Bound By Love by T.A. Chase

It's a release day! Woo hoo! I'm late this evening on it, but hey, I'm getting to it. =)

Two cowboys fall in love. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.

Tyler Newsome is heading home to the Lazy N, tired of the rodeo and tired of always being his charismatic twin’s shadow. It’s time he gets a life of his own—and maybe the man he’s always dreamed of, too.

Ren Alston’s always been attracted to Tyler, but never made a move because of his own mental and emotional baggage. But after years spent taming his demons and gaining control in every aspect of his life, Ren sees the younger man’s return as a sign of good things to come.

But first, they have to deal with Tyler’s twin, past indiscretions and Ren’s brothers. Will these cowboys manage to build a strong foundation of trust and love? Or will their problems be too much for them?

Warning: Explicit manlove. Hot naked cowboys, caramel sauce, spanking, whipping and a new twist on the old fashioned roll in the hay.

Go buy it here!

Query letters

Guess what? I'm not going to bitch about them this time. =) Isn't that amazing. I just got one that is probably the best I've ever seen. Instead of starting out with the normal "My name is... My book is... (brief explanation of the book)..." and so one and so forth, the author uses a tagline.

"I've just stolen two million dollars from you. What are you willing to do to get it back?"

It immediately had my attention and piqued my curiousity. It was a great idea because it immediately got my attention. It stood out...and in a good way. Because, well, when query letters stand out for me it's normally in a negative way. And as we all know, first impressions are everything, and it can affect your opinion of a book/author.

Now, I haven't even opened the manuscript, so I have no clue what the quality of the writing is. But, they've got my attention, which is ALWAYS a good thing. Considering the fact that 95% of what we read is rejected. And trust me, it's not always an easy decision.

The Catcher and the Lie by Rita Oberlies

I had a new one release yesterday! Go buy it here!


One player works extra innings to make Abby break her own rules about love.



After a year of personal and professional upheaval Nick Valente is in the market for redemption, not temptation. Getting involved with any woman, especially smart-mouthed Abby McCabe, is simply not in this player’s game plan.



Experience, mostly bad, has convinced Abby McCabe that she has a special gift for finding men who can’t help falling out of love with her. Getting close to a man, especially one who plays the field professionally, is sure to add another loss to her emotional score sheet.



As summer heats up an unexpected spark turns into a flame. But fear of getting burned winds up putting two strikes in their relationship. With Nick on the bench, it’s up to Abby to turn the game around. Trusting this man with her heart could deliver the biggest save of her life—or the biggest error she ever made.



Will they strike out or end up with a homerun?

Warning, this title contains the following: a hot baseball player with all-star equipment, a smack talking woman who doesn’t know the score, and a world class collection of inflatable dolls.

Query letters

I haven't done a post on writing/editing in a while, and since I'm sitting here doing nothing, I figured now would be as good a time as any. I know I've probably posted on this before, but since the query letters aren't getting any better, I'm going to post on it again.

First off, in your query letter, don't tell us you're the next Nora Roberts, Danielle Steele, or God forbid, Stephen King. Believe it or not, Stephen King is the most prevalent name I think we all see. You are not Stephen King. You never will be. And when you compare yourself to him, we pretty much immediately know that when we start reading your manuscript, it's probably no good.

And secondly, proofread your query letter. I mean, seriously. Don't use "your" in the place of "you're". It doesn't look good for your mauscript if you can't even get your query letter right. I have seen query letters where authors even misspelled their own name. Yes, I know that sounds a bit out there, but I'm not lying. I've seen it before.

Also, don't tell me that you've submitted your manuscript to lots of other publishers. That doesn't tell me anything good about you or your manuscript. Trust me on that one. All it does is tell me that you've been rejected by lots of other publishers and you're pretty much going down the line and submitting it everywhere, hoping/waiting for someone to pick it up. And I'm sure there is a publisher out there that might just do that, but that's not us/me. With the amount of submissions we get, we don't need to accept second or third rate material just to bump up or output like some publishers do. That is NOT Samhain.

