So close, so close...almost finished the WIP! I was hoping to do it this weekend, but of course the last scenes are the hardest to write - the most emotional, the most gut-wrenching, and it's slow going. In fact, even though I'm anxious to be done, I found myself procrastinating because I knew how hard these scenes were going to be to write.

This whole book has been hard to write. I know it's going to take a lot of fine tuning of this first draft and I'm just hoping it all makes sense. Both these characters are really complicated.

I'm also surprised by the length of the book. My goal was 60,000 words and I usually find that's a very comfortable length for me. Lately I've been trying to write longer, but this one I wanted to keep fairly short. But Gabe and Reagan had other ideas! I could easily make this an 80,000 word book but I think it will likely end up somewhere around 65,000 words. It is what it is.

Yay it's Friday and I love weekends. This weekend you have 2 chances to win one of my books.

Saturday at The Romance Studio Book a Day Giveaway, they're giving away a PRINT copy of Love 2 Love U.

And my friend Erin Nicholas and I are having a contest together, also at The Romance Studio  - we're eaching giving away 2 PRINT books - one for you to keep and one to give to a friend! Erin's book Just Right and my book Love 2 Love U were both released the same day so we're celebrating together.

Love 2 Love U is an anthology of my three novellas, Love Me, Love Me More and 2 Hot 2 Handle. Here's a little excerpt from 2 Hot 2 Handle:

He kissed her mouth, knowing he tasted of her and she kissed him avidly back. So fucking hot.

“I think we might exhaust you tonight, Abby doll,” he murmured.

He drew back and they shared a smile. “I can handle it,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at Eric. He grinned, too.

“Yeah. She can.”

A rush of emotion so intense it almost sent him back to his knees roared through Jett. He was almost afraid to believe what was happening.

“Take your clothes off,” Abby said, her eyes gleaming. “You’re both wearing too many clothes. And Jett…”

His eyes flicked up to hers.

“I haven’t seen you, yet, either.”

Red-hot lust streaked through him. Fuck, what a woman!

He ripped his clothes off. He’d quickly gotten over any modesty when he’d started modeling, was used to his body being stared at, ogled, studied. Objectified, even. But damn him, he wanted Abby to like what she saw.

Her eyes widened, and her hands came out to trace over his chest, down over his quivering abs, and lower. She blinked as she studied him there.

“You’re…bare.”

He looked down. Oh, yeah. He was so used to it, he thought nothing of it. “I had to get rid of the hair for an underwear shoot,” he choked out. “It itches like hell when it grows back, so I just kept it like this.”

“Uh.” She seemed speechless. She reached out to touch and her soft fingers on his throbbing staff had him twitching hard. “It makes you look…huge.”

“I am huge.”

Her gaze flew up to meet his, and she smiled when she recognized his cocky humor.

“Well, yes you are, actually,” she murmured.

Eric came up behind her again, having divested himself of his clothes, too. “Hey,” he said. “He’s no bigger than I am.”

She turned her sparkling brown eyes to Eric. “No. Of course not. He just looks bigger because…there’s no hair there.”

“What? You want me to shave too?”

“Christ,” Jett said. “Don’t shave. That’s the worst thing you can do. You gotta wax, man.”

Eric winced. “Never mind. I’m fine the way I am.”

Last week I finished off Simply Irresistable by Jill Shalvis. It's not my favorite of her books but it was still pretty good. Then I read Afterlife by Joey Hill.  I think I may have read one of Joey Hill's books a long time ago (wait I'll go look) I"m back. I can't find it. So this is sort of like a new author to me and I've heard so many good things about her. I really did love this book, though I started to get a little impatient with Rachel and her continued thinking she wasn't good enough and didn't deserve Jon, but loved the writing!! So now I'm reading her Board Resolution - smokin' hot!

And a contest!

To celebrate the release of our print books on the same day, my friend Erin Nicholas and I are having a "friends" contest at The Romance Studio. You can win a copy of each of our new print releases Love 2 Love U and Just Right PLUS a copy to give to one of your friends! Check it out here. Contest goes until January 31/11.

I've been working hard this week on "Gabe's story". Yes, I really need a better title. I've been thinking about it off and on and have come up with numerous titles that I thought were okay, but then changed my mind. I guess I can worry about that once it's finished.

