It's a little over two weeks until release day for RULE OF THREE so I thought I'd give you a sneak peek. Rule of Three is available for pre-order at Samhain (SALE! Only $3.85) and at Barnes & Noble, but strangely not at Amazon yet.

If you follow the rules, you miss all the fun...

Kassidy is a good girl who wants to be bad. Dag is a bad boy who is very, very good. And Chris? He likes to watch…

When wicked-sexy Dag returns to Chicago to catch up with his old college buddy Chris and meet The Girlfriend, none of them are anticipating the unexpected turn of events that switches a loving twosome into a scorching hot threesome. As old feelings resurface, and new attractions are explored, a storm of sexual sparks is unleashed that leads them into forbidden areas.

Always the good girl, Kassidy blossoms under the attentions of two loving men, but neither she nor Chris are expecting the ménage to take a quarter turn toward Dag…and his feelings for Chris. When it’s revealed that Dag’s attraction to Chris is one big reason he left town, a tangled mess of old hurts and new feelings might destroy friendship. Love. Might destroy everything.

Warning: This book contains a couple already in love, a couple falling in love and a couple in love who didn’t know it; also multiple scorching sex scenes including girl with boy, girl with two boys, boy with boy and two boys with girl...whew!

Here's the excerpt:

 

After a while, Dag said, “Come dance with me, Kassidy.” He set down his drink and rose to his feet. He held out a hand, and she looked at Chris, who smiled and nodded. She took Dag’s hand and followed him back to the dance floor, feeling a little like she were being led down a dark downtown alley at midnight, nerves fluttering in her tummy and her pulse leaping.

They moved to the music, a throbbing Latin drumbeat. Dag was a good dancer—of course—nothing flamboyant, but he knew how to move his body with an athletic grace. She let herself absorb the music, let it move her body, never taking her eyes off his face. When the rhythm slowed and merged into a slower song, he slid his hands over her waist, hips, around almost onto her ass. His heat enveloped her, the scent of his sultry aftershave filled her head as she slid her arms over his shoulders. Their hips moved together to the beat of the music.

Sex.

It felt like sex. Liquid heat slid through her body and pooled between her legs.

She bit her lip and looked over to where Chris sat. He’d crossed one ankle over the other knee, one arm stretched out along the back of the couch, looking so big and handsome and watching them.

Watching you with anyone would be a turn-on.

He lifted his chin in acknowledgement of Kassidy’s glance. She was almost afraid to tear her gaze away from him and return it to the dangerous man she was dancing with.

“Chris is watching,” Dag said.

“Yes.”

“He likes to watch.”

Dag knew that about him?

Their gazes locked. His hands slid lower on her hips, to just below the curve of her ass and his fingers moved. Dear god, he was pulling up her skirt. And it was short enough to begin with. Her pussy pulsed.The silky fabric slid higher, bunching a little beneath Dag’s fingers. “What are you doing?” she asked him through tight lips.

“Giving your boyfriend a show,” he said with a wicked glint in his eye.

I'm loving this song by Flo Rida right now.

Yesterday I went to my first NHL game since the Jets returned to Winnipeg. I've been eagerly watching every game on television but I finally go to experience the excitement of a live game. And I had fantastic seats, in Row 2 close to the blue line. Wow. Apparently our fans are becoming known through the league as noisy and crazy. We went fifteen years without an NHL team after the Jets left. It took 20 minutes for season tickets to sell out for the next three years. Just getting a single ticket for a game is almost impossible. So yeah...the fans are crazy in love with our new team. The atmosphere in the building has been described as electric.

There were hard hits on the boards only a few feet away from us, hits that made me cringe. At that level, you can really see how fast those players move. Again, wow! They go full out, and in  confined space like that, you can see how injuries happen so easily. I loved being able to see the players' faces. Defending the net, I saw the intensity on Mark Stuart's face again and again as he stared down his opponent, trying to anticipate his moves and keep himself between the puck and the net.

