Fantastic Fables...Ty as the Huntsman

If you love fairy tales like I do, you might want to check out the version of Snow White I did for Tynga's Reviews!  The instructions were to write one of our characters into a classic fairy tale, so I made Ty the Huntsman in Snow White...and I LOVE the way it turned out!  My publisher has provided a book for the giveaway, but whether or not you already have a copy, it's a fun thing to check out:)  I believe the contest ends in a few weeks, so there's lots of time to win.  Have a great weekend!!

Battle of the Sexies: Sidekick Edition

So today at Book Faery Reviews (my post should be up after noon), none other than Ty MacGillivray's best friend Jaden Harrison is participating in the Battle of the Sexies: Sidekick Edition.  Swing by and give him some love, if you're so inclined!  He doesn't really consider himself a sidekick, of course...but I was happy to put him out there and let him strut his stuff anyway:)  There's a fun giveaway involved, too, so check it out!

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Book Club Day!

I'll be at the Forever Romance facebook page from 12-2 EDT today chatting about DARK AWAKENING, and I hope to see some of you there!  We're already debating about the hottest vampire in book, TV and film.  I voted for Spike, because...I love me some Spike. 

It's the Billy Idol thing he has going on.  So never going to get over it.  But it's awfully hard to pick.  I mean, I'm still missing Mick St. John.  WHY did they cancel Moonlight!?  That's why I'm leery of starting to watch new television shows.  Every time I decide to like one, it gets canceled.  I'm going to try again, though, and start watching Grimm on NBC this fall.  I put the trailer up on my facebook...it looks REALLY good!  Of course, if you throw fairy tales into anything I'm probably going to try it out.  And then, of course, there is my renewed obsession with the Thundercats.  I was a child of the 80s, so I used to watch the original series religiously.  And now...they've rebooted it for Cartoon Network and actually made it BETTER! 

My husband is excited for The Walking Dead to start again.  I just can't do it.  I'm zombie-phobic.  No, really. 

So what are you watching this fall?  Have you seen anything good coming up?  Have a great day, and I hope some of you can join me for the chat!

Music Monday 8/1

Happy Monday, everybody!  I can't believe it's August already.  I'm not exactly sure where the summer went, but it's certainly going.  It's been so hot here that I've got to admit fall doesn't sound too bad.  Cabin fever in the summer sucks.  Couple of things to share...

First off, my book is the featured pick for the Forever Romance Summer Book Club this week!  You can join me on the Forever Romance facebook page on Thursday from 12-2 EDT to chat about the book.  Should be lots of fun!

Second, today's song.  I heard this on the radio the other day and thought it was adorable.  Hey, I don't ALWAYS need dark and moody;)  For this Music Monday, I give you Rachel Platten.  It's the chorus that hooked me.


And so we're off and on our way through another week.  I've traveled so much this summer that I'm ready to park my butt and just stay put for a while!  All of my guest blog stuff is written and turned in, and for the most part, done...though I have a couple of very fun things going on this month.  Jaden from Dark Awakening is a contestant in Book Faery's Battle of the Sexies II: Sidekick Edition on th 10th, and I've written Ty into Snow White for Tynga's Reviews Fantastic Fables event, which I don't have a date on yet.  I'm writing away on Damien's story, which is an interesting experience because he never shuts up.  Seriously, his mouth runs so much on every page that I have to make sure he isn't just dominating everything completely.  Strong characters can be interesting to rein in.

Have a great day, everyone!

Music Monday...and VampChix!

Hope you all will come visit me at VampChix today!  The very cool writer Michele Hauf invited me over to talk vampire creation, and I'm giving away a signed book for those interested.  I met Michele at RWA, and am in awe of both her mad writing skillz and her vast knowledge of all things vamp:)  Since I know she loves her some Adam Lambert (as do I), have some guyliner goodness to start your Monday.  This is one of my faves...Adam singing a song written for him by Matt Bellamy of Muse, Soaked.  And we all know how I feel about Matt Bellamy:)  Hope to see you over at VampChix!

Deadly Destinations today!

