Don’t gag, but that’s me in 1977 when I was fourteen years old. Yep. And the mega red hair was because the light was just right. I do have natural red highlights in my hair when the sun hits it. (Although I haven’t been able to dye my hair all red for two years now because my scalp won’t tolerate it.)

When did you finish high school? Five years ago? Ten? Maybe even twenty? Are you feelin’ old yet? In 1990 I had a pivotal year. I met my husband-to-be in February 1990. I went to my tenth high school reunion in June of 1990. Yep. It’s been that long ago. My tenth high school reunion was a surreal experience. Several people I recognized and who recognized me came up to say hello, their enthusiasm for seeing me a pleasant surprise. There were even two or three guys who I’d gone to grade school with all the way up through high school that I’d always disliked, yet they greeted me as if we’d always been good friends. I was gracious. I wasn’t holding a grudge for ten years. Okay, I’ll admit there were two women who were stereotypical cheerleaders who also treated me like I wasn’t worth to take up the same oxygen when we were in high school. They were truly emotionally abusive people back in high school, and I wanted nothing to do with them even ten years later.  I didn’t go to my twentieth high school reunion. And yes, in two years I could attend my thirtieth reunion, if anyone was setting it up. But would I? Not! High school in general was not the best time of my life, but my sophomore year was my best. 

What brought on this nostalgia? Okay, I don’t know about you, but even though I realize that fashion ebbs and flows and that nothing, and I mean nothing is immune from reappearing short of maybe bustles or panniers. I find the same clothes that were ugly in the 70’s are ugly now. Like any teen I was fashion conscious and wanted to fit in. I had to have painter’s pants in ivory, those frothy multi tiered skirts that were midi length (calf length), espadrille platform shoes, bell bottom pants (now called flared or wide leg), smock tops that made everyone look pregnant…yep, I had some of those clothes. The seventies have come back in just about every way it is possible to come back. I mean, it’s like being in a time travel machine. First there were go-go type boots (okay, that was the 60’s), then there was long hair parted down the middle straight hair for women, then gradually the platform shoes, then the smocks with those awful lime green and mustard yellows, huge prints, big flowers, etc. Then the hip hugger pants (now called low rise) came back and I don’t really mind those because they fit me better and I NEVER wore them in high school.  In the last year or so I’ve noticed teen boys have started wearing hairstyles like what boys and men wore in the 70’s. They’ve even sometimes started wearing the wide horizontal striped shirts. Polyester leisure suits, Super Fly suits, and men wearing platforms hasn’t come back, but never say never. Also in the last year women have started feathering their hair! Again! 

Now I had difficulty training my fine hair to feather. These days because of a better hair cut, better shampoos and styling products, I can wear my hair in two ways…a flipped up in the back style (which my hair likes to do anyway), and feathering along the sides. Amazing. So with low rise boot cut jeans and feathered hair (no I can’t wear platforms), I’m feeling positively retro. 

So did any of our dear readers here on the blog graduate in ’80 or the 70’s? Have you noticed the retro trends and are you wearing any of it?

My husband and I just celebrated thirteen years of marriage. I know it doesn’t seem that long to some people, but considering the rate of divorce surrounding us, it feels like an accomplishment to my husband and I.

We are really different, he and I. I’m introverted and quiet. I only speak unless I have something to say. When I make friends, I tend to make them for life–I don’t flit. He’s loud and outgoing and a bit bossy. He has lots of friends, but the relationships are a bit more superficial than mine tend to be. Many are the times he tries to plow over me and tell me what to do, making me dig in my heels and stand my ground (with him, I have to be strong. He keeps me that way.) I love to read, he doesn’t. I love to talk about politics and religion and deeper sorts of issues, he doesn’t. I’m emotional, he’s not. He loves to go out and be around other people, I don’t. We are opposites in lots of different ways.

But we share plenty of common ground, too, and over the years we’ve both grown and changed…together. Like the limbs of a tree growing closer, rather than further apart. Little bit by little bit, the alignment of our personalities has grown stronger.

