Realms of the Raven

Blog is moved

2008-01-17T11:28:00.000-08:00

All the archived posts have been moved, courtesy of my friend Celia Kyle.

Please change your bookmarks to my new blog!

Moving My Blog

2008-01-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

I'm in the process of moving my blog to my website to both cut down on the number of things I need to maintain and to allow better control of my content.

The archives should be moved soon.

Please check out it's new home on my website for new posts!

Friday Flash - Anna

2008-01-10T23:29:00.000-08:00

Anna
(c) 2008 by Maura Anderson, all rights reserved

Still. Dark. Silent.

Slowly the nothingness began to recede.

She floated in a chilly sea of mist, surrounded by shades of grey, her movements slow and sleepy. Peaceful and calm, her body embraced by the fog even as her mind began to wake.

Anna.

She contemplated the name as she drifted. It felt right, it felt natural. Surely that was her own name. It had to be.

My name is Anna.

The acknowledgement seemed to open a floodgate – memories assaulted her. An invasion of visions, sounds, even tastes and smells overwhelmed her. Her mind writhed from the onslaught, helpless in the grip of the experiences it relived.

Noooooooooooooooooo.

Her silent scream faded off as she descended again into the misty silence, unable to process the bombardment.

***

Anna McInnes. She was Anna McInnes.

This time she knew who she was and the memories were still present but she no longer felt as if they were attacking her. She could picture her own face and body. She remembered her parents and that they were both dead, gone for many years.

Where am I? What happened?

She remembered leaving her house to go to her friend, Jo’s. She'd climbed into her car and started it, then began the short drive. But she didn't remember arriving. What did that mean? Where was she now?

She couldn’t see anything. Anna tried to touch her face to make sure her eyes were open but her body didn’t seem to respond to her demands. Only silence and drifting sensations met her efforts.

Determined, she pushed her fears aside and willed herself to move, to control her body.

Nothing.

I have to move. I have to know I’m okay.

She focused every bit of her will on moving just her fingers. Just one finger. Surely she could do that. Finally, as if a tightly stretched barrier burst, she felt her right hand move at the same time a wave of excruciating pain swept over her, throwing her back into her grey silence.

***

“What the hell are you doing?”

Anna’s eyes shot open at the shouted words. She was laying on a damp, cold surface that was so hard it felt like she was laying on a rock. Her head swimming, she tried to push herself upright only to realize she was so weak she could barely manage it.

“Well, Miss, what are you doing here? Do you have no respect?” The voice was closer now. “Are you on drugs?”

Anna managed to rise to her knees on the flat surface. She wrapped her arms around herself, cold and shivering now. Looking down, she realized she was wearing a dress she didn’t recognize. A thin flowery fabric in a style she never wore. Where the hell had that come from?

It seemed like she couldn't focus her eyes. Everything seemed to waver and shimmer. It was so bad she would swear she could see through her own body, impossible as that was. But the stone slab she was on seemed solid enough.

Lifting her head, she saw a stone wall in front of her with words engraved on it. Reading them, she almost fell over again when she realized what the words meant.

Anna Marie McInnes – Beloved Sister and Friend.

Friday Flash Fiction - Lightning

2008-01-03T19:17:00.000-08:00

Lightning
(c) 2008 by Maura Anderson, all rights reserved.

She will die young and without knowing true love. As the storm embraces her, the kiss of lightning will be her death, yet she will be endlessly drawn to her killer.

“Look Mom, I need to concentrate on driving. I’ll call you when the storm has passed to let you know I’m okay.” Even her mother wouldn’t argue with that excuse.

“Okay, Joann. Please be careful. Stay away from the storm. I can’t bear to lose you now.” A hint of tears was obvious in her mother’s voice. Jo knew the pain of her father’s death still hadn’t eased for either of them, even in the three years since he lost his battle with cancer. Her mother was terrified of losing her only child as well.

She hung up the phone and found herself stopping at another light. Only five miles to her house. She certainly should be able to make it in time – she hoped.

The obscure prophecy of her Romani grandmother hung over her head since she was born. All through Jo’s life her mother sought to prevent the curse – for it was really more curse than prophecy – from coming true. Any hint of a thunder storm and her mother would demand that she lock herself in the large guest bathroom, the only room in her childhood home that had no windows.

Jo hated that room. It always made her feel as if she were being suffocated. She tried to avoid it as long as possible, often having to be forced into it by her mother as the storms were breaking.

But the older she got, the more she absorbed her mother’s fears. She didn’t want to die.

Jo pulled up into a line of cars waiting at a stop sign. While she waited for her turn, she found herself watching the storm clouds writhe and twist in the sky. The horizon seemed alive with movement.

A glance in the rearview mirror at the sky behind her instead revealed her own face. Her curly brown hair always reacted badly to humidity and was now a bit frizzy, despite the expensive hair care products she lavished on it. Her face was so pale that the light makeup she had on didn’t disguise its pallor and her hazel eyes appeared huge. She looked frantic. She felt frantic.

When she’d realized the storm was coming in a lot earlier than predicted, she’d told her co-workers that she was suddenly feeling ill and had to leave the meeting early. She could tell by the knowing smirks they exchanged that they were condescendingly amused by their only female programmer’s fear of storms.

But they were wrong. Jo wasn’t afraid of storms. She was drawn to them in an almost irresistible attraction. The only thing that kept her inside in her safe room was the damned prophecy. An avowed disbeliever, she was still afraid that it might be true and had no desire to die.

Finally through the long line at the stop sign, Jo turned down the main road into the area her isolated house was located just as raindrops began to fall. She felt vaguely sick as the rain grew heavier and the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

At last she pulled into her own driveway. If she could just get into the house before the power was released. Before the lighting or thunder started. “Home. I’m home.”

She shut off the car and readied her keys, locating the one to her front door. A deep breath and she grabbed her purse and opened the car door, ready to race for the house.

As she slammed the car door shut, she felt it the raw power and presence of the storm surround her. Her heart pounded in her chest and she tried to force herself toward the house but instead stood frozen in awe, unable to move.

The sharp smell of ozone finally broke her free of her paralysis and she ran across her lawn toward the house. But before she could reach the door, she was lifted and thrown backwards through the air.

A small part of her realized she could no longer feel her heart beat as before the blackness enveloped her.

Friday Flash Fiction: Season's Greetings (m/m)

2007-12-27T22:14:00.000-08:00

Season's Greetings
(c) 2007 by Maura Anderson, all rights reserved.

Steve stared at the pictures covering his mother’s refrigerator. This time of year brought out all her love of friends and family and every new picture she received was proudly added to the display. Christmas was his mother’s favorite holiday and his father always tried to make sure it was perfect for her.

He smiled and gave an ironic little snort. The holidays always seemed so bittersweet now. He loved his family and spending time with them, but he missed Alan. Though they’d been partners and lovers for almost five years, neither one of them had really come out to their families. Thus they ended up spending the holidays apart and fending off the hints and occasional attempts at blind dates set up by well-meaning relatives.

He was sick and tired of the charade. This year he swore he was going to tell his parents, come hell or high water. The night after Christmas, after his nieces and nephews had gone to bed. That way no one’s Christmas would be ruined.

Trying not to imagine the possible reactions, Steve pulled open the refrigerator door and snuck a few pieces of his mother’s almond roca from the tin inside.

“Ummmmm.” He groaned in pleasure as he nibbled off little bits until it was gone and he licked the chocolate from his fingertips. Oh hell, that was a mistake. Alan loved to nibble on his fingers and he could picture just how much his sweet-toothed love would have enjoyed the chocolate coated digits.

The house was deserted but he’d seen the note from his father that they were out picking someone up at the airport and then nabbing his sister’s family from the local snowboarding slopes but would be back soon.

Finally he heard the slamming of car doors and excited voices. The front door burst open and his sister’s kids spewed into the entry, shedding snow gear and yelling competitive trash talk at each other in between laughing at their own mistakes. Must have been a good day on the hill.

“Uncle Steve!” His niece caught sight of him first and raced over to throw herself into his lap. The others followed suit until he was covered in four cold, wet kids, all trying to hug and kiss him at once.

“Kids! Get back here and get your wet clothes off!” Tammy’s voice was warm and full of humor.

The kids obediently struggled off him, one of them narrowly missing kneeing him in the balls. Once free, he headed toward the entry, only to be intercepted by his mother. Steve pulled his mother close in a huge hug, his heart in his throat. This year would change everything. Would he ever have a “normal” family gathering again?

“I’m glad you made it. It was starting to snow pretty hard.” His mother’s voice was muffled as her face was still squished against him. A firm shove from her, and he finally let her go.

“You have to come see my favorite photo Christmas card, Stevie. I just got it and it was so special I waited to put it up until I could share it with you.”

“Umm, okay.” He obediently followed her tiny figure back into the kitchen. From the top of the fridge she pulled down an envelope and opened it to pull out one of those long photo cards. But this one looked suspiciously familiar. When she flipped it over, his jaw dropped.

It was the card he and Alan had sent to their friends. The one with them in a very clearly non-platonic embrace in front of their own tree.

Holy shit. Who sent that to her?

Ignoring his silence, his mother carefully made a prominent place for it on the appliance door and turned back to him. “I love you, Steve. Without reservation. I’m so glad you found someone you love to spend your life with. But I wish you would have told me yourself instead of forcing me to give poor Alan the third degree and put him on the spot by telling him I’d guessed you were gay years ago. Just understand you don’t have to pretend with us anymore, ever.”

His eyes stung with tears. Tears of relief, gratitude and love. He still couldn’t force a single word out.

Then warm arms wrapped around his waist from behind and Alan’s beautiful bass voice whispered in his ear. “Season’s Greetings, my love.”

Ecataromance gives Del Fantasma: Texas Tea 4 Stars!

2007-12-27T11:54:00.000-08:00

Sheryl at Ecataromance says this about Del Fantasma: Texas Tea (in part):

Del Fantasma: Texas Tea by Maura Anderson is a riveting tale of the supernatural and also of paranormal creatures. Having read the previous books from the Del Fantasma series this one slots in very nicely amongst them all. I really enjoyed the quirky nature of Texas, and the knowledge that in some way Lara would change his life. I also loved Lara, because she not only fulfilled a promise that had taken years to complete but also because she recognized Texas for his true self and also as her partner, not as a monster or something to be afraid of. Maura Anderson has captured the essence of a love that crosses the boundaries of both paranormal and human while giving us readers a great book to read and one lovers of shape shifters and mystical creatures will fall in love with.

You can read the whole review on the Ecataromance Sensual Blog!

Babes in Toyland II is a Must-Read!

2007-12-23T20:45:00.000-08:00

Mandy at Rogues and Romance says (in part):

Gift of the Holly King is a phenomenal fantasy that gave ME a new fantasy! Maura Anderson not only captivated me by her wonderfully non-complicated but intense plot, but with her ability to make her characters feel real enough to touch. The reader can easily identify and sympathize with Kayleigh, and it’s not hard at all to lust after the Holly King! The connection between the two is absolutely electric, and when they come together, look out for sparks!

Babes in Toyland II really blew me away with it’s fun, smart, sexy, and imaginative stories. Every single one of those stories were ones I enjoyed reading immensely, and the folks at Aspen Mountain should get a big round of applause for choosing the perfect blend of fantastic stories for this anthology. Not only did I find Babes in Toyland II a definite keeper, but I found a ton of new authors that I loved. This is one I will certainly be reading again- at Christmas and all throughout the year.

Check out what Mandy has to say at Rogues and Romance's Blog.

Friday Flash Fiction - Breathe (ADULT)

2007-12-21T00:34:00.000-08:00

Breathe
(c) 2007 by Maura Anderson, all rights reserved.

“He’s a stubborn one, Dragoness. Well know for topping from the bottom and willing to risk any pound of flesh, but never his emotions. Never his heart.”

The familiar voice of Gerald’s hostess, Nicole, was only slightly muffled by the supple leather hood laced over Jared’s head. The hood was his own request and the smell of the high quality leather was almost soothing, a sign to his raging libido that it might soon have at least a bit of release.

The thick leather cuffs clasped his hands behind his back, a short chain connecting them to the cuffs around his ankles. His hard cock was fastened in a leather harness but this time Nicole had gotten creative and connected his nipple rings and Prince Albert piercing with chains barely long enough to allow him to sit upright.

He could take it. He could take anything he needed to.

So he sat proudly erect, legs spread and shoulders back, ignoring the tension on his piercings. The hood’s eye covers prevented him from seeing but he didn’t care. Instead he saw the curvy and compact body of Nikita Garden, the tiny tornado he’d faced and lost to – again – in court last week.

Unlike his co-workers, he wasn’t afraid of her. But he spent every moment in her presence with a hard on, his blood hot with the thrill of the battle and the respect he had for his opponent. A heady mix, indeed. Especially when he had yet to find a Mistress he couldn’t manipulate or win over.

He heard the door close without a word from this “Dragoness” and wondered if Nicole had scared her off, then he heard the tap of heels on the highly polished wooden floor and the snick of the privacy lock.

The sound of steps approached until he knew she was only a few feet away. Then she circled him. The light breeze she generated seemed to caress his skin, raising goose bumps and hardening his tautly pulled nipples.

Around again. Still she said nothing. Who was this woman Gerald had set him up with?

A few steps and he could feel the warmth of her body next to him. The seductive scent of amber and vanilla teased his nostrils and he breathed it deeply into him. Not the subtle flowery smell of a woman who was unsure of herself.

He had to fight to keep his head facing straight ahead.

She stepped behind him, moving slowly. Suddenly he felt the erotic, spine-tingling sensation of her hot breath caressing the sensitive nape of his neck. The feeling seemed to send an electric jolt down his spine to his cock.

Unpredictably, erratically, Dragoness touched different parts of his ever-more sensitive body with just the head of her breath. When she blew a long breath across the head of his rock-hard cock, he lost control and moaned out loud.

He’d never been this turned on before. And from so little.

As if waiting for that concession, footsteps walked toward where he knew the refreshment bar was. A clink of ice. The sound of water flowing. After a moment or two more, he heard the steps approach again.

She was in front of him. The entire surface of his skin tingled with that knowledge. A gentle hand reached out and removed the chains from his piercings, careful not to touch him more than absolutely necessary, despite his subtle attempts to force her to.

Nothing. No touches, no movement. She can’t have gotten up, could she? What the hell? What kind of Mistress would just walk away. He was popular with the club’s patrons – the Dommes saw his size and aggression as a trophy they could display on a leash if they could just tame him. But he stayed unattached, not content with playing the role.

Was he alone?

Jared shifted slightly, hoping to not betray his concern if Dragoness was still there. For his efforts, an ice-cold hand grasped his cock, nearly causing him to fall over in shock. Out of his control, his hips flexed oh-so-slightly forward as the small, cold fingers stroked his cock from base to tip, then just as abruptly released him.

“Mistress, please.” Jared moaned the plea.

As if that was the signal she waited for, his chin was cupped in a cold hand and another peeled off the eye coverings of his hood. He froze at what he saw.

“Good evening, Jared.” Nikita’s sea green eyes stared back into his own.

Friday Flash Fiction - Calling a Ride

2007-12-14T01:55:00.000-08:00

Calling a Ride
(c) 2007 by Maura Anderson, all rights reserved.

The roar of a motorcycle engine cut through the stillness of the early morning quiet. Hidden by the deep fog, she crawled behind the small boulder near the park entrance. Lena clutched the talisman to her lips, fingers and face so cold she could no longer feel them. But she continued to whisper the foreign words her mother had taught her as soon as she was old enough to memorize them. The words that would summon a dragon to aid her.

Her mother knew this day would come. The day when her mother’s family would find them and try to kill them. All in the name of purity, in the name of bloodlines. The memory of her mother’s broken body tore at her but she couldn’t cry now. She refused to waste that desperate sacrifice. She would grieve later. She would plan her vengeance later.

The deep throb of the motorcycle engine drew closer, now accompanied by the crunch and clatter of tires on the gravel road. What the hell was a biker doing her at this time of day and in this weather? And where was her dragon.

Goddess, please let this work.

The bike was so near now it had to be in the parking lot where her burnt out car sat. The rider cut the engine and the silence seemed stark in comparison. She closed her eyes and chanted the words, putting every bit of energy she had into the call.