Take a tour a Chicago's vampire club Mabon today with Dark Awakening's Lily Quinn!  We're at Dark Faerie Tales' Deadly Destinations event...and there's a giveaway, of course.  Hope to see you there!

Music Monday 7/18

I'm feeling like something a little older today...here's a song I listen to plenty during my darker scenes!  Gotta love the Pumpkins.  And the video, which was made by a Watchmen fan, is incredible.


Hope you all had a good weekend!  I cleaned.  A lot.  Behold, my clean desk, a sight rarely seen!

Yes, the toys on the desk are mine:)

I've got an excerpt up at RomCon today, and tomorrow I'm up for the Deadly Destinations event over at Dark Faerie Tales.  I hope you all will join me!  That's been my month...busy busy busy!  Fun, though, and I've met a lot of readers.  Have a great Monday, everyone!  I'm nursing a messed up back (AGAIN), hence the late post...send some healing energy my way, willya?   

Q&A, Live Chat, and Giveaway!

Hope you all can join me today for a live chat at Literal Addiction from 2-4 EST! Additionally, you can check out a Q&A I did at Book Monster Reviews, a partner of Literal Addiction. I'm giving away a signed copy of the book, plus a Dracul tattoo, at each place! Hope you'll join me...Michelle has also designed some kickass fangear just for the occasion:)  Head on over and check it out!

Paranormal Roundtable

For posterity:)  It went really well...I wish we'd had more time, Carolyn and Caridad were fascinating to listen to!  I love hearing how other authors work, and what they think about our subgenre.

Listen to internet radio with HBGFeatures on Blog Talk Radio

Join me on Blog Talk Radio today!

Okay, I won't pretend I'm not nervous..I have a tendency to babble and/or talk really fast...but today at 1 pm ET I'll be participating in a Paranormal Author roundtable on Blog Talk Radio with my fellow Forever Romance authors Caridad Pineiro and Carolyn Jewel!  Go HERE to check us out!  Now if I can only prevent my children from coming after me during this event...what are the chances?  Hope you'll listen in!

Bitten by Books today!

I don't have the link yet (not until the interview goes live around 1 pm EST), but since I managed to corner Ty, the hero of Dark Awakening, and get him to do an interview, I hope you'll all come over to Bitten by Books and see what he had to say!

I was up last night writing a version of Snow White with Ty as the Huntsman (I'm participating in a very cool event called Fantastic Fables: Paranormal Edition at Tynga's Reviews in August), and the night before writing a tour that Lily's giving of Mabon, the vampire club she and Ty turn up at in Chicago, which you'll be able to read next week at Dark Faerie Tales as part of their Deadly Destinations event.  Tomorrow I'm participating in a paranormal roundtable on Forever's Blog Talk Radio, which you can either listen to live or later on, as it'll be up there eternally for posterity, I think:)  I'm nervous...but I'll have the link up tomorrow!  Busy busy...and check this out!  The novella I'm doing for Cravings this fall is already "buzzworthy"!  Click HERE to see what RT had to say about MIRROR, MIRROR.  I'm looking forward to writing it...I hope the story comes out as cool as it is in my imagination.

Off to work I go (which means heading into another room, lugging yet another cup of coffee and my laptop).  Hope you all have a great day! 

Music Monday 7/11 & Blog Tour Update

Happy Monday, everyone!  First, here's a song to get the day started.  It's by a British band called A Silent Film...they're very good.  This is a fan-created video, since they don't have an official one for the song.  Pretty pictures!:)


More writing for me today!  The kids have gone to their grandparents' for a few days, so IN THEORY I should be able to get work done while the sun shines.  First, however, I appear to need more coffee. 

In other news, the Release Month Blog Tour for Dark Awakening rolls on!  Tomorrow I'll be at Shameless Romance Reviews talking about how I came up with the Dark Dynasties (featuring cat pictures and one of my favorite hot man photos of all time...some of you will recognize him, as I've drooled over it before).  And of course, there's a giveaway!  Wednesday I'll be at Bitten by Books with an interview I did with Ty MacGillivray, the hero if Dark Awakening.  He was reluctant at first, but we managed nicely!  You can RSVP HERE to get an extra 25 entries in my giveaway to win one of five signed copies of the book (and let me know if you have trouble with the link, as I have a different one if there are problems).  At the very least, make plans to swing by and chat with Ty and I.  It was a fun post to do!

