RT Recap Part 2

Part II, Day 2

Jess woke me up so we could have breakfast with Lia Davis, Carrie Ann Ryan, Charity Hendry, and a couple other awesome people. I thought they meant down in the lobby... I also thought the table with the array of food was a free continental breakfast. So I had a delicious spinach and ricotta stuffed croissant. So when Jess and the others announced that we were ready to leave for lunch, I was all, "Huh? I thought we were eating breakfast here."

"No way. It's too expensive."

Oops. I'd thought it was free.

We went to a place called "Red Gravy." Here's some fun pics.

I'm still half asleep and rocking my Megadeth shirt... Jess's shirt is better though.

I was bummed to discover that the Red Gravy was only marina. Needless to say, it didn't go well with the biscuit I ordered. So I spent a lot of time ogling everyone else's plates. :)

After breakfast, Jess and I attended some publisher spotlights to see where the market is going. I was beyond delighted to discover that rock stars are IN! I ended up with a ton of requests for my rock star romance. While giddily bouncing around after that, I spent a little time socializing and meeting more people. I'd purposely brought books by authors I'd hoped to meet and was over the moon when I ran into Eloisa James outside the elevator. She cheerfully signed my worn out copy of POTENT PLEASURES and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek! Jess hauled my gasping fan-girl ass back to our room so we could get ready for lunch.

Gratuitous Pic of Eloisa with Courtney Milan and PJ Arshendaut at another event because I was too wimpy to ask for one with me.

Jess and I had another visit to Daisy Dukes and OF COURSE I ordered the New Orleans sampler. I had shrimp n' grits, crawfish etouffee, red bean & rice, gumbo, and a biscuit. We hung out a bit with Amy Ruttan and visited with Shoshanna Evers and Jess's associate editor, Peter Senftleben and then went to a corner store and a shoe store. I found my hard cider!!! Alas, I also had to get a bottle opener. I had the choice of one that looked like a beer mug or one that looked like a naked lady. I went for the beer mug.

We got all gussied up for the Kensington party, where Jess had a table with really nifty crystal balls showing her book cover. I ran around and visited with a bunch of other authors and readers while Jess interacted with her fans. Damn, there were some cool people!

After the party, everyone lined up for the pub crawl. Jess, Charity, and I took one look at the line and changed our minds. Instead, we sipped hard cider in our room. Then poor Jess had a sore throat so she went to bed early so she could speak at her next event. I wandered down to the Samhain party, which was off the hook.

I can't remember who these lovely ladies were, but they were awesome.

Then there was this other awesome chick dressed up as Mallificent!

Best of all, she totally didn't mind the random crazy girl in the Spinal Tap shirt bowing down and taking pictures.

Then I ran into this awesome lady all decked out old southern style. She turned out to be Cynthia D'Alba and her swag was the best: MATCHES.

Anyway, Cynthia was a total darling and insisted that I have a picture taken with her cowboy cover model, who happened to be from Spokane, Washington which is the town next to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, my stomping ground. Between our impromptu photoshoot, we had a good giggle about how real northwest cowboys don't look or speak like media cowboys. I grew up on a cattle farm. We drove the cows with tractors, never rode horses, never wore cowboy hats, wore T-shirts, beanies, jeans and workboots (Oh shit, we looked like Nirvana!) and sounded like CBS newscasters.

Still, it was good times.

I also spent a lot of time in the smoking area out front and met some awesome Texan booksellers who had a HAUNTED bookstore. I wish I would have gotten pictures of them. I loved the smoking area. I met a ton of cool people and it was quiet enough to carry on conversations. Quiet is more my pace.

I ended the night by going on a pizza run with cover model DeLonn Donovan and a publicist. I can't remember her name, but DeLonn is easy because apparently he's everywhere and a total sweetie!

After the pizza run, I was dead on my feet and shambled back to my room and promptly fell asleep, dreaming of my own personal romance hero.

Day 3 coming soon!

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.

Trope Talk: Guardian/ Ward

I've been wanting to do a series of posts on tropes for awhile. They are so prominent in the romance genre that one cannot escape them in one way or another. But I say this isn't necessarily a bad thing. I don't know about you, but I'll often buy books because I'm craving a certain trope. Sometimes that backfires miserably. And sometimes I'll read a book that features a trope I usually loathe, but this time I enjoy it.

