Guest blogging at Beth Wylde's Yahoogroup

I’m guest blogging/chatting today over at Beth Wylde's Yahoo group, as part of a group chat about Where the Girls Are and whatever other trouble we can get ourselves into.  :-)

Please join me, fellow authors (so far we have Kathleen Bradean, Roxy Katt, Jacqueline Applebee, and Sommer Marsden awake enough to be coherent), and editor D.L. King as we share excerpts from the LAMBDA Award-nominated Where the Girls Are and chat about all manner of things.

Click here to join the group. Warning: the blog is NSFW.

Hope to see you there!


Edited to add: One lucky commenter will win a free copy of Where the Girls Are!

Making the world a smaller and cozier place

You know what makes me happy? Having friends all over the world, and being able to connect with them—and connect them with each other—because of this wondrous modern technology called the Internet.

Example #1: There’s a chewable antacid that’s available only in Britain. I contacted a friend there and asked if she could send me some. The first time, in exchange I bought and shipped some shampoo for her father that’s available here but not in Britain. This time, she noted that the kind he really needs is a combination of the two kinds that are available here…and the combo kind is available in Australia. So I contacted a friend in Australia and asked if she could buy and ship the shampoo to my friend in Britain, and I’d pay her. My friend in Australia countered with the request that I pick up some perfume for her, which is only available in the US. Isn’t this the coolest thing? We all get the item we want, that we can’t get in our home country. We all get to help each other out.

Example #2: A friend commented (on Facebook, maybe? I can’t remember now) that she’d found a great knitting pattern for socks but the site was in Finnish. And I said, yo, I used to live in Drachenwald. Let me ping some SCA folks there and see if they know anyone who (a) speaks Finnish and (b) knits. (I’m sure I met some lovely Finns when we lived over there, but I didn’t keep in touch with any of them.) And then, voila! I got an e-mail from a lovely woman (whose name does sound very familiar) who also happens to be on Ravelry, which my friend is on…so I pointed the two of them at each other.

When it works, it works. I love how it’s made the world a smaller and cozier place. I miss my friends in Britain and Australia as well as all over the US (and other parts of the world), but I don’t feel like they’re quite as far away.

Launderette fail

Today I took the padded cover from the media room sofa to a launderette. This is the third or fourth time we’ve had to do this, thanks to a cat with a urinary infection (sigh). The launderette down the street has the world’s most uncomfortable benches (the seats are really angled) and last time, Ken took it to a different launderette closer to downtown. So I figured I’d go there. I’d planned to go this morning, but it got later and later and I was doing stuff…you know how it goes.

Finally I stuff the thing in the car, along with the jug of anti-pee stuff (for the first wash), a small container of laundry soap (for the second wash), and my computer bag, and off I go.

The downtown launderette was dirty (dirtier than most). Mexican music blared. The large washers all had small openings, so I had to work to stuff the cover into it. I poured in a generous amount of anti-pee stuff, at which point some of it splashed back up on my face. Sigh. Then I got change, loaded it into the slots, and pushed the little drawer closed.

It popped back open, sending most of the quarters flying. So I tried again, pushing it in firmly and pausing before letting go. Same problem. Third try. Nope.

I peeled the cover out of the washer, chose another one that looked like it might be functional (i.e., didn’t have dials or levers missing—I mean, seriously?), stuffed the cover back in, loaded the change tray. Meanwhile, a man with a violin has come in and is playing some wailing song that has absolutely no relation to the music blaring from the speakers.

I attempted to get the machine to take my money. Same problem. At least this time, I’d waited to add the cleaner.

At this point, I was done. I peeled the cover back out, plopped it back into the rolling cart to take it back out to the car, collected my laptop bag, and headed out into the parking lot.

At which point the rolling cart, which had not been rolling well all along, stopped dead. I slammed my shin into it. My breath caught and tears sprung. Gritting my teeth, I pushed again, rolling it as carefully as I could towards the car. A guy walking towards me said “Be careful with that cart—looks like it’s off.” Oh, thank you so much.

I drove away, debating whether to go to the other launderette. Decided I was thirsty and hurting and wanted to go home. Whether I wait until Ken gets home and make him wash the damn thing is still up in the air.

Meanwhile, my shin isn’t doing very well. I have a small blue lump and it hurts like hell when I stand or when I sit with my foot on the floor. It doesn’t hurt quite as bad if my leg is propped up. I’m icing it now. Whatever I make for supper with be quick and easy; I think a cobb salad it right out (again).

