I posted a lovely review for A Four-Gone Conclusion at Wild & Wicked Cowboys. I’d love for you to stop by there and say hello! I’ll be busy here working on getting the next cool contest posted then switching gears to slam down pages on Lone Heart!

Oh! And the winner of yesterday’s Facebook-related contest is…Gabi Wurst! Gabi, send me an email! ~DD

I’m sick as a dog today and not able to spend much time in front of the monitor, so this is a quick post.

Have you ever been escorted out of a place by security?

As a teenager, I was asked to leave a movie theater for making too much noise with my friends, but I can’t remember anything more exciting than that. Tell me your story!

Persistence

Persistence is a word often thrown around in publishing. If an author writes books and is persistent, she’ll get published.

Well, maybe.

Persistence has many faces. It can help a person get a promotion at work, lose weight, or even get your kids to clean their bedrooms when their junk drifts into the hallway. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always yelling!
It would be nice if getting published was as easy as making kids pick up their messes. Selling a book basically comes down to part stubbornness, part learning craft, and part finding the right story to hook an editor.

It took me seventeen years, many unsold manuscripts, and a fabulous agent to sell my little courtesan matchmaker book to Berkley. And mine wasn’t an easy road to publication. I have a file stuffed with tear-stained rejection letters to show for those unpublished years. If that isn’t persistence, I don’t know what is! But those letters also let me know I was on track as I studied craft and learned stuff like not starting a book from a horse’s POV (who knew?).

Those first letters began as “Dear Author” photo-copied form letters (with my first book) and slowly morphed (with subsequent manuscripts) into “Dear Ms. Smith, thanks but no thanks…” to “Dear Cheryl Smith, I love your voice but the story just isn’t quite what we’re looking for. Please consider me with future projects….”

I’ve been rejected by the best! But persistence kept me slogging forward when I thought a job as French-fry girl at McDonalds might be my future. Well, persistence and the overwhelming drive to write stuff. Every time I thought I’d quit writing and get a ‘real job’, a fun storyline would pop into my head and I’d be off to the races again!

So, yes, persistence is a key part of getting published. Mix that with a strong spine and the willingness to take the hard lumps with the good stuff in order to succeed. It will be worth it in the end!

If you’d like to learn more about Cheryl and her books, you can visit her at: www.cherylannsmith.com or Facebook.

Yesterday’s winner, by random number generator, is…Wendy! Congratulations, Wendy, and be sure to send me an email with your mailing address so I can get your package in the mail!

Dead and Bored?

(Posted originally in the secret Undead Weekly ezine)

Have you done it all, seen it all, and nothing moves you? Perhaps you’ve been living your excellent undead existence day in and day out for a few hundred years now and the pressure to blend in to society is getting to you.

We have exactly what you need! A luxury resort set in the remote wilds of Alaksa. It’s the deepest part of winter when we’re open, so there’s no worry about exposing yourself to any pesky sunshine.

Come, relax, bring your bonded mate or loving companions to join you. We’re a full service establishment and can cater to the needs of the living as well as meet your every dark decadent desire. Care to journey back to your time as a sultan? Or do you miss those English schoolroom days with the strict teacher and her trusty paddle?

Our theme rooms, including two wildly popular slate-tiled dungeons, will certainly call to your inner beast. Want to swim or impress your seethe-mates with your vacation tan? No worries! We’ve got an entire pool wing decorated like a tropical island and the spray tan is free.

If outside sports are more your thing we’ve got skiing, tubing, and lots of winding paths illuminated by twinkling lights. Shed your civilized mask and take a blood bath in the Roman suite, ‘stalk’ live prey from willing donors (rules apply), or visit our orgy room with some close friends you’d like to get even closer to.

We promise, your vampire vacation at the V V Inn will be like no other trip you’ve had in decades! Have a shifter lover? No problem, we don’t charge extra for shedding clean up. Prefer to dance the night away or relax in an Irish pub? We’ve got you covered.

If you’re idea of a good time is more along the lines of reading collector edition books, a game of whisk, or drinking shots of an ancient vampire’s blood from a warmed snifter, then our English gentleman’s lounge may be just the spot for you.

Rafe and I will be your hosts for the week. We’ll make sure your every fantasy comes to life right before your very eyes. Be sure to call and book soon—we’re filling up fast and our Holiday ball only has a few spots left.

