My guest post is up at Beyond Romance! Win a copy of one of my titles by leaving a comment, and check out the rest of the blog too. Lots of great prizes and steamy excerpts to be had.
http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2012/02/breast-intentions.html
Author Archive
01
Feb 2012
Well, erotic stories, anyway.
All month long, Lisabet Sarai is hosting authors from the various Coming Together anthologies. They’ll be posting about why they believe in the project, steamy excerpts and prizes. LOTS of prizes.
Alessia Brio (the tireless editor who puts together most of these anthologies) is giving away a Kindle Fire, for example.
Never heard of the Coming Together series? Check out the blog. Coming Together is a series of books, short stories, anthologies, podcasts and other projects. The authors and editors work for free, and the proceeds are donated to various charities. It’s a wonderful project. I’m very proud to have been a part of it.
My day on the blog is February 16th. I’m giving away a free book. Please feel free to come over and leave a comment there!
Think about it: erotica you can feel totally guilt-free buying! Win win! Head over to Lisabet’s blog and check it out all month long.
24
Jan 2012
I spent the bulk of my weekend and many evenings last week cleaning. By cleaning, I mostly mean getting rid of things.
I continue to be amazed at how things can collect in corners and unused spaces. I started joking that things kept respawning. I’d clean out a space, only to find more stuff had materialized in the time it took to carry a load to the car. A life lived as fully as possible can lead to this sort of overflowing, I think. That’s what I tell myself when I’m being patient and loving, anyway, lol.
I wonder if ideas work the same way, at least for me. I’ve got a full mind, always have. I don’t do quiet well. I have speakers set up in my bathroom for podcasts while I shower. I listen to Pandora* while I exercise and am apt to knit in front of a great television show.**
I started practicing mindfulness and meditation many years ago and I’m always laughing at myself because there is so much going on in my head. Meditation is more like the me show. Now with less rumination and more random thought bubbles!
Ideas come slow for me, I’ve talked about that before. I wonder if it is a matter of unloading all the busy loud that usually goes on in my mind. I have to clear out the unused “oh don’t forget to”s and “oh hell why did I”s. I have to dig past the same old boring stories I tell myself and look for the stuff I’ve forgotten underneath. My creative mind works, it just lives in the bottom of a cave under a very tall mountain of stuff. My creative mind is apparently a dragon, hoarding its treasure and being very stingy about who’s allowed inside.
Well you know what? It’s the year of the dragon, motherfucker. I’m coming for you.
*http://www.pandora.com/#!/stations/edit/6509559808670288 (if you like folk music)
**I used to be one of those snooty anti-tv types. Then I discovered a show called Firefly. From there, I discovered that television has gotten significantly better than the last time I watched it. Now, I don’t feel at all wasteful watching shows like American Horror Story, Dexter, Doctor Who, and Psych. These are brilliant, witty stories written with amazing skill. I see it as research and actively study the story elements I admire in each. I guess I’m a born-again tv enjoyer!
15
Jan 2012
This edition of CTR is courtesy of Stephen King’s 11/22/63.
If you read enough of my blather, you’ll know I’m a die hard King fan. But the truth is, lately, I’ve been lukewarm on King. I didn’t love Cell (I liked it, I didn’t love it.) I liked Lisey’s Story but didn’t love it, either. The real disappointment, though, was Under the Dome.
I couldn’t finish it, people. A King book I can’t finish? Unheard of. But it was… I don’t know. Boring? Predictable, certainly. I felt as though I’d read the entire thing before, and I could predict the move of each character. By a third of the way through, I gave up caring about any of the characters. I can’t say exactly why, I wish I could pin it down to one thing or another, but the book just bored me. I was very disappointed.
I did love Full Dark, No Stars. King’s short stories are unbelievable. So many people skip them and they are missing out on some of the most amazing writing there is to be read. Amazing, captivating, intense. He tells a tale as skillfully (and as weirdly) as Bradbury, but in the singular King voice. Go. Read. I recommend Everything’s Eventual and Nightmares and Dreamscapes, but any of them will do. My excitement about this novel can wait until you’re finished.
Back? Mind blown? Great. Anyway, the point of all that preamble is that I was nervous approaching 11/22/63. I didn’t preorder it or run out as soon as it was published. I waited to see what other people said. I wasn’t sure I would read it at all. I’m glad I changed my mind.
11/22/63 was fantastic. Character driven spec fic with that tinge of WTF that King has perfected. I’m struggling to write a review without spoilers, but he gives you a take on the early sixties that is rich and full. Diving into the book feels like being there with Jake Epping as he embarks on a mad quest to stop the assassination of JFK. The past, though, doesn’t want to be changed.
King’s skills lie in writing characters you give a fuck about. Even the smallest of side characters, you root for. Or against, depending. This book is no different, with a main character so achingly “every man” that you can easily put yourself in his shoes. His struggles are yours, his questions are yours. You’re there, in his shoes, driving his Sunliner. I jumped into this book and in 14 pages I knew I was going to like it a lot. I did.
Bottom line is, go read this book. And stop bothering me, I’m reading.
11
Jan 2012
I find this lady really amazing. She just decided one day to try to improve inmates lives through knitting. And then she did it.
http://nprfreshair.tumblr.com/post/15668804797/from-nprs-tell-me-more-one-maryland-prison-is
There’s something to that, just choosing a path and walking down it no matter how unexpected and how unlikely. I think writing is the same, or any other creative endeavor. We do it for the love, the passion, and we keep doing it even when we’re rejected or turned away. In the end, this lady is making real magic with people who badly need it.
(Not only that. The inmates are making things to comfort child victims of domestic violence. I cant think of anything more beautiful, or meaningful. What an amazing story.)