Don’t you like it better when I just ramble about writing here?!

On another note, my ride to Scribal Guild fell through (which I didn’t find out until I e-mailed the person this afternoon to confirm what time), and the only other person who offered would be coming by extra early because we’d be going out to dinner w/someone else. Unfortunately, I’m still working like a madwoman, and I can’t take the time for both dinner and Scribal Guild. Of course, since I can’t sit normally, either, this is probably for the best.

This is all not to say that the day has been a total loss.

First, Ken sent me a card.  :-)

Second, I received word that my story “Lost & Found,” which is slated to appear in Lesbian Lust: Erotic Stories in August, has been accepted for Best Lesbian Romance 2011!

Um…okay, those were the only two things I can think of. I’m sure something else will crop up.

Now, back to work!

Can you help?

I’m looking at putting my 23,000-word romantic erotic novella “In Her Hands” up on Kindle, Scribd, Smashwords, etc., as an e-book and POD. I’d like your help sussing out a couple of details.

“In Her Hands” is about female sculptor Sarabeth Delaney, who meets her muse in the flesh: male model and budding photographer Michael Steele. As you might expect, sparks fly and steaminess ensues. An excerpt from the novella was a finalist in the Brava Novella Contest a few years back.

Question #1  Which photograph do you think would make a better cover? (Note, while both photos are a little sexy, neither is graphic and I would think they're SFW unless you work in a really uptight place.)

Option A

Option B

Questions #2  What is the most you’d be willing to pay for the novella? (This question doesn’t assume you will buy it, although I’d be thrilled if you did. I’m just getting idea of what you think is a fair price for a novella by me. (Note: 23,000 words is about one-quarter the length of an average novel.)

A. $0.99

B. $1.99

C. $2.99

D. More than $2.99

Question #2a  Would it make any difference if the cost was rounded up to an even number ($1, $2, etc.)?


Edited to add:


1. You don't need to create an account in Blogger to respond; you can leave an anonymous comment and sign your name (if you wish).


2. FWIW, the first picture is a pretty decent depiction of the first scene of the novella.  ;-)

Thank you!

I is a real writer!

Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded that yes, there’s more to this job than huddling behind my laptop and frequently grinding my teeth.  :-)

Today I received contracts for Best Bondage Erotica 2011, which will be reprinting “How the Little Mermaid Got Her Tail Back”; and for the German sale of Sex With Strangers, which includes the Sophie Mouette story “Behind the Masque” (more about that here).

On a related note, although both Fairy Tale Lust and Alison’s Wonderland have July 1 release dates, they are both available now! That’s right! You can click on those there links and buy not one but two anthologies chock full of sexy, steamy fairy tales, with stories written by myself and a group of fabulous authors I’m thrilled to be in the presence of!

Free! How can you pass this up?

Check out my friend Vera Nazarian's fantastic fantasy novel Dreams of the Compass Rose—free!

Folks, Charles de Lint loved this book. It's that good!

Check out the press release, which includes a slew of stellar reviews.

This is a great opportunity to read a wonderful novel absolutely free. Just be warned: You're going to be hooked and have to read everything else she's written!  :-)

You want to know more?

From an Amazon review for the anthology Playing With Fire:

“Andrea Dale, if you're reading this, I am dying to know more about Catriona and the devilish Jake. I know you must have more to tell.”

First of all, J. Kelly, I am reading this! Thank you!  :-)

Funny thing is, well after I wrote “Fanning the Flames,” it wandered back in my mind and I realized it was, in fact, the first chapter of a novel. So that novel is on my List of Novels to Write, and someday (maybe next year?), I’ll get to it.

Because you know Catriona’s ex-fiancé was into something illegal, and you know that she accidentally took some piece of incriminating evidence with her when she left him, and you know he’s going to come looking for her… Thank goodness she’s got Jake watching her back. And, for that matter, her backside.

Legen—wait for it—dary

On her blog, talking about Sweet Love: Erotica for Couples, Violet Blue said,

"The book includes legendary erotica heavy-hitters such as…Andrea Dale…"

The rest of the names on the list are, in my opinion, a bunch of legendary erotica heavy-hitters. Which is why there's a roaring in my ears and I can't really process it, because I can't seem to fathom how my name got into that list.

The Violet Blue said that about me.

I think I need to go lie down.

In case you were wondering...

Remember those aggressive goals for this month? Are you wondering how I’m doing?

