So, how was ComiCon, you ask? If humanly possible, I'm going back next year for the whole thing and I'm bringing my son and nephew and one or both of my bothers.

My wonderful publisher, Hachette Book Group (Grand Central Publishing) came up with a badge for me so I could attend Friday and sign the copies of My Forbidden Desire they were giving away. I flew down and back on Friday, which is doable because it's only an hour flight from here.

Huge thank you to Nick Small of Hachette who came out to give me my badge, escort me to the booth and help get me set up and ready to sign. I'm also glad that was at 9:00 am before the con was officially open, because after that -- madhouse.

The signing was FUN and my gosh the books were just gone as fast as I could sign them. Everyone was so nice and friendly. It didn't hurt that a Twilight give away was about to start, too. Hachette Books, in case you didn't know, also publishes Stephanie Meyer.

Now, who doesn't love free books, right? But good golly, there were a lot of people who were excited to meet me (yes, me!) because they had read my books and loved them or who had orders from others to get my book. There were a number of people who read the back of the book and were pretty excited about reading it. PLUS! I remembered to bring bookmarks for My Wicked Enemy and My Forbidden Desire so everyone got bookmarks, too. The extras were gone pretty quickly, too. So, authors, if you sign at ComiCon, bring LOTS of bookmarks. If I'd brought a thousand of each, I think they would have disappeared. Frankly, I think if I'd brought thousands of each they'd have been picked up.

I love talking about books and Hachette had some of my favs out there, including Josh Bazell's Beat the Reaper which I think is just a really excellent book so I couldn't help pimping that a bit.

After the signing, I took a bit to breathe and then I wandered around the exhibit hall, which let me let you is a lot of walking. There's a great mix of commercial/corporate stuff -- glitz! Glamor! Big displays!! and small presses, artists, comics... just really astounding. I wish I knew more about the comics biz because there were artists there drawing stuff and selling their artwork and I'm a doofus over artwork.

Then I decided to attend a few panels only I didn't have a schedule thingee and I'm ashamed to confess that I also didn't know who anyone who anyone was, so I just picked a few. I hit paydirt on my first one. Artist David Yardin gave a great talk on creating a comic book cover. Here's his portfolio

What I loved about his talk, aside from the gorgeous artwork, was his story about how he got into the business. It's instructive to writers, too. He's from Australia, which doesn't have the professional Comics industry the US does but he knew his work was pretty close to professional level. He was getting great feedback but he knew he needed to get himself to the next level. What he did was search out advice and (hugely paraphrasing here, and making observations David did not) since professionals get excited about talented people and want to help them, David did find just such a professional. He worked on his craft with this man (whose name I know I should have recognized but didn't, sorry). He studied hard. Really, really hard. And he internalized what he was being taught and applied that to his work. He said he spent hours and hours just drawing arms, for example.

What was clear is that David wasn't just passionate. He wanted to learn. Or more appropriately, even though he knew he was good, he knew he needed to be even better. And he made it happen. That's a lesson for writers too. Don't just complain about how hard it is to get published. Study your craft intensely and always be working to get better.

After that session I got in this astoundingly long line for someone named R. Rodriguez who I figured must be a big deal on account of the long line. (Ducking!!) Yeah. Director Robert Rodriguez who started out with his hit El Mariachi which he made for $8,000 in two weeks because he had to give the camera back in two weeks. Then he went on to make movies you might have heard of, like Spy Kids and Grindhouse and lots of others. He was really funny and told a lot of amusing stories.

I popped in on a couple more sessions and wandered around a lot. I tried to find Marjorie M. Liu's signing but my lack of a program guide and my general inability to tell right from left meant I wandered around aimlessly and with my luck probably passed her twice without seeing her.

There are lots of ComiCon attendees who dress up. I saw lots of Klingons, several Wonder Women, Spiderman, Jedi Knights, Storm Troopers and lots of others as well as costumes I was unable to identify. Some of the costumes, male and female, were uhm, ill advised, in my opinion but ultimately, it's all about having fun and everyone was having fun.

