Thank you to those who improved my life this year.

Whew, I'm finally getting caught up with things and in a much better mood than the last time I posted.

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I want to give a shout-out to some people who have done wonderful things for me this year.

In no particular order, I am grateful for:

My aunt, Wendy Masten:

Thank you for all the little random treats you've surprised me with. My mom used to do things like that and now it's like you're filling a part of the hole she left behind.

Kent Butler: 

When we first met, we talked and laughed for hours. The next time I saw you, you brought me hard cider because you remembered I liked it. When my college book bag was hurting my shoulder, you gave me a wheeled bag. When my mouse broke, you gave me another one. That is why I fell in love with you and I am so thankful your kindness has remained steadfast. When my back hurts, you rub it, when I am cold, you make a fire. You saved Thanksgiving for my family by opening your home to all of us. You always cheer me up and help me with everything, big and little. You are the the best boyfriend I've ever had and I'll never be able to fully express how much I love you and how grateful I am that you came into my life.

Bonnie R. Paulson:

My fantastic friend and critique partner, I can never thank you enough for all you've done for me. You've provided invaluable feedback on my books, cheered me up and motivated me with our conversations, shared all of your knowledge on the crazy world of book-marketing, and written wonderful stories that I adore.

Every single piece of advice you've given me has improved my career.

Your successes never fail to cheer and inspire me. You are my patronus!

Rissa Watkins:

Longtime beta reader and excellent friend, I still can't believe you drove all the way to that convention in Vegas and I finally got to meet you in person. I don't think you'll ever truly know how much that meant to me.

And I cannot thank you enough for your invaluable feedback on my stories. I am so happy that you finally put out a book of your own. Your writing is spectacular!

Rachel Faircloth:

My best friend since third grade, thank you for always being there for me and sending me little cards and letters and forgiving me when I get busy and lose touch. You are the best friend anyone could ever hope for and even though we don't talk every day, I always think about you.

Shona Husk:

My friend and fellow author down under, thank you for giving me editing work, allowing me to vent on you about random things, talking advice, and helping me improve the most difficult novel I ever wrote.

Micah Allen:

My wonderful, awesome son. I live for your smiles and laughter. I love spending time with you and I want you to know that my world is so much better with you in it. On my worst days, I only live for you.

Jeff Miller:

For always being the Zen Master of common sense and surprising me with a bookcase.

Jeff Jeskie:

For all fun conversations and the helpful things you do without a second thought.

Dean Chamberlain:

For being an amicable housemate and not dying on me, and all of our intellectually stimulating conversations, for giving me Microsoft Word 2007 when my computer died, and most of all, a place to live.

Noreena Lewis:

For giving me those CROW cards and being a wonderful friend.

Angie Hacker Christianson:

For that wonderful package of hard cider, chocolate, and kitty toys that you randomly dropped off "To brighten my day." It brightened my whole year. I am now inspired to surprise someone like that.

Rebecca Larsen, Bonnie Maestas, and Beverly Ross:

For being dedicated readers, spreading the word about my books and assuring me that my stuff is worth reading.

Ashley Reader Granger:

For all the awesome facebook parties you hosted for me with my new releases. They were a blast!

Shelley Martin:

For helping me out with some things this summer, for invaluable help with Conjuring Destiny and being a fun friend.

Layna Pimental:

For catching all the passive voice and overuse of adverbs in Conjuring Destiny. You made it stronger.

Grace Burrowes:

For providing wisdom, encouragement, and moral support in my publishing journey and having my back during its inherent struggles.

Rebecca Butts:

For being compassionate to everyone, understanding my craziness, coming to my book signing, and making ye olde dreaded day job bearable. If it weren't for you being such a nice boss lady, there's no way I could handle it.

Merrilee Remmick:

For being an amazing coworker, coming to my book signing, reviewing my books and being an understanding listener to my ranting and raving.

Raye Roeske, David Bawden, and Jeremy Shipp

For creating Bad Movie club and giving me a ridiculously hilarious reprieve from the stress of my three jobs. During our movie banter you guys became my friends and a source of cheer.

