Best Fall Ebook! Vote until 12/8

Before you vote, please note that I know this can be a popularity contest, but it’s also a vote in favor of ebooks in general, and is meant to highlight the great diversity of them! I will close the poll on Friday, 12/8, buy the winning title, and post my own review.

Vote! Your Favorite Fall Ebook!

Pick one of the following <!– function VoteWindow() { url=”http://vote.sparklit.com/wait.html”; options=”toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,”; options+=”resizable=yes,width=469,height=570″; window.open(url,”pollwindow”, options); } // –> Lauren Dane, TriMates, Ellora’s Cave Rebecca Goings, The B*E*A*S*T* Within, Champagne Bianca D’Arc, Lords of the Were, Samhain JL Langley, Without Reservations, Samhain Cat Johnson, Smalltown, USA, Linden Bay Kayleigh Jamison, Leading Her to Heaven, Aphrodite’s Apples Janice Bennett, Cold Turkey, Cerridwen Marjorie Jones, My Lady’s Will, Champagne Mackenzie McKade, A Tall Dark Cowboy, Ellora’s Cave Jessica Raymond, Haunted Hearts, Moonlit Romance Judith Rochelle, The Hired Wife, Triskelion Current Results

Submit or Suffer! Or, How to Love Your Editor

If you write, you have pals who write, and you’ve received emails regarding your pals’ editors. If you’re an editor, you’ve written other editors (or trusted writer friends) to complain about a writer. It’s a yin/yang thing, for sure, this hate-love relationship that can turn to hate-hate or love-love.

I’ve had maybe ten editors in three years, several of them very skilled. All of them seemed devoted to what they do. They inevitably provide advice along the lines of “don’t take edits personally” or “your editor is your friend, responsible for watching your back and that of the company.” So far so good. I love edits, seeing my mistakes whisked away by someone more in tune with my native tongue. I’m less fond of questions that make me scratch my head and require a new timeline, etc. Again, that’s their job–you screwed up, not them.

So, our job as authors is to accept the guidance, correction, and help in a gracious and willing fashion. Recently, though, the same thing happened on two different manuscripts–a compliment. “Good line.” “I love this line.” Two different editors. I sat back in my chair and beamed. Then I thought, “wow, that never happens!” Why?

I think editors assume that an author knows that because a manuscript was accepted, it’s a decent story. For me, one little comment past that can go a long, long way. Okay, I know we’re not children, and shouldn’t need pats on the back. But we’re human, and perhaps too fragile.

I don’t want an editor to tell me a stinker is good. But editors, if a line makes you smile, or you think an author hit a character just right–say so! It makes a huge difference, and goes a long way to soften all the work on the stinky stuff. Snarky comments aren’t welcome. The “My god, you’re wearing this phrase out,” or “the punctuation store called, they want their exclamation points back,” don’t work well.

That said, do you compliment your editor on their work?

Happy Birthday Simon

Okay, it may not be his birthday, but several years ago, my silly husband picked a day to celebrate our cat. (Middle age childless couples can be very odd this way.) He was an orphan, hand raised by a vet, spent his first year in a cage until our Top Cat was euthanized. I brushed at my tears and pointed to Simon and asked “can we have him?” The vet nodded enthusiastically. Turns out, Simon never stops talking! He can fetch, say “mom” (okay, I choose to think that’s what he says), and he’s really, really long. Happy Birthday Simon!

A Few Private Thoughts Made Public

I don’t often do this–the really personal stuff. But today was different. His name was Mark, and he was the first man I ever loved. My senior year in college–he was everything, more than everything. We studied all things Ancient together, he helped me with my Greek and Latin. He introduced me to really good rock and roll, and he was so sweet, so wonderful, so bright. We went to England together and toured for a month. I went with him and his family on their summer vacation. I remember our first kiss; I can even bring to mind his wonderful scent. Today I learned in a very roundabout way that Mark and his wife Lisa were struck by a car in a winter snowstorm three years ago, as they abandoned their car to get help. In the worst possible place–I95 near Philadelphia. She died instantly. He evidently hung on a little while longer. I saw the tribute by Mark’s younger brother, Kevin, and the middle brother, Craig. Their memories of course are so much richer, their wounds so much deeper. But I was glad to learn that Mark found the love of his life before he died, as I have found mine. Did I mention Mark was the first to break my heart? He went off to grad school and found someone else. He was so much older in so many ways than I was. I still have a photo of him in my back yard, leaning against a tree that is now gone. I suppose I miss those times, and this news brought it to painful clarity. It’s stunning to me that you can love someone totally, and then become so distanced that you don’t even know they’re gone. In any case, every day gives me a new reason to treasure my wonderful husband and each hour we have together. And to treasure my past.

Nominate Your Favorite Fall Ebook!

Greetings. As we did for the summer, I’m hosting a “favorite” poll again–this time for any book published FIRST electronically, between 9/1/2006 through the end of November, at least that’s what I call Fall! Once I’ve gathered nominations (this week), I’ll create a poll (next week), and then will buy and review the winner! So nominate yourself, a friend, a stranger, whatever really rocked your boat this fall! All genres/lengths are allowed, but it must have first been an ebook, with a first release during that time period.
In your comment, list your nomination this way: Author name, book title, publishing company, month of release. Any nomination without this info. won’t be considered.
Don’t be shy, and tell us why you liked the book!
xoxo
Ciar

Happy Thanksgiving

Wherever you go, whatever you do, whomever you’re with, I hope you have a peaceful, lovely Thanksgiving!

Good News Addendum–Lords of Ch’i in Print!

I’m very excited to see my second print book released! It’s available today at Samhain Publishing!

Good News Monday

How was that weekend? Mine felt like the fastest on record! Phew. Anyway, I’m scrounging for good news here–got a few nice reviews, a little bit of writing done, and my house is clean LOL

What’s your good news???

Five Hearts for The Biggest Kahuna!

Surf’s up! I’m thrilled with this lovely review from The Romance Studio for The Biggest Kahuna. In part, it says “This book is an exciting, fun read…I was drawn into the story from the first page and fell more and more in love with Kal as I began to know him. He and Nikkie couldn’t be more perfect for each other and I found myself hoping for them to find some way to be together. They were both such good people and so deserving of happiness; as were Val and Sam. I loved the ending. In fact, I loved everything about the whole story. You will too. Pick up your copy right away. The Biggest Kahuna is a book you don’t want to miss.”

WTF friday? Is Romantic Fantasy a Goner?

I’m not ranting this Friday, but I’m certainly scratching my head. We’ve been discussing fantasy, romantic fantasy (or fantasy-lite as some are calling it) on my loop. My pal Rebecca Goings has a lot to say on the subject. The non-romantic fantasy shelves are full and I assume that print fantasy is selling well.

My question, the short version: Is romantic fantasy dying on the vine? Readers might so “noooo! I love fantasy!”, but I think that’s a vocal minority, and most readers go for other genres–contemporaries (erotic especially), paranormals (erotic especially), and…not sure.

My theory is that the popularity of the LOTR trilogy breathed temporary new life into fantasy-lite, but that paranormals (especially vampires and shapeshifters) led fans of other-worldly adventures into a fresh new dimension. Whether folks get sick of that genre and swing back to fantasy remains to be seen.

Do you agree? Disagree? I’d love to know what you think!