Posted by: Author | November 8, 2011

Red Letter Morning

I had a red letter morning on November 7, 2011. First, I got an email from the publisher, Darlene F., at Still Moments Publishing offering me a contract on my magical short story called Boxers and Briefs. I’m not calling the story magical because I have this huge ego and think my story is so awesome that it’s magical; rather, I’m calling it magical because the heroine is a witch. A witch who happens to run a lingerie store. It was a fun one to write.

Just about the time I printed and signed the above contract, I received an email from the publisher who I sent a novel to about three weeks ago. The book I sent was my NaNoWriMo book last year called Tormented. Anyway, I was offered a contract for that book but they want me to change the name because it’s a romance novel and the name is not so romantic (my words, not theirs). So, I’m on a quest to think of another name. This story has already had a couple of names so I’m a bit at a loss for ideas.  I don’t actually have the contract on that one yet but I have indicated I’d sign it so I’m comfortable saying it’s scheduled to come out in February 2012. This is my bi-racial novel and as you may recall, Idris Elba was the inspiration for the hero.

Vote in my unscientific poll- remember these are off the top of my head and may not be even remotely likeable, but vote anyway, please. 

Posted by: Author | November 7, 2011

My NaNoWriMo Hero

My NaNoWriMo story was moving very, very slowly. I couldn’t seem to get a handle on my hero. I mean, I knew who he was, I knew what he wanted from life, I knew his back story, but dang if the man wouldn’t cooperate with the story. Luckily, my RWA chapter meeting was this weekend and I rode over to the meeting with Jamie and Elizabeth. As we travel an hour each way, we talk about plot points and other things.

When I was bemoaning the fact that my scenes in the hero’s point of view were not going well and that they were really much shorter than I liked, Jamie offered the advice that maybe the majority of the story was the heroine’s and not the hero’s and maybe he didn’t have as much to say or as long as a journey as she did and that maybe I shouldn’t be forcing the scenes to be longer. Well, shut my mouth- that made sense. Big time sense.

So, on Sunday, I decided to let the hero’s scenes be as short as he wanted and lo and behold, the story took off. He’s being wicked, alpha and irreverent. I love it. 

From November 1-5, I wrote around 7,000 words in total for those six days.  On November 6, I wrote almost 5,900 in one day.  How wild is that?

Check out this dude: He’s the inspiration for my hero. He’s a Spanish bullfighter who used to be the son in law of the Duchess of Alba. And no, my hero is not a bullfighter, but he’s a Spaniard and he’s a grandee (aristocrat).

 

Posted by: Author | November 4, 2011

Friday Facts- November 4, 2011- Rolling Stone Magazine

I spent some time before November researching pop culture and fashion for my 2011 NaNoWriMo novel which is set in late 1967. I wanted to share this Friday Fact since its anniversary is coming this week. Rolling Stone Magazine was founded in 1967 with the first issue being published on November 9, 1967. The first cover featured John Lennon and he actually graced the cover a number of times, both alone and with others. He was also on one of the first ten covers with Paul McCartney. There is even a cover with him and Yoko Ono featuring a photo that was taken a few hours before his death by Annie Leibovitz.  

Here’s the first and the last covers featuring him.

Posted by: Author | November 3, 2011

New Contract- Still Moments Publishing

Last week, I was thrilled to get an acceptance letter from Still Moments Publishing. I wrote a Valentine’s Story for them and it made my day that they liked it. I was a bit unsure about whether it was any good at all because when I started the thing, it was going to be a story about a coroner who cuts open a corpse and a fairy escapes from the chest cavity. After I wrote the first 375 words or so, the old noggin took a turn and the story changed into something completely different.

I never did get the beginning like I wanted it even though I went back and played with it a for a few days.  I’m hopeful that the editor assigned to the story can help with the roughness of that part.  After all, editors are amazing at finding the things that don’t work, aren’t they?

I’m super excited to be part of this publishing house. Everyone is very nice and it seems like a great place to be. I encourage everyone who likes to write short to submit to them.  And, oh yeah, my story still has a coroner as the main character. It’s called The Coroner’s Heart and will be out in time for Valentine’s Day.

Posted by: Author | November 2, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

Posted by: Author | November 1, 2011

November 1- You Know What That Means? NaNoWriMo Begins!

And so it begins. The crazy, mad dash through the month of November trying to get to a word count of 50,000 words. Some people use NaNo in a nutty way in my opinion. They don’t use contractions because She did not is one more word than she didn’t.  Ok, that may be true, but if you’re going to have to go back through that manuscript and make every one of those phrases into contractions, just do it right the first time around. Why do the work twice?

I do believe you should write without much editing the first draft- heck, that’s what I do anyway, but these wacky tricks of writing nonsense to get your word count makes no sense to me. If you are just in it for words that mean nothing except to count as words, why not type word, word, word, word 50,000 times?  I mean, really, if you’re gonna write a book, then do it. No tricks, no cheating, no fooling around.  That’s what I’m doing. Join me?

WINNER OF HALLOWEEN BLOG HOP: AMBER PREER!  CONGRATS AMBER.