It was also cool to see the faceoffs from that angle, how focused everyone is as they wait for the puck to drop, and as soon as it does, how they move so fast, everyone knowing exactly where they're going. I saw the same pattern repeated several times, so these are obviously things they plan and work on.

The game started off a little slow, with not many shots for either team and I think that quieted the crowd a little. But it ended with huge excitement. Down 3-2, the Jets pulled their goalie for the extra man and banged away at the puck in front of the New Jersey net, seeming so close to getting it a number of times. The crowd was going crazy, trying to get the team going, but they just couldn't get that tying goal and ended up with a loss.

I wish my first live game had been a win, and I sure hope the Jets start winning again soon. I saw some ugly Tweets on Twitter from disappointed and disillusioned fans. Come on people! Your team can't win every game. Also, we wanted an NHL team. Nobody promised us Stanley Cup Champions. This team is still growing and we still get to experience NHL hockey in our city. It's great to be passionate about the team, but lets support them even through their losses.

I don't make New Years Resolutions because they're usually difficult to keep for a whole year and I always think it's just setting yourself up for failure. My husband always says his resolution is to work hard and make this year better than the last. I like that.

This year, however, I am going to make a resolution of sorts when it comes to my writing.

This is going to be my year of making writing fun again.

I think it's safe to say last year was a pretty crappy year for my writing. The fun got sucked out of writing. It got to the point where I sat down at the computer with my stomach in knots and stared blankly at the screen. I wasn't as productive. I wasn't as creative. I was miserable.

It happened for a few reasons. Some of them were beyond my control. Some things, though, happened because I let them. There were a few turning points in the year where I had to make some difficult decisions and take action, which was scary. But I did it. I took back control of my writing career. And things have improved so much.

How am I going to make writing fun again? 

In this business there are so many things that are out of our control. So this year I'm going to focus on the things I CAN control. Here are things I'm going to focus on, and things I'm NOT going to focus on:

I've had a five-year plan for my writing because I wanted to retire from day job and I hoped that my writing would help support me financially. I'm now two years into that plan and I can see it's not going to happen. But that's okay. I may not be able to write full time as soon as I'd hoped, but it will happen some day, and in the meantime, I still get to write and share my stories with people. So I'm going to focus on that.

I can't control the publishing industry. I entered into this business at a time where the industry is going through massive changes. This had an impact on my "plan" and is beyond my control. I need to let go of that and go with the things I can control. At first I thought that when the economy gets better and the publishing industry settles down, there still might  be hope of achieving my dreams. But now I don't think the publishing industry is ever going to go back the way it was, and I don't know what it's going to look like in the future. Maybe there will be a bigger place for me in it, or maybe not. I'm not giving up on the dream entirely, I'm just going to sit back and see how things shake out in the next few years. It may be that the dream I had just isn't realistic in this new world.

I love social networking, especially Twitter. I love all the information there is out there about writing and books and publishing. I love interacting with other writers and readers. But sometimes the world is a nasty place. There's a lot of hatred and ugliness out there. I'm tired of that. I'm tired of reviewers bashing authors any time they even talk about reviews; I'm tired of authors behaving badly over reviews; I'm tired of people who use all that negativity for their own agenda to draw attention to themselves, and thereby promote and perpetuate it.

Some of this I attribute to the Amazon phenomenon. There is so much pressure  - especially on self-published authors, whose only way of promoting their books is on their own -  to get reviews on Amazon, reviews which increase their rankings, which draw more attention to their books, which in turn sells more books. That's their livelihood and you can't blame authors for trying their hardest to do that. For self-published authors, I think it is safe to say that the majority of sales come from Amazon. It is HUGE. There are a lot of reviewers and traditionally published authors who don't get that. There are a lot of readers who don't understand that. It's caused a lot of conflict. Yes there are authors who have pushed too hard, reacted inappropriately. This is all new to people and people are making mistakes. But I'm tired of reading about it. All the time. People should just leave each other alone. So that is something I'm NOT going to focus on this year.

