 Being Friday is reason enough to celebrate, but this week I have an extra special reason: It's release day for Run for the Roses!
I'm hosting a release day virtual party on the Dreamspinner Press Blog. Come on by for a good time and free stuff! Last year I was lucky enough to attend the Dreamspinner Press Author conference and was surrounded by many other Dreamspinner Press authors. Nice folks, a little crazy but in that really sweet sort of way.
Naturally, when a bunch of writers larger than a group of one get together conversations turn to writerly things. There was all sorts of talk about balancing writing with the rest of our lives, the right plots, the wrong plots and story development. The most in depth and by far interesting conversations revolved around our characters. We all went on and on about which of our characters were telling us their back stories, and which ones were about to find one another and how difficult it was to convince them to take their first kiss. After I came home I began working with Anne Barwell developing our The Sleepless City series. Her book, Shades of Sepia, is the first book in the series and my upcoming release, Electric Candle is the second. It will be available April 4 from Dreamspinner Press. My conversations with Anne, in part, revolved around what things this or that character was doing at the time. I’ve often noticed, while engaged in conversations about our characters with readers and other authors alike, we talk about them as if they’re real. It makes me want to ask: you do know they’re not real, right? Sometimes, I wonder. I’m on the top of the list of offenders who treat my fictional people like they’re sitting here with me. I’ve come to realize the truth is, those people, my fictional people, do share my life day in and day out. Sort of makes me sound crazy. Then again, I think a prerequisite for being a writer is at least a dash of crazy. The truth is, the reason a writer can bring characters ‘to life’ in a book is because of their relationship with those characters. Well-developed characters speak to us. They have a story to tell. There is so much more to a character than what goes into a book. I have many little details written down about each and every character that gets added in here and there as needed. Things like what they like to eat, or their favorite color. Jonas Forge, one of the stars of Electric Candle is a sports fan. That fact is something that never came up in the book, but I do happen to know he’s a huge Cleveland Indians fan! Forge was a great character to work with, he’s got a lot of background after all, 239 year’s worth! He’s a vampire and a homicide detective. Even at his age things still surprise him. One of the biggest surprises is when love tumbles—quite literally—into his life. Don’t tell Jonas he’s not real, it upsets him and he’s got a few more books to appear in. Nothing worse than trying to work with a difficult character. Originally posted on Pants off Reviews Since I never did the rest of the posts everyday as I intended, I guess I'll just do one big one now. This event was amazing. Not so big you couldn't meet people and talk to them and not too little either. Everyone was so nice and I think there was much fun for all. The panels were really fun and creative. In addition to being on a few--Taboos in Romance, yeah that was fun and interesting. Shifter sex in full shift and mpreg, I say no more...lol Then there was Blending Erotica with Genre Fiction. I had a blast on that panel. The author Q&A's had lots of questions and answers. I got to hear Shira Anthony sing happy birthday to Becky Condit...opera style in the middle of a restaurant, which was fantastic and I'm still kicking myself for not yanking out my phone and recording the whole thing. On the other hand, Shira probably would have kicked me, and she wears HEELS. Ouch. The guys on the Male Perspective (dubbed the Man Panel by the attendees) had such an interesting and enlightening views on the subject of gay romance and fiction in general. I really learned a lot and they made me feel good about being a woman and writing M/M romance. All of them are gentlemen in the truest sense of the word. I must thank all the con organizers, but one person in particular made the whole thing not just great but uber fun and special. Jodi Pushkin was such a wonderful, cheerful person the entire weekend. She made a group of people welcome in her city and was genuinely fun. I loved every minute spent with her and hope we can be friends for years to come. She's got cute cats too. I believe she has recently been promoted on Facebook from coffee wench to coffee goddess! Congrats. Shannon Shell and Katriona Skye from Dreamspinner Press are always a delight to spend time with and good grief can they throw together an outing at the last minute and keep everything organized like no one else can! You're both the best.   When I left Cleveland Wednesday morning before the convention there was snow and frost. These little guys greeted me when I got home!
Meeting other authors, so many readers and reviewers like Lisa H and Jackie from The Novel Approach and Becky Condit from Mrs. Condit and Friends, Jodi Pushkin and Princess So was the best. I loved hearing their side of things. Mostly I enjoyed learning about all the different reasons one gets into the review business to begin with. Grace R. Duncan did a fun and informative panel on How Not to Write Sex, we were all laughing so hard there were tears. Grace and Shira kindly shared their room with me, a big hug and thank you to them.  I always knew authors were very nice people to hang out with, but this weekend is the first time I've gotten the chance to rub elbows with some of the reviewers. Holy cow, what nice people.
So far I've had the pleasure of meeting Becky Condit from Mrs. Conit & Friends as well as Lisa and Jackie from The Novel Approach. Such lovely and fun people and Lisa is just a bundle of energy. I spent some time lurking at the Dreamspinner table, all my books are there, as well as many other great titles. Shannon Shell and Katriona Skye are not only very helpful members of the DSP staff, but as you can see, they're a lot of fun. Yesterday's panels, which were great fun were the Blending Erotica and Genre Fiction, and an author Q&A. There were many laughs during both of them. Today my panel is Taboos in Romance (guess I'll be talking a lot about Todd and Nick!) The hotel we're staying is fabulous and the staff are very nice. They actually talk to you in the way that says they enjoy their jobs, and not simply because they have to be nice to the guests. I'm rooming with Shira Anthony and Grace R. Duncan, lovely ladies. |
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