Sable's Upcoming Release

I'm Sooooo Excited about my release next month at Cobblestone Press.

It's called Something Wild and I've not seen my cover yet but I can hardly wait! Louisa Gallie is doing an original painting for my cover of one of my character and it's killing me to wait like this. The last time I was this excited about a cover, it was my first publication with Liquid Silver Books and I worried the hell out of April Martinez - the cover was for The Pirate's Jewel and it's still one of my favs from April.

Anyway, Something Wild is my paranormal Jack The Ripper story - inspired by the Werewolves Of London and Come Together songs. My book is of course set in London during the ripper murders. Add a couple of werewolves and a woman drawn to the darker wilder side of a man she barely knows and there you have it.

I really enjoyed writing this book...of mixing the historical and paranormal like this. I was very careful not to mess up the historical time line of the actual murders. That's the best part of writing a historical, weaving my fictional story into the actual history.

I did alot of research for this book. As most of you know, I LOVE doing historical research. I knew very little about these murders until I did the research and now I'm obsessed with wanting more and more information. The fact that the murders are still unsolved drives me crazy though...lol.

One of my characters in this book is actually based on a real person. I found him fascinating in my research and knew my that story couldn't do without him. Ripper researchers, can you spot who it is? Thos that are very familiar with the history of the Jack the Ripper history can spot him easily...he's on the very first page and a key character to my story. When you read it, feel free to post a comment to this thread and we'll discuss the differences between my character and the real person.

Aside from my fascination with this history now, these murders were truly horrific. We may never know who this blood thirsty madman was. In my book of course, I reveal a killer to be the ripper - because I like things to be wrapped up. Maybe someday this chapter in history can be solved as well.

Screw On Breasts? (xPost)

I was visiting Amarinda Jones blog the other day and saw this post. It was so funny I laughed out loud and had my kids thinking someone had slipped something illegal into my Starbucks. Amarinda is a fellow Ellora's Cave author with a cool new book out called "Maid for Death." Check out her blog - it's a frickin hoot. In the meantime, I told her I was going to pass this around, so get ready to laugh...especially if you have breasts (wait, doesn't everybody?). Here's what she wrote:

"Breasts…what is the point of them? Yes, I know the various biological and sexual answers to this question but really aren’t there times when you wished you didn’t have them? Breasts can be painful and problematic. For a while now, I have held this belief that screw on- screw off breasts would be a distinct advantage. What am I talking about?

Advantages of screw on-off breasts:

• At period time when they start to ache – screw ‘em off and put them in a box until they are no longer painful to carry around.
  
• Mammograms are painful. Solution? Unscrew breasts – hand them to the technician to check while you wait outside in the waiting room.
  
• Gravity making your breasts sag? Unscrew ‘em and get new ones.
  
• Flat chested? Buy a bigger screw on size. Need a breast reduction? Buy a smaller size. No surgery involved.
  
• Using breasts to your advantage - “Hmm…a D cup today to get the boss off the subject of my slack arsed performance at work? Yes, I think so.” Men are so easy to get off track.
  
• Author Anny Cook’s suggestion - if you get mugged and you decide to fight back and chase the mugger, as you run you can unscrew a breast, throw it and bean him. The only problem with this is there could be case for assault with a deadly nipple and the legal ramifications of that.
  
• Author Kelly Kirch’s suggestions - public breast feeding would not be an issue as you could unscrew them and feed your child without moralistic people getting all offended. Also while taking a bath, if you don’t have a bath plug, unscrew a breast and use that. My only caution on that is make sure they don’t get suctioned into the plug hole too hard as you would be up for a replacement screw-on breast.
  
• Before you get dressed to go out women could look at an outfit and say “Does this need boobs or not?” Sort of like do I need a necklace or not? Think of all the clothes you could wear that would not pull across your bust.
  
• Twisted bra strap? Do you have permanent dints in you shoulders from wearing a bra? The answer is simple. Free yourself from bras. Get screw-on breasts that remain perky and need no hydraulic lifting.
  
• Weighing in for a diet check? Unscrew your breasts and be instantly pounds lighter.
  