There were rocky times, times that another couple probably would’ve used to say goodbye, but love kept us together. We worked through the rough spots, coming out the other side of them stronger for it, more in sync, and closer. Yes, we are very different, but we have an understanding of the other person and a genuine appreciation. We give each other the qualities we don’t possess ourselves–two halves of a whole. Over the years I’ve adopted some of the aspects of his personality and he’s adopted some of mine.

Maybe that’s why I tend to pair opposites in my books. I like the idea of two very different people coming together, finding a bit of common ground, finding a deep and abiding love, and building a house with a solid foundation on it. That’s what we’ve done in our marriage, after all.

All I know is that I’m thankful for my husband and I wouldn’t trade his loud, brash, bossy self for anyone. He is my partner through this life, my very best friend and best companion, the one I want to grow old with. Out of anyone in the world, he knows me the best…maybe even better than I think I know myself.

~*~

The winner of Strands of Sunlight, chosen randomly from the comments of my last Bradford Bunch post, is Cheryl M! Congrats, Cheryl! Please drop me an email at anyabast (at) gmail.com with your format preference and I’ll send the book to you when I get my author copies.

Mark your calendars for September 10th! That’s the day a large month-long contest will be starting on my blog. I’ll be giving away a book a day every day for a month, including novels from authors you might know from here–Lauren Dane, Vivi Anna, Cynthia Eden and Ann Aguirre, for example. I’ll also be giving away a large grand prize. It will be worth checking out!

I found this article this morning. Check it out.

Must admit, when I was young, I always secretly thought of myself as the kind of woman who would have to move to Alaska, or somewhere like this remote Australian mining town in order to find a man. Turns out I was wrong about that. It makes me wonder about the power of self-esteem.  Can you imagine a woman moving halfway around the world because of the male-female ratio?

I do know this, though. If I wanted to start my life all over again, go where nobody knows me, someplace like that would look mighty tempting. I wonder what it would be like for an average woman to move where she’s outnumbered by men five to one. Would it be like the Wild West? Would men fight over her? I’d say there’s a story idea here, but I already have enough work to do.

But feel free speculate. What do you think would happen to our heroine if she moved there?

Talia Ricci at Joyfully Reviewed has this to say about Fated: Lauren Dane has written a highly emotional story in Fated. Shane and Megan face real fears and have to make agonizing choices.

Fated was about communication and working through problems. The mating of Shane and Megan took them by surprise but they refused to give up on their mating and each other. Just the way a loving relationship should be. Mark Fated in the winner’s column! I loved it!

Blurby Bit: Could there be any worse fate than a road trip from Seattle to L.A.—with one’s mother—to attend a wedding? Why yes, when one isn’t married yet, like Megan Warden. Toss in a grandmother and a carload of already married sisters and it’s a recipe for sneaking sips of “special” coffee while someone else drives.

Shane Rosario has better things to do than attend a wedding where his father’s relatives will be at him nonstop about getting married and having children. If it weren’t for seeing his anchor bond, Layla, he’d have taken a pass on the entire weekend. It would be easy, since he’s become adept at hiding who and what he is.

When the two weren’t even looking, Fate steps in and before they know it, their bond is sealed. Bonded pair, married in the eyes of their people. Two people tied together in every way. Trouble is, Shane’s not sure he wants all that comes with Megan. And Megan’s certain she’s not willing to live outside her pack, pretending to be human.

The distance between them is more than geographical. It’s a widening gulf rapidly filling with resentment…an emotional divide only acceptance could bridge. Can Shane can accept himself to cross it? Only if they let love take control.

This isn’t related to the previous story arc (Enforcer, Tri Mates, Wolf Unbound and Standoff), it takes place about 18 months after the end of Standoff and it’s Megan and Shane’s story! For now, it’ll be the last in the universe but eventually I’d like to come back and do Jack Meyers’ book.

You can check out an excerpt at my website and also at Samhain! I hope everyone enjoys Fated.

PS - I’m running two contests until Thursday the 21st to win copies of Ann Aguirre’s Wanderlust and Cynthia Eden’s Everlasting Bad Boys - check out the details at my blog!

