When Dreams Come True

What happens when a dream actually comes true? This week has seen one of my lifetime dreams fulfilled – my first book , Priestess of the Nile, has been released by Carina Press! What I hadn’t anticipated was all the things that came in the wake of becoming a published author. First and foremost, I’ve met SO many lovely people – other authors, the folks at Carina (especially my editor Alison), bloggers, reviewers…and this week, the Readers!

Secondly I never had much internet presence before but now I’ve unleashed the total twitteraholic lurking inside me. Who knew? 11,000 tweets from @vscotttheauthor and counting….Follow me! LOL. And there again, on twitter I’ve made some wonderful friends, learned a lot of things, had thought provoking conversations on a myriad of topics.

If there is any downside to the dream fulfillment, maybe it’s the fact that I still have to slog to the day job. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very good job, interesting, friendly people, worthy work, but now that I’ve tasted the life of a writer, WOW, do I want to be one of those full time. One of my favorite authors reminded me over the weekend that while Release Day is exciting, it’s just one day in the journey and you have to keep writing, keep editing, keep doing promo…and keep doing the day job. At least for now!

Merys, the heroine in Priestess of the Nile, had simple dreams, which she thought were beyond her grasp….until she met Sobek the Crocodile God in his human guise. Here’s a short excerpt:

“There was one man who had some interest in courting me—the new captain of the guard assigned to my village after the Nile floods last year.”

In the ensuing silence some night bird called loudly and flew away from the palm fronds above. The waves lapped at the beach and a breeze arose. Merys shivered. He wondered why she didn’t finish her story.

Bek reached out and put one hand under her chin, gently turning her face to him. He studied her. “But? You didn’t care for this man?”

“He was amiable, pleasing to look at and wellspoken. Educated. I didn’t dislike him.” She shrugged and bit her lip. “It would have been the answer to my prayers to have my own household, maybe children someday—” She broke off. He thought tears glistened in her eyes. She laid her head on her knees, facing away from him again, watching night hunting birds swoop over the river to catch insects. “The truth is I have no dowry.”

Rest assured, meeting Sobek puts new dreams into Merys’s heart…

When one of your major dreams in life came true, were there unexpected benefits? Or side effects that surprised you?

Come Listen to Authors Read Excerpts From Their Books!

Every Monday night I host a radio show on Blog Talk Radio called "Other Worlds of Romance". During the 30 minute show, I have guest authors who write sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal romances, and they read excerpts from their new releases. Sometimes it's bawdy, sometimes it's romantic, but it's always fun!

You can check out who my monthly lineup includes by checking out my own blog. I also advertise upcoming shows on my Twitter (Linda Mooney) and Facebook (Linda Mooney).

Come have a listen! You can park on the website and hit the Play button to listen, or you can come into the chat room where you can type questions and comments for the author to answer, or you can call in to talk directly to the author!

The show is on at 11 pm et/ 10 pm ct/ 8 pm pt.  Come join us!

Top series I'd like to see on HBO

I'm a big fan of HBO series. My favorites are True Blood, Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire. I think HBO does an incredible job of casting and producing complex multi-character worlds in a way that draws me into the story just like a good book. Here are my top three picks for other paranormal series I'd like to see on HBO.

1. Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs

I love this one because of the strength of the secondary character cast.

Who wouldn't like to see Adam and Samuel, Bran and Mercy walking around in the fascinating world Patricia Briggs has created?







2. Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost

Interesting and flawed female lead and loads of action but when it really comes down to it, this pick is all about Bones.










3. Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning

Okay, so I've made no secret of the fact that this is one of my favorite series. It's very dark. The morality of the characters is...um, ambiguous at best. There's actually very little sex in the series but it's one of the sexiest series out there.








Which series would you like to see?

Fun Facts About Wonder Woman

Melinda did fun facts about one influence for Amazon Heat, Amazon Mythology. Today,  I'd like to focus on the other inspiration, Wonder Woman. Here are a few fun fact about this awesome super hero who kicks butt in an awesome pair of boots.

1. Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston (the inventor of the polygraph).


2. Wonder Woman's alter ego is Diana Prince/Princess Diana of Themyscira. 


3. Wonder Woman made her first appearance in December 1941 in All-Star Comics #8. 


4. In creating her William Marston wanted to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.


5. Initially, Wonder Woman was an Amazon champion who wins the right to return Steve Trevor — a United States intelligence officer whose plane had crashed on the Amazons' isolated island homeland — to "Man's World" and to fight crime and the evil of the Nazis. Her origin story was later revamped to increase her Hellenic and mythological roots. She received the blessing of each deity in her crib, Diana is destined to become "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, stronger than Hercules, and swifter than Mercury." Her origin was changed yet again in 2011 making her a demigod, the natural-born daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus


6. Wonder Woman had arsenal of powerful god-forged weapons at her disposal, but her signature weapons are her indestructible bracelets and the Lasso of Truth.