Nephele Tempest:

Thank you for being a spectacular agent and improving my career.

Cammile Hahn:

For providing a home for my heavy metal romance and putting up with my nit-picking on the cover art.

Tamara Lush: 

For our wonderful chats and expanding my horizons on author opportunities.

That guy at my neighbor's barbecue who offered to use his truck to haul my new desk.

I was a stranger to you and you offered aid when I needed it. 

2014 Recap

2014 was an exciting year for me. I figured I'd share some of the highlights

First off, I dipped my toes into the Indie pool and launched the first book in my Urban Fantasy Romance series, BRIDES OF PROPHECY.

These characters have been in my head for FOREVER, but since the traditional publishing houses are reluctant to take on paranormal, especially vampires, I couldn't find a home for these stories there. But since that world is so important to me, I decided to release the series myself.

I present, WRENCHING FATE! 

After that, I also got two new front teeth... okay, two crowns and a filling. After nearly dying from an abcessed tooth in 2013...seriously, I almost DIED. I decided that taking care of my crappy, poor white trash teeth was a priority. I still have a long way to go.  

Umm...I'm not posting pics of that.

In May I got to attend the RT BOOKLOVERS CONVENTION in the city I've always wanted to visit, NEW ORLEANS!!

Me and author Sarah Humphreys at a Mardi Gras party they threw for the attendees. How cool is that?

It was such an incredible and busy experience that it took 4 blog posts to recap it. Here's part one if you want to read about the awesomesauce.

Unfortunately, just a few days after I got back, a good friend of mine passed away. RIP, Bill Kieffer. You will always be dearly missed. :(

I'll never forget all the times we had fun talking about music, movies, and other quirky things. I'll never forget the time we got drunk on the front porch talking about every topic in the book until the sun came up. I'll never forget that you chose to aid me in a crisis, despite disapproval from some people you'd known longer.

Okay, after the sad stuff...

Over the summer, I was invited by editor, Alex Johnson to submit a short story to a heavy metal horror anthology. 

I ACTUALLY had one gathering dust in my hard drive because I never found a home for such an oddity even though it won 1st place in the 2012 Idaho Writer's League Short Story Competition. 

AND IT WAS ACCEPTED!

I'm pleased to announce that I will be featured in AXES OF EVIL II: RISE OF THE METAL GODS, which will be released soon!

Check out this badass Iron Maiden inspired cover!

And if you're a metalhead, you'll know which album inspired this!

I finally had the opportunity to return to another beloved project. The restoration of my 1980 Datsun 210. 

Her name is Little Beast. I'd rebuilt the engine, but her body's been a bashed-up mess. But I finally found new body parts for her so hopefully she'll be on the road and pretty by next year.

Right now her front end is all torn up, but do you see her shiny engine compartment?

I got some requests for the Heavy Metal Romance I wrote back in 2012.

It's called HIS ROADIE for now...and good lord, we need to find a better title. But right now I have 2 publishers looking at it and the first sent me a Revise and Resubmit request and now I'm waiting to hear back. Even if they don't accept it, I got some excellent feedback that helped to make it a better book.

I fell in Love.

It's really hard to nail down the exact time that happened, especially since we were friends for so long, but damn he's wonderful. I call him "Sexy Genius." Our first official "date" ended up with us working on a car together... which is totally my style. And I've never been treated so well.

Huckleberries.

An annual North Idaho tradition. In 2013, I had to sell all of mine. This year I got to keep some to eat! Seriously, if you're ever in the Northwest, you have to try these berries! 

Release of ONE BITE PER NIGHT!!

This was another important book for me.

When I got the offer for Bite Me, Your Grace, I had NO ideas for future books in the series. But it was a 3 book deal so I had to come up with something.

I wanted to put a different spin on the guardian/ward trope, and play with another fun setting in England: Cornwall, namely a castle! Ideas for a heroine came into play, but I was at a loss for a hero. I didn't want to the typical "tall dark and handsome alpha vampire" that I did with the last book. I wanted something different.

So, I had an acquaintance that had really cool hair, striking looks, and was as kind as he was mysterious. I inspired the hero after him.

