Blogging Around

Today's the final day for Red Wolverton Howling! Can't wait to find out how it all wraps up. It's been such a blast being involved in this story and I'd like to give a huge Thank You to everyone who's joined in!!

In other news, I'm chatting at the lovely Allie Boniface's blog today and if you get a moment we'd love to see you over there!

Perth Roadshow 2009

On Saturday I attended the 2009 RWA Romance Roadshow in Perth. What a fantastic day! The Roadshow Committee did a wonderful job of organising everything. We were lucky enough to have Kelly Hunter, President of the RWA and published with Harlequin Mills and Boon Modern Heat/Sexy Sensation, Keri Arthur, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Riley Jenson, Guardian series, and Denise Rossetti, erotic romance author published with Ellora's Cave and Berkley Sensation.


The day could have been tailor made for me, since Keri took workshops on world building, on how we as authors can successfully create an alternative and believable environment. I find setting a challenge and have to constantly remind myself to layer in the landscape/climate etc so this was invaluable for me.

Keri also did a question and answer session on writing urban fantasy/paranormal and all the nitty gritty bits of the publishing world which was completely fascinating!!!

Me and Keri Arthur (not that I'm name dropping here...)

Then we had the Sealed Section with Denise which
proved very popular for some reason!!! We discussed language, the differences between erotic romance, erotica and pornography and the importance of vivid sensory detail and deep emotional point of view. Her tips were invaluable.
It was also great to chat about publishing in general with authors who've experience in both e and traditional publishing marketplaces.

There were also tutorials on deep point of view, effective story dialogue and romance heroes, lots of spot prizes and goody bags!


Me with Denise Rossetti (OK I AM shamelessly name dropping!!)

It was fantastic to meet up with so many other writers, and it sure didn't feel like a whole year ago since the inaugural Roadshow when I was so inspired that I subbed Foretaste of Forever to The Wild Rose Press!

Here's a pic of me with my good mate Nikki Logan, who a few months after last year's Roadshow signed a two book contract with Harlequin Mills and Boon Romance! Her debut book is out in the New Year and I can't wait to read it!

Destined to Mate - C.A. Salo

Please welcome my special guest today, C.A. Salo, whose recent release from The Wilder Roses, Destined to Mate, is racing up the bestseller lists!

C.A, please tell us about yourself!

I’m a mom and sister, living off Florida’s Gulf Coast with my son and several pets.

I like to write anything from sweet to HOT, HOT, HOT with a happy ending.

When not writing, I home school. Exploring interesting ideas and places has become a norm for us.

Travel, reading, photography, coffee, and wines are also a favorite for this diversified Gemini.

Can you tell us a little about your book?

As a Chimera, half lioness/half human, Alexis Xanthis, has never released the beast within. Until she meets Lykan Alpha, Morgan LeVey. Being near him triggers a powerful need to mate, but is Morgan strong enough to dominate her feline side and still handle the human half with a gentle hand? And will the powers that be allow it?

How did the idea for the plot come about?

I remember a Chimera being mention in one of the Hercules – The Legendary Journeys TV shows on television in the 90’s. So I looked a Chimera up, (isn’t the web a wonderful tool.) LOL, and learned a little more about the Greek mythological creature before writing her a story of her own with some of my twists added.

I love sale stories (ok I am just nosy!!) so can you tell us about your road to publication - and your call story?

LOL, no prob. I was first published in 2006 with a couple small e-publishers, who shut their doors for one reason or another. I have two best sellers with Whiskey Creek Press Torrid. And decided to rework Destined to Mate and send her in to The Wild Rose Press.

Silly me sent her into the wrong line, but the editor loved Destined to Mate so much, she send it to the wilder side of TWRP. *Grins* and here we are today. The reviews coming in are awesome…so yeah…I’m PSYCHED!!

We are all about the love here, so please share your fave books, movies, TV shows or current fantasy squeeze (it's all in the line of research!)

Hey I’m all for research! LOL. I am such a diversified person. I love so many things, but I have to say my favorite movie of all time is Highlander with Christopher Lambert & Sean Connery. If you look beyond Connor being an immortal, you’ll see it’s also a love story between Connor and his beloved Heather.

Books, well there’s just so many of them. But the first book that really caught my temptation (shall we say) was written by the wonderful Beatrice Small. It was the first “hot” book I read, and you know, I’m embarrassed to say, I can’t remember the name of it *blushing* If I had all my belongings unpacked from our recent move, I’d be able to tell you in a heart beat, but I read it over ten years ago. SORRY!! But I can still remember the exact scene I just wrote about *Big Grins / Wiggling Eyebrows*

TV Shows – I’m a total Sci-Fi nut. Seeing as how they just took my Battle Star Galactica off and Fringe just had it’s season ender, I’m waiting for Sanctuary to start up again.