I have to say Gabe is a very complicated man and he is giving me a hard time! He's also giving Reagan, my heroine, a hard time. It also appears, despite my careful planning, that the story may be longer than I planned. I'm now up to 44,000 words and it's time for a crisis but Gabe's not ready for that - I haven't hurt him enough yet!

This is interesting to me, because recently I've been trying to write longer books and struggled a bit with it. I took a couple of workshops and I've read a few books to try to help with that and what is actually quite cool is that it's the books on character that have helped with my plotting. Now, I know I write character-driven stories, but it quite amazes me how much the plot can grow based on deeper characterization.

Now...back to Gabe.

Okay! I have news! I just can't share it right now! But...I'm going to share a sneak peek from my "hockey story", as I've been calling it, Breakaway:

“I don’t know much about hockey,” she admitted. “But I think it’s very rough.”
“It can be.” He smiled at her. “That’s the fun part.”
“Do you fight?”
He laughed. “I have been known to mix it up a bit. But not often. There was a time back when I was a junior player and I was headed to goonsville. I was big and I liked to protect the other guys, but sometimes I tended to jump in and get physical without thinking about the consequences. I had a great coach, though, who really got me to work on controlling those impulses and to think about things.” He tilted his head. “You should come to a game.”
“Oh. Yeah. Maybe.”
“I’ll get you a ticket. I’ll get you two tickets and you can bring your friend…what’s her name…?”
“Delise.”
“Yeah. She didn’t seem too impressed with me the other night. I think I should make it up to her.”
“It wasn’t you she wasn’t happy with, it was me.” Remi grimaced. “She’s the one who wanted me to find a guy that night and get lucky. Then when I did, she freaked out and got all paranoid that I was leaving with a serial killer.”
Jason choked on a mouthful of beer. “Good to know she has a high opinion of me.”
Remi laughed. “She didn’t even know who you were. She would have felt that way if I was going home with the Pope.”
“Ha. Be glad it was me. You wouldn’t have gotten three orgasms with the Pope.”
Now it was her turn to choke. “I didn’t get three! We were interrupted…”
“Damn. That’s right.” His eyes went even darker. “I guess I owe you one more, then.”

It's actually been two weeks since I blogged about the books I've been reading. At that time I'd started Something About You by Julie James. I loved it! So of course I had to read everything she has! I've now also read Practice Makes Perfect (loved it too!) and Just The Sexiest Man Alive (another win!). I could be really picky about a couple of tiny POV problems in Just The Sexiest Man Alive but I knew she was doing it to plant a seed for somethign coming later. Loved the characters, though and great dialogue. Can't wait til her next book is out.

Currently I'm reading Simply Irresistable by Jill Shalvis. I've seen a lot of people "discovering" Jill Shalvis recently. Meanwhile I've been a big fan of hers for years. I'm so glad for her people are finding her because I love her writing!

First of all I have to apologize to anyone who has been trying to email me through my website info@kellyjamieson.com. About a month ago my web goddess made some changes to my website at my request in order to protect my privacy, however the changes have impacted the email account. She fixed it once but then I found a problem again. I don't know how many people tried to email me and couldn't get through, but I'm so so sorry if you did! It should be fixed now and hopefully no more problems. If you ever want to contact me and email doesn't work, just leave a comment here at at the blog, I always get those!

So as for works in progress...I have been making progress on what I've been calling "Gabe's Story". If you read Power Struggle, you'll know who Gabe is, and I had so many readers asking for his story! I intended to write his story and I've been working on it. I started it a while ago, but struggled. Gabe is a complicated man! And for that matter, so is Reagan, the heroine of the story. But I've gotten back to it and I'm about half way through now. And I'm pretty happy with how it's going, though it's not easy!

As many of you may know, I belong to the wonderful group Nine Naughty Novelists and we've been running a serial story on our blog:  The Zillionaire Vampire Cowboy's Secret Werewolf Babies. I'm sure you all  have been reading along! This Sunday January 9 (because we always party on the 9th!) we're drawing the winner of the nook contest we were running at the same time. Find out about all the "behind the scenes" work that went into the story, and talk to us about our favorite and craziest parts of working on the serial. And we'll be awarding our grand Prize, the nook.

