Crystal Jordan :: Blog

I’m ALSO blogging over at the Aphrodisia Authors blog today about writing on proposal.

I’m blogging about loving and hating things about yourself over at The Novelty Girls today. Come visit!

Robin L. Rotham and I are giving a workshop all weekend. Here are the details!

Characterization in a Brave New World: Native vs. Newbie
Date : June 28 & 29th, 2008
Presented by : Crystal Jordan and Robin L. Rotham
Cost : $15 (PI Members) and $20 (Non-PI Members) For more details on how to register, go here.

Workshop Description :
Building believable characters and worlds can be a challenge for many writers, whether those characters are crash-landing on a hostile alien planet or they’ve spent their entire lives in a world filled with threats we can only imagine. In this two-part workshop, Crystal Jordan and Robin L. Rotham will present two distinct approaches to building futuristic and science fiction worlds through character development. The first involves introducing a new character to a world unlike any she’s ever known, where readers can discover the world right along with her as she perceives, considers, and reacts to her new environment. The second approach builds the world through a character native to her environment and shows the richness of how the character is a part of the culture and customs around her.

BIOS :
After a lifetime of hearing from friends and family that she ought to be a writer, Robin L. Rotham finally broke down and wrote the book of her heart in 2005 — an erotic contemporary that still hasn’t sold. Her second novel, the offbeat futuristic Alien Overnight, was snapped up by Ellora’s Cave before the ink dried, and much to her surprise, she’s still receiving fan mail more than a year after its release. There’s a lesson here, and she’s still trying to figure out what it is. She’s sold three books to Ellora’s Cave and has several more underway. You can learn more about Robin at http://robinlrotham.com

Crystal Jordan began writing romance after she finished graduate school and needed something to fill the hours that used to be eaten away by homework. She is originally from California, but has lived and worked all over the United States. Currently, she serves as a librarian at a large research university in the Rocky Mountains and writes paranormal, futuristic, and erotic romance. Her publishers include Kensington Aphrodisia, Harlequin Spice Briefs, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing, Cobblestone Press, and The Wild Rose Press. You can visit her at http://www.crystaljordan.com

Some of my favorite authors have had books out this week, so I have to pimp them out to you.

Skye Ballard has always wanted to experience her fantasies of sexual submission. She craves to be commanded, taken over. She is convinced that all it will take to purge this yearning from her system is one night. Skye searches out the perfect Dominant for the job-it must be a man who is powerful, attractive, and naturally dominant. But when she meets Adam Dunne, she finds a man beyond her wildest dreams. Adam convinces her one night will not be enough for what he sees as a process, rather than a single experience. Skye soon discovers that being with him only makes her crave more. And while he begins with the idea of training her to be the perfect submissive-for someone else-soon all he can think of is making her his, making her yield. All he can think of is breaking Skye-and keeping her for himself.

Return to Gaia City.

Where there are way too many Superheroes for Dayna’s piece of mind.

Growing up as the unofficial mascot for Gaia’s Guardians and sibling of the powerful Theta Wave hasn’t been easy. So maybe she overcompensates. Takes risks she shouldn’t. You try going through puberty in front of super men with super hot, totally unattainable bods. It’s enough to give a girl a complex.

Stone Matthews was an introverted geophysicist, until the day he wandered into the burial chamber of an ancient and powerful ruler and became…Rock Hammer.

Sure, now he’s an invincible chick magnet, but he still has no idea how to deal with women. Especially Dayna. The tasty little reporter has always pushed his buttons, but he held her at arms length. She’s Theta’s little sister after all.

With Triad still missing, Theta on his honeymoon and the lair in disarray, there is no one around but Rock to save the day when Dayna goes chasing after The Pearl of Isis and a story that could be the death of her. And when he gets his hands on her, all bets are off.

When her marriage ended, Abby retreated into herself to lick her wounds and rebuild her life. She’s found satisfaction and some success writing, and she’s happy. Mostly. Who wouldn’t welcome a little R&R?

Her favorite fantasy and many of her stories revolve around two men modeled after real life werewolf twins Rule and Lawe. When two of her friends talk her into participating in a local auction, fantasy and reality begin to mix. Rest and relaxation never felt so good, but is reality more than she bargained for?

So, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect upon the weirdness that is my current home state. Not that my original home state of California is not the capital of Weirdlandia, but Utah has some of its own weird quirks that I’m not sure I’d experience anywhere else.

Such as:

• “Are you Mormon?” used as a pick-up line.
• Going into a university library bathroom and hearing the woman in the next stall belting out “Jesus Loves The Little Children.”
• Dealing with a whole city laid out on a grid system which has it’s epicenter at the Mormon Temple. Everything is north, south, east, or west of the Temple.
• Having addresses given to you as coordinates. “295 S 1500 E” is a legit address here.
• Realizing that 1500 E is going to actually be said “15th East.”
• Realizing that there really is a 15th that is not 1500, though they’re said the same way.
• Having people assure you over and over again that once you got used to the grid system, you’d love it. And then having them look at you like you’re insane when you never do love it.
• Finding out that every single way of not saying the word “God” has been invented and used in this state: golly, jeez, gosh, gorsh, geesh, etc.
• Driving by a billboard that advertised “modest swimwear for mother and daughter.”
• Driving by a billboard five minutes later that said homes had been built and equipped with laundry facilities to easily handle eight children. Is it really that normal here? What happened to 2.5? It seemed like a lot to me, let alone enough to start your own football team
• Walking by a janitor at the library every day who feels free to announce loudly to anyone who will listen that I have a beautiful smile that lights up the whole world and makes his day. It was sweet and kind of funny for the first few months. I’m two years into the land of weird now. It’s lost it’s novelty.

Needless to say, this is a week where I’m really feeling the “You’re not from around here, are you?” vibe.

I’m guest blogging over on Shelley Munro’s blog later today about shape shifter romance and erotic romance.

Come check it out!

So, I’m on a redecorating binge lately. I have all this hand me down furniture from when I first left home and I think it’s time to upgrade to a better and newer kind of particleboard. This means I’m gutting my house of all the stuff I don’t want, going through old papers and crap and tossing everything. Including my furniture.

To replace the old stuff, I had to survive my first trip to Ikea in Utah…and it was worse than I imagined. I know how insane Ikea can be in California on a Saturday, but nothing prepared me for the enthusiasm Utahians (is that even a word?) have for the great Scandinavian discount furniture-landia. The biggest issue wasn’t that it was packed with people–and, oh, it was packed with people–but that I’ve never seen so many screaming unattended children in my life. What’s up with that? I thought Ikeas had a babysitter thingie you could drop the munchkins off at. In-frickin-sane, I’m telling ya!

But I am now the proud owner of a new bed frame, attached side table, two living room side tables, a cute lamp, and two new succulent plants. The plants were the only unexpected buy and at $4 total for both, I think that’s pretty good at sticking to budget and not grabbing all the cool things they have there.

Today I’m in two places at once.

I’m over at The Novelty Girls doing my usual schtick.

AND I’m over on Jen Leeland’s blog continuing to take advantage of her absence by posting obscenely bad videos from YouTube.