It all depends on how the trope is handled.

So here's my first trope:

Most often found in historical romances is the GUARDIAN and WARD romance:

What is appealing about this trope?

1.) The aspect of the forbidden: The hero is responsible for the heroine's well-being and often it's his job to ensure she has a successful marriage...to anyone but him. Delicious!

2.) The characters often get more "screen time" alone together and have the opportunity for more intimacy...and hilarious hijinks.

3.) Some readers like older men. (I think that's part of why I like vampires.)

When this trope goes wrong:

1.) When the hero was the heroine's guardian for a long time, or knew her since she was a child. This kinda brings some pedophilia contexts to it. Ewwww.

2.) When the situation in which the hero becomes her guardian is ridiculously unbelievable. Any time the reader is pulled out of the story shaking her head is bad.

3.) Any instance when it's treated like a parent/ child situation. For any edgy role-play, we can pick up some erotica instead.

Some good examples of the Guardian/ Ward trope done well.

THE TAMING OF THE DUKE by Eloisa James. Book 3 in the awesome Essex Sisters quartet, I think it was my favorite and the most unique use of the trope.

In book one, when the hero discovers he's to become guardian to his old friend's four daughters, he turns a room into a nursery, fills it with toys and hires nursemaids...only to discover that all four are grown women. LOL! The one he ends up with is Imogen, though they hated each other on sight and the hostility continues for over two books straight. Like with most Eloisa James novels, one should read the books in order to better enjoy the fun.

SEDUCED by Virginia Henley

This one is awesome because it also involved another of my favorite tropes: Girl disguised as boy. When twin siblings, Anthony and Antonia Lamb go out sailing, there's an accident and the brother is lost at sea. Antonia then disguises herself as her brother to prevent an evil cousin from inheriting. Things get crazy when the twins' guardian arrives and makes it his mission in life to make a man out of her. The best part? SHE ends up seducing him! (But in disguise as a random Italian partying woman) ...and he nearly craps a brick when he finds out who she is.

What are some other guardian/ ward tropes you've enjoyed? What ones make you cringe? Which tropes do you think I should cover next?

The Crazy Tale Of My 3-Book Deal!!!

Crazy as deep-throating a whole cake...with lit candles.

You guys have NO idea how hard it was to act like everything's been normal the last 2 weeks. Whew!

What am I talking about?

For those of you who missed my announcement on Twitter and Facebook this weekend: I ACCEPTED A THREE-BOOK OFFER FROM SOURCEBOOKS!!!!

How did I get it? Mostly by accident, with a lot of craziness....and a ton of hard work to write the manuscript and get it in its best possible shape.

Oh, and did I mention that I kinda-sorta wrote that book on accident?

I'd lost my career and my mother (that part was the worst) in five month's time and my attempts to query an earlier novel failed miserably. Half mad from grief, I took a gamble with my small inheritance to take a year off, research the industry better, perfect my craft, and write a better, more marketable manuscript.

I replaced my dinosaur computer with a laptop and got the internet. Wow, I learned a ton. The first thing: A writer NEEDS the internet. :) But I had little idea as to what to write.

I tried a brief stint as a financial adviser and though I learned a ton about finance, I was a complete failure at making a career out of it. But... I got THE idea.

My coworkers asked me what I wrote and I explained what paranormal romance was. Then I heard, "Oh, like TWILIGHT?" for the 100th freakin' time. As one who'd cut her teeth on vintage Anne Rice, Maggie Shayne, The Lost Boys, and the Subspecies movies, it kinda irritates me when people think TWILIGHT is the first vampire craze ever. I knew about Bram Stoker, but I was pretty sure the history went further back.

That's totally what Louis would think. :)

I took out my "Encyclopedia of the Undead" that my aunt got me in my goth days and found out that the first vampire story in English was written in the REGENCY period by none other than Lord Byron's physician, Dr. John Polidori. In fact, the story evolved from a ghost writing competition with Byron, Percy Shelly, and Mary-freakin'-Shelley. Frankenstein was another story birthed from that fateful night.

Polidori's tale spawned a vampire-craze all over western Europe long before Dracula, The Vampire Chronicles, Twilight, etc.

