Another week of very little writing. I have to get over the idea that if I'm not actually writing, I'm not accomplishing anything. There's so much more to this "writing thing" than I anticipated when I started out.

Last week there was promo - with my Nine Naughty Novelists and with another group of authors at the Samhain Cafe, which meant about four hours of on-line promo work. That's important, right? But no actual writing got done that day!

I also did a lot of research. I've mentioned before my "Ponzi" story and how I intended it to be part of a series of stories. When I started work on it many months ago, I felt overwhelmed by trying to plan out a whole series and I let go of the "series" part of it and just focused on the Ponzi story. Which has progressed, though I got stuck, left it, went back to it, left it again. A few weeks ago the library books I'd been waiting for to use as research came available, and that got me started again. And then somewhere out of the blue, the idea for the overall plot that would connect the series came to me! And I got deeper and deeper into more on-line research.

I have to say here - I love research. When I was in university, I loved doing research for papers, reading, making notes, learning. And research is even more fun for a book because it's research into things that interest me. I can see the danger of getting too involved in research and never writing!

I still haven't figured everything out - but I also know that I don't have to have every little thing figured out to be able to start writing, because ideas come to me as I write and often the characters figure things out for me.

Yesterday I finally got back to the story. Started at the beginning, using some of the new information I have, to change some details here and there. I added a scene that I now know has to be there, to set up what happens later. And I think I'm ready to move forward with this story. Because even though I now have the series figured out, I still have to write that first story!

Another sneak peek at a completed manuscript that I haven't submitted anywhere (yes, I have a few of them!). This one is titled Power Exchange:

Jesus fucking Christ.


Cole stared across the main room at Le Château. That could not be Carina Lockhart leaning against the bar over there, so fucking hot in a shiny black dress that looked like it had been laminated to her curves, and heels that could seriously injure a man. Her honey-blonde hair had been scraped up into a tight, high pony tail. Her eyes were wide, her lips parted as she met his gaze.

Oh yeah, that was her.

Busted, sweetheart. Cole’s pulse leaped and he couldn’t restrain the smile curving his lips. Carina Lockhart, secret Dominatrix.

Huh? That wasn’t the impression he’d gotten of her earlier. Sure, she was strong. Intelligent. Confident. Bossy. But that something he’d seen in her eyes, the way she’d softened when he held her hand, made him question her domination. Somehow it didn’t ring true.

He crossed the room toward her as if drawn by a magnet. No way was he going to do her any favors by pretending not to recognize her or disappearing. He was going to have his fun with this, and the anticipation of it sizzled through his veins.

Like arousal.

He stopped in front of her, stared down at her, not saying a word.

“Hi,” she finally said weakly.

“Well. Carina. Imagine my surprise seeing you here.”

She swallowed but lifted her chin. “Likewise.”

He looked her over, up, down, then raised his gaze back to her face. “Very nice.”

She pressed her lips together. No thanks for the compliment. He wanted to laugh. “I had no idea you were into the lifestyle.”

“I’m not.”

“Ah.” He lifted a brow. “Just...exploring?”

“No. Well.” She sucked her top lip in briefly. “I’m uh...checking this place out.”

“Ah. Finding yourself.”

“I’m not finding myself! I know exactly who I am.” Irritation tightened her voice.

He nodded. “Of course.”

“Don’t patronize me! What the hell are you doing here? If my grandpa knew...”

He lifted a brow. “Does he know you’re here?”

She blinked. “No.”

“Then we’re on even ground,” he murmured.

She closed her eyes briefly. He could almost hear the curse words he was sure she wanted to spit out. “I guess we are,” she finally said.

“So.” He trailed a finger over her bare shoulder and down the satiny skin of her arm. “Top or bottom?”

She gritted her teeth. “Top.”

“Of course.”

“You?”

“Top. Always.”

“Of course.” She echoed his words in a chilly tone.

He smiled. “You, Carina, are no top.”

Her eyes widened. “Yes, I am.”

He shook his head slowly. “I can see it in your eyes. You may think you are— you may fool others into thinking you are—but you’re not.”

“That’s ridiculous. In fact, I’m meeting two men at eleven o’clock in the red room who need to be punished. And I’m going to do it.”

“But are you going to enjoy it?”

She stared at him. “Of course I am.”

He looked at her. Said nothing. “What are you drinking?”

“Uh. Green tea and apple juice.”

“Sounds good.” He reached for her drink, took it from her and tasted it. “Yeah, it is good.” He handed it back to her.

She glared at him. He gestured to the bartender and requested another one for her and one for himself.

“So how are you going to punish these two men?”

“With this.” She held up her flogger, lifted a brow.

“Nice.” He took it from her, let the ball of the handle snuggle into his palm. Gave it a flick across his own palm. “Very nice.

He watched her breasts rise beneath the shiny PVC and the way her eyes darkened as she watched him snap the flogger. Oh, yeah.

