While We're Gone... Contest

Hey kids,

The Six Degree of Sexy gals are holding a contest beginning this Monday, July 28th.
For six days, while we're studiously honing our craft *ahem cough-cough* at the Romance Writers of America National Conference in San Francisco (thanks for the correct spelling, N), there will be one question posted per day. All you need to do is drop by, answer the dead-easy questions and cross your fingers that you're name is pulled from the magic hat.

That's SIX days, SIX questions, SIX prizes!!
Oops, I really didn't mean to do the 666 thing.
Okay, TECHNICALLY, there are EIGHT prizes because both Christine and Red have Ellora's Cave cards to give away. 668? Yeah, that's better.

So visit Six Degrees of Sexy from Monday, July 28th through Saturday August 2nd for a chance to win books by
Red Garnier
Robin Rotham
Renee Field
Amy Ruttan
Christine d'Abo
and yours truly :)

T -2 Days and counting, The Dark Knight

Two days until I get on a plane for the RWA conference in San Francisco. Panic has officially morphed into resignation. No, I didn't finish the book, still have the synopsis to complete and my pitch to practice.
So let's ignore all I didn't do and talk about other things...

Like The Dark Knight. Wow - what a movie. Hubby and I enjoyed it thoroughly. All that stuff they're saying about Heath Ledger, how great he was, how he should win an Oscar? Well... they're not just saying that because he's dead (bless is soul)... He really was THAT amazing. I wish I was eloquent enough to draw an accurate picture of his interpretation of the Joker, but I wouldn't do Heath any justice. With a character like the Joker, there's a fine line between greatness and OTT (over the top). Heath managed to pull it off with psycho-scary brilliance. Every jitter, facial expression, flick of the tongue, dart of the eyes was dead-on perfection. And his one-liners were delivered with accurate sarcasm without camp.
The entire cast was very good, but he shone.

The story was good, too. In the past, it seems to me that comic book/super hero focused more on the hero's angst/lovelife/personal-journey and let the plot serve as mere background. Not so with this latest Batman. In fact, I felt a bit cheated that we didn't get MORE Batman (can't please me, can they - LOL). The story was central and more along the lines of a proper police/crime drama (someone else compared it to The Departed and I have to agree).
I've very glad I saw it. And it should be experienced on a big screen!

Have you seen it? Thoughts??

Who ya gonna call? STRESS BUSTERS!

Did you read my post about Busting Stress last week?
If you did, and left a comment, you might be interested to know that I compiled the answers and turned them into a Thursday Thirteen.
It's appearing over at Six Degrees of Sexy, so go check it out.
Hey, even if you didn't contribute, you might find something useful on the list ;)

Button reviews for Red, Christine and me!

I'm up on top of the world, looking down on creation, la la la la la-la la la la la laaaaaa....

Now that I've got you singing along with The Carpenters (probably for the rest of the day -- just try and get that song out of your head!!) I'm going to torture you further with some self-agrandizing...
Law of Averages got an A+ from Simply Romance Reviews. And SQUEEE.... I collected another one of these cool little buttons



to add to my sidebar. And everybody knows... it's all about the buttons!! LOL


And congrats to sistah-friend Red Garnier, who also got a 'button' review for her sexy Exotika book, Seven Sinners.
And more congrats to s-f Christine d'Abo who got 'button' reviews from Joyfully Reviewed AND Simply Romance this past week.
Woot woot gals! Now sing with me: We're up on top of the wo-orld, looking down on creation...

Contest Info -- it's a biggie!!

Psst... go over to Six Degrees of Sexy cause I've just announced an amazing book-giveaway contest put on by the Toronto Romance Writers. Amazing authors, a stellar line up of books(signed!!) in a multitude of sub-genres. Go! NOW!!

Menage: Wylie Kinson, Cora Zane and Ron Jeremy?!?