“Would you stop, already?” The deep voice spoke from right beside her. Startled, Lena’s eyes shot open and she tried to scramble away from the tall man who stood glowering over her, helmet in hand.

“Who are you? Why did you sneak up on me?” She forced the words out despite her panic. She hadn’t even heard him approach.

He reached a large, hard hand down and effortlessly drug her to her feet by one arm. He was quite a bit taller than her and looked very solid. Lena rejected the instinct to run, there was no way she’d get more than a few feet away.

Muscles clenched in his angular jaw and his almost teal blue eyes narrowed. With a sigh, he tugged her toward the huge motorcycle he’d parked under the dim parking lot light. “You can call me Shayle and I was sent to answer your summons. My family owes yours and I get to make the debt good.”

Despite her fear, she couldn’t help but admire the thick muscles that flowed under the skintight black leathers he wore. He had dark hair, pulled back from his face and bound with criss-crossed leather ties from the nape of his neck to the top of his glorious ass. The silver tips of the ties bounced against the seat of his pants.

As soon as they reached the bike, he yanked another helmet off the seat clip and shoved it at her. “Here, put this on. We need to get out of here.”

She made no motion to take the helmet. “Umm. My mother swore a dragon would come and transport me away to somewhere safe.”

She motioned at the huge machine, almost ridiculous with the amount of chrome, black leather and studs. “This doesn’t look like a dragon. A hog, maybe.”

A snarl escaped the mysterious Shayle. “It’s not a hog or a dragon. It’s a custom.”

He tried to shove the helmet at her again and she backed up a step. “Can’t you just get a dragon to fly me out of here?”

He seemed shocked for a moment, then his strange eyes almost glowed. His voice had an undertone of anger that made Lena instinctively flinch. “No one mounts a dragon but his children or his mate. And you are neither, human.”

This time she took the helmet he held out to her, careful to not touch the razor sharp claws that had appeared from the tips of his fingers.

Refining the Big Picture

2007-12-13T21:52:00.000-08:00

So - my apologies - I can't find the bleeping charger for the camera's special batteries so today will have to be sans photos. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Anyway.....

Last week I showed everyone the POV Summary post-its up to chapter three and how I got into a situation where the POV Summary didn't match the Plot Details. Then I rewrote the POV Summaries to better match the Plot Details.

Finish the POV Summary Post-Its
The next step is to continue through the rest of the chapter boxes and write the POV Summary post-its for each scene. I double-check each one to makes sure it agrees with the Plot Details.

I don't necessarily do this in order. Often I know the scene where a major revelation takes place so I'll put up the POV Summary for that scene, then I'll go back and decide what scenes need to take place to carry my story from the prior major plot point.

Evaluate the POV balance
The next thing I do is stand back from the storyboard and unfocus my eyes a little so I don't get caught up reading the words. I look at the entire storyboard to try to get a basic feel for the balance of different POV's in the story.

My stories are often a bit weighted toward the heroinne but I try to keep it pretty even. I've had a few times where the POV was heavily weighted toward one character or another and that often leads to readers feeling as if they are distanced from the character they don't hear as much from. They don't get as much of a chance to know that character from the inside out.

In those cases, I go back through the scenes and look for opportunities to change the POV of a scene.

I mostly write third person, so the rules for first person wouldn't really apply here, your POV is always one character. In the case of the first person story I plotted out, I instead used two shades of pink and one was external focus, one was internal focus.

Add Reference Notes
I'm very prone to forgetting things like eye color, etc. and because I don't want to page back through the document to look for the details, I create some Reference post-it notes. I use the lined 4x4 post-its and put these on the storyboard far enough below the last row of the chapters so that they don't visually interfere but where I can easily see them.

Start Writing
By now I'm ready to start writing this story. The plot is a lot clearer to me and I have a good idea where I'm going. Some people take the post-it notes for the scene they are working on to their computer but I take the whole board and prop it up near the desk.

Modify as You Go
Things still change during the actual writing of the story. At least every two chapters, I sit down and look again at where the story is going and whether I need to make changes to the storyboard. Sometimes I have items appear that are important to the story and I need to show them to the reader at least three times to make them memorable. I typically add little post-it notes for these to places they should appear.

I am careful, however, to not just let myself ditch the storyboard and go off on some tangent on the spur of the moment. If I start to think the storyboard won't work, I STOP writing and redo the storyboard in whatever new vein is important.

If I make decisions on things that I need to use later (appearance, family relationships,etc), I add those to the Reference notes.

Next week I'll talk about pitfalls I've found and things I've tried but this is the meat of the information. It's really not that complicated and there is no magic formula that works for everyone.

Writerly Wednesday Delayed Until Tomorrow

2007-12-12T15:12:00.000-08:00

I... um.... forgot to charge the batteries for the digital camera.

Check back tomorrow.

*hides*

VERY Ginger GingerSnaps

2007-12-08T22:14:00.000-08:00

The first time I made this variation on a recipe from Mr. Maura's family, his relatives looked a little uncertain. It's since become a much appreciated treat. But don't serve it to people who don't REALLY like ginger.

VERY Ginger Gingersnaps
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups butter
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup finely diced candide ginger
2 cups unbleached flour

Mix well, form balls of approximately 1 Tbsp of dough. Roll balls in sugar (I use superfine sugar), bake 10 min at 350 degrees F.

Friday Flash - Caught

2007-12-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

Caught
(c) 2007 by Maura Anderson, all rights reserved

Martine hung onto the edge of the rocky cliff with every bit of strength she had, fingertips already white with strain. Stupid, so stupid. She’d finally die on one of her crazy missions, just as her family always predicted. She’d been so sure she’d found evidence of a new raptor, a huge bird of prey, that she’d ignored her own safety and taken a chance. The ledge she’d leapt over to had crumbled beneath her, leaving her dangling in midair with no real hope of rescue.

She felt in vain for toe holds or tiny outcroppings, anything to take the weight off her hands and maybe give her a chance to clamber up. Nothing. Her fingers slipped and she fought to regain her grasp, then the bit of rock she clung to pulled from the outcropping and she tumbled in the air.

Unable to breath, panic flooded through her. She was dead. The whole world moved in slow motion as she twisted and turned in the air, flailing her arms and legs in an instinctive effort to somehow catch herself.

It seemed forever. It seemed like a split second. Suddenly what little breath she had was forced from her with jolt that doubled her in half. She wasn’t falling anymore but was soaring upwards instead. She felt something tight about her body and glanced down her body, only to stare in disbelief. Huge talons were clasped around her, sharp tips burrowed into her clothes. Her ears recovered from the whistle of the wind and she could just make out the flap of huge wings.

A moment later whatever was carrying her dropped her onto a rocky mesa and landed lightly next to her. With a shove, she turned onto her back to see the huge hawk she’d been hunting looking at her, head cocked and looking at her with shiny black eyes.

“Oh my God.” It really did exist. She had finally found one of the mystery animals she’d spent years looking for.

She sat up and tugged her backpack off to search for her small camera by feel. A picture. She needed a picture to prove what she’d seen. No one would believe her without some proof.

Before she located the camera, the bird seemed to shimmer and blur. Martine rubbed her eyes to try to clear them. Then the bird glowed with a bright bluish light for a moment, then disappeared. A tall, muscular man with long black hair and gleaming coppery skin stood in its place. A very naked man.

The Devil is in the (Plot) Details

2007-12-04T23:16:00.000-08:00

Give Action to Turning Points
By now I have a vague idea of what Plot Details the Plot Points will correlate to. These are pretty darned vague at the moment, though, and I may not know all of them because I'm building it as I go.

The first thing I do is take a post-it note in my Plot Detail color (small orange ones in this case) and add a very brief (only a word or two) to the Plot Points. This gives me an idea of what happens of significant note at each of them.

Inciting Event
In this case I didn't add a note for Inciting Event because I already knew what it was (because I'm going into the storyboard with two chapters already written.) If I was to write one, it would say "Meet at work training".

TP1
This is one I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it, so I leave it blank for now. Notice that I didn't put a blank orance note on it. I want it to be obvious that it's missing its Plot Detail.

TP2
This one now says "Ex-husband shows up."

Midpoint
This one is "Melissa discovers Erik is a shifter."

TP3
This is "Melissa's House is burglarized."

TP4
This is now "Ex kidnaps Melissa"

Resolution
I don't actually tend to write a Plot Detail note for this one because I write romances and it would just end up being "HEA".

Notice that these are an escalation. Each one should feed on the one before and build the tension of the story and the characters. Each should build the tension of the story. This one goes from meeting and lusting after each other, to the threat of the ex showing up, to the discovery that Erik is a coyote shifter, to the burglary, to the kidnapping.

Here's how the board looks:

Add POV Scene Summaries
Now you need to start writing POV Scene summaries in the larger Post-It notes in the color of the POV character. If you change your mind about whose POV the scene should be in, rewrite the note in that color. This becomes important later when you are looking at visual balance of color to tell you whether the story is too heavy in a single POV.

In my case, I already have the first two chapters of this story written. I took those chapters and translated them into POV notes, then placed those notes in the correct chapter.

Then I wrote what I thought were my notes for Chapter Three. Here's what the storyboard looks like at this point:

Each time you complete a chapter's worth of the POV Summaries, you should look at what you wrote and make sure that the summaries actually make sense with the Plot Detail. Do they make it happen? Does it make sense with the chapters that procede it? Fixing it now will save you from fixing it later or complaints that it doesn't make sense.

And here's a closeup of Chapter Three's square:

If you read the POV notes, you'll see that they don't really match the Plot Detail note. The POV summaries sound more like a sweet innocent lunch date, not a "can't resist each other".

So I rewrote those POV summaries into this new version:

Notice that this is now MUCH more in line with the Plot Detail. Now they're kissing and necking.

The idea of having the assistant be a werewolf was one of the little things that appear. Even in plotting and storyboarding there is room for these whims and ideas to show up.

Add Sex Notes As You Go
Notice that the Chapter Three revised picture has new little notes - the ones in yellow are my Sex notes. I want the sex to escalate as well and in this chapter they kiss and neck so I've made notes to be sure I know where the characters are in the intimacy arc.

Continue this Process
Now I have to continue this same process through the rest of the storyboard.

Next week I'll show you the completed board and any other notes I may have added and talk about how it translates into the actual story.

New Contract!

2007-12-04T14:19:00.000-08:00

After falling victim to the evil temptresses known as Jet Mykles and Anne Caine, I began writing a m/m story called "Giving Thanks".

My test readers reassured me that it was pretty good. I'm neurotic because I've never written a male/male romance before. Okay, they had to reassure me a lot.

Well, I'm proud to announce that it's now contracted with ManLove Romance Press to appear in an anthology in 2008. The ebook version is under discussion as well. I'll let you know more about that as I hear.

WOOOT

Snow Dusted Bandit Bears

2007-12-01T19:38:00.000-08:00

We've had our first "real" snow today and Mr. Maura's totems arrived to eat the feral cat colony's food.

Friday Flash - Damascus Vision

2007-11-30T09:09:00.000-08:00

Damascus Vision
(c) 2007 by Maura Anderson, all rights reserved

Ryan stifled a moan and closed his eyes for a moment. It seemed like forever before his stomach returned to its accustomed place and ceased desperately seeking to evacuate his body through his nose.

Goddess, he hated it when Niall decided to transport him. A hundred years of it and it still took every bit of willpower he possessed to not puke.

Experimentally, he cracked his eyes open just a little. No sign of nausea. More confident now, he opened his eyes fully and looked around. He’d been lucky this time. He stood atop a small hill, shielded from casual view by a fairly dense group of trees.

Of course, secrecy was everything, even when Ryan was running his cousin’s errands instead of his own. At least it wasn’t the middle of a slimy pond or inside a Port-A-Potty this time. No matter what Niall said, that could not have been an accident.

A few steps took him to the edge of the trees where he could see the buildings below. One good-sized house, few small outbuildings and a large barn sat in a clearing.

He shook his head. Not at all the place he expected to find Niall’s weapon-maker. Ryan’s Tuatha cousin had spoken of the smith’s work in nearly reverent tones and kept driving home the honor bestowed by the summons. After the sixth repetition, Ryan’s eyes practically rolled back in his head. A weapon made on request was honor enough but a weapon made because of a need seen by the smith was nearly unknown. And for a half-human, yet.

Ryan looked around carefully. Nothing more threatening than some songbirds appeared interested in him. Thankful for the leather pants, heavy boots and long black leather duster, he made his way around several clumps of large purple thistles and down the hill toward the house.

The short hair at the nape of his neck stood up and a shudder ran through him at the border to the house’s clearing. Wards. Stronger and more powerful wards than he’d ever felt in his life.

“Oh man.” Maybe there was even more to this smith than Niall knew.

Hearing rhythmic clanging from the barn, he bypassed the house and headed that direction instead. Uncertain of his reception, he stopped at the threshold of the open door. A remarkably slight figure stood at an anvil, tapping steadily with a large hammer. Blows became lighter and lighter until the smith merely tapped delicately, clearly refining what looked like a spear point. Picking it up with a pair of tongs, the smith sighted along one edge, then flipped it over and sighted down the other. He adjusted something on the forge and placed the item back inside the brightly glowing center.

Ryan couldn’t see much of the man’s form but it was not the hugely muscular, strong one he’d expected. Clearly strong and skilled, the smith’s arms were narrow and sleekly chiseled, the sweat on them highlighting the flowing muscles and tendons.

A long, thick braid of red hair hung down the smith’s back. Ryan realized the smith wasn’t wearing a face shield or protective glasses.

“Welcome, Ryan.” A woman. The sacred smith was a woman?

She turned to face the door and pulled off the leather apron she wore to lay it on the nearby workbench. Wowsa. Her delicate bone structure was clearly Tuatha but it was overlaid with muscles beyond those of most. He could just see the delicate points of her ears. But a Tuatha could not stand cold iron. Weren’t her anvils and tools made of iron or steel?

She chuckled, a throaty sound that caressed him like a lover’s touch. “I can see your confusion. You may call me … Ciara. My mother was Tuatha de Danaan but my father is Creidne.”

Ryan took a moment but finally came up with the reference. “One of the smithing gods. But even he didn’t work in iron.”

She nodded and stepped closer. “But he discovered his bastard half-breed was even more talented than he. So he cursed me in a fit of jealousy. I am cursed to provide arms and armor to my mother’s people but all my magic is limited to metal. Even my sight.”

A few steps closer and she stood an arm’s length away. The sunlight fell on her face, revealing the truth of what she said. Eyes of swirled Damascus steel stared back at him.

Babes in Toyland II is OUT!!

2007-11-29T23:16:00.000-08:00

Babes in Toyland II is now out!

You can buy it at Aspen Mountain Press.

My contribution to this HUGE holiday anthology is called Gift of the Holly King.

Blurb:
Recovering from a near-fatal accident, wiccan priestess Kayleigh Brennan has taken a leave of absence from her job to focus on recovering her health and rediscovering herself. When she discovers an ancient holly tree in a clearing behind her rented bungalow, she catches the full attention of Ilex, the Holly King. As his reign ends for the year and an ice storm moves in, will they lose each other again to the cycles of the year and of life?

Excerpt:

What a beautiful day.

Already chilly, the lack of any cloud cover was a certain sign that it would get far colder overnight. The weather had been unpredictable and there were already dire warnings that this winter would be a record breaker.

She made her way down the wooden stairs from the deck to the ground, keeping a tight grip on the railing and testing each step carefully before putting her full weight on it. The mere thought of getting hurt again made her stomach churn. She wasn’t about to risk a tumble down the steps.

The carefully groomed gravel path started at the base of the wooden stairs and meandered in swoops and curves toward the woods, following the slight contours of the yard on its way to the woods. Its organic flow made it seem like it might have always been there, despite the fact it was clearly manmade.

The crunching sound of her footsteps drew her to the brink of a different state of awareness. Her stomach gradually relaxed and her hands unclenched. Her mind stilled as she focused on her feet and the path, each slow step taken with care. Each deliberate stride pulled her deeper into her light trance.

