I live in the country and get lots of 'em. It sucks. Tonight I'm minding my own business at my computer not writing anything whatsoever and the biggest fly I've ever seen buzzed over and landed right on the corner of my monitor. Worked his little front legs over his face like he was settling in for the long night.
Uh no. I rolled up my latest issue of RWR and swatted him dead. Nice.
And for whatever reason there are some pretty large spiders hanging out in our house. I kill multiples every day. It's pretty gross.
Yes, we have pest control, but lately they suck. You have to call them to get them to come out and spray. I think I need to hire a new service.
We have a ton of frogs who live on our back patio so they help cut down on our bug population as well as pest control, but it's just not enough.
This has nothing to do with writing but I couldn't help but blog about it. The little boogers hang around my lamp at my desk every night so I thought I would pay homage to them.
How freakin' sad is that?
I got word of my release date tonight.
Release Me will be available August 4th at Cobblestone Press!
Here's a blurb:
Sommer vows to take control of her orgasms – and ends up having lots of them on her desk with the IT guy! Ted wants everything she’s willing to give and more, but will the sparks they share be enough to overcome his secret?
Needless to say, this is a pretty steamy story. So here goes my new career as a romantica author.
Whoo-hoo!
I changed it - I don't know if I like it. And I jacked up my picture, need to redo it. Hell, I need a new pic, period.
What do y'all think? Too dark? Just plain too freaky? It's surprisingly easy to change the blog skin, so if you hate it (I'm still on the fence), tell me and I'll change it up!
Thanks
I happen to like it. I don't understand why men shave their chests. Well, I do understand I guess but I don't really like it. They want to show off their muscles, they think chest hair is "unclean." It's like some new trend or something.
Now I like a hairy chest, but it has to be medium hairy. Not too crazy, not too thick.
The reason I wanted to blog about this topic? Check out this guy!
This picture doesn't do it justice. He just got engaged to one of the women from "Grey's Anatomy." He has the freakin' hairiest chest I've ever seen, and I've only seen the peek of hair coming out of his shirt! That thing looks like a thick rug! It looks CRAZY! If he held me close to his naked chest, I'm afraid I would choke and die!
Ok. Enough said. What's the opinion on men's chests - hair or no hair?
My picture of Mr. Bean in his underwear violated photobucket's term of service. That is AWESOME!
Hmm, wonder if my other picture is gonna get banned next??
Hi, my name is Karen and I'm addicted to classic easy listening music.
Yes, I have a serious problem. Lately I have been waxing nostalgic over classic tunes that make me feel like a kid again.
The first serious sign of trouble was my quest to find anything by Ambrosia. I have to admit, I didn't even know who sang the song I was thinking of - "You're the Only Woman." I personally thought the Little River Band sang it (they are my next quest by the way). I punched in the title of the song and came up with a fantastic list of Ambrosia songs on iTunes. I could've gone crazy, but I only bought three. And listen to them over and over again.
Also a big Supertramp fan (friend of mine in junior high called them Wonderslut - get it? Always thought that was funny). Have their greatest hits CD. Mmm, hmm, nothing better than listening to "The Long Way Home."
Early Billy Joel. For whatever reason, "Big Shot" is like my favorite song right now. What, I was like 9 when that song came out or something? I don't know, but it's good stuff. Before he started singing all that doo-wop crap.
The Eagles are always good, and I've been listening to the slower stuff - two great ones are "I Can't Tell You Why," and "New Kid in Town." Easy listening baby, easy listening!
But then I'll bust out some old Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Depeche Mode and some trance song I found on someone's myspace that I listen to over and over again. I've been enjoying a real mixed bag to say the least.
I know Julie just blogged about her music tastes, and she had quite the varied list too. Anybody else want to share their music choices?
Ok, I promised a new picture cos I had trouble posting the one yesterday and the pic is just not large enough to get the full impact of that firm backside so here's another one for your viewing pleasure:
I was cruising a site with all kinds of hunky man pictures and they threw this one into the middle of it! Hilarious!
Enjoy.
I thought I would take a cue from my friend April who posted a pic of a half naked hot dude on her blog recently.
So here you go! Another gift for the weekend - I'm going to make this a weekly tradition for all to enjoy.
Sorry the pic is so small, though. When I posted it earlier at its original size it messed up my entire page! Grrrrrrrr...
Edit - Ok I fixed the picture cos it kept shrinking and shrinking and shrinking...no wonder Julie didn't know what the hell it was!
So Big Brother is having their big vote right now and Mr. Inspiration for my Blaze has another shot at being on my TV all summer long (well as long as he can last before he gets his butt voted off, something he did not only once but twice last season. Dork.), so I thought I would promote him on my blog. Especially because he's just damn cute in this picture too.