• get an overdue story to the editor (who kindly allowed me a few grace days) – decided, reluctantly, to let this one go. Among other reasons, the story was insisting on becoming a novella. So now I have an erotic steampunk novella to write at some point!
• get everything done for Out of the Frying Pan and back to Teresa – DONE! We have a confab tomorrow to plan the next steps.
• do the edits/rewrites for Waking the Witch and get them to the editor who requested them – to be printed and mailed tomorrow!
• write a story for the Mountain Magic anthology – some brainstorming done; this is next on the To Do list
• write a story for the Crossed Genres anthology – after some consideration, decided to let this one go, too. A balance of research time vs potential payment…and in the end, novel work won out.
• prep “In Her Hands” for Kindle, etc. (if time) – in progress

The upshoot? I’m on track and on target. I’ve adjusted a few things here and there, but flexibility is part of the program.

Also? Loving Llyfr. File transfer between computers is so much faster—previously, I couldn’t use my laptop to open a file on Arianbach (main computer) and actually work on it. Now, happy joy.

Life-wise…not much to report. I worked all weekend, not being in the household that camped out this weekend, even though I’m friends with most of them. Ken won his rally (Yay, Ken!). I went to the LARA meeting and out to lunch with Christine (at Versailles, natch!). I made lunch dates with two friends for this week, and will be making a couple of writing dates as well.

Onwards! Or as Jason and Grant say, on to the next!

Adventures now and then

Have I mentioned Ken’s off on another adventure? Yes, he is! Three weeks on the bike, going all over the place. (If you want to follow his movements, he’s got a tracker on the bike; e-mail me privately for the link.)

He left Tuesday afternoon and hit Arkansas today, where he’s visiting his 96-year-old grandmother and his aunt. Tomorrow he heads up to Missouri, out of which he’ll be running a rally over the weekend. Then it’s off to Boston to touch base with a customer. By Tuesday he’ll be in upstate NY, where he’ll be helping my mom out for a week. (Best. Husband. EVER.) After that, he’ll shoot across to Utah, run another rally, then come home.

Of course, July is already filling up, trip-wise. We’ll be down in San Diego for a couple of days to attend CP Prize, because as Kingdom Chronicler I kinda hafta be there.  ;-)  But the really fun trip will come after that…

I’m taking a weekend-long OWN workshop on Mystery Structure (since I wasn’t able to take the week-long Mystery workshop in May), so we’re making a working vacation out of it! We’ll ride up, hopefully visiting my sister on the way, and visit friends in Portland as well. Ken’s arranging to do some training/work at the customer site there, and also plans to do his IBR talk at a couple of BMW dealers. And, of course, Powells. Which we’ll have to do early, so I can ship the books home, because it’s doubtful we’d be able to squeeze them all into the bike bags!

Then we have to get back to southern California, because we have tickets to Queensryche’s Cabaret show! Whoo!

As the end of June nears, I’ll plot out my work calendar for July, taking all that into account. I won’t be able to be as productive in July…but then again, I know I’ll be coming out of the workshop with a few new novel proposals and stories!

Energized and aggressive

Another week—and I’m energized and excited to hit the ground running!

I’m setting myself some aggressive goals for June, and trying a new way of keeping myself on track. When I was working on the latest CES assignment, which was a novella, I knew the deadline was a little tight because of various travel I had planned in June. Plus the client requested to see each 5000-word section as I finished it. So I set up a calendar, blocked out the days I wouldn’t get much, if any, writing done, and figured out how much I had to write on each of the other days to get the job done. I also noted what the total word count would be when I hit each day’s goal.

For some reason, this visual worked exceptionally well. Sure, I had to modify it when things changed, but that was easy enough, and kept me focused.

So I’ve done the same thing for June, noting all the projects I want to work on—and how many days I’m giving myself to work on each one. Saying “I’ll do X this week” is less effective for me than seeing “X on MTW, Y on ThF, and Z on SSu” blocked out on a calendar. Dunno why, but there you have it. Just the way my brain seems to work.

My overall goals for June—which, as I said, are aggressive—are…

• get an overdue story to the editor (who kindly allowed me a few grace days)
• get everything done for Out of the Frying Pan and back to Teresa
• do the edits/rewrites for Waking the Witch and get them to the editor who requested them
• write Chapter 3 of Seasoned With Danger and submit it to the first wave of publishers
• do a brief polish through What Beck’ning Ghost (because I wrote it 20 years ago [holy crap!] and I want to make sure nothing’s extremely dated in it), write a fresh proposal, and submit it to the first wave of publishers
• write a story for the Mountain Magic anthology
• write a story fort the Crossed Genres anthology
• write a story for Alison’s Bondage anthology
• write (or at least start) a story for Kristina’s Dream Lovers anthology
• pitch rose beads article to Renaissance Magazine (if time)
• prep “In Her Hands” for Kindle, etc. (if time)

Novels take precedence over short stories, although I’ve blocked out days for each story, in between novel work. I figure that’ll also give my brain time to recharge between each type of project.