7. In the television show the bullet proof material the braclets were formed of was called 'Feminum'. In the comic books, it was called 'Amazonium'.


8. Wonder Woman spinning into costume was also solely a television fixture. She would spin her lasso around herself in the comic books to transform.


9. She depict her as a masterful athlete, acrobat, fighter and strategist, trained and experienced in many ancient and modern forms of armed and unarmed combat, including exclusively Amazonian martial arts.


10. In May 2011, Wonder Woman placed fifth on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time.

Who else loves Wonder Woman as much as we do? Do you have any fun facts to add to the list?


Amazon Heat was released on January 9, 2012 from Carina Press
 

2 years ago...
Driven by grief to find a cure for cancer, Elizabeth DeMarco left Logan Spencer to accept a position on a research expedition to the Amazon rainforest. Kidnapped by guerrillas, she was saved by a secret all-female civilization, the last of the ancient Amazons. But Elizabeth discovers she's traded one form of captivity for another.
Today...
Logan never stopped searching for Elizabeth. While consulting in the remote Brazilian interior near where she was kidnapped, Logan suffers what should be a fatal fall. Near death, he's collected by the Amazons and magically healed. Elizabeth is the first person he sees as he wakes.
But there's no time for a joyful reunion. The Amazons' mystical medicine is rapidly changing Logan. They want his DNA and plan to take it—and then kill him. Logan and Elizabeth must escape before dawn or Logan—and their second chance at happiness—is doomed.

Find Amazon Heat at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Carina Press.   

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Woman
http://www.wonderwoman-online.com/marston.html

Fun Facts about the Amazons by Melinda Leigh

I'm letting my inner geek out to play today.  When Rayna Vause and I teamed up to write Amazon Heat, we did some research and learned there are many versions and stories of the Amazons in Greek mythology.  Here are some fun things you may not have known about the various legends.

• The Amazons were a tribe of warrior women who kicked butt across Asia Minor. 
• In order to prevent their race from dying out, the Amazons, uhm, visited a neighboring tribe, the Gargareans. In some stories, male children from these liasons were killed.  In others, the infants were delivered to their sires.
• The Amazons didn't kill all the men they defeated. Some they took as slaves. In some legends, they used such males for, well, you know.
• Amazons had their right breasts removed to ensure accurate aim with a bow. Can we have a collective ewww here?
• One of the labors of Hercules was to acquire the girdle of the Amazon Queen.
• Amazons are first mentioned in Homer's Iliad.
• Marriage was seen as a sort of slavery to men and was prohibited. 
• The statue on the left is a depiction of an Amazon preparing for battle.  Amazons were trained to fight hand-to-hand, with all weaponry, and on horseback.
• Amazons remained virgins until they had killed three men, therefore proving themselves as warriors before they were allowed to reproduce.
• The Amazons fought against the Greeks in the Trojan War.

Any other geeks out there?  What are your favorite myths?

Amazon Heat was released on January 9, 2012 from Carina Press
 

2 years ago...
Driven by grief to find a cure for cancer, Elizabeth DeMarco left Logan Spencer to accept a position on a research expedition to the Amazon rainforest. Kidnapped by guerrillas, she was saved by a secret all-female civilization, the last of the ancient Amazons. But Elizabeth discovers she's traded one form of captivity for another.
Today...
Logan never stopped searching for Elizabeth. While consulting in the remote Brazilian interior near where she was kidnapped, Logan suffers what should be a fatal fall. Near death, he's collected by the Amazons and magically healed. Elizabeth is the first person he sees as he wakes.
But there's no time for a joyful reunion. The Amazons' mystical medicine is rapidly changing Logan. They want his DNA and plan to take it—and then kill him. Logan and Elizabeth must escape before dawn or Logan—and their second chance at happiness—is doomed.

Find Amazon Heat at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Carina Press.  



sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazons
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/previous_seasons/case_amazon/index.html

Resources, Or Getting My Act Together

I'm so much in 'it's a new year I have so much to do' mode that I'm having a hard time focusing on much other than working, but I'm trying to do it smarter than I have in the past. I start off with great energy and huge plans, peter out by summer, and end up taking off/wasting two months before I can get motivated again. Burn out is not fun lol.