“Nice, if a bit...amateurish,” he said.

“What!” Her lips parted.

He smiled. “This is good for a beginner. You can’t do too much damage with this.”

“I know what I’m doing!”

The bartender passed their drinks over and Cole handed one to Carina. She clenched her hands into fists and refused to take it. Oh, man. She was just asking for it.

“No thanks,” she said shortly. “Give me back my flogger.”

He lifted a brow. Waited.

“Please.”

Ah. Satisfaction. It was a small thing, but still...the anticipation of bending her to his will, of bending her body over and giving her what she really wanted sizzled through him. Jesus.

Lucky me, I've already read this book which was out yesterday with Ellora's Cave,  because Nara is my critique partner! This is such a unique and great story! Here's an excerpt from Dungeon Gourmet :


With all the elements of her meditation in place, Sarai lay back. He’d outdone himself when he planned this particular torment. She should have followed her first instinct and never opened the auto-respond email from Bond.
A silver moon barely softened the room’s indigo shadows. Outside crickets chirped, and katydids rapped in time. They seemed to say Mas-ter-Bond, Mas-ter-Bond, repeating like monks chanting. Deeper in the forest a night bird added its voice, Lick-her-well, Lick-her-well.

Sarai tried to put her mind outside in the night, but the collar at her neck, the cuffs at her wrists and ankles, bound her mind inside her body, locked her into Bond’s world.

Velcro bonds. She could unfasten them when she chose. She could toss them aside and sleep without them if she wanted to. Her rules, he said. Make it as real as you need. They might as well be chains. They might as well be manacles welded in place.

Her hands had put them in place. At least they looked like her slender fingers. A scar marked the thumb that pressed fuzzy patch into looped square—a thin white line cut by a glass broken doing dishes. Her scar. His hands. They were as much Bond’s as if he pulled them on over his own hands like gloves. His will controlled them.

His fingers fastened the padded collar. His voice spoke to her, the way it had in email, the tone as thick and sensual as one of his French sauces, as clear as if his lips were against her ear.

“You dream à deux tonight. Feel me as a duet. I could make you believe I am two. Make you know it. This you don’t understand. But you know this truth. It makes you simmer inside, this thing you pretend not to want. Feel that evidence, how much you don’t want. Feel it there, hot between your thighs. You get so wet, my pet. You get wet just from the sound of my voice.”

Fever turned crisp, clean sheets to a rumpled, sweaty tangle as Bond’s words made themselves felt. Cotton slid over her skin with every twitch and turn, relentless lover’s hands. Sweat slicked her body.

“Feel both Bonds. The one who knows your body and the one who knows the secrets you hide from yourself.”

Did she have secrets she didn’t know?

“I want you stripped bare, a naked slave to passion, bound and vulnerable to her Master’s probing. He will probe with four hands and two sets of teeth to tug and tease your secrets to your lips.”

“I don’t want that,” she said out loud. “I don’t need two. One should be enough. One is enough.” The words hung hollow in the air. They felt like a lie.

A voice she didn’t know whispered in her mind. It would be nice to try, like a taste test. Two tongues. Twenty fingers. Twenty sticky fingers.
She turned toward the clock. Twenty minutes. She’d been bound twenty minutes. The night stretched like a journey in front of her. She would be lost before morning. Her mind would be the first to go missing. Maybe she’d lost it before tonight.

She wanted at least one Bond—a real, touchable one—to walk through her bedroom door and spread her like a meal on white linen. She wanted him to probe her. She wanted to watch him lick his fingers, suck at each one like her taste was a rare delicacy to be savored. And she didn’t care about being at his mercy, or being bound by his desires. She wanted him to sink his teeth into her.

I finished Just Right by Erin Nicholas. Great story! I really enjoyed Ben's journey. And Jess turned out to be more fun than I thought she was at the beginning of the story!

On the weekend I had lots of time to read while driving to Fargo, and I finished Paradise Rules by Beth Kery. Beth is becoming a favorite author! This story was hot, hot, hot. And the setting (Hawaii) just made me so much want to be there! Lots of nekkidness in the tropical sun. Very sexy.

Now I'm reading Delicious by Shayla Black (or is it Shelley Bradley)? Same person, different name, can't remember "whose" book this is! But I'm enjoying it!

Also still reading Why Men Love Bitches.

Once again a week without much work on the actual Work In Progress. I heard back from my critique partner about the changes I made to Power Struggle. She thought they worked and had a few more suggestions for tweaks, which were totally bang on, so I worked on those, edited and polished, printed and highlighted with many coloured markers a la Margie Lawson and then sent it off to one of my editors! That's always scary. Then my husband and I went away for the weekend and that meant no writing at all. Today at lunch time I finally got back to it, but after a week away from it, I had to read back to get back into it and get back into the characters' heads.