At the edge of the grass lawn, she seemed to cross from one world to another in the space of a few steps. The light breeze rustled the few remaining leaves on the branches of the maples and oaks. The gravel path changed to a rougher trail of packed earth with a layer of leaves and needles. The trees grew thicker, larger, and nearer to the small path. The scent of the cedars was both sharp and comforting, overlying the musty and rich smell of the thick layer of decaying vegetation that filled the floor of the woods. Screened by the woods, the breeze was replaced by a quiet stillness, not even broken by the sound of birds or squirrels she’d heard in the yard.

The path was well-defined and Kayleigh continued along it, sinking a little deeper into her trance. She loved the feel of nature and the trees around her. Alone in the woods, she could have been the only person in the world, at home with the Goddess and the sense of impending Yule.

Though not a major sabbat, she’d always had a special place in her heart for the Winter Solstice and the trappings of Yule. The knowledge that she was witnessing the longest night of the year always gave her hope. The adage that tomorrow would be a sunnier day was really true.

Tugging off her gloves, she reached out to caress the wide, craggy bark of a pine tree that had to be a hundred years old. She wouldn’t even be able to get her arms around half the trunk. Fingers quickly growing cold, she stuffed them and her gloves into her coat pockets.

Her steps took her further down the path, touching bushes and dodging the few spider webs that impinged on the trail. It seemed like she walked forever — away from the loud modern world and into a timeless, primeval realm.

Her breath caught, a sense of excitement flooding through her newfound peace. A shiver traced down her spine and goose bumps rose on her arms. A presence, an ancient, inhuman sense of wisdom and power, flooded over her mental shields. It seemed somehow masculine, deeper and rougher than the feminine Goddess energy she usually felt. And it was very close.

What is out here?

A blind turn in the path, around a large maple, brought her to the edge of a clearing. The crowded woods abruptly gave way to a grassy open space with a huge holly tree in the center, flanked by two smaller holly trees.

“Goddess, where have you brought me?” Her own whispered, reverent words seemed to flow out into the still otherworld of the clearing on the fog of her breath, twisting and turning as she stood in awe of what she saw and felt.

Every instinct and training told her this was no ordinary landscape feature. This was a sacred place of some sort and it belonged to the presence she felt. The huge, ancient holly tree in the center seemed to be the focus.

The longer she looked at the tree, the more she felt a need to touch it, to be near it. The smooth bark almost glowed in shades of tans, browns, yellows and golds. The spiky leaves were a glossy, dark green and created a lush canopy that overshadowed two smaller holly trees.

The overgrown grass, yellowed from the cold fall weather, was wet. It seemed deeply wrong to just walk into the clearing. That space belonged to the presence and no matter how much she wanted to get near the huge holly, she needed to remember she was only a visitor — an uninvited one at that. A wave of tingling electric sensations ran over her skin and just under it, an eerie sensation made it clear that whatever lived here had noticed her.

Are There Points to Your Plot?

2007-11-27T19:52:00.000-08:00

Preparation:
You need to have your collection of post-it notes and pens. I actually keep all mine in one of these clear paint cans people use for crafts. It has the advantages of looking nice, keeping them all together and clean and, best of all, the paint can is very hard for my six year old son to pry open!

Then you need to divide your storyboard into chapter squares. I use a plain old wooden yardstick and a sharpie and divide it into six inch squares. It ends up looking like this when unfolded and propped up.

Most of the time I won't show you the full storyboard. We won't use nearly the whole thing for my sample story and you'll want to read the post-it notes more than you'll want to admire the empty landscape.

Note that I don't number the squares. I know some people do but if I have several small stories, they may all live on the same board just in different areas. If it really bothers you, feel free to number yours or use a small post-it or even a flag for the numbers.

I also seem to work best at two scenes per chapter. So each square will have two scenes in it. One of the reasons I use the size post-it notes that I do is that two sets of one large plus four small ones will fit in each square. I like to be able to see it all at a glance, if I can. I don't like to stack them. The top half of each square is always scene one and the bottom half is scene two.

Setting Your Story Length:
Now is when you really have to decide about how long your story is going to be. This can actually be done several different ways.

Formula
If I know how long I want the story to be (or it's required to be), I can use a formula to determine the number of chapters. The basic formula is:

Desired Wordcount / Average words per chapter = number of chapters needed

So if I wanted a 60,000 word story and I know I write about 2,500 words per chapter, I would need twenty four chapters. Always round up.

Chapter Count
If you are doing a serial, you may know that you need to have a certain number of episodes or chapters. This is how Games Coyotes Play is set up. I knew I wanted the story to run for a year, so I knew I needed twelve chapters.

Mark the Start and End
The next thing I do is mark the real start of the story - the Inciting Event. I always put it at the very beginning because I have a bad habit of trying to introduce too much backstory before the real story starts. It helps to keep me honest.

I stick a small post-it in my plot point color (it's really lime green, despite the pics) labeled "Inciting Event" on the board.

Then I put a plot point post-it labeled "Resolution" in the last square.

Now my storyboard looks like this:

Add Midpoint
Now I find the middle of the story and put a plot point post-it labeled "Midpoint" in that square.

Add Basic Turning Points
Now, still with the plot point post-its, I add the other two turning points to create the basic story structure I use.

A "TP" post-it is placed midway between "Inciting Event" and "Midpoint". Another "TP" is placed midway between "Midpoint" and "Resolution".

Make Pacing Adjustments
Now I step back and look at what I have and make adjustments if I think I need to. In the case of "Games Coyotes Play", I do need to.

This is a serial story so it has no real ongoing momentum to carry it forward. That means it can't tolerate much in the way of lag or really slow spots. When I look at the storyboard shown in the last step, I see a lot of empty squares. Those are points the story can lose momentum.

It can also benefit from the second half of the story moving faster.

In this case, I decided that I needed to add two more turning points and shift the midpoint and the third turning point. You can see in this photo that the midpoint has shifted one chapter later and an additional "TP" is now inserted midway between the first "TP" and "Midpoint".

The next thing was to move the "TP" after the Midpoint to a scene earlier in the story and inserted a new "TP" post-it between it and the Resolution. But in this case I put it the chapter before the resolution and also labeled it the "BM" for Black Moment.

Now when I step back and look, it's in better balance and not too bare. This is a good start to a well-paced story.

Come back next week for the next installment and I'll start to show the POV notes.

Comments and questions are always welome :)

Friday Flash - Stasis Dreams

2007-11-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

Stasis Dreams
(c) 2007 by Maura Anderson, all rights reserved

As if from a great distance, the vague sound of voices intruded on the echoes of her dreams. Sultry, seductive dreams. Terrifying horrible dreams. But she couldn’t see anything at all, only a ceaseless black swathe of darkness.

Only the painful dreams began in darkness.

She tried to pull herself from the grip of the dream, to escape the promise of agony to come. Every bit of willpower she possessed was not enough.

Not again. She couldn’t take the pain, the torment, yet she would be forced to do so. Held immobile by unseen bonds to accept whatever was forced upon her. Yet she couldn’t accept the futility of resistance. No matter what the voices told her, she always fought. There was no honor in surrender.

No. No more. Not again.

Still the voices continued. Two, maybe three separate voices. And somehow different this time. Not as soft, not as harmonious. Not in any language she could decypher. Another voice suddenly spoke so close to her ear that she gave an involuntary twitch.

She moved? Was it some new kind or torment? She momentarily ignored the voices and struggled to think, to remember something besides the seemingly endless sequence of dreams.

There. A battle, some sort of battle. Her small exploration craft had been attacked without provocation and nearly demolished around her. There had been no time to do anything other than set off her distress beacon and lock herself into the claustrophobic stasis pod.

No one had ever been able to tell her what stasis was like. Hell, they’d not even been able to swear to the length of time it would be effective and survivable. It was a last ditch hope, that was all. If stasis resulted in dreams like hers, she’d die before she willingly entered it again.

But where was she now? Had she been rescued? It was almost too much to believe. Too much to hope for.

The voices intruded again. One sounded angry and upset, another used a tone that seemed to be universal to the soother, the peace-maker.

A sudden pressure below her jaw and a line of burning ice ran up her neck. Before she could scream, silence encompassed her mind again.

* * * *

She fought her way to the surface again. It wasn’t a dream, she was sure of it now.

Now she could feel herself breathing and taste the faint odor of life and chemicals underlying the more organic scents. Deodorizers. Recognition allowed her to push the information aside to focus on other things.

So weak. Just licking her lips was exhausting. Her lips were smooth but her tongue felt incredibly rough, almost bristly. Was this something else stasis caused?

She wanted to open her eyes but caution won out. With no idea where she was or what her situation was, secrecy might be her best hope. Hell, it might be her only hope. She listened intently, trying to sense whether anyone was near her.

After a seemingly endless time of hearing nothing more than mechanical hums and ticks, she heard distance voices. A soft woosh accompanied by a change in air pressure. She steeled herself to pretend to be unconscious and unaware. The voices ceased but rhythmic footsteps neared her.

“What is your opinion, Traisa?”

She could understand this one! A deep masculine voice spoke in a tone of voice that brooked no denial. Someone accustomed to command and being obeyed. The words were EuroStan but with a very strange accent.

“I think we should do her a favor and euthanize her.” The brittle iciness of the female voice was made more chilling by the sharp clip to her accent.

The words sank in. Euthanize? What the hell had happened to her? What shape was she in?

The higher voice continued. “Face it, Maylar. The registration on her stasis pod was to the ship of Doctor Sandra Mailings. That ship was found in pieces over 200 cycles ago. Fifteen years was the lethal limit for this kind of stasis and standard humans.”

“Well, she’s still alive, even if we don’t know why. But what the hell happened to her in there?” The man’s voice sounded almost contemplative.

“The med tests all show that if this really is Dr. Mailings, she’s not standard human anymore. She’s become part Caitoyn.”

Sandy’s eyes opened in shock, only to squint almost closed until her pupils adjusted to the bright room. Far too bright.

“She even has Caitoyn eyes.”

Writerly Wednesday - Introduction and Supplies

2007-11-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

Introduction:
First I'll remind anyone reading this that I'm presenting this as my own methods of writing. There are very few people who have the same approach or process toward writing and this applies even more to storyboarding. In no way is this intended to be "the one true way" to do anything.

I've decided to present this as a journey through a story from idea to storyboarding to beginning to write. The results will be available in my newsletter because I've chosen to make my newsletter story - Games Coyotes Play - my demonstration story.

I'll be honest that I've done this for several reasons.

One is that most publishers don't want you to have more than a small percentage of a story you are trying to sell already on the web. So using a new story that I want to sell would be a bad idea.

The second is that plagerism happens. More often than you want to believe and even to starting authors like me. I work hard for my stories and I want to believe it won't happen to me - but I'm not that much of an optimist. So I had to use something that, if it were plagarized, it would perhaps be recognizable as mine by someone and wasn't something that would directly cost me money. So if anyone sees a story that looks a lot like mine with coyote shifters and all, please turn the thief in :)

The third reason is that I began this story BEFORE I learned to storyboard and I'm feeling the lack. I need to get it settled in my own head, so this will help me too.

I'm always up to questions and comments, so don't hold back. Hopefully this will help others and be a good exercise for me as well.

Supplies
Before I delve into the story next Wednesday, you need some supplies in order to storyboard. Here is a list of what I use.

Foam Core Board
I really like the folding presentation boards for storyboarding. They are very convenient because I can fold the two sides in, with post-it notes intact, and not worry about them getting knocked off or moved. Since I move them to wherever I'm writing and often have several stories that are storyboarded but not currently being written, I can tuck the waiting ones in the closet and unfold them when needed. I own five of these boards at the moment.

I use the white boards but I have seen some dark ones. The white ones merely reduce the number of pens I need to have and are cheaper. I also think the colors of post-it notes show up better for me.

Pens
I'm a dedicated Sharpie fan - the ink stays even when my son spills stuff on the notes. I only use black and I keep several retractable medium point black sharpies in my supply bucket.

I'm also a relatively neat writer and I don't write LONG bits of info on the post-it notes, so that also lets me use a bolder pen. It's easier to read from a distance, as well.

Post-It Notes
I use three different sizes of post-it notes when I storyboard. I keep about 5 of each color of the 3x3 and 1.5x1.5 notes in my storyboarding bucket but just the yellow lined ones in the 4x4 size.

There are all sorts of shades of notes out there. I happen to like the Super Sticky ones because I move my notes around a lot. The only important things are to make sure you can tell the colors apart instantly and you can read your writing on the note. After that, go with what you like.

3x3 Post-It Notes
I use 3x3 Notes for POV characters only and on them is written the scene information in the color note for whomever the POV character is. I'm a huge hater of head-hopping so this helps me keep on track.

I usually use:
- Pink = Heroine
- Blue = Hero

If I have any other POV characters, I use a different color for each one of them. But ONLY POV characters get a 3x3 note.

1.5x1.5 Post-It Notes
These are the notes I use for prompts, for plot points, for triggering items, etc.

My standards are:
- Green = Pacing/midpoint notes
- Orange = Sex

4x4 Lined Post-It Notes
These are used for making notes of character appearances, families, paranormal abilities, etc. Basically for anything that I need a quick reference for.

Yardstick
You'll need this to mark off the foam core the first time you use each one. After that, it's not needed.

Removable/Repositionable Tape
I keep a roll of this on hand for the occasion when I've moved a note a bunch of times and the adhesive refuses to work properly. Not a necessity but I nice thing to stow in the bucket.

Next Week
Next week I'll walk through setting up a new board and then beginning to storyboard the plot points and turning points.

Writerly Wednesdays are a Go

2007-11-19T11:24:00.000-08:00

The concensus seems to be that people actually would like to see me demonstrate my writing process. Now whether that's to learn something or merely to have holiday joke fodder remains to be seen. :) Maybe it's both....

So this Wednesday, I'll post a list of materials and things I need to have before I start and we'll dive into the process. For the sake of reducing plagerism, I'll probably use a free story rather than one of my contracted stories.

You'll have to suffer without a cute logo/banner, though. My button/banner/graphics skills are very.... lame....

Question for my Blog Readers

2007-11-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

I was helping another author today get started using a storyboard as a plotting technique and she asked if I've ever considered blogging about the process as I work through a story - so it's a real world example, with photos and such.

I know I'm not unique in using a storyboard - I learned the basics from Shelley Bradley and Naughty Nikki, then modified it for my own peculiarities. And certainly if you get five authors in a room that all use storyboarding, you'll get six or seven opinions on how it's done.

So is there any interest in this? If there is, I'll turn it into the weekly Wednesday post topice. But not response here means no interest and I'll table it :)

Let me know, it's up to you.....

Babes in Toyland II - Cover Art!

2007-11-17T16:44:00.001-08:00

We got the cover art for the Babes in Toyland II Anthology. I know, it's the same cover they used for last year but this year it has MY name on it! LOL

You can read an excert on my website!

Friday Flash - Frostbite

2007-11-15T23:13:00.000-08:00

(c) 2007 by Maura Anderson

----------------

Whooooomp!

Before he was even fully conscious, Michael was out of bed and flat on the floor. The thick, braided cotton rug cushioned his fall as well as kept his naked body from direct contact with the very cold wooden floor.

Adrenaline raced through his system. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. The long ingrained training kicked in and he had control again. Absolutely still, he listened intently. His own heartbeat. The occasional subtle whoosh of the snow sliding off the steep roof of the cabin or off the nearby snow-encrusted trees. Nothing else.

Every sense alert, he rose silently to his feet and reached for the wax wood staff he’d set in the corner near the headboard.

Hyper-aware of everything around him, Michael slowly and cautiously crept toward the bedroom doorway, ears straining for any sound. A check through the small opening where the door was ajar revealed nothing that seemed amiss.

He slowly drew the door open just far enough for him to slip through. One step at a time, careful to stay centered and aware, he eased into the main living space of Aaron's cabin. Staff at the ready, he scanned the room.

When he could find nothing wrong, Michael allowed himself to partially relax and stand upright, no longer crouched and prowling for potential prey. He flicked on the light and relaxed even more at the complete lack of any sound or movement that was not his own. Nothing seemed to lurk in the corners.

He set the staff against the wall. "Well, that was a really crappy way to wake up."

There was no way he was getting back to sleep right away, not with that scare. Maybe some tea and some meditation would help. He'd just put the kettle on the stove to boil when he heard a scratching at the door.

He stopped at the couch to tug on the pair of sweatpants he’d tossed there earlier, after his Tai Chi exercises. Had an animal gotten lost in the snow? The predicted storm had quickly turned from a typical winter snowstorm to one of blizzard proportions.

