Quiet week

This week has been quiet with the agent hunt. I've been making myself scarce from the blogosphere since I've begun working on my next novel. I outlined it at the beginning of the month. After that, I stayed busy researching agents and trying to find all agents I could on that have urban fantasy leanings or specialization. Now I'm training myself not to check my email every five minutes, and instead, I'm focusing on getting away from the interwebs. *smiles* It's a good thing for a writer to do while querying agents/publishers/etc.

But fear not! I shall stay up to date with my blog. In fact, this week's Friday guest blogger is Linda Andrews.

Interesting Links and Information

As I said yesterday, I find all kinds of interesting links and information while on Twitter, so I thought I would share some of what I saw last week with you guys.

1. Dabwaha - http://www.dabwaha.com/ - Best way to describe it is that it's a tournament style competition with books instead of sports where people fill out brackets of which book they think could go all the way.
2. Barbara Vey's 3rd Anniversary Party - http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/Beyond_Her_Book/31502-3rd_Anniversary_Party_Paranormal_Sci_Fi_Fantasy_Horror_Urban_Fantasy.php - This past week, Barbara Vey has been having her third anniversary party at her blog. She is a contributing editor at Publishers Weekly.
3. 9 Steps For Plotting Fiction - http://cynjay.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-write-book.html - This is a great way to looking at loosely plotting. I did something similar to this with a paranormal romance novel I wrote in 2007-2008, and it was so easy to figure out where I was going with the novel.
4. Urban Fantasy Sampler - http://juno-books.com/blog/?p=928 - "Pocket’s prepared a great PDF sampler of new urban fantasy (Juno and not). Read chapter excerpts from the latest and upcoming books plus cool exclusive content from some of the authors — including Juno’s Laura Bickle, Lori Devoti, Seressia Glass, and Stacia Kane as well as Jeri Smith-Redy and Sonya Bateman." I've started reading it, and it definitely seems cool.
5. To Brand Or Not To Brand - http://magicalwords.net/really-i-mean-it/to-brand-or-not-to-brand/ - This is an interesting article on branding. It's such a well-discussed subject these days. Also, Magical Words is really neat in general with lots of writing tips.
6. Spacefreighters Lounge: Emotion Thesaurus - http://spacefreighters.blogspot.com/2010/03/emotion-thesaurus.html - This shows an example of the Emotion Thesaurus, which gives other options to when a writers needs to convey a character is angry, happy, reluctant, etc.
7. SavvyAuthors.com - http://www.savvyauthors.com/ - A great website with a wealth of information. Does have Membership capabilities which give even more, but even if you don't want a membership, they have a great list of industry and author blogs and workshops.

And that's about it for this entry. I hope these links are as helpful and entertaining for you as they were for me.

Why Do Writers Keep Rejections?

After getting Twitter a few weeks, I've been learning and taking in lots of information from the published authors, publishers, agents, etc.  Having to keep up with all the tweets through the web is pretty hard, so I got TweetDeck and I keep it running throughout the day. This morning, I've been looking at the different windows I've pulled up and reading over what they entailed to see a tweet from Lori Devoti asking, "Writers, why do we save rejections? I have all of mine dating back to very first manuscript. Isn't that like keeping our fat clothes?"

The question intrigues me because there is the answer that first came to mind that says keeping rejections with helpful comments is about learning from those comments as well as keeping track of where I've submitted to and the general nature of the response, which could play a role in resubmitting to that place or knowing that the agency/publisher/magazine/e-zine isn't right for me.

I've been submitting my urban fantasy novel recently to agents, but that's not all of my submission experience. I submitted my work to the short story and poetry market with horror and fantasy pieces when I was in college, then I dipped into the romance market and had Melody of Love published and have been shopping romance novellas and short stories. It's good to keep an idea of where I've submitted a story to. I wouldn't want to submit it to the same place a couple of times and frustrate them or myself, and I want to improve the quality of my work. If an agent or editor is willing to give advice, then I most definitely appreciate it.

