Posts Tagged ‘Nervous’

Release Day!

Today’s the day! I’m so excited (can you tell? lol). I loved writing this book. It came to me and wouldn’t let go, which was exactly what I needed at the time. I’d been working on Keeping Claire but had trouble with the direction I wanted to go in. Or rather, Claire wanted to go in. I stopped and started and restarted just short of a million times. Also, I was driving myself crazy with trying to do things the way I thought they should be done. Not that anyone was telling me that, just that I was trying to be more organized and do everything the smart way. I finally told myself to shut it, but it took a while for me to listen. See, Mom, I don’t listen to myself any better than I listen to you! Actually, at this age, I probably listen better to you than to myself.

Wait, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, poor Claire. Anyway, I got the idea for a woman who sneaks into a Dom’s room, wearing her pajamas. Don’t ask me why, this is how my brain works. I had to figure out why. Turns out, she had a pretty good reason. So Kyriana came into being, but she needed just the right guy. Luckily for me, er, I mean her, Connul is the kind of Dom who knows exactly how to take care of a woman, and once she becomes his woman, stand back!

The book is set in a world exactly like ours, except that magic exists. Mages are not terribly common, but neither are they a secret. Like anyone else, they come in all shapes and sizes, and fill the spectrum between good and evil. I tried to come up with some names that would show the slight otherness of the world, without being too wacky. Kyriana’s name actually came from a character in my very brief college foray into roll-playing games. I think the original Kyr was an elf, but this one is just a human caught up in a situation that she has no weapons to fight against. Until she finds Connul. Connul’s brother Dain, and sister Sasha, make an appearance, and I might as well tell you now that I liked them a lot so I wouldn’t be too surprised if they start clamoring for their own stories soon. We’ll see how that goes!

So, I’m going to shut up now, and go buy a copy of Bound by Sunlight, because I’m just dorky enough to do that. I can’t help myself, I’ve loved buying books at Ellora’s Cave for a long time now, and this one has my name on the cover! That just never gets old. 😀

Don’t forget that I’m giving away a copy at both Christine D’Abo’s blog and The Blackraven’s Erotic Cafe!

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Excerpt Monday

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Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t have to be published to participate–just a writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site or click on the banner above.

So, I’ve enjoyed doing Excerpt Monday, but so far have only posted excerpts from published books. As in, books that I’m certain at least one person that I trust (my editor) likes. There’s also the fact that she’s, you know, edited it. However, I’m all about pushing my comfort level as a writer (or something like that), so here goes. Please, be gentle.

This is the first scene of one of my works in progress, Keeping Claire.

Movement in the doorway to her office had Claire lifting her head. Her stomach clenched tight with the effort of not reacting to the sight of Ryan and Jacob standing in her doorway. Clearly, the shit had hit the fan. There was no good reason for the two owners of the company to have come looking for her, a hard working but mid-level paper pusher.

Ryan Diel, took a tiny step forward, his hard body stiff with anger. Shit, shit, shit. She’d kept to herself and worked hard for the company, her small way of making up for any trouble she might inadvertently cause them. Their complete collapse, for example. Which meant the only reason for his rigid stance was that they’d found out something about her. And there was nothing good about that possibility.

She rose, slowly pushing her chair back with her legs. Ryan took another step forward when she opened the desk drawer, so she angled her body, allowing him to clearly see the purse she pulled free. He held out his hand and she gave up the bag without question. Oh yeah, this was bad.  Lips that she’d fantasized about tightened as he studied her face. She made certain he saw only the blank expression that she’d honed with years of practice. Which unfortunately seemed to piss him off. He narrowed his bright green eyes for a minute before turning and walking out of the room.

She allowed a tiny hiss of breath to escape before squaring her shoulders and leaving the office. Focusing her attention on the taut ass in front of her helped tune out the sights and sounds of her coworkers as they watched her being led to the large office Ryan and Jacob shared. She needed to get out of the building fast, but it was suddenly occurring to her that the brilliant idea to work for a security company had been about the stupidest move she’d made in five years.