Have a great day...it may be a Monday, but the sun is shining here:)

Friday Dog Blog

Happy Friday!  It had to be a dog blog today.  You'd understand if you could see the massive amounts of dog hair floating around here.  I'm not kidding...Chewie is blowing his coat, and I have never seen anything like it in all of my existence.  I've heard rumors of what it's like to live in an ocean of Newf hair...the actual experience is something else, though.  And yet, how can I be irritated when the source of the enormous fur-bunnies is this guy?

This is him begging for potato chips yesterday.  He's very hard to resist.  Or ignore.  And apart from him, we have his sister, Stella, who is NOT shedding much at present but is doing her level best to keep my attention in other ways. 

What a sweet face.  You'd never know that in the last week she has eaten two sticks of butter, a small container of leftover Hollandaise sauce, and large amounts of my youngest child's every breakfast.  Can you say "counter surfer"?  She also has such a spaz at feeding time that she often lands in her water dish (the water then landing everywhere else), she keeps delivering branches from my blackberry bushes to me, and there is a particular spot in the yard that she appears to have chosen for some sort of canine archaeological dig.  I'm sure it's very important.  So one of my Newfs thinks he's a bear only partially awakened from hibernation, and the other thinks she's a border collie.

They are currently piled up against my desk chair groaning at one another.

So how was everyone's week?  The writing has been slow (need to change that), but I've read a few books from my RWA stash.  Enjoyed The Fallen: Raziel by Kristina Douglas (actually Anne Stuart!), and The Princess in His Bed by Lila DiPasqua.  And now I'm going to finish Embers by Laura Bickle, which is very awesome thus far...I just got sidetracked because I didn't want to bring my Nook to the horse barn to read, so I grabbed something paper (and less destructable!) instead.  My poor Nook has a crack in the frame.  I suppose I'll use this as an excuse to get a Nook Color at Christmas:)

Read anything good lately?  Enjoy your weekend!  Oh, and check out this most excellent review of Dark Awakening at Reading Between the Wines HERE.  The site immediately won my heart because of the wine glass ratings, but it really is a great review.  My goodreads page for the book is making me very happy right now!

Bookmarks, Contests, and a NYC Wrap-Up!

Right off the bat, I've got to tell you about a lovely author who invited me over to blog today.  Joan Swan, who makes her Kensington debut soon, interviewed me...and she's made absolutely GORGEOUS bookmarks with a Dark Awakening theme.  There are five she's giving away, and you have to see how pretty they are!  Apart from that, there's a copy of Renegade Angel and a signed copy of Dark Awakening up for grabs.  Prizes galore!  Please come visit, it was great fun to do the interview.  And for real, those bookmarks.  WOW.  Click HERE to go!

And now, the NYC recap.  I realize I'm late on this, but I paid for my week o' fun with the Migraine From Hell, which cranked up shortly after I got home.  The week was well worth the headache, but it took me until today to really feel human again.  So without further adieu, here are some snippets from my week in New York!

On Tuesday, I quickly met up with my buddy Cheryl Brooks and some of her Sextet (if you like some serious hawtness, check out their menage anthologies from Siren...or just check out Cheryl's Cat Star Chronicles, because ROWR).  We wandered away from Times Square and, um, in some sort of direction.  I don't know what direction because I never really know where I am.  Eventually, we ended up at the Barnes & Noble on 5th Avenue, and did what writers do...we hunted for our new releases!  It was soooo cool to find them both, nearly side by side!  After that we went to Trump Tower to have lunch. The man has his face on the water bottles, his daughter's jewelry line on display, and a bunch of Apprentice-themed junk for sale.  It's like crappy Disney World.  Still, we had a ball.  Except for the hair I found in my salad, which then got exchanged for another salad.  Ew.

That night was the ENORMOUS Literacy for Life signing.  The one in which I participated a couple of years ago in DC was nowhere near this big!  I had my little RITA finalist flag at my spot, and I only barely restrained myself from making off with it.  I can't even begin to describe the noice to you.  Check out this little vid of the place before the doors opened to the public.  The sound?  Just authors.