Join us at 3pm EST this Sunday, January 9th. Hope to see you there. http://www.oberoncalifornia.us/Chat_Room.html

PS If you haven't entered yet, go to Nine Naughty Novelists - you can read the story from the start by clicking on the cover on the right side of the blog, and the contest rules are there for you!

Love 2 Love U is the print anthology of my three novellas, Love Me, Love Me More and 2 Hot 2 Handle, all put together in one lovely book! Many of you will already be familiar with this threesome of threesome stories, but they have a beautiful new cover.

Actually release day was yesterday but I'm celebrating today at the Samhain Cafe and I'll be giving away a copy of Love 2 Love U if you want to come by for some excerpts and fun.

Here are the blurbs:

Three is definitely not a crowd…
Any way you want it, Kelly Jamieson serves it up in this triple threat of trios.

In Love Me, Melina is worried and frustrated. Sure, Gavin’s stressed about his big project at work, but jeez, it seems like he’d rather go solo than have sex with her. Nothing seems to get his attention except her not-so-innocent flirtation…with another woman.

Love Me More follows up with Melina and Gavin on the way to the altar. They don’t talk much about the night they indulged in a threesome—until he confesses his fantasy. Two women focused solely on his pleasure. Melina loves him enough to make it happen for him. Just as soon as she scrapes up the nerve…

2 Hot 2 Handle is the tale of Abby, who lives by one rule: no commitment. Ever. The look on two-months-steady Eric’s face has her on alert to head for the door, except her attraction to his roommate, Jett, makes her hesitate. Yet when both men tell her they want her for more than just one hot, sexy romp, she’s not sure she wants to know what they’re really asking of her—or if she can handle it.

Warning: These stories contain fighting, pouting, guilt, make-up sex, experimental sex, committed sex and sizzling ménage sex in various combinations of male and female!

I got lots of nice reviews for all three books but here's a bit from The Romance Studio on 2 Hot 2 Handle:

5 HEARTS!!

"It is exactly the type of book that I enjoy the most. The love scenes are extremely hot and spicy. Abby, Eric and Jett are loveable characters who have a chemistry between them that pulls the reader completely into the sensational story. I enjoyed the book enough to give it the highest rating I possibly could..."

Monday morning and the holidays are over...almost. I still have today off from the day job and I'm hoping to get some writing done on the current WIP. I did work on it over the holidays although the last few days haven't been as productive as I'd like.

On New Years Eve I was completely unable to write because I was upset and distracted about something that had happened, so I sat down and reread the manuscript I finished about a month or so ago. I like to let my finished works rest and then go back to them. So I read With Strings Attached from start to finish. I found a few little continuity details that I often overlook during the writing, like they'd just been out for dinner but then he says he's hungry...so I fixed a few little things. But mostly I just read it. And I liked it. Even if I wrote it myself, I enjoyed it.

Which led to a huge feeling of frustration. I'm not the most patient person in the world (just ask my family!) and I have this manuscript here that I so want to share with people and yet, depending on what I decide to do with it, it will be probably two years before it's out in the world, if not longer. I'd love to send this one to my agent, though I'm not sure if she's interested, but I just sent her something so I can't send it right now. If she is interested in looking at it and then thinks it's worth pitching to editors, I know now from experience how long that process takes (over a year and still going!). Even if we were successful selling it to a publisher, release dates are usually at least a year after that, if not longer in the print world.

I could just send it to one of my digital publishers, which is what will happen if agent's not interested, but my first choice publisher already has TWO of my manuscripts that I'm waiting to hear back on so I don't think I'll be sending a THIRD. By the time I can send it, wait months to hear and then, if it's accepted, get a release date (which last time I sold to them, was a full year after the contract offer)  it will likely be coming up on two years before it's published.

And I want people to read this story now!

Patience. I need patience. Lots of it.

5 Tea Cups from Happily Ever After Reviews!!

Clare C's Review said: 


“Both are  complex characters and the author takes the time to develop their layers as they fall for one another...The sex scenes are very erotic and very romantic. Tara thinks she’s a Domme, but she’s not. As she learns to accept her limitations at work (she’s not perfect, just really good), she learns to accept and celebrate who she is in the bedroom.