Labels: ComiCon, My Forbidden Desire, My Wicked Enemy

Tomorrow I'll be at ComicCon in San Diego at the Hachette Books booth signing FREE copies of My Forbidden Desire starting at 10:00 am. If you're around, please come by. That would be awesome indeed. Since I have an early flight I'll be leaving for a Park N Fly hotel tonight. If I'd had my brain on straight I would have arranged this for Saturday when I wouldn't have to worry about commute traffic. I've flow down and back in a day before, it's a bit tiring, but completely doable.

And, Saturday is, apparently, the cast signing for HBO's True Blood, including my One True Love, Alexander Skarsgard. He plays Eric.

Commiserate with me. This is sad indeed that I will not see him. Sniff. OTOH, I'm hoping my badge will permit me to wander around and look at stuff. Maybe poke my head into a panel or two. The worrywart in me insists on worrying that I won't be able to wander around and I'll be stuck doing nothing until my flight back. It's not easy being a worrywart.

It's getting on to the time when I need to be feeding the boy and figuring out what I'm taking. Laptop? yes, I think so. In case I can't wander. Or maybe not. Maybe it will be too big at PITA to bring. OTOH again, maybe I should because sometimes crowds freak me out and a laptop would be a good thing to hide behind once I'm done with the signing bit. You see my issues? I won't have a place to stash anything like a carry on bag so maybe I'll bring along my RWA bag or my huge green Dell bag just in case there's swag to carry away.

Worry worry worry.

Now watch something remarkable:

Let it all go, Carolyn. It's one freaking day. Bring the damn laptop because it's not heavy, it's named Fang, after Mr. Skarsgard, and bring the green Dell bag because it will scrunch up easily in the laptop bag.

Ahh, yes. Off to cook dinner and then drive to the airport hotel. I will tweet for sure and maybe even blog.

Labels: Comic Con, My Forbidden Desire, True Blood

Just a quick note to say I'm working on the page proofs for Indiscreet so I have my head down getting through those. Plus too much day job stuff bleeding into my real life and eating up my evenings. Sigh so I am behind in everything now and getting paid less for more work. Should Not Compute. But it does, sadly.

Am also woefully unprepared for RWA in July. However, good news is that I'll be at the Literacy signing July 15 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm so if you're in the DC area, come by!

On July 24 I'll be at the Hachette booth at Comic Con San Diego signing 200 free copies of My Forbidden Desire so if you're there, drop by. When not signing I will be looking for Alexander Skarsgard and all things True Blood related. I'm only there for the day. I'll post better time info when I have it.

Labels: Comic Con, Indiscreet, My Forbidden Desire, RWA Nationals, signing

I guest blogged at Magical Musings. My post is Can Writing Be Taught And Why I Think That's the Wrong Question Check it out of articles about writing interest you.

The blog Nobody Asked Me had very nice things to say about My Wicked Enemy and My Forbidden Desire. Scroll down in her list of May Reading to find me. Among others things she opined:

My Forbidden Desire: It's edgy, irreverent and has ambiguous characters as the H/H. Can't wait for the next installment. My Grade = B+

MY WICKED ENEMY I'm looking for every Carolyn Jewel book I can find now. My Grade = B+

In other news, I'm working on The Next Paranormal and finishing the synopsis for what I hope will be The Next Historical

My son and a friend are out in the field digging holes. Very deep holes. Intense holes. They are working hard and don't know it. Too bad we don't actually need holes dug. The Border Collie is in heaven. She loves to dig holes, too. I believe they are sharing tips and advice.

I should be working. Will go do that now.

Labels: My Forbidden Desire, My Wicked Enemy, The Next Historical, The Next Paranormal

Today I was over at the Risky Regencies blogging about Regency era Ottoman Empire. Check it out!

Also, here's part of a great review of My Forbidden Desire by Lori Sears at The Romance Reader's Connection

4 1/2 stars!

Ms. Jewel has another winner with this latest release and I can only hope that there is more to come!

Oh, yes!