So that’ll be two new novel proposals in the mail, along with the two already in progress, and four new stories.

I’m not sure if I’m ready to publicly talk about my bigger goal for the year… For now I’ll just say that it’s also aggressive, and novel-focused. It’s been too easy for me to use story deadlines as an excuse to put of working on this novel or that one. But that’s not where I need to focus to make my career goals.

I’ve got the big picture more firmly in mind now, and I’m breaking it down into smaller and smaller steps so that I can achieve it.

Now, back to that short story!

(Oh, and I'm so chuffed: the CES client loved the novella! Yay!)

Thank you, Romantic Times!

I just got word that Romantic Times has given Fairy Tale Lust a stellar 4.5 stars!

Also, my story "How the Little Mermaid Got Her Tail Back" (as Andrea Dale) is one of the stories name-checked in the review!

Congratulations to stupendous editor Kristina Wright (and thank you again for buying my story, Kristina)!

Exclamation points for everyone!

Llyfr madness

Or, new and old and new again…

I have a new laptop! World, meet Llyfr (Welsh for “book,” both because I write books on it and because it’s a black 13.3-in MacBook).

See, when I took over as Kingdom Chronicler, as shiny aluminum 17-in Apple laptop came with the job. As much as I coveted that laptop, it’s just too big and heavy for me to be schlepping around. It would be fine at home, but when I travel, especially lugging my laptop bag through airports…not so much. So Ken is going to use the 17-in for two years, and I’ve now been upgraded to the MacBook he’d been using, replacing my beloved Afalwen (“white apple,” pronounced Avalon). Afalwen was fine, but she was getting full (this one has at least 3x as much memory), and her wireless connection wasn’t quite up to par. Plus this one has the upgraded, clearer screen.

It took me a while to find a name for Llyfr (which could have been Llyfr du, for Black Book, but that had the downside of us exclaiming “Leefer DUUU!” at random intervals, not to mention the Little Black Book connotation), and I already miss the vinyl decal on the back of Afalwen. I’ve spent way too much time yesterday looking for one for this computer. At first I wanted a silver one, but now I’m thinking white, since the Apple on the cover is pretty white. I don’t want a full skin, because those cover the apple; I don’t want something trendy, no matter how much they delight me (the Snow White, the Iron Man, the Dharma logo, the Battlestar Galactica logo).

What decal do you think would be perfect for me and Llyfr? If you find one and I like it enough to buy it, you’ll win a prize!

~ ~ ~

In other news, we have a new door!

Well, an old door, but we live in an old house, so…

Briefly, for the uninitiated: We live in a 1911 Craftsman-style bungalow that we’re slowly fixing up. The bones are fine; most of what we’re doing is cosmetic. (Except for the fact that it’s sinking into the Oxnard silt on one side, thanks to the 2-story chimney, so we’re saving up money to get it properly jacked up, because that is not cheap. And eventually we’ll have to get the original knob-and-tube wiring replaced, because more electric sockets would be A Handy Thing. And some of the pipes are still pretty old. Hey, at least we don’t have to tear down walls!)

Anyway, all of the doors and door hardware in the house are original, except for the door between the media room and the kitchen, which was put in later and was a basic hollow-core door, whereas the rest of them are the five-panel type. When the Realtor was showing the house, she apparently pointed out this door to everyone, which got the owner so cranky that she went to the salvage place in Pasadena and bought the right door. Which we never put in, until last week, when Ken’s dad visited to help with some house projects. Ken even found the right doorknob in a bin of house stuff.

However, the paint is all peeling, so we have to take it down, strip it, and stain it (everything got painted white in the house, so stripping and staining will be a many-years’ project), and then we have to clean all the hardware (knob, strike plate, and hinges) to get the paint and dirt off of them. But the door is currently hung, and that’s what matters!

~ ~ ~

There’s much more I could write about, and hopefully eventually will, but I am crammed up tight against a couple of deadlines now (three external and one of my own stubborn making), and I’ll be taking Friday and Saturday off (Friday to go to the Cat House and thence on to Ridgecrest with Morgana and Lareej, where we will meet up with Brian; and Saturday for Kingdom Coronation. We’re not staying for Crown Tournament on Sunday, though.), so now I’m off to workity workity!