The writing style is riveting and fast-paced, and yet it doesn’t skim over any of the details. This isn’t easy to do, yet Ms. Jamieson seems to do it effortlessly. This novel was one of the best I’ve read this year."

Happy Wednesday! This past week I read Trust Me, by fellow Naughty Nine author Sydney Somers. It was such a great book! Syd writes awesome gargoyles stories too, but my first love is always a straight contemp or romantic suspense and this one delivered just what I like - kick butt heroine, alpha but tender hero who can take abuse from said kick butt heroine and love her anyway, a suspense plot that was simple enough to make sense (sometimes they're so complicated I'm not sure if it really makes sense) and oodles of sexual tension and hot sex. Some great secondary characters and I feel the makings of a hot series coming on!! (I also liked the Canadian setting - Tim's is in this book!)

Now I've started Something About You, by Julie James - a new to me author. So far, so good!

Christmas has come and gone! I hope it was wonderful for those of you who celebrate it. Here we had a great time - lots of family time, laughing, eating, drinking and oh yeah, a few presents!

For the last week I haven't done a lot of actual "writing". I  mentioned in my "What I'm Reading Wednesday" blog a book I'm reading called 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. I can't rave enough about this book. I've been working my way through it with several of my WIPs and it has helped me solve so many problems. Today I just finished off some revisions to a troublesome manuscript I completed a while ago, which I love, but which has not been well received, shall we say. I think (hope!) I have made some changes that will make the story more satisfying. I'm ready to send it out into the world again. (Urgh).

I've been working with some characters from other WIPs too and now I've seen how I can incorporate what I'm learning from this book into my writing, I'm eager to start working on other manuscripts. I'm on holidays from the day job this week so I'm hopig to get lots done! (Picture me rubbing hands together over my keyboard). I love learning and I'm always looking for ways to make my writing better, whether it's workshops, books, or just analyzing books I read that I love to figure out why. I think in 2010 I learned a lot and I'm really looking forward to incorporating what I've learned into my writing and growing as a writer.

My book RIGGER has been nominated for a CAPA!!

"What are the CAPA's? They are awards given by The Romance Studio for excellence in romantic and erotic fiction. Categories include inspirational, contemporary, fantasy, historical, mainstream, paranormal, romantic suspense, erotic contemporary, erotic fantasy, erotic historical, erotic paranormal, erotic anthology, BDSM, and the Ariana Overton Award for Best Cover Art or the Ari."

RIGGER was nominated in the BDSM category along with books by some truly incredible authors like, OMG, Joey Hill and Desiree Holt.

from

The Romance Studio  

"Ms. Jamieson has created an absolutely amazing story that quickly captures the reader's attention with its fascinating, complex and delicious exploration into a relationship built around an alternative lifestyle of pleasure and pain."

So to celebrate that, here's a little excerpt from RIGGER:

He set her on the bed and she looked around. Music by The Strike Boys pulsed and shimmered through the dark room and the faint smoky odor of extinguished candles and melted wax still drifted in the air. Rows of candles were lined up everywhere—on his dresser, the bookshelf, along the deep windowsill. He moved around the room, lighting the candles, which had obviously been burning earlier. When she’d stomped out. Her heart squeezed and she put her hands to her mouth.

“You planned this,” she said, her voice breathy and trembling. The room began to glow.

“Yeah. I was going to tell you tonight that I love you. And apologize. Grovel.” His lips lifted into a smile as he finished lighting the candles and hers did too—as if he’d ever grovel!

Her gaze fell on the ropes lying on the bed beside her and her stomach leaped. She reached out and fingered the ropes, looked up at him as he dragged his T-shirt over his head, then stepped out of the baggy cargo shorts. Naked, he stood before her, so beautiful, so powerful and masculine and strong.

She handed him the rope and his eyes darkened as he took it from her. She extended her hands in front of her. He had her wrists bound with twists of his hands, a few quick loops around them, one between, and a knot, rough and not pretty.