Labels: My Forbidden Desire, reviews, Risky Regencies

Saturday mornings are my absolute favorite, especially if I get to sleep through them. Alas, not this Saturday. I had a rather large day job implementation that required my early rising after working most of Friday evening. All things considered, the project went remarkably well.

Today my son goes to his cousin's birthday party and then in the evening leaves for a red-eye to Washington DC with his eighth grade class. I'll need to do some last minute shopping for that. And then what will I do with myself during an entire week with no youngling?

In between all that, I have to start seriously working on The Next Paranormal. The synopsis for The Next Historical is essentially done and out to readers so I don't have to stress about that anymore. Good news! And if you're reading between the lines, yes, I will be writing more paranormals even though I can't officially say so, it's unofficially official enough that I have to get cracking as of a couple of weeks ago.

In other good news, and pretty much all thanks to Twitter, I won two things in Brenda Novak's diabetes fund raiser; Lunch with Barry Eisler and Candy a Month from Hank Phillippi Ryan. (Twitter reminded me I should go bid on something, so I did.) Then I won a True Blood poster, coming to me directly from HBO's PR office and THEN I won a free ad from the Catanetwork folks! I also got an ARC of Lisa Unger's Die For You and an ARC of Jaci Burton's Taken by Sin.

If you're not on Twitter, how come? Because I also found out on Twitter that Dear Author has My Forbidden Desire as a Recommended Read for June. Woot! Also woot!, MFD made bookscan at 62, which means it's one of the top 100 romances.

If you all would go buy the book (please!) maybe I could move up the list and hit the top 50.

Name that Heroine!

The Next Paranormal will be about Durian, and his heroine needs a name. Everything is subject to change, but she's about 26 or so, scrappy, dresses on the punk side, short dark hair with with purple streaks. She might change colors to lime green or something just to tweak Durian. In the proposal, I called her Shelby because for some reason I thought that might work and when I realized it wasn't going to, it was too late to change it. In chapter one, which I am in the middle of completely rewriting, she is wearing orange high top sneakers.

Here's the short list of names:

• Piper


• Zoe


• Mischa


• Pilar


• Willa


• Antonia

Mischa is the front runner at the moment, but see below. And now, my request: Got any good ideas for a name? I keep a spreadsheet of cool names and note which ones I've used in which books, so here's an opportunity 1) vote on the list of candidate names and/or 2) help me add to my list and maybe even come up with the name I end up using (if you do, full credit in the acknowledgments) by suggesting your own character names.

A few parameters:

• Her name can't start with D since the hero's name already starts with D.


• Her name probably shouldn't start with M either since Maddy is a major secondary character who is likely to get some page time


• Other starting letters that probably won't work: K, A and X.


• ethnic names are completely welcome and probably privileged

Leave your suggestions and votes in the comments. Thank you.

Labels: My Forbidden Desire, Names, The Next Historical, The Next Paranormal

I'm over at Patti O'Shea's blog pimping My Forbidden Desire and giving away a copy of My Wicked Enemy. So check it out. Leave a comment.

The day before I was over at Riskey Regencies making my debut appearance as a member of the blog. I'll be blogging about all kinds of stuff, including things I learned about the Ottoman Empire.

In writing news, uh, I need to get on the stick. That dang synopsis for The Next Hisotorical needs to be done so I can start on The Next Paranormal.

So, off to it, peeps.

Sorry to be so boring. I'll try to do better next time.

Labels: My Forbidden Desire, pimping, The Next Historical, The Next Paranormal

My Forbidden Desire

Check out my website page for My Forbidden Desire where you'll find lots of great information, links to reviews, my book trailer, an excerpt, links to various places to buy and more information about the characters in the book.

Oh, and you should know, too, that My Wicked Enemy is available as an eBook for $1.99 -- from Amazon, Fictionwise etc, so if you haven't read it, here's your chance to get your feet wet for a very modest investment.

Reviews

4 1/2 stars and a Top Pick from Romantic Times

Jewel's darkly perilous and sizzling world is back in a second installment that pits mortal enemies against each other. Her excellent characterization makes each of the players intriguing, which adds richness to the exciting plot. Brava to Jewel for delivering pure and exhilarating entertainment.