This year I'm backing away from some of the social networking. I think this will make me happier. It feels like a land mine at times, where an innocent comment can be misinterpreted and land you in a whole pile of steaming excrement. Having said that, if you want to interact with me - please do! I'm here and available through all the usual ways - email, Facebook, Blogger, Twitter. I will continue to send out newsletters to people who've indicated they want that. I will continue to Tweet about my writing and fun stuff and good news. I will try to post more on Facebook about those things. I will blog here and at the Nine Naughty Novelists and sometimes I'll do guest blog posts elsewhere. If you want to ask me a question or comment about my books, I'd love to hear from you.

I'm going to try not to focus on reviews (and I mean anywhere - Amazon, Goodreads, review blogs, review sites). This is a harder one, because every author wants validation for their writing. We all want to know if people like our work. So I have to keep reminding myself that there will always be some people who like it and some who don't. And that's okay. And I can't control it.

I'm going to focus less on promotion this year. Yes, we all want to sell more books, and reach more people with our stories. But there's a lot of stress involved in that too and it's always hard to know whether you're really getting any results. I'm not saying I won't do ANY promotion, because I will, but I'm not going to go crazy with a hundred guest blog posts with every new release and hammer-over-the-head promo Tweets about my books.

I will focus more on the fun things about social networking - interacting with people about fun and interesting things, celebrating other authors' good news and helping them share it, talking about books I love. I will unfollow people who are always negative, mean or self-righteous.

When it comes to my writing, one of the mistakes I made last year was trying to write what I thought I should be writing. So this year my focus will be on writing what I want to write. Yes I want to sell my books. But with other viable options for getting my stories out there, I'm just going to write the books I want to write and have fun doing it!

I think focusing less on the negative things and the things I can't control, and focusing more on the positive things and the things I can control will make writing fun again for me.

So I hope you'll come along with me for year of having fun writing and reading.

Today I'm at Long and Short Reviews guest blogging with a heartwarming Christmas story and a giveaway of my Christmas novella, All I Want For Christmas (which is also heartwarming!) Last chance for Christmas promotion! Hope you'll drop by and comment for a chance to win.

 

Ode to the male shopper

A last-minute buyer's cautionary tale

By: Doug Speirs

From the Winnipeg Free Press

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/ode-to-the-male-shopper-136130363.html

Enlarge Image

Dustin Byfuglien. (CP)

Enlarge Image

Jim Slater (CP)

TRIBUNE MEDIA MCT e

Evander Kane.

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the mall
Not a woman was shopping, not a single one at all
The stores were jam-packed as far as you could see
With desperate male shoppers, bozos like me
The women were home wrapping, with ribbons and glue
They'd finished their shopping back in 2002

Us guys? We're just starting, to that I can vouch
We spent December napping, curled up on the couch
Now sweating profusely, with eyes all ablaze
We hunt for presents, manly zombies in a daze
Our wallets are stuffed, our credit cards ready
We'll buy almost anything: a bathrobe, a teddy

We do the same stupid thing, year after year
Put off all our shopping to eat snacks and drink beer
So now in a panic, we root through the stores
At the lingerie shops, we peer through the doors
We're afraid of lacy things, so we gaze from afar
Heck, it took us six hours to park the (bad word) car

We can't find a clerk, and they all seem so lazy
Listening to carols for months has driven them crazy
Our kids and our wives, they deserve so much better
Than bargain-bin toys, or a holiday sweater
See that jerk over there, the one crying by the door
He's clearly gone mad, he's shopped here before

But I won't give up, I'll browse till I die
My family will disown me if the perfect gift I don't buy
The kids want junk I wouldn't touch with a broom
Like, Alien Death Star or Zombie Killers of Doom
My wife isn't that fussy, it shows in her eyes
But I have no clue what she likes, or if it comes in her size

