Released!

July has been a stellar month so far, because I’m so very proud of my erotic fairy tales in Alison’s Wonderland and Fairy Tale Lust. But the month’s not over yet, and I have two more releases to announce!

“Lost and Found” appears in Lesbian Lust: Erotic Stories, edited by Sacchi Green. We’ve all had vacations that go bad, especially when our luggage doesn’t arrive. For Lara, it was a working vacation in Hawaii, but she planned to sneak out at least once to take surfing lessons from a sloe-eyed, sultry native. Kinda hard to do that without a suit. Like all my stories, though, this does have a happy ending…

Here’s the full TOC:

The Girl with the Bettie Page Bangs, Sommer Marsden

Reunion at St. Mary’s, Catherine Lundoff

A Midwinter Night’s Dream, Fran Walker

Swollen, Rachel Kramer Bussel

Camshaft Cutie, Crystal Barela

August Crazies, Miel Rose

Lovers’ Moon, Ren Peters

The Office Grind, R. G. Emanuelle

Not Afraid to Get Her Hands Dirty, Teresa Noelle Roberts

Never Too Old, DeJay

Lost and Found, Andrea Dale

Canvas, Kenzie Mayer

The Angel Connection, CB Potts

A Story About Sarah, Cheyenne Blue

The Weekend, Delilah Devlin

Love and Devotion, Jove Belle

Are You Gonna Be My Girl?, Jade Melisande

Danger, Sacchi Green

Not due out ‘til next month, but available early (yay) is Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Orgasmic: Erotic Stories for Women. This one has two stories of mine, actually, both requested by Rachel (she was looking for specific themes, and I can’t resist a challenge!): “All She Wanted” as Andrea Dale and “Paying It Forward” by Kendra Wayne.

Here’s this one’s TOC:

The Waiting Game, Elizabeth Coldwell

What’s in a Name?, Jacqueline Applebee

Chemistry, Velvet Moore

The Chair, Lolita Lopez

Fixing the Pipes, Susie Hara

Share, Dusty Horn

Hurdles, Rowan Elizabeth

Seeing Stars, Louisa Harte

Old Faithful, Sylvia Lowry

Paying It Forward, Kendra Wayne

The Big O, Donna George Storey

Moon Tantra, Teresa Noelle Roberts

Feet on the Dashboard, Rachel Green

Frosting First, Lana Fox

All She Wanted, Andrea Dale

Making Shapes, Lily Harlem

Rapture, Angela Caperton

Belted, Rachel Kramer Bussel

Rise and Shine, Heidi Champa

Taking the Reins, Vanessa Vaughn

First Date with the Dom, Noelle Keely

Animal Inside, Neve Black

The London O, Justine Elyot

Fight, Charlotte Stein

Switch, Jade Melisande

Too yummy for words, both of them!

Finally, this isn’t a new release, but a new format: The above-mentioned Alison’s Wonderland is available at Audible as an audio version! Even better, it's on sale right now! Don’t have time to read these exotic and erotic fairy stories in print? Get the audio version and enjoy them while you’re driving (well, that might not be safe, actually!) or cleaning the house (guaranteed your goal will change to dirty!) or working out (they say it’s good exercise, you know!), or…

Enjoy!

Sales! Two of 'em!

Even though they’re still pending publisher approval, amazing editor Violet Blue says we can announce sales to Sweet Confessions: Erotic Fantasies for Couples, so here I go!

“New Day, New Life” by Andrea Dale and “Sacred Places” by Sophie Mouette (Teresa and I) will both appear in the anthology!

*\o/*

Thank you, Violet!

(This totally makes up for the four rejections I received whilst on vacation.)

Now, back to catching up on the e-mail, filing, etc., that piled up while I was away, so I can get back to writing! (Yes, I’ll post about the vacation and the workshop(s) and visiting friends and everything very soon.)

Heads are spinning, ideas are bouncing

Another workshop under my belt, this one on Mystery Structure. I have a better grounding of what each subgenre of crime fiction entails, and realized that one of my cross-genre novels (which I’m marketing in romance and fantasy) could be marketed as a paranormal mystery. Coolness! And, even better, we got a bonus workshop on the rapid changes in the industry and the numbers involved in epublishing. My head is spinning and ideas are bouncing around like popcorn kittens. (Popcorn kitten brain was something of a theme this weekend!)

