Signing Tonight at The Spotty Dog

If you’re near Hudson, NY tonight, drop by The Spotty Dog from 5-7pm to see me, Stella Price, Tilly Greene, Allie Boniface, Cat Johnson and a cast of thousands at Ladies Night Out. The Spotty Dog is both a bookstore and a bar! I’ve never been to such a place before, but it looks and sounds awesome. There’ll be a chocolatier present as well as some bath and body providers to showcase ways to pamper yourself or Mom on this Mother’s Day weekend! Come by and see us!

Excerpt: Perfect

And now an excerpt from Perfect, my first contemporary novella with Tease Publishing…

“So, what do you think?” she asked when Rich reached for a second pastry.

“Fantastic, Cassandra, as always.” He bit off a large chunk and smiled.

“Come on, you know by now, I need specifics.” She rolled her eyes as they all grinned.

Cody stepped closer and took another pastry, though he didn’t eat it right away. Instead, he held her gaze as he licked his lips, and her blood seemed to catch fire.

“I like the mixture of fruit. Apple and pear, right? With maybe a hint of citrus? Was it lemon?” His smile sent strange signals to the muscles in her womb, though his words were innocuous.

“Lime, actually.” Was that her voice? She sounded hoarse all of a sudden. Cassandra cleared her throat, trying to project calm as the men looked at her strangely.

Rich took the platter from her hands. “Come on, boys. We still have work to do.”

The hands followed the platter back into the barn, right behind Rich. She barely noticed their departure as Cody stayed behind, watching her. He took a slow, sensuous bite out of the pastry in his hand, holding her gaze all the while. Cassandra’s mouth went dry. He even chewed and swallowed sexily. The man was far too potent and altogether hot.

“The pastry is perfect, Miz Cassandra, as usual. Light, flaky and sweet. Tastes good with the filling, but there’s something missing, I think.” Her brows drew together at those words, bringing her attention back to her work. “Here, try it.” He held out the pastry to her, holding it as if he expected her to eat from his hand. She hesitated and he grinned. “I promise, I don’t have any communicable diseases. And besides, this is the only one left. You need to taste it to see what I mean.”

Raising one brow skeptically, she leaned in and took a small bite of his pastry, jarred by the intimacy of the act. She’d never been this close to Cody, though she’d dreamed of being close to him many a night in her lonely bed.

Flavor exploded on her tongue. She tasted the pastry, the sugar, the tart apple and pear with the hint of lime. It was good. But Cody was right. Something was missing.

“Darn it, you’re right.” She looked up at him. “What do you think it is?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Strawberry? Just a touch, maybe. You’re the chef.”

“Strawberry.” A grin spread over her face. “I’m going to try that. Thanks, Cody.”

He nodded as the silence stretched. Tension rose between them as he seemed to study her in detail.

“You have powdered sugar on your face,” he said. She licked her lips, brought up short when Cody moved even closer. “No, let me.” He bent, shocking her into immobility as his tongue brushed over her cheek near the corner of her lips. When she didn’t move, he grew bolder, running his tongue over the seam of her lips with heart-stopping slowness until she yielded, opening her mouth to him.

ORDER NOW FROM ARe

eCata Sensual Has a New Look

Check out Sensual!I’m helping to spread the word about the newly redesigned website Sensual. If you like your romance novels on the steamy side, you’ll love this site. It’s full of reviews, interviews, excerpts, information on the newest print and ebooks and lots more. You can even win books and other goodies. So check it out. http://sensual.ecataromance.com/

Authors, you can spread the word too! If you’d like a chance to win one of 20 Cover Ads and get a shot at a fabulous grand prize (a 3 Pack of their huge billboard ads - a $100 value!) just repost this blurb on your blog or website. Then stop by Sensual and leave a link to your post. All authors are eligible to enter and win so why in the world wouldn’t you? See their site for more information and official rules: sensual.ecataromance.com/?p=688

I’ll see you at Sensual!

Writing Challenges

As some of you know, I’ve been participating in two writing challenges of late. First, there was the 70 Days of Sweat challenge and now I’m doing the newest writing challenge put forward by CataUniversity, to write a novella in a month.

I got a late start on the novella challenge due to a looming deadline, but it’s rolling along now. I’m gonig to continue to use the word meter I set up for the Sweat70 challenge, since I want to keep a running count until I finish a certain manuscript I’ve been working on. See, I like to count all the words I write, not just the words on a particular manuscript, since I tend to write a few at once. (Short attention span.)