The second second is that I've never really considered deleting or throwing away rejections. Yeah, I've had some that were a bit snotty, but even with those, I set them aside for a while and come back to see if they had any validity.  Maybe the person was just having a bad day, but regardless of that, everyone has differing opinions since writing is a subjective business. Some people love Author A and others might really not while even others are neutral.

Besides, rejections are like badges. Many writers haven't gotten to the stage of submitting their work. Maybe they're still thinking about an idea. Maybe they're writing the story. Or maybe they're laboring over revisions. Rejections show that you submitted your work and are one step closer to the goal of becoming published.

The Friday 56

The Fifth Sentence

"Voodoo isn't the only religion that uses chickens." - Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
* Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Dabwaha!

Today a very fun thing called Dabwaha started. It's a tournament style event for romance of all subgenres and urban fantasy books! Very, very cool. Make sure to check it out: http://dabwaha.com/. Looking at my twitter feed, I bet everyone could tell that I'm following it closely.

Also, it seems like we won't be having the guest blogger tomorrow as planned, so I shall think up something else to post instead. No worries. =)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope everyone has had an awesome St. Patrick's Day. Mine consisted of meeting my trainer and having a nice dinner with my family, which was pretty cool. I also submitted Jungle Heat, a paranormal romance of mine to a publisher I've been connecting with about guest bloggers. It was exciting to be invited to submit. Besides from that, not a whole lot has been going on around here.

I've began reading Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews, which is awesome so far. I had the opportunity to go to some of her workshops at the 2009 RT Convention in Orlando, FL. She was so funny that I decided to talk to her at the big Book Signing Fair event (can't remember it's proper name). My husband and I met her, and she was so great that we got two of her books. She kept urging us to by the second book in her series, but I sooo don't like to read books out of order, so I kept leaning toward the first one. We ended up getting both. In the first book, she said something like, "They get better. Trust me." But yeah, I absolutely love her books. My husband does as well. I'm so happy that he and I enjoy the some of the same kinds of books since we book love reading.

Anyways! This Friday, we will be having LA Andrews with us. So make sure to come back and check that out.

Just finished reading...

Kiss Me Deadly by Michele Hauf.

I started this book in February, but between revising the novel I'm currently querying agents and then getting things ready like my query letter and synopsis finished, I didn't put too much though toward reading. That being said, the beginning was a little hard to get into with this novel. The book is about witches and vampires being enemies, but as witch Ravin Crosse is making a love potion for the devil, Nikolaus Drake comes in and is affected by the love potion. He then "falls in love" with her. But does he really feel love for her? The characters, Ravin Crosse and Nikolaus Drake, were great. They each deal with the struggle of having fallen for their enemy, which is cool. I also liked how witches are a little "more than human" and can live for centuries. I was surprised that their intimate relations began so early in the novel. It wasn't really a novel that I couldn't put down, but all-in-all, it was a steamy good book.

Better late than never!

I've signed up for the Speculative Fiction Challenge 2010. Yes, it is March, but I still have plenty of time to compete. There are so many cool books falling off my bookshelf that I want to read, so keeping myself accountable will help with getting books read. And one of my goals this year is to read more, so it's good in that regard, too.

There are several levels for the challenge, beginning at three books and going all the way up to twenty-four. I'm going to go for the gold. If you're interested, the link for it is: http://www.bookchickcity.com/2009/05/new-reading-challenge-for-2010.html.

Please welcome... author Paige Tyler!

MR. RIGHT-NOW - New from Ellora's Cave!

I'm so excited to announce I have a new erotic romance out with Ellora's Cave! It's called MR. RIGHT-NOW and it's smokin' hot!

It's kind of funny because this version of the story is nothing like the original outline I came up with. While the hero and heroine are the same, the first version was more of a traditional romance, but with almost all of the sex taking place in the beginning of the book. I was going to have Kate and Dawson fall in lust at the wedding, where they have lots of mad, passionate sex, then have them decide to start dating after the weekend fling is over so they could find out if the things they were feeling for each other were real. Of course, that isn't the normal storyline for a traditional romance, so I kept running into brick wall when I tried to make the story work. I must have tweaked the storyline a half dozen times, but I just couldn't get the darn thing to flow. I kept putting the outline further and further back in my TBW (to be written) pile until I realized that a couple years had gone by! I was starting to think the story would never make it onto the page.