Once again I'm having that "this is crap, no one will ever want to read this" feeling. But since I've had that with pretty much every book I've ever written except maybe one, I'm getting used to it. Getting to expect it at some point in the process. And I'll just keep going.

From my completed novel, not yet submitted anywhere, tentatively titled "Shameless":
Warning: Adult content!!

Dag couldn’t believe they were doing this. What the fuck had happened tonight?

He studied Chris, wanting to know what was going on in his friend’s head. Yeah, they’d shared girls before, but never someone one of them had actually had a real relationship with. And much as he wanted to do it, for so very many reasons, he didn’t want Chris and Kassidy to jeopardize their relationship for…this.

But Kassidy’s eyes were hazy and full of lust, her body practically quivering with need. Her mouth tempted him, Christ, he had to have it, taste it.

And he’d get to be with Chris while he was doing it.

Complex emotions rose and fell in him, fragments of thoughts spun away from him even as he tried to marshal them together into coherency. But his balls were on fire, his dick so hard it hurt, and all those hormones pounding through him were destroying his ability to resist temptation.

He moved toward Kassidy, standing next to Chris, and Chris moved too so they stood like they had on the dance floor, him behind her, the sweet curve of her ass pressing into him, Chris in front of her. Dag started at her shoulders, dragged his hands over slender bones down the soft skin of her arms, onto her hips. His fingers dug into the warm resilience of her flesh beneath the silky dress. She’d let the hem drop so her ass was covered once again, but he’d seen the sweetness that was under there and wanted to touch it.

She let out a moan as the two men pressed her between them, and he smelled her hair – a soft scent that was sweet and sexy, a mix of vanilla and amber.

“So hot,” he whispered. “Aren’t you, Kassidy?”

Another whimper escaped her mouth. He nudged her hair aside to find the warm side of her neck, inhaled again her scent and opened his mouth on her skin. He sucked lightly, dragged his tongue over her. So sweet.

“Ah, sweetheart.” Chris drew her arms up and over his shoulders. “I love you for this. So much. Come on. Let’s go in the bedroom.”

He kissed her mouth and then stepped back. The three of them moved together down the short hall and into the bedroom, where Chris had nailed her up against the door earlier. Jesus. Dag’s cock twitched. And now here he was in there with them.

I finished Nora Roberts' Black Hills in exactly 7 days and got it back to the library with no ovedue fines. It was a great typical Nora story.

And I finished Black Jack by Lora Leigh. Likewise, a great Lora Leigh story.

Now I'm reading Just Right by Erin Nicholas. I really like Erin's writing - and I'm hoping Jessica gets the stick out of her butt soon, she's no fun at all! I know there's more to that, though...will keep reading.

And in the non-fiction department, I also read Betrayal: The Life and Lies of Bernie Madoff by Andrew Kirtzman, and am just starting to look at Why Men Love Bitches by Sherry Argov.

Things were moving along nicely with the Celtic story and then a few things interrupted my progress. But these are all part of the writing process, too.

First, a few books I'd put on hold at the library became available - two of them are about Bernie Madoff, who ran a huge Ponzi scheme. I wanted to read these as research for my Ponzi story. When I read a book that's really helpful I make lots of notes, so I started doing that.

Then, another interruption. My critique partner emailed me back with her thoughts about the story I'd sent her to look at - the one I've titled Power Struggle. I truly value her feedback and suggestions on my writing, she has made so many of my stories better. And of course it would be nice if she said she loved the story and I shouldn't change a thing. But that's not what she said. She made a number of very good points, including something I'd been concerned about myself and a couple of things I hadn't thought about. So it was back to Power Struggle and my Celtic story got put on hold again.

Rewriting parts of a story can be hard or it can be easy. This one was a bit of both. Some parts I looked at didn't have to be changed much because they were in the hero's point of view and what was going on in his head didn't really change. What I needed to change was what he was showing on the outstide, so scenes from the heroine's point of view had to change. I had to try to get really deep inside his head and change how he acted. Then of course, a change in one place sometimes means things need to change throughout the rest of the story.

And then another interruption. I got the ARC of Lost and Found, my next Samhain release, to review for any final edits. Once again, all part of the process. I love this story, but after months writing it, revising it, editing and polishing it, then going through multiple edits with my editor and the Final Line Editor, I'm quite sick of it. I'm reading it, looking for any last little typos or missing punctuation we all might have missed, but I'm hardly even seeing it. I have caught a couple of things though, and tedious as this is, I do want the final product to be as perfect as it possibly can. Only about 7 weeks until release!

So most of this past week I was rewriting that story, doing some research, and doing final edits, and I didn't make much progress on my WIP. But that's okay, it's all part of the process. I sent my revised story back to my critique partner and maybe today I'll finish this ARC, do a bit more research done and get back to my WIP.