When writing your letter, tell me about your story. Don't give me the whole synopsis, give me a mini-blurb about it. Hook me, get me interested. Then, tell me about yourself. Don't tell me you started writing to get over the pain of your husband leaving you, your cat dying, or your children growing up and leaving the house so you needed something to fill the void. Tell me what makes you such a good writer that I should offer you a contract, and no, any of the above-listed don't count!

And in your query, don't just say "Dear Editor, This is my book. I hope you like it." Yes, I have seen MANY query letters that say simply that.

Love Me by Kelly Jamieson

How far does she have to go to get his attention? Another girl’s arms?

Melina Wenham is worried and frustrated. Lately, her boyfriend of six months seems to have lost interest in her. Yes, she knows he’s stressed about his big project at work, but jeez, it seems like he’d rather go solo than have sex with her. Sexy lingerie, a Brazilian…nothing seems to get his attention.

Gavin’s frustrated too. He’s under enough pressure at work, without feeling more from Melina every time he gets home.

Another night, another party, and Gavin is off talking to the boys. Feeling ignored yet again, Melina confides her troubles to an acquaintance, Abby, who suggests shaking him up by flirting with another guy. Hmm. Not a bad idea, except there are no flirt-worthy guys at this party.

Then Abby suggests a different tack—flirt with her.

Could a little girl-on-girl tango be the match that reignites romance with Gavin? There’s only one way to find out…

Warning: Hot girl on girl scene!

The wonderful world of info dumps

This is something that always pops up in writing, especially with new writers, even even with experienced ones as well.

Please don't drop big info dumps in the beginning of the story. We don't need to know exactly what the hero and heroine look like right down to their shoe size by the time we get to page number two. We also don't need to know where they went to school, if Daddy loved them enough, if Mommy was never home, what elementary school they went to and what their favorite food is by the time we get to page number four. =) We don't need all those details right away. Trust me, that's not a hook for your reader. It's more like a yawn. There's nothing about that that's intriguing. Instead, start us off with some action. Lots of action.

And don't take leaving the info dumps out as to give us ANY information. Info is good, but we don't need five paragraphs detailing the heroine's life. Keep the story moving. Let things about your characters come out gradually. Let the reader learn the character, don't just tell them everything about the character. Show the reader the character.

Yes, those bad words, showing vs telling. But as long as people still do it, we editors will still continue to talk about it. =) Don't spend a paragraph giving us an info dump about how the villain is evil because he killed a litter of puppies. Show us something relevant, like the way he treats a family member in the presents, or dastardly actions he takes against a coworker.

I know I've kind of swayed off topic, into showing vs telling, but, I'm the queen of starting on one tangent and ending up on another. If I keep typing, I'll probably end up on the issue of filter words, the correct usage of the past participle, or the proper usage of lie vs lay.

Trust me, we don't want to go there. =)

Work work play work

I've been getting a lot done recently, but we're making some time to play, as well. I'm way ahead of the mark with my authors and getting their edits done, so that's lending me some extra free time. I've also got a couple of submissions to read, but not many at all. It feels like it's been kinda of dry on that end lately. =( But I'm sure it'll pick up. It always does.

This Saturday we're heading to Indianapolis to the Mt. Comfort airport for their airshow. It should be a lot of fun. We'll have a big cooler of beer tagging along behind us and we paid a little extra to have seats right on the runway, so no General Admission. Whew. I HATE General Admission anything. So that's what on the agenda for this weekend.

Next weekend is my final dress fitting in South Bend, but I'm fitting some fun in, too. I'll be getting a tattoo with my mom, our shamrocks for mom-and-daughter wedding presents. =) And I'm sure will hit my favorite mexican restaurant and suck down some of my favorite margaritas.

The weekend after is my bridal shower. Mom and Dad are gonna stay the night and we're gonna head out to dinner and Misty and I'd favorite bar to celebrate my Mom's birthday on Sept 5 and my dad getting his MBA. Woo hoo!