I really liked Kate and Dawson, though, and thought they had great chemistry together. Plus the two of them were on my case all the time claiming I had abandoned them! I didn't want to disappoint them, so I took another look at the outline and decided to just tear the story down to it basic elements, keep the best parts of it and toss everything that didn't work. It just so happened that the best part of the story revolved around all that smokin' hot sex they had at the wedding! Any great story needs some conflict, though, so I had to come up with one for this newer version. In it, Kate tells Dawson she's only looking for a weekend fling and ends up falling for him anyway. But how does she tell him she wants more when she was the one who made up the rules? Of course, I can't tell you that or I'd be giving away the ending!

However, I will tease you with a sexy excerpt! Hope you enjoy it! And if you decide to pick up MR. RIGHT-NOW, let me know how you like it!


Kate Gentry is always the bridesmaid, never the bride. When her best friend asks her to be maid of honor, it just reminds her of how crappy her luck is when it comes to finding her own Mr. Right. Her friends point out she’s trying too hard to find Mr. Right instead of having fun with Mr. Right-Now. They convince her to put her search for the perfect man on hold and have some meaningless sex with a hot guy.

Kate takes their advice and propositions the gorgeous best man, Dawson McKenna. When he eagerly agrees, she finds herself doing things she never dreamed of doing—spanking, bondage and some amazing anal sex!

Despite knowing Dawson isn’t supposed to be Mr. Right, Kate finds herself falling for him big time anyway. But since she was the one who made the rules, how can she now tell him she wants more than just a weekend fling?


Excerpt:

Dawson walked over to stand beside her. “Do you want to go to the bar for a drink?”

Kate hesitated. The bar was certainly much more intimate than the restaurant, so it would be the perfect place to carry on what they’d been doing underneath the table earlier. That would certainly be fun, but if she was really going to do this, why waste time in the bar?
She caught her lower lip between her teeth, then tilted her head a little to the side and gave him what she hoped was a sexy look.

“Or we could just go up to your room and raid the mini-bar instead,” she suggested softly.

Dawson’s golden eyes went molten. “Even better.”

Holy crap, she’d done it. She’d just propositioned a guy for sex. Okay, maybe it wasn’t quite that blatant, but it was obvious Dawson knew exactly what she meant. She felt so proud of herself she almost did a little cheer right there.

His room was on the fourth floor just like hers, but because the elevator stopped on every floor in between to let people on and off, it seemed to take forever to get there. Now that Kate had made the decision to sleep with him, she was impatient to get his clothes off and see if he was as well built as she thought. Being in the close confines of the elevator only made her hotter for him. By the time they got to his floor, she was ready to push him up against the wall and get busy right there. She actually might have done it, too, if she wasn’t afraid they’d get arrested for public indecency. She almost laughed. Wow, she was better at being naughty than she’d thought.

His hotel room was an exact replica of hers, right down to the fireplace and hot tub. It was the king-size bed against the wall that caught and held her attention, however. As she took in the fluffy pillows and white goose down comforter, she pictured herself rolling around on it with Dawson, their naked bodies entwined as they engaged in hot, sweaty sex. Just the idea started a really nice purr between her legs.

“The mini bar is probably pretty limited, but I’m sure we can find something,” Dawson said as he tossed his key card on the dresser. “What can I get you?”

Images of her and Dawson still running through her head, Kate turned to face him. She couldn’t believe she was actually going to go through with this. Before she could change her mind, she set her purse down on the bedside table and walked over to loop her arms around his neck. She hadn’t realized how tall he was downstairs, but now she had to tilt her head back to look up at him.