After that, a bunch of us, including the lovely Marie Force, went and got rowdy at Sardi's.  There, it was decided that erotic YA Amish romance is, indeed, the wave of the future.  The food was great, but I could have eaten twice as much as what I ordered.  I know, right?  Oink.  I loves mah food.  Here's me and Sextet member Mellanie Szereto.

Wednesday was kind of the Literacy Signing hangover day.  It had been so loud, and I shouted so much (because it's impossible to talk otherwise) that my throat was pretty raw.  On the upside, I got to sit by Janet Chapman, who has been enchanting readers for a loooong time, and she is a completely awesome human being.  I loved talking to her.  On my other side was Linda Castillo, who made a smart, funny neighbor.  I am seriously in awe of these women.  Seeing what they have done and continue to do keeps me pushing.

So Wednesday I had lunch with Ann Leslie Tuttle, my editor at Nocturne, and we went to a very swanky restaurant called Blue Fin.  Several tables away Tara Gavin was entertaining the likes of Gena Showalter and Nalini Singh.  I was very good and did not explode into some kind of insane fangirl moment...but you know I wanted to!  Instead, I had a lovely time with Ann Leslie.  She showed me pictures of her adorable baby.  I made her look at pictures of my kids and my big slobbery dogs.  It was great:)

I had my fangirl moment later, and also snagged a signed copy of Archangel's Consort. *happy sigh*

I wore a lot of black, by the way.  And my feet are still killing me.  Such pretty heels.  Such terrible instruments of torture.  Wednesday night I went to dinner with Kristen Callihan, who makes her debut with Grand Central in the spring with Firelight, a Victorian paranormal that not only has a gorgeous cover, but is also just generally kick-ass from the excerpt I read.  Kristen is awesome.  We had burgers and beer, and I failed to get her to adore fried pickles.  Check out her cover!

Thursday was insane.  Had a great meeting with Kevan...you know, I'm just realizing that I have NO pictures of Kevan and I.  I have no idea why.  I ran around a lot.  I grabbed too many signed books because I have no willpower, got to attend the GH/RITA finalist reception (free champagne, woot!), and then walked with a group of people to the Grand Central cocktail party.  There are not words for how cool it was.  Hopefully someone will have pictures from it...I know there were some taken.  I, um, had my hands full of a glass of ever-refilling wine. *ahem*  I just love the staff there...so much energy!  So irritatingly younger than me!  SO FREAKING FUN.  After taht, I caught a cab back to the hotel, and my father (who had arrived earlier in the day) and I went to see Rain, the Beatles tribute on Broadway.  It so rocked.  I grew up loving the Beatles, and it was great fun to do this with Dad.  The guys who play them are just crazy talented.  Then we went for the best Italian food I've had in years at Villa Barulia.  Great night.

Friday arrived.  I was dragging butt a little, but it's hard to flag for long when you've got all this outside your window (an insane 44 floors down!).  I was nervous for the RITAs.

The day was a blur.  Had a great sit-down with Selina McLemore, my editor (who, damn it, is also younger than me by a couple of years!).  Ran into a lot of fun people.  Talked incessantly.  Ate very good sushi.  And in the evening, made my way to the Marsal-Lyon Agency cocktail party waaaay up in The View Lounge at the top of the hotel.  It rotates. *urp*  I combattted the unpleasasnt sensation with cosmos and good conversation.  Here's me, Marie Force, and Robin Kaye enjoying the evening.

I was already all dressed up for the awards, as was my dad.  Didn't he look handsome?  I was seriously so, so glad he was there.  And he was in awe of what a big event this actually is.

So after a quick dinner with Marie, Dad and I made our way to the ballroom to meet Ann Leslie.  I had to do some mini-interview, which I barely remember and probably don't want to.  My nerves were shot!  Plus, I always think I must look like a complete dork.  Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, who knows?  Or maybe I'll just try not to ever see it. 