And he was CUTE too!

I adore regency romances! I've read Judith McNaught and Johanna Lindsay like an addict. Virginia Henley and Eloisa James are my heroes. I love rebellious heroines with unconventional dreams. I got to thinking....why was this vampire craze never mentioned in regency novels? Or Mary Shelley's work, for that matter?

I did a little more digging. How far had feminist literature progressed by then? In Georgian times, a famous work was: A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN, by Mary Wollstonecraft. She was none other than MARY SHELLEY'S MOTHER!!! It was too delicious for words.

Imagine a regency heroine idolizing those women and wanting to write horror novels of her own. Then I got to thinking again about vampires. Wouldn't Polidori's story piss them off? Especially one trying to pose as a member of London Society?

As Stephen King would say: POW!!! And it all started with me trying to prove a point to people who probably didn't care.

Stephen King's my hero, too.

In a state of giddy delight, I finished the rough draft in less than three months. It was the most FUN I've ever had writing. Even better was that my beta readers had fun reading it.

I polished it up and wrote the query. I got a ton of requests right away, most complimenting the title....which was ALSO an accident. While writing the novel, I had no clue what to call it, so I gave it a joke title. My vampire was a duke, so I called it "BITE ME, YOUR GRACE."

But when I threw it out on Twitter, people loved it so much, even going so far as to say they'd buy it due to the title. So it stuck.

After having fulls with 8 agents, I signed with one. The others passed because the manuscript wasn't awesome enough...which proves I yet again queried too soon. Because the agent I signed with turned out to... Not really be much of one.  (I ask that you click on that link so you get that story without me having to make this post longer than it is.)

After that relationship ended, I took another gamble and inquired on the status of my submission with a few publishers and queried a few more. I didn't expect to get far with the inquiries, but figured I'd find a home for BITE ME, YOUR GRACE with a small respectable house. Still, both inquiries led to full requests and the editor of Sourcebooks even emailed me personally when she received it to say she loved the title. Then a smaller house requested the full...and offered a contract within two days.

I was totally stoked. The publisher loved the book, their terms were appealing, their authors were great (in fact, a few were former clients of my ex agent) and I admired their cover art. However, Sourcebooks was still considering the manuscript. Following protocol, I informed the editor of the offer and asked for two weeks for a response. I fully expected her to pass, being so busy. To my surprise, she didn't.

For the next week and a half, my inner voice vacillated between "Hurry up and reject me already!" and "Could they REALLY be considering it?" I doubted it, the reasons outlined in my "no longer have an agent" post. (See, I told you to click that link.)

But after a bunch of crazy emails and exciting phone conversations, Sourcebooks counter-offered with a three book deal. "I just couldn't let that book go," said the almighty DEB WERKSMAN.

It was like that microphone had been replaced by...um...me.

As much as I liked the other publisher, it was in my best interest to take Deb's offer.

And as a gangster-skater hybrid from the 90's would say, "Shit just got real, Yo."

With hard work, a multitude of happy and unhappy accidents, and untold support from friends and family, my dreams have begun to come true.

That's my crazy story. The next post will be on said shit getting real, "yo." :)

The Awwww Factor.

Last night I posted this on Facebook: "I realized Eloisa James has surpassed Judith McNaught as my other favorite historical author. She's still a tie with Virginia Henley. Not only because McNaught quit writing historical and gone to corporate guys (eww) but like Henley, James sneaks in bitchin' history lessons & she's daring.
Still, McNaught was queen of the "Aww" factor. But now I've discovered Julie Garwood for that."

The next morning, both Eloisa James and Virginia Henley responded to my post! After I was done doing the happy fan-girl dance, I realized that it would be great to do a blog post about the "Awww" Factor. I still maintain that McNaught reigned supreme with it...then again, Garwood wields that weapon formidably. 

The Awww factor is, well, anything in a story that literally makes the reader melt a little and go, "Awwwww!" It is a very difficult thing to achieve. There is a fine line between cheesy and Awww. Witness the many epic failures of dozens of romantic comedies. I have failed in at least 80% of my attempts. "This seems forced" "A farce" "Cliche" or "Flat out corny, please cut" my readers will declare. 