Time is running out, there are decisions to make
God help me if I repeat last year's shopping mistake
I thought it was brilliant, what I put 'neath the tree
It was the sort of present I wish she'd given to me
But apparently women do not get a big thrill
From a power tool set with a quarter-inch drill

So us guys trudge along at a very slow trot
Would our spouses be happy with Belgian chocolate?
As time ticks away, we start to grow frantic
What kind of (bad word) present makes a woman romantic?
A toaster? An iron? Some six-inch high heels?
Forgive us, we're guys, we're just spinning our wheels

What's that over there? It looks shiny and neat
That other guy wants it! His face I will beat
My Christmas spirit is really starting to sag
I haven't bought one thing; there's zip in my bag
Every guy in this mall is jacked on caffeine
We're edgy, we're angry, we're desperate and mean!

Dear Santa, please help me, I need a stiff drink
How do you do it? What's the name of your shrink?
Take a look in my eyes: They're lifeless and cold
Like a creepy Barbie doll (the last one's already sold)
We just need to buy something, we'll cough up the cash
Then out of this mall we'll (very bad word) dash

Hold on, what's that sound? I see a long line
In front of the Jets store; I pray I'm in time
My kids and my wife would love Dear Old Dad
If on Christmas Day in Jets gear they were officially clad
So I fight my way through, my elbows are high
A licensed Jets jersey I (more bad words) must buy

I think of the players, then call out their names:
"Bring me Slater and Byfuglien, and don't forget Kane!"
The hollow-eyed clerk forks over the gear
I've just paid a king's ransom for an NHL souvenir
But none of this matters; to home I must go
Sure, my gifts aren't original; I just went with the flow

But none of that matters, because I have to go far
Too bad I don't know where I parked the damn car
Still, I speak for all guys, the big and the small
We're just happy it's over; we're fleeing the mall
And you'll hear us exclaim, as we drive out of sight,
"Merry Christmas to all, this last line don't rhyme!"
doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 23, 2011 A4

 The winner of a download of All I Want For Christmas and a $10 gift card for choice of Amazon, B&N or Ellora's Cave is:

Susan! (susanmplatt@hotmail.com)

Susan I have also emailed you. Thanks to everyone who participated, wow this blog hop rocked my stockings off!! Happy Holidays everyone!

 

See the complete list of participants and prizes here

Welcome to the Stuff Your Stockings Blog Tour! To welcome you here to my site I thought I would give you the Top Ten Reasons a Christmas Tree is Better Than a Man:

1. A Christmas tree is always erect.
2. Even small ones give satisfaction.
3. A Christmas tree stays up for 12 days and nights.
4. A Christmas tree always looks good - even with the lights on.
5. A Christmas tree is always happy with its size.
6. A Christmas tree has cute balls.
7. A Christmas tree doesn't get mad if you break one of its balls.
8. You can throw a Christmas tree out when it's past its 'sell by' date.
9. You don't have to put up with a Christmas tree all year.

Okay I'm totally kidding with this list -  I love men! There's no way a tree is really better than a man!

Here's a little excerpt from my Christmas novella, All I Want For Christmas, which I'm giving away a copy of, and a $10 gift card for winner's choice of Amazon, B&&N or Ellora's Cave! Leave a comment and I'll draw one random winner.

EXCERPT:

Wow. Ladies’ bathrooms were really nice. She turned him and pushed him down to sit on the chair with the red velvet seat. He could just stare at her as she hiked her snug skirt up over her thighs so she could straddle his lap.

Holy shit. All the blood in his veins immediately rushed to his dick, which hardened painfully and made him dizzy. “Erin…” he croaked.

She laid her hands on his shoulders and leaned in to kiss him, a luscious, soft, lingering kiss. He held her waist and kissed her back, helpless to resist. Her lips were velvety and warm and, when she opened her mouth over his and touched her tongue to his lips, his head started spinning.