Ok, and so I added Janelle on here too. His partner out of circumstance last summer, one of the best players I've ever seen of the game, truly. And I have to admit this, the inspiration behind my heroine for my Blaze too!
So cliche, but you should have seen the chemistry between these two last summer on the live feeds! There was so much of it you could practically see the sparks in the air. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. First of all, she hooked up with his friend and original partner, Mike who was a real slime. Who got voted off rather quickly. So Kaysar and Janelle came together, hung out, became good friends. She pretty much admitted if he would've made a move first, she would've been receptive. He blew it! He admitted he blew it!
But he wouldn't overstep the boundaries, didn't want to take what was already taken, by his friend no less. They had too many differences anyway, and probably would've never worked out.
They worked out in my book though. Made my own happy ending.
See why I'm so lame?
If you get a chance, vote for these two. They're awesome!
I'm getting a website as we speak. I'm excited - it's gonna look awesome. Want to check it out? It's not ready yet but you can get a preview of the main page by going to:
www.karenwritesromance.com
Yeah baby! This is exciting. Well, at least for me.
Ok, I need to seriously write today. Company is leaving this morning. Husband is home and said he would watch the kids so I could get some major writing time in. Wish me luck.
How's everyone's writing progress, by the way? Chugging along? I hope so, I need some inspiration!
I've been coming out of the closet.
The writing closet, that is. I figured since I just sold something, I need to start telling people so I can generate some buzz and get people to buy the dang thing.
I've been keeping my writing a secret. You tell people this stuff and then they constantly ask you about it. And when you have nothing to report, well, then it starts being difficult to deal with. Like you don't want to deal with their questions at all. So I just wouldn't tell anyone except for those closest to me.
So I've started telling people. Friends, family members. I never expected my first sale to be an erotic/romantic story, and that's been kind of tough to explain to people, to say the least. But most everyone has been really supportive, which is nice. I've had a few friends who were shocked, not real excited/supportive but that's okay. I kind of expected that.
Have any of you who are not published (yet - that's my positive vibe going on!) revealed your secret writing passion? Or even those who ARE published - are some of you still keeping it a secret? Share your experiences...
Look at the abs on this guy!
First, thanks everybody for all of the kind comments and well wishes yesterday. I appreciate them all! A shout out to my new author friends at Cobblestone. I'm so excited to be a part of this publisher!
So...I decided to use a pen name at Cobblestone. Karen Erickson (maiden name) it shall be. And so I've been thinking - should I change it overall? Just make myself Karen Erickson for good? Crap, I don't know. I want to start a website, but karenerickson.com is already being used - by a realtor named Tami Timbeross!!??!! What the heck? Why is she using my name? Oh, I just read further - her mom's name is Karen Erickson. Huh.
Anywhoo, I need a domain name, I need to write a blurb and various other stuff, I need to do a lot! I feel a little overwhelmed, but in a good way.
ps - If you have a myspace account, check me out. http://myspace.com/kdid210. Add me! I need to network more.
I sent off a short story (my dirty little story is what I nicknamed it) to Cobblestone Press on Saturday afternoon. . .
. . . And they sent me a contract this evening!!!!
I'm so excited. I can hardly stand myself. I'm going to be published! And with Cobblestone - I've been so impressed with the way they promote their site and their authors and now I'm going to be a part of it!
Well, first I have to read and sign the contract. That's kinda important, huh?
Ok, gotta go put kids to bed. Just 'cos I was offered a contract doesn't mean I can stop what I normally do every evening and revel in the good news. Rather unfortunate, but what can I do?
Whoo-Hoo!
I'm taking an online workshop through a RWA online chapter I'm a member of. Self-editing is the topic. Couldn't come at a better time, considering I need to do some major self editing on the Blaze attempt.
So...the first thing to do is to STEP AWAY FROM THE MANUSCRIPT. Recommended a few weeks but sometimes that's hard with a deadline. The only deadline I have is myself so...that part was easy. I'd already stepped away from the thing. It's been a couple of weeks. I'm ready to throw myself back at it.
Next, print it out and read it in one setting. Well, I don't wanna print it out. First off, my kids have used so much of my printer paper to draw on, I have hardly any left. And I don't feel like going to the store. So, if you can't print it out, change the font type and size on your document before you read it on the computer. It'll trick your brain into thinking you're reading something else, not that story you just poured your blood, sweat and tears all over for the last *insert amount of time it took to write the darn thing here*.