We ended up getting to know each other and he actually came to my signing!

I now call him "Sexy Genius"

ONE BITE PER NIGHT ended up being well received with reviewers. I was almost too scared to click on the link to Publisher's Weekly's review because they can be mean sometimes. (They were pretty nice to me with BITE ME, YOUR GRACE, though they threw in a bit of snark).

Publisher's Weekly LOVED IT!!!

But there was no rest for the wicked. 

Since I'd decided to go hybrid, I also had my Indie series to deliver.

In October, I released Book 2 in my "Brides of Prophecy" series: Ironic Sacrifice

Before I was published, this book was a favorite of my beta readers. Razvan is definitely the most alpha hero I've ever written and people LOVE him!

He also has a twin brother, but you won't get to know him until book 4.

Thrills and Chills Book Signing

That month I also had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a multi-author Halloween themed book signing with Shelley Martin, Bonnie R. Paulson, Frank Zafiro, and Kaye Thornbrugh.

It was a blast!

Edits, edits, edits

Honestly, I would dub 2014 as "The Year of Edits" for me. I did not write a complete brand new manuscript the entire year. Instead I hacked away at stuff I wrote in 2012 and 2013 and added thousands of better words. 

Not only that, but I also launched my freelance editing business and despite not having gotten around to putting up an official website, word of mouth grew, and I made almost as much money off of editing as I did on book sales. And as a bonus I got to help some awesome authors make their books shine!

Art projects

I was an artist before I was anything else, and it was a joy to finish off the year with my first love.

Here are the pieces I did:

Freddy Krueger: Pumpkin Carving

Pinhead from Hellraiser: Scratchboard

Trippy Zebras: Scratchboard

My aunt's dog: Pencil.

All in all, I had a pretty good year, but I have more goals for the next. Stay tuned! 

Multi-author Book Signing October 25th in CDA!

If you live in the Coeur d'Alene area, you're in for a treat. On October 25th at the Coeur d'Alene Hastings (101 Best ave) I will be participating in a multi-author book signing. The other authors attending are Shelley Martin, Bonnie R. Paulson, Kaye Thornbrugh and Frank Zafiro.

To keep with the Halloween spirit, we've dubbed out signing, "Thrills and Chills" with Shelley, Kaye, and I providing the "thrills" with Vampires, Fae, Gargoyles, and Phoenixes, and Bonnie and Frank supplying "chills" with Zombies, Serial Killers, and apocalyptic thrillers. I think Bonnie's even bringing some cowboys along, so there should be something for everyone.

There are going to be lots of swag and prizes.

I'll be handing out these scrumptious candy bars and raffling off a basket of books.

So if you're in the Spokane/ Coeur d' Alene area, stop by and get your thrills, chills, books, and treats! 

Why I've been neglecting you all.

As you can see, I haven't been blogging for awhile. Aside from the usual summer fun, I've completed the first draft of my rock star romance novella, finished the first revision of my 2nd regency paranormal romance, and... just this weekend... went through the first round of revisions with my awesome editor for BITE ME, YOUR GRACE!

Also, I've been helping out at the local bookstore and enjoying a brief vacation that I can't really afford...but really need before I go back to college this fall.

AND, I've been helping out my awesome critique partners, Shelley Martin and Bonnie R. Paulson with their upcoming releases.

WINGLESS by Shelley Martin comes out August 2nd:

Cover art by Valerie Tibbs: http://www.tibbsdesign.com/

And Bonnie's second installment of her apocalyptic thriller series is out right now!

It has been an exciting month! 

What makes a favorite author?

Due to my tiny house and only having one book case, I had to get rid of 3 bags of books. Excuse me a minute while I mourn their loss.

This is my bookcase after getting rid of 3 bags of books...and a foam airplane one of the cats "killed."

As you can see, I still have a lot of keepers. Some are favorite books, like THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH by Ken Follett, SILKEN SAVAGE by Catherine Hart, IF TOMORROW COMES by Sidney Sheldon, and NEW ORLEANS LEGACY by Alexandra Ripley.

