~~ "She has so many aliases, you'd think she was a spy!" ~~

Friday, February 03, 2012

Share the Love!

I’ve had several stories published in various Coming Together anthologies. What’s special about these anthologies is that all proceeds are donated to charity—each anthology is for an individual charity, ranging from Amnesty International to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I’ve given my stories to these anthologies for free.

This month we’re trying to raise the profile of these books (there are single-author collections as well!) though the Share the Love Blog Bash. Each day, a different author is writing a blog about their story, their favorite charity, their inspiration, or whatever, and including a steamy excerpt. 

Did I mention there will be prizes? There will be prizes! Many authors are offering a prize on the day their blog is posted (mine is a free copy of my first-ever e-collection). Plus—and this is so exciting I wish I weren’t a contributor so I could possibly win—there are two grand prizes:
  1. A $50 gift certificate to All Romance Ebooks to one commenter.
  2. A Kindle fire to a person who visits and comments on every one of the 29 posts and shares the post via FB, Twitter or Google+.

Even if you can’t visit and comment every day, I hope you’ll nip in on occaision and see what we’re chatting about, and that maybe you’ll mention the Blog Bash in your blog or social media site.

And even better, why not donate to charity by picking up a book or two? Valentine’s Day is fast-approaching and wouldn’t your lover be even happier knowing that their gift benefitted others as well?

Won’t you Share the Love with me?



Wednesday, February 01, 2012

All over and up and down and around


Whee! I had a great week with Ken and my friend Sara, running to and fro—literally. We picked up Sara last Wednesday at the airport, grabbed Thai food—because of my cold, I was really grateful for the spicy soup—and headed to Anaheim for the first of several Styx shows. Before the show we hung out in a coffee shop for a bit, catching up on our various electronic devices, before our friends Fran and Thom and Tani met up with us. At the venue, it was a glorious reunion; the first show after a break is a wonderful homecoming with friends: Sheri and Nanci and Lisa and Naoko and the twins and their mom and Maria. Ack, I’m sure I’m forgetting someone! Hugs all ‘round, and then into the show, which was of course awesome. We had dinner afterwards with Tani and then drove home and fell over, exhausted.

The next morning we slept in for a little bit, and then Sara and I fluffed and buffed and headed up to Solvang. After purchasing a yummy cheese at the wine and cheese shop, we went over to the casino to see if we could get tickets for the show that night (we hadn't been able to get any decent tickets when they first went on sale). We weren't lucky, but we had an amusing time wandering around the casino and briefly hanging out with the assistant tour manager. We spent that evening eating cheese and crackers and watching videos.

Friday saw the three of us battling traffic to get to Temecula for the show there. The band again kicked ass (Dragon Dictate insists that last word should be “pass.” I can't wait until I start dictating an erotica story!) and a friend was kind enough to offer me a backstage pass for a brief meeting with Tommy Shaw. Of course, then we all headed out to the buses and got to see Tommy again, along with Todd and Lawrence.  :-)


We stayed in Orange County that night because Geoff Tate of Queensryche was doing a signing at the wine shop; he's partnered with the winery and created a red and the white. Then we hopped back in the car and headed north to San Luis Obispo because Geoff was playing a show there that night. Yes, that's a lot of driving! You should have seen Geoff’s tour schedule! It was all over the map.

On Sunday we rejoiced at not having to put on makeup and being able to stay in our pajamas most of the day. The only time we went out was to pick up groceries—Sara and I made a vat of vegetable soup for dinner.

Sadly, I had to take her back to the airport on Monday afternoon and wave a mournful farewell. Then I came home and mostly collapsed. Actually, that's not entirely true: I paid bills and cleaned off my desk and answered a ton of e-mails. That said, I'm still fighting off this cold and goodness knows bouncing up and down at concerts doesn't exactly constitute “taking it easy.” I spent most of yesterday working, and today Ken and I ran some errands.

I was supposed to have had my root canal this morning, but my dentist was sick. I'm rescheduled for tomorrow morning—keep your fingers crossed. I really want to get this over with while Ken's home and it doesn't interfere with travel!

February should be a relatively quiet month until the end, when I head up to Oregon for two workshops. I'm looking forward to getting my health back, to working out, and to getting lots of work done. I'm still focusing on the publishing arm of my business along with copyediting, but Dragon Dictate is helping immensely with e-mails, blog posts, and an upcoming nonfiction assignment I've just been offered.

Happy Imbolc to you all! We’re halfway to spring and the light is returning.


Tuesday, January 31, 2012

New fantasy titles available!

I have two new fantasy stories for sale!

"The Devil Went Down to the Sunset Strip"

“Angrrr Management were four talented guys. (They really were. I wasn’t just some starry-eyed groupie; I knew decent music and I knew stage presence.) Talented, yes, and awfully pretty, all of them. And every last one of them was dumber than a post. Had they never HEARD of Robert Johnson?”

“The Devil Went Down to the Sunset Strip” is a hilarious urban fantasy short story about 80s hair metal and selling your soul to Satan.

“The Devil Went Down to the Sunset Strip” originally appeared in Retro Spec: Tales of Fantasy and Nostalgia (Raven Electrick Ink, 2010).
Cover images © iScream Creative / iStockPhoto and Baris Simsek / iStockPhoto.

Available in a variety of electronic formats
Amazon |  Barnes & Noble |  Smashwords

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"Blood Relations"

The woman known as the “Vegan Martha Stewart” learns who her infamous father really is…and their relationship threatens to ruin their respective empires. A funny fantasy short story—with a bite!

Cover art © Robert Kohlhuber / iStockPhoto.com.

Available in a variety of electronic formats
Amazon |  Barnes & Noble |  Smashwords