But every once in awhile, I succeed. There was the scene in which my autocratic rock star hero (who had just met the heroine) soothed her from a nightmare by singing her to sleep. "Awwww!" my readers responded, and I melted even more than I did during writing that scene. And there was the one in my Brides of Prophecy series...but I don't know how to describe it without revealing spoilers. 

Really, that's all I can think of off the top of my head. The "Awww" factor is THAT hard to nail. What are some of your favorite "Awww" moments, either in books or movies? What do you think makes or breaks an attempt at an "Awww" factor? Is it magic? Or is there a science to it?

Btw, I still adore Judith McNaught, hell, I named a character after her. But she did something else that really bugged me. After one of her novels is an excerpt of an awesome time-travel that I would have pawned something so I could buy and read it right away. Turns out, that book never came to be. Do you have any idea how frustrating that was?!! Oh yeah, we're all readers here. I know you do. :)

Freakish Friday: Physical Defects

Long gone are the days when the heroes and heroines of romance novels had to be perfect physical specimens. Well, the hero could have a few scars as long as they enhanced his machismo and made him look dangerous. But the heroine... hell no! She must have alabaster skin, perfect boobs, etc.

I am much happier with today's romance novels. I know I bring up JR Ward a lot, and with my new Friday theme I will probably continue to do so because her characters are so delightfully flawed. One of her heroes is blind and another is partially castrated, to begin with. One of her heroines is average looking and has scars from surgical operations. I love her for this!

As much as I have issues with Laurell K. Hamilton these days, she was even more ballsy. One of her characters had tentacles! Apparently that's a huge fetish in Japan nowadays but I was pretty squicked out at first. But the way she wrote Sholto, she made him beautiful and sexy. That's damn impressive...until when it came time for the heroine to get it on with him and the tentacles magically disappeared and turned into a tattoo. I and many other readers were disappointed with this if you can believe it.

Why? Because we fell in love with Sholto and wanted him to be embraced for who and what he was.

Although she's not in the paranormal genre, I have to give major kudos to historical romance author, Eloisa James for giving her characters defects. In FOOL FOR LOVE, her heroine has a bad hip. In WHEN BEAUTY TAMED THE BEAST, the hero has a bad leg (and is also the regency version of Dr. House, how awesome is that?!) and the beautiful heroine becomes disfigured by an illness but he still LOVED her!!! Seriously, that one made me cry.

What other authors have dared to defy romance tradition by making imperfect characters? What can we learn from them?    

Influences and Hugs.

I'm buried in projects so I decided now is a good time for a "getting to know you" bit.

We all have influences that have shaped our lives and styles of our work. Our influences had influences of their own. I wish I could hug those people that have enriched my life and in their own ways shaped the person that I am today. So here's the top 11 famous people living and dead that I want to hug. :)

Living

           

1.) Stephen King – Author extraordinaire

2.) Dave Mustaine -Megadeth

3.) Virginia Henley- Historian and Author extraordinaire

4.) Anne Rice- Author extraordinaire

5.) Tori Amos – Vocalist and musician

6.) Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails)

7.) Alice Walker- Author extraordinaire

8.) Eloisa James- Scholar and Author extraordinaire

9.) Judith McNaught - Author extraordinaire

10.)  Tim Burton- Film maker who spoke directly to my state of mind

11.) Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman- Authors extraordinaire

Dead

1.) Jesus- dude, it’s Jesus what more can I say?

2.) Leonardo Da Vinci- Dude did everything but tap dancing.

3.) Ronnie James Dio- (Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio, Heaven and Hell) One of the founding fathers of heavy metal, his career spanned across 6 decades. That's longer than Elvis, people. :)

4.) Benjamin Franklin- Founding father of my country and zen master of common sense.

5.) Mary Wollstonecraft- Raging feminist of the eighteenth century and Mary Shelley's mom!

6.) David Wayne- Lead singer of Metal Church with a voice that gave me happy goosebumps. 

7.) David Eddings- Author of some of the best fantasy novels out there

8.) Queen Elizabeth I- One of the most successful monarchs of all time

9.) Edgar Allen Poe- The Raven, Masque of the Red Death, Alone. Need I say more. 

10.) John Keats- Everyone should read Ode to a Nightingale!

11.) Beethoven- He was the heavy metal of his day. 

How about you? Who would you hug if you had a chance?