Here's a teeny excerpt from my upcoming Samhain release, Lost and Found:

Nate watched Derek embrace his wife and kiss her, and shifted in the armchair. He’d almost been hoping she’d still be pissed at Derek. He deserved it. He should have been home with his wife.

For some reason, Nate was annoyed at his friend. He’d hurt Krissa. And then he didn’t even come home for dinner. Again.

Hell, it was none of his business. If Krissa was okay, he shouldn’t be worked up about it anymore either.

Krissa snuggled into Derek’s side, closer, and Derek put both arms around her. One hand stroked her hip and she rested her cheek on his chest, her hand on his shoulder. Then Derek slid his hand to the back of her thigh and lifted her knee across his lap. With a sigh, Krissa’s hand moved to Derek’s neck and she tipped her head back to look at his face.

“I’m sorry, babe,” he whispered. Nate could barely hear him. He wanted to look away from the increasing intimacy of their pose, but couldn’t. From behind his dark glasses, he knew they couldn’t really tell if he was looking at them or not. He faced the television screen but could see them.

Derek bent his head and kissed Krissa again, and Nate watched her mouth open beneath Derek’s. Nate’s groin tightened, heavy and full. The kiss deepened, Krissa’s hand on Derek’s cheek, his hand on her ass. As they kissed, mouths shifting, he could see tongues touching and licking, heard soft breaths and soft, wet suckling noises.

Someone groaned—he wasn’t sure if it was Krissa or Derek—and Nate’s cock swelled. Jesus. Had they forgotten he was there?

His cock throbbed beneath the fly of his jeans, and he altered his position in the chair again. He swallowed, but still couldn’t drag his eyes off the vignette of the couple making out in front of him.

Their mouths parted, wet and shiny, and they looked at each other. Krissa blinked, caressed her husband’s face. Derek nuzzled her neck, kissed her throat.

Krissa’s eyes drifted to Nate and widened. “Oh.” She pushed at Derek. “Derek. Stop.”

“Mmm.” He licked her throat and she quivered.

“Stop, Derek. Nate’s here.”

“S’okay,” he murmured. “He likes to watch. Dontcha, Nate?”

Derek lifted his head and sent a wicked smile Nate’s way.

Nate’s skin burned and tingled all over and his cock pulsed. He wanted to touch himself. He wanted to see more. He wanted Derek to touch Krissa. Hell, Nate wanted to touch Krissa.

He swallowed a groan but didn’t answer Derek, who had returned to kissing and sucking the soft flesh of Krissa’s neck and shoulder. Her head fell back.

“Derek…” her voice trailed off.

Touch her. Nate could see her breasts swelling beneath her thin T-shirt, begging to be touched. Christ, if Derek didn’t do it soon, he was going to.

Derek did it. His hand slid up over Krissa’s flat stomach under the T-shirt, and cupped her breast.

Nate was going to explode.

Krissa gave a soft moan that sounded like the word “no” but if it was, Derek ignored her, caressed her breast, the T-shirt riding high and exposing her smooth tummy.

Fuck. Nate was either going to whip his dick out and jerk off right there in front of them, or he was going to burst. Gritting his teeth, he rose to his feet and almost staggered out of the room.

“I’ll give you two some privacy,” he muttered, and headed to his room.

He tore off the sunglasses, not bothering with the light in his room, and fell onto the bed, hands fumbling at his zipper. He shoved his jeans open and down, pulled out his aching cock and fisted it. He groaned into the soft darkness, the pull of his hand gratifying, relieving. He slid his other hand under his T-shirt, rubbed his chest as he thrust into his fist. Then he lowered his hand to cup his balls, squeezed, and pumped into his hand only a few times before he came, white hot streams of semen spurting onto his belly.

He lay there panting, staring at the ceiling.

Derek was only half right. Nate did like to watch. But Derek liked to watch, too.

Young Artists For Haiti, featuring more than 50 Canadian singers, join K’naan to perform a rendition of his song ‘Wavin’ Flag’, with the intention of inspiring people to continue contributing to Canadian charities for their work to help Haiti following the country’s 7.0 earthquake in January. Proceeds to the song, released March 12th, are going to Free the Children, War Child Canada and World Vision Canada.

How many of these artists do you recognize?

Nelly Furtado, Sam Roberts, Avril Lavigne, Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan, Tyler Connolly of Theory of a Deadman, Kardinal Offishall, Jully Black, Lights, Deryck Whibley of Sum 41, Serena Ryder, Jacob Hoggard of Hedley, Emily Haines, Hawksley Workman, Drake, Chin Injeti, Ima, Pierre Lapointe, Elisapie Isaac, Esthero, Corb Lund, Fefe Dobson, Nikki Yanofsky, Matt Mays, Justin Nozuka and Justin Bieber.