“Maybe we should forget about having a drink and test out the mattress instead,” she suggested softly. “I hear they’re very comfortable.”

Surprise flickered in his eyes for a moment, but he rested his hands lightly on her hips all the same. “Kate Gentry, are you seducing me?”

“I might be,” she admitted. “But only if it’s working.”

He chuckled. “Oh, it’s definitely working.”

She smiled up at him. “Then in that case, I’m definitely seducing you. I figured since we’re both obviously attracted to each other, we should hook up for the weekend.”

She tried to make the words sound casual, but inside, her heart was pounding like crazy. She didn’t know if it was from excitement or nerves, though. Maybe it was a little of both. She’d never actually seduced a man like this. And the words, “hook up for the weekend,” had certainly never, ever come out of her mouth before.

He lifted a brow. “Hook up? As in casual sex, no strings attached?”

Clearly, he was way more familiar with this type of thing than she was. She nodded. “Exactly. Once the weekend is over, we get on the ferry and go our separate ways. No muss, no fuss.”

He pulled her closer, his mouth curving into a sexy grin. “That works for me.”

She should have tried this whole seduction thing long before this. She was better at it than she’d thought. Kate didn’t reply, but instead leaned in and kissed him.

Watch the Trailer!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRo-r_ZSoww

Buy it from Ellora's Cave!
http://www.jasminejade.com/p-8117-mr-right-now.aspx

For more of my sexy erotic fiction, including EROTIC EXPOSURE and JUST RIGHT my other new releases, and GOOD COP, BAD GIRL my upcoming release, all from Ellora's Cave, visit my website at http://www.paigetylertheauthor.com/.



*hugs*
Paige

Into the Paranormal: Reincarnation

Here is another of my Paranormal posts. If you have a topic you'd like me to discuss, feel free to leave me a comment. =) This one is an edited post I did previously on reincarnation. What do you think about the topic?

Reincarnation is the belief that when a person dies that their soul comes back in another body. It is apparent in several religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Neopaganism. Some believe that if you didn't live a good enough life, then you return to Earth as a being of less worth. Although, if you did live a good life, you come closer towards enlightenment.

My thought on reincarnation is that it might be possible, but I but haven't really contemplated it much. I've seen movies and TV shows dealing with it. There was an episode of Blood Ties that had about a guy and a woman that had so many lifetimes together, and in each life they would find each other by going back to a certain tree. In the current life, she was older than him and had gotten married, but he was insistent on them being together to the point that he was trying to mess up her marriage. It was romantic at first, but then it turned into downright creepy. With that in mind, I think I prefer the concept of living out my life and then having my soul move on to the "afterlife." This world can be challenging enough with the thought of living in it once, let alone an infinite amount of times! lol

Plus, if you think about it, in my personal opinion, if reincarnation was real then why would there be a such thing as ghosts and spirits trapped here on earth? They would go on to their next life right? Hmm... I don't know.

Do you believe in it, or do you hold some skepticism for it like I do?

Updates

Goodness... Naming a blog post can leave me scratching my head sometimes. Argh... lol Anyways, I've been feeling under the weather since last Tuesday. Bleh... I was finally beginning to feel better and hubby coughed on my pillow the other day and now I'm feeling worse than I had been. (Though hubby adamantly admits he didn't do it, but I saw him. ;)) I've sent off a couple more query letters, and have been working dilligently on my next book as well as slowly getting caught up on the revision workshop I'm taking.

This Friday, I have Ellora's Cave author, Paige Tyler guest blogging with me. Make sure to check back then. I've known Paige for a couple years, so I'm really happy that I'll have her here. =) Woohoo!

So far in March...

...I've been circulating my urban fantasy with my top list of agents, which has netted two requests (one partial and one full, YAY!) I've also finished outlining urban fantasy novel #2 and begun working on it. Now that I've finished revising the first one and circulating it, I feel freer to work on a new book, which really is the thing to do when querying agents/editors. I've also entered the Guide to Literary Agents "Dear Lucky Agent" Contest: Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Will anything amazing come from that? I'm not sure, but it doesn't hurt to enter. And finally, I queried a short story to a publisher I've heard quite a bit about from others.