Part of my problem is I write in spurts, part that I'm a pantser, and part that I have that dreaded author disease, WADD (Writer's Attention Deficit Disorder). Actually, I'm pretty scatterbrained under the best of circumstances so I guess I can't blame WADD. I'm trying to find ways to at least manage these issues.

1.Daily word count. I have to admit, I am not good at this. When I'm 'on' I write about 10k a week, but that's 2 or 3 days of a lot of writing and the rest of the week procrastinating. I'm aiming for a more consistent spread. 2k a day for 5 instead of 5k a day for 2. That's just exhausting. I stumbled on this spreadsheet on Twitter and hope it keeps me honest.

2.I don’t know if I can fix the pantsing "issue". I'm trying to do a very simple and vague outline. Wish me luck. I've found some useful tips in some of Holly Lisle's articles.

3.Which leaves me with the dreaded WADD. I don’t know if there's any hope for a cure for this affliction. There are too many stories to tell, too many characters whose voices are loud and demanding. This year I'm going to try to work on 2 projects at a time instead of flitting from one to another and back again. Unfortunately, I haven't found any helpful suggestions for pulling that off yet lol!

And since I'm talking resources (and organizing mine) here's a few cool links:

reference.com
etymonline.com
10,000 Words A Day
idiomsite.com
Most Common US Surnames

And just for fun:
6 Ways Crows Are Smarter Than You Think

~~~~~~~~~~

Kiss of Twilight
Dark Bonds 2


Dupree Jackson is everything a senior soldier of the Order of Templar should be. Cold. Unbreakable. A master at arms in the fight against demons. But as a hybrid, Dupree is beginning to lose himself to the demon half of his soul. One woman has the power to save him. If he lets her.

Kara Stone wants two things in life: to be merged with a demon so that she can become a full member of the Order; and Dupree Jackson. She knows they are meant to be together, if only Dupree would love her back.

Though his desire for Kara is undeniable, Dupree’s need to protect her is stronger. Not wanting to see her merge, to face the internal struggle he deals with every day, he refuses to bond with her. But when Kara becomes a target and uncovers a dark secret about her past, Dupree may no longer have a choice…

Available at Carina Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble

~~~~~~~~~~

Loribelle is a former Army MP who traded in her combat boots for motherhood, flip flops, and all the Diet Coke she can drink. (She almost misses the combat boots.) She’s the author of more than 20 books, herder of three energetic children, and an occasional sun worshipper.

Loribelle can be found at her website, Twitter, or Facebook.

A walk on Toronto's wild side!

I've always loved Sherlock Holmes – the original books, not so much the movies. My husband is the opposite; he started off being a huge fan of the older Holmes movies with Rathbone and just within the past few years sat down and read the original books. Needless to say we both adore the new incarnation with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law where Watson is returned to his proper place as an active and competent assistant and not just a comedy relief buffoon, as so many movies portray them.

When I set out to write "Blood of the Pride" it started first and foremost as a National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) exercise – to write fifty thousand words in thirty days. I knew I wanted to write some sort of mystery but didn't want to just create another detective. I needed a character who had her own quirks and abilities that would make her unique among others, much like Holmes's deductive skills.

Thus Rebecca Desjardin was born. A woman with the skills of her shifter race, the Felis, but without the ability to Change. A misfit in two worlds, Felis and human.

A private investigator working out of her small house in Toronto, Canada, she uses her innate skills to work a variety of cases – adultery, insurance fraud, industrial theft. But suddenly a murdered Felis calls her back to her old family.

I love to write about Toronto – it's my hometown and even after living in the U.S. for a decade I can still see the streets and stores I used to frequent. I suspect a lot of them have changed or disappeared entirely but in my mind they're all still there from the hot dog carts on Bay Street grilling onions at the crack of dawn to draw in the lunch time crowd to the Silver Snail on Queen Street West, the best comic book store in the city. 

But setting a mystery in Canada presents problems that Holmes would enjoy. Personal handguns are rare and well-documented so I couldn't have Reb carry a pistol. While Canada is a lot like the United States in many ways there are the little things that distinguish one country from the other – and it was a joy to write them into the story. There's a Brown Betty for tea, Tim Horton's coffee and Timbits and a healthy love of all things Canadian, eh?

I hope you'll come along for the ride as Rebecca rediscovers the ups and downs of her extended family along with the rush of a new love as she deals with Brandon Hanover, a reporter who could provide all the answers she needs – or be her worst enemy. It may not be Holmes and Watson but I can promise you one heck of a chase scene!

"Blood of the Pride" releases on February 13^th from Carina Press!