic. I've got fear of flying and fear of double-dipping (you know, where someone dips, bites, and then dips the bitten end in again? Sends me running every time! ;). Who else has a phobia? Or phobias? Does it ever influence your decisions?
 
Oh, if you have a phobia of snakes/reptiles, don't click below. Really.
 
( Read more... )

Instant winner contest! (contest #3, to anyone counting)

  • May. 28th, 2009 at 6:59 PM

I meant to post this earlier today, but my doctor's appointment ran two hours behind, then I got caught in traffic.
 
But enough about that. Onto the contest! What's the prize? Signed coverflats of DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE. What's a coverflat? It's the front, back, and inside picture that's wrapped around the book. Forgot what the cover/stepback looks like for DFAEG? *grin* Well, the cover is my icon, but here's another reminder:

 
 
 
How to win? Be one of the first ten comments on this post and you win. Yes, I will ship internationally.
 
Ready, set, comment!

Contest 2 winner!

  • May. 26th, 2009 at 8:21 AM

I should have posted this yesterday, but Sunday my regular computer somehow managed to get a virus while I was updating MySpace. Yes, I have virus protection - two forms! Still didn't keep the f*$&*!g virus out. So now I am on my laptop, which didn't have all my passwords automatically inputted (for things like LJ), so...sorry for the day delay.

And now, the contest results! As a reminder, the contest closed Sunday night at 11:59 pm, so even though I was still receiving entries as of yesterday, I couldn't count them. Before the cut off, there were 59 entries. Randomizer was consulted and it said....

#29

#29's entry was Susana Aguilera. Congrats, Susan! You won THE FRAY's new cd. I will send you an email shortly to get your shipping address.


And in other news, I'm disorganized. This surprises no one who knows me. I said I'd be having five contest leading up to my OMG-I'm-getting-old birthday. Well, I went through the stuff that I'll be giving away, and it turns out that I'll be having eight contests in total. The next contest will be an Instant Winner deal, where the first couple comments on a new post will win a prize (no, not THIS post, so don't rush to reply :).

Now, back to revising Spade's book. My goal is to be finished by Friday.

Oh, and a hint? The Instant Winner contest will be before Friday ;-).

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Content 1 winner! - Contest 2

  • May. 23rd, 2009 at 4:27 PM

What a great turnout for the the CITY OF SOULS contest. About 180 entries with almost fifty people linking on their blogs. Once the blogged entries were counted twice, that made for a total of 226 entries.
 
Randomizer was consulted and number #73 was chosen. Entry #73 is.....drumroll........

Cathie Morton!

Cathie, expect an email momentarily, and the lovely Vicki Pettersson will be shipping you out a signed ARC of CITY OF SOULS. Congrats!!

Everyone who's bummed at missing the chance for an ealy look at CITY OF SOULS, well, I'm right there with you, lol. At least there's only a month left until the official release of the book.

Now, music lovers, here's the deets on Contest 2. It'll be a quickie contest. I mentioned in my prior post that I wrote most of my fifth book while listening to The Fray's new cd. To spread some love for the band - hey, they helped me make my deadline, heh - I'm giving away a CD of The Fray to one lucky winner. Yes, this contest is open to anyone around the world.

To enter: send me an email at frostlight1 AT yahoo DOT com with the subject line of Contest 2. That's all. Contest starts now and closes tomorrow at 11:59pm EDT, so it's just a one-day dealie. If you've never heard of The Fray and you want a little listen in, you can go here at Amazon and click "preview all" to hear some samples of the cd. 


 

Caught up...for now

  • May. 19th, 2009 at 11:41 AM

First, if you haven't emailed me yet to be entered in the contest for an ARC of the upcoming CITY OF SOULS, you only have a few more days! Contest closes Friday at midnight and winner will be announced Saturday. Click here for more details. 
 
Well, I finally did it. I cleaned out all of my inbox and my PM's, plus went to the post office and mailed off everything I'd previously promised to people. So if you're waiting on a package from me, it's on its way! But if you sent me an email and you didn't get a reply (I'm not talking about replies for the contest; no reply was needed on those) then I didn't get it and please resend.
 
I've gotten caught up not a moment too soon. My editor emailed and I will have the marked up manuscript of FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON on my doorstep any minute. I was thrilled to hear that my editor loved it. I rarely please her on the first attempt, so it makes me all glowy inside, lol. Since my editor loved the story and there will only be light revisions, that means more time to work on Mencheres's story. Good news all around.
 
And since it's Tuesday and I haven't done a Teaser Tuesday in, well...forever, here's a snippet from FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON. If you're a member of my fan site, you may have already seen this snippet, but if not, then it's new to you :)
 
Most of you know FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON is written in third person split narrative, alternating point of views between Spade and the Heroine I Refuse To Name Yet *evil laugh* . This scene is in the heroine's point of view. Her name has been replaced with "she" or "[omitted]", because again, I'm saying who she is - or isn't - yet.

Note: this scene is unedited, so it may contain grammar errors, and it could be slightly different from what gets printed in the final book version. That's the beauty of revisions. Now, if you don't want any spoilers at all for this book, don't read the snippet! There are hints of the plot in this snippet. No more than the back cover copy will have, but I know some of you don't even like reading those, so here's your mild spoiler warning.

Oh, and for those of you interested in the soundtracks I listen to while I write, I had "Say When" from The Fray 's new cd set on constant repeat while I wrote this scene :).

Okay, disclaimers aside, happy reading! I hope the LJ cut works, because it's a long snippet.


( Read more... )
***

 
 

| Back to Top