Mean to books
I just bought a stack of paperbacks at the bookstore the other day. Even though I have a Sony e-Reader (and love it), I still make a ton of purchases in person. There’s just something about being able to pick up and hold a real book.
Anyhow, I’ve been slowly digging myself through my new purchases. I’ve been reading HUNTING GROUND by Patricia Briggs for the past few days. The cover is lovely – purple with some shiny stuff on it, and a painting by Dan Dos Santos (who can do no wrong).
Three days in:
– Multiple pages are dog-eared & bent
– The spine is cracked in 3 diff places
– The entire spine has a roll to it
– The book cover is bent and sticks up
My husband cannot believe I am so cruel to my books, especially since I write them. Me, I just think it’s a sign of a well-loved book. Some of my favorite ones have been read and abused so many times they are held together by duct-tape.
That’s when you know it’s a good read. 
Nerd Superbowl!!!!!
New season of Survivor tonight!
OMG!
So EXCITED!!!!!!!!!11!!!!1! Who’s watching???
Cover Art
(Well, not really)
Meljean Brook has done a revenge post on my cover art over at The Odd Shots.
*shakes fist*
(It’s pretty brilliant, no?)
I am heading to the bookstore tonight with the full intention of having a bookstore accident. I am planning on doing at least $100 in damage and I won’t be satisfied otherwise!
Anyone have anything exciting on their to-buy list at the moment?
It’s all fun and games until someone tosses their cookies at the bar
I am excited to announce the arrival of…
(tadaa!)
Yes, a group blog with a heavy romance slant, and some urban fantasy tossed into the mix. I’ll be blogging with Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, Nalini Singh, and Patrice Michelle. We’ll be giving away goodies, discussing our favorite drinks, chatting about publishing, and other things. No scheduled topics, no srs bzns, and just generally a lot of fun.
I hope everyone stops by! This week, Ilona Andrews is giving away a copy of the anthology MUST LOVE HELLHOUNDS.
Where I’ve been
So I’ve kind of fallen off the planet. Again. I have excuses, though! There was not one, not two, but three major projects at the dayjob. And then galleys. And I’ve been feeling buried ever since RWA Nationals.
And even though two of my projects have wrapped at work, I’m *still* feeling buried. So I’m going to give myself a bit of an internet vacation. No twitter, no message-boards, no blogging. For two or three weeks. And maybe when I come back, I will be feeling it and ready to go again!
In the meantime, go read the new Borders: True Romance blog. It stars two of my very favorite people in Romance blogging – Dear Author Jane and Smart Bitch Sarah.
Common insulting things said to (or about) Romance Writers
Once people hear that you are a romance writer, it seems that no question is off limits. Seriously. The following is a list of things that I have been asked either at work, by people I know, or just in general. So instead of constantly having to answer over and over again, I am considering making a FAQ.
1) Romances must be the easiest things to write, huh? I can see why you’d do it.
Actually, no. They’re not ‘the easiest things to write’. The easiest things to write are grocery lists. Romance novels have very specific plots and structures. They are also full length novels, require just as much outlining, thought, subplots, and character development as any other genre of fiction.
2) Your husband is a lucky guy! I bet you guys have the craziest sex life.
My husband has no clue what I write. We do not ‘try out’ stuff for me to put into my books, any more than JRR Tolkien ‘tried out’ being a hobbit by walking around on his knees, or that guy that wrote the Dexter novels has ‘tried out’ killing people to see what it’s like. It’s called an imagination.
3) Your family must be so embarrassed that you write smut!
Actually, they’re really, really proud. I keep having to send them more bookmarks because they keep giving them away. Smut is “BUSTY NINJA BABES IN A HOT TUB”. My books are about relationships.
4) You’re such a smart girl – why are you writing bodice ripper rape fantasies?
I’m not writing bodice-ripper rape fantasies. My books are about relationships. There is absolutely no rape, and no one’s bodice has been ripped. When my characters come together for sex, it’s a mutual decision. Your stereotypes are also about 25 years out of date (give or take).
5) It’s all about the sex, isn’t it? Be honest.
No, it’s still about the relationship. I promise you, I could fade to black in every sex scene if I wanted to, and the main gist of the story would remain. I just choose not to, because I think it adds flavor to the story.
Nor is it all about the sex for other writers of romance. I’m sure Jane Austen wasn’t hung up on Mr. Darcy’s cock when she wrote Pride & Prejudice. Georgette Heyer never once mentioned anyone’s dong. And there are plenty of romance writers today that choose not to write sex into their romances.
6) You’re just in this for the money, aren’t you? Isn’t that why all romance authors write?
I’m into getting my books published for the money, yes. That, and the recognition. However, I am into the writing because I like telling a story. I also started out writing fantasy, but I found that the relationships between my characters was far more important to me than any other aspect of the story, and I happily made the switch. You can’t write something you don’t love or are not enthusiastic about and hope to make a career out of it. I mean, you can hate a desk job, and it pays far better than most romance writing does. If you’re just writing romance because you think it’ll make you rich, you’re better off starting your own eBay store.