And some are favorite authors.

The difference is: The favorite books are ones I read and reread over and over again, but I didn't enjoy other books by those authors as much.

But this is a favorite book by a favorite author:

I replaced it after my eighth read but kept this copy for sentimentality.

But what makes a favorite author?

My answer:

A favorite author is one whose books are an instant buy.

A favorite author is one whose books do not leave your library.

A favorite author is one you forgive easier. i.e. Stephen King often sucks at endings. I'm sorry, but he does. However, the journey still makes it worthwhile.


A favorite author is one who you won't give up on if they write a less than stellar book. However, if they keep writing bad books, they can easily lose their position. I ranted about that here a couple years ago.

Some of my favorite authors include, Stephen King, Eloisa James, Shana Galen, J.R. Ward, Maggie Shayne, Judith McNaught, Rebecca Zanetti, and of course, my critique partners: Bonnie R. Paulson and Shelley Martin. Because you cannot be a good critique partner if you do not love the other's work... and love it enough to call out the author when they're letting you down.

Favorite authors inspire me to work hard, so maybe one day, I too, can have permanent space on someone's bookshelf.

Best books I Read in 2011

Not all of these were written in 2011, but whatever.

The Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs. I devoured em all.

A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James: 2nd best rendition of Cinderella EVER! Sorry, nothing can top the movie, EVER AFTER.

When Beauty Tamed The Beast by Eloisa James. The cool thing about that one is that I get a post card of the cover when she has a new release so for Valentine's day I give it to my husband and he takes it to the bookstore and says, "My wife wants this."

FATED and CLAIMED by Rebecca Zanetti: The first two in the Dark Protector's Series, Zanetti's vampires are HOT, Hot, Hot!

MUSTAINE by Dave Mustaine: Autobiography of the lead singer and guitarist of my favorite band, Megadeth. I usually don't care for autobiographies, but this one kept me turning the pages and had me alternating between laughter and tears.

THE HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY by Suzanne Collins: Yeah, I know I was late to the bus on this one, and damn, all the hype was well-deserved!

The WARRIORS series: by Erin Hunter: I usually don't read middle grade, but it was about cats, man! My son got me hooked on 'em!

STONE KISSED by Keri Stevens: Probably the most unique paranormal romance I read this year.

BREATHE AGAIN by Bonnie R. Paulson: A heart-wrenching tale of a woman's journey to love after suffering a tragic loss.

ONCE BITTEN and THE WICKED KISS by Trina M. Lee: The 1st two in the Alexa O'Brien Huntress series, Ms. Lee put the monster back in monsters.

HUNTED BY THE OTHERS by Jess Haines: The most fun urban fantasy that I've read in awhile.

MARKED and ENTWINED by Elisabeth Naughton: These were so engrossing I read MARKED while I was getting my 1st tattoo.

LORD AND LADY SPY by Shana Galen: It's like MR. AND MRS. SMITH set in the Regency...only waaaaay better!

SOUL REBORN by Jean Murray: I've now decided that Egyptian gods are hella-sexy!

11-22-63 by Stephen King: A high-school English teacher goes back in time to try to stop the Kennedy assassination. I can't believe how good this book was. I wanted to read it again as soon as I finished it.

Different Friends, Different Gifts

When you make friends with someone, at first a lot of the bond goes to the "Me too!" moments. But as the friendship deepens, you get to know their differences. Some are surprising, some are fascinating. Many, you can learn a lot from.

I have such a friendship with fellow authors, Bonnie R. Paulson and Shelley Martin. We are all romance writers, mothers, and wives. But we are of different faiths, listen to different music, and have different interests. Bonnie's passion is dirt biking, Shelley's is Japanimation/ Manga, and mine is heavy metal & horror movies.

We also have different strengths with our writing.

Shelley's is definitely VOICE! One of the most difficult aspects of the craft to master, Shelley lends voice to her characters like a natural.

Bonnie's skill with visceral descriptions and heart-wrenching emotion is just as inspiring as it makes one seethe with envy.

As for me, I *think* my strength lies with creating unique & memorable characters. I don't think I've ever had a "normal" protagonist in my work.