Sneezes, ponders habits

I came down with a cold a week ago—started feeling a little off last Thursday night, and was flattened on Friday, as was Ken. So I ended up taking a couple of unexpected days off, which resulted in me feeling alternately panicky about how behind I was getting, or maudlin because I felt like Lamey McLamerson for not getting things done. (Hey, I never said it was logical inside this brain!)

It reminded me of something Bob Mayer said in the workshop a few weekends ago—that we have to list our successes and achievements. Not the sales and awards, but the day-to-day accomplishments. I have questionable success with that because if there’s a gap, I feel—as I said above—lame and useless. So I also have to retrain my brain to not look at the gaps, but at the days of productivity and things crossed off lists, and feel the warmth of what I got done.

So I’m feeling pretty chuffed right now that I got about 800 words done on the CES story and got the next chunk off to the editor (this client likes to read things in 5K chunks), and scribbled some notes for OOTFP because I finally figured out how to make the transition to the next scene.

I also took Eostre to the vet, did the dishes, made lunch, paid a bill, filed a few things, and answered a bunch of Kingdom Chronicler e-mail. (Ken and I both went to the vet, actually, and he brought dinner home from Versailles because he had an errand in the Valley, and I’m now stinking out my cold with garlic, hah!)

I am not thinking about the swaths of e-mail still in my In Box, or the fact that I haven’t really had time to read Facebook for days (are you all still out there?), or the freelance jobs I still need to apply for, or the other parts of the house that need cleaning, or the Styx concert write-ups for Sarah, or the journal entries yet unwritten, or my website update, or…

::sticks fingers in ears::  Lalalalaladinosaur!

Tonight I shall sleep another Nyquil-drugged sleep of the damned, and then tomorrow I will write more. And get other stuff done. But definitely the writing. Ya’ll hold me to that, okay?

Fast Girls

I'm remiss in posting this… I've got a new story coming out soon in Fast Girls: Erotica for Women, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, and I'm once again thrilled to be in the company of such sexy, amazing, fantastic writers:

Temptation, Kayla Perrin
Waxing Eloquent, Donna George Storey
Five-Minute Porn Star, Jacqueline Applebee
Winter, Summer, Tristan Taormino
Playing the Market, Angela Caperton
Panther, Suzanne V. Slate
Communal, Saskia Walker
Fireworks, Lolita Lopez
Flash! Andrea Dale (hey, that's me!)
Waiting for Beethoven, Susie Hara
Confessions of a Kinky Shopaholic, Jennifer Peters
Let’s Dance, D. L. King
That Girl, Cherry Bomb
Oz, Isabelle Gray
Married Life, Charlotte Stein
Princess, Elizabeth Coldwell
Chasing Danger, Kristina Wright
Whore Complex, Rachel Kramer Bussel
Lessons, Slow and Painful, Tess Danesi
Speed Bumps, Tenille Brown

You can read more about Fast Girls: Erotica for Women at the Fast Girls blog, where I'll eventually be doing a guest post of some sort.

Another great tag line!

Fellow Oregon Coast Writers workshopper Mark D. West tagged me on his website:

"She has more pseudonyms than a room full of mobsters."

I love it! Thanks, Mark!

Hang on to your hats

Edited to add: Well, some minor things changed today's plans. Ken's headed up to Portland tomorrow. Yay, money! but Boo! missing the event, and no rally for us on Sunday. So there was some rearranging of today to accommodate everything that had to be done for that.

I think it’s gonna be one of those days… Not a bad day, just a full one. Which I like!

On my list: 

• at least 1.5K on the CES story – thankfully I have lots of notes so it should go fast – okay, 500 words. I can live with that.
• tweak and submit editing proposal
• update website
• apply for freelance editing jobs
• other writing business things
• pay bill/deposit check – DONE
• make Grimoire’s vet appt – pending because I’m waiting on some travel info
• make gyn appt – DONE
• make eye appt – DONE
• update blog about last weekend
• finish write-up for Sarah about last weekend – I worked on it, anyway
• type up the draft meeting minutes from last night’s Shire meeting – DONE
• maybe get the final issue of The Oak Leaf started – a little bit done
• make brownies for Darach Anniversary presentations – no longer nec, plus I discovered I had only one bag of chocolate chips!
• get out partially finished/beaded cotehardie for Darach Anniversary People’s Prize A&S Display and write up a few words about it – no longer nec
• put out everything Ken needs to take to Darach Anniversary – no longer nec
• get to bed early because I have to get up insanely early to get to my workshop in LA – define "early." It will be soon, and earlier than my normal, but not really early enough…
• which reminds me, call Tanya re: possible carpooling – DONE
• answer a bunch of e-mail – um…a little
• try not to listen to too much Gowan! but probably listen to the new Styx song a lot so I have it memorized for next week – hah! Did you really think I could stop listening? Foolish mortals.