I was skeptical, to say the least. I didn't think it would matter that I changed the font type and size. But I went ahead and did it, took a deep breath and ended up only reading the first two chapters. There went the read it in one sitting. But I was too tired. And my son wanted to use the computer to play his Neo Pets game so I was like, I'm done.
But let me tell you this - that font thing worked. I used the Track Changes option on Word (thank you Shelli for explaining to me how that works!) and went crazy. I was editing like a mad woman! All kinds of things I hadn't spotted before, mostly tightening up sentences.
And I've been working on the synopsis. I have to remember this is a business, and if I want to succeed in this business, I need to take it seriously. It's not all about writing fun stories and thinking up fun story ideas. You gotta work hard at making it better and then try to sell the thing. And the selling tool is the query letter and synopsis (gulp).
Wish me luck while I spend my time in editing land.
...And I'm up. I can't sleep. I should be exhausted. Spent half the previous day out in the blazing sun on a broken down boat in the middle of a lake with 5 children and three other adults besides myself.
Ok, that sounds like a nightmare but it wasn't that bad. The kids were good, we all had fun. The boat got towed back to shore by some very nice people who kindly helped us out. I feel sorry for our friends though - it's gonna cost them some $$ to fix that boat.
I'm sunburned, my nose looks like Rudolph's. I used sunblock, I swear! I feel asleep early - right now I have no writing projects I want to work on late into the night (though I have things to do, none of it appeals at the moment).
But I woke up about 15 minutes ago and just laid there. Snuck out of bed and came to my office. Heard a coyote howling like mad. I really hate that sound sometimes. Reminds me of being young and they kept showing the commercial for "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson on TV. It was summertime, I was about 8 and at my grandparents' house. Went to bed, heard coyotes howling outside and all I could think about was Jack Nicholson with an ax. Begged my grandma to shut my window. She did. Love my grandma.
So now on hot nights when I hear coyotes, I think of Jack Nicholson and an ax. What's up with that? The mind does weird things, makes you associate certain moments in life with sounds, smells, etc.
Ok, I went off on a strange tangent. See what happens when you blog in the middle of the night?
I like 'em, amongst other things.
What's your favorite male body part? Heh heh heh
Do you ever feel like you are? Like, every little thing you say ends up related to sex? You see some random dude and start feeling a litte . . . randy? I don't know, I think it's all this sex I write.
Not that I write pure sex. Of course there's a plot! A nice little story rich with emotions and conflict (well, at least I certainly hope all that stuff is in there!). Try and tell that to my husband's friends, the few he casually mentioned about what I was doing.
"My wife wants to become a published author. She's writing a book," my innocent husband said.
"What kinda book?" one of his friends asked.
Husband shrugs. "Dunno. I think she said a romance."
Heads shaking. Bug eyes. Catcalls. The works. "Where does she get her inspiration?" Wink wink, nudge nudge.
My poor husband. He doesn't talk about what I write with his friends anymore. Though that may change when I get published! (Or maybe not, cos then the proof of what I write is out there - in print! That just might freak them all out.)
What's got me thinking about all of this is that romantica/erotica/whatever you want to call it short story I'm almost finished with. I know, I know, I should be getting down to business and prepare my Blaze for submission, but this story came out of nowhere and I couldn't resist. I had to let it flow out of me for fear of it disappearing.
Anyway, it's a fun little sexy (ok, whole lotta sexy) romp that has been so much fun to write. And it made me realize . . .
I'm a pervert.
Not that I'm writing about extreme kink or anything, but I guess it's opened my eyes that I enjoy writing this sex stuff cos it's fun. The sexual tension stuff is even more fun. Romance is fun.
Huh. So I guess that makes me not so much of a pervert after all.
Watch me argue with myself on my blog! I'm a freak.
Anybody else feel like this writing stuff/romance stuff/sex stuff consumes them? Makes them feel a little naughty? And they like it? Please, join my club!
I feel all over the place, writing-wise. I need to work on a couple of query letters and synopses - blah. I need to revamp a bit on my Mod X offering and then finish the thing - ho hum. I've been fiddling with the idea of a short story/novella to submit to Cobblestone Press. Erotica. Whoo-wee! That sounds like the most fun to me.
So what I should be doing and what I actually want to be doing are two different things. I need to focus, I need to submit, cos I am this close to submitting two things. But I want to write a dirty little story that's been lingering in my head for the last few days, and I've already put a little bit down on paper. Aaah, nothing like starting a fresh new story!
Is everyone else focused? Doing what they should be? Not me! I swear, this weekend I'll get down to business. Promise.
Congrats to Cobblestone Press on their opening day and to all of the new authors! I can't wait to buy me a couple of new ebooks....