All he could see through the peephole was the fluffy drifts of snow, illuminated only sparsely with the porch light. The snow was still coming down rapidly, making it impossible to see much beyond the edge of the porch.

About to turn away, he heard the scratching sound again, this time accompanied by a soft moan. Gut instinct made Michael unlock and open the front door, only to have the freezing air nearly take his breath away. Now he could see a large depression in the snow near the base of the porch steps with a packed path leading toward the house, spotted and streaked with some dark substance. He looked down to find not an animal but a woman collapsed face down in front of the door.

In the face of the bitter cold, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into the cabin’s great room. She slid easily on the polished wood floors and he slammed the door on the blizzard as soon as he had her far enough in the room.

What the hell was a woman doing here? And who had hurt her?

Long white hair was plastered to her, red in some places with the blood seeping out of the four long gashes down the her back. Pale, almost bluish skin was very cold to the touch. She needed to be warmed up.

Careful of her wounds, Michael turned her over. Her face was finely sculpted with high cheekbones and a delicate chin. White eyebrows arched over closed eyes with matching thick white lashes. Her lips were a combination of pink and blue, enticing him to warm them with his own.

She reminded him of something, of someone. But damned if he could remember what or who.

He pushed her hair away from her face. Suddenly, her hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. Long, sharp silver nails dug into his arm, his own blood oozing out over the needle tips that pierced his skin.

He stared at the talons then looked up at her face again. Deep, glacier blue eyes stared back at him, angular pupils making it clear she was not human. He recognized those eyes - the distinctive eyes of a frost dragon.

Seven Random and/or Weird Things About Me.

2007-11-14T21:12:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by the evil Michelle Hasker. Sigh.....

Sooooooooooo - I'm never good at these sorts of challenges. Here's my best shot.....

1. I can make chain maille armor but stick to chain maille jewelry for now. I learned to make it in high school.

2. I never thought I had what it took to be an author until about two years ago.

3. My parents were into science fiction fandom so I pretty much grew up amongst it.

4. I love ravens and consider them my personal guardians.

5. I used to consider myself an introvert but my friends and family say that I'm really just a disguised extrovert. I mean, doesn't every introvert strike up conversations with anyone who doesn't run away fast enough?

6. I'm a jewelry-aholic. I love it. I love to make it. I love to buy it. I love to wear it. Thankfully I try to stick to mostly costume jewelry.

7. I have tattoos and body piercings. I'll leave that to your imagination!

No idea who to tag so anyone interested in taking this up??

Coffee Time Romance Forum

2007-11-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

Did you know that I have my own forum on Coffee Time Romance? I've added a link to my dropdown under Interact but you can also get there by clicking on this button.

I've also posted the button on my sidebar for your convenience. :)

Stop by and say Hi!

Discount on Del Fantasma: Texas Tea!

2007-11-09T15:13:00.000-08:00

Aspen Mountain has given me a SPECIAL promo code that I can offer to
you for 15% off the purchase of Del Fantasma: Texas Tea!

It's only good on Aspen's website and only until November 15th, so if
you've been thinking that Texas Tea looks like something you'd enjoy,
why not give it a try at a discount!

Texas Tea: http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/texas-tea/prod_65.html

Use code: MAU-9SE5G when you check out!

This is my first book and has earned multiple great reviews, including
a Recommended Read from FAR!

I'd love to know what you think, too!

- Maura
http://www.realmsoftheraven.com

Friday Flash

2007-11-08T23:22:00.000-08:00

(c) 2007 by Maura Anderson

(Edited to change a name. Apologies to the person offended/hurt.)

“Let me get this straight. You have, without my permission, without even telling me until now, set me up on a blind date with a fairy?”

By the time she’d spat out the last word, Lucynda's voice was almost a screech. She winced and glanced around the coffee shop, then spoke more quietly. “What the hell possessed you? You know I don’t date anything that isn’t human. Fully human.”

Unperturbed by her best friend’s protests, Kelly continued to eat her salad. When Lucynda finally had to pause to take a breath, she glanced up. Her lips curled in a secretive smile and she gestured with her fork. “I told you, Valandil is an elf, not a fairy. And he’s a friend of Iulian’s.”

“I don’t care if your vampire boyfriend recommends him, I am not going on a date with a fairy.”

This time Lucynda managed to respond in a low hiss, no doubt disappointing the nearby couple that seemed determined to eavesdrop.

Kelly didn’t reply, merely smiled and went back to her salad while Lucynda ranted away.

“You aren’t listening to me.”

Lucynda shoved her shoulder-length brown hair behind her ears and rubbed her temples. A date was the last thing she needed at the moment, especially one with some strange fairy creature. Hell, she probably couldn’t deal with human man right now.

After pushing her salad plate away, Kelly took her time wiping her lips. Finally, she neatly folded her napkin again and looked up at Lucynda. “Look, you need this. You need a date with someone who can put up with your attitude and not want to kill you in the first half hour. You need a date with someone who just wants to get into your pants, not have some philosophical conversation about art or music.

She chuckled. “Maybe you’ll even get a nice hard fuck out of it.”

Lucynda started to speak but Kelly’s steady gaze made her swallow the protest. She was right. Lucynda had been consorting with her vibrator for so long anything self-heating would be an improvement. A real cock would be a delight. Her pussy clenched at just the thought.

Humans only. I swore that I wouldn’t fuck any more non-humans. Humans only.

“He’s a fairy, Kell. He’s probably two feet tall and dressed in leaves or something. I’d be better off with a few fingers and a really hot story.”

Lucynda unclenched her fingers from the edge of the table, one at a time. Ice tinkled in her water glass as she picked it up with a now shaking hand and took a sip.

“You shouldn’t call him that in person. He’s an elf and quite proud of the fact. And he’s a lot taller than two feet, according to Iulian.”

Kelly looked around and waved an arm, apparently to someone behind Lucynda.

“Call off the date. Make your liquid diet boyfriend call it off. I’m not going. Period.”

The waitress dropped the check off on the table and Kelly snatched it up with one hand and grabbed her purse with the other. The chair rasped as she slid it back from the table and hopped to her feet. “Umm. Your date is right now. Here he comes. “

Shock froze Lucynda with her mouth wide open. “But… Now?”

“I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Moving faster than seemed possible in her high-heel boots, Kelly headed for the register.

If Lucynda ran now, she might make her escape, at least before Valandil got to her table. But before she could do more than think about it, he was there.

Almost six feet tall, he clearly was no fairy. At least no fairy she’d ever heard of. Long silver hair trailed down his back in a neat ponytail. The slicked back hair revealed ears that were gracefully arched and pointed but whose lobes were pierced through with heavy silver spirals. Pale skin, almost opalescent, covered an elegant bone structure with high cheekbones and lips quirked in a sarcastic smile.

Irresistably drawn, she looked up into eyes so blue they seemed indigo.

“Lovely human, I am most certainly not a fairy.”

Belying his fairness, his voice was a rich baritone tinged with an accent she couldn’t place. He lifted one of her hands in his own.

Lucynda didn’t resist, enthralled at the mere sight of him.

He pressed her hand firmly to the huge hard bulge tenting the front of his leather pants. “For one thing, I am much better hung.”

Author Day at Romance Excerpts Only Friday 11/9

2007-11-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

Come visit me tomorrow for my very first author day! I'll be at Romance Excerpts Only.

I'll have excerpts of Del Fantasma: Texas Tea and my upcoming release of Gift of the Holly King!

First Edits in for Gift of the Holly King

2007-11-06T21:31:00.001-08:00

Got my first edits today and turned them around for my editor. Hopefully I did a good job of it :)

I'm eager to see this baby out the door!

Seventy Days of Sweat Check-In

2007-11-06T21:26:00.000-08:00

Just did the first round of edits for Gift of the Holly King today so I (yet again) got no writing done.

Today I stand at:

Actual Words: 12,785
Goal: 17,250
% of Goal: 77%

It's too late to quit now, right?

Ciar Cullen Reviewed Del Fantasma: Texas Tea

2007-11-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

Ciar Cullen had asked for suggestions of shorts she might like to read and review on her blog. I went ahead, took a deep breath, and suggested Del Fantasma: Texas Tea. Luckily, she chose to buy and review it!

And she liked it! And said she wants to read more!

*squeely fan girl moment*

This is extra nice for me because Ciar is one of the first erotic paranormal authors I read, when she was writing under another name.

So check out her review here!

Thanks, Ciar!

Melinda Barron blogging at Coffee Time Romance

2007-11-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

My good friend and critique partner, Melinda Barron, is blogging at CoffeeTime Romance's Blog today through wednesday.

Finally, someone found out she CAN talk if given motivation.

You should stop by and see what she has to say :) Maybe you can watch her torment me - she's good at that.....

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/CoffeeThoughts/

New Contract! Del Fantasma: Firestorm

2007-11-04T22:36:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed there's a new word meter in the sidebar? Probably not because I just added it. I signed a contract for another Del Fantasma Story called Firestorm.

Firestorm
3/4 oz Cinnamon Schnapps
3/4 oz Peppermint Schnapps
3/4 oz 151 Proof Rum

Mix together, poor over crushed ice and garnish with mint.

-----------------------------------------------

Rumors of paranormal involvement in the recent California wildfires have run rampant among the non-human communities and, unbeknownst to each other, both Fire Witch Michelle Summers and Fire Drake Alwyn have been sent to investigate the fires. The machinations of Cody, Del Fantasma's matchmaking bartender, insures they find each other at the scene of the blazes. But will that backfire when the taint of paranormal power is found at the sites?

Friday Flash Fiction

2007-11-01T23:10:00.000-07:00

The Binding Tree
(c) 2007 by Maura Anderson

The Binding Tree

Kartiera sat apart from the other women petitioning the Binding Tree. Even the sacred ceremony of change they all stood on the brink of wasn’t sufficient to win them over, to overcome their distrust and fear of her differences.

She’d lived here all her life but her white hair and violet eyes set her firmly aside as different and strange. The only time they did more than shun her was when she assisted the village healer, her mother.

Fidgeting with the long plait of hair she held, Kartiera’s stomach churned. What would happen to her today?

What would this happen when she faced the Binding Tree? Would it reject her? Welcome her? Kill her?

With sheer willpower, she held back the nausea that threatened. Instead she focused on the plait of hair. A long white ribbon, carefully fashioned of all the hair trimmed from Kartiera’s head since her birth. Her fingers stroked up and down the satiny length, drawing what comfort she could from it and the love that created it. She gently toyed with the beaded ends and tried not to think of what might happen.

Movement caught her eye and she looked up to see all the villagers lining up around the clearing. The village ruler strode confidently into the clearing, placing himself before the Binding Tree, his back to the applicants. He raised his arms and the villagers began to circle the large clearing, stopping to place their offerings on one of the seven sacred fires.

Kartiera began to smell the smoke of the fires overlaying the ripe scent of her own fear. The chilly night made raised goose pumps on her flesh, the thin petitioner’s robe she wore no protection. She rubbed her hands on her arms, garnering her an admonishing glance from Bricha.

The villagers finally arranged themselves on the edge of the circle, facing inwards, and the ruler dropped his arms. In the brief moment before he began to speak. Kartiera glanced at the great tree they all worshipped. The Binding Tree. A huge tree with branches gnarled and twisted, lush leaves and a thick trunk, it appeared not so different than any other tree – until l saw the aura it had begun to exude. A sheathing of purples and blues slowly surrounded it until it was completely enveloped in the moving, alive aura.

Now she was really scared. All the rumors in the world couldn’t compare with the reality before her.

At the ruler’s motion, she and the rest of the girls stood. Kartiera took a deep breath and threw her shoulders back. She was ready.

The first girl walked hesitantly up to the Binding Tree and looped her plait of hair around the trunk, winding it neatly while she chanted the spell they’d all been taught. For just a moment, nothing happened but then the aura flashed for a brief moment and the Binding Tree’s bark seemed to absorb the ribbon of hair and it disappeared into another craggy ring around the tree.

She dropped to her knees and pressed her forehead to the Binding Tree’s roots. She’d been accepted into the Tree’s service.

One by one, the girls each approached the Binding Tree and repeated the ritual. Some were accepted but a few had their ribbon rejected to fall to the ground below it, signifying the Binding Tree’s rejection. They would be given in marriage immediately instead of being honored to serve first.

Finally it was Kartiera’s turn. More confident than she felt, she wrapped her white ribbon of hair around the tree, chanting the spell as she tied it off. Her task completed, she waited in terror for something to happen, anything to happen. Whispers started among the villagers. She broke out in a sweat and gulped. Was she to be ignored totally?

At long last the aura began to grow brighter, even brighter than for any other applicant. A sudden flash startled all who watched and when she could focus, she saw no new ring. Dejected, she looked at the ground, expecting to see her ribbon. Nothing.

A scream sounded from the villagers behind her. “Look up!”

When she looked up she saw a huge flower, the exact color of her hair with a center the violet of her eyes had formed on one of the largest limbs of the Binding Tree. But what did it mean?

National Novel Writing Month Kickoff

2007-11-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

I'm going to participate this year but, as usual, I have to do so using what works for me instead of the official "rules".

The stated rules are to take the entire month of November and produce a 50,000 novel. The guidance given is to ignore editing, etc and just get words on paper. I can't bring myself to do that. It goes against the entire way I write and what tends to make my muse happy.

So I'm going to try to write 50,000 words in the month, including edits,but it may be spread over several contracted stories instead of one work. This comes out to 1700 words a day, basically.

I figure that even the energy behind this will be great motivation. :)

Samhain Blessings

2007-10-31T14:54:00.000-07:00

Samhain blessings or Happy Halloween to all of you. Things are busy today and I may have another announcement soon, waiting to find out for sure.

In the meantime, don't eat so much candy you get sick and may the ancestors watch over you.

Sweating Check In

2007-10-31T14:52:00.000-07:00

This week has been paying the price in editing, test reading and plotting so I'm now a bit behind. The good news is that I should be able to catch up after another day or so of plotting and storyboarding.

Current Word Count: 11,653
Goal Word Count: 12,000
% of Goal: 97%

Sweating Check In

2007-10-28T16:25:00.001-07:00

Had to take off this morning and forgot to check in!

Actual words written: 10,815
Goal words: 9,750
% of Goal: 111%

WoooT!

Friday Flash Fiction

2007-10-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

The long silver hair of the imposing man was caught back at the nape of his neck in a braided tail that reached clear to his knees. Not the hair of any warrior she'd ever seen, it would make too easy a handle for a foe. A black leather coat lay neatly across a nearby stump, a compliment to the black leather pants that molded to his thighs and revealed every flexing muscle as he plied his axe on the wood rounds nearby. Even his loose white shirt was somehow alluring, plastered to his muscled back and arms with sweat that made it nearly transparent. The bright light of Lurrina’s full face showed him as clearly as full sunlight might have.

She should not be here. Only desperation made her enter the mountains to seek out this man. For most of her life she’d heard rumors of Shadorn, one of the few Night Born that lived this close to the Sun Dwellers. He lived alone and did not interact with any others, not that they would seek interaction anyway. All Night Born were treated as if invisible and beneath notice.

But still she’d heard the whispers, the rumors. It was said he waited for someone or something and would never leave until his task was completed. In the meantime, he lived a simple life in the mountains in a small cabin protected from the power of Stralinga, the sun god, by the heavy woods. A few travelers told of his giving unsought but welcome assistance but that he never spoke to them nor took anything from them. He just disappeared back into the woods.

She had to choice but to seek him out now. This may be the last hope she had to make a new life for herself. Her old life was lost to her. She’d tried to ignore the signs when they’d started. The pallor she put down to illness. The changes to her hair and eyes she’d passed off as a passing illness.

All the denial in the world didn’t save her. She had become Night Born, claimed by the moon goddess, Lurrina. Ripped from home and family, outcast and now almost too weak to travel, she’d finally made her way here.

He may not help her, he had no obligation to. Shadorn may even kill her on sight as a misborn, as her own people had threatened to do. No. Not my people. Not anymore.

“Why are you lurking in my woods?” The melodic voice called out the question. He faced her now and she could see his face, the finely sculpted delicacy of his features belied by the firm set to his lips and his scowl.