He slid a hand up her back, over the smooth bare skin above the strapless dress and into her long silky hair to hold her head. He tilted her head for a better angle and deepened the kiss. On and on it went, deep, open-mouthed, devouring, something he’d wanted to do for months. Heat exploded inside him. God, she was sweet and delicious and better than every fantasy he’d had about her over the last months.

“Erin,” he groaned. Her small hands clamped onto his shoulders through the suit jacket, and she squirmed on his lap to get nearer. “God, Erin.” Then her hands were in his hair, gripping and tugging. Jesus, she was hot, as hot and needy as he was.

He moved the hand on her waist down so he could slide it along the silky skin of her thigh, and she moaned into his mouth. He was throbbing everywhere, insanely turned on by this outrageous conduct, even more aroused by the knowledge that all their co-workers were just feet away merrily partying.

She wriggled closer to him, and he could feel the damp heat of her panties against his crotch. Then she bit his lip, just hard enough to make him jump. “Sorry,” she whispered, and licked his bottom lip. Then she kissed him again. My God, she was going to kill him. Lust rose in him like a tidal wave, threatened to sweep them both away, and he ate at her mouth hungrily, fiercely.

She sat up and arched her back in invitation, her breasts so close to his face. He hesitated only a nanosecond before reaching for the back of her dress.

“The zipper’s at the side,” she murmured, and lifted her left arm. He found the tiny tab and yanked it down, loosening the snug bodice, then tugged it down to her waist. God in heaven, her breasts were a work of art. High, round, just full enough, with tight dark nipples that begged to be sucked. His mouth actually watered as he looked down at her in awe, hungry to taste and lick and suck.

“Beautiful, Erin,” he muttered and, closing his eyes, he bent to taste her. He took the tip of one breast into his mouth, and she was sweet against his tongue. She quivered, arching her back even more, head falling back so her long hair was on his knees. He fisted one hand in that hair and tugged hard, tugged her back even farther, and he covered her chest with kisses, returning to the other hard little nipple to tug and suck.

“Dex, oh, God,” she cried out softly.

“Shh,” he whispered. “We have to be quiet.”

“Yes, yes, quiet,” she babbled mindlessly. Then she let out a long moan as he sucked hard on the budded tip of her breast. Her pelvis pressed against his hard-on, and he pushed her thighs farther apart to allow her closer. Rocking against him, she was clearly seeking satisfaction.

Meanwhile he was going to get his satisfaction way to soon if she kept moving against him like that. “Hold on, gorgeous,” he whispered and shoved his hand inside the black lace panties she wore. His fingers found her wet and hot and slick, and he stroked through her creases, as low as he could go in the position they were in, finding the entrance to her tight sheath, then back up over the swollen button of her clitoris. She jerked on his lap when he touched her there, bit her lip, eyes closed.

“Is that good?” he asked softly, stroking her there.

“Yes,” she sighed. “So good.”

He felt the tension building in her body, her thighs quivering, muscles tightening, and then they both heard the door to the ladies’ room open. High-pitched voices chattered as two—or was it three?—women came in.

            Erin and Dex tensed and leaned their foreheads together, panting, trying not to make a sound. Erin didn’t recognize the voices. Damn! She’d been so close! 

All I Want For Christmas is available at Amazon B&N Apple iBooks Kobo

Today at the  Twelve Days of a Smutketeer Xmas Blog Party, The Nine Naughty Novelists have listed ways to make Christmas naughty, and we're giving away a Naughty Naughty Christmas prize package - come say hi!

 

http://www.smutketeers.com/

And...


It's the Grand Opening today of Book Trailer Showcase! Check it out! Prizes!

Today is my son's birthday. Happy birthday buddy! He is 19 and wow, does that make me feel old! My baby!

Every year I roll my eyes in frustration at his December birthday (I didn't plan it that way! He arrived two months early!) because it's so hard to come up with gift ideas for birthday AND Christmas within weeks of each other. Also he gets gift cards and money for his birthday, which he promptly goes out and spends, buying himself the things I want to get him for Christmas. Argh! I keep telling him, just wait until after Christmas, but he's not big on delayed gratification. 