Janine, at Dear Author: B+
My Forbidden Desire is a sexy, engrossing read, one that I really enjoyed. The action is fast at times but not so fast that there aren’t also some wonderful slower moments in which Xia and Alexandrine become intimate, and I don’t mean just physically.

Labels: My Forbidden Desire, reviews

Even though it's Monday and I'm in a grumbly mood, I have good news to post. I'll make it quick because I have to leave in a bit to take the progenic unit to a meeting.

Romance Book Scene has an interview with yours truly with a contest to win a free book. Check it out! You have until June 14 to answer the question and be entered in their contest.

Go win a book and say Carolyn sent you!

More good news is that tomorrow is not only NOT Monday but also the official release day for My Forbidden Desire.

Now I'm off. Have a great evening and a fun Tuesday!

Labels: contest, Mondays, My Forbidden Desire

Whew. I think I've fixed the last of the known pesky issues with the new website. Score one for me for tracking down the issues.

Today, I sent out my newsletter announcement for the release of My Forbidden Desire with a special contest for subscribers only. So, if you don't subscribe, you might want to click on over and subscribe.

I've almost finished my promotion stuff for the release. I have a few more guest blogs coming up.

So far, I've been these places:

• I do Not Want to Wait... for a fun interview with me.


• Pub Rants. This is my agent's blog. My post is about backstory, which you might want to check out if you're interested in articles about writing


• Fresh Fiction where I muse some more about supernatural reproduction.


• The Chatelaines for a pretty comprehensive interview with me by the always wonderful Jennifer Ashley

Uh, what else?

I have read ALL of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse books and also watched the entire season 1 of the HBO series True Blood. Wah! I have to wait for the next book and for season 2 to be on DVD.

And how odd, but when I saw still pictures of the actor who plays Eric (Alexander Skarsgard), I thought, meh. But when he was on screen? omg. I thought my iMac was going to 'splode. How oh how am I ever going to wait for Eric and Sookie? Those guys over at HBO are mean. I have since seen other stills of him that hint at his epic hotness. But not the one of him on Wikipedia. Not to mention all the other websites made it insanely hard to grab a pic to show you so I gave up because it's getting late and I'm tired.

I have not cleaned my room and things are getting desperate. Must do something about that. Later.

Is anyone else hooked on Sookie Stackhouse? In my case, that would be specifically hooked on Eric. What are you hooked on? I'm always looking for crack-a-licious books.

Labels: more stuff, My Forbidden Desire, stuff

Here it is! Please let me know what you think. One person has said she had trouble with the audio so I'm interested to know if anyone else has the same issue.





Is everyone else looking forward to the weekend as much as I am?

Labels: Book Trailer, My Forbidden Desire

Check out my blog post at Fresh Fiction where I'm talking werewolf reproduction. Leave a comment there, make me look super popular, and have a chance to win a copy of My Wicked Enemy so you'll have a complete set after you rush out to get your copy of My Forbidden Desire.

This post is a kind of a companion post to Vampire Reproduction

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Labels: books, My Forbidden Desire, My Wicked Enemy, vampire reproduction, werewolf reproduction

There's all kinds of release. For example, yesterday I released my new website to the world. It was a lot of hard work, but doing the implementation myself was the only way I could afford a designer of the caliber I wanted to hire. All that's left now is tracking down the errors I made, so if you see any, let me know.

The official release date for My Forbidden Desire is approaching so I am busy getting my promotion in place. Whew, hard work!

Today I went out to cut sweetpeas. If you don't cut them, they stop flowering, so this is a burden to be borne. There are now 4 huge vases in the house, all of them stuffed full of sweetpeas. I took some pics too, and as I was saving off the pics that came out, the sweetpeas released their lovely scent through the house. I could have sworn my pictures smelled like sweetpeas.

A bucket of sweetpeas.

And here's our sweetpeas, before I cut them. It's not the greatest pic, but you can see the row and how pretty it is.


I love sweetpeas.