“I want to make you feel good, Shaela. I want it to be good for you.” She gave a jerky little nod. “I want to take you as far as you can go—and then a little further. Higher.” He lifted her wrists and pressed an open-mouthed kiss there, just above the ropes, let his tongue linger. “I want to make it up to you. Tonight.”

Her body quivered, warming and softening. “Okay.”

“We’ll take it slow.” He leaned forward and brushed a kiss over the corner of her mouth. “So slow and easy.” His breath mingled with hers as they sat there. “I want you to trust me.”

“I do trust you.”

His mouth brushed over hers again and heat flared over every nerve ending in her body.

“Take me there,” she whispered against his mouth. “Take me to that place—and do anything you want to me.”

Heat stabbed right to her core as she said the words. She was afraid of it, but she craved it, with a wild, elemental need. Relief that he still wanted her, still cared about her, mingled with the need.

Alek groaned and she loved that she could do that to him. The joy of yielding to him mingled with power—the power to thrill him with her submission. It was a never-ending loop of gratification, of giving and receiving, pleasing and getting pleasure, and her heart swelled inside her chest until she thought it might burst.

“Slow,” he whispered again, feathering kisses across her cheek, nudging her hair aside, his breath a warm tickle, his mouth a sweet torture. Her eyes fell closed. His body pushed her back into the softness of the bed, lifting her bound wrists above her head, and he kissed her again, soft and sweet, endless, long and slow and deep.

His tongue slid into her mouth and he licked inside, then softly bit her lips. The weight of his body was a delicious pressure and she arched a little to press her breasts harder against him.

She tasted him too, with a drag of her tongue across his bottom lip and he sucked her tongue into his mouth. Heat radiated off him and she felt the fine trembling of his body as the kisses went deeper, hotter, sweeter.

She longed to touch him, feel him, but the ropes were firm as she tested them. Stretched out on her back, her fingers curled into her palms above her head. He lifted his head to study her, the thin ropes still encircling her body, and she felt his eyes move over her like a caress...

I finished Fools Rush in by Kristan Higgins and I do believe I have now read all her books. I enjoyed this one, as I have all of them but I wished for a little more of the romance between Millie and Sam.

Then I read (very quickly) Ice, by Linda Howard. This is my first Linda Howard book and probably wasn't a good intro to her. It was quite short (I borrowed it from the library so didn't pay for a hardcover book that's probably not much longer than category novel length). Her writing was good and the suspense was good, the romance was way too fast (I know it's a romance and people can fall in love in one day, but still...) and I didn't get the point of the story...the attack was random and how did everyone learn and grow through that? I will probably read another of her books though.

I'm also reading a couple of non-fiction books this week - Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, and 45 Master Characters, also by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. 45 Master Characters is freakin' awesome!! I borrowed this one from the library too, and I haven't even finished it yet, but I love it so much I just ordered it from Chapters. It has totally solved a problem I had with one of my completed manuscripts (guess what I'll be doing over the holidays!).

Yes this is late!  My blog disappeared due to some technical glitch involving domaine stuff that I don't understand. Big thanks to web goddess Tina Pavlik for fixing!!

Sadly not much has changed since last week in terms of works in progress!  I did do a little bit more on "Gabe's story" (If you've read Power Struggle you'll know Gabe). But then I heard back from my critique partner about Crush, the manuscript my agent suggested some changes to, and I went back to work on it. And work. And more work. LOL.  And last night I sent it back to Nara for her opinion on the changes. Sometimes when you get so close to something you have no idea if it's good or bad.

I envy those authors I see posting on Twitter about how impressed they are with the scene they just wrote, and how good they think their WIP is. I'm not like that. I both love and hate every story I write - I wouldn't write it if I didn't love it; but whether it's good or whether someone else will like it - I suffer a huge lack of confidence.

Which makes me wonder...do those authors who talk about how much they like their own work REALLY feel that way? Or is that just a facade, a public expression of confidence and competence that will impress people and make them read their books?

Well it's almost Christmas and it's time to pull out the only Christmas story I've ever written:  All I Want For Christmas. 

Fallen Angel Reviews gave All I Want For Christmas 4 Angels:

"I loved this little read, and Ms. Jamieson's cast of characters added to this lovely little tale of love. All I Want For Christmas reminds us that Christmas really does have miracles."
Reviewed by: Rachel C.