At her previous jobs, if human resources or management had called her into the office for an unexplained reason, she would have just left and been in a new city with a new name in a matter of hours. Only now did she realize that cardboard box manufacturers and small bookstore owners were going to react differently than security specialists. Damn it! What had she been thinking? Clearly she hadn’t been thinking enough. Maybe five years had worn her down and she was more tired than she’d realized. She remembered hitting town and walking past this building three or four times before thinking that maybe if she were at a company whose records couldn’t be hacked she would be safer. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Realizing where she’d gone wrong was not going to help her now and she was an idiot to be wasting time thinking about it rather than how she was going to get out of this building. Regret caused acid to churn in her stomach. Though she’d been careful not to make friends, Teck Security was a good company with friendly, helpful employees and caring owners. She should have left three weeks ago when she’d found herself joking with the receptionist as they walked out to the parking lot. She rarely interacted with her coworkers, leaving them with the impression that she was a bitch. She probably was a bitch, but not the way they thought. It just made it easier for everyone when she had to leave without notice.

Ryan entered their office and she followed, Jacob close on her heels. That the blinds had already been pulled was about all she had time to notice before she was pressed up hard against the now closed door. Her whole body went stiff but she concentrated and relaxed her instinct to fight. Ryan’s hands searched her expertly but she was shocked to feel a tingle in her breasts as he passed over them. There was nothing inappropriate about the way his hand brushed between her legs, but her stomach clenched, and it wasn’t in fear.

The heat of his body left her in a rush as he stepped back. She had to lock her knees to keep from trembling, though from adrenaline or fear, she wasn’t sure. Jacob gestured to the couch and she forced herself to walk to it slowly and sit as if she’d been invited to a meeting, not thrown against the door and searched like a criminal. If there was one thing she knew how to do, and do well, it was pretend that a crazy situation was perfectly normal.
Links to other Excerpt Monday writers

Note: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site.
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Release Day

It’s release day! Again! Somehow it feels really different than when Perfect Formation was released, and yet just as exciting and amazing. I mean, my book is being released! I don’t think that’s ever (knock on wood) going to get old.

Alpha Turned is actually the first book that I wrote. I was about two-thirds of the way through it when I started Perfect Formation, which ended up getting published first. And the two books could hardly be more different. Alpha Turned is a paranormal featuring werewolves, while Perfect Formation was a contemporary threesome that included a fair amount of kink (yummy Caleb knows his way around a pair of cuffs, I’m just sayin’). Zach is a hot alpha werewolf but I’m afraid it would never occur to him to tie Hillary up, and I’m pretty sure she would cut off something vital if he tried. I’ll be really interested to hear how readers who loved (They sent me the emails, I’m not making this stuff up!) Perfect Formation respond to Alpha Turned. I’m guessing they’ll love Zach as much as I do – he’s a hottie who will do anything to make his woman happy, even if it means standing back and letting her do her thing. And Hillary really is ready to do her thing. It’s been four years since she was turned into a werewolf in a violent attack that left her wondering if turning furry would make her as evil as the crazies who attacked her. She’s been concentrating on making a life for herself and *gasp* making friends, but when a werewolf comes into her town she knows its time to deal with this aspect of herself that she’s pretty much been ignoring. Luckily that leads her to Zach and I’m sure you can guess that all sorts of yummy things ensue. Poor Zach has to fight his instincts which are screaming at him to take Hillary as his mate. But helping her to become comfortable with who and what she is takes a much higher priority. No, really, it does. Luckily the instincts are just as strong in Hillary and she let’s Zach’s calm strength lead her to a better understanding of her new life. Plus, there’s all sorts of yumminess – did I mention that?