Christina: Oooh yes. I LOVE BSG. Don't get me started!!!

Current Fantasy Squeeze – Hehehehehehe, J Well, That’s being plotted in my head at this moment.

What are you working on now?

I’m drawing up an outline for a sequel or two to Destined to Mate, and am self editing the sequel to A Slave’s Way Out.

Quickies

What's your fave:

Time to write: Mid-morning

Song: Anything Rock and Roll

Pair of shoes: Sneakers

Food: Sushi

Place (on earth or off!): On Earth - A Quiet place in the woods or where I can sink my hands into the soil / Off Earth – anywhere the closest star ship would like to take me. J

Guiltiest pleasure: Chocolate

How can readers keep up with your writing and books?

My Web site: www.casalo.webs.com

Myspace: www.myspace.com/ca_salo

My Blog: http://authorcasalo.blogspot.com

Links to find my books:

A Slave’s Way Out

The Devil Himself:

Destined to Mate:

I'm Baa-aaccck!!!

Phew. Fingers crossed I'm back to normal now (not that my family would notice as they think I'm barking on the best of days!) I had to reinstall Incredimail after all, as the other email feature I had drove me insane. I'll just have to put up with the smilies which insist on attaching themselves to everything I send.

We survived the cyclone and ten foot waves although the weather is so dull and miserable it's just like being back in England in November! Shouldn't complain since it's been a gorgeous autumn so far. On the other hand I derive a great deal of pleasure from complaining!!!!!!!!

I realised this morning there's only a few more days left until Red Wolverton Howling finishes. This shocked me as I've kind of got used to hopping over to Coffee Time Romance and reading what's happening with the intrepid Carrie and her hot harem of sex starved males!!! However, it also means that somehow or other everything has to be resolved by 27th May and if you've been following the story you'll know there's a LOT to resolve!!! Any ideas, please jump in with the next exciting instalment!!!

Update

Thankfully when we (that's the Royal 'we' btw, haha) reinstalled the updated Incredimail all my emails magically and incomprehensibly reappeared. But I have the feeling the computer's on its last legs, despite not even being 3 years old, as it took three attempts just to boot up this morning. And five minutes ago, half way through this blog post, everything disappeared and I got slung back to bigpond.

At least last night I managed to back up a lot of my email folders so am feeling a bit calmer about that.

Eric

Thank you so much for your comment, which I'm going to repost here so everyone can read it.

Christina, Sounds as though you’re having quite a day.
Are you aware there are now update site to install the latest patches to your operating system so the ‘things’ floating around the Internet won’t bother you?
For Microsoft operating systems the address is; http://update.microsoft.com
The problem now is whether to believe me. ----
The motivation to provide address like that above wasn’t the companies who provide the computer software but rather an initiative of the United States government attempting to protecting consumer rights (and computer security in general).
The CERT organisation administers who will do what to which operating system.http://www.cert.org ---
Hope your day goes better from now on. --- Eric
PS: My thoughts: (To make your day) I don't think backups help. The problem is always in the backup long before it surfaces.


(Me again) Eric, Thank you so much for taking the time to explain and I totally believe you since you've come to our rescue so many times in the past! Although I could have done without knowing that last bit!!!

Panic Attacks

Despite my paranoia about not clicking on dodgy links (even ones sent by friends unless I KNOW they really and truly did send it!!) my computer's been acting up over the last couple of days. Yesterday it got so bad Hotmail kept kicking me off and every time I tried to hop onto a site (even friends' blogs) a warning page flicked up (I think it was total spam but was horribly annoying as it wanted me to click onto its security system to let me continue)

Now I'm pretty good about backing up all my docs, but emails? Uh, no. After running Nortons last night and deleting some viruses, I decided first thing this morning I'd back up my important emails and favourite research sites.

So I logged in, answered a couple of emails and began to back up. I did two before Nortons informed me I had a trojan. Lovely. Cleaned that out and then the dreaded blue page popped up. Three times. Eventually I managed to get past that only to discover my entire email programme had VANISHED. "critical error"

*cue Christina having hysterics*

I googled the problem and hopefully all might not be lost, I'm waiting for my computer genuis to get home. The thought of losing all my email contacts, emails which date back YEARS!!, photos and the publishing history of my two short stories!! it's kind of traumatic really.

And the moral of this story is....

*sigh*

Roll Over, Stephen King!!!

While flicking through the online book stores last night, I discovered Touch of the Demon is categorised over at All Romanceebooks as Paranormal/Horror.

