I have my first review for Night Moves, and its four hearts out of five!!!

Check it out, I have my first review! Night Owl Romance. http://www.nightowlromance.com/nightowlromance/media/thumbnails/mybookwasreviewed_bw.jpg

And it was good!

I'm stunned. Over the moon.

There really are Nice Guys out there

Men like my husband David. The truth is he is the best man I have ever known. Truth.

He wants to be a Big Brother (or as they call it here a Mentor), last night was the interview.

He has always given back to his community. Growing up, his family wasn't the richest, but he knows that others had it worse. When his kids were growing up he was a soccer coach. He was a leader of the adventure youth group at his church. He's also a motorcycle safety instructor (I was his worst student.)

He has one of the best philosophies of life that I know - Never tip over anyone else's lifeboat. In other words whatever it is that they believe in (Buckeyes, fishing, building the Eiffel Tower with toothpicks, Sasquatch, whatever) as long as they don't hurt anyone else, let them believe in it. It's okay. Whatever gets you through, it's okay, he'll support you in it.

He's a vegetarian because he won't eat anything that can think, even though he loves meat. As an example he uses our African clawed frog - who recognizes me when I feed him, because he doesn't hide when I go to put food in his tank, and prefers that I feed him by hand. (I will never eat frog's legs.)

If you want to know how well it works - well, let's put it this way, his grown son still chooses to come spend his lunch with his Dad more often than not, even though he has to drive to do it.

My husband knew I was a writer, and even though it took and still takes time away from him, he's never complained, all he asks is that I do one thing...lol...the dishes. It seems a fair exchange. He swears I'm schizophrenic - or bipolar - but says he doesn't mind because it's like being married to a different woman every night. (I get two different men every year - one clean-shaven, one with a beard.) For the first time in my life I have someone who truly supports me, who walks the walk not just talks the talk. (He gave me my own writing space.)

In all the time I've known him I've never known anyone who doesn't like him.

He's a one-woman man and I will always be thankful to his ex-wife for leaving him, because I got him. (And I still think she's nuts for doing that...) As much time as I spend in my writing room, he never minds - it gives him time to do his own thing - and forgives my occasional insanity without blinking, but always a hug.

Oh, and did I mention he's gorgeous? He keeps in shape by riding his motorcycle (a BMW, not a Harley) and by doing Yoga. (And he's not a girly-man, but he's verrrry flexible! Beyond that I can't go because TMI, TMI. Oh my.... TMI)

It took four tries for me to find him, and some of those tries were horrendous, but he's wonderful about that, too. To him I was never damaged goods but an optimist.

In the face of all the stereotypes, he has always given me great presents, putting real thought into them.

No matter what book I write, even if they aren't dedicated to him, he is a part of every one of them, because he made me believe that love was really possible.

I am officially an author, and not just a writer!

Night Moves was released on Friday. Hurray!!! And I have my first fan mail. (If you read this, Tina, thank you for your kind words!) And she said the words I wanted so much to hear, that she couldn't help falling in love with Michael and Nico, the two leads. Sweeter words a romantica/erotica author can never hear.

What's was the hardest thing about writing erotica?

(Laughing) The terminology. I was raised not to say half those words, and now they are giving me a list!!! With syn-o-nyms!!!

Blink, blink.

I was told that I had to beef my sex scenes up, that I wasn't being graphic enough. I'm looking at pages where I was squirming to write them (and not just the terminology) and thinking, My God, how do I do that?!

So I downloaded a few more erotica novels... there's tough work, but somebody has to do it... and I read some more.

Oh, now I get it.

My mother hated the f-word, she would have washed my mouth out with soap for using half those terms. And I'm fifty-two.

Now I use it so freely I offended my very conservative hair stylist. LOL

Today is the day, Night Moves is released

It is on the Just Released page. My husband keeps sending me e-mails reminding me to breathe.

My first book. The first one I have ever published.

Wow.

Cool.

Breathe.

And there's Cherry's Jubilee yet to go, awaiting edits. I've got the cover art for it and it's beautiful. That'll be fun and interesting to edit. My poor editor!

I'm trying to remember to breathe.

Last night, doing an errand, I was so distracted that I tripped and fell walking through a door. The sign on it (I checked afterward) clearly said, step down. I didn't. Twit. Jeez. Then I forgot that I put the car key in my pocket (I was picking up our mini-van) Then I babbled to my husband.

It's going to be an interesting weekend.

And breathe...

24 Hours to First Release, and counting

I'm as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, as nervous as a whore in church.

One more day and my first book comes out.

There have been times when I have wondered if I was crazy to start this journey, to put so much of myself out there, to risk the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, to expose myself this way.

It was a collaborative journey in a few ways. My husband has dealt with my disappearances when I go into 'writing mode' and my critique partner, God bless her heart, has dealt with my nerves and frustrations over the process, listened to me rant and rave, and occasionally prevented me from jumping off the metaphorical bridge.

There's my editor, too. I wish that she could share this, it wouldn't be the book it is without her, and I have not been the easiest new author to deal with, I'm sure. I'll try to do better on the next one.

I'VE GOT A CONTRACT!!! YAY!! Part Deux

So, what's the next thing you do after telling everyone?

Hey, I've got a contract. I'M A WRITER, A REAL WRITER!

I'M GOING TO WRITE MORE BOOKS! And they're all going to get published!

Go, baby, go!

Suddenly ideas are bursting, and that backlog of stories you've been piling up has new life.

Write. Dance. Enjoy. (Reality pops up a few lines down.)

Take advantage of it, wallow in it. Now all those years of sacrifice have been justified. If you're lucky and you have people who support you, you've still had to fit your writing in where you could, around birthdays and anniversaries, your day job, scheduling time to write. Even then,sometimes you may have found yourself feeling guilty for time you don't spend with them as you follow your dream, or the time you haven't spent following your dream to be with them.