It's been pretty active, and there's been quite a bit of awesomeness so far. I'm hoping for more in the days to come!

Please welcome... author Tierney O'Malley!

Today, my friend Tierney O'Malley is going to be guest blogging with us today, starting off my guest blogger Fridays. Thanks so much for blogging today!
****************
Thanks for asking me to blog, Sarah.


Good Find Online

Are you an online surfer? I cannot say that I am one because there are only a few sites that I often visit online. My publishers sites (Cobblestone Press, eXtasy Books, Red Rose Publishing), Wicked Thorn and Roses (blog I share with fellow authors ), third party vendors such as Amazon Kindle, ARE, and Fictionwise; and review sites. Sometimes I will check a site when Google Alerts sends me an update on my books or my name.

The other day, I clicked one of the alerts and was glad that I did.

It was about a blog named Sweet Vernal Zephyr. Miranda, the owner has this The Friday 56 tab. I’ve never heard of it. The Friday 56 hosted by Storytime with Tonya and Friends, which is a weekly bookish meme. The deal is, if you are participating, you grab the book closest to you, share the 5th sentence on the 56th page, note the title and author and then link back.

Miranda, owner of the blog posted the 5th sentence on page 56 from my book Wicked Proposal.

"A bump only showed after two weeks of pregnancy, right?"

I laughed aloud when I saw it because I totally forgot about that line. So, I opened my PDF copy and read the book. Are you curious who and why the question is asked? Try Wicked Proposal. :D

Dark Diva Reviews rated this a Recommended Read, Coffee Time Romance gave it Five Cups and Whipped Cream a great review.

“…Wicked Proposal is a wickedly delightful story that is hot, captivating, and unforgettable. Author Tierney O’Malley has created something romance and erotic fans will ooh-and-ahh over, with characters who linger in the mind long after the story is over.” Fern, Whipped Cream

So online surfing has its benefits. But Google Alerts, I recommend. It’s cool to see who’s checking you or your books.

Here is the blurb for Wicked Proposal:

Madeline cannot believe she begged a man to make love with her, then agreed to his proposal to save her pride and get even with her ex. And worse, even with her newly broken heart, she falls in love with him. Just as Madeline begins to believe Wolf has feelings for her, her ex shows up and reveals the truth behind Wolf's intention.

All Wolf wants is to convince Madeline that her ex-fiancé is a fool for letting her go and that she is indeed beautiful. But when he feels her body move against his, he realizes he wants more than to help soothe her hurt pride. Now that her fiancé is out of the picture, Wolf's not going to let anybody in Madeline's her life other than him.

Will Wolf do whatever it takes to keep the woman he loves, even if it means lying and hiding his true intentions? If so, will Madeline entrust Wolf with her already shattered heart despite his deception?

I hope you’ll give Wicked Proposal a try.

Book info: Wicked Proposal
Publisher: eXtasy Books
Buy link: http://extasybooks.com/ebjmsite/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=ebook_flypage&product_id=6389&category_id=8&manufacturer_id=131&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=50

Sincerely,
Tierney O’Malley
Romance Author
http://www.tierneyomalley.com/

The Beginning of a New Month!

This month has gotten off to a great start. I began submitting to agents with a partial request so far. Yippee! (Need to send out a few more to keep a good number out there without saturating the "agent market.") I had an epic battle with my synopsis, which I won. =) Also, it's the month of my birthday. I did some sightseeing with my family yesterday at Bok Tower in Lake Wales, FL and went to Keel & Curley winery. Keel & Curley has great wines. Yumm!

Today I'm feeling under the weather. lol Blah... Threw off the idea that I'd spend more time with the family (some of which are in town from Finland), but there's still tomorrow.

As a new thing on the blog, I'm going to have guests on Fridays. This Friday, we'll have Tierney O'Malley with us, which I'm excited about. She's a great writer and a good friend. =)