Lauren

Sorry, I’m later than I’d intended posting today. Blame equal parts the Olympics and getting down to the wire on a novella I’m writing for Loose ID.  I want to put Midnight Soldier to bed before my sister arrives Monday afternoon, but am having a devil of a time with the last 2-3 thousand words. The Olympics has something to do with it, but I suspect the temperature is adding to my letheragy.  Yesterday at 108 equaled the record and we might beat it today. oh wow! Which is why I picked tomatoes and onions before 8.

What?  Oh yeah, you’re right, if I’m going to have a certain title, I should expand on it.  I live in a town so small we have to share our horse with the next burg. As a result, unless someone’s hiding out, I’m the only writer anywhere around. That’s probably why I’m into my fourth year as president of our regional writer’s organization, a loosely structured group of women who get together once a month and stay in touch via email. Until a recent addition about four months ago, I was the only full-time writer in the group, but that didn’t matter. They know me in ways outsiders never can, and I feel the same about them. Earlier this week, one member’s very ill mother in law died, and we all shared in her loss and relief.  We love each other’s families, share pain and laughter and occasional conversations about writing.  Even though I don’t give blow by blows on my current projects (who can keep up, me included) when I share about various aspects of my career, I know they care.

Its the same and yet different with the friends I’ve made via the Internet. Some I’m in contact with on a regular basis, others filter in and out of my world as writing-related issues come up.  An example: this week, another member of a national published writers’ organization confessed her nightmarish experiences with a publisher. She wasn’t looking for solutions, just sympathetic ears and eyes. What she got was a lot of emails that basically said, “Been there, done that,” and “You’re a good writer, you’ll land on your feet.”  When I correspond with other published writers, there’s an instant connection.  We speak the same language and have the same scars. Instead of keeping our wisdom to ourselves, we reach out. We share.

I can’t imagine not having both face-to-face and virtual writer friends. To all of you, you’re what keeps me marginally sane.

Vonna

www.VonnaHarper.com 

I’m very excited to get my first review for VEILED TRUTH and it’s a gooooooood one! I’m thrilled that it’s been given an RT TOP PICK for October.

Here’s the review:
A police detective in Necropolis, witch Lyra Magice works with Theron LeNoir, half-witch/half-vampire, to foil a demon’s plot to take power within the city. Not to be overshadowed by the supernatural storyline of Veiled Truth (41/2), the relationship between Lyra and Theron is full of chemistry. Vivi Anna’s writing is wonderfully descriptive, and the plot is riveting. This book will definitely hold readers’ attention.. - RT

Woot!! My first TOP PICK, and hopefully one of many.

I’m really excited about this book. It’s book three in the Valorian Chronicles and it’s Lyra’s story. I love her character. She’s the snarky one on the team. She’s also fiery and doesn’t take shit from anyone.

Here’s a little snippet:

When Theron entered the room and saw Lyra bent over his book, a look of fierce concentration on her face, his heart actually fluttered. The reaction surprised him. Most of his reactions to women were in lower places on his anatomy. But there was something about her that was unique. He had noticed before, and he was certainly noticing it now.

It wasn’t that she was gorgeous, because she wasn’t. Certainly, she had some redeeming qualities—big, brown, soulful eyes; wide, inviting mouth; a petite, nubile body—but it was something more than all those things. A quality that transcended physical beauty. A thing almost ethereal in nature.

Standing now, her face stern, and her hands on her hips, Lyra looked like a diminutive Amazon goddess.

Caine remained impassive, his brow cocked; regarding Theron as if he was nothing. Then he looked at the baron. “Are you taking this man’s allegations seriously?”

“Are you calling me a liar, monsieur?” Theron replied.

“I’m sorry but I find it hard to believe that Lyra, who has more integrity than most of us at the lab, would steal anything.”

“Your investigator came into my home, bound me with a sophomoric binding spell at best, and took my book without permission. If that is not theft, then what is it?”

“It was not sophomoric,” she grated out between clenched teeth.

Everyone looked over at her.