She flinched but gathered her courage and stepped forward, wary of his reaction. Her traveling leathers were dusty and worn. An old pair of her brother’s that she’d taken when she left.

“Greetings. Are you Shadorn?” Her breath caught as she asked the question. She prayed he was indeed Shadorn but feared it also.

“I am Sha’dorn.”

He stepped toward her. When only a few steps separated them, he stopped and glanced up and down her body, lingering occasionally.

“My name is …. was… Mikera. Can you help me. Please?”

Sha’dorn caught her when her knees buckled and hefted her easily into his arms. Gently and carefully, he set her on the stump he’d just been chopping wood on. “Are you newly changed? Have you fed?”

She could only shake her head. Ever since her eyes and hair had changed, she’d been unable to keep any food down. Nothing but water. Everything else made her sick.

“When did you complete your change? Did your people not even feed you before throwing you out?” He snarled an almost feral sound. “What has the world come to?”

“I don’t understand.” She almost sobbed. “My skin got paler and paler and I couldn’t stand the sunlight. I’d burn when I’d been in the sun all my life. My eyes changed from brown to this pale, strange color. My hair was gold, everyone said it was like silken sunlight. Now it’s white and so long.”

Now openly weeping she looked up into his face. “And my ….”

He smiled a stunning, sensual smile that stopped her in mid-sentence. A smile that revealed the sharp white tips of fangs. Fangs that matched her own.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Join the Friday Flash Fiction meme. More information is available on my website.

(today's postid is 26Oct2007)

Del Fantasma: Texas Tea Gets 4.5 Hearts from TRS

2007-10-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

I just got a copy of The Romance Studio's review of Del Fantasma: Texas Tea.

4 1/2 hearts from Wanda Maynard!

She says (in part):

"Such a gratifying work of art, Maura Anderson formulated. Through her imagination and ability to create such striking images, she tied together into a beautiful bound package, a twist of doubt, along with a modest amount of romance, which turned out to be a pleasantly puzzling story. Just enough to leave this reader wanting more. This awesome page turner, with its fast moving plot and memorable characters, gripped me with tantalizing suspense. There were no sudden jerks or jolting parts to slow the action down. Matthew, and the manner in which he was brought up, had qualities of gentlemanly and lovable attributes. That showed me he appreciated his mother, in view of the way he showed respect for women. He didn’t try to control. That surprisingly touched my heart. Will Lara become too involved with Matthew and try to transform him to a wilder side? Or will the two drift away from each other once the truth is known? I had to find out, and so will you. I highly recommend this impressive read."

You can read the entire review on TRS's site.

Sweating Update

2007-10-23T23:42:00.000-07:00

Wrote my newsletter with the exception of the free read book whose chapter two I’m finishing now.

Total Words: 9235
Goal Words: 6750
Percentage of Goal: 137%

After the newsletter story, I have two stories to plot and the Friday Flash to write for the week.

It looks like last week's Friday Flash Fiction is turning into a whole story :)

The End - Gift of the Holly King

2007-10-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

Done and now in for edits! It came out at almost 17,000 words and will appear in the Babes in Toyland II anthology from Aspen Mountain Press, available mid-November 2007.

Blurb:

Recovering from a near-fatal accident, wiccan priestess Kayleigh Brennan has taken a leave of absence from her job to focus on recovering her health and rediscovering herself. When she discovers an ancient holly tree in a clearing behind her rented bungalow, she catches the full attention of Ilex, the Holly King. As his reign ends for the year and an ice storm moves in, will they lose each other again to the cycles of the year and of life?

Excerpt (Unedited):What a beautiful day.

Already chilly, the lack of any cloud cover was a certain sign that it would get far colder overnight. The weather had been unpredictable and there were already dire warnings that this winter would be a record breaker.

She made her way down the wooden stairs from the deck to the ground, keeping a tight grip on the railing and testing each step carefully before putting her full weight on it. The mere thought of getting hurt again made her stomach churn. She wasn’t about to risk a tumble down the steps.

The carefully groomed gravel path started at the base of the wooden stairs and meandered in swoops and curves toward the woods, following the slight contours of the yard on its way to the woods. Its organic flow made it seem like it might have always been there, despite the fact it was clearly manmade.

The crunching sound of her footsteps drew her to the brink of a different state of awareness. Her stomach gradually relaxed and her hands unclenched. Her mind stilled as she focused on her feet and the path, each slow step taken with care. Each deliberate stride pulled her deeper into her light trance.

At the edge of the grass lawn, she seemed to cross from one world to another in the space of a few steps. The gravel path changed to a rougher trail of packed earth with a layer of leaves and needles. The trees grew thicker and larger, nearer to the small path. The scent of the cedars was both sharp and comforting, overlying the musty and rich smell of the thick layer of decaying vegetation that filled the floor of the woods. Screened by the woods, the light breeze was replaced by a quiet stillness, not even broken by the sound of birds or squirrels she’d heard in the yard.

The path was well-defined and Kayleigh continued along it, sinking a little deeper into her trance. She loved the feel of nature and the trees around her. Alone in the woods, she could have been the only person in the world, at home with the Goddess and the sense of impending Yule.

Tugging off her gloves, she reached out to caress the wide, craggy trunk of a pine tree that had to be a hundred years old. She wouldn’t even be able to get her arms around half the trunk. Fingers quickly growing cold, she stuffed them and her gloves into her coat pockets.

Her steps took her further down the path, touching bushes and dodging the few spider webs that impinged on the trail. It seemed like she walked forever — away from the loud modern world and into a timeless, primeval realm of some sort.

Her breath caught, a sense of excitement suddenly flooding through her newfound peace. A shiver traced down her spine and goose bumps rose on her arms. A presence, an ancient, inhuman sense of wisdom and power, flooded over her mental shields. It seemed somehow masculine, deeper and rougher than the feminine Goddess energy she usually felt. And it was very close.

What is out here?

A blind turn in the path, around a large maple, brought her to the edge of a clearing. The crowded woods abruptly gave way to a grassy open space with a huge holly tree in the center, flanked by several smaller holly trees.

“Goddess, where have you brought me?” Her own whispered words seemed to flow out into the still otherworld of the clearing on the fog of her breath, twisting and turning as she stood in awe of what she saw and felt.

Every Instinct and training told her this was no ordinary landscape feature. This was a sacred place of some sort and it belonged to the presence she felt. The huge, ancient holly tree in the center seemed to be the focus.

The longer she looked at the tree, the more she felt a need to touch it, to be near it. The smooth bark almost glowed in shades of tans, browns, yellows and golds. The spiky leaves were a glossy dark green and created a lush canopy that overshadowed the two smaller holly trees.

The grass was already yellowed from the cold fall weather and wet but didn’t appear to have been mown at all recently. It seemed deeply wrong to just walk into the clearing. That space belonged to the presence and no matter how much she wanted to get near the huge holly, she needed to remember she was only a visitor — an uninvited one at that. A wave of tingling electric sensations ran over her skin and just under it, an eerie sensation made it clear that whatever lived here had noticed her.

(c) 2007 by Maura Anderson

Sweating Update - 10/21/2007

2007-10-21T04:17:00.000-07:00

I was upset with myself for being behind until I remembered the 750 words for yesterday's Flash Fiction Friday.

So, including that, I'm now at 5354 words written and 119% of goal.

YAY

Friday Flash

2007-10-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

So, in a moment of sheer perverted masochism .... I mean brilliance, really... I've decided to try something and turn my Friday blog posts into a Flash Fiction bit each week.

Flash Fiction, for those who haven't heard the term, is a extremely short story. For my own purposes, I'll call the limit at 750 words but there is no generally accepted length.

I enjoy these brief glimpses into a story or character - hopefully you all will too. Comments and other people's flash fiction are always welcome!

---------------------------------------------------------

Mariten could no longer feel her hands. The pain of the tight bonds turned to cold numbness hours ago. Her hysterical fear had likewise turned to icy calm.

Used to the furtive glances and rejection of the townsfolk, she’d not paid much attention to the whispers and avoidance yesterday. She should have known that Hadriad would seek revenge after she’d rejected him, however privately. But even she would not have guessed he would have the priests declare the need for a sacrifice to bring back the warmth and drive away the cold. They required that the sacrifice must be one with red hair, which assured her death. She was the only unmated person with red hair.

The townsfolk filed past, each bearing wood to add to the growing pyre around and under her. Some looked at her in sorrow, most would not look her in the face. The mound of wood grew and the sun moved low in the sky until only the thinnest rim remained above the horizon.

Cold. She was so cold. The thin red robe she’d been clothed in was no protection from the frost. Another twist of her wrists proved her bonds were still tight. The stickiness on her hands must be her own blood. All day she’d attempted to wriggle free and somehow have a hope of escape, but to no avail. The gag in her mouth made speaking impossible – she could not even plead for her life.

She sagged in the grip of the ropes. They’d come for her before dawn, before she could have any chance to defend herself or escape. Stolen from her bed by Hadriad and his group of cronies, she’d feared rape or even slavery.

Never had she considered her life would end in a forbidden practice – as a sacrifice to the Fire Dragon.

“Not so proud now, Mari? You should have accepted my offer.” Hadriad spoke with quiet menace. “You would have lived a much longer life.”

The once fit warrior, now fat with excess and laziness, moved to stand next to her. His small, dark eyes narrowed in obvious satisfaction as he examined her. A sneer curled his lips at her flinch when he tightened the rope about her body yet again, making it even harder to breathe.

She straightened her trembling legs. She’d be damned if she gave him any satisfaction. She might die but she refused to cower before him. Hadriad was the true coward here. She narrowed her eyes attempting to convey her loathing.

Hadriad held his arm to the side to receive the torch handed to him by one of the priests. The fire would have come from the sacred fire of Dregalla, the Dragon Queen, creator of the world.

Fear clenched her belly again. This was the end. A few tears escaped eyes she thought were beyond any more tears.

Hadriad lowered the torch to the pile of wood and lit the pyre, then stepped back and laughed as the fire caught and spread.

The horror of her impending death ate through Mari’s shock. The heat of the fire increased as it surrounded her.

Great Dregalla, save me from the pain. Let me pass quickly if this is my fate.

The flames licked at the hem of her trailing red gown, closing in around her bare feet. It was hot but not painful. Yet.

Hadriad stared at her, almost waiting for her torment to truly begin.

The flames enveloped her and consumed her gown in a flash. Mari looked down and saw her flesh itself was on fire, tendrils of orange and red racing over her skin. But there was nothing there to feed the fire.

Sudden ferocious pain slammed through her and she threw her head back, a silent scream erupting from her throat. Afraid to know, she still forced herself to look back down at her body. If a soul really remembered the last moments of their prior life, she wanted to remember. She wanted to carry that vision with her into the future. If vengeance could not be hers in this lifetime, she would have it in the next.

Blinking her eyes rapidly to clear the smoke, she stared in horror at herself. Her charred and burnt skin dropped away in sheets from the flesh beneath. The fire opal red scales of a dragon. A fire dragon’s skin.

Wind and (No) Power

2007-10-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

One of the downsides to living in the Pacific NorthWet is that we get wind storms. Not like tornados or hurricanes but still really annoying. Today we had one, a bit earlier than the norm but not too strong.

Like rats deserting a sinking ship, people started leaving work at about... oh... 2pm. The freeways were a disaster by 3:30.

I had a 4pm meeting and got home about 5:30. C and I took Morganator out to McDonald's -- his treat for being good in school. According to our UPS, the power went out within the next 5 to 10 minutes.

Joy

when we called, there were 100,000 out of power that were serviced by our power co.

Thankfully it came back on about 8:15 or I'd not be posting this :)

Sweating Along

2007-10-18T00:22:00.000-07:00

Today I'm at:

Today's new Words: 146
Total to Date: 2987
% of Goal to Date: 133%
Words over Goal: 737

I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Sweating Check In

2007-10-17T01:25:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of the Seventy Days of Sweat and I'm now at 2841 words or 189% of my goal.

WOOT.

Sweating Update

2007-10-16T21:02:00.001-07:00

Dawn nudged me to update my progress.

I signed up for 750 words a day.
Last night I wrote 1445 words.

That puts me at 193% of goal :)

Come Join me at Realms of Love

2007-10-10T23:42:00.000-07:00

Myself, Aline de Chevigny, Michelle Hasker and Dawn Montgomery will be chatting on Friday, October 12 at 6:00 Pacific time in the Realms of Love chatroom.

We'll be talking about our newest releases as well as those we have coming up. There will be exciting excerpts, prizes and great conversation with my fellow Aspen authors.

I'm looking forward to seeing you there!

Seventy Days of Sweat

2007-10-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

Once again, I'm going to join the deadly combination of 70 Days of Sweat challenge and NaNoWriMo.

Hopefully I'll be better able to stay on track this time. :)

Wish me luck!!

Del Fantasma: Texas Tea is a Recommended Read!

2007-09-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

Bella from FAR says: "Del Fantasma: Texas Tea is a stunning debut for new author Maura Anderson. This story is smoking hot! Lara is feisty and assertive which is just the right mix for intense, Alpha Matt. The sexual tension between the two is so heady, the pages fairly fly by as the story becomes more engrossing by the minute. Texas Tea not only has a great erotic romance element, but the plot throughout makes for a highly scintillating read. I wholeheartedly recommend that you rush off to buy Ms. Anderson’s Del Fantasma: Texas Tea today!"

You can read the full review on the Fallen Angel Reviews website.

Del Fantasma: Texas Tea Reviews!

2007-09-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the web page for Del Fantasma: Texas Tea - the reviews have started appearing and I'm so happy people like my first fiction story!

If you know of a review that I haven't seen, drop me a comment and let me know!

September Newsletter is Up!

2007-09-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

Check out the September Newsletter on my website.

This month's edition includes chapter one of my free Coyote Clans story -- Games Coyotes Play as well as a new jewelry drawing.

There's also a short piece on the Autumn Equinox (Mabon).

Let me know what you think.

Flash Fiction Posted

2007-09-11T22:23:00.000-07:00

I did several little Flash Fiction snippets for a loop I'm on but decided to post them to my website's Free Stories area in case anyone else wanted to read them. A Flash Fiction is a 100 word or less snippet that is often done as a writing exercise but mine always seem to turn into their own stories.

You can read them here!

Impromptu Contest for Del Fantasma: Texas Tea

2007-08-28T16:23:00.000-07:00

So - I'm dying to hear from some readers. Have you bought this book? Have you read it?

In order to get some feedback, I'm offering a bribe ... I mean a prize..... I'll leave the contest open until midnight Pacific on 9/1 and all people who enter will be put into a drawing for a lovely chainmail keychain (made by yours truly) in silver and blue.

All you have to do to enter is email the answer to these feedback questions to me at realmsoftheraven @ gmail . com (no spaces) with the word "Feedback Contest" in the title.

What did you like the most?
What did you like the least?
What character was your favorite?
What would you like to see in the future from the Coyote shifter clans?

Feel free to include any other feedback you want to!

If you haven't bought it yet, you can do that now and still enter - just buy it from Aspen at http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/texas-tea/prod_65.html or FictionWise at http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook49566.htm?cached.

I really AM dying to know!

If you win, I'll email you back to ask for your mailing address. You can also post comments here but be sure to enter the contest too....

Texas Tea on FictionWise

2007-08-27T09:47:00.000-07:00

Texas Tea is now available on FictionWise at:

http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook49566.htm?cached

Check it out!!

New Contracts!

2007-08-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to announce that I have just signed contracts for two new books:

Gift of the Holly King is a paranormal holiday story that will appear in the Babes in Toyland II anthology for Aspen Mountain Press in the Winter of 2007.

Wake Me is the first book in the Mountain Song People series. Yes, more coyote shifters will appear! This will also be available through Aspen Mountain Press in early 2008.

YAY!!

Interview at the Romantic Realm of Shadows

2007-08-20T22:33:00.000-07:00

Naughty Nikki Duncan has posted an interview of me at the Romantic Realm of Shadows.

Check it out! Maybe you'll learn something new about me!

The Winner of the Bracelet is......

2007-08-20T00:25:00.000-07:00

Cathy!!!!

C generously chose a number for me at random -- after abandoning his arcane first method :)

Send your mailing information to me at realmsoftheraven at gmail dot com!