To that end, I’m going to get “In Her Hands,” a romantic erotic novella, up in short order, and I’ll be setting a schedule to get a number of other stories available online. So those of you who haven’t been able to get your hands (hee!) on all of the anthologies that I’m in will be able to read more of my work!

Oh my goodness. So many ideas, so many projects, so many wonderful stories to write. I get so jazzed here—it’s all about filling the well, and I always leave brimming, even spilling over. I need to find the elusive trick of how to keep this enthusiasm alive at home, how to fire it up again when it fades.

Plus the people. The amazing, smart, talented, funny, creative writers here. Mystery Structure wasn’t a hands-on writing workshop, so we had time to eat together and take walks and laugh and share and brainstorm ways to support each other. (I’m going to be bartering proofreading/copy editing for cover design, for example.) I wish I could pack them all up in my bike bag and bring them home with me!

Of course, I have the October trip (New Technology Workshop—an extension, really, of what we talked about this weekend—plus a probable Portland book signing) to look forward to.

I have so much to write about here—our whole vacation, really!—but I have an hour ‘til Ken gets here and I really need to work on “In a Handbasket,” a funny, sexy story for a paranormal romantic erotica anthology. More soon!

Fairy glitter and gold

As part of the excitement for the magical Fairy Tale Lust anthology, I was interviewed about my favorite fairy tale, why I chose to write about the Little Mermaid, my writing process, and much more! Check it out!

A dream here, a dash there

So last night I had a stress dream about CP Prize: I showed up hideously late (like, 1 p.m.).

Then I had semi-stressy/mostly weird dreams about the upcoming OWN workshop.

Then I dreamt about my family/upstate NY, not stressy, but weird because I was explaining the geography of Lake Champlain and Valcour Island to someone who should’ve known better, and then I woke up sad because my dad had been alive and healthy in the dream. Although, in hindsight, that’s how I’m happier remembering him.

Now I’m dashing about trying to get a million last-minute things done before we leave for San Diego. Ken, being a god among men, is mending my leine. (Great job, Dayle, remembering your leine needed mending when you went to pack it, as opposed to, oh, three days ago.) On the way down we’re stopping at the garment district to buy the awesome fabric we found for our antique Morris chair (we brought a swatch home yesterday to hold it up to the living room curtain fabric) and somewhere so Ken can buy a GPS. Once we’re in the hotel, I have to work on a soon-due short story (it’s funny! it’s sexy! it’s paranormal!) and read more Agatha Christie and PD James for the upcoming workshop.

Aieeee. Okay, time to resume dashing about!

Welcome to the grand illusion!

I said I was going to talk about this month’s writing goals, didn’t I? And here it is, already the 7^th. (Also known as the 33^rd anniversary of the release of one of Styx’s best-known and best-loved albums, The Grand Illusion. But I digress.)

First, last month:

• 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! Of course, then she got it back to me, and I did more work on it, and we have another confab in an hour…
• do the edits/rewrites for Waking the Witch and get them to the editor who requested them – DONE!
• write Chapter 3 of Seasoned With Danger and submit it to the first wave of publishers – Nope. Never got to this. It’s now scheduled for the end of this month.
• 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 – Polish done. Proposal written and sent to a couple reviewers, who sent back the exact feedback I needed, so now I have to rewrite it and get the package out to editors.
• write a story for the Mountain Magic anthology – Alas, no go on this one. Something had to give, and I needed to focus on novels.
• 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.
• write a story for Alison’s Bondage anthology – In progress.
• write (or at least start) a story for Kristina’s Dream Lovers anthology – In progress.
• pitch rose beads article to Renaissance Magazine (if time) – Not yet.
• prep “In Her Hands” for Kindle, etc. (if time) – I decided on a cover photograph (with help from some folks), and the file itself should be good to go. I have to design the cover, sign up at Amazon as a publisher, etc.