I had to put Black Jack on hold because when I went to the library on Saturday I scored an Express Bestseller (7 day loan only, no renewal, BIG overdue fines)  - Black Hills by Nora Roberts. So I dropped everything to read that. It's really good despite the head hopping (we know you don't care Nora, and you can do whatever you want) but what's really strange  is, it's a hardcover book. Man, it's heavy! And twice I've lost my page!  I'm so used to my Sony.

Also in between Nora and writing, I'm  reading some non fiction  as research:  Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff, by Erin Arvedlund.

Contemporary

Jenna Bayley-Burke – Compromising Positions
Jianne Carlo – A Paratrooper in A Pear Tree
Kelly Jamieson – Rigger
Opal Carew – SECRET TIES
Opal Carew – SIX
Qwillia Rain – Diablo Blanco Club: Unfair Advantage


Historical

Emma Wildes – Can’t Say No
Debra Glass – Bad Kitty
Debra Glass – Bought and Paid For
Francesca Hawley – Seeking Truth
Kate Pearce – Simply Wicked


Futuristic /Sci Fi/Fantasy

Allyson James – Calder
Anna Leigh Keaton* – Once Upon a Time… Midnight Hour
Anna Leigh Keaton – Woodland Magic – Fated
Jory Strong – Fallon Mates : Zoe’s Gift
Michelle Polaris – Bound Odyssey


Paranormal / Time Travel

Allyson James – Mortal Seductions
Allyson James – Mortal Temptations
Anna Leigh Keaton – Time and Again
Dana Marie Bell – Dare to Believe
Francesca Hawley – Protect and Defend
Sharon Page – Blood Deep


Novella

Anna Leigh Keaton – Inferno
Jayne Rylon – Phoenix Incantation
Liza James – Hot For Teacher
Madelynne Ellis – Pure Folly
Sherry James – Eight Seconds (Flavors of Ecstasy Anthology Vol. 3)

Wiinners will be announced at the Passionate Ink Party at RWA Nationals in July! Congratulations to all the finalists!

Well I finally got focused and decided to work on my Celtic story. This is the one I mentioned that is causing me some problems. I'd started it and got a little stuck, so I did more research. I stumbled across an amazing website about Gaelic Ireland that gave me SO many ideas, and really kick-started my creativity again. Thank goodness! I was getting worried.

So I've been writing this story and although I can't say it's been flowing out me like some other stories have, it's going. It's going. And that's okay. This is so completely different for me - it's a sort of historical story but it's not "real" history, it's my own world that I've created. So it's a combination of researching and making it historically accurate, and world building. Both of which I have never done before.

Okay that's not strictly true. When it comes to world building, the truth is I world build with every story I write. When it's a contemporary story it's easier, but I am still creating a world my characters live in. This one is a little more difficult. I'm enjoying it. It's a challenge. I'm not sure if I'm doing a good job of it or if this book will ever been seen by my readers, but I'm going to keep going. Even though it's painful and slow.

I considered (for about two seconds) giving you a sneak peek of my work in progress. I quickly shut down that train of thought. This story is so different for me, I don't want to embarrass myself. I will embarrass myself with a few select critiquers/readers only. Not the whole world (as if the whole world reads my blog LOL!).

So anyhoo...here's a little peek at a novel that is with one of my editors right now - Breakaway:

Remi hurried down the school hall, past empty classrooms, and into the gym. The kids were actually being pretty good, sitting on the bleachers and filling the room with a dull roar punctuated with the occasional scream of high-pitched laughter.


“Change in plans,” she said to her fellow teacher Paula Vaughan. “We have hockey players coming instead of basketball players.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Okay, everyone, listening!” She paused and waited for the noise to subside, holding a hand in the air. “We’re running a bit late, so please be patient. Jemar Fast isn’t going to be with us after all.” Big groans of disappointment greeted that statement. “But someone else is coming in his place.”

“Who is it, Ms. Buchanan?”

“Yeah, who is it?”

Dammit, she didn’t even know who it was. “Three players from the Chicago Wolves are coming today.”

Cheers echoed in the gym. Huh. Guess the kids knew hockey.

“They should be here shortly to get us started. Has everyone got their book picked out that they want to read first?”

Another burst of cheering erupted and she grinned. She loved it when kids were into books and reading. Some of her students were already avid readers, but others, like Justin and Ryan, struggled with it.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jennifer entering the auditorium with a group of men. Relieved, she prepared to turn the microphone over to the principal to introduce their new “stars” and get things started. If they didn’t get going soon, the kids would be beyond control.

Remi went to stand with some other teachers at the side of the gym and watched Jennifer lead the three men to the front where the sound system was set up. Big guys, all three of them…Remi’s eyes widened and she straightened. She blinked and focused on the back of one of the men. It looked like…no. She shook her head. Then he turned.

Jace.

Her face went hot, her body got chilled and she fell back against the concrete block gym wall.