And stay tuned for more contests and information - plus don't forget that the Newsletter contest runs for another few weeks!

Texas Tea Releases Today (Adult Excerpt & Contests)

2007-08-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Texas Tea is now out! You can buy it at Aspen Mountain Press. To whet your appetite, here is my last excerpt but be sure to read the whole post, there are contests at the bottom of the post!

Let me know what you think of my first fiction offering!

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Excerpt:

And he thought she was both pretty and smart. A man who accepted her for what she was. At least for most of what she was. He still didn’t know her big secret.

He won’t care, you know. He can accept all of you.

The tingling sensation came and went almost instantly, the ghost apparently only interested in delivering its message as quickly as possible.

“Thanks.” She said in a random direction since she had no idea where the ghost had spoken from.

She glanced at her watch to find she still had a few minutes left before Matt was due to arrive.

She needed to make sure she was ready to really dive into her work today. After removing her wad of clothing from the handle of the camera bag, she opened the bag and started her equipment check. She quickly changed the batteries in all her cameras, including the digital SLR that would be her primary tool today. The batteries she removed went into the chargers she’d stationed on the small kitchen counter and the previously charged ones were moved to the bag as spares. Several spare memory cards were tucked inside the bag as well.

Thankfully, the keys to the B&B cottage had been sitting on top of the camera case, no doubt due to Matt as well. She needed them to lock the deadbolt as she left, so she laid them on top of the zipped up bag again. Matt’s thoughtfulness had saved her from the normal process of trying to figure out where she’d last put that set of keys, but she still had to find the keys to her rental car. She started with the outside pockets of the camera bag and was happy to discover them in the first pocket she searched. She moved them to one of the pockets of her cargo pants.

Money. She might need money. She certainly needed her driver’s license. Just as she retrieved her wallet from the pair of pants she’d been wearing yesterday, a knock sounded at the cottage’s front door.

Darting out of the bedroom and toward the front door, she couldn’t wait to see Matt again. Only when her hand was already on the doorknob did she have a brief moment of trepidation. How would he behave today? Would he treat her differently? The man had seen her naked. And the commented on her choice in underwear. Worse yet, he had seen the fact she was far from tidy.

She quelled her fears as best she could. It’s not like he’d run or said anything critical, after all. She opened the door to see Matt’s tall body, more sexy than ever in his pressed and formal Park Ranger uniform.

His lips curved in a slow, hot smile.

“Good morning, Lara.” He shocked her by opening his arms and pulling her immediately into them. Like an animal pouncing, he covered her open mouth with his own. His lips played over hers, gently teasing her skin with the texture of his own warm lips. Almost as quickly as the kiss started, it ended and Matt just held her close to him.

Lara sighed, surrendering to the sense of comfort and leaned her body into his. She was surprisingly content just resting in the circle of his arms. Wanting to be even closer, she wrapped her own arms around his slender waist and hugged him to her. The sense of peace and acceptance quickly changed to arousal when she felt what she did to the self-possessed man. His uniform pants didn’t conform to his body as well as his jeans did and she could feel his cock grow thicker and harder against her.

A foreign sense of power rippled through her. Plain, weird Lara had one of the most attractive men she’d ever met hard and wanting sex with her. With her.

She rocked her hips gently, pressing herself against Matt. The combination of the ridge of his cock against her mound and the tug of her skimpy thong against her clit sent her arousal spiraling into a veritable storm.

Matt made an animalistic sound and reached around to ease her away from his body. His face was tormented and his features appeared somehow sharper, more feral. Even the teeth biting his lower lip seemed sharper.

The sensation she’d noticed the first time she met him, the hint of the spirit world, became stronger and more intense. She reveled in it and the heady power in having the sexy man at her mercy.

She finally allowed Matt to disengage her arms from his waist and move her an arm’s length away from him. When her body lost contact with his, she felt a fundamental sense of loneliness, almost emptiness. She tried to remind herself that he wasn’t necessary to her existence, no matter what her body seemed to think at that particular moment.

“We need to get breakfast now, if we want any.” Matt smiled a tight smile down at her. She could swear his teeth were a little long, the tips of his canines just showing when he talked. Why hadn’t she noticed that yesterday? It was odd but very sexy in an untamed way.

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Contests!

I'm having my very first contests to celebrate my very first book -- Two contests, no less! I probably should mention that one of my hobbies is jewelry making :) Now two readers will be the beneficiaries of my skills.

The first contest is for my blog readers and the prize is a lovely bracelet in ocean colors. There's a larger picture on my website's Contest Page. It's made of enameled copper rings in ocean and peacock blue with ocean glass rings interspersed. The silver clasp is a magnetic clasp that makes it very easy to wear.

To win this bracelet, just leave a comment in response to this post by midnight on Sunday, August 20th. I'll draw a winner on Monday and announce the winner on this blog as well, so remember to check back to see if you win!

The other contest is for my Newsletter subscribers. I have started a Newsletter that will come out once a month, on the 15th of each month. It includes excerpts, news, author trivia and starting next month will include a chapter each month of a free story I'm writing just for the Newsletter.

Entries for this contest will be accepted from today through September 15th but in order to enter, you must subscribe to the newsletter. I won't use your email address for anything else, so don't worry. You can subscribe to the Newsletter using the Feedblitz subscription box on the right-hand side of my website's Newsletter Page. The winner will be announced in the September Newsletter.

This necklace is also made of enameled copper rings in ocean blue with a magnetic clasp but it has a sterling silver charm of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse on it. I almost kept this one for myself! Again, there's a larger picture on my website's Contest Page.

Texas Tea Releases Tomorrow! (Adult Excerpt)

2007-08-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited. Texas Tea releases tomorrow and I have another piece of good news that I'm waiting for a last piece to be tied down before I shared it.

You can find another excerpt and the buy link on my website.

In the meantime, here's another excerpt of Texas Tea for you to enjoy.....

------------------------------------------
He knelt in front of Lara and untied her hiking boots. The tight double-knots took some work to undo before he could loosen the laces and tug the boots off. Despite the mess in the room, his own time in the military had instilled some habits in him that he’d never broken and he almost laughed at himself when he realized he’d placed the two boots neatly side-by-side, perfectly lined up with the laces folded up and tucked inside.

When he tugged off her boot socks, he was treated to a surprise¾the woman who dressed in bulky unfeminine clothing had bright fuchsia pink toenail polish on. He carefully examined her narrow feet and dainty toes for any signs of foot problems or blisters, trying to ignore the fact that even her feet were sexy.

Her feet seemed in good shape, though he had to resist nipping one.

She wasn’t going to sleep very comfortably in all her clothes. He wanted her to get as much rest as possible so he should change her into her pajamas or whatever she wore as night clothes. She had to have brought them with her.

A short search later and he’d discovered no trace of nightclothes. Apparently Lara slept in the nude. The mental image of her covered only by a sheet was amazing, not that he could allow himself to contemplate that image for long.

She also seemed to have a liking for sexy, lacy and skimpy lingerie. The underwear and bras he’d found while looking for pajamas looked like they belonged to a completely different person from the one that owned the ugly cargo pants, thermal knit shirts and flannel barn coats. He couldn’t think of two styles that could be more different. She had some secrets just under her clothes.

But if she normally slept naked, she definitely wouldn’t sleep well in all her clothes. He had to undress her so she could sleep properly and be rested for tomorrow. The excuse sounded thin, even to him. Coyote yipped in mockery, as close to a laugh as he got.

Standing beside the bed, he pulled her thermal knit shirt up and over her head, then extracted her arms from the long sleeves. Just awake enough to realize she was being undressed, Lara tried to help but only succeeded in hitting him in the head with one flailing arm.

After his eyes uncrossed from the blow, he saw that she was indeed wearing a bright celery green lace bra with black trim. The bra lovingly clasped her lush breasts, enhancing her considerable cleavage. Her dusky nipples were visible through the elegant lace, almost more decoration than mere functional garment.

A few nudges and he succeeded in getting her to turn onto her side so he could undo the back clasp of the bra and tug it off. Thank the ancestors that he had a moment to try to calm himself before having to resist her luscious breasts in all their bare glory.

He resolutely reached over her hip and unfastened her loose cargo pants. A few tugs and the pants were pulled off her hips to reveal the second half of his self-induced torment--a thin, lacy green thong that matched the bra. The deep breath he took to steel himself to resist the temptation she embodied backfired when he inhaled the scent of musky, damp pussy.

He was in trouble now, major trouble.

Considerable willpower was needed to move her fully up onto the bed and tuck her under the covers of the bed. He couldn’t bring himself to actually remove her panties. He didn’t think he could do that and still resist taking her right then and there.

He neatly folded her clothes and left them beside the hiking boots, then cleared the various documents and computer off the bed. She’d locked the laptop to the heavy wooden bed frame, so the best he could do was to place it carefully on the floor, leaned up on the wall so it wouldn’t be accidentally stepped on.

Lara probably wouldn’t remember that he was going to pick her up tomorrow. If she did, it would be darned near a miracle. He should leave a note so she’d know for sure. Remembering seeing notepads and pens on the coffee table, he returned to the living room to write a note.

How to make sure she saw it... Ah. The perfect solution was the most obvious--he propped it up on top of the camera bag with Lara’s name on the front. He placed the cottage keys there as well.

He checked her again to make sure she was okay. The phone on the bedside table had a phone number taped to it for incoming calls and he took a moment to program the number into his cell phone before turning his attention back to Lara.

Tucking the covers a little higher on her shoulders, he bent over to give her a gentle kiss. She whimpered as his lips met hers and her dainty tongue traced over his lips until he found the strength to pull away.

He really, really needed that run now.

Texas Tea will be releasing on Friday, August 17th!

2007-08-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for a link as well as chances to win a lovely set of prizes.

In the meantime, here's an excerpt to tease you!

------------------
Neither the situation nor Cody seemed dangerous, at least not to her. The ghosts usually warned her of threats. It was one of the useful side effects of her affinity with them. Too bad their presence also scared off every sane person she spent any time with until she no longer even tried to get close to anyone. Being alone by choice was easier than the inevitable rejection when the ghosts decided to frighten them away from her.

The sounds of clanking and voices from the doorway Cody had disappeared through drew Lara's attention back to the here and now. The decor wasn't really what she'd expected -- from the name of the bar, she'd almost expected a Dias De Los Muertos theme of bright colors, skulls and maybe some skeletons but, instead, it tended toward a modern mission style with a lot of wood and earth-toned Southwestern touches. A warm and cozy bar for such an unusual name.

From the corner of her eye, she caught a hint of movement and whipped her head around to follow it. She caught just the briefest glimpse of what looked like a dog before it disappeared down the hallway marked "Private". A dog in a food establishment?

Poised halfway out of her chair, she tried to see if she could spot the animal again. Cody suddenly chuckled directly behind her and she leapt sideways. Trying to not fall on her face, Lara teetered, arms flailing in a desperate attempt to regain her balance.

A hard yank from Cody and she was in her chair again, sprawled with legs spread and heart pounding so hard she thought she would pass out. "You scared me." Her voice sounded breathless and trembling, adrenaline already doing a number on her system.

He had the nerve to laugh at her and she forgot her fear, forgot that he wasn't just a human, even forgot that he was nearly a foot taller and much heavier than she was. Her lifelong hatred of being laughed at made her temper flare. Too exhausted to moderate her impulsive reactions, when he set her mug of tea on the table and his arm was within reach, she lashed out and slugged it. Hard.

The force of the impact screamed up her arm. The man must be made of stone. He merely laughed harder while she cradled her now throbbing hand to her chest and glared. A small part of her was appalled at her loss of control over her temper and own actions but she successfully ignored it.

"You sure you don't want to act as her tour guide, Code?"

The husky baritone voice, sultry, overlaid with a sexy drawl, preceded the man who sauntered from the hall.

Oh. My. God. Attractive as Cody was, this man was stunning. Shorter than her host, he was just as muscular but more compact. Her fingers longed to explore the texture of the glossy black hair he wore cut military-short. His face was tanned and clean-shaven with a tantalizing square jaw and high cheekbones she'd bet spoke of more than a touch of Native American mixed with his obvious Latino ancestry.

Every movement was silent and graceful, nearly soundless, even in his jeans and cowboy boots. The sinuous sway of his hips as he walked reminded her of the calculating, smooth motions of a wild animal, a predator.

And his eyes, his eyes were a bright gold she'd never seen before, framed by thick black lashes that only served to make them more piercing. They were an almost inhuman color, one that would be more at home in the face of an animal.

"Texas, this is Lara Saunders. Lara, this is my friend Matthew Martinez. He's the Park Ranger I told you about."

Lara continued to gape at the newcomer, oblivious to the hand he held out to her until he forcibly picked up her own from the table to shake it.

Even his touch felt wild and untamed. And it carried the unmistakable touch of the spirit world as well.

Coyote Trivia

2007-08-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

In part, I wrote Texas Tea because coyotes fascinate me. We have a lot of coyotes near my home in the Pacific Northwest and I still remember hearing their song during the nights I spent in New Mexico as a child.

Here are some things you may not know about coyotes:

The scientific name for coyote is Canis Latrans - "barking dog" and they are sometimes known as prairie wolves.
Coyotes were originally residents of mostly the Southwest United States but have adapted so well to humans in the last several hundred years that their home range has expanded to most of the continental United States and into Canada.
A coyote can run over 40 mph.
A coyote can easily clear an 8' fence.
Coyotes do not hibernate in winter.
Although coyotes are primarily carnivores, they have been known to eat fruits and vegetables, even to raiding melon patches.
Male pups leave the mother's pack at between six and nine months old, female pups stay with the mother's pack.
Both male and female coyotes tend to and feed their pups.
Coyotes used to be diurnal (day time) but have changed to now be basically nocturnal due to human pressure.
Coyotes are the most vocal of all North American mammals.
Coyotes will fill the ecological niche of wolves in the absence of wolf populations.
Coyotes are preyed upon by wolves, bears and cougars but packs of coyotes will attack wolves.
Coyotes are often seen as Tricksters in Native American mythology.
Only one fatal coyote attack on a human has ever been recorded.
Some Native American oral traditions have Coyote as the personification of the First People, a mythic race that predated humans.

Texas Tea is coming soon from Aspen Mountain Press! You'll have to see what coyote facts have made it into my coyote shifters - the Desert Song People.

Texas Tea Setting - The Old Point Loma Lighthouse

2007-07-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

I'm a reader who likes to know about the setting of the stories I read and who tends to be disappointed if the stated setting doesn't match the reality. Especially if the setting is a historical or otherwise meaningful setting.

The Del Fantasma bar, the center of the Del Fantasma series of stories from Aspen Mountain Press, is set in Point Loma, California. This is near San Diego, in the southern part of the state and I have a considerable advantage because I used to live in Southern California. The minute I read the setting, I knew I had to write a story that used my childhood fascination, the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, as a part of the story. The many times I visited there, even before the restoration and visitor center was erected, I could almost hear the voices of the keepers talk to me.

Is it any wonder that Lara can see and hear the last keeper of this lovely old lighthouse speak to her in Texas Tea?

Just to tease you a little, here are some facts you may not know about the lighthouse.

The light was first lit November 15, 1855.
The light was extinguished March 23, 1891.
The lighthouse was only in service for a little over 35 years because the fog was so dense and the lighthouse so high, the light could not be seen well. A new lighthouse had to be built at a lower elevation (the New Point Loma Lighthouse - still in service).
The base of the lighthouse is 422 feet above sea level and the lantern is 462 feet above sea level - this made it the highest lighthouse in the United States.
The lantern was fueled by oil and used a five foot tall 3rd order French Fresnel lens.
The lighthouse building is made of local sandstone and was not painted white until 1887.
The cost to build the lighthouse originally was approximately $30,000.
Captain Robert Decatur Israel, the last keeper of the lighthouse, really did fire his shotgun to warn ships away during fog when the light could not be seen.
During WWII, the lighthouse was painted camoflage green and was used as a signal tower for ships seeking to enter San Diego harbor.
In 1933, the site was turned over to the National Park Service.
In the 1980s the lighthouse was restored to its current historically accurate condition.
The light was lit again in 1984, the light house's 130th anniversary, and was then lit nightly again.

Stay tuned for a release date and an excerpt as Del Fantasma: Texas Tea gets closer to release! You can read the blurb in this post.