So right now I’m bouncing between the meeting minutes and e-mail, with Facebook open for occasional swings through to answer mail there (FB is not a good place to e-mail me, BTW—this is way overdue stuff that I’m finally getting around to), and of course talking to Ken about this weekend and beyond.

Whee!

---

Currently Reading: The Fair Folk, Marvin Kaye

Lately Listened To: LOL! See above!

Recently Watched: Doctor Who, Lost

IPPY Finalists!

Edited to add: Holy smut, Batman! The anthologies tied for first place!  *\o/*


Wow! On the heels of having stories in several Lambda Literary Awards 2010 finalist books, I have stories in two IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Awards) finalist anthologies!

Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Cleis Press)

Sweet Love: Erotic Fantasies for Couples, edited by Violet Blue (Cleis Press)

Now, I don't presume to think my individual stories had a lot to do with the nominations—the editors of these amazing anthologies are really the ones who deserve all the credit for putting together such wonderful groups of stories. I'm just chuffed and humbled to be a part of them.

Like a Mask Removed is here!

Zowie! Bazinga, even!

Like a Mask Removed, a pair of erotic superhero anthologies from Circlet Press, is now available!

Teresa and I, as Sophie Mouette, have a story in Volume 2: Supervillains, called "Pow! Bash! Yes, Yes!" In the story, we explore what wearing the superheroine—and archvillainess—suits mean, and how exactly it is nobody can tell the difference between the "regular girl" and her alter ego.

Even more exciting: Circlet has chosen to run an excerpt from our story on their site as promo for the e-books! (Although it's not the steamiest part of the story, it's still probably NSFW, unless you have a really understanding boss.)

Like a Mask Removed is available from a slew of vendors in a range of e-formats, for your reading pleasure!

Geschlecht mit Fremden

Ooh! Just got word that Sex With Strangers, containing the Sophie Mouette story "Behind the Masque," has sold to Germany!


I did the above translation via Babelfish; I have no idea if that's what the anthology will be called in Germany. Or if the story will be "Hinter der Maske," for that matter :-)

Another weekend

Saturday

Blessed Beltane!

We’re hosting a party tonight for a friend celebrating her divorce being final. Not the smartest move on my part, since I’ve been feeling under the weather and have a mass of deadlines starting to crash around me. But I love my friends, and that means I just can’t help myself when it comes to doing nice things for them!

It’s potluck, but I always believe in making sure there’s a good variety of food already available, so here’s what we’ve got:

• sloppy joes in the slow cooker
• coleslaw (I’ve developed a great non-mayo recipe with white balsamic vinegar and a hint of wasabi)
• French bread with spiced oil for dipping
• wasabi almonds, regular almonds, and pistachios
• chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies (dough made, I’ll start popping them in soon)

Unfortunately, between that and cleaning the lower half of the house, I’m knackered and have a vague headache forming. Sigh. I just hope enough people show up!

Sunday

Aftermath…

Party was a success. A bit small, but everyone seemed to have fun, and that’s what’s important. I’m really glad we made the sloppy joe’s, because they were the only main dish, and the slow cooker was scraped clean (but we have a pile of buns left). The coleslaw also mostly got eaten, which was nice; the last time I brought it to something, it didn’t get as much attention. For my part, I discovered that it tasted fantastic on my sloppy joe!

The wasabi almonds were startling to people who popped them in their mouths without realizing what they were. Morgana’s expression was priceless…

I was pretty much dead all day today, though. Dammit. I dealt with some e-mail, didn’t quite finish The Oak Leaf (realized I had to go to the copy shop to have something scanned, but didn’t have the energy to actually go…), read for a bit, called my sister to wish her a happy birthday. Then, after dinner (burgers, made out of cow rather than turkey, because red meat is what I need in my current physical condition), I finally started to perk up, and ended up in the living room where I wrote 1K on the CES story and worked on an editing proposal while Ken napped.