As I mentioned, we’re doing a fair amount of traveling this month, so my goals are not quite as crazy:

• keep working on Out of the Frying Pan revisions
• finish “’Golf’ Spelled Backwards” for Alison’s bondage anthology (this week)
• finish story for Dream Lover anthology (this week)
• revise What Beck’ning Ghost synopsis (ideally this week)
• finish market list for What Beck’ning Ghost and get the proposal circulating
• write Chapter 3 of Seasoned With Danger and do market research (to mail in Aug)
• write story for Lesbian Cops anthology
• write story for Indecent anthology

I know I’m not going to have time to work on the “In Her Hands” cover or the rose beads article pitch, so they’re officially bumped to August.

Okay, back to work with me!

An embarrassment of reading riches

I have been a reading fiend lately, in large part because I have a list of books to read for the upcoming Mystery Structure Workshop. So far, I’ve read… 

• The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
• The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
• Hark!, Ed McBain
• Black Echo, Michael Connelly
• “The Simple Art of Murder,” Raymond Chandler
• The Moving Finger, Agatha Christie
• The Guards, Ken Bruen (on the “if you have time” list)

 …and I still have to read… 

• A Caribbean Mystery, Agatha Christie (because the assignment was to read a Miss Marple novel, and Miss Marple didn’t show up ‘til the end of The Moving Finger, so I feel like I should read another one)
• Talking About Detective Fiction, PD James
• Tunnel Vision, Sara Paretsky (on the “if you have time” list)
• Death Du Jour, Kathy Reichs (on the “if you have time” list)

 …thankfully I’d already read…

•  A Dangerous Road, Kris Nelscott (although I wish I had time to re-read it)

 …but I’m not going to get to… 

• L.A. Requiem, Robert Crais (because I didn’t realize a different library branch had it, and I don’t have time to wait for the transfer)

 …meanwhile, I’m chomping at the bit to read several other books that are in my hot little hands, but I just don’t have time for yet…

• Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay (I usually buy and read his books the millisecond they come out, so argh argh argh!)
• Arcadia Falls, Carol Goodman (I had it on hold at the library, but it’s a 14-day checkout, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to read it before I left for the workshop. So I asked if I could be put next on the list, and the lovely man checking me out [er, checking my books out for me] said nobody else was on the list, so he let me have an extended checkout, sssshhhh, don’t tell anybody, and I’ll hammer through it once I get home because Carol Goodman’s books are like crack to me and what I really want is to curl up with it and have someone bring me food and not bother me until I’m done.)

Oh, and I also have four other books on hold at the library. And about 200 books on my To Read bookcase. And I know I’ll be going to Powells while I’m in Portland (and then shipping the books home, because they won’t fit on the bike).

I’m comfortable in the knowledge that I won’t die for a very, very long time, because I have so many books left to read.  :-)

My work in a college textbook!

Somehow I missed this the first time it came ‘round (February), and then another writer/friend blogged about it and I tagged it to follow up (June), and now I’m getting around to actually posting the news…

The anthology Frenzy: 60 Stories of Sudden Sex, containing my story “The Heist,” was chosen as a textbook for a college class! Alison Tyler, the editor, posts about it here. Apparently it’s being used at Binghamton University, which is part of the SUNY system (as is Plattsburgh State, where I graduated). Alas, I don’t know what course it’s for…I’m dying to find out!

And I wonder what the students think of my double-crossing bank robbers?  :-)

Braced for the insane fun

Ken and I just spent a few minutes going over calendars and plotting and planning for the busy month ahead. We’ll be away from home for about 13 days total, and will have company for 2 days. Add in packing, unpacking, cleaning, and other projects (curtains for the kitchen, trip to the garment district, new heraldic tabard [that’s really Ken’s project, though], putting my seat back on the bike [also Ken’s project, obviously]), and it’s going to be…fun!

So with all that in mind, I’ve also been putting together my writing calendar for the month. It won’t be quite as aggressive as last month, obviously, although I’m going to a 4-day Mystery Structure Workshop in Oregon that will have me writing like a fiend.

Let’s see. Next weekend is CP Prize, which is down in San Diego. We’re heading down the day before (because we are Very Not Morning People). Not sure if we’ll leave early enough to do anything down there, though. And I can always take the laptop and work in the hotel room Friday night. We’ll get home late Saturday night.