Labels: flowers, My Forbidden Desire, Release

I have today and tomorrow off the day job and since Monday is a holiday here in the USofA, that's five days off. Ahhhh.

And yet, so much to do.

• Finish implementing the new website


• Finish the proposal for The Next Historical


• Promo for My Forbidden Desire - many commitments made

Those are all really big complicated things, so I need to get cracking.

Also, opinions welcome on this one: would you be excited if I decided to give away an iPod Touch for a contest prize? Just a thought.

Off to work.

Labels: contests, My Forbidden Desire, The Next Historical

First some writing related news - I've seen a very early draft of my book trailer for My Forbidden Desire and it's going to rock. Watch this space...

I will shortly, I believe, have some very happy news. Heh. Heh. Watch this space.

I have no contest ideas yet for the release of My Forbidden Desire and I guess I need to get cracking on that. Watch this space.

Monday is a holiday and I have Thursday and Friday off which means for me tomorrow is Friday! Yes, that is happy news, but not the news I was teasing you all with earlier.

Now, on to the thing which has been puzzling me lately, namely,

Everyone knows that vampires aren't fertile, but why not? Seriously. They're self-healing, so seems to me if a person were fertile before he became a vampire (for now let's talk male vamps) then he'd be fertile afterward too. It's not like the sperm would suddenly be non-motile -- vampires can move after all, so there's no reason to think vampire sperm wouldn't also move. Would sperm production cease? Why or why not? According to lore, vampires can cry (blood) though I would ask why cry blood? There has to be water in the vampire's body or they'd all look like Yoda after 10 years in the desert without a soda, so why not cry tears? But I digress.

Seems to me that vampire sperm would not only be motile but it would be preternaturally motile. Those little swimmers would be after that egg like nobody's business. So why don't women get knocked up by vampires and have lots of twins and triplets and more?

Why would the transformation to the vampire leave all bodily functions but fertility regenerative? If a vampire were to lose part of his liver, it would grow back. So long as the heart is not pierced by a stake, a damaged vampire heart would grow back good as new. The vampire body must constantly regenerate itself to its time-of-death state, so they should always start the night with a fresh supply of swimmers.

The whole circulation thing bothers me too. If vampires cry tears of blood, but there's no circulation, how did the blood get there and then get pushed out of the body? There has to be some sort of circulation in place in order for the blood to be absorbed as a nutrient. There also has to be circulation and mitochondria and the like all working in order for the blood to get to all parts of the body to continually regenerate the undead state. I'm willing to accept that their blood pressure is so low as to be considered non-existent if they were humans.

Therefore, if there's circulation, then the whole vas deferens must work and therefore male vampires have to be capable of knocking up a female. Ah, but what kind of female? I submit it can't be a female vampire.

For female vampires, the case is more complicated. If her eggs are still good at the time of un-death, then they would still be good after, but lore says the vampire body returns to its time of un-death state during the day, so a vampire female shouldn't be able to carry a baby to term. But a male vampire should be able to knock up a human female. BUT! That baby would have to be fully human, I think. Unless the transformation to vampire actually changes the DNA. Which I don't think it would.

What do you guys think?

Labels: My Forbidden Desire, vampire reproduction

Here's the Romantic Times review for My Forbidden Desire

MY FORBIDDEN DESIRE

by Carolyn Jewel

RT Rating: 4 and a half stars - Top Pick!
Category: PARANORMAL ROMANCE
Publisher: FOREVER
Published: June 2009
Type: Paranormal

Jewel's darkly perilous and sizzling world is back in a second installment that pits mortal enemies against each other. Her excellent characterization makes each of the players intriguing, which adds richness to the exciting plot. Brava to Jewel for delivering pure and exhilarating entertainment.

Summary: Witch Alexandrine Marit has never had much power, so she's intrigued when she's given a mysterious amulet and hopes it boosts her abilities. For the last decade, Alexandrine has thought her brother Harsh was dead, so she's shocked and angered when he suddenly reappears and demands that she accept the demon Xia as a bodyguard.