We roused ourselves long enough to give the cats subcu fluids, and Ken crashed and I’m still working…which is probably not the best idea, given the hour. Someday I’ll learn to just stop scheduling anything before noon, and accept the fact that I work best between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.

Today is not that day, so I’m off… G’night!

Reading: Finalists for the LAMBDA Literary Awards

I'm delighted to announce that I have stories in not one, but two anthologies that are finalists in the LAMBDA awards! Both Lesbian Cowboys: Erotic Adventures (containing my story "Queens Up") and Where the Girls Are: Urban Lesbian Erotica (containing my story "Come to My Window") are nominated in the Lesbian Erotica category.
The award ceremony itself will take place in NYC at the end of this month, but before that, there will be West Coast reading at Skylight Books. I'm thrilled to have been asked to be a part of the reading. If you're in the area, please considering stopping by:
Monday, May 10 7:30 p.m.
Skylight Books 1818 N. Vermont Avenue Los Angeles, California 90027 Google Maps link
“The first Lambda Literary Awards were presented at a black-tie gala ceremony in 1989. Every year since then they have been awarded to the finest lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans literature available in the United States. The “Lammy” is the most prestigious, competitive, and comprehensive literary award offered specifically to LGBT authors. For more than two decades the Lambda Literary Awards has brought attention to and honored exceptional writing about queer lives across multiple genres published by large and small presses. If a book has a gold sticker saying ‘Winner of the Lambda Literary Award’ on its cover, you know it is both brilliantly written and a meaningful examination of the LGBTQ experience.”

On rejection

Giving up is not an option:

30 famous authors whose works were rejected (repeatedly, and sometimes rudely) by publishers

(Thanks to my friend and lovely author Pati Nagle for the link!)

Help Circlet Press and get lots of e-books!

[Additional note from Dayle: One of the e-books, Like a Mask Removed 2, contains the Sophie Mouette story "Pow! Bash! Yes, Yes!"]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cecilia Tan, (617) 290-9043

INDEPENDENT PRESS USING E-PUBLISHING TO SUPPORT PRINT EFFORTS

(CAMBRIDGE, MA) -- Circlet Press' online shopping cart may be down, but they are far from out.

Circlet's first printed book in over three years, Best Erotic Fantasy, is ready to be manufactured. Bookstores have ordered it and readers are clamoring for it. But cash flow is so slow, that paying the printer to fill the orders might take so long that bookstores interest could wane before they receive their orders.

Circlet is reaching out to readers for help by starting a group called the Circlet 100. They are seeking 100 readers who are interested in their brand of erotic science fiction and offering them a limited time CD-ROM packaging 20 of their ebooks, a retail value of $128, for only $50. It's a fundraiser, but it's not a "donation." It's an opportunity to make a one-time purchase that will make a huge difference in this small press's bottom line. 

Readers who want even more can also get the Deluxe version of the CD which includes not only all 20 ebook anthologies, but also seven single-author titles, among them: Faewolf, Alpha, Robotica, and Edge-Plays, as well as receive a special "Circlet 100" T-Shirt. Total Retail value, $187.73. The shipping is included.

It's not the first time Circlet has done a fund drive. Best Fantastic Erotica, printed and publishing in 2006, was funded with an "NPR" style underwriting campaign, where readers could buy a thank you or a message in the book, similar to the "buy a brick" campaigns for new buildings. Since then, the company has been publishing mostly in the ebook realm, building up a healthy library of electronic titles.

Founder and editorial director Cecilia Tan came up with the idea for the Circlet 100. "We are still committed to the printed book as a medium," she explains, "but it can be such a big hit financially to go to press. I believe there are enough readers out there, though, who want both ebooks and print books who will take us up on this amazing ebook sale offer and know that they are doing something good for the print side as well."

The fundraising effort can be tracked at Circlet.com where a real-time graph, provided by ChipIn.com, shows how close to the $5,000 goal the collections have reached. To see the progress or chip in yourself, visit Circlet Press.

For more information:
Cecilia Tan
(617) 290-9043
ctan.circletpress@gmail.com

How sweet it is

Another great review of The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica, this one from The New York Journal of Books! (My story is "Devouring Heart," and there are fantastic stories from many other wonderful writers.)

When it rains, it pours…

…and you know how much I love dancing in the rain!

So after I turned off the alarm this morning, I dozed off again (I hadn’t slept well), and as I came out of that doze, I started thinking about the various projects I’m working on.

