The Long Weekend

On the Home Front:

We had a big storm last night that knocked out the electricity for hours so I went to be by nine! My daughters stayed up reading by candlelight.

We don’t have elaborate plans for the weekend, just a nice BBQ and some kind of fruity red, white and blue cake. I would like to try and get a family portrait taken via our camera and tripod, always a fun time.

On the Reading Front:

I have a new book to read! I got it as an ebook so if the electricity goes out I can read it on my backlit PDA!

I also got :
Lisa Kleypas is a new author for me. I picked up her Wallflower series last week and just devoured it. Her hero’s have a HUGE FLAW.

On the writing front:

I joined Holly Lisle’s Write a Book with Me (http://hollylisle.com/writingdiary2/index.php/write-a-book-with-me/)
for motivation and because I have found of her writing books helpful. I’m on a quest to move from novella length to novel length, though neither of the project I’m working on right now are planned as novels. I’m planning ahead.

One thing I’ve noticed in much of my writing–unlike Lisa Kleypas– it is my heroines who have a HUGE FLAW.

In Galactic Game, Gema is part Krzsch, a non-Terran lizard humanoid race, much despised by the lab created, genetically enhanced PureGen humans that inhabit the space system she is living in. Her lover is an exotic Puregen. Even worse, he is royalty on his homeworld.

In Del Fantasma:Demonade, Trudy is a psyvamp. She doesn’t deliberately kill, not now that she is more mature and experienced in her feeding, but her past is full of death.

In my current release: Del Fantasma: Tiger Juice, Letha has psychic abilities and lived under the suspicion of being demon possessed in
the religious community where she was raised.

Summer

It is chilly here in the High Desert. My flowers are doing okay, the extra rain has been nice, but–BRRR.

Yesterday was the last day of school for my kids. We don’t have too many plans for the summer. Their usual summer activity is summer marching band, but that program got cut this year. My twins are really at loose ends since they are too young to get a summer job. My oldest got a full scholarship to a two week debate camp at UW! She also is job hunting.

As far as my summer, there is the garden. We’ll take day trips to lakes and other outdoor recreation sites. Hopefully we’ll get to Fort Collins for school clothes in August. Not a real exciting summer, I know, but we can’t atke off work this year. Just one of those economic things.

My writing is planned for the summer: A second Shadow Clans vampire romance for Red Rose Publishing, titled Vampire of Solace Creek, set in rural Montana. Then edit and finish stories in my five part futuristic series, Sons of the Protectorate, also with Red Rose. And I have a WIP for another Del Fantasma for Aspen Mountain Press.

I’m not starting anything really new, though occasionally I will take breaks from all my WIPs and fiddle with a new idea.

I am looking forward to trips to the lake. I love my old Alphasmart!

Released: Del Fantasma: Tiger Juice

The Del Fantasma series from Aspen Mountain Press is a multi-author series centered around a paranormal bar, the Del Fantasma. Cody, the vampire owner and chief bartender of the Del Fantasma has quite a way with matchmaking beverages.

Widow Letha Reicher flees a repressive religious community on the northern
prairies, where she lived under the suspicion of having demon blood.

Jagger comes from a tight knit clan of white tiger shifters, but he
left the family entertainment business to run a contracting business.

When the Storm of the Century approaches Vista Loma, Cody once again works his magic.

*Buy Link and Excerpt*

Melisse Aires
*Website*

*Blog*

Romance Diva Niki Green–New release!

The Real Deal

I got my COVER!

How quickly life can change!

My sister’s husband passed away very unexpectedly last week so I was in Montana for the funeral. He was a young guy, only 47, and he and my sis were high school sweethearts. They have three kids (one still in high school) and one grandbaby.

It was so different than my parents’ funerals. Most of their friends were old and feeble, many couldn’t make it. Being in their seventies they took care of many things prior to their deaths, but Al’s passing was completely unexpected. He died right in the middle of a busy, active, full life. His funeral was enormous, and the reception afterward went into the wee hours. So many will miss him.

My heart goes out to my sis. She is a strong woman and I know she will be all right. Her kids are neat and are there for her.

There’s no time to adjust. Bills need to be paid, jobs need to be worked, a million phone calls need to be placed. Sis is already back at work, I’m home and will be at work tomorrow, edits for my shifter story are waiting for me, the kids are back at school…on to a new kind of normal.

Something to do in May with Gemma Halliday!

I’m planning to do this workshop since she is going to cover several things I know too little about.

Online workshop: New Author’s Survival Guide

A practical guide for the newly published. Whether you’ve just signed your first print contract with New York, are dipping your toes into the arena of e-publishing for the first time, or preparing in advance for when that first call comes, this course will take you on a step-by-step journey from contract to bookshelves with everything a new author needs to know to survive in the competitive marketplace. In this one week online course, we’ll go over:

- Contracts – what to avoid and what to fight for
- Rights – what to do with your TV/Film, Foreign, Electronic, and Audio rights
- Editor/agent relations – who do you turn to, how often, what makes you vigilant and what makes you a pest
- Revisions and Galleys – what to expect, what to watch for
- Promotion – how to tailor a promo campaign for you, make the most of your promo dollars, and getting your publisher behind your book
- Cover art/blurbs – your input and options
- Cover quotes – how to get them, which ones are most effective
- Contact info for reviewers, vendors, booksellers

May 4th – May 11th Cost $20
For more information or to register for class, please go to:
http://www.gemmahalliday.com/classes/

Instructor Bio:
Gemma Halliday is the author of the High Heels Mysteries, as well as this fall’s upcoming Hollywood Headlines romantic mystery series. Gemma’s books have won a multitude of awards, including a Golden Heart, a National Reader’s Choice award and two RITA nominations. She’s sold foreign rights for two of her novels, and optioned television rights for her debut book, SPYING IN HIGH HEELS.