So tonight I'm making beef stroganoff, one of his favourite meals. His friends are coming over for ice cream cake and then they're going out to the bar. Last year when he turned 18 (legal drinking age here) he was the first of all his friends to turn 18 and his big sister had to take him out to celebrate! It's good that they're good enough friends to do that.

So for today, Christmas gets put on hold and it's all about the birthday (which Christmas actually is, too, right? Just someone else's birthday!)

 ...is a fun, sexy little read, perfect for the holidays. We've all felt that pressure to make the season perfect, with perfect parties, perfect gifts and perfect decorations. When things don't go perfectly, it can seem like Christmas is ruined. But sometimes when things go wrong, it helps us see what's really important about the season.

If you bought my book All I Want For Christmas when it was previously published, this is the same book re-released with a new cover. But if you haven't read it, this is a good time to pick it up since it's only .99.

It's available at Amazon, B&N, Smashwords

 

Perfectionist Erin Nordman usually loves Christmas, but this year things aren't going quite as planned. Lost gifts, too much work to do and organizing the office Christmas party are stressing her out. When Dex Mitchell comes by, the gorgeous Director of Finance who she's had a crush on forever, she turns into a stammering klutz.What else could go wrong this Christmas?

How about too much to drink at the Christmas party, a sexy encounter in the ladies' room and an embarrassed hangover the next day? Can anything turn this around so Erin gets what she really wants for Christmas?

I've had quite a few emails lately from readers asking if there are going to be more stories about the Heller brothers. Maybe it's because we're into hockey season! You may remember Jase from Breakaway...here's his Romance Trading Card...

And Tag from Faceoff...

Yes, we're well into hockey season now and I have to say I am LOVING having my Jets back!! I've always loved hockey, ever since I was a little girl. When we had our NHL team I loved going to games when we could and when we couldn't, watching them on TV. I especially loved cheering for them in the playoffs. When we lost our team, I kind of lost interest in hockey and mostly only watched it during the playoffs or the Olympics. In the playoffs I'd pick a team to cheer for, based on various reasons. Vancouver - because they're Canadian. Chicago - because their captain is from my city. Pittsburgh- because of Sid. But now I'm into every Jets game and it's so much fun! (More fun when they win, but hey, they're a young team ).

So I wrote a couple of hockey romances, you might know. (Faceoff's selling quite well on Amazon!) And as I mentioned,  I've had quite a few emails lately from readers asking if there are going to be more stories about the Heller brothers. 

So - am I going to write another hockey romance? YES.

I'd always planned at least three stories - Tag, who's the oldest Heller brother; Jase the next oldest; and Logan after him. Matt is still very young - he's in college, and that's pretty young for a HEA, but I haven't ruled out writing his story down the line! However, Logan's is yet to come and so I started working on it recently. Pray to the writing gods and goddesses that this goes well, but I think I've found the right woman for him. Stay tuned!

Author Beth Kery is having a huge contest to win a KINDLE at her blog this month, celebrating the release of her book Silken Rapture (wow, I love that title!!) You can find out all about it and how to enter at her blog . Today I'm a guest there and I'm also giving away a prize - a copy of One Wicked Night, my latest release. Come on by and leave a comment for a chance to win my book and the fabulous Kindle prize! 

There has been much discussion lately about the many choices writers have now when it comes to publishing their work. There are still the traditional New York Publishers; there are smaller digital-first publishers; and there is self-publishing. This has turned into flame wars between authors who, I would venture to guess, feel exactly the same about the pros and cons of each choice but express their opinions differently. And I’ve seen the heated opinions on Twitter about differing opinions on this.

So apparently authors have many choices.

Really?

I think there are a few authors who have lots of choices when it comes to publishing their work.  Authors like Courtney Milan who has self-reported her two six figure deals with a New York publisher, but chose to self publish. Authors like Barry Eisler, multi-published with New York, who turned down a $500,000.00 deal to self-publish (but instead went with a different choice yet – one of Amazon’s imprints, which isn’t really self-publishing). And authors like Amanda Hocking, who did things in reverse —established herself through her self-publishing and then signed a four-book contract with St. Martin’s Press which reportedly entered a bidding war that went over $2 million. 