For those readers who just aren’t into paranormal, I promise (you know, in case you were desperate to know) I’m working on a contemporary. Of course, I’ve also got a bit of Fae going on. And then, in a remarkably stupid move, I said to myself one night, “Well, at least I don’t do Sci-Fi”. All you writers out there are sure to understand that the Sci-Fi plot bunny was kind enough to make a visit the very next week. So far I’ve managed to hold the mangy thing at bay, but we’ll see. I like to think of it as offering a little something for everyone, as opposed to being mildly schizophrenic. You can decide for yourself and feel free to let me know what you think. 😀

I hope you all enjoy Hillary and Zach as much as you enjoyed Taryn, Caleb and Richard. And if you haven’t read Perfect Formation, but want a little spicy contemporary for your weekend read, it’s gotten some pretty good reviews 🙂

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Summer Pimpin’

I’m getting excited for Friday’s new release. When Perfect Formation came out I was such a newbie, I had no idea what to expect. Okay, well, the truth is I’m still a total newbie, and just as nervous and excited as before. So, to take my mind off things, I think it’s time for some reading. Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve pimped out a book, and here’s one that looks like a lot of fun (I’m a sucker for books set in Scotland!). Enjoy!

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The Silver Casket
Debbie Mumford

 Cat Logan, a young American with a recent degree in medieval literature, travels to Scotland to discover her Celtic roots. She finds more than she bargained for when a mysterious silver casket (rumored to hold the desiccated heart of a long dead Scottish laird) transports her back in time to the 1400s and the man whose heart she holds in her hands.

 

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Excerpts

So, as you may have noticed, I have a new book coming out. (Just give me a second here to SQUEEEE. Ok, better now.) I got the release date for Alpha Turned, made the book page, and had to include an excerpt. Well, I suppose I don’t have to include one, but I believe very strongly that every book should have an excerpt on the authors website. Which should be easy, right? Well, no.

For some reason, I have a really hard time picking them out. I keep wanting to explain what the reader should already know, if they had started at page one. I cut and paste one section, then delete and try another. Seriously, it’s like a sickness. Of course, when I read other people’s excerpts, I completely understand that it’s just a taste and that I don’t need to understand everything that’s happened. But I have a hard time letting go, I think.

For Perfect Formation I just used the excerpt my fabulous editor picked out. Actually, she made a couple of suggestions and I just agreed with one of them. It was my first release and I had no idea what I was doing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s the same scene the publisher used on their website, and as a reader I like to have a couple of different ones to read. So I was determined to use a different choice on my site this time. I finally decided that since the one the publisher is using is in the heroine’s point of view, I would give my man Zach his chance, here. Maybe next time I’ll give out advanced copies with the expectation that the readers pick out a scene they think should be the excerpt? *Sigh* I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be the easy part. 😛

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Release Day

Perfect Formation releases today at Ellora’s Cave! I am so excited. I really loved writing this book and I still miss the characters. For whatever reason, I always figured that if I wrote a menage story, it would be supernatural. Most of my favorite menages are (see Lauren Dane). When I started writing it (remember, I’m a pantser, not a plotter) I kept waiting for one of my characters to be a werewolf, or fae, or…something. But, they weren’t. They were normal people. And there was nothing funny going on in their world – it was totally normal, too. I was pretty surprised, I’ll admit, especially since the story I was focused on at the time was a shapeshifter story – I just started this one for when I needed breaks on the other.

I had a great time with Taryn, Richard and Caleb, though, despite the fact that they were normal 😛 . They really had a way of keeping me on my toes – I was honestly never quite sure what was going to happen next. I remember going into work one day and having to suppress the news that they’d gotten into an awesome fight, because it had been so much fun to write and I couldn’t wait to get home and figure out how they were going to make up (I hadn’t yet told the coworkers what I was up to with this whole writing thing).

So, I loved writing it, I miss the three, and I’m really proud of Perfect Formation. But, yeah, none of that changes the fact that I’m terrified! Only three people have read this story. Charlotte who was kind enough to critique it for me – my first critique which taught me so much. Klara, who read it and gave me a couple of ideas that made some subtle changes that I loved and told me it was great and to send it out, and of course my fabulous editor who chose to take it on. None of them had any reason to lie to me. Right?! I’ll calm down by the end of the day, I’m sure (see, this is me, making up stories, ’cause that’s what I do). I’m sure none of this has anything to do with the fact that the book is not just naughty but downright kinky, and I’m supposed to be the sweet and innocent girl next door. I’ve made my coworkers promise not to tell me they’ve read it unless I’m drunk.

Those of you I don’t have to look in the eye and wonder what scene you’re imagining, however, are perfectly welcome to come here and tell me what you thought of it!

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