All winners will be announced on Sunday. So, be sure to cast your vote today, then post a comment so I know who voted!
Well, it looks like the Cat Tales setting will be the Louisiana Bayou! Thanks to everyone for your feedback. I know I cast my vote early on for this one too, but when I thought the Colorado Mountains might win, all kinds of fun scenarios popped into my mind. Louisiana Bayou stories are more limiting for an external premise idea but I did come up with several. Maybe you can help me narrow my focus once again.
Choose which scenario you would prefer for the opening story. Be sure to vote then post a comment so I know who voted! You’ll be entered to win a $10 gift certificate from Amazon.com! Remember, all poll winners will be announced on Sunday!
Which title do you prefer for an anthology of erotic cowboy stories?
I’ve been mulling around the idea of a new free series to offer through my website and newsletter. One with individual stories rather than series installments—although some of these short stories might span a couple of months. I’d like them to be related by place and have some of the same characters appear throughout these sexy little reads.
And the best part will be that the stories will be centered around a family of feline shifters. I love furry heroes!
I want your help narrowing down the focus for the stories. Let me know what your preferences are. The first question I have for you is where you want these stories to take place. Be sure to vote then post a comment so I know who voted! You’ll be entered to win a $10 gift certificate from Amazon.com!
What would you like to see offered as a contest prize for the next round?
A signed and autographed book, reader's choice? (38%, 10 Votes)
A grab-bag of things from Memphis, including Elvis memorabilia? (27%, 7 Votes)
A pretty fairy journal? (27%, 7 Votes)
A fairy ornament to hang on a holiday tree? (8%, 2 Votes)
A power outage yesterday morning brought home just how dependent I am on technology. Not just my computer and Internet service. Without power, I had to light candles because the day was overcast and rainy. I couldn’t bathe or flush a toilet because the pump that draws water from the well didn’t operate. It was too dark to read, too cool and nasty to be outside, the heat didn’t run and I couldn’t open the fridge for fear of warming up the food stored there.
My daughter lives in a rural area—even more isolated than my own home. And when her power goes out, it can last for days. Last year during an ice storm, it took the power company nine days to restore electricity. By then she’d had to toss out all the food in the fridge and freezer. She and her husband had to cook on camp stoves, use a camp toilet, and heat water for “bird” baths over the Coleman. Thank goodness yesterday’s outage lasted only five hours.
My home in South Texas was rural as well, but power lines were strung on tall steel poles far above any trees. In nine years, we only had two power outages that lasted a few hours. Here in Arkansas, the trees loom over the treetrunk power poles, and it takes only one tall, spindly pine snapping and folding over a line to take you out. No way could they afford to replace those old poles with something stronger. I think of the years I lived in Europe. There everything was protected in conduits underground.
I’m rambling again. My EC editor sent me the first round edits of Raw Silk last night. She loved the story and had minimal nits for me to fix (mostly commas!). I should have dates soon for the releases of Knight of My Dreams and Raw Silk.
I’m trying to get my mind in gear for November 1st. Anyone ever do NaNoWriMo? It’s National Novel Writing Month, and the folks who run the site host an annual challenge for writers to complete 50,000 words on a novel during the month of November. I met the challenge last year. I like having to post my progress daily on the site and commiserate with other writers whose fingers are bleeding all over their keyboards. Let me know if you’re taking the challenge and I’ll add you to my list of friends on the site. Maybe we can spur each other on with a “word war”!
This was a sad, sad week. I didn’t accomplish one darn thing. And it’s not going to get better until the middle of this week. I came home Friday, played catchup with email and bills, and now, I’m getting ready to head back to babysit.
One thing I did get done yesterday was book my flight for my cruise trip in December. If I didn’t mention it before, I’m heading to the Caribbean with Sasha White in December. I spent last night going through my closet to see what I might pack. I don’t know how warm it will be. I remember grilling steaks in my shorts in December when I lived in South Florida, so I’m wondering if I should pack shorts, capris, and t-shirts or slacks and sweaters. Does anybody out there know?
I’ve already applied for my passport. Couldn’t find my old one, although I know it has expired. I should have it in about three weeks. I’m calling my doctor on Monday. I need a checkup but I want to see about vaccinations too—whether I need any, that is.
