I’m over at the Aphrodisia Authors today about how much of myself goes into my characters.

Come visit!

Did I spell “a cappella” right? I have no idea and I’m not inclined to check. Yep, lazy writer. Sorry, folks!

Anyway, I was clicking around YouTube yesterday and ran across a few people singing their favorite songs by their favorite artists. Some of them weren’t that bad, so I thought I’d post a couple.

Enjoy!

Ana Free singing “Saving Me” by Nickelback

Tynisha Keli singing “No Air” by Jordin Sparks

This is my first year with printed books, and while I never had any luck at all with unpublished contests, I thought I’d give a few of the published ones a try this year. I may have gone a little overboard, but I doubt I’ll do quite this many ever again. Hey, it’s my first year with a print book! I’ve got to celebrate!

Here’s my list:

RITAs: Carnal Desires in the paranormal category, “In Ice” in the novella category
National Reader’s Choice Award: Carnal Desires in the erotic category, “In Ice” in the novella category
FF&P Prism Award: Carnal Desires in the erotic category
Passionate Plume Contest: Treasured in the paranormal/time travel category

It would be super awesome to even final in any of these, but let’s be honest, I’m going up against seasoned vets. Ah, well…can’t hurt to try! Anyhoo, good luck to all who are contesting this year!

The proceeds of Gwen Hayes’ new release will be donated to charity, so buy a book, enjoy a good read, and call it your good deed for the week.

Born to protect women’s hearts, her own beats longingly for a mortal. Oops…

Ondina, one thousand years a goddess, doesn’t think much of mortal men. Probably because her sole purpose in life is to protect the hearts of women who don’t want to fall in love. And now one of those blasted men—Jack—has shattered her sacred chalice, trapping her in a mortal body.

Jackson Nichols, on the partner track at his law firm, is the first to admit he always follows his head. Never his heart. Dina is infuriating, messy, condescending, sexy, beautiful and…well, just about everything that doesn’t fit into his meticulously planned life.

Neither expects to find many redeeming qualities in the other. But when push comes to love, which will Dina choose? Her newly human heart…or one thousand years of duty?

*All author and editor proceeds from the sale of Oh Goddess will be donated to the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis. You can find out more about the foundation at www.coalitionforpf.org.

Warning: Recent studies show that consuming beverages while reading this story can cause damage to computer monitors, clothing, and sometimes nearby walls. Reader agrees to hold both Samhain Publishing Ltd. and Gwen Hayes harmless in case of accidental spewing caused by laughter.

Buy it HERE!

I’m over at The Novelty Girls talking about a day in the life of a writer. I think it’ll be interesting to see how different or similar 7 different writers handle the real life versus writering balance.

I have to pimp my girl Karen Erickson’s new release from Samhain Publishing. Karen is awesome. Buy her.

One amazing night. A waste of time? Or a new beginning?

A Fortune story.

After winning the lottery a year ago with her two best friends, Maddie Carpenter’s life should have changed for the better. Right? Wrong. She’s still stuck in her boring old life while her friends are living theirs to the fullest.

Watching one of them get married brings all her self doubt into sharp focus. She resolves to do something exciting, something thrilling. Starting right now, with the singer performing at the reception.

Tanner is still bitter over his divorce, bitter toward women in general. But something about sweet and sexy Maddie turns Tanner inside out–and he can’t resist her.

One amazing night of sex turns into many nights of more amazing sex. Soon their relationship is moving way out of the casual zone. But both carry excess baggage of suspicion and distrust that could cost them everything…

Find out more here!

You’d think living in the Rocky Mountains would mean crisp mountain air. Yeah, not so much. We have this lovely thing called inversion here in the Salt Lake area. And when inversion strikes I can’t breathe. At all.

So yesterday, I woke up at 3AM because I couldn’t breathe and rearranged my music collection to pass the time. There’s jack and squat going on online or on the TV at that time of morning.

Then, last night? 1:45AM, baby. Even sitting straight up in bed it took me two hours to get back to sleep because I could. not. breathe.

What is this evil inversion phenomenon, you ask?

Here’s a scientific description:

A temperature inversion is a thin layer of the atmosphere where the decrease in temperature with height is much less than normal (or in extreme cases, the temperature increases with height). An inversion, also called a “stable” air layer, acts like a lid, keeping normal convective overturning of the atmosphere from penetrating through the inversion. This can cause several weather-related effects. One is the trapping of pollutants below the inversion, allowing them to build up. If the sky is very hazy, or is sunsets are very red, there is likely an inversion somewhere in the lower atmosphere. This happens more frequently in high pressure zones, where the gradual sinking of air in the high pressure dome typically causes an inversion to form at the base of a sinking layer of air. Another effect is making clouds spread out and take on a flattened appearance. Still another effect is to prevent thunderstorms from forming. Even in an air mass that is hot and humid in the lowest layers, thunderstorms will be prevented if an inversion is keeping this air from rising. The opposite of a temperature inversion is an unstable air layer.

Basically, what it means is that the way the cold and warm air layers park themselves together in the sky creates this “dome” over the valley and traps all the pollution, pollen, emissions, smog, and other crap down here and makes the air go from clear to unbreathable.

Here’s a pic to show you the difference:

Leaving Earth by Loribelle Hunt is now available at Liquid Silver! This is the second book in the Delroi Connection series.

Blurbage!

Colonel Kendall Marks is both soldier and physician. Her journey to Delroi has two purposes–deliver her best friend’s baby and indulge her scientific fascination with the alien race. The last thing she expects upon her arrival is to get caught up in political intrigue or develop an unreasonable attraction to the Delroi Warrior Overchief.

Daggar Torfa has finally the found the one. The woman that completes him, the other half of his soul. But in the midst of conspiracies to kill him, when one plot comes too close to home and almost succeeds, can he protect her? Only if he can curb her headstrong ways. It turns out the fight of his life may be to claim his mate, not fighting his enemies.

I’m over at The Novelty Girls today, kicking off a group discussion about plotting versus pantsing and what works for people.