The ceremony itself was great.  I loved listening to the speeches of the writers who won...all very inspiring.  I didn't end up taking home the gold statue, but you know, being at conference this year made me realize that I'm at the beginning of what looks like it could be a nice, long career.  As impatient as I am, I do have time.  All I can do is keep working hard.  Um, and I really do want to win one of those statues one day:)  After it was all over, Dad snapped a shot of me and my cheering section.  Can't tell you how lovely it was to have two of my dearest friends rooting for me in the audience!

You know, I'm 34.  You'd think that eventually I would stop being surprised that I am possessed of a fairly ridiculous amount of cleavage.  And yet, this picture made my eyebrows go up.  Oh well...artfully displayed is key, right?:)

I spent the rest of the night in my room, decompressing and eating incredible bacon-covered pizza with my father.  I was sad, sure.  There's just as much stress as excitement involved in something like the RITAs, but I wouldn't have traded a moment of it.  And I was, cheesy as it may sound, proud of every woman who took the podium that night.  Writing is tough.  Celebrating the women who do it, and do it well, is wonderful.

So here I am, back at home.  I spent a nice weekend with my parents (at least, utnil my stupid headache kicked up).  I have been hugged and slobbered on, I have thrown my heels into the recesses of my closet, and I'm getting back to work. 

And there you have it...probably the longest post I've ever done on here!  Have a great day, ladies, and I hope you enjoyed the pictures!  
 
 

Off to New York!

This would normally be a music Monday, and really, I think this says it all!

Tomorrow morning I take the train into NYC, where I will (hopefully) not get lost on my way to the Mariott Marquis in Times Square.  I'm so excited!  I haven't been to New York City since I was about fifteen.  That was amazing, and I have a feeling this time will be equally so.  DARK AWAKENING hits shelves tomorrow, and I'm so thrilled I get to sign it at the Literacy for Life signing (in the ballroom from 5:30 to 7:30)!  The temporary tattoos arrived while I was away, but...*sigh* Well, it wouldn't be a big deal of a week if it didn't start with a snafu.  They're very cool.  And they're a different mark than I wanted.  Don't ask how I managed to end up with the one test image I uploaded when I was having issues.  SO, I've got some very cool bat symbols that will allow the interested to be a Dracul for a day.  Vlad Dracul and his bloodline feature pretty prominently in the book, and I actually have a big soft spot for sexy Vlad, so it doesn't bother me too much.  Here's the tat:

I'll work on getting the Cait Sith ones when I get back.  But in the meantime, you too can be a seductive bat-shifter:)



Anyway, I'll blog from the hotel, hopefully with some cool pictures and video.  I know I've mentioned I love my phone...it does everything!  So I'll see you Wednesday, when I'll be hanging out with my buddies Cheryl Brooks and Marie Force.  That's one of the things about being a writer...your friends end up scattered around the country, so RWA is a great way to meet once a year!

Happy Monday, all!

Midnight Reckoning...and Release Day Approacheth!

Do you know what's sad?  I totally forgot Wednesday was Wednesday, hence the absence of a middle of the week post.  Sorry about that!  I'm cramming in as much relaxation as I can, because tomorrow we head home, and Tuesday I'm off to NYC for RWA '11!  I'm sooooo excited (and nervous, because it's intimidatingly huge).  It's been a lovely week here, and we've decided we're definitely returning next summer.  Wine tasting is one of the most fun things I've done, and I'm bringing home a few bottles to share.  I got my toes done.  I got a facial (wow...need to do that again).  I parked my butt on the deck and watched the kids swim and kayak.  And I read Archangel's Consort by Nalini Singh, which means I will now be salivating over the coming (September) installment of her Guild Hunters series until, well, September.  NEED IT!

Speaking of coming attractions, Dark Awakening is finally almost out!  WOOHOO!  It hits shelves on Tuesday, and I'll be signing it Tuesday evening at the big Literacy for Life signing at the Marriott Marquis in NYC.  5:00-7:30, hope to see some of you there!  I will have my funky Cait Sith tattoos with me to distribute.  And bookmarks.  I even got my suit dry cleaned for this...should be good:)

Finally, the cover for the second installment in the Dark Dynasties series, due out in January, has arrived!  I love it.  Seriously, these covers have made me incredibly happy.  What do you think?