Here's a little excerpt:

Erin was just popping more painkillers into her mouth when she looked up into the amused eyes of Dex Mitchell. Again. “So, anyone here that can help me out now?” he asked, eyes glinting.


She almost choked on the pills and took a big gulp of water, which of course dribbled down her chin and onto her silk blouse. She wiped ineffectually at it as she felt her cheeks grow hot and no doubt red. “Jason is back from lunch,” she told Dex, swiping at her boobs. “He does the payroll. He’s just around the corner.” She flashed a smile that she hoped looked helpful and confident, praying that Jason wasn’t sitting there with his feet on his desk eating chocolates and wearing the plush Santa hat he’d had on earlier.

She heard Dex go around the corner and start conversing with Jason in a low voice, and she slumped back in her chair. Why, why, why did he always have to catch her at her worst?

She was scrawling her signature across some vendor invoices a few moments later when Dex returned.

She looked up at him inquiringly.

“I hear you’re in charge of the party tomorrow night,” he remarked.

“Yes.” She was almost reluctant to admit it. What if the whole party bombed? It would be all her fault. No, it was not going to bomb. She’d checked and rechecked every detail with her usual thoroughness (or was it paranoia?). “Did you have a last‐minute addition to the guest list?”

He shook his head, a smile touching his mouth. “No. I’ll be there, but I’m coming alone. I just wondered if you’d arranged for taxi service to take people home.”

“Of course!” The company provided taxi vouchers for anyone who wanted them to make sure that nobody drove home after drinking.

“Perfect. Don’t want any unfortunate incidents at the holiday party.”

Erin shook her head. “No, of course not.”

At that moment, Erin’s phone rang. She grabbed for the receiver.

“Good afternoon, Human Resources, Erin speaking, can I have you?”

There was silence at the other end of the line, and Erin closed her eyes rather than face Dex. “I mean, can I help you?” she gasped.

A laugh came over the line. “You can have me any time, honey. My wife might not like it, though. It’s Carl in Research.”

“Hi, Carl.” Her cheeks burned.

“Just a quick question about the party…”

She dealt with his question then hung up and looked at Dex, still standing there, looking very amused.

“So, I guess I’ll see you at the party then,” he said.

She stared at him. Why was he making small talk with her? She smiled brightly. “Absolutely. I’ll be there. I’m going alone, too.”

Shit. Why had she said that? It sounded so lame. She turned back to her work again with flaming cheeks and bent her head.

“Hey!” Kayla whispered seconds later. “What did Dex Mitchell want? I saw him talking to you!”

Kayla was the only other person who knew Erin thought Dex Mitchell was a hottie. She looked up at her friend and grinned.

“He came to talk to Jason about some payroll stuff, and then he was asking me about the party.”

“Really.”

“He told me he’s going alone to the party.”

“He told you that? Just out of the blue?” Kayla’s brows rose almost into her hair. “Hmm.”

 Thursday 13 from Skylar Kade
The past few years, Christmas has taken a hit in my family. There's not as much disposable income as before. While many rue this event, I've found it strangely freeing. I don't need to worry about buying an expensive present for that cousin, or my grandmother, because we're all reigning in our holiday spending. This, combined with my drive to always do something creative that's not always writing-related, has led to a slew of home-made presents. Between scouring Michael's and searching the web, I've compiled a pretty good set of resources for the DIY (do-it-yourself) gifter.
1. Whip it up: A community of crafters who contribute their less-traditional creations, with a focus on fiber and fabric (crochet, knit, quilt, embroider, sew, etc) arts. They also review craft books.
2. The Anticraft: Imagine that Martha Stewart and Marilyn Mason had a baby, and that baby did crafts. He or she would be the epitome of the Anticraft. Projects include recipes, craft instructions, and other activities almost guaranteed to get coal in your stocking.
3. Crochet Me: A great resource for the modern crocheter; signing up for a free membership allows you access to the good patterns.
4. Ravelry: This is the youtube of fiber arts patterns. Users post their own patterns, or link to free/paid patterns online. In addition, the site has strong social-networking capabilities.
5. Curbly: An all-around fantastic DIY site, including projects on interior decorating/design. Their “Thrift Store Repurposing Guide” is worth a look.
6. The DIY Maven: A crafty chick, contributor to Curbly, and all-around inspired DIY-er.
7. Geek Crafts: Know a nerd? Make him or her something from this site! I've got my eye on the Star Wars amigurumi (little crocheted dolls).
8. Craftzine: Provides patterns and instructions for fiber arts, cooking, home decorating, and beyond.
9. Futuregirl: Much like DIY Maven, with more traditional fiber arts projects.
10. Instructables: This is the love-child of Geek Crafts and Craftzine. Many of the projects are more in-depth, and paying for the membership allows you to see the steps in a printable PDF, but still an amazing resource for the DIYer.
11. NeedleNoodles: Author of the book “Creepy Cute Crochet,” this blogger posts patterns for creating monstrous amigurimi, like robots, vikings, and druids.
12. The Roxycraft Blog: Lessons, video tutorials, and patterns for crochet projects.
13. Style Crush: “Fashion, home & DIY for the style-obsessed”