He said something to Jennifer and they both laughed. His gorgeous smile flashed. Today he was dressed casually in jeans and a Wolves T-shirt that hugged his broad chest and shoulders. The other two men with him…yes, she was sure they’d been with him that night at Rouge…also wore the same T-shirts.

Hockey players.

Well, didn’t he just look like a hockey player? Big and tough, with a crooked nose. Except he had beautiful perfect white teeth—didn’t most hockey players lose their teeth by getting hit with a puck or something?

She licked her lips.

Jennifer spoke into the microphone to get the kids’ attention and get the rally underway but Remi barely heard a word she said, until she introduced “Jace Heller!” and the kids all screamed and clapped.

Dear God, he was famous.

And she hadn’t even known who he was.

No wonder he dated a model. She leaned her head back against the wall and covered her eyes with one hand. She’d slept with him. Her. Remi Buchanan, grade six teacher at Abraham Lincoln Middle School. A wave of heat swept over her at the memory of his touch, his mouth on hers, his body inside hers.

Her one wild attempt at being fun and spontaneous and sexy had ended with the police at her door. She chewed on her lower lip. That could have been very bad for Jace. Oh, God.

Jace had taken over the microphone and was getting the kids all worked up into a frenzy over reading books. She focused on him and what he was saying, clamping down on the resurgent lust.

“So you guys can ask us all questions now if you like,” Jace said. “Who’s got a question?”

Hands shot up and little bodies bounced excitedly on the bleachers. Remi smiled.

“What’s your favorite book?” a student asked Jace.

“I have a lot of favorites,” Jace replied. “But I really love Tom Sawyer.”

A murmur of agreement rippled through.

His hockey buddies shared their favorites, too.

“What’s your favorite video game?”

Jace tipped his head to think. “Tough one,” he said. “Right now I like Hosuko.”

More cheers. The kids were eating it up.

“How many of you play sports?” Jace asked. Again hands reached for the sky and kids jumped up and down. “Wow! That’s great! Any hockey players?”

More hands.

“Any girl hockey players?”

Remi laughed and shook her head, but sure enough, several girls jumped up and waved.

The rally continued and then the three athletes stationed themselves at the doors of the auditorium along with the teachers to hand out buttons and score sheets and gift bags with free books to the kids as they filed out.

Remi went over to talk to Jennifer, who was all smiles. “That went great!” she said. “Those hockey players were fantastic with the kids!”

“Yes. They were.”

“Come on. I’ll introduce you. You’ll be working with them over the next few weeks.”

Remi nodded, sucking her bottom lip as she followed Jennifer toward Jace. Her heart picked up speed and her head went just a little light as she neared him, tummy tight and fluttery. She’d given him her number but he hadn’t called.

Yet. It was only Wednesday.

Maybe he had no intention of calling her.

Maybe he was going to be horribly embarrassed to see her.

Maybe he was going to regret that he’d volunteered to work on this program.

Remi pressed a hand to her stomach and stopped with Jennifer. Jace was bumping fists with a boy—Remi’s student Ryan—who’d stopped to talk to him. She’d never seen Ryan so focused.

Then Jace straightened to his full imposing height and turned and his gaze landed on her.

She felt it like a touch.

His eyes widened and then a slow smile spread across his face.

She liked that smile.

She gave him a tremulous smile back.

“Remi, this is Jace Heller, Dominic Griffin and Matthieu Lalonde. Gentlemen, I’d like you to meet Remi Buchanan. She’s a grade six teacher here at Lincoln and she’s the one who was instrumental in bringing the kick off rally to our school this year.”

Jace’s smile disappeared, replaced by a glower.

I finished Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis. I loved this book. Lots of sexual tension and sex in creative places. Both characters have their hangups and their family issues, but overall they have pretty great lives and sometimes it's nice to read about pretty great lives instead of ones that are crappy. I'm also very fond of the city this book is set in (Santa Barbara) one of my very favourite places, and the setting of more than a few of my own books!

Currently reading: Black Jack by Lora Leigh.

So I’m between projects. I really do not like this. Sitting in front of the computer, checking email, Twitter, a few other places. Nothing to do. Ho hum.

I have a couple of stories “in progress” that I have left and gone back to several times. My “Ponzi” story, if you’ve been reading along. It’s like, over half done. I could go back to it. I also have this idea that I’m totally in love with but there’s a plot point that’s giving me problems. I spent about an hour on it today, trying to work it out, and I couldn’t and I feel tired and discouraged. Thinking I might need to brainstorm with some fellow writers on that.

I have other ideas – my hockey story (currently with one of my editors) is supposed to be the first in a series. I’ve actually started planning out one of the next books in the series. I could go back to it.

Another book I just sent to my agent also has series potential – the heroine has three girlfriends who I envisioned could all have their own stories. Could start working on one of those.

I could just start polishing up my Murder in the Winery story. Which I really need a better title for.

Maybe my brain just needs a rest for a few days. But I have A WHOLE WEEK off the day job coming up and I HAVE to be writing something!

