Having trouble with your synopsis?

Let Bunny theater help. If they can shrink a 3hr movie to thirty seconds, you can shrink 400p to 2. Sit back, grab a piece of popcorn (you won't have time for more than one) and watch Titanic like you've never seen it before.

http://www.angryalien.com/0604/titanicbunnies.html

Tagged!

The cheeky, but lovable, Laura Bachi tagged me for a fun "four" meme. Here goes:


Four jobs I've had or currently have in my life:

1. Midwife
2. Fishwife
3. Housewife
4. Potter

Four countries I've been to:

1. Nepal
2. Bangkok
3. New Zealand
4. Vanatu

Four places I'd rather be right now:

1. in bed
2. in a hammock
3. in a sleep tank
4. lying on the couch... hmm, seeing a pattern here

Four foods I like to eat:

1. lobster
2. camenbert
3. melon
4. berries

Four personal heroes, past or present:

1. Kristen Painter & Jax - for starting RD
2. Gemma Halliday - for her awesome Heels stories
3. my old history teacher - for being everything a teacher should be
4. Helene - who saved my life in more ways than one

Four books you've read or are currently reading:

1. Working for the Devil - Lilith Saintcrow
2. Tide Knot - Helen Dunmore
3. Second Sight - Debbie Mumford
4. Will Write For Shoes

Four words or phrases you would like to see used more often:

1. Anything for you.
2. You are wonderful.
3. I loved your book.
4. We'd like to offer you a six-figure, multi-book contract ...

Four reasons for ending a friendship:

1. deceit
2. betrayal of trust
3. mean without a cause
4. only after what she can get from me

Four smells that make you feel good about the world:

1. baking bread
2. coffee!!!!!!!
3. rain
4. hyacinths

Four favorite activities you did as a kid:

1. playing with pretend friends
2. Drawing, esp with conte pastels
3. climbing trees
4. making up stories/songs

Four things My kids do that drive me nuts:

1. Pull up their socks until they tear the heels
2. bicker
3. leave stuff all over the place
4. refuse to admit they did something and spend hours blaming each other

Time to tag someone else... consider this aimed at you. :-)

Holy Guacamole!

Theft of the Golden Hooha finalled in the Get Your Stiletto in the Door chick lit cometition!!! Now it goes to Dorchester and Folio agency!!!

and um... better finish writing it, huh. :-0

Babe (collapsing into a chair)

Marian Gets Another Great Review!!!

The Marian Kind is one hilarious read! From the very first page I was sure this was a book I could not put down. Marian as the woman who loves her man but has had just about enough of his secrets was very funny, especially once he spilled the beans. Rob as the rich guy who wants to do right by the poor and thinks he has figured out a way is endearing. Never mind the constant “funeral humor” that had me wheezing for breath I was laughing so hard. Needless to say, I was highly entertained with these character’s antics. If you enjoy a lot of humor in your romance then you won’t want to miss this one!

from Regina - Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance

Read rest of Review

Thursday Thirteen

I don't think it comes as any surprise to those who know me that I love Jenny Crusie. Recently, I went to the Australian Romance Writer's conference (really not a happy time for me), but I went for Jennifer Crusie's lectures and the woman was all I'd hoped for. So this week for TT, I'm dragging from my copious notes 13 things about JC to amuse and inspire (together with my own comments from the peanut gallery). I hope you enjoy them as much as I did, though you really do need to see her in action for a full effect. If you get a chance to hear her speak, grab it!

1. "Your subconscious is so much smarter than you are."

So um, I'm smarter when unconscious. Somebody punch me.

2. "It's when you go to hell that you find the stuff that makes your book great."

Coz the devil has all the good plot lines and whispers them in your ear.

3. "You are a story teller.... You are the hero of your community."

And we know how everyone likes to torture the hero.

4. "There is no generic boinking."

But if you take off the maid costume you can have no frills boinking. Not the same of course.

5. "Violence always has an aftermath -- a physical and emotional reaction."

Not to mention blood.

6. "You are so much smarter than you think you are."

I must be so freaking brilliant...

7. "Tell Me Lies" was the book of her heart. If she could write another book like that, she would.

And so would I. :-)

8. She is currently agent shopping, though her last agent, Nancy Yost, remains a close friend.

and that's just inspiring!