That her sexy bodyguard wants to kill her just adds another layer of danger to Alexandrine's out-of-control life. Her amulet is not what it appears, and a dangerous mage intends to take it back. But not if Alexandrine has anything to say about it! (FOREVER, Jun., 384 pp., $6.99) HOT

--Jill M. Smith

Labels: My Forbidden Desire, reviews

Ah, yes. My birthday is approaching -- April 30th! And I have Friday off. Grin. It's good for you guys too. Details about how you can win stuff are in this very post!

I have gifts and ARCs for you. Today's gift is in honor of National Poetry month, literary and visual.

1. 23 Hellcat Amazon post cards - tough girls and warped women from the pulp classics. (my fave: Reform School Girl!!)


2. Pablo Neruda's The Hands of the Day, in Spanish and English, translated by William O'Daly

A House (by Pablo Neruda)

Someone touches a stone and the stone
explodes and the pieces
come back together again:
it is the work
of young gods expelled
from the solitary garden.
It is the work of
breaking, restoring again,
smashing, gluing together, conquering
until that rock
yielded to the hands of Aguilera
the eyes of Antonio and Recaredo,
the head of don Alejandro

That is how the houses on the coast are made.

And later the footsteps come and go.

That's just one of the many wonderful poems in this book. Neruda is one of my favorite poets.

So, how do get the chance to win? So glad you asked!

Leave a comment about, uh, what superhero you would be and why. Perhaps even Reform School Girl. You can make up your own or use an existing one. If you don't include a way to contact you -- via a blogger or other id that leads me to an email address, then you'll need to check back here around May 1st to see if you won. K? (SonomaLass, you can email me to enter- I know you were having trouble with the blog.)

I'll pick today's winner probably the day after my birthday or so. And I'll send an ARC of My Forbidden Desire to some of you, too. How many? It depends. I have four days, a box of ARCS. We'll see, eh?

P.S. My Forbidden Desire got 4.5 stars and a top pick from Romantic Times! (yay!!!!) I'll post that review sometime soon.

P.P.S. It's not to late to enter for a chance to win a pound of Belgian chocolate. See previous blog post.

Labels: contests, My Forbidden Desire, Poetry

My birthday is April 30th. And I am going to celebrate with you! Please send tens and twenties -- just kidding!!

Probably I'll make other prize announcements, but this one might bust the limited funds of the Bank of Carolyn.

1 pound of Leonides Chocolates. You pick your assortment, up to $34.00. I'll have them shipped to you.



Leave a comment and commit to leaving an email or checking back on 4/30/2009 to see if you've won.

Chances are good I'll throw in an ARC of My Forbidden Desire or something.

Labels: chocolate, contest, My Forbidden Desire

My Forbidden Desire by Carolyn Jewel

Alexandrine Marit has just found out that her brother is pretty much back from the dead. She's not seen Harsh in 10 years, all of the sudden he shows up with a very hunky, muscled, leather-clad biker that he says will stay and protect her. From the get-go Alexandrine and Xia don't get along, but the more time and action they spend and face together, things start heating up. Xia can't take his mind off the naughty things he wants to do to the little witch, but he's a fiend, and has a total hatred of witches. There's a first time for everything right?

Between fighting off the magehelds, running from her father that wants her Talisman, and her on again off again magic, Alexandrine is getting to know the good side of her protector. Her Talisman is very important, and Xia must do the only thing he knows how, to get rid of it. From that moment, things start to get a little strange; and Alexandrine sees Xia in his true form. Talons and all, she still gets all hot and bothered.

My Forbidden Desire by Carolyn Jewel is a great paranormal romance novel. You can really get into the story a definite page turner. There was so much action, heat, and bit of sarcastic banter, that made My Forbidden Desire an additive read. 4.5 Hearts

Release Date June 2009 by Forever
ISBN# 978-0-446-17824-2
Crystal Adkins www.bookreviewsbycrystal.blogspot.com

Labels: My Forbidden Desire, reviews

I'm guest blogging today at Romance B(u)y The Book. If you leave a comment over there you could win an ARC of My Forbidden Desire.