• Not in the mood for sex but your partner is? Hand him the breasts and say “Knock yourself out.”
  
• Like to jog? Hate sports bras? Unscrew your breasts.
  
• They could be used for doorstops, exercise weights, ear muffs, paperweights, headrests – the uses are endless."
  

So what's your take on the subject. Tell us...after you're done snarfing whatever you happen to be drinking while you read this!

TJ

Music & Writing

Several posts back, I got to chatting about Jared Leto being in a band. You all remember that, right?

Well, shortly after that I went out of my way to find the two albums his band had available. The first one was easier to find. But last week my copy of A Beautiful Lie finally came in. And WOW! I thought their first album was fantastic, this one just enhanced it.

And can I say that I'm totally and utterly addicted? The funniest thing is that I've also got my daughter and husband hooked on them! It's amazing, but totally awesome. I feel like such a fangirl whenever I listen to their music.

Music and writing has always tied together for me. When I was a teenager I'd stay in my room for hours while I listened to Hard Rock/Heavy Metal music and just wrote. The habit continued up until I had my daughter. After that, I became accustomed to silence while writing, but still drew a lot from listening to music at other times.

I love it when you listen to a song and it feels as if it's speaking to your muse, sometimes even as deep as your soul. I've gotten many ideas just from the way a certain song sounds. It's absolutely awesome. And this all brings me back to 30 Seconds to Mars. I can't believe how deeply their songs reach within me. Sometimes it's a little hard to explain what I mean with just words. But it's a fantastic spark.

For the first time in years, I've actually started writing (and even some revising) with music in the background again. I love it! And for that, I'd love to thank the fantastic music of 30STM! They're a very talented bunch of musicians.

So, tell me, how do you feel about music and writing? Does it go hand-in-hand for you? And is there a particular style that is a must while you write?

Yolanda
http://www.yolandasfetsos.com/

I'll be the featured author at Mandy M Roth's blog this Friday.

Faeries & Pics

To celebrate the release of my latest Cobblestone Press eBook this Friday, I've been having a Faerie Week over at my blog. Basically I've been sharing some cheeky excerpts and giving away things. And I'm going to continue it here, today.

I really enjoy writing this series. The faeries of Breena have totally intrigued both me and the muse. We can't stop going back. Lol. Anyway, today I wanted to share some inspirational pics that I've used while writing the trilogy.

I'm going to start with a photo of the actual place where the idea first struck me. I was walking down this path one day, looked out into the trees and there was the idea.

I don't know who made this next awesome pic, but I think it's absolutely gorgeous and never fails to fuel the muse and I with faerie inspiration...

The next two pics were made by Delphine Levesque Demers. I found several of her pics inspirational while I was writing FAERIE QUEEN. There's a dark quality about them that really fit the theme of the tale...
This one was made by Jessica Galbreth. My gosh, if you want some inspirational faerie pics, you have to visit her website! She's got some lovely pieces, and they never fail to inspire...

And of course, the artist who made the covers needs a huge mention. Leita Stevens has captured every one of the stories perfectly. Actually, I was blown away by just how accurate she made each one. She really got the imagery, and for that I'm very grateful. She's awesome!

Now, if you'd like the chance to win one of these little bottles filled with faerie dust:

Just leave a comment on this post. I will pick one random winner tomorrow and announce it over at my blog. Oh, and it could be any one of the above bottles... you just never know which one the faeries will pick for you. ;)

Yolanda
http://www.yolandasfetsos.com/

Click to read sneak peek:

Read Interview in CPQ Magazine

Seven Habits of Highly Effective (aka published) Authors--Day 2

For those who don't know, I've been doing this series about the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Authors over on my blog. It's been going pretty well, and I'm glad to hear my posts have been helpful to some people. So, I thought it would be good to post the habits here as well.

I’ll remind you that last week we talked about Habit 1: Writing Daily.

Habit 2. Published authors learn about/understand the business side of publishing.