Current Reads

I haven’t posted about what I’m reading for awhile, so here’s what I have.

I read most category romances or Harlequin pubbed books on my Palm. It is so handy for work since it fits into my purse. I can read anything I want–even non-work safe racy covers! Or hymnals. I also go to the library which is FREE! So when I get something there I really wanted to read I feel pretty smug.

Silhouette Desire is having one of their free writers’ pitch contests. I’ve read this line for years but wanted to get current with it. I’m not sure I’ll even attempt the pitch because me? write a 55k contemporary by sometime in June??? Probably not going to happen. Though I do have this idea…

Then, for pleasure(not that improving the writing isn’t a pleasure!)

I love the Virgin River Series!

I heart Desire

While waiting for the next Black Dagger Book:

Excerpt Monday: pg 17 Del Fantasma: Tiger Juice

 

The Del Fantasma stories are centered around a bar and restaurant on the Southern California beach, the Del Fantasma. Cody the owner, chief bartender and matchmaker, is a vampire. Most of his patrons are more than human. Cody’s special drinks have magical power…

Del Fantasma: Tiger Juice
by
Becca Sheridan-Furrow

Widow Letha flees a repressive religious community on the northern prairies, where she lived under the suspicion of having demon blood.

 Her journey ends in Vista Loma, CA, at the Del Fantasma. Perhaps working for vampire Cody in a paranormal friendly bar will give her some answers about her psychic abilities.

 

Jagger comes from a tight knit clan of white tiger shifters, but he left the family entertainment business to run a contracting business. He hangs out at his friend Cody’s bar.

When the Storm of the Century approaches Vista Loma, Cody works his magic.

Excerpt

BACK GROUND: Letha sleeps in her truck because she has no money for an apartment. Cody finds out and has her stay in his office at the Del Fantasma.
(unedited excerpt)

    A loud banging woke Letha from a deep sleep. She looked around, disoriented and saw the clock on the wall. Six am. It was dark for six am.

    Another bang. She leaped off the couch and ran into the bar.
Thunder and lightening crashed and the door of the Del Fantasma burst open.

    A man, nude, stood in the doorway as lightening blazed, outlining a tall lithe form and pale silvery hair. Then, in the man’s place stood a tiger, white with dark strips, enormous.
     Letha screamed and whirled around, and tore off for the office.
There as a soft thud behind her, then a paw, white, with long claws, fell heavy on her shoulder, and she fell to the floor. The paw gently rolled her over as if she weighed nothing.
The white tiger with sky blue eyes stood over her, one paw still on her shoulder. Then the shape blurred, and a man crouched over her.
 
    Jagger Kirillov.
     “Don’t. Ever. Run. From. A. Tiger.” His voice was harsh.

    She tried to catch her breath. “A-all right.” She couldn’t look away from his sky blue eyes. The heat of his naked flesh, held just inches from her thin knit, burned. In fact, as she took a deep breath, the tips of her breasts grazed his chest.

    He gave a sound something between a growl and a purr that resonated all the way through her, even between her legs. Then his lips pressed against hers, hard and demanding.
     She gasped in a mix of shock and delight, and his tongue plunged in, while at the same time he lowered his hard hot body on top of her own. She could feel the hard length of his erection pressing against her. Wildness flared inside her and she threw her arms around his neck giving back the kiss with passion she didn’t even know she had, sucking his tongue, while his arms pulled her tighter. 

*Website* 

Romance Divas Excerpt Mondays:
Sue’s Random Ramblings

Tripping Along the Stumbling Blocks of Writing

Maureen McCarrie

Vivienne Westlake

Jeannie Lin

Kinsey W. Holley

Kirsten Saell

Mel

Ella Drake

Evie Byrne

Kate Willoughby

Eden Bradley

Gina Ardito

RF Long

Bria Morelli

Stephanie Adkins

Jamie Babette

Amber Gilchrist<

Writing Spectacle

Rose London

Annie Nicholas

My New Toy!

I have a new toy!
This is a Palm Tungsten E. I bought it on ebay, really cheap, around $40 including shipping, and it has a 30 day warranty. There are more just like it from the same seller if anyone out there is looking at cheap ebook reading devices.

I’ve had very good experiences with used electronics from ebay. My Alphasmart and my other Palm were both barely used and purchased very cheap on ebay.

Previously I read on a Palm Z22. The Tungsten E -TE- has a larger screen, about half an inch wider and longer that the Z22. It also has a sd card slot, an mp3 player and the battery is replaceable for about $25–all upgrades from the Z22.

I added a 2g sd card (sale price $22) and currently have 75 books and 4 albums loaded–and I still have lots of memory. I might fiddle with loading a video, and I plan to load pictures just for fun. I’m not a big game player but there is plenty of room for games.

The TE does go through the battery charge faster and needs to be recharged every night, while I could recharge the Z22 every two to three days. I may upgrade the battery, plus having a back up battery is not a bad idea.

The TE has more word processing functions than the Z22 and I plan to explore those in the next week, also.

I uploaded Mobipocket( which is free) as my ereader but the TE will read adobe pdf’s also.

I suspect there is away to upload blog and news feeds and eventually I’ll look into that since there is plenty of space in memory for daily feeds.

If you are looking for an e book reader but don’t want to pay the price for a Kindle or Sony, you might want to consider one of these. Plus it has the normal PDA data functions for phone numbers, lists, notes etc.