Today is Novelty Girls Day!
I blogged over there about meeting deadlines and how that effects your writing and motivation as a writer. Yeah, they crack the whip and make me be all serious and author-like. *snort*
I’m in the middle of edits and writing two novellas. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I also start teaching several new college courses starting next week.
Me.
Teaching.
I think I need a drink.
So, today’s quiz is about which kind of booze you are. I’m not a big drinker, (New Year’s and Fourth of July, usually) but sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do.
| You Are Rum |
 You’re the life of the party, and a total flirt You are also pretty picky about what you drink Only the finest labels and best mixed cocktails will do Except if you’re dieting - then it’s Diet Coke and Bicardi all the way |
Today we bring you an exciting episode with newbie Stacy Dawn, who’s selling her wares like hotcakes over at The Wild Rose Press. Welcome, Stacy!
Okay, on with the main event!
1. What is your favorite word?
Just. Just a minute! Just leave me alone! I have just enough time to get these edits in! If you would just give me a second! Man, that is just wrong. Did you just call me a procrastinator?
I have to do a major search and destroy mission for it on every manuscript.
2. What is your least favorite word?
Unacceptable. I cringe just saying it. I remember ages ago a boss said this word to me about my sales quota. It made me feel so small and ugly inside. It’s a vile and cruel word. Just as a side note, I was in that job for another ten years, she was not, so don’t take everyone’s opinion to heart.
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Pure emotion. Like when a child laughs, can you not help laughing with them? It is so free and unencumbered by the weight of worry. When I’m in a restaurant or park and see an older couple looking at each other like they were still eighteen. When my husband looks at me in just that way. Unfortunately, it also includes deep sorrow as those suffering the loss of a loved one.
It’s only a brief moment but when I’m fortunate enough to witness that glimpse of true, pure emotion, I can’t help but be deeply affected by it on all levels. It’s what I strive to bring into my work.
4. What turns you off?
Insincerity–those who are so fake, you literally want to upchuck. I hate being lied to or worse yet seeing people being taken advantage of.
5. What is your favorite curse word?
Crap. I know, I’m such a prude but I grew up in a house where swearing wasn’t allowed under any circumstances. Even ‘crap’ was a no-no. I’m not saying I don’t swear on the right occasion just very rarely.
6. If you could live in any time period other than this one, who would you sleep with in that time and why?
Robin Hood. Maid Marion fantasies since childhood. No, no, no. I take that back. I’d want to be Guinevere then I get two hotties. Yeah, I’m a medieval lush.
7. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three books would you like to have with you?
The Complete Works of Shakespeare, I Will Survive by Samantha Connolly, and One For The Money by Janet Evanovich. Shakespeare gives me everything from tragedy to comedy and the other two are just great stories.
8. What is the ugliest rejection you have ever gotten from a publisher/editor/agent?
I don’t even want to count the number of rejections I’ve had over the year but there haven’t been any really ugly ones. What I hate though are the photocopied form letters. Seriously, at least print me off a new one for the effort I made and the price of the stamp on the SASE.
9. What sound or noise do you love?
My kid’s laughter. It’s highly infectious. I also write better when they are around. Odd, I know. Most people like quiet but when I know that they are close and okay, it’s one less worry and I can focus better on my writing.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
“Oops, go back home.”
Book Pimpage (a 2-fer for today!):
The Theory of Love
The Wild Rose Press
Available Now
Short Story–Contemporary
The Theory of Love is a fun, flirty first meeting story after a set-up date turns into a no-show dud.
Shadows of Moonlight
The Wild Rose Press
Available Now
Sensual Paranormal
Over the centuries, Rick Shayne has loved and lost the same woman four times. Her reappearance only deepens his guilt and he refuses to risk her life or his heart again. Liz Greyson isn’t about to let him off that easy, but will her secret be his saving grace or cast him back into the shadows of moonlight forever.