As for weaknesses, I think I'll leave that for our critique sessions, editors, and book reviewers.

Anyway, what inspired this post are two things:

1.) One can learn a lot from the strengths of her friends in real life.

2.) In fiction, the best stories are where the characters learn and grow from each other's unique gifts. Stephen King's IT is a wonderful example. Yeah...like I'm going to miss an opportunity to plug my favorite novel. :)

What about you? What strengths do your friends have? What gifts of yours enhance the lives of others? If you're a writer, how do your characters' differences enhance your story? If you're a reader, what novels have done best with variety in characters?

BREATHE AGAIN by Bonnie R. Paulson is out today!

My blog posts will be short for awhile because I messed up my left thumb and have to wear an awkward brace thingie for the next few weeks. But I still gotta share the good news. My buddie, sweet contemporary romance author, Bonnie R. Paulson has a book out today with Carina Press!!!! I pre-ordered BREATHE AGAIN so it was awesome having it show up on my Kindle this morning.

Here's a blurb: Maggie Lachlan is struggling to get over the death of her husband. After being overcome by emotion during a shift in the E.R., she's suspended indefinitely. Making things worse, she needs a place to stay after the quick sale of the house she shared with her late husband.

Fortunately, her friend Ryan Stewart offers her a room while she gets her life in order, much to the chagrin of his brother and housemate, Brodan Steele. Brodan doesn't want to like Maggie, not when he knows Ryan has feelings for her too. But it's hard to deny the attraction he feels for her when she's sleeping under the same roof.

Being so close to Brodan awakens something in Maggie, something she never felt during her marriage. But as long as she's haunted by the past, she can't open herself up to the future…

I just started it and let me tell you, it was riveting enough to make me forget I was stuck waiting at the Dr.'s office.


Buy it Here, now!! 

Speaking of Series...

Yesterday I got together with my writer buddies, Bonnie R. Paulson and Shelley Martin. With them I discovered what's been holding me back on my latest project. Since it's a series, I've been having trouble figuring out how and when to work in details from previous books...and just how much information to fit in. More on this later.

That's when we began discussing the two main types of series novels. Sequential Series and Stand-Alone Series.

A Stand-Alone Series is one in which you could read the books in any order without missing anything. They can feature different characters like Judith McNaught's regency novels, or follow the same character on different adventures, Like Nancy Drew. How that girl stayed he same age from the 70's on, I'd like to know. :)

A Sequential Series is one in which it's best to read the books in order so you can follow a continuing story line. They may feature different characters, like the Dark Hunters or the Black Dagger Brotherhood novels, or the same character, like the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series.

But though there's a continuing story in the series, each novel, especially in romance, has stand-alone features, like a love story.

This is what I'm going for in mine. Today's mission will be to cut a little more back story that I believe unnecessary to the plot of this novel.

Oh, and contrary to what my progress bar for THE QUEEN OF PROPHECY says, I have been getting stuff done with it. I've just been cutting as much as I've been writing. :) See my post on this Monster Project for more explanation.

For those writing a series, which type are you working on? What problems are you attacking and what solutions have you found? 

Author Bonnie R. Paulson's Awesome Editing Trick!

During one of our critique sessions, Carina Press author, Bonnie R. Paulson showed us the coolest trick! I'm pleased to have her here today to share it.

First I’d like to thank Brook for inviting me to her site today.  I look forward to having her on mine in the future.  Hugs, girl!

Without wasting any more of your time, let’s get started!

I’m a writer. At least, I like to think I am. Why is this important? Because writers write. Duh, right? But I’m a writer who writes once then rewrites, revises and edits 90 more times. Editing isn’t an inherent ability. Most of us have read books, taken courses, studied other writer’s work, all in all obsessed over the placement of that comma, the use of big words and the flow and tug of dialogue. (The last paragraph needs the following lesson!)

I am such a writer. Maybe I should call myself a “reworker”.

The most useful self-editing course I have taken comes from Angela James of Carina Press with Harlequin. She offers this workshop called “Before You Hit Send” A self-editing course. It is PHENOM-enal! Kid you not, if you get the chance search it out and attend. Well worth it.