9. She is currently writing another collaboration, "Always Kiss Me Goodnight," which is her first ghost story.

leaving the old dog comment alone. She might clunk me with a bone.

10. "Stay in the moment."

I am. I think the moment was about 6 years ago, but I'm still there.

11. "If you use a prologue, you will go to hell."

Is that what did it????

12. In "Agnes and the Hitman" she uses the kitchen as a motif, a symbol of warm, loving family.

whereas my kitchen is a symbol of slovenly housekeeping

13. "This isn't a business, it's a casino."

so when the chips are down, you might just win!!! :-) Lay your bets, ladies.

Halo pinned back on ... temporarily

I just found a review of Something Blue done by Shauna Sturge (The Long and the Short of it reviews.) Kinda nice.

Something Blue – Lyndell King

Wow! This short story is full of love and longing so strong and deep you actually feel it. Lyndell King has crafted a story full of phrases and words that bring the small fishing town and its characters to life. They will walk off the pages and into your heart.

Petra finds herself faced with a decision that could potentially save the economy of her beloved town. As she struggles with the demands of her new fiancé, her long-time friend and pastor, Nathan, despairs of losing her to another for the sake of the town and its people. This is a wonderful story about sacrifice and learning to listen to one’s heart. It’s about risk, forgiveness and that God’s blessings are most often found by letting go of our plans.

This story will grab you and take you along for the ride. The beautiful imagery and powerful sentence structure will have you feeling the sand and the wind, and seeing the beautiful sunset. These characters are real, flawed and wonderful. The dialogue is quick, witty and intense and will have you falling in love with the characters and the town.

See, I can be good sometimes. Pfffft! :-)

oh, and btw, speaking of good, on Fri. Aug 24th (ie Tomorrow) the lovely Sweeter Romantic Notions Authors will be chatting at Romance Bistro. I'll try to pop in, but that may be difficult as I have a s-i-l visiting from Belgium. Haven't seen her in years!!!! (Hope she brings chocolate) :-)

Oops - halo slippage

Just got the edits of Scratch That! and seems my potty mouth is bringing me unstuck. May have to change "opened a can of whoop ass" to opened a can of worms." Not quite the same thing. :-)

I'm so evil.

The Beauties of Homeschooling

I'm back to homeschooling my kids. This was a hard decision for me as I hate giving up writing time, but with my kids falling off the planet at the local school, accademically, socially and emotionally, it became imperative. I'll just have to get more efficient.

But the good thing is, I've been able to introduce them to the wonderful world of blogging. For the 8 year old, this means a blog of his own, uploading photos and basically using it as a diary. For the 14 year old this means getting his own email and myspace. He's started making short clips with Windows Movie Maker which he'll upload when he gets a feel for his space. He'll also put up some clips of him playing violin, and blog weekly to keep up to date and form a record of his year. I'm hoping it will put them more in touch with their feelings and lives, teach them a bit of IT, and give them a way to stay connected with any friends they make.

To be honest, it's great to see them excited about something again. Formal school all but dulled that out of them.

Dayna Magic

“Go Between” by Dayna Hart

Coming August 14th from Samhain Publications

Between two races that hate each other, at the doorway between two worlds, can Claire find the strength to be the emissary they all need?

Book One of The Curtain Torn series.

Halfway through her twenties, her divorce, and a bottle of rye, Claire opens her birthday present—a “pressed fairy” book.

One of the fairies is neither pressed, nor a picture. He’s the sinfully sexy Dell, who’s been trapped inside the book for twenty years. The moment Claire frees him, goblins attack her house. Dell and Claire’s only option is to use a “Between”—a rift between their worlds—to escape into the land of Fae.

There, Claire discovers the elven queen, Eliane, has a mission for her—one that has her keeping secrets from Dell. And ousting the goblins from her home is only the start.

Read An Excerpt Online

Beat the Glum Bunnies

Y'know, I'm against the bludgoning of innocent baby Harp seals for the fur industry. Yup. Makes me ill to think of it. But some critters deserve to be smashed to a pulp, and the glum bunny is definitely one of them.

Recently, over at Romance Divas, someone posted a thread about being down, and so many girls put their hand up saying they were also in glum bunny hell it was frightening. I know these things breed like ... well, rabbits, but sheesh! What a miserable way to spend our alloted three score and ten. So, I've been considering how we can send that disgusting rodents into a myxomatosis oblivion. Feel free to add your 2c worth and help outfox these "wascally wabbits."