I went back to the story idea I’m in love with but stuck on and did more research. This certainly unlocked a whole flood of ideas to get me moving. And I did, for about 4000 words. And then I got stuck again.

I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. (Okay one thing I suspect is that I need to close Twitter and my email program. Incessantly Twittering and checking emails is NOT conducive to productive writing. Seriously. I’m going to try this strategy tomorrow.)

I went back to my Ponzi story. Thought about it. Actually came up with what should happen next. Moved on to the subplot of that story. Edited what I’ve written so far (about 15 pages). Thought about it. Went back to check email and Twitter.

Then I went back to the Murder in the Winery story and did some editing and polishing. Fixed some chapter breaks. Made a few corrections. Added a few details.

Sigh. I’m having a hard time right now and I’m not sure what the problem is. I’ve been through his before so I’m fairly confident it won’t last forever, but man, it sucks. Sucks big time. Drags my mood down and makes me want to consume massive amounts of alcohol.

I love the adrenaline rush of having a project that I’m really excited about, that I can’t WAIT to get on the computer and work on. I’m missing that so much right now.

This morning I went to my favourite bookstore (Chapters) near my home and was browsing through the romance aisles and GUESS WHAT I FOUND!!!! My book! On the shelf! Look! There is it, Friends With Benefits, on the bottom shelf!

Out today from Ellora's Cave!

A short fun story about the kind of trouble you can get into at a conference far from home!

Don't forget - I give away a free copy of each new release to my newsletter subscribers, all you have to do is join up and leave a comment to be entered. My newsletter is very low volume.

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The blurb:

A software conference with a lot of techie geeks sounds boring, but Kenzie’s excited about this one. She’s going to see Noah Chambers again! After meeting once, she hasn’t been able to get his sexy smile out of her head. Noah’s looking forward to seeing Kenzie again too. He knows it should be strictly business, but dammit, she’s hot and he’s kind of hoping four days in a hotel with her might lead to more than tech talk.

When an old flame of Kenzie’s shows up at the conference, and Shaun clearly has the same hopes as Noah, how to resolve the competition between the two men for Kenzie’s attention? How about by making her ultimate fantasy come true—with a hot threesome?

Reader Advisory: This book contains a scorching ménage scene with light male/male touching.

Here's a short excerpt from Conference Call:

“I drove you crazy, didn’t I? With the presentation."

His smile widened. “Not at all.”

Remembering all the phone calls and e-mails she’d pestered him with, she suppressed a groan. “I did.”

“I like your work ethic,” he said. “You worked very hard on the presentation and you kept me on track. I’m not a detail person and you are.”

“Some might say anal.”

His lips twitched. “Whatever. Thank you for keeping me on track.” Their eyes connected. And held.

“Kenzie?”

Hearing her name behind her, she turned. Her eyes flew open wide and a smile tugged at her lips. “Shaun!” Shaun came toward her with open arms.

“Hi, gorgeous,” he said, and pulled her in for a big hug and a kiss. He felt so good, big and warm, and she inhaled the scent of his aftershave, that woodsy spicy scent she still remembered. When he released her she was breathless and laughing. She pushed her bangs out of her eyes.

“It’s so good to see you!” She smiled up at him. She and Shaun had met two years ago at a conference not unlike this one, in Miami. He lived in New York, but they still e-mailed each other and when Kenzie had spent a week in New York on vacation with a friend, she and Shaun had gotten together for one night.

He still held her hand, smiling down at her. “You too.” His light brown hair still hung in a curly mop over his forehead and his hazel eyes crinkled at the corners attractively. “Hey, you cut your hair.”

She touched her hair again. “Yeah, a while ago.”

“It looks nice.” His eyes were warm with approval. “You’re still as gorgeous as ever.”

Kenzie suddenly remembered Noah standing there. She turned to him to introduce the two men and was taken aback by the black frown on Noah’s face.
“Uh...Shaun, this is Noah Chambers. Noah and I are doing a presentation together on Thursday. Noah, Shaun Elliott. Shaun works for Global Strategies in New York.”

The two men shook hands, eyeing each other. Noah’s eyes flashed and his mouth tightened, while Shaun studied him coolly.

Kenzie’s eyes darted back and forth between them. Oh dear lord. They were both gorgeous guys. She and Shaun had spent a very hot few days together in Miami, and had remained friends since. There was still a snap of attraction there, and for a few seconds she’d actually forgotten Noah.

But she’d been fantasizing about Noah for months. And he didn’t look very happy at the interruption. She bit her lip.

“You’re here for the conference too?” she asked Shaun.

“You bet.”

“Um. We were just getting a drink.”

Shaun stepped up to the bar beside her. “White wine?”

She smiled. He remembered. “Yes, that would be nice.”

Shaun turned to Noah. “Noah?”