So if you’re doing the challenge, take heart and get writing! I’ll be writing right along with you.

Perfect - Now Up for Pre-Order!

My first contemporary novella from Tease Publishing is now available for pre-order at AllRomanceeBooks.com. I intend it to be the beginning of a new series of contemporary stories based on the concept of a person (either hero or heroine) who’s given up city life and “Gone Country.” (The way I often wish I could do myself.)

Here’s a little bit about the story… (Also stay tuned for an excerpt later this week.)

A city girl meets a country boy. She’s “gone country” and he’s just the man to teach her to ride…

A city girl, successful business woman and former bakery owner, Cassandra, has sold out and moved West to her own slice of heaven — a working ranch, complete with cowboys. She doesn’t know much about ranch life, but she’s a willing student, especially when the new ranch hand catches her eye.

Cody compliments her cooking and charms his way into her life, but he’s keeping secrets, and she doesn’t know if she can trust her instincts where he’s concerned. She’s going to have to make a decision, but should she take the risk?

PRE-ORDER NOW for only $1.99 from ARe!

The Craft - Blundering Through the Final Few Pages

I’m working on the final chapter of Jaci’s Experiment - the third book in my Resonance Mates series (Hara’s Legacy, Davin’s Quest). Late last week, I spent about six to seven hours writing somewhere over 5,000 words only to decide later that night that the direction I’d taken the scene in at the last minute just would not work.

See, I’d planned to (how to say this without giving too much away?) have the main characters arrive somewhere and settle into the place. At the very last moment, I decided to have people there to meet them and it took the scene in a different direction entirely. When I got to the next scene, I realized what I’d impulsively done had messed up some important aspects of what I’d planned to do next and what would come in subsequent books in the series. I had a plan and I really should have stuck to it. *sigh*

Live and learn. I should have known better than to veer off course at the last moment without thinking it through completely, but most often when I get these creative wild hares, they turn out okay. This time, not so okay. However, I do have a backup plan. With a little tweaking, I just may be able to use the majority of those 5,000 words in the next book. We’ll see when I get to writing it, but I’ll keep it in mind to try once I get to that point.

Computer Woes

I’m on a deadline. I need to finish a book. I also have an old desktop that takes FOREVER to boot and has little to no space left on the hard drive. It’s running at a snail’s pace.

So yesterday, I planned to take an hour out of my writing schedule to clean up the hard drive and defrag it - you know, spruce up the place to hopefully let it limp along a little longer until I have time to buy a new computer and spend the WEEKS I’d need to get it up and running with all my software, peripherals and connectivity just the way I like it.

SEVEN HOURS later I finally went out - after an embarrassing meltdown witnessed by my family - and bought a new computer. I fired it up and tried to decipher that newfangled Vista thing. It’s going to take some getting used to.

I now have to clean my office (ACK!) and find a place to hook it up alongside the old system while I search for and locate my various software disks/downloads and load everything onto the new computer. I also have to hook up peripherals (I have a lot of those) and locate drivers/software (which is ALL over the place - I’m not very organized) for that. So if you hear screams and curses coming from the NY metro area, you know it’s me, trying to sort out this new computer.

And did I mention? I’m on a deadline.

Mr. Romance & Zoolander?

When I came home from RT one of the first things I did to unwind was pull out my copy of Zoolander and watch it again. Now, I came to the craziness that is Zoolander late, not being a big Ben Stiller fan, but I’ve come to appreciate his work in this movie and in the more recent Night at the Museum. The dude is talented.

Anyway, back to Zoolander… If you haven’t seen it, go out and rent it! I caught it for the first time about a year or two ago when I was home sick in bed, flipping through channels. Comedy Central plays it every once in a while and I watch it whenever it’s on. The reason I just HAD to watch it again after RT was because of the Mr. Romance competition and spending all week dodging cover models eager for my vote.

I’m not really into the whole oggle-the-model thing. Don’t get me wrong. They’re very handsome men and are nice to look at. I’m sure they’re nice people. But I read books not for cover model appeal, but rather what’s inside. Sort of the same philosophy applies to men, actually. The packaging is all well and good, but it’s what inside that counts most, right ladies?