What places are special to you? Why?

Seventy Days Of Sweat - Update 6

2007-07-29T02:08:00.000-07:00

I took a few days off after finishing Texas Tea, so I'm currently at:

Total New Words: 27,547
Average Per Day: 1,252

I'm trying to decide what to work on next.

Have some Texas Tea

2007-07-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

Want to know the recipe behind my upcoming release from Aspen Mountain Press?

Here's the blurb for the book:

Photographer Lara Saunders has a lifelong secret – she can see and hear ghosts. When she was rescued from a near drowning by the ghost of a lighthouse keeper, he set her on a mission to document historic lighthouses and the lives of their keepers so they were not forgotten. Now on her third book in the series, Lara has arrived in San Diego to document the Old Point Loma Lighthouse but hasn’t counted on becoming the target of Cody Warren, the matchmaking owner of the Del Fantasma bar. Or falling in love with a handsome Park Ranger whose secret is even more strange than her own.

And here's the recipe:

1/2 oz Vodka
1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Light Rum
1/2 oz Triple Sec
1/2 oz Tequila
Sweet and Sour Mix
Splash of Cola

Pour vodka, gin, rum, triple sec and tequila into a glass with ice. Fill it with sweet and sour mix. Add the splash of cola.

Stay tuned - I have a couple of unique prizes for giveaways as the release date nears!

Seventy Days of Sweat - Update 5

2007-07-24T23:02:00.000-07:00

As of today:

Total New Words: 27,547
Average Per Day: 1,620

Things got better after the cat trauma week. He's okay, though he's locked in the bathroom and keeps telling me how BORED he is.

I made my goal and got my average up over 1500 words (both these numbers are over the span of the challenge). I also finished Texas Tea, so now I'll be moving on to the next project - as soon as I figure out what that is.

Seventy Days of Sweat - Update 4

2007-07-22T02:41:00.000-07:00

As of today:

Total new words: 16,677
Average per day: 1,191

This week sucked. I had a cat in the hospital all week and several days I was too distracted and too exhausted to move

Seventy Days of Sweat - Update 3

2007-07-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

As of today, I'm now at:

Total New Words: 13,817
Average Per Day: 1,382

My aha moment is that I managed to write, even worried over my sick cat, once I set myself down to do so. The words came, not perfect and not in final form, but they DID come.

Still not at my 1500 words per day goal, but I have been writing every day.

Seventy Days Of Sweat - Update 2

2007-07-15T01:41:00.000-07:00

As of today, I'm at:

Total New Words: 10,060
Average Per Day: 1,437

Still a tiny bit short of my goal of 1500 new words per day but up from my prior report of 1,042. Maybe I can up it some more.

Seventy Days Of Sweat - Update 1

2007-07-11T02:09:00.000-07:00

As of today, I'm at:

Total New Words: 3,125
Average Per Day: 1,042

Not as fast as I want - I'm trying for 1500 per day - but I'm an "edit as I go" person so I have to do at least prelminary edits on the prior day's work before I can write more. It also helps me remember where I am in the story.

Starting Seventy Days of Sweat

2007-07-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm in for 2000 words a day in the Seventy Days of Sweat.

I'm starting with Texas Tea that I took apart yesterday because something that appeared didn't really want to work. I've put a wordcount meter up for it under Writing in the right sidebar.

Also present is Sven - the DI... I mean coach... of the challenge.....

Seventy Days of Sweat

2007-07-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

A writing challenge has been issued by Alison Kent, Larissa Ione, Stephanie Tyler, Jo Leigh and HelenKay Dimon. In the spirit of things like Na-No-Wri-Mo (National Novel Writing Month), the challenge is to spend the 70 days between July 8 and September 20 sweating out a set number of pages/words per day.

I've signed up for 1500 words a day. It's a stretch for me because I have a lot of other stuff going on but we'll see if I can make it. I have a lot of projects in the works so I NEED to get on a regular, productive schedule.

Reports are due on each Wednesday and Sunday. I'll be reporting on my blog so everyone can see how I'm doing.

Read more about it and sign up here.

Boom-A-Thon Report

2007-07-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

Today, in honor of the 4th of July, we held our annual Boom-A-Thon. Because we live a bit in the sticks, we host a yearly potluck party where a bunch of friends all converge with fireworks and fun. C and I think this is our 8th or 9th year of this party.

Preparation started a few weeks ago when I foolishly decided we should have the party, even while I'm on deadline and the evil day job was... less than optimal. Foolish me - yet I never seem to learn. A few days ago I began the cleaning frenzy (though C says it's more of a cleaning jihad) and began to try to frantically regain enough of the house for ten friends or so.

Sigh. I'd say 'never again' except I'd not even believe myself, so I don't think I'll bother.

But I got the most important few rooms clean - the living room, kitchen and guest bathroom. My friend, Jo, came over early and helped me with the last bit of sweeping and cleaning - you know you have a real friend when, despite your description of the state of the house being "frat party aftermath", they come over to help anyway. Thank you, Jo.

There was great food, great friends and lots of fireworks. An impressive array this year and only one small grass fire which C put out asap with the hose he had ready.

Morganator had a great time and was really well behaved. He lets out this hilarious cackle and almost dances when he's thrilled. It made me laugh just to watch him.

Now C and I are both moaning that we hurt and ghad we're old..... But it was fun!

Teaser Tuesday - Here Kitty, Kitty by Shelly Laurenston

2007-07-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

Title: Here Kitty, Kitty
Author: Shelly Laurenston
Genre: Paranormal (Shapeshifter) Romance
Buy from: Samhain Publishing
ISBN: 1-59998-521-7

Angelina Santiago is somehow kidnapped and moved from Texas to North Carolina, only to wake up wearing just a sheet and ensconced in the home of Nikolai Vorislav, a hillbilly were-tiger.

Nik has been perfectly content with life - laying in the sun, swimming, playing with his food. It was all good. He never asked for the foul-mouthed houseguest that introduced herself by nearly bashing his head in with the top of his own toilet tank. Too bad his idiot brothers decided she could be a present for Nik and took care of delivering her to him.

Angie is stuck in the sticks and bemoaning the necessity of remaining there for the sake of her friends. But at least there's decent shopping to be had and a hot, sexy were tiger....

I bought this book when it was first released by Triskellion (and only available for a little while - a few days if I remember correctly). Always a big fan of Shelly's wolves, I was dying to see what she would do with a cat shifter and in no way have I been disappointed. This is probably my all time favorite of Shelly's books.

The way the personalities of the were tigers are portrayed is SO feline and yet hillbilly human too. Each of the were species in Shelly's books have such unique personalities that they have a very three dimensional aspect right from the start and their animal natures are completely believable.

The passage where Nik's brothers present gifts to Angie cracks me up every time I read it. The sex is hot and spicy but I think I am most enamored of the way Nik learns to accept and love Angie for the extremely strong and self-sufficient woman she is.

And you can't miss what Angie's friends do to Nik when they rescue her!

I'm really happy to see this book re-released. Although my gloating at having a copy is now a thing of the past, more people can read and fall in love with this book.

(This time I had nothing to do with this book other than as a RFG - Rabid Fan Girl.)

Writerly Wednesday - Contests & Judging

2007-06-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

When I first started writing, I entered a couple of contests and was greatly disappointed -- not so much by where I ended up finishing but by the feedback. When one of the main reasons I was being told to enter was to obtain valuable feedback, the feedback I received was really not very useful. With that experience under my belt, I no longer entered contests.

This year I decided to use my editing skills and I volunteered to judge the paranormal categories in three different RWA contests. When I started to do this, my goal was to offer the kind of feedback that I wished I had received from my entries.

In order to preserve judge anonymity, I changed my word install to use my judge number instead of my name. Then, for the entries that I had the word or rtf files (vs pdf or txt), I started to make the same kinds of notes and corrections I would make for a story I was actually editing. I can be known as the "Queen of the Thought Bubbles" so sometimes the feedback was quite copious.

I tried to do the best job I could and really didn't stint on time. Then I sent the worksheets off and didn't hear anything for months.

But now I've received two notes back from the people I judged through the contest coordinators. Both people thanked me for the time and the amount and quality of feedback I provided.

I'm really glad that I made someone else's contest experiences more valuable than my own had been.

Teaser Thursday - 'Ware Wishes by Melissa Glisan

2007-06-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Title: 'Ware Wishes
Series: Satin Knights, book 1
Author: Melissa Glisan
Genre: Paranormal
Buy from: Aspen Mountain Press
ISBN: 978-1-60168-044-0

Jennifer Taylor is a singer of exceptional range and skill due to the mix of talents she's inherited. Her childhood love for Rayn DeSantis has survived despite his leaving home and losing touch with her and his own family. But she has no idea what he has endured in the meantime, all for the dream of being able to buy a ranch and making a home with her, for the dream of being worthy of her.

But what happens when Jennifer is asked to sing at Satin Knights by her roommate's father, the owner of the club and, as it happens, Rayn's boss? What will happen when Rayn discovers what she really is and she discovers what he's been doing since she last saw him?

This book fascinated me. I absolutely love the mix of mythology and how it's carried into the lives of the characters in the story. It's a complex story with some issues that are resolved in this book and some that carry through to the next books in the series. Melissa has done a great job in depicting the characters and the sex is just HOT.

The story has some very dark moments and some very light ones but the range is compelling. It's fast-paced and full of nuances that enrich it. Melissa surprised me with the ending of 'Ware Wishes and what actions some characters took as well as what THEY were hiding.

I can hardly wait to work on the next book in this series!

(In the interests of disclosure, I re-edited this book, so it is possible that my review is not without some bias but you can blame me for any editing mistakes. :) )

Writerly Wednesday - World Building

2007-06-26T23:40:00.000-07:00

Since I started writing, I've discovered a great love of mine is world building, especially paranormal worlds. Maybe it's a by-product of having grown up as a rabid science fiction/fantasy reader or maybe it's just a quirk of my geek desire for rules - or maybe I'm just plain weird.

As a reader, few things will throw me out of a book faster than world building problems, be they illogical or contradictory rules, contradictions of previously stated world rules or just incomplete worlds. If I have to question or try to make sense of something, I stop reading the story in order to do so and then have to try to restart my attempt to immerse myself.

If I only have to take a second and recall a world rule I know or can immediately see a similarity to one I know, I can jump back in immediately and not have to fight to get back in. But if I am frustrated or confused, it's a much longer process. If it's too much, I have been known to just give up on the book.

The very best situation, of course, is to not be pulled out at all because the world rules have been taught to me and nothing has happened to violate or cause me to question them. In that case I don't tend to be pulled out of the story at all.

In my own worlds, I end up following a process I cobbled together that suits the way my mind works. I decided I'd walk through it here in case it either helps someone else or merely discloses how odd my mind really is. Examples are merely what has come to mind as I write this and resemblances to other people's work is unintentional.

Step 1 - Basic Premise
I start with a basic premise. This is usually a little nugget of an idea or concept that I think would be interesting to build a world on. It can be as simple as "vampire funeral home owners" or much more complex. I get these types of ideas all the time and scrawl them down in case I forget them later in my Idea Book.

Step 2 - Basic Plot
Now I have to look at the premise and decide how to turn this into a story. What would cause vampires to own a funeral home? Maybe in this case it's a way for the vampires to attone for those they killed.

I write romances so I need to know where the hero and heroine fit in - maybe in this case the hero is the vampire who is still struggling to atone for the death of a loved one that he caused when he was turned. The heroine is a mourner at a wake/funeral.

What brings them together? The heroine knows a vampire killed her loved one and is seeking the rogue vampire. The hero discovers the body was a vampire victim while preparing him for burial and also starts to hunt for the killer.

Step 3 - Basic World
Now it's time to flesh out the basics of the world this story will take place in. These are the most fundamental rules of how the world operates and how your paranormal aspects work. Thinking about them now will let you deliberately tie them together instead of boxing yourself into a corner all too easily.

In this case, how does vampirism work? Is it transmitted? How? Is it instead something you are born to? How is inheritance done? How is a vampire turned? How does feeding work? Can they shapeshift?

Logic is a requirement. Worlds that don't act or behave logically will drive your readers crazy. So don't have a world where trees are sentient and can talk but they don't say anything when you chop them down.

There are tons of questions you should ask yourself in order to clarify the world. This is never a place I recommend short-changing yourself. Plotter or pantser, the more you KNOW your world, the better you can build the world for your readers.

Step 4 - Expand Plot
Now, unless you are the purest of pantsers, you should plot out the rest of your story or at least get a general idea of any questions that you may not know the answer to yet. It will also help you to recognize where you need to know various rules of your world or the readers will be confused.

Step 5 - Expand World Rules
Fill in any rules you find you still need or details you've thought of that may be intriguing. You should know the rules, even if you never need to present them, because it will help you NOT contradict or violate the rules the reader needs to know.

Step 6 - Write
Now write the story. Recheck your rules and make sure they still make sense. Resist the urge to info-dump your world. Few people will be persistent enought to slog through page after page of pure world building before their story really starts.

I use a technique I call the "train of crumbs" to dribble in world rules and concetpts. I scatter them throught the story, a bit at a time. This allows them to serve as both information AND teasers. If I drop a hint that, say, vampires can get drunk on milk, wouldn't you want to know why?

In terms of world building, the familiar contemporary world is the one that needs the least explanation of how it works unless it differs in some way from "the norm" - like if cars can fly. All other worlds require more effort. Exotic locations do require a bit more work though.

Historical worlds need a moderate amount of actual world building because they are not as familiar to most readers as the contemporary. In this case much of the world can be discovered through research more than built from scratch.

Paranormal worlds require a lot of building because there are so many possible variations of how they function, what exists and what does not.

Science Fiction worlds also require a lot of building for much the same reasons.

Fantasy worlds are the most intensive because you really create the whole world for the reader and need to make it real to them.

My own list of requirements when building a world are:

It must be logical
It must be interesting and different
It must be compelling
It must be effectively presented to the reader

If you can pull your readers out of their world and into yours and keep them there, you'll have succeeded in great world building.

En-Deering Day

2007-06-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

Morganator woke me up this morning to tell me (very excitedly) that there was a deer in the backyard. We'd seen deer a few weeks ago but I'd not seen them since. I managed to slap on some clothes and follow him downstairs though I'd guessed the deer would be gone by then.

Nope - bedded down in the long grass near one of the toddle play pieces is a young buck with velvet antlers. He's watching us and I'm watching him out the sliding door. I stepped away for a moment to get my camera and when I got back, he was standing. Very unconcerned deer. I cracked the door open, prevented Mama Raccoon from coming in and managed to get a picture of him.

Then another picture as he was stretching and scratching.

Then it was time to take Morganator to daycare. I figured the commotion would send the deer off somewhere.

This afternoon I took a peek out the door to find that now we had not one but THREE deer visiting. I picked up the camera again and took some more pictures.

Here's a pair that are grazing

Here's the BIG deer lounging in the grass off to the side

One of the young ones seeks reassurance after I came a bit closer.

And now they've had enough and retreated down the meadow to where I couldn't see them too easily.

I had hoped to see more of them later but our neighbor's dogs decided to invade the backyard so I doubt they stayed to be tormented.

Science Fiction/Fantasy and Romance

2007-06-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

My personal SMUT goddess, Morgan Hawke, has a terrific post up on her blog about SF/Fantasy and Romance and some great advice on when hero and heroine should meet (and I think I'm violating the rules - must check).

I learn a ton from Morgan so check it out!

When Hints Go Astray

2007-06-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I was in the kitchen looking for a piece of mail I thought I'd left in there and I (for once) looked up to see that an ad for a 16 year old Scotch was stuck on the range hood with magnets.

Now, I knew it wan probably from C because 1) he's the Scotch drinker and 2) it was just after Father's Day. But I was a bit concerned about how long it might have been there. Was this a long ignored birthday hint? An only slightly late Father's Day hint? A hint for the future?

But on the range hood? I rarely cook and, as I have previously posted about, am often quite oblivious.

C called me for another reason and I asked him if this was a hint. His words "Not a very good one."

But he did admit that it had only been up there for a few days so it wasn't as terminally stale as it could have been. Since I was picking M up that evening, I guiltily took the (too subtle) hint and bought him that Scotch and another besides. It was even on sale!