11. Your website or blog.
Website: www.stacydawn.com
Blog: http://stacyholmes.blogspot.com –where I have a weekly gameshow, ESCAPE the Mondayn, every Monday. Contestants get a chance to win a gift from the prize wheel spun by a half-naked celebrity spinner.
So, it looks like the mysterious Mad Madam M will be at my chat tonight (8-10PM EST), if only for a little while. Here’s how this bit of magic happened:
Me: Hey, as a one-day professional entourage, for when I’m as big as Nora Roberts, you should practice now and come to my promo chat.
M: Well, I am your pimp.
Me: Exactly.
M: Meh. I guess I could squeeze you in between washing my car and painting my toe nails while watching a rivoting bit of TV.
Me: I knew you’d come through for me and be a supporting and loving role model for other entourages.
M: Yeeeeeeah. I’m just in it for the pool boy/sex slave/massuese when you get big, Nora.
Me: Close enough.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
Full Swing comes out today at around noon CST. You can buy it at http://www.cobblestone-press.com for $4. Skip the latte today and supoort a starving artist. Um, wrtiter!
Also, if you feel like supporting/harassing me in a public forum, I’ll be promoting my book in the Cobblestone Chat room tonight from 9PM EST-10PM EST at http://www.cobblestone-press.com/chat.htm
Cerri Ellis! (You rock CC!)
Thanks everybody for playing the BLOG ME AND WIN contest and helping me promo my first book. Full Swing comes out tomorrow. Go buy it!
ONE DAY LEFT UNTIL FULL SWING COMES OUT! Oh. My. God. I’m spazzing out here. And you only have a few more hours to claim a spot in this contest. I’ll announce a winner right here at 5PM!
Go here to find out details and win, win, win!
Okay, on to my rodent trauma. And my damn evil hellcat. So, I’m in the shower this morning when a HUGE crash sounded through my teensy bathroom. I jerk back the curtain to see what the hell is going on, when my hellcat comes streaking across the floor and tackles the overflowing trashcan, spewing the contents everywhere. And he’s still attaching the trash. Shit. A cold rush of dread makes my stomach do backflips. I just know he’s cornered a rodent. In my bathrrom. With me trapped, sopping wet, stark ass nekked in the bathtub.
So.
I have to deal with this now, not the least of which because he’s about to slaughter the thing on my landlord’s cream colored carpet. I hop out of the tub and into the scattered trash, wads of things I don’t want to think about are stuck to the bottoms of my wet feet.
Now I have to catch it because I can’t kill it. What do I do? I toss the hellcat out into the living room, grab the tallest glass from my kitchen and play tag with the stupid thing until I finally scoop it up and slam a plastic dish over the top. No need to let it try and escape, right? Right.
Then I realize I’m still buck naked and I have to toss the mouse out into the yard. Yeah, OF COURSE my landlord was just walking up to my door when I’m in a nighty sticking to my wet skin with a mouse in a glass. Yeah. That’s a great way to kick off the day.
This is so going into my next book.
Today we bring you a special edition of our beloved showcase: Inside the Writer’s Studio. Sela Carsen’s new book, Not Quite Dead, just released yesterday. Hooray for Sela! Now on with the in-depth probing questions:
1. What is your favorite word?
“Amphibian.” I hate frogs, toads, etc, but I like that word. I also like “Kankakee.” And “roust.” But not roast. Roast isn’t funny. Roust is.
2. What is your least favorite word?
Fart. Gah. I could barely bring myself to type it. It’s just horrible. Inelegant, unamusing, coarse. Yech.
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Listening to an interesting debate about philosophy of any kind. It gets my mind moving. I spend a lot of time with my brain in neutral, frankly. Having it actively engaged like that gets all my cylinders firing. Now, I can’t stand people pontificating. That’s wretched. But listening to two people genuinely enjoy discussing a really esoteric topic? That’s awesome.
4. What turns you off?
Stupid people. Politics. Mind games. I haven’t got the patience for any of it.