09
Jan 2012
I am kind of a Twitter nut. It works as a networking tool, a feed reader, a news aggregator and also just a fun thing to do. I thought I’d mention some of my favorite Twitter feeds here in case you’re looking for someone interesting or helpful to follow!
@joe_hill: Author who often tweets about process as well as other interesting things like Doctor Who and Skyrim.
@scalzi: bacon cat.
@angelajames: Carina Press editor and runs the Before You Hit Send self-editing class. Good class. My favorite thing she does is #editreport–tweeting tidbits from rejections and acceptances for wannabe writers.
@laurabradford: agent with agently things to say.
@saramegibow: another agent with lots of really good advice.
@chuckwendig: indie author and blogger at Terrible Minds. Frequently hilarious. Also he posted a recipe for a fall pasta dish that I LOVE.
Some great and wise writers I’ve chatted with and really enjoy talking to? @amaliaTd, @surlymuse, @aliviaanders, @rebeccaenzor, @siri_paulson, @BellaLeone, @MargueriteLabbe, @Megan_Hart (srsly, buy her books. You are missing out if you haven’t, big time.),
Lastly, check out the #amwriting and #amwritingsff hashtags. Lots of great people there doing what it is we do. During NaNoWriMo, I also suggest using #nanowrimo for lots of great writerly talk.
I’m @ameliajune on twitter, meself. If you have any suggestions for writerly types I should be following, drop me a DM 
06
Jan 2012
I spent some time *cough procrastinating on an outline cough* collecting reviews of past works to put on the sidebar. Since my site disappeared and had to be redone, I lost all that information and had to re-google everything.
I feel very blessed to have people read and enjoy my writing. They definitely motivate me to keep on working!
Also, I totally queried Waking Kiara last night! Just one query, I plan more but for now, this was a big step. Everything was polished and ready to go. I’d spell checked 100 times and re-read new passages until I can recite them from memory. Phew. I’m looking forward to the feedback, be it a rejection or whatnot. No really, I am. The direction will be good.
Now back to work! Gotta get some treasure hunting done.
03
Jan 2012
Kiara’s so almost ready to submit.
However. I’ve made the mistake in the past of rushing. I got a very generous R and R once. I rushed the manuscript edits. I was excited and nervous and really, really new to writing. I screwed up. She rejected again, and with good reason. I could have improved the novel, but I didn’t. I rushed through it.
Now whenever I get the urge to just get it in, I backtrack. Usually, I do it by finding a sentence I can rewrite. That will cue a paragraph that needs clarification or get me into the rhythm of working on the piece. Sometimes I struggle with knowing what I want to fix but not how to fix it. Getting into the work can help me find the soft places.
There’s also the question of overworking. Overworking can lead to overwriting and that’s the last thing I want. I shoot for fast-paced, tight work and I don’t want to get too wordy.
In any case, I think it’s good to know one’s weaknesses. This is one of mine. So I’m practicing patience, patience, patience.
I’ve decided to draft a story after I submit to keep my mind off of waiting for emails. The husband and I brainstormed, and I’m hoping I’ve got a great idea for an erotic m/m with some silliness and sexiness. If nothing else, I can focus on that and not on the time ticking away while I wait for GLOWING ACCEPTANCE LETTERS. (originally, I wrote rejections because I’m a realist. But look, why not shoot for the top, huh?) Who needs patience when they can generate more work, instead?
27
Dec 2011
I hope you all had a happy holiday season! I know I did. In some ways I’m just a big kid, because I’m super excited about my presents! I got a variable temperature kettle so I can make green and white teas without bitterness. Squee! I also got a skein of the most expensive yarn I’ve ever touched. I’m terrified to knit with it, to be totally honest. What I love most though is scouring the neighborhood for cool light displays and drinking tea (squee) to warm up. It is always so hot here, I absolutely love the cold.
Otherwise, I spent a lot of time hanging out with the kids and the husband and playing Zelda Skyward Sword. We had a marvelous, lazy week last week (not counting the day we had a ton of people over for solstice. That was not lazy, but it was full of really good food and neat people).
The best part was that I could afford the time off because Waking Kiara is in the hands of several awesome beta readers. I have gotten feedback from two and I’m scared/excited/flattered because both of them liked the story. I plan to start queries at the end of January at the very latest. Maybe this time next year I’ll be squeeing about a book deal? Or, you know, writing about the power of rejections. Or maybe both. *bites nails*
Onward and upward!
15
Dec 2011
I make up all kinds of words. I’m a real writer ™.
I have reached the end of another round of edits on Waking Kiara*. It still needs a pass through for grammar, and I’m hoping to get some feedback from a couple awesome beta readers. Once those fixes are in place, the novel is ready for submission.
Thank goodness for the find/replace function. I’ve edited out so many useless words, I can’t even BEGIN TO count them. Ugh. (Began has been almost entirely banninated. As has seemed.)
I’ve moved on to the synopsis, for now, letting the words themselves sit for a while. A synopsis doesn’t seem like a difficult task, but it is kind of a big deal. You’re selling the project in three pages or less (preferably two, but right now it is looking like three.) So I can’t just hit the important points, but I also have to show character growth, relationship struggles and resolutions, and exciting bits that make the story fun to read.
Also how do you write down that the characters had the lovins? I mean, I can’t exactly say “they had the lovins here.” Or as my oldest kid would put it, “they did IT.”
A synopsis is more than a summary, but less than a story. It’s an extended movie trailer with the ending included.
I’m motivated, though. I think this is a decent, fun story. The potential for a series is there. Shoot half a draft of the second novel is written already. I’m gonna synopsize until I can synopsize no more. Wish me luck.
*HOORAYYYY! Two huge projects completed in the last six months. Feels good.