It made Theron chuckle to see the tick at the little witch’s jaw. Magic surged out of her like a suddenly sparking electrical wire. He could feel it all around him. It surprised him at how intense it was. She possessed power, this woman. More than he suspected she even realized.

“Lyra, is what this man saying true?”

“No. Not really.”

“Is it no, or not really?”

She shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

Laal huffed, “Well, someone had better start explaining because I’m very close to firing someone.”
Hands clenched into fists, Lyra glared at the baron and took a step toward him like an advancing lioness. Theron swore he saw her eyes spark with flames. “You can’t fire me because of this.”

“I most certainly can.”

Caine put his hand up to interpose. “No one is getting fired. I’m sure there is a logical explanation for all of this. Isn’t there, Lyra?”

Hands still fisted, she halted her progression toward the baron and turned her fiery gaze onto Theron. “If this stubborn jerk hadn’t refused to help with the translation, I wouldn’t have done anything so…so drastic.”

His body started to sweat from her heated gaze. Oh, she was a firecracker indeed this witch. If he had more time in Necropolis, he would certainly enjoy battling with her. He wondered if their battles would translate into something more passionate. Something they could take to a private venue, like his hotel room.

And because I’m in such a good mood, I want to give something away…so anyone that comments will have their name dropped in a hat for a chance to win a download of my October NOCTURNE BITE, Stormchaser. This novella is Captain Mahina Garner’s story. I loved writing her character too. She’s such an alpha.

Hi everyone! I wanted to introduce a fellow Novelists, Inc. member, Judy Gill. 

***

By way of introduction, I should tell you I’m Judy Griffith Gill, author of 50 published novels. I live the best life possible—six months here on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada aboard our 34 foot cabin cruiser, La Niña and six months in our really tiny house on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It’s tough, but someone has to help the economy of those third-word countries and we’re willing to make the sacrifice.

However . . .

I’m sitting here, ashore, when I should be afloat in something a bit bigger than my inflatable kayak because our &*^%$ port engine simply refuses to run. (If any of you know a good, cheap marine mechanic, please ask him if he’d like to come and visit us here in this little part of paradise. Free room and board guaranteed! (Along with grease remover, if my dh has left any after all the monkey-wrenching he’s done.)

Not that I really should complain. I have the wonderful old waterfront house I grew up in to wander into when I get tired of being aboard the boat, when I want to go online, or just use the phone. (We’re so far into the wilderness of this coast, there’s no cell-phone coverage.)  It’s great. My sister, who now owns the place, is more than generous and we moor our boat right out front on the family dock. This view of the house was taken through the kiwi arbor in early spring shortly after we came back from CR. 

Okay, enough of that. We’re here to talk about writing, right? And that’s what I’ve been doing. After preparing two more of my former Loveswept books for electronic editions, I’ve been writing articles on Helium, a neat site where there’s a market for all sorts of stuff. http://www.helium.com is worth looking into. There are always companies, magazines, newsletters etc. looking for material and I’m happy to provide. The pay scale varies from cruddy to not-so-bad for a half-hour’s work if the article is picked up and it makes for a nice break when I know there’s no point in getting deep into a manuscript because sure as shootin’, someone’s going to come along and want to stay for a weekend, or a week or more. The whole family, and a lot of friends use this house. Even if I hole up in the boat to write, there are multiple distractions, such as small kids wanting to use our kayaks, or lying on the dock with their little fishing lines dangling over the side and shrieking with glee when they catch little bitty shiners or big perch. These little fish become bait for the men of the family to use to catch bigger fish, which is always nice. There’s nothing quite like fresh from the ocean. But . . . Uh-oh! I digress again from the subject of writing. My steel-trap mind has turned into a sieve, rusty from all this delicious salt air. 

My e-books can be found on my web site www.jggbooks.com where there are links for downloading from my two main e-publishers, Awe-Struck and Belgrave House. Anyone looking for futuristic with a hint of sci-fi might want to try “The Dawning” up at Belgrave. It’s a story that takes place two generations after a bio-organic war has nearly depleted Earth’s population—and left a fair segment of humans with extra-sensory powers, which causes fear and hatred among those who don’t have such powers. There’s conflict, blood and gore and maybe even a few chuckles. 