I’m very excited about the trip. This will be the first non-conference vacation I’ve taken in years. Not that the trip won’t be all about writing. We’re bringing our laptops and journals and planning to interview crew members. I do have a self-imposed deadline for a story I want to complete while I’m on the ship. Sasha’s not a morning person, so I’ll steal away and write until she moves out of bed.
I don’t much like the song, but I’m very happy to get my Glambert fix! I love a great voice—Robert Plant, Freddie Mercury, Steve Tyler, Chris Cornell—and I’d love to add Adam L, but he has a long way to go to prove himself worthy.
For me, Time for Miracles took forever to build, but did finish with a nice bit of Adam doing what he does best—singing his heart and lungs out. And yeah, I live in Arkansas and probably shouldn’t say it out loud, but HE WAS ROBBED! Can’t wait for the new album coming out next month. Let me know your take on the song. Am I too harsh? Is it one of those songs that will grow on me?
Yesterday’s winner, by random number generator, is…Sara Ulfers!
Nothing exciting going on in my life or my mind at the moment. The past few days have been spent taking care of sick little ones. Had to take the 5-year-old to the doctor because she had 104 degree fever and flu symptoms. The test was nonconclusive, but still, she’s on Tamiflu. The little one didn’t like being left out of the coddling so she developed a slight fever, not nearly as concerning. Anyway, the worst is past. Got one on the schoolbus this morning, and the light at the end of the tunnel is that I get to go home tomorrow. Then maybe I can think about writing.
It’s raining again. This has to be the wettest year EVER. Since I have to walk dogs, big damn dogs, I’m not too happy. Oh and did I mention the chickens? Yeah, the red-headed hellion, who always hated living in the country, has chickens!! And since she’s under the weather too, I have to coax the buzzards into the pen and feed them. I’m just glad no one I knows is here with a camera. Earth mommy, I am not. I’m whining again, aren’t I? Better stop now before I go into full whine mode. I hope you are all healthy and happy, and that the flu bug passes blissfully by you and yours!
Be sure to post a comment today to be in the running
for a download of this book!
CECK was originally published in September 2005 and was my second appearance in a “Caveman” anthology. Oh, and excuse my alien heroine’s accent. I promise it’s only a temporary thing until she gets her translator adjusted! Enjoy!
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From Coffee Time Romance: “…An encounter of the best kind, these two leave sparks across the sky in a sizzling adventure you will not want to miss.”
Etienne Lambert, a Cajun ex-soldier fresh from the horrors of the war in Iraq, discovers that he’s an alien when an alien woman arrives at his door to take him home. When he resists, she kidnaps him. He soon learns he is the last potent male of the ruling line of their planets and it’s his duty to return to assume the mantle of rule and sire the next generation of the ruling caste.
Mariska is a fightership commander who has succeeded where all the mages, seers, and trackers have failed. She has found her race’s last hope for salvation! When the future king demands that he start work immediately on the primary mandate of his rule — to sire children — she can’t refuse His Majesty’s command.
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Etienne leaned forward, cuddling his beer between his hands, letting the silence wrap around his jangled nerves. Here in the swamp, in a hunting cabin filled with happy childhood memories, he hoped to finally shrug off his soul-deep sadness. He loved his brother and family, but he didn’t want to invite them into the dark place he’d been forced inside ever since Tekrit.
Arnaud had left half an hour before, frustrated and hurt—Etienne knew it, but couldn’t reach out to him, not yet. Maybe a few more days of staring out at the green, wet world around him would drown the memories of the sun-baked dirt that drank his buddies’ blood like a thirsty sponge.
He needed time to fit back into his old life. He snorted at that thought—like he’d ever really fit in to begin with. Taller by a foot than his brothers and swarthy-skinned to their olive, he’d often wondered if he hadn’t been traded in the bassinet at birth. And he’d never been satisfied with what life offered him in the bayou—it’s why he’d enlisted in the first place.
A twig snapped nearby, and Etienne froze. As if he’d never left Iraq, time slowed, and in one long moment he realized the crickets had stopped their raucous chirping, the owls no longer called to one another—he had a visitor. Read the rest of this entry »
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