Anyway, I attended the SOS Military Mixer. My family has a long line of military heroes in it and I support the troops in whatever small way I can. Fabio was there, looking tall and muscular, as usual, and I’ve got to hand it to him - he looks almost exactly the same now as he did twenty years ago when he was posing for endless Johanna Lindsey covers. LOL. The only minor change I noted is that his hair is noticably darker, which looks very nice on his very Roman face.

Of course, I didn’t get much closer to him than about twenty feet away. I guess I could’ve gotten a picture with him, but like I said, it’s not really my thing. Then there was the Mr. Romance competition…

It was standing room only in the ballroom, so I stood just for the first few scenes of the event. I’d been invited to dinner by my publisher, so I only caught the beginning of the competition. I was pretty sure John Fish (the ultimate Texas cowboy) would win, but to my surprise I found out later that Chris Winters had taken the big prize.

Being brutally honest here - I think it had to do with the fact that Dorchester was sponsoring the contest and Winters had a real anime look. His hairstyle was a spiky thing straight out of the new wave 80’s. It almost reminded me of Paul Young - remember him? Yes, I admit, I was in high school in the 80’s and well remember the look, the clunky jewelry, and the phenomenon that as The Breakfast Club… Molly Ringwald and the like.

But I digress… my feeling, which was echoed by a few I talked to later, who saw the entire competition, was that the whole semi-anime look was what probably clinched it for Winters, because Dorchester is marketing heavily to the “younger” generation. Evidence their Shomi line and the duo of Maverik and Mancusi who seem to wear go-go boots almost exclusively. (Hell, if I were tall and skinny like them, I would too! LOL)

All the competitors were handsome and any one of them could have taken the prize. I liked the look of “Big John” because the dude is a freaking giant! LOL! Plus I’m a native NY’er so real cowboys are just coooool. But really, all of them were prime specimens of manliness. And they deserve a lot of credit for putting up with women oggling them all week. My hat (if I wore one) would definitely be off to the competitors. They did a good job under trying circumstances. I mean that. I tried to imagine what it would be like in reverse, and I bet there would be a ton of complaints of inappropriate conversations and miscellaneous flirting that was probaby way over the top. It’s hard to imagine a woman of today putting up with half the stuff these men did. They’re troupers.

But I just couldn’t get Zoolander out of my head while I was watching the runway show during the Mr. Romance competition. I began to wonder if any of these guys were like Derick Zoolander, who sadly, was not an ambi-turner… Or were they instead as nice - and intelligent - as they seemed on the outside. Sorry for the silly comparison, guys. I couldn’t help it! I swear. And now I’m probably going to take a lot of heat for this blog. *sigh*

Here’s wishing you all a look as good as “magnum”!

Creature Feature: Nessie

The Loch Ness Monster… Nessie… A phantom, long-necked creature rising out of the mists of a dark Scottish lake. Creepy, right?

Many stories have been told over the centuries and many theories exist as to whether or not Nessie really lives deep in the cold waters of Loch Ness.

Some speculate Nessie could be an elasmosaurus, a kind of plesiosaur, or a decendant thereof. They were thought to have become extinct at the same time as most dinosaurs. They were aquatic reptiles with long necks and bodies up to 46 feet long, according to fossil evidence.

Could there be a last lingering few of these creatures living deep in the waters of Loch Ness? It’s a tantalizing mystery to ponder. So tell me, do you believe in Nessie?

Finally Home!

I finally made it all the way home and have been sleeping pretty much non-stop. It’s amazing how little sleep I got at RT and how much I needed to catch up on. Today is a lazy day… I’m sitting here, still in my jammies, doing some odds and ends while I write furiously on Jaci’s Experiment, my August ebook release from Samhain, and the third in my Resonance Mates series.

Jaci was left hanging in the middle of her story while I finished edits on Perfect (my May ebook release from Tease), and FireDrake (my May ebook release from Samhain and the next of my Dragon Knights books) and then went to RT. Now I can devote time to Jaci and the story is really moving along again. I’ll be working on her book for the next two weeks or so, until I finish it. It’s getting to that really interesting part — at least for me! LOL. The part where I have to tie up all the little plot points I’ve been toying with throughout the story.

And there’s a new character in this book who is really blossoming into a larger-than-life personality. I’d planned to write only five books in this series, but I may just have to figure out a way to give him his own story in there somewhere. I can probably do it within the context of the planned books, but I’m toying with the idea of giving him a separate book of his own. We’ll see how it goes. Either way, you’ll be hearing more about “Wild Bill.”