The best thing we're doing to have some fun is going to see Robin Williams on October 2. He'll be here at Purdue, and since I work here, I can get tickets tomorrow, and they don't open to the general public until Saturday.

Then there's wedding stuff galore and my bachelorette party, so everything until October 17 is gonna be REALLY busy for me. But that's the way I like it and I wouldn't have it any other way. =)

As a side note, my current obsession is Melinda Lambert's song "Gunpowder and Lead". I freaking LOVE it.

Ah a Monday

And as with every Monday, it means I'm one week closer to the bridal shower (which is on Sept 6) and the wedding. I'm really excited for all of it though, so I'm glad another week has passed. =)

I'm all caught up on editing, waiting for a couple of things to come back, starting edits on one, and I'm gonna read some submissions today. =) Woo hoo! I've only got a few in my inbox, so I should be able to get through them in the next couple of days. I need some really good ones, though. I feel as if I've hit a slump. *sigh* It's always frustrating when that happens, but normally when I pull out of it, I pull out of it in a really good way. I'm worried that pretty quickly, I'll have nothing to work on, and that's no good at all. Eeek.

Trading Faces by Denise Belinda McDonald

I've got Trading Faces by Denise Belinda McDonald releasing today. I loved this one when I read it as a submission. It just got better every time I read it! Click here to go buy it now.

There are worse things than winding up dead…

With her ex-husband’s death, Elyse Cabot thinks she’s permanently off the emotional roller coaster…until he turns up posing as his twin brother—the real victim of foul play—at his funeral. Before she can get any answers out of him, he’s gone, leaving her with more questions than closure.

And a fortune in loose diamonds.

Seeing Elyse again brings back a lot of hot, sweaty teenage memories for Jack. Then she opens her mouth and out comes some cockamamie story about her ex, diamonds and double crossing. So much for rekindling an old flame. Still, he just can’t seem to resist the lure of this dame in distress.

He just hopes he can solve the case before he does something stupid—like fall in love.

Warning, this title contains the following: Twins, explicit sex, graphic language, some rock ’em sock ’em violence, and did we mention diamonds?

It's finally...

The last day of working on the rental house. After tonight, no more. The new tenants move in tomorrow and then Myles, Misty, David, Wayne and I can get back to our regularly scheduled programming...er, lives. =P In the midst of all my own house cleaning I need to do this weekend, since I've had to put my house off to take care of Salem Street, I need to finish a round of edits and read some submission. =) I'm really looking forward to reading a few of them, too, since they're ones that I offered revise and resubmits on. *crossing my fingers that they're now even better than the first time I read them* =)

Synopsis

I know I've went over this before, but I'm going to say it again, over and over like a broken record. When you submit a manuscript, do NOT leaving us hanging with the synopsis. We want to know the whole plot, including the end. Heck, most importantly the end. At the "end" of your synopsis, if you put something like "will the hero and heroine find love?" Does not make us want to read the story. It annoys us. =P

Utter Cupidity by Toni Meilluer

Cupid: The ultimate god of love? Or the ultimate cad?

Cupid’s philandering and partying has finally caught up with him, giving the Olympian Council the opening they’ve been waiting for to make the irresponsible god prove he’s still competent in his job. For his punishment, the Council gives Cupid one straightforward assignment—to get a mortal to marry him. In one month.

There are only three rules to this deceptively simple task. Rule #1: The Council chooses the woman. Rule #2: He cannot use any of his natural abilities as a god to seduce her. And the hardest one of them all, Rule #3: He cannot lie to her.

When Brea Saunders is forced to work with a cocky-but-gorgeous art dealer, she can’t get away from the silver-tongued charmer fast enough. No matter how hard he tries, she’s determined never to give her heart to any man, ever again.

It will take all Cupid’s cunning and natural seduction to get the quick-tempered, man-hating, celibate beauty to fall for his charms in so short a time.