1. Avoid negative people. If someone puts you down more than once without a reason- ie, it's not to help you grow, then stay away from them. Who needs the negativity?

2. Chemical warfare - including antidepresssants, alcohol, bascially anything that makes you feel better by altering your perception. Drugs are good.

3. Exercise. Endorphins are like morphine. See above. Drugs are good.

4, A dose of paralyzing agent either for yourself or for said negative person also works. If they/you can't breath, they can't insult/ you don't care. Again I say, drugs are good.

5. Eat well. Chocolate and other comfort food are a short term fix with long term implications. Basically, they make your warren larger so more glum bunnies can live there. Not good.

6. Succeed and celebrate that success, even if it's a small step. I finally wrote Between the Gutter and the Sky's blurb. Yay- party time! Who has the balloons and ah... did I mention drugs are good?

7. Read inspiring work. Either a book of amazing bloodlines that leaves you gasping from its sheer brilliance, or one so bad you realize you're not the worst writer on the planet. Of course, this can also backfire. Ie. if this crud gets published and I don't, what does that make me? (I think that's called glum bunny pellets.)

8. Treat your inner child well. If you don't give them something fun to play with, they'll wipe jammy fingers on your WIP and dump dirty diapers on your mood and muse.

9. Never allow your glum bunnies and dust bunnies to interbreed. Few things are worse than a filthy mood in a filthy house.

10. For those who are perimenopausal, consider HRT --hormonal rabbit traps. It is natural to collect/attract glum bunnies at this time of life and may be necessary to poison their water supply. Let me advise adding copiuos alcohol. Again I say, drugs are good.

11. Be thankful I didn't mention the Jack Russel of joy or the Ferret of frivolity. I'm saving them for a purple spot. Hmm, maybe I should have that spot chopped off next time I'm at the doctor. I've heard they can turn malignant.

Finally, let me say, you don't have to be the bunny. There are better ways to wear fur. Anyone know a good taxidermist?

Gee, Some People Are Tough!

The arrogance of some people in this biz scares the beejeezers out of me and I don't know how to respond - whether to be shocked, or just plain pissed (honestly, if I ever act in that way do me a favor and prick my bubble. Please!) I'm just a little writer telling stories to entertain people, and didn't realize I was supposed to grovel to anyone willing to read my words. Not gonna happen -- sorry folks. I mean, at the end of the day we are all people and even the queen doesn't seem so regal caught on the can with her drawers down, right?

Take the recent debacle with the A and R Whitcoulls Group, a.k.a. the Angus and Robertson bookstore chain. That's kinda relevant to me since I recently went into our local branch to see if they had the Cup of Comfort books in stock and was told, yes, they could get them in, but they didn't stock them on the shelves. Hmm -- how many do you think we're gonna sell there, even if the press does a release? My guess would be none if readers can't see the books to fall in love with them, esp if they have to wait 6-9 weeks for an order to come in. Today's reader waits for no man. Or woman. I also noticed Eden Bradley and Gemma Halliday's books were not on their shelves, either. When I asked, I was told they too could be ordered in the same waiting deal as the Cup of Comfort stuff. Sigh. As Australia’s largest bookseller, with 180 bookstores and about 20% of the retail market, what's the story with A and R's limited range? It seems to be shrinking daily, or is that just my impression?

Anyhu, then I came across the article over at Making Light http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/009263.html
and my brows about hit the roof.

A and R's commercial manager, Charlie Rimmer, recently sent a startling letter to Australian small publishers and distributors, demanding a substantial payment from each by August 17 (reportedly ranging from AU$2,500 to AU$20,000) if they want A and R to keep selling their books!!! They concluded that they have far too many suppliers and "over 40% of our supplier agreements fall below our requirements in terms of profit earned... Accordingly, we will be rationalizing our supplier numbers and setting a minimum earnings ratio of income to trade purchases that we expect to achieve from our suppliers."

Now I would have thought that having multiple suppliers—that is, a broad range of publishers and books to choose from— was a good thing. More choices, greater reader selection, more sales and so on. Everyone would benefit. But what would I know?

A and R's solution? They've "invited" said small suppliers to pay an attached invoice by Aug 17th 2007 to cover the gap for their business, and move them from an unacceptable level of profitability, to "above minimum threshold." If they fail to receive payment, they "will have no option but to remove ... from their list of authorised suppliers", and said businesses will "be unable to complete any further transactions with (A and R) until such time as the payment is made."