Before I took the course I would print out my manuscript (MS) over 3 times. The first time to do search-and-destroy (coined the term from Rebecca Zanetti), the next to do developmental edits and the last for line edits.  Three times is a heckuva lot of wasted paper.

I wasn’t doing my work justice. The MS needed lots of work, but I was often blinded and didn’t see the weak words – my eyes would gloss over them in the never ending sea of black and white. Try searching for 300 words in an ocean of 80,000 and you will feel my pain.

Ms. James taught a cool trick. Highlight. I know, right? Not highlight with a marker – highlight with your comp. Thus cutting 2 printouts of the MS, saving trees and time. Ahh. Time = gold.

Dying to know how to highlight with your word processor? I’m going to tell you using Microsoft Word 2007 (2003 is VERY similar but I make no guarantees). I do not use Mac or any other type of computer, but the idea is comparable.

First, open your doc filled to the brim with your hard work.

In the right hand corner under the X to close the document you will see Find, Replace and Select. Click on Replace. A box titled Find and Replace opens. Mine is green.

The questions is Find what: and Replace with:

**Do you know what you’re doing?

Here is my tip. Look over the first few pages of your MS. What words jump out at you as weak or repetitive? To help get you started, here’s my initial list I used for Breathe Again.

·         -ly

·         that

·         so

·         there

·         this

·         it

·         like

·         as

·         was

·         were

·         have been

·         walk

·         look

·         glance

·         stood

·         nod

·         shook

·         up

·         down

·         said

·         laughed

These are my words. You’ll have your own.

Start with the first one “-ly”. In the Find what: box type ly without the hyphen. In the Replace with: box type the same thing BUT then click on the More>> button. This will bring up a bunch more options. Go to Format and select Highlight from the Drop Down menu. Then click Replace All.

A box will pop up telling you how many ly’s were replaced and this tells you how many words

you had in your MS. My friend had a TON, but then remembered her character’s name was Lily and we both breathed a sigh of relief. 

Before proceeding to the next word to find and replace, decide if you want all your words to be highlighted the same color or not. If you want to change the color, go to the highlight button in the font box of the Home tab. Click the box and a menu of sorts will drop down. Click on the next color – bright is best or you won’t be able to read the black letters inside the dark highlighter.

            

    What about for words like it, up, was that can be inside of other words? You don’t want those to highlight as well. It’s extra work, right? Work smarter, not harder.

    

            Let’s do “it”, an ambiguous word, if ever there was one. Do the same steps above that we used on ly but do not select Replace All. We have to add one more step. Do you see above the Format box? There’s a list of 5 options: Match Case, Find Whole Words Only, Use Wildcards, Sounds Like (English) and Find All Words Forms (English). For the word It (or any other word that may show up inside another word you don’t want to find) check the box in front of Find While Words Only. Okay, now hit Replace All.

                And you go through this for your entire list of words.

What do you do once you’ve highlighted your trouble darlings? Kill them. Plain and simple. Go through each and every page. Come upon a highlight? Rework the sentence so the color disappears. If you absolutely MUST keep that one, it’s not such a big deal to leave a couple on each page, but it sure tightens your MS if you get rid of as many as you can without forcing the words.

I love doing this. It makes my life so much easier as a writer. And let’s face it – writers have it tough!

I wish you tons of luck in this endeavor and if you have any suggestions for of your own on how to self-edit, please share! I’m always looking for more tips to add to my arsenal in this war of writing.

-Bonnie

Inland Northwest bred, Bonnie R. Paulson has a degree in radiology technology as well as multiple experiences in the medical industry. Four children and a terrific husband ground her as they rev around the countryside on their dirt bikes. Faith, food, reading/writing romances and family make up just a small percentage of her favorite things.  

Hot Heroes: Reader's Perspective vs. Writer's

This is a subject I've been pondering and longing to discuss for awhile. What pushed me to finally do it was when an awesome crit partner, Bonnie R. Paulson, made a comment about the hero in my current project, who's a rock legend.