Another site I encourage everyone to check out is www.ninc.com/blog, where every day there’s a new blog by a multi-published author or an industry professional. Agents & editors usually appear on Wednesdays, but go take a quick read every day. It’s worth it. It must be. Even I have a blog there! And for those of you who have two novel-length works of fiction already published and are interested in joining Novelists’ Inc., please email me at jggbooks@hotmail.com. 

If you’ve hung in on my blathering this far, I thank you and wish you the best summer day you’ve ever spent. And no, you can’t use my kayak unless you bring along that marine mechanic!

Well, it’s that time again.  Back to school registration… YAY!  LOL  Soon my son will be going back to high school.  They don’t start this year until September 2, but that’s okay.  I took that day off to just do nothing!  GRIN!

I started my back to school shopping for him as well.  I shop at Walmart.  Have you noticed how freaking early they have holiday decorations out?  My goodness there’s stuff for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and even some items for Christmas! What the heck is up with that?  Do they think that if I’m there buying school supplies I’ll see the holiday decorations and wander down that aisle and pick up a few items?  What is the point of having Christmas items out in August?  Anyone out there in sales, please explain it to me because it seems silly.

Anywho- let’s talk books.  Anyone read Acheron yet?  What about Breaking Dawn? How are they?  Good?  Bad?  Make you happy?  Disppointed?  Opinions please!  I’ve got Acheron but haven’t had a chance to read it yet.  I’ve also got Ann Aguirre’s Wanderlust here waiting for me to read and I can’t wait to dig into that one.  What other books are you looking forward to that are coming up?  Give me a list so I can add ‘em to mine.

Thanks for your thoughts, opinions, and recs, and until next time…

I’m pretty straightforward about writing. At its best, it is truly magical but most of the time it’s a matter of hard work and perseverence. I don’t personally subscribe to the idea of muses or of a lot of writing rituals. Most of my writing rituals revolve around notebooks and colored 3×5 cards with character notes and story points on them, LOL.

One thing I do truly subscribe to is that each story has a good sense of itself if you just let it. By that I mean, I can plot a story and I usually do have a somewhat solid structure in mind when I write, even an outline in many cases these days because when you sell on a partial or a proposal, you need to sell the idea so you have to write an outline of some sort. So I can have that outline but I know, as I write, things will reveal themselves to me that I had no idea of at the outset. This is something I can’t plan ahead on, it’s something I personally find magical and I never know what or when it will happen in any given story but it always does in some way.

Most often this is about character details, things I didn’t know about my characters until I began to write them. Liv Davis in Chased for instance - I didn’t know her mother had died when she was young and that she’d walled a part of herself off because of it. I didn’t know it until I got about halfway into the writing and it just came out. It happened to me recently with Relentless when I got to know Abbie and her real motivations, who she really was, came to me. It changes the book, layers in it ways you can’t plan in advance.

That’s the beauty of the creative process, it’s like alchemy and I truly love it when it happens. Well sometimes I get annoyed because I’ll have to go back and alter the earlier stuff to adjust for something I learn later on, LOL, but still, it’s wonderful and I love it.

Right now, I’m writing Outshined, a contemporary erotic romance for Berkley and something I hadn’t planned on AT ALL just jumped at me so many times, no matter how many times I tried to fend it off, that I’ve finally given in and let it happen. I now have to hope it works, LOL. Sometimes you have to fight off a story idea that tries to invade your book but other times, I give my story her lead and in the end, I think the story is better for it.

I’m nearing 64,000 words so I’ll let you know when I finish the first draft and go in to edit.

BTW, you have until noon pacific today, August 11 to enter a contest at my blog to win a copy of my upcoming Cascadia Wolves book - Fated.