Check it out! And thank you, too.

Labels: Guest Blogging, My Forbidden Desire, Over There

Normally I would complain about a rainy weekend, but with water rationing being mentioned in the papers so often, I'm not complaining. In fact, I say, bring it on! More rain, weather gods. More rain. So, uh, yeah. It's been raining a lot.

I've been working on proposal chapters for books to follow My Wicked Enemy and My Forbidden Desire. It's hard work, but my agent and I have agreed that I am simply not a synopsis writer. I still have to do a really short one, but here's pretty much what happens to me when I try to write a synopsis for a book I haven't written:

I am totally at sea, with no idea whatever what's going to happen. I don't know what's going to happen because I don't know the characters because I haven't written them yet. I make up some total BS that lacks any real conflict and is just lame. Plus out of order. As I explained to my agent, it's like asking me to draw a picture of someone I've never seen. Result: total suckage.

I can write a synopsis for a book I've written. It's no fun, but I can do it.

So, here's what happened when I started writing proposal chapters:

My heroine turned out to be something completely different from what I had imagined. Her situation wasn't at all what I thought. I guess I need to be specific. In the synopsis, she is a graphic artist who is completely human. Her only magic is latent. My vague idea was that through her interaction with the hero, her magic would become patent. The hero was going to meet her through some witch friends of hers but he wouldn't like her because he's a classical music kind of guy and she's alternative rock. But something would happen to make his magic set off hers, and stuff would start to happen.

In the first paragraph of my chapter, she's sitting at her kitchen table convinced she's going insane. me: really? That's very interesting. I wonder why? She's having hallucinations. Me: Oh. What kind? Hallucinations about turning into some kind of creature. Me: Yeah, and she could be also have some of the mental powers that demons have.

In the second paragraph, this gets fleshed out and then guess what! She's worried about how her parents will be affected when the SFPD calls to tell her that their daughter has died. Because, it turns out, she has three siblings who died at the age of 25. Me: Really? That's very interesting, too. Obviously, she thinks she's going to die just like they did..

In chapter 2, my hero is hanging around outside because me: Why? Because he's an assassin and he's supposed to kill the demon (that would be my heroine, though he doesn't know it yet) he's tracked to this apartment building. Me: Ok, what else? The mage Christophe shows up. Me: ohmygod, there's the conflict for the whole dang book! Christophe has a deal with Nikodemus -- I'll work out the actual specifics but basically, that's the plot thread that will move things foward.

Then at little later, my heroine says this to my hero; "I'm like you" Me: Oh! Oh! That means more than what it seems like. It means she's an assassin like the hero and he's going to have to teach her to be one too! There's the basic conflict for the hero/heroine!

So there you have it. I could write synopses until I'm blue in the face, and I will never ever ever come up with what the book is about until I start writing. My heroine is still a graphic artist, and the hero is still a classical music kind of guy, and yes, her magic will be sparked off my his, but not in the lame boring way that was in the synopsis.

Shrug.

That's just how it works for me. There will be many more discoveries and revisions and these may disappear or take a back seat, but it's a place to start whereas my synopsis was not.

Labels: beginning projects, My Forbidden Desire, My Wicked Enemy, Synopsis

Had a day job thing to attend to tonight. Finally that's done. I'm working on the galleys for My Forbidden Desire. This weekend I need to finish the synopsis I'm writing for the story to follow MFD. I may write up a second one, too. Maybe if there's time.

Last night I finished Suzanne Brockmann's Dark of Night and I get to say I told you so! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and yes, La Grande SB did indeed pull off her Decker/Dave controversy. I am completely and utterly satisfied with the way things came out, which I won't mention here since I'm sure there are many people who haven't read it yet.

My son didn't have any school Thursday and Friday. He is competent enough to feed himself; he can get himself a bowl of cereal or cook some eggs or soup -- any number of things to stave off starvation. There is, therefore, no reason for the following exchange we had when I got home from work on Thursday:

Me: Have you had anything to eat today? (Because I know my son)

Soccer Boy: No. I'm starving.

Me: Nothing at all?