If he fails? He will be stripped of his powers—and his immortality.

Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language.

Devil Take Me by Anna J. Evans

Yay! I've got another release today. It's a really good one, too. I love Anna's work. Click on the title to buy it now.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Or is that wicked seductions?

Annie Theophilus is used to life not going her way, but now the future is looking bright. She’s engaged and finally getting her happily-ever-after—until she catches her fiancé cheating. The garage seems to be the safest place for a well-deserved crying jag. Instead, it proves to be a portal from hell, out of which a sexy denizen of the underworld has just emerged.

Namtar, one-time death-bringer to mortals, has come through an Earth portal for one thing—power. If he can convince a human to willingly sacrifice mortality for eternity in the Underworld, he will gain the power he needs to get the queen off her throne and secure a future for his people.

But Annie’s seduction doesn’t go as smoothly as planned. Somehow she steals a piece of his heart, and he finds himself struggling with a depth of feeling he’s never known. Now, thanks to his own hesitation, they’re on the run from a murderous ex-fiancé and a few enraged demons.
How can he ask her to give him her soul—when all he can offer her is pain?

Warning: This book contains sex in a garage, sex on the run, and shades of BDSM experimentation between willing partners as well as graphic depictions of an insane demon queen punishing her male and female lovers with stuff that put the ick in icky…I mean kinky.

When submitting your manuscript

It's usually not a good idea to have typos in your query letter. Sure, it'll make you stand out to the editor, but not in the way you want to stand out. Trust me on that one. I've received a couple lately that just have me boggled. Did they even bother to use Spell Check? Do they even know what Spell Check is? One that particularly had me was having the word "beleive" in their letter. That's not even a word, because, well, it's spelled wrong.

This isn't a long post, since there's not much to say on that. It's pretty much common sense.

It's one of those days

I'm reading through subs while at work. I've gotten caught up with all of my "work" work, so I've decided that I'll just get through all my subs today and tomorrow. I'm saving a couple of them because with what I usually see with those authors, I'll be wanting to offer a contract on them. =)

But the other ones I'm reading... They're not bad, they're just not good enough. There's something that's missing, something that's not drawing me in enough. The written is good, but the stories are just falling a little flat for me. I hate it when that happens. It's really hard to tell an author, "Hey, it's good, it's just not good enough, dude. Maybe someone else will like it." And don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like them, it's just that they don't grab me. If I'm going to have to read through a book ten times, literally sometimes, I have to be able to enjoy reading it every single time, even though I'll always know what is coming in every scene. With a good book, it doesn't matter how many times you read it, because it's good every time. =)

When you're done writing your manuscript and you hand it over to your crit partner (if you have one), be sure you're handing it over to someone who will be brutally honest with you. I know it sucks to have your baby critiqued and have negative things said about it, but if you want to get published (by a good publisher) you need that feedback. Even if you don't have a crit partner, you need someone else to read it for you. Again, someone brutally honest. They don't have to be another writer or know the ins and outs of grammar, dialogue tags, showing versus telling, etc.

You just need someone who is going to tell you if it's a good read. If it's something they would by. You need to know if they were compelled to turn the page, to keep reading way beyond the length of time they intended to read for. I cannot stress how important that is. If I can get distracted easily while reading your book, and I'm not drawn into it, and I need to take a bunch of breaks before continuing on, chances are, I'm not going to be offering you a contract. But if I'm so into it that I HAVE to read on so I know what happens next and how it ends, then you stand a pretty good chance. Sometimes the grammar and various stuff isn't the most important thing. I can offer a revise and resubmit to fix that...but I can't tell you how to fix it if it's not an engaging story.

I love...

Editing. Yes, I adore it. I enjoy writing, too, but lately I've stopped writing and have just been concentrating on editing. Heck, I edit in my free time because I enjoy it so much. I even do it on my lunch hours at work. =P

I'm still working on turning editing into my one and only job. Considering the fact that I love it so much, that's probably a really good idea. =) Once Myles and I have kids, I pretty much refuse to work outside of the home. Hell, for the money I make at my day job right now, I'd be working to pay for a babysitter. And that's all my job would pay for. No exagerration.