But those are not the majority of authors. The majority of authors would probably say their first choice is to publish with New York (majority—not all) but the reality is that only a few will ever get contract offers by those NY publishers. That takes away a choice right there. There are also authors who will then choose to submit to digital-first publishers. Yes, there is a wide range of publishers from hugely successful publishers to tiny niche publishers, meaning a lot of choice but those authors might find their manuscript passed on by those publishers as well. Which then leaves really only one choice —self publishing. 

This past weekend I was at the Emerald City Writers’ Conference and I attended a workshop on author branding by Angela James. During a question and answer period, she made the comment to an author (who had submitted her manuscript to Carina Press but had been rejected) that “just because you can publish doesn’t mean you should publish”.

I don’t disagree with that entirely. I’d just had that conversation with some of my writing friends, when I’d noted another author who’d just self-published the first book she ever wrote. We discussed how that might not be in an author’s best interests in the long run. Sure, I could self-publish the first book I ever wrote. And some people might even buy it, because I do have some fans who like my work. But I know that book is utter crap and it would only damage my professional reputation to put that out into the world for people to read.

But I also know from my experiences trying to find an agent, then finding an agent and having her try to sell my manuscripts, that it isn’t always about the quality of a manuscript. There are very narrow things that editors are looking for, especially at the New York publishers. Anything that is outside that narrow box won’t even be looked at, no matter how good it is. Smaller publishers and digital publishers might have broader windows of what they’re looking for, but they still have those boundaries. So it’s entirely possible that good books go unpublished because they don’t fit within those strict boundaries of what publishers are looking for.  

In those cases, self-publishing is definitely a viable option. But let’s not kid ourselves — there are times it’s the ONLY option. Sure, Barry Eisler might choose self-publishing over a $500,000 New York deal. Courtney Milan might choose to self-publish rather than go for another six figure deal. But for most authors— those New York deals aren’t on the table for them to choose.  

So when we talk about “choices” we need to be honest and realistic. For the majority of writers, there really aren’t that many “choices”.

It's finally here! One Wicked Night is out tomorrow at Samhain Publishing! (And other fine book etailers everywhere!).

To go along with my One Wicked Hour party at the Samhain Cafe tonight I'm having a contest here at my blog and giving away a copy of One Wicked Night. Just leave a comment telling me which of my covers is your favorite! (They're all down the side of this blog  à  or you can also see them on my website.)

I'll run the contest overnight to give people a chance to get her after the party and will draw the winner tomorrow afternoon!

Ana y Jose Beach Club, Tulum, Mexico, Photobucket

Every year I hear of someone I know who's planning a "destination wedding" and often it's in Mexico. When we were in Puerto Vallarta a couple of years ago, I swear there was a wedding on the beach every day. It was actually really beautiful - right beside the ocean, breezes blowing, tropical flowers and palm trees. So romantic. I thought maybe my husband I should renew our vows just so we could do that, LOL.

This week in the news I read that legislators in Mexico have proposed a bill that would require all couples getting married to sign a prenuptual agreement that would speicify the period of time they expect the marriage to last.

Whoa!! Why didn't someone think of this sooner??

Romantic as I am, I know a lot of marraiges end in divorce and know how painful and expensive that whole process can be. So if you're getting married, why not just do it for a couple of years? That way if things aren't going well, the marriage just ends. Done. No muss, no fuss.

If things ARE going well, I suppose you could get married again! What fun! I love weddings. It could be another wedding on the beach in Mexico!

The Catholic Church naturally was not amused by this. Rev. Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Catholic archdiocese  said, "This denigrates the concept of the family ... and makes it more like a pact between friends..."