Then, on Monday, we hop on the bike and start heading to Oregon. We’ll stay one night with my sister in Monterey, and arrive in Portland sometime late-ish on Wednesday, with plans to stay with our friends Lev and Gayle on Wednesday and Thursday nights. I’m trying to arrange a joint reading/signing up there with fabulous writer Shanna Germain, but I’m hampered by the distance, unfamiliarity with all the bookshops up there (Lev and Shanna have given me some ideas), and lack of time.

Friday I head off to Lincoln City; the workshop starts that night. Ken is planning to give his BMW talk in Portland and Seattle over the weekend, after working at his client up there on Thursday and Friday. My workshop ends on Monday, and Ken will pick me up in Lincoln City and we’ll start heading south, staying again at my sister’s on Tuesday night.

We’ll get home Wednesday evening and then Thursday head down to Anaheim for Queensrÿche’s Cabaret show, which I am anticipating with an unholy glee. Then a day off to recover, then maybe Lyondemere Anniversary (right now we’re thinking not, because of work and everything, but it’s on the calendar just in case), and then my darling Meglet visits for two days.

Only then do we have a few days “off,” which of course are “Ack! So much work to do!” days. Along with a  hair appt and a dentist appt. The final Saturday of the month is our local Shire’s Pirate Tournament, hurrah! but of course the official premiere of Hard Miles 2, the DVD about the 2009 Iron Butt Rally, is that night in Santa Ana, so we’ll have to leave early, throw on bike gear, and dash down there. Because Ken’s in that DVD, don’tcha know!

Thankfully, August will be a bit quieter. Two Styx shows, including a trip up to Saratoga for my 100^th show (!!!!  *\o/*  !!!!) and a visit from Sara R (she’s going to teach me how to make origami boxes, and we’re going to watch The Breakfast Club, and and and…!).

Other than that, Ken may run a rally or two, and Crown Tournament is in there, too, but it’s not that far away. So August will be back to an aggressive writing schedule.

I’ll ramble about July’s goals later, because now I have to post this and go dig around the sewing room for a few things! and then get back to work.  :-)

What are your plans for the weekend, and the coming month?

Poll results revealed, with commentary and prizes!

The results of my little poll are in, and they’re…as clear as mud.  O.o  At least on the cover side of things.

8 people preferred Photo A and 10 preferred Photo B, and 1 person said neither sucked. 2 people for each A and B would prefer the photo with modifications.

I appreciate that comment, but…wow. I have no Photoshop skills, and a limited amount of time, especially when it comes to putting a bunch of my work up for sale. (I mean, one cover, sure, but 10? 20? Obviously I shouldn’t have divorced the photographer…)  ;-)

I confess I was surprised that so many folks preferred Photo B, because it’s what I hear most people complain about—the clichéd, headless torso that says nothing about the book. Then again, the people I most hear complain about that are other writers…and yet 6 out of 12 writers who took the poll chose it. (5 chose A. 1, as mentioned above, chose neither.)

I think Photo A is incredibly sexy. (And yet I hate the movie Ghost. Go figure.) Plus it looks like she’s sculpting the very body part the main character happens to be sculpting in the award-winning excerpt that opens the novella. But I’m not the buyer of this novel…yet almost half of you liked it.

I have no idea what I’m going to do there. Except maybe give up sleep in order to have the time to learn Photoshop.  O.o

~~~

As for cost, most folks said $2.99 or above, which is a good thing, because after I posted the poll I learned that Amazon gives the better royalty rate at $2.99 or above. If the vast majority had voted for less, I’d’ve had a dilemma on my hands, so well done, ya’ll.  ;-)

~~~

I’ll revisit this project after I get past a few other deadlines. The most important thing is, a humongous thank you to everyone who took the time to comment! You all rock like major rocking things!

To properly thank you, I used a random number generator to pick three comment numbers, and those three people each win a prize! Ghislaine, Tanya, and Morgaine: you each get to pick a promo postcard autographed by me. Your choices are Cat Scratch Fever (UK cover, which of course I can’t find a picture of online), Where the Girls Are, or Fast Girls. Ghislaine, please send me your mailing address, too. Morgaine, will you be at CP Prize or would you like me to mail your card? Tanya, when are we getting together to write again?!)

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!