Inn Proprietors: Vivian and Rafe McAndrews
1-800-Dark-Fun
The V V Inn, Deadfoot, Alaska
(please call for plane coordinates)

~~ C.J. Ellisson ~~
Guest Speaker at Vamps at Sea – a Vampire Themed Cruise to Alaska
6.23.2012
Facebook * Website * Everything Erotic * Digital Digest

I thought about what I wanted to share here at Delilah’s and the fact that she’s got a lot of cowboy loving readers hit hard. So while I could talk about ranching and what kind of day a man or woman typically has on the ranch, that can get pretty detailed. Fun, but not the part that I know I love.

The SEXY part of the cowboys. 😀

So I thought what about an excerpt from my new cowboy release? Something that’s got the working part AND the playing part, all rolled into one? A snippet for you from Rocky Mountain Heat with one of the oldest ranch/farm chores there is. Canning… (yeah, it’ll be sexy, give it a minute…)

Jaxi’s just put the canner on the stove and she’s sitting on the counter eating a peach when Blake interrupts her…

~~**~~

“You didn’t stop for dinner. Want me to warm something?”

Blake licked her neck and her collarbone. He unbuttoned her shirt. His fingers smoothed over her skin as he pushed the fabric aside to reveal her bra.

“I see what I’m looking for and it’s plenty hot already.” He slid the shirt off her shoulders to the countertop. “I like your bra, Slick, very lacy and pretty pink, but it’s a little too nice for what I have in mind.”

While he kissed, he brushed his fingers around her back, and the cool air of the kitchen flowed over her as he undid her bra. As if fascinated, he tugged off one shoulder strap at a time to let the cups fall away from her breasts.

“Blake?”

“I had something real interesting planned yesterday when we got interrupted.” Blake lugged a tall stool from the corner of the room and returned to his spot in front of her. His head lined up with her breasts, and he hummed with satisfaction.

“We’ve had that stool since I was little. Ma used it to let us get a better reach on things, and it works as good now as ever. Maybe even better since the treats are sweeter.”

He cupped a breast in each hand and lowered his head to cover the exposed surface of one with his hot mouth. Jaxi braced her arms behind her on the counter as an electric shock pulsed all the way to her womb. He alternated sides, lapping and sucking. She shut her eyes and enjoyed his intimate touch.

“Keep your eyes closed.”

Blake slid away, and somewhere nearby a drawer opened and closed. She debated peeking when drops of liquid touched her skin, rolling down the swell of her breast. Moisture trailed to the tip of her nipple and clung there, cool in the moving air blowing in the window.

She opened her eyes to see he had the peach in slices. He’d crushed one piece between his fingers, letting the juice land on her body.

“Close your eyes,” he warned.
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For you Americans out there, Happy Thanksgiving! I just got home a little while ago. This week has been one health crisis after another. Tuesday, I drove dad to the pain management center for an injection into his back to help with his pain issues. He’s been miserable, but thankfully, the injection is giving him some relief. Last night, I had to stay at my daughter’s while she took her hubby to the emergency room after he got off of work at the prison. He has bronchitis and a viral infection of some sort.

All this got me to thinking that it’s a damn good thing we have family living close enough to help out. It hasn’t always been the case. So, today, I’m thankful that I’m healthy and that I’m here to help out the most important people in the world to me, my family.

What are you thankful for today? I don’t mind if you’re serious or funny. I’m just nosy. 🙂

I’ll be back later today when I get a moment by myself to make an announcement about Cowboy Lust! Enjoy that turkey coma! ~DD

Winners of the “I’ll Change My Name to Wendy or Tammy” Contest are listed at the bottom of this post! Stay tuned for the announcement of the next contest! ~DD

Hello, Delilah fans. I can’t believe I get to be one of Delilah’s guests. Cool! I LOVE the scenery here, great covers, too. I have been writing for a long time, a very long time. While I don’t have manuscripts under my bed or in my closets, (well, a few still hide in both places), I do have novels, novellas, and short stories on blue floppy disks and now flash drives. I have romantic suspense books not yet published, women’s fiction stories and even stories with paranormal elements. While the characters and the plots are different, one thing is true of all my books. I LOVE to tease characters and my critique partners and make them beg me to let my characters actually have sex. It’s important to the romance for the sex to happen when the characters can’t wait any longer.

In The Gift I broke one of my own rules. My characters had sex before the story began.

Excerpt from THE GIFT

Deke fell asleep thinking about that night and that woman. He dreamed of her as he often did lately.

The woman against his body fit like she’d been made for him. Her soft breasts against his chest sent messages to his groin. The strawberry fragrance of her shampoo made him think about her. She was past the bloom of youth, no twenty something, but still fresh, unsophisticated. Her loneliness called to his need for the warmth of another human being. He needed her as much as she needed him and their bodies were certainly willing.

He kept his tone gentle. “Please let me look at you.”
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