But, really, who in their right mind would leave me a hint like that??? Now if he'd stuffed it into my laptop, taped it across my monitor, even taped it to my steering wheel - that had a hope of being noticed. This was far too subtle for someone who forgets where she put food only a few minutes previously.....

I Dare You is up

2007-06-09T13:27:00.001-07:00

My free story, I Dare You, is up - check it out at The Pink Chair Diaries and let me know what you think.

I Double Dare You!

Free Story: I Dare You

2007-06-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have a free story out tomorrow on The Pink Chair Diaries. I will warn you that it's 100% contemporary and 100% SMUT. I had a great time writing it, though.

Stop by and let me know what you think. I'll post a direct link with the lovely page banner fellow SMUT writer Celia Kyle made for it.

It's C's Birthday Today

2007-06-04T14:29:00.001-07:00

I won't mention how old, but older than me!

I love you, hon!!!!

When Writing Steals Your Mind

2007-06-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

C just got home from his evening of playing games with "the guys" and went to get a soda out of the refrigerator. The following conversation ensued:

C: "Why is the peanut butter in the fridge?"

M: "ummmm" (as I think back and remember that Morganator had requested a PB&J sandwich earlier. Like 6 hours earlier.)

C: "Is there jam in the cupboard?"

M: "ummm - I dunno. What's in the cupboard?"

C: "The jam IS in the cupboard. Was this Morgan?"

M: (briefly considers lying but the laughing would give it away) "Umm - no, that would be me."

C: laughs

M: It's not my fault. Morgan wanted a sandwich just as I was trying to plot out something.

Sheeesh - good thing C found the jam tonight and not tomorrow.

Proposal - Samhain Born: Eyes of Jade

2007-06-03T00:22:00.000-07:00

I finished the synopsis and first three chapters for this story today and mailed them off to the epublisher I think is perfect for them. It may be up to a month until I hear anything but I'll let you know.

Writerly Wednesday - Author Improv

2007-05-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

I've attended a lot of classes and seen a lot of books where writers are told that they should do periodic "writing exercises". These are often set up using a line or a picture and the writer doing the exercise is told to write based on these.

It's truly amazing and amusing to see what emerges when a set of different people, even those who all write in the same genre, are given the same starting point.

I've recently realized that I both enjoy and am good at these sorts of "author improv" tasks. It's one of the few, if not the only, ones I like. Forget the round robin intros, forget the running monologues about why you want to write. I'm naturally fairly shy so those do nothing but scare me to death :)

Given the incentive, however, my muse loves to create backstory and circumstances to encompass just about any inspriation. Especially, it seeems, if I really SHOULD be writing something else.

But I've actually found these exercises have unexpected benefits and I now never throw away the results. More than once these have become stories all their own.

I'd heard other people espouse the value of these "writing exercises" and now you can sign me up as a believer!

Morganator Knows Me Too Well

2007-05-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

C is off to play with "the gaming boys" for the day so Morganator and I are home together. He's been happily playing in the nicer weather today so I've been sitting on the couch with my writing laptop, typing away.

I tend to get a bit ... caught up... when I'm really into the writing.

Morganator comes in and sees me writing and notices that I have bare feet. Now I usually have on socks or my house boots because my feet get very cold but, in this case, I've been too distracted to bother. Doesn't matter anyway - I stopped feeling my feet a few hours ago....

Keep in mind that he's only six.

He walks over to me, bends over and feels my feet. "Mom, your feet are freezing. You know you're supposed to keep something on your feet!"

He then proceeded to pick up one of the throws we have on the sofa and stands in front of me until I give up on the idea that he'll just go away and look at him. "Pick up the 'puter, Mom." The exasperated tone is especially hilarious coming from him.

I lift the laptop's tray and he carefully tucks the throw onto my lap and over my feet.

After I set the tray back down he gave me a look of true disgust and went back to playing.

He'll either make some woman a great husband or he'll be the death of me....

Sasha White's new book Trouble

2007-05-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

My friend Sasha White has a teaser up of her now book Trouble on her blog. You should all give it a peek. I loved it when I had a chance to read it in advance and I bet will too!

Writing Wednesday - Synopses

2007-05-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

I'm borrowing an idea from my friend Lauren Dane's blog. Each Wednesday I'll be doing a blog post that has to do with writing and things I've learned on my own journey. Maybe some of it will help others who are starting the journey to publication.

I'd like to talk about that dreaded subject - Synopses.

When I first began writing, I really wanted to learn The Rules and read everything I could find. On some topics there was a lot of agreement. But the topic of Synopses was NOT one of those. Instead I found a huge disparity of advice - everything from the length being one page per chapter of the story to the entire synopses being only two pages long.

Most advice agreed that it should not hide things from the reader, it should lay out everything that was going to happen. It's meant to explain the story, not entice a reader to keep reading. The readers will most likely never see it, only the editors and maybe your crit partners.

One thing that lept out was that most people advising new authors said to write the story first and do the synopsis when I was done with the story. So that's what I did.

I must have started and stopped the first story's synopsis about ten times. I had trouble figuring out just what details should be in it - was what seemed important in the story really important enough to make the synopsis? What did I do about things that were happening off stage and the book characters didn't know about?

I think my first effort was about eight pages and I considered the entire process to be a circle of Hell that Dante never even dreamed of. I hated it. I struggled with it.

I showed it to several friends who were already NY published. The universal opinion was it was WAY too long and too detailed. With the help of several, I got it reworked into only two pages and still retained the feel of the story to at least some extent. I had no complaints that it was too short or not detailed enough. That story is currently sitting on some desks in NY.

The next story I worked on, I actually did a proposal for and wrote the synopsis first. Despite all the prior advice to write the story first, I wasn't going to do that for this one because the editor was willing to take a proposal, even from a new author. The effort to write this synopsis was HUGELY less than that of the first book and helped to solidify the story in my mind.

Part of that, I think, is that I didn't have the details in place to fuss over. I didn't really know them yet. That made things a lot simpler from the beginning. The finished synopsis is still two pages long and I wrote the first three chapters based on the synopsis.

The editor liked the synopsis (she commented on it) and they bought the story based on it and the partial.

So - like just about everything else in writing - there is no ONE true way. I think I've found something that works for me and will most likely continue in that vein unless some compelling reason is found not to.

Write synopsis before story
Synopsis are limited to two pages

That Famous Question - When did you know you wanted to be an author?

2007-05-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

I hear this question asked all the time (in fact I've asked it of authors) and the most common answer I hear is that they wanted to be an author since they were a child or "always." I must be one heck of a minority because I didn't think I COULD be an author until about two years ago and didn't want to make it my career until about 18 monts or so ago.

I grew up in Science Fiction fandom and I think because I knew all these authors, I had a very misguided theory that, if you had what it took to be a writer, these fantastic stories all practically typed themselves onto the page, fully formed and perfect and you didn't really have to work at it. No one ever TOLD me this, I just never learned differently.

That is until a few years ago.

I've always been an avid reader and pretty creative in other aspects of my life. I bead, I make jewelry, I knit, I can probably learn just about any craft there is that doesn't involve lifelike drawing (I have no visual memory so this just doesn't work for me). I had been teaching other software testers at work how to test software for security problems and suddenly thought "There should be a book on this."

I hied myself off to Amazon and hunted but nothing available fit the bill. The bug bit me and I then decided maybe I would just write one. Lots of research, lots of hearing naysayers and I had a polished proposal and an agent. While the agent went to work selling it, I went back to the day job.

The agent did sell it (despite the "test books don't sell" phrase I kept hearing) and while I procrastinated actually writing it (whole 'nother post on that), I started to wonder about writing fiction. By then I'd met fiction writers and really heard what they had to say.

I set myself to learning everything I could, joined a few groups, started to write reviews and the more I did, the more I realized that maybe I could do this too. It was work - hard work -but my prior idea that stories fell full formed was BS.

Of course, now that the Muse is out of her bottle, I don't think there's any putting her back in. And my new goal is to pay off the mortgage while I both write and work at the day job until I'm in such a postition as to be able to say I don't need the day job anymore and retire from us to write full time.

A worthy goal, I think!

C Made Me Cry

2007-05-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

When I got the news on Thursday that I'd sold my first fiction story, C was at the Mariners' game and I waited until he got home to tell him. I kept staring at the email in awe.....

When I told him, he was very excited for me and we danced around for a while.

But the next day, I was on the way to work when I got a call from Yasmine Galenorn, my friend and mentor, to say I needed to check my email when I got to the office. Honestly, I wasn't sure what had happened - I was afraid her older kitty had died or some catastrophe had hit.

Instead I had a lovely congratulatory email and an invite to join the Witchy Chicks blog. I almost cried. Instead I called her back and she told me that C had been sending out mail to brag that I had done it.....

I did cry then.

Not only was C happy for me, he was completely cheering me on with people he didn't know, totally on his own and without even letting on to me!

How cool is that???

Husbandly Support

2007-05-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

I want to take a moment to thank the most important support person in my life - my husband, C.

I read and hear a lot of stories from other aspiring authors whose husbands/family/significant others run the gamut from not very supportive, to dissmissive, to downright mocking or destructive to their attempts to begin a writing career.

I have certainly had my own challenges and things to overcome but C has been unflaggingly supportive and is easily my best cheerleader. He's never made fun of my dream, he's never tried to get me to stop, he's always celebrated every small victory and kept my spirits up when there were rejections or failures.

Well, he did tell me that I needed to invest in a trashcan in the office that was not a pretty perforated metal one because, if I really did throw up, it would be far easier to clean up. And he does get to laugh when I start vibrating :)

And, let's be clear, while this dream has cost me time and hobbies, it has cost him TOO. I hate housework but now it's even further down my list. C does easily 99% of the cooking. He has to put up with my distracted ramblings and forgetting to stop for milk because I zoned out on the way home. He does a lot of parenting of our 6 year old.

But, despite all this, he's remained my supporter and really believes that I can do this and my dream of retiring from the Evil Day Job to just write CAN become a reality. We love each other dearly and believe in each other - and I'm so lucky.

I've asked him to come on and speak on something I don't hear very often - the husband's view of being married to an aspiring author.

First Fiction Sale

2007-05-17T23:40:00.000-07:00

I have a contract for my first fiction sale.

Aspen Mountain Press has bought Texas Tea, my paranormal erotic romance in their continuity series Del Fantasma.

I don't have a release date yet but I'll leave you with a little blurb while I try to figure out how I'm going to celebrate:

Photographer Lara Saunders has a lifelong secret – she can see and hear ghosts. When she was rescued from a near drowning by the ghost of a lighthouse keeper, he set her on a mission to document historic lighthouses and the lives of their keepers so they were not forgotten. Now on her third book in the series, Lara has arrived in San Diego to document the Old Point Loma Lighthouse but hasn’t counted on becoming the target Cody Warren, the matchmaking owner of the Del Fantasma bar. Or falling in love with a handsome Park Ranger whose secret is even more strange than her own.

WOOOT!

Writing Update

2007-05-15T23:23:00.000-07:00

Maybe a status post is in order (i.e. it might keep me on track):

Raven's White Hart - currently out to agents and two publishers
Tort & Retort - finalizing expansion to resub to editor that requested it
Texas Tea - proposal out to publisher

The ToDo list is currently:

Raven's White Hart - finish the pronoun fixes and resend to test readers as final
Tort & Retort - finish expansion and resub as well as resend to test readers
Hacking Immortality - write synopsis and story for Brava Novella contest
Eyes of Jade - write proposal and sub to publisher

And that's just the active ToDo. The muse has a lot of other stories waiting in the wings.....

I need a clone.

I've been tagged by Erin and Cheyenne!

2007-05-08T23:13:00.000-07:00

Erin tagged me and before I managed to get it done, so did Cheyenne!

Here are the rules (copied from Erin's Blog):

Da Rulez:

Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
Don't forget to add a comment telling them they're tagged and to read your blog.

So my eight random things:

I have no visual memory. When I close my eyes and think of someone, I don't "see" anything. I even dream in words.
I collect ravens.
I have seven cats at the moment and they are spoiled rotten. This doesn't count the 50+ cats my husband and I have trapped, tested for disease, immunized, sterilized and released and feed to this day -- all on our own dime. The perils of cat rescue.
I have a 20 year old son and a 6 year old son.
I'm also quite introverted, like many of the other authors I know. I have a decent "game face" that I can put on when needed but it's exhausting to wear for too long.
I'm a software engineer by day and have worked at one of, if not the, largest software company in the world since 1995.
I have way too many hobbies but one of my favorites is making jewelyr - finnicky jewelry a lot of the time like beaded amulet bags that take thousands of tiny seed beads and chain mail jewelry where I have to open, weave in, and close hundreds or thousands of little metal rings.
I have a bad case of "the mark of the Volunteer" - I really want to help my friends and sometimes pay the price for being TOO helpful with no time of my own.

I have no idea who to tag who hasn't already been tagged (and who wouldn't kill me). So of anyone would like to do this meme, feel free!

RT 2007 - Part 1

2007-05-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

I've actually been back from RT 2007 in Houston for almost a week but it's been busy and I've been trying to hack up portions of my pulmonary system ever since.

My best bud Jo and I traveled and roomed together, which was really nice - not only was there company at all times but I could borrow jewelry from her jewelry case when I didn't feel like wearing my own. Not sure what she got from it other than a good laugh or two at my expense, but oh well.

Arrived on Monday and after we ditched the suitcases in the hotel room, the next priority was to feed ourselves. Although not starved on the plane, we were ready to chew on a chair leg by the time we checked in.

We also discovered that the hotel is basically a large hollow tower and at the center of the bottom is the bar - not as a separate room but almost a mix of sunken living room and kiosk.

The smoking. OMFG the smoking. I'm from Washington where smoking in public places is banned and I have lost any resistance I had. Add to that the fact that I'm an asthmatic. Not a good combination. The longer the convention went on, the greater the amount of smoke that flooded through the entire hotel. I am not sure how I avoided a full blown asthma attack but I did hit the inhaler a lot. Camille Anthony was really having a hard time since she has respiratory problems anyway. A few times I was tempted to offer her my first born for a hit off her oxygen tank!

Before we went to have dinner in the little hotel cafe, I dutifully donned my bunny ears. For those who don't know, I review for Joyfully Reviewed and our mascot is the bunny - which originally started out as a joke but took on a life of its own. Last year Joy wore bunny ears and this year Jo and I brought bunny ears too. This also had to do with a contest where people from our chat group could find us, tell us the secret phrase and win a prize.

I had warned Joy that my ears were pierced but either she didn't believe me or she thought I had changed personality and was suddenly opting for "discrete". Silly woman.

Here's me in my ears:

They suit me, no? And how could anyone miss them???

Author friend Jade Buchanan called during dinner to locate us - I actually had to wave my arms to get her attention, can you imagine?

Not much other than socializing and starting the smoke permeation process on Monday. The Advanced Aspiring Author program started at (gasp) 9am Tuesday morning. Cruel and unusual punishment - I'm not alive at 9am, much less able to pay attention. Still, Jade and I arranged to meet downstairs at 8 to have coffee and breakfast before the program started. Yuck.

I'll pick this tale up with Tuesday.

Back from RT

2007-04-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

Hallelujah!!! I had a terrific time, met and chatted with a lot of people, have some submissions to send out and had some strange personality transplant that turned me into -- gasp -- a social butterfly of some sort.

I finally got to meet Jaynie (who shared a room with my buddy Jo and myself and I hope I didn't scare her off)! I also spent a lot of time with my friends Jade Buchanan and Michelle Bardsley.

Some folks I merely got to meet in passing and would have loved to have an actual conversation but things moved fast sometimes. I was a bit bummed by this but oh well. I am, after all, about as far from important as it can get. LOL

I was thrilled to see old and new friends. I adored Jackie Frank as much as I thought I would. I loved meeting Joy and the other Joyfully Reviewed folks there. It's always terrific to see MacKenzie McKade, Cheyenne McCray, Jet Mykles, Sasha White, Vivi Anna, Angela Knight, Camille Anthony, Flash, Mary Janice Davidson, JJ Massa, and a bunch of others only eluding me because my brain is totally fried.

Lots of notes to blog about - but not tonight. Time for bed - I'm exhausted and the huge amounts of cigarette smoke and lack of sleep have kicked my butt. More tomorrow.....