I love it.  Jaden and his wolf.  Hope you all had a great week!

In Which the Intrepid Author is Almost Hit by a Tornado

Okay, not exactly.  But I worried for a while.

It was was a wild night here!  The sky turned pale green (a bit paler than this picture, but green nonetheless...this is just the best representation I could find on the web), the clouds overhead were visibly rotating, and we had lightning hit the yard.  I only caught the flash out of the corner of my eye while I was out on the porch watching the storm crank up, but the hiss and snap was unmistakable.  No tornados, incredibly, but this is the sort of thunderstorm that spawns them.  We do get the occasional small tornado here in Southern Maryland...I have no desire to see one, but I really thought I was going to.  The power in the entire county was out for probably a half hour/forty-five minutes, and one of the houses in the neighborhood was hit by lightning.  We had about six fire trucks come wailing in here, firemen crawling all over that house with flashlights...apparently, there were sparks shooting from the eaves or the gutters, and they were worried there was fire inside the walls.  Considering the tarp on the back of that house today, I'd say the lightning put a hole in the back of the house somewhere.  That or they had to open up the wall to make sure nothing was on fire.  Anyway, it was interesting (I'm willing to be the homeowners with the new hole in their wall found it less so).  I have NEVER seen a sky that color before.

Heading for the Finger Lakes tomorrow, so I'll be blogging from there all next week, provided the wi-fi works as well as advertised.  We've never taken a vacation involving a rental cottage and all the mutts before (cue ominous music...dun-dun-DUNNNNN).  Hopefully, the place will still be intact when we leave it.  My mother-in-law is bringing lots of wine, and we'll be celebrating my birthday there on Tuesday.  Yeah, I'm going to be 34.  I think I'm officially in my mid-thirties now. *sob*

Anyway, I'm going to load up my Nook with books to read today, and I have plans to park it on the deck, enjoy the lake, and read.  Okay, and I have to work, too.  Boo.  Hiss.  But there's no rest for the wicked:-)

To close my morning babbling, I do want to say thanks to all the readers who have already read and enjoyed Dark Awakening and are posting their love around the internets.  You all get a big *MWAH!* from me!  Release day is so soon, and it means a LOT that people are already enjoying the book enough to sing its praises publicly.  I love this book.  I really, really do.  And Ty, as has been stated in various places, is really more of an anti-hero in some ways...but his journey was a fascinating one to write, and I love that people seem to "get" him, that they rooted for him.  I've got linkies to the reviews on my facebook page and my twitter feed, and I believe most are linked through Goodreads as well, so if you haven't already, please come friend me here, there, and everywhere:-)

'Kay, I'm off...I have a zillion packing-related things to do today (ugh).  Hope you all have a great weekend!  Please keep your fingers crossed for me that the Newfs don't destroy anything, and I'll keep you posted on my doings up on Cayuga Lake.  And I'm curious, because that storm last night is still very much on my mind...have any of you actually SEEN a tornado?  Because even just seeing the clouds spinning freaked me the hell out.  I just wonder what it's like actually being present for a real funnel cloud.

Happy Friday!   

Music Monday 6/13

Every couple I put together in books ends up having a theme song.  I don't know why, they just do.  Sometims each particular character will have one as well, but that depends.  I'm assuming this happens because I'm a music junkie, and I draw a lot of inspiration from it.  Anyway, I've already given you Gideon's song from Call of the Highland Moon...but since this is the run up to the release of Dark Awakening (and it's a book very much on my mind anyway!), I wanted to share Ty and Lily's song.  This pretty much summed up their romance to me, and I listened to it a LOT while I was writing.  Actually, I still listen to it a lot.  But then, I'm also a Muse junkie:-)  Two things, though, before I leave you with a song:

Tomorrow I'll be blogging at the Borders True Romance blog HERE.  There'll be an opportunity to win a book in the comments, and I'll be there to chat all day.  Looks like my buddy Cheryl Brooks is there today, too...she's amazing, get thee over there!