Day of Dead Doll

Dia de los Muertos is also known as The Day of the Dead. It’s an old ritual from the Aztec culture. The Aztecs used skulls as part of the ritual and the skull is still an integral part of the celebrations. For the day is a celebration; a celebration of the lives of the ones who have passed on.  The Catholic church tried to get rid of this tradition but was unsuccessful and therfore,  merged it into the same time of year as All Saint’s Day. It therefore occurs on November 1st and 2nd. Skull masks are worn and the celebrants dance in memory of their dead. The Aztecs believed the dead visited them during this time and that death was not the end of life but the beginning of a new kind of life.

Day of the Dead matches

Today, Day of the Dead celebrations still take place and in Mexico, it’s a really big deal. The people make the favorite foods of their deceased relatives and have picnics at the grave sites. They also decorate the graves with marigolds  and candles. Toys for dead children and tequila for deceased adults are brought as well. The cemeteries are the place to be that day.

For the blog hop, I’m giving away a Halloween surprise package of goodies. Leave me a comment about a deceased family member you’d like to honor if you celebrated Dia de los Muertos and what his/her favorite food was that you’d have to cook for the cemetery visit. Click the icon below to continue the hop.

ALSO, you can find me here:http://darkertemptations.wordpress.com/ today and comment for a chance to win one of my e-books.

Posted by: Author | October 27, 2011

The Adorable Casey Crow is My Guest of the Day

I love Casey. She’s a fun, southern girl and full of great story ideas and a wonderful hostess.  She also has a novella coming out with Loose-id very soon. I asked her to come visit us today so you can get to know her and her characters a bit. 

CASEY:

By: Casey Crow

I love my best girlfriend. She’s the one I call when I need advice and more often than not, need to vent. She never judges — although I’ve done some pretty stupid things — and accepts me for me. I can always count on her to tell me the true, even if I don’t want to hear it.

The same is true for the relationship Anna and Marisol have in my upcoming December 6 release of CAN’T FAKE THIS from Loose, Id. Anna knows how she feels deep down, but needs her best gal pal to confirm it. Here’s a an excerpt:

Marisol and I sat on her back porch, drinking hot chocolate on another relatively warm afternoon for December. God, I loved the South, where sixty degrees isn’t unusual for the height of winter. Even so, a flame blazed in the fire pit located in the center of her coffee table.

“Have you made a decision?” Marisol asked. She pushed around the remnants of the homemade smores our kids created earlier as she searched for more marshmallows to add to her cup. “It’s been over three weeks, and you were wrong. You said I’d pine for two weeks, but I’m still moping around barely able to function.”

“Has he contacted you?”

“At first, he would text every couple of days. Nothing big. He asked how I was. Stuff like that. I kept it light and distant, then today he sent me a message asking how was he ever going to get over me.”

“Did you reply?”

“No. I wanted to tell him, I’ll let you know when I figure out how I’m going to get over you, but then I got another message. Said he missed me all the time and it wasn’t just about sex. That he simply loved being with me.”

Marisol’s mouth dropped. “He’s seriously in love with you.”

I nodded.

“How do you feel?”

I took a big gulp of hot cocoa. “I’m attracted to him, but there’s more. I love him. He makes me laugh and feel good about myself. Chase cherishes and protects without dominating. He lets me be me and loves me for that.”

“Do you still think it’s a rebound thing?”

“No. I’ve done some serious soul searching, and all I could come up with is yeah, Frog number one should have been the jumping off board, but why dive again when I’m already over my head in love?”

Marisol sat her cup down and leaned forward to garner my full attention. “Take a chance. Don’t be afraid and risk happiness for the sake of obeying the post-divorce books.”

I rubbed my forehead, letting her words sink in.

“Call him.”

I glanced at her.

“Better yet, go see him.”

 Thanks to Jillian for having me today. Speaking of great gal pals, Jillian definitely ranks up there! Do you a story about you and your best friend? An embarassing moment? Mine involves a fender bender in high school. I wasn’t driving, but distracting my friend singing Elvira. I pretty much made her run into this guy ‘s truck, and he had such crush on her. Well, maybe not so much after she scratched his pride and joy. Are there any touching stories you’d like to share? I’d love to hear about them.

Casey Crow is a Summa Cum Laude graduate from the University of Alabama with degrees in Business Management and Dance.  She received her Master of Business Administration from the University of Mobile.  Casey resides in Mobile where she stays busy with her two young children.  She also works as a dance choreographer, pageant coach, professional emcee and model, and certified Miss America preliminary judge.  In fact, she is a former Miss University of Alabama.  Casey writes erotic and spicy contemporary romances with the tagline “Sexy, Southern & Sassy.”  Visit her at www.caseycrow.com.  Follow her on Twitter – caseyecrow and Facebook – Casey Crow.

Posted by: Author | October 26, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

Posted by: Author | October 25, 2011

Oops.

I have no idea how Wednesday posted early. Ignore that man behind the curtain. But I’m sharing the story behind it over here today so you can get a sneak peek. It was too much fun not to spread all over the ‘net. http://lushbookreviewss.blogspot.com/

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »

Categories