I’m just back from the Romance Writers National Conference in San Francisco and almost a week of rubbing shoulders with many friends who are now successfully published authors. (And bouncing off Laura Bradford more times than I can count…I imagine the poor woman thought I was stalking her!) I found myself looking around the room and remembering how it was when so many of us, now published, started out in the business, when we used to go the conferences, hoping for the perfect pitch to an agent, the chance to connect with an editor—the possibility of getting published.

For me it was a longer journey than most, and I’ve made no secret of my twenty years’ worth of rejections, of honing my craft, of searching for that one perfect story that would finally catch an editor’s eye. In my case, it was a combination of finally hitting all four cherries in a row—I had a well-written, sexy paranormal serial selling online at a time when New York editors were finally reaching out for erotic romances, a genre that had quickly risen in popularity through the growing ebook market.

I’d sent my collection of short, connected stories to my agent, Jessica Faust of BookEnds, LLC, who in turn submitted them to editor Audrey LaFehr at Kensington. Kensington Publishing was ready to enter the erotic romance market and my serial, Wolf Tales, was chosen as the vehicle to launch the new imprint, which didn’t even have a name until shortly before the book actually released.

It was a wild time—most new imprints take at least a year to get off the ground. Aphrodisia launched about six months after conception, which meant production was shoved into high gear, copy edits and galley proofs were completed with a turn-around time of two or three days rather than the usual ten, and I went from “aspiring author” to published author so fast my head was still spinning when the first book hit the shelves.

It was actually a fairly smooth release, if you discount the need to redo the original cover—the nude male and female models were tastefully arranged on the very first, eye-catching purple cover. Unfortunately, the female model’s nipple was showing, which apparently tipped a few bookstore owners past their comfort zones, so once that was either airbrushed out or moved into the book’s spine (I never could figure out how they did it!) the very first Wolf Tales released.

Now…it’s most definitely not your mother’s romance…the sex scenes in the book, while very much a part of the plot, are graphic and, for many readers unsettling. Expecting at least some backlash, Kensington elected to put a warning on the books, so on every back cover is a neat little box that says: WARNING! This is a really HOT book! (Sexually explicit) I still got reviews from people shocked by the content, but rather than hurting sales, those complaints seemed to push the book forward. There really is no such thing as bad publicity.

Sales were phenomenal! The book went into a second printing, then a third. Kensington contracted me for three novels and three novellas, and shortly came back asking for three more novels and three more novellas. Wolf Tales went into a fourth and then a fifth print run (it’s now in its seventh, as far as I know) and the first Sexy Beast anthology, with what was essentially the last chapter of the first Wolf Tales novel, released to excellent sales. What I had only dreamed of for so many years was actually a reality, and now, barely three years from the first phone call from my agent telling me the series had sold, I still have to pinch myself to make sure it’s real.

I’m currently contracted for nine novels and nine novellas, with publication stretching into 2010. I’m just finishing up writing Wolf Tales VIII, the fifteenth title counting the novellas. I have elected to write a tightly connected series with regularly recurring characters and an ongoing plot line that is only partially concluded at the end of each story. I tend to think of it as an erotic paranormal soap opera. Obviously I have my favorite characters—Anton Cheval, the über-alpha Chanku shapeshifter and wizard extraordinaire, Adam Wolf, a healer with many special powers he’s only now beginning to understand, Keisha Rialto, Anton’s mate and the alpha bitch of the Montana pack whose wisdom grows with each crisis…and who is, in reality, her mate’s ultimate strength. I’ve gotten to know all of them as personal friends and look forward to sitting down to write each day, wondering what they’re up to next.

And the point of this rambling post? If I’d given up when I was so terribly discouraged so many years ago, if I hadn’t held on to the dream that publication and success in a business I wanted more than anything wasn’t a real possibility for me, I wouldn’t be having the time of my life now, sitting here in my office and contemplating my day’s work on the next book. Keep writing, keep honing your craft, keep submitting. Find an agent who believes in you, and always believe in yourself. It’s not an impossible dream. Not if it’s your dream. Hold on to it and eventually it will take you for the ride of your life.

Kate Douglas–Wolf Tales
www.katedouglas.com
www.myspace.com/katedouglas_wolftales
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KateDouglas/