Crystal Jordan :: Blog

I’m over at Aphrodisia Authors doing my monthly guest bloggery today.

I’m at RT! Yes! There’s people and friends and more people. New people, old people, odd people. The people-watching is beyond compare.

Things I’ll be doing this week:

1) Must meet with awesome sauced agently one, Lucienne Diver.

2) Must dance all night with Kristen Painter and other assorted Romance Divas.

3) Must tell dirty jokes at inappropriate times while presenting at my “Sextopia” panel with the Smutketeers (Thursday from 10-11am. If you’re here, come hang out! We have prizes). Then again, I question if there’s ever a really inappropriate time for a dirty joke at RT. Hmm.

4) Must do new steampunk photo shoot for the Gallery with the Smutketeers.

5) Must look jaw-droppingly sexy for said photo shoot. Luckily, Eden Bradley is the queen of make-up. She might be able to help.

6) Must show around travel writer, Rolf Potts.

7) Must make some attempt not to allow travel writer to be sexually molested by romance fans. Or not. Heh.

8) Must shake my groove thang with fairies and ghouls.

9) Must take many, many pictures to show off when I get back.

10) Must do book signing! I’ll be at the Romantic Times Book Fair on Saturday, May 1 at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio from 11am-2pm. Admission is $5.00 at the door, I believe. (There will be over 300 romance authors there, so come check it out if you’re in the area)

By the time you read this, I’ll probably be on a plane halfway across the country, and headed for RT. In happy coincidence, Dakota Cassidy and I found out that we’re on the same connection flight from Dallas, TX to Columbus, OH (where the conference is taking place). I’m bringing the snacks, she’s bringing the trashy magazines.

Saaaaweet! Almost makes up for the crack of dawn first flight I have to take to get to that Dallas connection. Almost.

So, I leave for the Romance Times Convention tomorrow at the crack of dawn. Actually, I think it’s before the crack of dawn, but who’s counting? I’m packed. I’m ready. I think. I’m going to be running through a list of last-minute details, and it’s inevitable that I’ll be forgetting something important.

Basically, I can’t sit still today. My brain is buzzing with excitement and nerves. I can’t wait to see my friends, some of whom I haven’t met up with in a year or two or more. I hope whatever that important thing is that I’m going to forget isn’t something I really can’t live without.

I need to find something to distract myself…

I’m over at Shelley Munro’s blog today giving my second of two writing tips to go along with her extravaganza of helpfulness. Check it out!

So, I realized I haven’t put up a new soundtrack for anything I’ve been writing lately. Let’s see, right now I’m working through the plots on two stories. The first is the sequel to my upcoming Sexy Beast 9 novella, Between Lovers. The other is the sequel to On the Prowl. So, shifters rule. Sexy shifters, naturally. So, let’s look at the sex mix I play when writing certain…ahem…scenes. (This is a variable list. I have several iPod mixes for…you know. Hey, I write a lot of dirty books!)

“You Want This” by Janet Jackson
“Oh My God” by Pink (featuring Peaches)
“Fuck the Pain Away” by Peaches
“SexyBack” by Justin Timberlake
“Animals” by Nickelback
“Closer” (aka “I Want to Fuck You Like an Animal”) by Nine Inch Nails
“Leather and Lace” by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley
“Bump ‘n Grind” by R. Kelly
“Push It” by Salt ‘n Pepa
“S.E.X.” by Nickelback
“How Many Licks” by Lil Kim
“Shakin’ Hands” by Nickelback
“Doin It” by LL Cool J
“I Want Your Sex” by George Michael
“What’ll I Do” by Janet Jackson
“Poker Face” by Lady Gaga
“So Hott” by Kid Rock

So, I’ve been doing a little non-fiction reading lately. I know, I know. You’re shocked. I read something besides romance? Smut? Stuff with at least a romantic element to it? They publish stuff like that? Horrors!

But, yes, I do in fact manage to crack open the cover of some non-fiction from time to time. These two books are by the same author, one Rolf Potts, who has won a boatload of awards for his travel writing articles. I met him at a conference a year or so ago, but I’ve only started reading his books in the last couple of months.

Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel

This one details the basics of how and when and where to accomplish long term travel. Since I don’t have plans for any extended trips just now (but M and I are headed to Scotland next year!), it was an entertaining and conversational how-to guide that got me through a truly horrific day of travel delays when stuck in a slew of airports. Fitting, no? If you’re going out of town for long periods of time (or you want to someday), you’ll want to check this one out.

Marco Polo Didn’t Go There: Stories and Revelations from One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer

This one, though. Oh, man. It was fabulous. It was a collection of Rolf’s articles from the last ten years, which meant I could take it in in smaller doses. Considering the hectic pace I’ve been keeping, that was delightful. Some of the stories were poignant, some were side-splittingly funny and outrageous. The best part for me was his “audio commentary” at the end of each story where he highlighted parts of the story not mentioned in the narrative. Funny or groan-worthy outtakes, process notes, extra people who were cut from the final draft. Lots of goodies. So, I’d highly recommend this one.

Apparently, I’m the last one to know that Avatar was a gorgeous movie. The story wasn’t the best in the world, but they managed to draw me in, because I was on the edge of my seat. The first fifteen or twenty minutes weren’t as fabulous, but once they had the lead guy out into the wild, I was sold.

I may need to go again while it’s still in theaters. It was so worth the price of admission to see it on the big screen. When it comes out on DVD–it’s mine. Mine, mine, mine!

The Smutketeers did a group guest blog for the Steamed blog today!