Also, I mentioned this in the comments on the last post, but in my babbling litle video, I was wrong about the timing of the Literacy for Life signing.  The doors open at 5:30, and if the last  time I was at one was any indication, the earlier you get there, the better.  It's really busy, but well worth it!  You can find the list of all the authors who will be signing HERE.  Nalini Singh's gonna be there.  I'm so hitting her up for a picture/signed book before the doors open.  Perks of being an author, heh heh heh.

Enjoy the music, have a great one!

Tattoo You

Last night I was busily ordering stuff online.  "Signed By Author" stickers for books, which I have somehow never had until now, were a must for the national conference.  I also ordered about 200 temporary tattoos of the Cait Sith mark.  I'll be giving them out in NYC, but provided they turn out ok (I see no reason why they shouldn't), I'm going to make them available on my website too, as a freebie.  So look for that sometime soon...I just want to make sure they're as cool as it looks like they'll be before I display them!  Depending on which dynasty has the focus in each group, and how well people like these, I'll add more dynasty marks as we go along.  So if you're planning to come to the big Literacy for Life signing on June 28th in NY, I'll be there with fresh new copies of Dark Awakening, bookmarks, and tats!  Yay!

I was also messing with my schedule for New York.  Holy crap, I'm going to be busy!  Way busier than a couple of years ago when I attended the one in DC.  Lunches, cocktail parties, get-togethers, publisher spotlights, signings, and a few workshops I want to take...this is very interesting, and pretty intimidating, for a small town, runs-around-in-ratty-jean-shorts kind of girl.  Still, I'm psyched.  I just hope my feet hold up.  God, I hate heels.  Cool thing is my dad, who has done business in the city for years and isn't intimidated by it at all, is coming in on Thursday to be my RITA date for Friday:-)  So I'll get out of the pressure cooker for a while on Thursday night, which I'll likely need because Thursday looks insane at this point.  We're going to a Beatles tribute show (he's the guy who raised me to have an undying love of The Beatles) and a yummy (very late) Italian dinner.  I've been pining for good Italian food!  Win or lose, I'm so glad I'll have family there to cheer me on, and since my dad is the guy I got all of my "writer stuff" from, it's good that it's him.  We share a sense of humor, so I know I'll be entertained:-)

Have a great Wednesday! 

Friday! And More Free Stuff!

Happy Friday!  I'm...not exactly sure where this week went on me.  Well, okay, I am a little, since I've resumed my passionate love affair with my Nook and am happily devouring Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter books (I'll be finishing Archangel's Kiss today).  The story is, of course, right up my alley (Angels! Vampires! Everyone is hot and many are snarky!), but her voice is the kicker.  Juuuust right, drew me right in.  I would like a man-harem of the Seven, please.  As soon as they can be delivered.  And of course, I'll have to read her Psy-Changeling series after this.  Hooray for getting into an author when she has a big backlist for me to enjoy!

So, a small announcement, and then I'll open the floor to discussion so somebody can win a signed copy of Dark Awakening, since I have another to give!  It looks like I WILL be doing at least a couple of HOT short stories for Nocturne's new Cravings line, which will be available online only (this is a more erotic counterpart to their Bites line).  I've just gotten the thumbs up on the outlines I did, so I couldn't tell you yet when these will be available, but I think quite early in 2012 with the schedule I've set up.  I will, of course, keep you posted!  I'm going to a dark faerie tale place with these, which should be a lot of fun! 

Aaaaand now,  the (very non-fancy) contest: like last time, open until midnight PST.  I'll do a drawing, assisted by my lovely hat-owning, paper-selecting daughter.  Just let me know if you'd like to be entered in the comments!  And for discussion, since I have the summer ahead and am determined to carve out more reading time on my brand spankin' new screened-in porch, what are the books you have REALLY loved this year?  Did you grab one that really lit a fire under you, like "OMG MUST KEEP READING NOM NOM NOM" (or something like that)?  I love to hear what people are reading, esp. because I love a book I can sink my teeth into myself:-)  I mean, you don't even want to know how excited I am that Dmitri's Guild Hunter story is coming out in September. *happy sigh*  Oh, and please check out this AWESOME review from the amazing Kristina!  She has a great book review site going, and I am completely tickled that she loved Dark Awakening so much!  Click HERE for the goodness!