Yikes! It's a blackmail note! Even the remaining braincell not beat out of me at conference can see that! (Hmm, can I use this in an upcoming suspense novel? I'm really struggling to find something funny about it though.)

According to Michael Rakusin-Director of Tower Books Pty Ltd
"that’s a death threat. (no kiding!) They can’t afford to pay the mordida now, they can’t afford to give A and R a bigger discount, and they can’t afford to lose that large a percentage of their retail sales."

Interpretation- either way, they're screwed!

And if not for small press, where will those odd, offbeat different voices we've all come to know and love find a home? Used to be we jostled to be published, then to be seen as published because of the pecking order in WHERE we were published. But being published is no longer enough. Now we have to pay randsom to even get shelf space for published books. Scary stuff, no?

Going AWOL

I'm off to Sydney to the Australian Romance Writer's Conference. Be good while I'm gone. :-) Hopefully I'll return with heaps of gossip. Plus, I get to learn from Jennifer Crusie. What could be better than that. :-) sigh

Thanks to you all!

I'd like to thank everyone who entered The Marian Kind contest. You rock! P. Tupper, check your email, honey. :-)

I've been Interviewed

Pondering Blog- linked to Romance Reader at Heart- did an interview with Deb, Laura and myself in the wake of Brides & Bouquets 2007.

You can find it here.
http://rrahponderings.blogspot.com/2007/08/q-of-authors-of-brides-bouquets-2007.html

but I had to behave coz I had my halo gagging me. [For an ungagged interview, you'll have to wait until The Long and Short of It spot comes up -- I'm talking about The Marian Kind there. I'll let ya know ;-) ]

And I didn't yet mention this review...

From the long and the short of it review site. What a nice review. Made me smile. :-)

By guest reviewer: Nancy Lindley-Gauthier.

The Marian Kind
by Babe King

The Marian Kind by Babe King is one of those tales that does not coax the reader gently into the story, but seizes them by the throat and hauls them directly into the front seat of the dusty pickup truck. When Marian discovers some other lady's er, enhancements in handsome Rob's gym bags, the game is on. Jealousy fuels the start of this story, but incredible attraction fuels the love affair. Think you can guess what happens next?

Never: not unless a granny with occasional, convenient 'dementia' has already occurred to you. There is nothing predictable here. From powerful and unexpected characters to bizarre events, this story keeps your attention. And the discoveries along the way - like how chocolate bubble bath might disagree with your average computer circuitry - only add to the fun.

Clever descriptions offer a bit of a giggle in between fast action scenes (the love interest is compared to an array of fresh-from-the bakery delights) and the romance sizzles all the way through. The Marian Kind by Babe King is a quick read because it simply won't allow the reader to step away.

'Nuther Sale!!!

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!! "Scratch That!" just sold to Cup of Comfort for Cat Lovers. I am delighted! I love these books.

and this is a good time to remind you that Cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers comes out August 8th! I lead that anthology with "Bloodlines and Heartstrings." Yep, Cup of Comfort have been good to me, not to mention Colleen is a real darling to work with.

Contest Reminder

Just a reminder that this contest is still running and draws August 6th!



Raspberry Creme Heaven Chocolate, Marshmallow Parfait Bath Beads, Gel and scrubber, and 2 bilby chocolates for your pillow. Mmmm. That really is my idea of heaven!

How to make it yours ...

On July 10th, Freya's Bower release my romantic comedy suspense, "The Marian Kind." For the paltry sum of $3.25, I promise you a fun, wild ride.

Check it out!
http://www.freyasbower.com/content/view/217/76/

So buy the book, email me Granny Tuck's name for Dogzilla at

mixalns@yahoo.com

and you'll go in the running to win this great prize. I'll draw the lucky reader on my birthday, August 6th. Entries are automatically added to my reader's list, and I'll also be drawing one lucky reader from that list to win their choice of either a stuffed bilby, or an Australia bag.

So lots of prizes! Get reading! Get entering! And good luck!



Romance and mayhem have never been more fun!

Sold!

Freya's Bower contracted Between the Gutter and the Sky! Yay! Release will probably be November-ish. Color me excited. I love this story. My very first novel, finally in the hands of readers. Squeeee!