Highly effective authors aren't shocked when they get their first (or their tenth) rejection. They realize publishing is highly subjective. They have realistic expectations regarding submissions and rejections (unlike me when I first started). And they are determined to keep trying, even when they have collected enough “Dear Author” rejection letters to wallpaper their entire home.

Highly effective authors know how to professionally submit their work. They are able to generate a well-written query letter and synopsis. They use correct manuscript formatting and are well aware of both the do’s and don’ts of submitting. (Side note, for a humorous look at the do’s and don’ts read my How to Not Get Published).

Highly effective authors not only know why they must research publishers and agents (identifying scams, locating submission guidelines, etc.), but how to find what they need on the internet. When they need information, they turn to accurate and reliable sources, such as Writer Beware, Piers Anthony and Predators and Editors, rather than gossip blogs.

And finally, highly effective authors know how publishing works. They know and respect the differences between epublishing and print. They have some understanding of print runs and marketing. Branding and creating buzz. Google Ranking and Amazon Connect. They understand that writing is a craft but publishing is a business, and they realize that in today’s market they have to be both craftsman (craftswoman) and entrepreneur.

Overwhelmed yet? I hope not.

Yes, all this stuff requires reading, research…and yes, time. But again, time spent learning about the industry never interferes with Habit Number One--writing.

Next time, a habit that’s painful to a lot of writers…

Tawny
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Vampilicious Erotic Romance

His Willing Captive

Bad girl gone good meets a vampire who's good at being bad. Can she resist becoming his willing captive? Or is his touch, his bite just want she’s been waiting for?

"Emma Petersen's Seducing St. Nic is a keeper. From beginning to end
it is laugh out loud funny. Barbara Jean and Cypriano captivated me from the beginning and had me wondering when these two were going to get together. Watch out, because when they do... it's sizzling!"
-Ecataromance

The third installment in the best selling The Girl's Guide to Dating the Evil Undead series is available today. Isa is back and Paulo's trying to convince her to become His Willing Captive.

Blurb:
When Isa Simmons finds an uninvited vampire in her living room the only weapon she has is a butter knife. But a butter knife isn’t going to help her get rid of this big blond brute. Soon, Isa isn’t so sure she wants to get rid of him at all.

Excerpt from Chapter Two:

I awoke slowly. The most incredible dream tantalized my subconscious. I could only hope I hadn't sighed or moaned in my sleep. Even though my sister was married and pregnant and I had been pregnant without the married part, Nina still treated me like I was twelve sometimes. So explaining my incredibly realistic and erotic dream wasn't a conversation I wanted to have.
The mattress beneath me was foreign in its softness. Usually I woke to Nina's soft snores but the room was mysteriously quiet. I opened my eyes and confirmed my suspicions. I definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore.
I lay in a huge, walnut four-poster canopied bed with an angel soft feather mattress and glistening jewel tone curtains that blotted out everything else. I held onto denial like a long lost friend and tried to convince myself I was still dreaming but I was never a strong believer in fantasy.
There were only two explanations as to why I had woken up in a room that belonged to a harem scene out of some old The Sheik Who Boinked Me romance novel.
A, the huge, Viking vampire I'd found in my living room had killed me.
B, said vampire hadn't killed me, but kidnapped me instead.
Attempting to stretch, I was bought up short by a tether looped around my wrists and secured to the headboard. Hmm…interesting.
I'll take kidnapped for one hundred, Alex.
I guess waking up tied to a strange bed really brings one back to reality. Not that I'd ever woken up tied to a bed before, strange or familiar.
I waited for panic and terror to set in. Even though I didn't have a lot of hands on experience as either an abductor or abductee, I imagined there'd be hysteria, begging and fear. And the kidnap victim would be rather upset, too.
Yet, I was surprisingly calm. I refused to believe this had anything to do with the little game of slap and tickle and the incredible orgasm back in my apartment. Heat crept up my cheeks as I remembered grinding against him, panting and begging him for release.
Damn.
And boy did he give it to me. Right before he bit me.

Click here to purchase

Join me today at Romance Bistro! Where I'll be discussing all of my work and giving away a copy of His Willing Captive!