Soccer Boy: Well, I had some Pringles.

Me: Pringles? That's it? Why didn't you make yourself some eggs or have cereal or toast or something?

Soccer Boy: I don't know. By the way, we're out of Pringles.

Sigh.

And now I'm going to bed.

Tomorrow: Synopsis Heck.

Labels: My Forbidden Desire, other stuff, Synopsis

Can I start with a Sigh?

Today I finally transferred my paper copyedits for My Forbidden Desire to my document. It took just about all day, but it needed to be done so I'll have an eARC to send when the time comes.

I also finished my RITA reading. Now I'm going to jump back into my TBR.

Can I also say I am tired of this sucky economy? I've had enough of stressing. Seriously. My sister, who works at Home Depot Express, is losing her job in April as they shut down a fairly large number of stores. She has time to get her ducks in a row and figure out what to do, but the uncertainty is no fun. Sigh.

I'm starting to get a bit anxious about Scandal. Reviews are stressful, too, but considering the official release date is February 3, I haven't seen all that many and there are none at Amazon. Like I don't have enough to get me all worked up. Sigh.

But, off to bed with another book. Except, you know, I'm getting anxious about the writing. It may be time to start work on The Dark Elf Project.

Labels: Book Reviews, My Forbidden Desire, reading, Scandal, stressing out

I've updated my website with fresh content including the first two chapters of Indiscreet which are, at this point, still subject to revision.

The first chapter is very short so I decided, after some thought, to also include chapter 2 since Chapter 2 depends on Chapter 1 for a great deal of its impact. There is a major reveal in Chapter 2, but not one that directly impacts Foye and Sabine's story.

Let me know what you think.

There's also some fresh and new (both and separately!) content for Scandal and My Forbidden Desire. Less for Indiscreet since the cover copy isn't even final yet and it's not even available for pre-order yet.

Labels: Indiscreet, My Forbidden Desire, Scandal

My Forbidden Desire, Xia's story, will be out June 2009. Here's a look at the pretty much final cover. The tag line is from My Wicked Enemy, that will be replaced for the final cover. They just needed a place holder.) Is this cover fantastic or what?

Labels: Book Covers, My Forbidden Desire

Just a quick post to warn you posting here may be infrequent for a bit. I'll post when I can since I don't want to cause the six of you Carolyn withdrawals or anything.

My Forbidden Desire needed some smoothing out of the edits and I've been doing those since Monday. I finished up today and sent it off for Megan F to read before I send it back. That means two and a half days without working on The Next Historical and a few more coming since I want to do a complete read-through of MFD just to make sure I didn't miss anything. So now I have to pick up the pace on TNH once this interlude is over.

Meanwhile, I have preliminary back cover copy for MFD which I will share when it's final. And I saw the cover today. My agent said, It's smoking hot! and when I showed it to my sister she said, ooh! in that kind of surprised and awed voice women get when they see a hot cover or, say, some hunky construction guy using a shovel right in front of you at Trader Joe's. (If you were following me on Twitter you would know all about the awesomely gorgeous Construction Guy. I think I need more Greek yogurt....)


Anyway, it's deadline heck around here. Wish me luck.

Labels: Book Covers, My Forbidden Desire, Reivsions, The Next Historical

Here's a picture of Tiger the kitten my son adopted in between soccer games last weekend. She's very pretty.



I'm blogging early because I'm pretty much exhausted. What with the soccer tournament last weekend I didn't get to catch up on my sleep which means I've been running at a deficit all week. Missed the gym more days than not because I wanted that extra hour of sleep.


Looks like His Wicked Witch will be titled My Forbidden Desire which title I like quite a lot.

The Next Historical is going reasonably well. I'm finding out some very interesting stuff about Syria and what Napoleon was up to. Right now I'm researching Harems. Worked in the car at lunchtime.

Lastly, my apologies for the boring post. I will try to do better next time. Hopefully after I'd caught up on my sleep.

Remind me to tell you-all about the marshmallow pyramid.

Labels: His Wicked Witch, kittens, My Forbidden Desire, writing