5. What is your favorite curse word?
The one I say in front of my kids? “Swear words.” Seriously. The one I say in my head is really vile, though. And really long. And really blasphemous. And uses the F-word. And if any of my friends heard me say it, they’d be very surprised and possibly offended.
6. If you could live in any time period other than this one, who would you sleep with in that time and why?
The good girl in me says, “My husband, of course!” The bad girl in me says I could have been a very successful courtesan, so — Whoever had the money and power. *gg* Hey, a girl’s gotta live, right?
7. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three books would you like to have with you?
That’s just cruel. Three? Not three truckloads? Let’s see. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee because I could read that book over and over and learn something new every time. “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte because I’ve had a thing for Mr. Rochester since he first rode down that icy lane.
“The Gulag Archipelago” by Alexander Solzhenitsyn because it’s really long and I can use the pages as fuel for my fire. Dreadful. I read it on a plane and had to stop because I started having fantasies about opening the hatch and jumping out, just to escape from that awful, horrible book.
8. What is the ugliest rejection you have ever gotten from a publisher/editor/agent?
You’re going to hate me. I’ve never gotten an ugly one. Every rejection I’ve recieved has been professional, polite and they’ve all had comments and encouragement. I think it’s given me a bit of a rose colored view of the publishing industry.
9. What sound or noise do you love?
The back door opening in the evening and the sound of keys dropping into a drawer. It means my husband is home. Or my daughter opening the door and going, “Mom, I’m home!” Or if I leave the kids with dh while I go out grocery shopping, my son yells out “I love you!” as I’m closing the door. I guess I like door sounds.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
It took you long enough!
Book Pimpage Info:
Not Quite Dead
Samhain Publishing
Available August 15th
Paranormal romantic comedy
11. Describe the premise of your book in three sentences or less.
Sabine Harper’s night started out badly–a dead man jumped out of his grave, she was chased by a vampire and now she has an uninvited guest. Willem Breaux has only three days to avenge his murder, but upon awakening more than a century into the future, he discovers that he needs Sabine’s help more than he could have imagined. Can Willem and Sabine find love–and a little laughter–in spite of time, death, and an evil that’s waited a century to make its move?
12. Your website or blog.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I’m trying to get ready for my next semester of classes, teach adjunct faculty to teach my class, coordinate the whole information literacy program and otherwise rip my hair out and go nutty by this time next week. then there are the million people who want to ask me questions and request my services throughout each day. I say again aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
So, today I want to run away with the circus. And. Never. Come. Back. At the circus, I could have a torrid affair with the lion tamer, ride standing up on the pretty white horses, and find out how the bearded lady got that way. How cool would that be?
In the meantime…
TWO DAYS LEFT UNTIL FULL SWING COMES OUT! Woohoo!
Go here to win a copy of my book and other free stuff.
One of the oddest things about moving to rural Tennessee is that, for me, there never seems to be much to do. I know that isn’t the case, they just don’t have the readily available activities that I’m used to.
So, I let some of my friends drag me out to a music festival where I listened to a wide variety of local bands play some good (and reeeeeally bad) music, where cover band wannabe pop stars were followed by scary gospel and then super-duper awesome bluegrass. Then we got rained out. Bummer.
I also ate some very bad-for-me things, such as: home-made (right in front of me!) chili cheese curly fries (I even watched them curl the real, fresh potatos), caramel apples, funnel cake (my Achilles Heel of fair food), and the big kahuna…DEEP FRIED TWINKIES. I had heard some crazy things about this phenomenon to deep fry everything and see how it tasted, but had never tried it myself. Ooooh, I wish I hadn’t. I didn’t really like it that much, and I’m pretty sure that’s the point where my sugar-high went into full-on tummy rebellion. Bigger bummer. Overall, though, I had a very good time hanging out with people and eating bad, bad things.
And…
THREE DAYS LEFT UNTIL FULL SWING COMES OUT! I’m so excited (and I just can’t hide it!)
Go here to win free stuff.
The Novelty Girls