I Won! And Meetings (xpost)

First, the cool stuff:

I WON! - I just found out that SPIRIT OF THE PRYDE, released by Ellora's Cave won the 2007 Erotic Dreams Reader's Choice award! I'm so stoked I don't know what to say!

To see the list of award winners, visit the ERDC Awards announcement.


I've been in meetings ALL morning at the day job. One of them was actually pretty good because we saw a demo of a new software release that our company is working on.

Usually I don't care for meetings. Why? Because I don't see the point of having a meeting just to discuss when to schedule the next meeting. Or to sit around and joke when I could be doing something else.

Which leads me to my next point - finding time to do NOTHING. My kids say I don't do this enough. They claim that I absolutely must be aware of how to use every minute of every day being efficient with my time, which usually means stuffiing as many tasks as possible into a day.

They're suggestion is to learn how to do nothing. Learn how to just take a moment, catch my breath, and...well, breathe *chuckle* rather than finding something to stuff into that extra few minutes.

I think they've got a point. As a matter of fact, this evening when I get home, I'm going to have dinner, have a little family time, get some word count in...then I'm going to enjoy a book I've been wanting to finish FOREVER. Then again, maybe I'll just veg instead...?

At the end of your day, do you find yourself still trying to fit in "just one more thing?" If so, maybe we should form a 12-step club for it or something!

Revision & My New Cover

So, as I posted last week, I took part in the Cobblestone Main Street BIAW and got the first draft of my Vampire Oracle DEATH novella completed on Saturday. Yay. I'm very excited about that, but now I've put it aside for a few weeks.

This got me thinking about the revision process. Personally, I like to get the first draft out of my head really quickly. The world and characters are usually in a rush to get out. The more I write and take notes on the side, the better everything comes together. So I like to take advantage of that.

But when it comes to revision, it's a whole different story.

I like to do three drafts in total, before I consider it done. Nowadays I think most could really do with two, but I'm a double-checker and refuse to send anything out on its merry way unless I've done three. Maybe that will change someday, but for the moment it's how I do things. :)

Usually a few weeks away from a novella is enough, a month or two from novels. But the particular novella I'm working on now is a Sci-Fi that I wrote way back in January. Why did I leave it so long? I couldn't pinpoint why. Then again, I did complete the second draft a few months ago and decided it needed a little more work before I could call it done. Was that what was keeping me from it? Because really, I'm now 85 pages in and am really enjoying it. So what was the prob? You know, I can't really say. I can be a little weird like that I guess.

Anyway, this is the week. I intend to get it done by Friday, and start looking for a home too. Lol.

Okay, enough about all that writer weirdness. If you want to read more about it, check out my blog for the daily ramblings. ;)

Would you like to see my newest cover? This one's my Halloween tale. It'll be released by Cobblestone Press on October 19, as part of Octoberfest. Yay. I can't wait.

Well, here it is:

Matt knows the things that lurk in the dark are very much real and always a threat. But it was a human bullet that stole his chance at happiness.Alana is willing to do whatever it takes to save Matt’s life before Halloween night is over…

Isn't it beautiful? It was made by Tuesday Dube. I absolutely love it! It not only looks gorgeous, but it captures the heart and soul of the story. I'm very excited about this cover and the story, too.

So tell me, what's your revision process? Do you write a slow first draft and revise as you go? Or do you write the first draft like a crazy person (ie, like me) and then do one or more drafts before you consider it done? Let me know. I love to find out how other writers do things.

Yolanda
http://www.yolandasfetsos.com/

Click to read sneak peek:

Read Interview in CPQ Magazine

Seven Habits of Highly Effective (aka published) Authors

So, I've started a series about the habits of effective authors over on my blog, and I thought I'd post the first day here for you all to read. Day number two (and eventually three through seven) will be over on my blog: tawnytaylor.blogspot.com. I hope you enjoy this post!
*****************************

Before I was published, I was desperately searching for the magic formula that would catapult me from unpublished wannabe to published author status. Yes, I was one of those writers, the kind who wanted to be published so bad, I could taste it. And I admit I was looking for shortcuts.