Horror?!

I can't think why it's been called a horror. I'm sure if anyone bought it expecting a horror they'd feel misled! It's a futuristic/fantasy, although I'm fine with calling it a paranormal since that's what I called it before it was contracted!

Saje - Deborah J Panger

Please welcome my special guest this week, Scarlet Rose author Deborah J Panger, whose Miniature Rose, Saje, is riding high in The Wild Rose Press bestseller lists!

Deborah J Panger is an author of romantic and erotic fiction. With an interest in fairy lore, she blends fantasy with romance to weave enchanting love stories. She’s an active member of Romance Writers of America and their Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal chapter and critique group.

Hi, thanks for having me.

Can you tell us a little about your book?

Yes, my erotic short story, Saje, is about a lonely woman who wakes up on May Day to find a naked male stranger with wings, standing in her dining room. Instead of screaming and running for her life, she finds herself attracted to him. She learns he is Saje, a seed-spreading, trinket hording Woodland Fairy and he's brought her two May Day Baskets. They wind up making whoopie on her dining room table and then he won't leave. How does she get rid or him? Or will she even want to?

How did the idea for the plot come about?

Actually, I saw a call for submissions on Myspace wanting stories about the lesser known holidays, such as Labor day, etc. The idea struck me out of nowhere, so I wrote Saje, submitted it to the publisher that called for the submissions, and they passed on it. I ended up sending it to The Wild Rose Press and they offered me my first contract.

I love sale stories (ok I am just nosy!!) so can you tell us about your road to publication - and your call story?

Sure. About eight years ago, I decided to write a novel out of the clear blue. I managed to pen a historical novel, named 'Punished Desire' and I self published it. ,You can still find it on the web. I'm proud of my baby, even though its chalk full of mistakes. I had no idea how to write back then. Anyways, about three years ago, I joined Romance Writer's of America and their FF&P chapter and critique group, and then got down to business on honing my craft. As I mentioned, I submitted Saje to The Wild Rose Press and they offered me a contract after I did a few changes on my manuscript. Everyone kept telling me that I'd get hundreds of rejections before I got a nibble, but I must be one of the fortunate ones, because I had only recieved 2 rejections before my first sale. I know...that's odd. In addition to Punished Desire and Saje, I have finished a full-length fairy fantasy novel, Thorn's Embrace, which I had submitted to another publisher before I sold to The Wild Rose Press. A few weeks ago, I recieved a rejection on it, stating they no longer accept anything over 65k. So now, I've gotten 3 rejections. :) I plan to clean up Thorn's Embrace before submitting it again.

We are all about the love here, so please share your fave books, movies, TV shows or current fantasy squeeze (it's all in the line of research!)

Oh boy, where do I begin? Books. I'll start there. My all-time favorite book is 'Night Play' by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I like all her dark-hunter, were-hunter books. I'm also a fan of Christine Feehan and J. R. Ward. Movies: Pretty in Pink, Pirates of The Carribean, Final Fantasy-Advent Children. I love movies and could go on and on, so I'll stop. Tv shows-I'm addicted to American Idol. Adam Lambert's my fave this season. And fantasy squeezes. I'm a little eccentric on my taste but here goes:Jon Bon Jovi-been a huge fan since the 80's. Cloud Strife-I know he's a computerized cartoon, but my oh my, he's hot. Gerard ButlerHugh JackmanAnd I'd love a Carpathian male, Were-hunter, and dark-hunter to call my very own.

What are you working on now?

I just submitted another fae short story, Firefae, to Wild Rose. It's about a fireman who is kidnapped and taken back to the Fae Realm by a wee little female fairy whose responsible for the brushfire he's recently put out. We'll see how it goes.

Quickies

What's your fave:

Time to write---Weekends
Song-At the Stars, by Better Than Ezra
Pair of shoes-flip-flops
Food-Fried Shrimp Po-boys
Place (on earth or off!)-Disney World.
Guiltiest pleasure -OOAK male fantasy dolls.

How can readers keep up with your writing and books?

My main website
or Myspace

Thanks for having me. I've really enjoyed it. Take care ya'll,Deb                

A Tidy Office - it just isn't right!!

My husband walked into my office today and stopped dead by the door, looking a bit confused.

"You've tidied up." He sounded flabbergasted. As if I never tidy up the office!!!

Now, I do. On occasion. But even then I still have my piles of research papers covering the desk. But this morning, in honour of the momentous occasion of finally finishing (for now anyway) my Roman I packed away all my printed out A4 sheets, scribbled notes and notebook. My desk looks naked and I feel very bereft!!!

Found a good resource which gives lots of info on publishers seeking various erotic submissions at the erotic authors live journal Well worth having a look through.