I can't say it enough. I love editing and I love my authors. =) And Samhain is great to work for, too.

Release Day! Living Lies by Dawn Brown

Doing whatever it takes could get them both killed.

Twelve years after her sister’s disappearance, Haley Carling spends her days trying to hold what’s left of her family together, running her late father’s shop and caring for her alcoholic mother. Then her sister’s remains are uncovered in the basement of their old home, and fingers start pointing. At the Carlings.

Dean Lawson, long the prime suspect in the Carling girl’s disappearance, is sure he’s got evidence proving who the killer is. He’s determined to clear his name, and he won’t let anything stand in his way. Not even his lingering attraction to Haley.

Haley is just as determined to protect her family from the former town bad boy’s accusations. But now someone is stalking her, and Haley realizes Dean’s the only one she can trust.

With a killer closing in, Dean wonders if he’s made the biggest mistake of his life…a mistake that could cost Haley her life.

Warning: This title contains a mystery to keep you turning the pages late into the night.

***

I absolutely adore this book, nevermind the fact that I contracted and edited it. =) As editors, we read a book about eight times, and never once did I skim through. Everytime I read it, even when I knew just what was going to happen, I LOVED IT! Everything about this book is wonderful.

You can buy it here: http://samhainpublishing.com/coming/living-lies

Out of my slump

I think I'm finally getting out of my blah slump. I've been there for a while, too. No real reason for it, just there. =) My mood has been fantastic for the past two days and I've actually stayed up later than 9:00. LOL Whatever it is, I'm happy with it.

I'm working on getting way ahead in editing everything, because I don't want to have to worry about it come time for the wedding. I'm doing good with all of it, though. No stresses, no worries. It's all gravy, baby. =)

I just contracted a new book for Samhain that I love (of course I love it, I contracted it), but I know everyone else will, too. Bound by Love by TA Chase. Cowboys and sex and cowboys. Yummy! I can't wait to get started editing on it, so I can read it again!

Descriptions

Yes, descriptions are good. But don't go overboard with them. The reader doesn't need to have everything little thing described to them. The reader might not want to "see" something exactly the same way you, the author, see it. Yes, tell us there is a field of colorful calla lilies, and, only if important to the story, tell us some colors. Don't tell us that there are twenty-four yellow ones and thirty-seven pink ones and that eight of those pink ones have two leaves instead of one. Or whatever. Ya following me? =)

I've been a bad blogger...again

But, a lot of it was because I was sick for much of last week and then I was out of town all weekend. And I left all work at home. =) Now I'm back in the saddle and back in the swing of things, so I'll be much better.

I'm in a super good mood (right now) because I just offered a contract on a book. Cowboys and sex...yummy. I'm really excited to get started on it. I'll let y'all know more about it once I have the contract signed and in my hot little hands--figuratively speaking, of course. =)

All of my editing work is ahead of schedule and you know what that means? I might get some evenings to rest! Woo hoo! I'm going to start working on not working at all on the weekends, other than house stuff. I need to differentiate between work weeks and weekends more. I fall into the trap of sitting on the couch and editing all weekend, and that's no good. I need to be outside doing yardwork, going camping, getting stuff done...and not "working".

This weekend I'll be the maid of honor in my best friend's wedding on Saturday, hence the reason I will not be attending Lori Foster's event. *pout* And I so wanted to, since it's within driving distance from me. But, alas, the maid of honor duties have to take precedence. =P There's always another time to go to a gathering, but there's only one time I get to be in my best friend's wedding. Yes, this is me, trying not to be disappointed. LOL It's all good though.

Now, with four months to go, I'm going to have to get my butt in gear and get my own wedding stuff done. I've been a very, very bad bride.