7) I’d write romances but I like to write stuff that challenges me.
I’d like to take this time to point out that all romance novels have plots – some complex, some not so complex. This is just like every other genre of fiction, where you have some lighter novels, and some darker novels. If you’re not challenged by writing romance, then please, by all means, do not write it. But insulting an entire genre by simply saying it’s not what you like…well, that’s dumb. Please don’t tell me that writing stories about elves or spacemen or mystery-solving librarians is far, far more challenging than me writing about a pirate or a rake or a werewolf.
8 ) So when are you going to write something important instead of this other garbage?
By important, I assume you either mean 1) literary fiction or 2) my grocery list. In which case, my answer is 1) never and 2) still never.
9) I wrote a lot of sex in my book. This makes me a romance writer too, right?
Oh, absolutely. And I wrote about someone getting shot in my book, so this makes me an expert marksman. In all seriousness, romances have extremely specific plots and just because your book has sex does not mean that it is a romance. There are lots of movies that have sex in them that aren’t a romance. Basic Instinct, for example. Starship Troopers. That one with Glenn Close and the bunny.
Not. Romances.
10) You get your rocks off when you write, don’t you? This stuff is porn, right?
No, it’s not porn. It’s about the relationship. Nor am I writing because I get my jollies from it. I like writing about the relationship, and all aspects of the relationship. That includes the arguing and the awkward “Does he love me?” moments. All aspects.
Not porn. Remember, porn = BUSTY NINJA BABES IN A HOTTUB.
11) Are you sure it’s not porn?
Go away.
I came, I saw, I may have possibly rewritten it a billion times…
Oh editing. I love you and I hate you. It feels like I’ve been doing nothing but editing since April (ETA – that’s pretty much the truth, actually). I had a few lingering scenes that were breaking my head on VANISHING ACT, so I logged off the internet and went and worked in the other room. No distractions, just me and my characters as I tried to force them to do things that did not feel natural (since I’d already written the climax of the story once, rewriting it in a different direction – no matter how good the direction is – still feels unnatural).
But I wrote a huge chunk and I’m happy to say that I’m done, more or less, with the edits. Except I’ve got to go back through and re-read one more time to make sure there’s no bizarre jumps in logic. At one point I ripped out almost 40k from this book and rewrote back in about 25k (some of it coming from very early drafts).
For those of you that are word count junkies like myself? Starting tally of this book – 92k.
Tally after completing the last draft? 74.5k – my goal. I’m really happy with that number. The 92k felt bloated, but I wasn’t sure where to cut. The 75k feels much more streamlined for a YA.
I expect the wordcount to bounce up a little as I go through a paper copy of the novel and re-read one last time. There’s always tweaks here and there. But I can’t imagine it getting much higher than the 75k it stands at now.
And maybe now I will go back to my crackhead project. Or work on some short stories. Have not decided, but the world is my oyster. For a few weeks, anyhow.
Random stuff
I am sad that a certain someone has been voted off of Survivor. I loathed him, but he was entertaining. Now he can no longer lead his team with his eyes! Oh noes! Farewell to the strongest, most true warrior!!
Let’s see. What else. Oh. Supernatural’s season finale was good. Can’t wait for more Castiel next season. 
Other than that, there’s been a little bit of writing, but it’s mostly idea scribbling. I have a really difficult time working on two projects at once, no matter what I do. So I told myself that I’d work on edits, and when I got enough to feel virtuous about spending my time, I’d switch to one of the projects burning at the back of my brain. Except…when I work on the edits, then I get caught up in the edits! And find it hard to switch. Just not much of a multi-tasker.
Oh, and there is a dead possum in my back yard. Apparently it’s been dead for quite some time (like, months). And apparently I need to go into the back yard more often, because we never knew it was there until the Orkin man pointed it out.
Yeaaaah.
Oh oh oh!! And Succubi Like It Hot (Succubus Diaries, book 2) is now available on Amazon! You know you want to pre-order it. The book will be released on January 26th, 2010 — one month exactly after Gentlemen Prefer Succubi hits the shelves.
Yay!
Stuff.
My buddy Katiebabs is on vacation in the UK, and asked me to guest blog. I decided to embarrass myself and my good taste by admitting to all those shameful romances storylines that I’m not supposed to love…but do anyway.
Also! Cindy Pon (she of the terribly awesome) is running a contest to celebrate the release of her new book:
It’s YA fantasy in an Asian setting. How awesome is that? I can’t wait to read it. And she also happens to have just the most gorgeous book trailer ever:
Seriously, isn’t it evocative and lovely?
Cindy is also holding a contest on her blog for original brush art (I *want*. Her bunnies look so cute). You should check it out.