The Roman is Roamin'

The blurb is polished, the synopsis has been whipped into shape. What kind of shape I'm not sure, but at least it's there on the page. Or, 10 pages but in my defence they are double spaced!

The only problem is I'm having huge issues with letting go. I keep thinking I should give the ms another read through for factual errors, or perhaps change some minor characters' names. Again. Anything, in fact, which puts off the moment of hitting send!

In other news, I'm having great fun with Red Wolverton Howling. The action *snickers* has now shifted (yeah I'm really sorry about all these bad puns!!!) to what lies beneath the hero's tightie-whities. Let's just say I might have been influenced by Shelley's hysterical blog post of a few weeks ago!!!

Two Faces, One Life - Margaret West

Well, today I have a very special guest, Margaret West, who also happens to be my lovely sister-in-law! This means I have to watch what I say as Margaret knows far too much about me for comfort!!!

Margaret's short story, Two Faces, One Life, was recently released by Eternal Press and can also be found on Amazon

You can check out the trailer here

Bio

Born in Croydon, England in 1962, Margaret West was raised with her four older siblings by their mother, a social worker and father, a painter/decorator. . Although her father is no longer alive, Margaret still feels he watches over her. She has always found writing to be a creative as well as a cathartic process, especially during difficult periods in her life. She found her true writing voice after becoming a spiritualist. Her love for literature extends from writing to reading and is always willing to embrace new ideas and philosophies. She likes nothing more then to sit with a good book in the quiet realms of the countryside, with her dogs, Milo and Chester. A true animal lover, Margaret’s warmth and sensitivity is reflected in her writing.


Can you tell us a little about your book?

Two Faces One Life is a short inspirational story about two people with disabilities. Ted learns to live with his and adapts to the world the best way he can, while Sarah would rather end her life than live in a world she fears will never accept her. This is a romance that will touch most peoples hearts. The message in it is very clear. In life you may be given steep hills to climb and rocky paths to walk upon, but if you take your courage in both hands, nothing is impossible to overcome.

How did the idea for the plot come about?

My niece was ill for a very long time. Over the years, as I watched her journey of survival, I saw the courage in her eyes as she battled through the pain of her illness, determined that she would walk again and live a normal life. This inspired me to write this story and show the journey of two people coming together, dispite their disabilites.

I love sale stories (ok I am just nosy!!) so can you tell us about your road to publication - and your call story?

My first sale was about six years ago. I submitted The Crystal Pendulum to a publisher in the USA and forgot all about it. Lets face it, as authors we submit until we slump over over our computers in Exhaustion lol A few months later, I was at home, mashing potatoes for dinner, when I received a call from the publisher offering me a contract for TCP. I was so shocked, the phone slid from my hands and fell in the potatoes. I had to quickly fish it out and then continue a conversation with red hot mash on my ear as I had no time to wipe the phone. That call I will remember for the rest of my life lol

We are all about the love here, so please share your fave books, movies, TV shows or current fantasy squeeze (it's all in the line of research!)

My favourite movies..ummm..well, they are very diverse. I like most Historical's or comedy's, especially, Marley and me. I had a good cry at the weekend watching that lol. I'm not a horror or thriller kinda girl. My fav man has to be Booth, from Bones... Aka Angel...that's a man who could bite me any day when he was a vampire!!!

What are you working on now?

Right now I have just finished editing three books, which I will submit to my publisher sometime this year. Right now I have a release due sometime this year, called The Heart of a Warrior. I also run on line courses for Psychic Development and Crystal Therapy, so I have been busy making the meditaions CD's to accompany them.

How can readers keep up with your writing and books?

They can go to my web site

Red Wolverton Howling! Paranormal Space Opera!!!

For the month of May, I'm helping my good friend the lovely Shelley Munro to host Coffee Write over at the CTR forums and I hope you can all stop by and join in the fun!!!

We've gone for a Paranormal Space Opera theme, and the title is Red Wolverton Howling (why does this make me think of Hugh Jackman...? *ponders*!!)

This is how it works. Shelley's posted an introduction, which sets up the story world and major characters, and the first paragraphs. Anyone can now post their own paragraphs continuing the story in any way they fancy - keeping in mind the basic intro!! You can post as often as you like during the month of May, but only once per day. This series runs from 1st May to 27th May.

There's a chat going on here!!

Prizes!!!

Winner can choose 1 x download from Shelley Munro’s backlist plus they get downloads of Christina’s two Wild Rose Press releases, Foretaste of Forever and Touch of the Demon. Also, a second prize winner can choose 1 x download from Shelley's backlist.

Love to see you over there!!!