“I’ll get it.” His words were clipped. He moved to Kenzie’s other side and ordered a beer from another bartender. Shaun waved Kenzie aside when she reached for her purse.

“My treat.” He picked up his beer with a smile.

“Thanks.” To her left, Noah made what almost sounded like a low growling noise. Kenzie glanced sideways at him.

“So Noah,” she said brightly as they stepped away from the bar, drinks in hand. “How many people from Merritt are coming?”

“About ten,” Noah replied shortly, still glowering. “Six from the Chicago office, three from Seattle. It’s a bit of a perk for our high performers.”

She gave a saucy smile. “Guess I’m not one of those high performers. I had to work my ass off on a presentation to get to come to this conference.”

Shaun and Noah both smiled, Noah somewhat reluctantly.

“And a very nice ass it is,” Shaun whispered in her ear, leaning closer to her.

“You are a high performer.” Noah’s scowl deepened. Had he heard what Shaun said? “That’s why I asked you to do the presentation with me.”

“Thank you.” Heat swept over her from both men’s compliments and their intense gazes. She smiled, her lips trembling. Tension rose in her and she swallowed.

“What’s your presentation about?” Shaun asked, and Kenzie dragged her eyes away from Noah back to Shaun.

“It’s...um...” God, her mind had gone empty.

“The importance of interpersonal skills in the technical world,” Noah said. “Kenzie’s been working on a project with our leadership team to develop soft skills—communication, negotiation, persuasion, problem solving, teamwork skills—that kind of thing. That’s why I asked her to do this presentation with me.”

Shaun nodded. “Interesting,” he said. “I’ve been working on a similar project. Kenzie, what resources are you using? Did you hire an outside consultant?”

Kenzie and Shaun started talking about their projects, and Noah listened, his mouth a straight line, eyes narrowed.

“Noah has great people skills too,” Kenzie said. Ah, hell, talk about a lame-ass attempt to include him in the conversation. Heat swept over her body.

He smiled tightly. Silence throbbed as the two men glared at each other. Oh dear lord. This was awkward.

Luckily, at that moment Scott, Jeff and some others from Seattle joined them. Noah introduced everyone and the conversation turned to shop talk about agile methodologies. Kenzie watched in growing amusement as Noah and Shaun each tried to outdo the other with their technical knowledge.

She rolled her eyes. Dear God, men could be such idiots. What was their problem? Noah seemed really pissed that Shaun was there. Of course, Shaun hadn’t exactly been subtle in his flirting with her. Was it possible Noah was...jealous?

I finished Here Comes Trouble by Donna Kauffman. I enjoyed this book although someone looking for a faster pace may not- there is a LOT of internal narration while the characters think about their past and the present and even worry a little about the future and generally get to know themselves. These characters were interesting so I didn't find it so slow going that I didn't like it, but it does slow the pace. Ms Kauffman does draw out sexual tension, too, with a LONG conversation while they decided whether to do it or not!

I'm now reading Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis. Just entering into this world made me feel all good - a sexy famous baseball player who keeps showing up with phone numbers written on him and I sexy control freak woman, lots of sexual tension and of course, though I've just started it, I sense these characters have more problems than just the one they're trying to solve together by pretending to be boyfriend/girlfriend.  The old fake relationship trope - hey! I just wrote one of those myself!

I've been really blessed to have had so many great reviews for my books over the past few months - lots of "5"s and so many great comments. But last week I got a couple of reviews that were just okay.

And that's okay. We all know this business is subjective and not everyone will like everything I write. I've heard all the advice from other authors about having a thick skin and ignoring the bad reviews unless you can learn from them.

So normally I wouldn't even comment about them (and just to be clear, these aren't BAD reviews - they were both 3 1/2 stars) but one reviewer did make a comment about my book Irish Sex Fairy that stuck in my head and made me  have another look at my story. She said  "There were a few times during the explicit sex scenes where I found the dialogue slightly distasteful..."

Distasteful?

Distasteful, according to Dictionary.com means "unpleasant, offensive, or causing dislike".

I don't know why that particular word bothers me so much. I fully know that many of my books would definitely be "distasteful" to some people who don't want to read explicit sex scenes or stories about threesomes or BDSM. So I reread every sex scene in Irish Sex Fairy, trying to see where she was coming from, keeping in mind she'd said it was the dialogue that was distasteful. Not the things they were doing. Because yes, they do have sex, and yes it's pretty hot - and yet it wasn't that she found distasteful - it was what they were saying.

But of course, it's subjective...right? Because I don't see any of the dialogue as unpleasant or offensive. Certainly no more offensive there than in any other point in the story. But she did.

I just have to get over it, it's just one more lesson on how everyone sees things differently. But..but..wait! Not everyone likes my stories? Really? Oh my god! And I'm distasteful...no, wait, my dialogue was distasteful, not me...it's hard to separate my writing from myself.  I clearly still have a lot of toughening up to do.