I have a mystery short story due at the end of the month, and I think I finally have an actual idea for it, so I do want to get that off my plate. Then I’ve got requested revisions from editors for OOTFP and WtW, and I’m waiting to hear from Teresa on the former… And I thought about how I did a push to get a bunch of short stories done a while back, and now maybe I should do a novel push, and get both of those edits done, and then get proposal packages written and submitted (with the accompanying editor research) for What Beck’ning Ghost (an older novel I want to send out into the world again; it does need some minor tweaks, but nobody’s going to ask to see more unless I start submitting it) and Seasoned With Danger (a new novel, two chapters and proposal already written).

That seemed like a good plan. And you know what they say about plans, don’t you?

“And then [Robbie Burns] must have turned his attention to the other animal mentioned in that line of poetry. If you think back to it, ‘The best laid plans of mice and men…’ Exactly which mice plans was he really honing in here on? The best laid ones go aglae, some of the worse laid ones are okay? Some of them get through? He was fucking off his trolley.” (Eddie Izzard)

Because this is what was in my In Box this morning:

• an e-mail from Teresa answering the questions about OOTFP, which means that bumped up to the top of the queue (next to the short story)
• a Custom Erotica Source assignment for a novella (wooh!)
• a short story request (“Thank you for sending story A to anthology X. Submissions for anthology Z are thin, by the way, if you’re interested…”)
• an e-mail asking if I would read from my nominated titles at the Lammy (Lambda Literary Awards) Finalists reading at Skylight Books in Hollywood on May 10. I have stories in Lesbian Cowboys and Where the Girls Are, both nominated in the Lesbian Erotica category. How cool is that?! Of course I said yes.  :-)  I hope I get to read “Queens Up” from Lesbian Cowboys, because it’s so much fun to read aloud. I’ll send an official announcement about that (time, address, etc.) once I know more.

So now the top priorities are (not necessarily in order)…

• the mystery story
• OOTFP
• researching/sketching out the CES assignment
• writing the CES assignment
• WtW (once OOTFP is back to Teresa)

You know what, though? I’m totally jazzed. Bring it on!

Sexy as sin

Although technically I haven’t “sold” a story until the check is in my hot little hands (or the payment is in my hot little Paypal account), I usually can’t contain myself by the time the countersigned contract arrives. So now I shall burble: I sold two stories to Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Orgasmic: Erotica for Women!

Look at that cover. Isn’t she sexy as sin?

Both of my stories were essentially written by request. I’d submitted one story, and then Rachel put out a call that she needed a pregnancy story and an anal story. Oddly enough, I already had the first couple pages of a pregnancy story (yes, I know, me?! That’s why they call it “making stuff up.”), so I finished it and fired it off to her, and then wrote an anal story, and she accepted both of those and rejected the initial story that I’d sent.

This amuses me to no end.

Anyway, the book is available for pre-order at many fine establishments (Amazon, Powells, B&N, etc.) and is due out August 1, 2010.

(Good Lord and Lady, but promo takes time. I’m posting this here, adding the stories to my website, downloading the cover, uploading the cover to Flickr, adding the cover to iPhoto, adding the cover to Facebook, adding the cover here, and e-mailing my web goddess to ask her to add a new bibliography section for my Kendra Wayne pseudonym. Phew! And to think I have writing to do, too!)

The long dark tea-time of the soul

Went to the LARA meeting today, where I saw many wonderful people and managed to win 3 books for $1. (A Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliasotti and two Jenny Crusie’s I don’t think I have. If I do, I’ll pass the extra copies along. Actually, I think I haven’t even read one of them. A travesty!)

Afterwards, Christine and I went out for lunch at Versailles, and I am now oozing garlic from every pore. Alas, poor vampires.

And now? Well, I should get some work done. And convince Ken to stop working in the garage so we can go grocery shopping. We’re out of milk, and half-and-half tastes weird in tea to me. But (a) he’s working in the garage, which means I might be able to park my car in there this year,* and (b) he already did put together the slow cooker meal for tonight (chicken thighs and canned artichoke hearts and a few other things. New recipe. Smells good so far).

Okey-doke. Onwards!

*To save money, he cancelled his storage shed and put all his work stuff in the garage before the garage was cleaned out to the extent that his work stuff—which involves pieces of room-sized machines—would fit along with my car and two motorcycles and a bunch of woodworking equipment.

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Currently Reading: The Little Sister, Sarah Waters

Lately Listened To: The Best of Both Worlds (Fish disc), Marillion

Recently Watched: Doctor Who