Did I find any shortcuts? Sorry, nope. But I did find some things that could help move me in the right direction. Ready? I think I'll post one "habit" a day for seven days. That way, I won't have this uber-long treatise that no one wants to read, lol.

So what's today's habit?

1. Published authors spend their time writing. Books. Not blogs. Not emails. Not chit-chatty messages on forums or yahoo groups.

They write every day (well, except for holidays and maybe weekends if writing is your full time job).

I can't tell you how many writers I see waste valuable time playing on forums, blogs and yahoo groups. Yes, this kind of activity could be seen as networking, developing a market for future books (a readership) and researching the industry. But the time should be limited and never interfere with time spent actually writing.

In order to keep priorities straight, I recommend a writer set a specific word count/page count goal for every day.

What's a realistic goal? That depends upon your situation. Do you have small children at home? A full time job? Or other time consuming daily obligations? Then maybe your goal will be to write one page a day. That'll get you a book a year.

If you're writing full time, you might be able to tackle a much more aggressive goal. Ten, twenty pages a day is common for some authors, particularly epublished who rely upon frequent ebook releases to generate buzz and steady income.

Whatever that goal might be--one page or twenty--be tough on yourself. No "play time" allowed until your daily goal is met. There's nothing wrong with rewarding yourself with some fun time on Romance Divas AFTER your pages are done :)

Do this, and before long it'll become routine and you'll be cranky if you don't get your pages done for the day.

Okay, so that's it. Habit number one. I'll give you a little hint about the second habit...it has to do with something that most authors don't want to know about.

Tawny
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Vampilicious Erotic Romance

Reckless

Have you ever done something outside of the norm that felt really, really, really good? I have. Hehe. Get your minds out of the gutter. I'm talking about my hair. I've never really been fond of hair. I'm not extremo girl who will sport a buzz cut and I can honestly say I'm tired of being the ultra girly-girl who has a weekly salon appointment...

So this morning after I got out of the shower I was standing in front of the mirror, my hair still wet and thought I'm really tired of my hair. I'm tired of chemicals, flat irons, curling irons, hair dryer and spending 8 hours a mouth of my time at the salon so I went to the kitchen grabbed my scissors and cut it.

Yep. Just that simple. I probably have two inches of hair left and it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I feel free and clean. Of course the cut isnt perfect. My family will probably will freak out along with my stylist (who I'll have to have even up the cut in a week or two. I don't want to see him too soon because he'll kill my buzz) but you know what, I can't bring myself to care.

I'm tired of living inside of the lines. With each cut of those scissors I realized I can do anything I want to do and it's my right to do exactly that. Whether in my private or career life.

So what's a reckless thing you've done lately?

BIAW & Vampires

Yes, that's right! It's that time again.

I'm taking part in the current BIAW over at Cobblestone Main Street. This time, the goal is to write a 20k Mystery novella that is Dark & Dangerous. In 7 days. That's right, 7 days!

You know, until late last week I'd been trying to figure out what to work on. What first draft should I tackle? I kept asking myself. Even though the answer was there all along. Right in front of me.

The answer: my Vampire Oracle DEATH novella.

That's right. I mean, it had been simmering inside my head for a while. Since I wrote the first 1k for the proposal, actually. It was just one of those stories. It really grabbed me.

So, I sat down on Monday and got started. At the end of my third day - yesterday - the word count is at 12,082. I'm very excited about the progress, and also the way the story's shaping up. I'm one of those writers that starts out with a nibble of an idea. I take notes, think about it a lot and by the time I sit down to write, I'm still always surprised.

I'm having a great time with this tale so far, and can't wait to see where it leads me today. I'm listening to this album while I write. Man, every one of these songs is so darn inspiring! I'm totally addicted to this band. Dare I say maybe a little obsessed? ;)

Anyway, I better get back to Lana and Hayden. See what's going to happen now that everything that could go wrong between them has. Lol. But before I go, check out this most excellent video that Deanna and Sable put together:

Oh, and if you want to read what all the other Vampire Oracle authors are up to, check out the blog, too!

Yolanda
http://www.yolandasfetsos.com/