So a few months back, I got an email from an editor at The L Magazine (New York) asking me to comment on life in the 'sex industry' (whatever). I'm sure quite a few of you erotic-romance/erotica authors were hit with the same request.
I had a few minutes on my hands so I complied and it looks like they lifted a few choice paragraphs for their article.

What really makes me giggle is that fellow author-blogger Cora Zane and I can now say we're on the same page as Ron Jeremy -- and WE'RE ON TOP!! *hee*

btw -- thanks for outting me, Leah ;)

Enquiring Minds Want to Know: How do you bust stress??

Isn't summer supposed to be a lazy time to kick back, relax and enjoy the sunbeams?
Yeah, well... I'm doing something seriously wrong because I've been in frantic mode since mid-June.

I had a nice long chat with my TRW (Toronto Romance Writers) buddy Christine d'Abo over dinner the other night and she's in a very stressful place as well, for different reasons. I've got ten years on Christine so tried to share some of my own experiences in handling stress in the workplace, which is ironic since she's already much better equiped to handle it than I was ten years ago!! Also, I've gotten myself into my own personal stress-rut so who'm I to dole out advice?

So give it to me people... WHAT DO YOU DO when feeling overwhelmed, can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, or find yourself in circumstances that you don't have the power to change? Other than self-medicate, I mean ;)

I used to loose myself in a good book, but I just can't find the time to crack a novel, let alone Christine's latest release (The Bond that Heals Us, second in the Bond series... so freaking good!!) and even THAT'S stressing me out!! What the heck kind of supportive sistah-friend am I that I can't find three or four hours to jump into the Davin/Sara story that I had been chomping at the bit for?! *bows head in shame*

On a sort of related topic, Leah Braemel brought up the subject of writing and hobbies on her blog today, so go visit and share your thoughts.

Recommended Read?!?!?!

Just when I'm second guessing everything I write, telling myself I'm absolute CRAP and have no right to show my face at Nationals, I stumble across another review of Law of Averages...

Jambrea at Joyfully Reviewed gave it a RECOMMENDED READ!!! Woot -- thanks Jambrea!! :)

Here's a little bit of what she said:

There are a few touching scenes between [Gabriel and Megan] as well as the hot
sex and that is why I am Joyfully Recommending Law of Averages. It has
everything I love in a story; sex, tenderness and laughter with a hint of
the mystical thrown in for good measure.

You can read the whole thing HERE.
And me? I'm going to write!!

Writing goals and not reaching them.

The RWA National Conference is only 21 days away and do I have my novel finished? NO.
Have I done my synopsis? NO.
Practiced my pitch? NO.
Shopped for appropriate 'professional' clothes? NO.

So much for that list of goals I made up in January!
The novel is progressing, but not nearly as quickly as I'd hoped. The paranormal, Elements of Attraction, that I began in January ended up getting shelved after 40,000 words. It wasn't working, the flow was off, I dunno... I just know that I struggled to get every word on the page and writing began to feel like a horrible nightmare of a chore. I will go back to it, someday, because I love the idea, and the characters. I just don't think my talent was equal to my ambition.

So I began my current wip (currently untitled) in mid-May, weeks before the kidlets were due to be set free from school. Not great timing on my part, but at least I'm enjoying writing again, when I manage to grab a few quiet moments. My hero is a professional soccer (football!!) player who gets roped into running his sister's bridal salon while she's busy having a baby. Sound like fun? I hope so :)

Also on the plate, I'm judging two writing contests (I know, I know... what was I thinking?) but it's been an interesting and educational experience. There's some amazing raw talent out there and some entries have me thinking - why aren't these people published?! Others are... well... meh. These are the most valuable to me because I can analyze their mistakes and (hopefully) learn how to avoid/correct them in my own work.

That said, I'm retreating back into the cave. Not the Writing Cave, but the Kid Cave -- where glue, Webkinz and minigolf rule!!

Oh - almost forgot... Law of Averages got a pretty decent review from The Good, the Bad and the Unread. *squee*

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day!

May the spectacular explosions of

tonight's fireworks take your mind off your gas bill... ;)