"I love how he's older," she said. "He makes me think of Jon Bon Jovi."
She had the hero's age about right, though I never specified besides a vague hint. And she had his musical era down pat. The musical genre? Close, but not quite. Appearance? Well, they're both hot and had long hair and gorgeous voices. Still, it wasn't close to who I pictured, and that's great!

My point? I think I have a win here. In fact, I hope another crit partner pictures Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, though that's even farther from my vision. Why? For the most part, I want the reader to picture their ideal rock star, not mine.

While men seem to have a stereotype on the "perfect woman," i.e. medium height, blonde hair, thin, big boobs, etc., Women's tastes in men vary a lot. Some like 'em brunette, some like 'em blonde. Some like 'em pale, some like 'em dark. My best friend likes guys her age, another friend likes younger guys. I always went for older men. Some women like chest hair and I don't. I love Virginia Henley's novels, but every time I read about the heroine threading her fingers through the hero's "pelt," I cringe...and sometimes gag a little. Other than that, her books kick ass!

While writing, I often wonder: How specific should I get with my descriptions of the hero? Should I point out that in my mind, his chest is always hairless, he always has long hair, and unless specified otherwise, his face is usually devoid of scruff?

Then there's the other side of the coin. The ideal is that the hero should always be tall, muscular, and well- endowed. (Seriously, I saw that in a publisher's submission guidelines.) I'm going to let you in on a little secret: Not all of my heroes are tall and hung. It seems redundant and unrealistic to me. Many fit those qualifications, but some of my guys are average...and some may be short in stature for a romance hero...and okay, I admit, none are "below average" in the other aspect.

So far, I'm handling this by not getting too specific about those details. With some heroes, I'll point out that they're tall and have bare chests, but with others, I won't specify. I'll just mention his chest, or his presence with no reference to height or body hair at all. Same with the size of his junk. The reader can fill that in. One thing I won't bend on is that my heroes will either always have long hair, or they'll be bald. I'm an all or nothing kind of girl. :)

I remember an online discussion in which someone said, "If a man in a romance novel has long hair, I block it out."

Well, I'm the same way. Unless the author constantly emphasizes the hero's short hair, I picture him with long, lustrous locks, and with no "pelt" on his chest.

My question to you is: When is it fine for the author to leave things to your imagination, and when do you want the dirty details? When does MY idea of a hot guy freeze out yours?

Oooh, and some good news today: Thanks to my critique buddy, Millie McClain, my project finally has a title! It shall be called "His Solo Project." Thanks, Millie!

Fun at the Release Party for FATED

I'll warn you now, I'm going to make a huge deal over this. I live in northern Idaho, which is a beautiful place, but  is practically in the middle of nowhere. Therefore, we miss a lot of excellent concerts, plays, and other attractions. Authors almost never come here for book signings. But this time, I lucked out. In case you haven't heard, FATED by Rebecca Zanetti came out yesterday. And what's even better is that she's from my area, so I was able to attend the release party!

It was held at The Gourmet Way, a fabulous store full of cooking supplies, spices, and wine. And I got a new digital camera so I was able to go all fan girl and get a picture of myself with the author.

I gotta say, Rebecca Zanetti is even prettier in person! And she was all cool and classy the whole time signing TONS of books for her never ending line of eager readers. I would have been blushing and babbling like a moron, I'm sure.

With all the people there, I didn't get a chance to talk to her long, but there were other awesome people in attendance. My buddy and fellow IWL member, Shelley Martin was there along with romantic suspense author, Bonnie R. Paulson. Then later I ran into author, Asa Marie Bradley who did an awesome workshop at last year's IWL conference.

I also got to sample some delicious appetizers, yummy wine, and these decadent chocolate cupcake thingies. While munching, I overheard the funniest conversation between two guys. They said they loved the cover of FATED because men could read it in public without anyone knowing they were reading a romance novel. LOL!! I was still laughing when I left to go to work.

NOW for my awesome news: Be sure to stop by on Friday, because Rebecca Zanetti is doing a guest post and you guys will get a chance to win a copy of FATED!