If you haven't been that lucky, it's been even harder. I was told many times how difficult it was to be a writer, and why did I think I could be one. My father used to send me articles on how most writers can't make a living on what they write. True story.

On a personal level it cost me my previous marriage. But then I met my current husband, who supports everything I do. He truly loves me and I thank God for him every day.

So, write. Now you can hold that contract up to everyone and say "I'm a writer!"

And, you are.

You've taken that first step and actually published your first novel.

Be prepared.

There is no guarantee that the next one will be any easier to sell. Unless your first book sells off the shelves (Even that is no guarantee, I had a friend who was told her writing style was too difficult,that they weren't certain they wanted to take her next book) and your second book is a sequel or in the same style, they still may not take it.

Tomorrow - so, now what?

I'VE GOT A CONTRACT!!! YAY!! (Back on topic)

Okay, so you've sold your first book, you've got your contract in your hot little hands, so what do you do? You run around and tell everyone!

Be prepared, while some people (your mother, maybe) will congratulate you, others will be a real downer.

Unless you sign with a major house, some will say they're not a real publisher. If you don't write the kind of books they like, you're not a real author.

What is it with people? Why can't they just be encouraging? And what's so hot about reality? If it's so great, why are most people trying to escape it? Why not just let people dream a little? So, when it's your turn, remember this, whether in life or love, let people enjoy it. Reality will arrive soon enough.

So ignore them and hang around your mom or your spouse. Don't let the bastards get you down!

Brief diversion - went to see Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, The Musical, go if you can!

There's a song called Deep Love that explains those white streaks in the hair of the Bride of Frankenstein, and it wasn't from fear. Hysterical. The advantage to writing erotica - or chick porn as my CP sometimes calls it - is getting the joke before everyone else.

It's the first time in a musical that I've ever heard the word 'tits' sung...by a woman. It was really funny. If you get the chance go see it.

So, how did you get published?

That's everyone's favorite question, if they don't write. Those who did, know, but I'm going to give you my process, everyone's is slightly different.

Me, like most people I started out by writing my first book at age eight. I got an A. My first novel came at fourteen or so, again an A, but it was three hundred pages of A, and I loved it.

Then life threw a couple of curve balls, and every time I tried to write, something got in the way. Don't get me wrong, I was dedicated, but poverty can be distracting, and there just aren't that many garrets, and little funding for starving artists. So, I tried a variety of careers and a number of marriages - both worked out pretty much the same, but I kept trying to write the stories in my head until the passion became so great I lost job and husband at the same time.

It would have helped if I could have picked a genre - but although all my stories have a romantic element, that was the only thing they had in common.

I wrote an epic fantasy about an Elven swordmaster torn between honor, duty, loyalty, and the star-crossed woman he might love, and a slightly edgy mystery about a computer geek/troubleshooter who goes looking for a missing coed and gets caught between the Feds and a major drug dealer. How she gets the coed out is the fun part. I wrote a Fairy tale about a Fairy Queen, the decisions she must make and the law of unintended consequences. Even the best of intentions can have the wrong result. And another about a High Priestess in Early Dynasty Egypt who becomes the guardian to a tomb, and the terrible forces within it. And a bunch of really fun romance novels about four friends who were geeks in high school. Among others.

So I began the path of trying to sell my novels - not having parents in the industry or knowing the right people, or even where to start. Even the local branch of romance writers didn't seem inclined to help. I had to pay my dues the hard way, learning how to write query letters without the least idea how to make them effective, submitting to publishers, and waiting.

In the meantime, a publisher of erotica had decided to branch out into something a little more mainstream and were setting up a new line, and they were looking for new fresh voices as I learned at a romance convention. And there was an editor there who looked at my mystery, liked the 'fresh' voice and told me to submit.

Lots of jumping up and down later, waiting to hear after it was sent to the acquisitions editor, I realized that six months had gone by. The website said it could take as long as a year, but to send an e-mail if I hadn't heard from them. No reply.

Back to the drawing board, but the idea of the erotica was percolating in the back of my mind. So I went up to the site and bought a few. Tried some from different lines.

And only then did it occur to me to try to write one. Duh.

A couple of old fantasies popped up in my head, and an article about Alpha men in romance novels. There were the same old statistics, and one the author dismissed, but shouldn't have. A number of women had asked for 'nicer' heroes.

I was one of them. A victim of abuse who'd had to be trained to be more assertive (that took really really well) it was hard to read about men who treated women badly, suspiciously, and were sometimes overly jealous. Plus I really hated for some men to be right when they said we women only wanted the bad boys. I was tired of women who had to be rescued.

So I created two sexy vampires who were looking for a steady meal, and the tough sexy woman they want to share, and who wants to share them. I hadn't wanted the standard sullen angst-ridden Alpha males treating women badly, so I wrote two sexy men who would need the woman they chose for unexpected reasons, putting their lives in danger rather than hers.

Then I remembered another favorite fantasy. As Rome and Greece descended into decadence, they began to use slaves as their serving trays, covering them with food and eating off of them, but particularly for desserts. There were tales of parties in NY and Los Angeles that took up the theme. It seemed incredibly erotic. So I wrote a story of a rich man who wants to throw a decadent party to show up his Board of Directors, and gets served up a woman covered in chocolate. It was a great scene to write.

On impulse, I submitted both of them and one of my fantasy novels to the erotica publisher.

Don't tell my editor, but both were the first erotica I had ever written. And they took them both.

I was stunned, ecstatic, elated, jumping up and down and bouncing off the walls.

Unfortunately, I ran into two basic problems, and one of the biggest tropes in erotica. There must be dramatic, personal tension. And I tend to write from multiple points of view...

to be continued...