But Carlos Torres, spokesman for legislator Lizbeth Rosas, one of the bill's sponsors, said that people can specify whatever term they want (although apparently it can't be less than two years). So they could say 50 years, 99 years or even until death do us part if that's what they want.

Yes, as a romantic it does seem somewhat cold and practical. But I do see some positive things about it too. The law hasn't been passed yet, but it will be interesting to see if it does and if destination weddings to Mexico increase because of it!

The Nine Naughty Novelists are celebrating our SECOND anniversary!

 I can't believe it's been two years. I have to say, hooking up with these ladies was one of the best things that has happened in my writing career. It is so awesome to have friends who understand exactly how I feel and what I'm talking about with every rejection and review, and with every sale and celebration. We've had so much fun together and I'm especially proud of our serial stories. Putting The Zillionaire Vampire Cowboy's Secret Werewolf Babies up for sale on Amazon and Smashwords seemed kind of crazy to me - we wrote it just for fun! But the reviews and the sales have blown my mind! And our second serial story was just as much fun. Not only is it fun brainstorming these ideas (this is an amazingly creative group of writers!) the writing part has made me stretch as a writer. I've never TRIED to write funny before, although I'm told there is a lot of humor in my stories. I've never written about vampires or werewolves. I've never written a historical romance. And I've definitely never written a virgin before. I'm amazed at how we each come up with some little idea, and then the rest of us take it and run with it.

To celebrate we're giving away books! Lots of books! And an Amazon gift card! Go to the Nine Naughty Novelists' blog to find out how to participate!

In other news...

My critique partner Nara Malone has a release out this week:  SNATCH ME from Ellora's Cave.

This is such a unique (and HOT!) story! I'm not much into virtual worlds like Second Life, but Nara is a total tech geek (I say that with admiration and affection - one time she totally helped me rescue a document I thought I'd lost forever and she's encourage me to step our of my comfort zone and into her virtual world). Yes she has even created her own virtual world to show people what it's like. I really loved experiencing that virtual world after having read Snatch Me, so I could better imagine what Jolie was experiencing in the story. You should definitely check this one out!

And in morenews...I'm gearing up for my next release which is out October 25. ONE WICKED NIGHT - I can't wait!!

AND...I have official cover art for my February Samhain release and it is HAWT!! I totally love it and thank you to the amazing Scott Carpenter for this cover:

I think I had more to say but now I can't remember what it was. Must make notes. And I'm sorry I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks! Time got away from me - in my defence, I've been deeply into my "work in progress" and it's going great!

I've seen the posts on the various publisher and author loops, where someone posts their social networking link - Facebook link or Twitter link or Goodreads page and says, come like me, or follow me, or whatever. And everyone does, because we all want more followers or fans or whatever they're called.

Then I see blog posts and Tweets and Facebooks posts about authors who "spam" other authors with news about their books, their contracts, their reviews.

That's why I won't follow, like or friend every author I know. Okay, I actually have done that before - so when I get invitations to events, or news about a release, if I'm not interested I just disregard it. I *don't* complain about that author spamming me. If I didn't want to know about that stuff, I shouldn't have friended/liked/followed them -- right?

But now I've figured some of this stuff out, I'm not doing that any more.

So I will ask the same from others so I don't get accused of spamming other authors - don't like my page, or friend me, or follow me if you don't want to read about my new release or my release party coming up. I don't want to be afraid to invite people I follow to my release party because they'll think I'm spamming them. I want to invite people who might be interested in what I'm doing, so if you're not interested,  don't friend/follow/like me. I'm okay with that. I'd rather have fewer followers and have them people genuinely interested in what I'm doing, than a gazillion friends who aren't interested and get annoyed when I tell them what I'm doing

Here are my links if you're really interested!

http://ninenaughtynovelists.blogspot.com/

I'm a guest at fellow author Tara Kingston's blog and I'm giving away a copy of Faceoff! Come on by and find out a bit more about me and say hi! I'll draw the winner Sunday Sept 25/11.