Though Jason doesn't make any of the presents he gives to Elizabeth in my story “Christmas Packages,” they do make a lotta luv ;)

Blurb: Elizabeth has watched with frustration as her relationship with Jason slowly faded away. Braced for their inevitable end, this “nice girl” is instead surprised—and aroused—by her boyfriend’s naughty Christmas plans. Jason has tiptoed around what really turns him on, afraid Lizzie would run screaming from his kinkier desires. But as their relationship flags, he latches onto a last-ditch effort to inject energy into their sex life—and their love.

For twelve days leading up to Christmas, Jason gives Lizzie a new present, each one enticing her further into his dark desires. Now Lizzie needs to loosen up a little—to give up enough control to submit to her edgiest urges and give herself completely to the man determined to be hers forever.

To celebrate this release and the holiday season, I'm giving away a copy of "Christmas Packages," along with an early present--Sexuations (US only). Yes, I know it's not homemade, but it is a lot of fun. This game includes an adults-only card game, a book of naughty stories, an erogenous-zone map, paddle, blindfold, and feather to tickle all your fancies. I'll be touring blogs all week, and on Friday, I'll the select a winner!

To enter, leave a comment at any of the blogs on my tour or tweet about the book/contest using the hashtag #christmaspackages



Blog stops:
Monday—The Nine Naughty Novelists

Tuesday--Andie Marie's Sidewalk

Wednesday--Kate Davies Blogs!

Thursday--Kelly Jamieson's Building Castles

Friday—the Skylarverse



***
Excerpt:
“Open it.” He held his breath as she unwrapped the small package, folding the paper into a precise rectangle. Lizzie, his little neat freak. The deliberate movements of her hands and her prim way of opening everything from the newspaper to cereal boxes to presents fascinated him and gave him one more thing to love about her. Hell, sometimes it even turned him on.
She cocked her head to the side in what he thought of as her curious little bird pose and popped open the lid of the box to reveal a blue silk eye mask. She turned to him with one eyebrow cocked. “I’m sleeping just fine, Jason.”
Though he tried not to read into her words, he cringed inside. He didn’t want her to sleep poorly without him, per se, but would it be too much to ask for her not to be sleeping fine?
She’d always been able to read him, almost as well as he could read her, and she cupped his cheek. “I’ve missed you, Jason. The bed is empty without you.”
He kissed her before saying. “Yeah, hotel beds leave much to be desired. Mainly, you.” Her pupils dilated and he kissed her again, lingering on her lips. “Besides, the blindfold isn’t for sleeping.” Holding her gaze, he watched the understanding fly across her face, only to be replaced with warm delight.
“Oh, it’s that kind of blindfold. How very inventive.” Her grin gave him hope that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t run from his desires.
He stroked her back, enjoying the softness of her gray sweater. But it would have to come off. “Why don’t you go change into your robe and point me in the direction of the candles and oil.”
She shuddered under his hand and her breathing hitched. Their eyes locked as she answered. “Okay. And everything’s in our bedroom.”
Our bedroom—he loved hearing that. And it was past time he showed her just how much. “Then change in the bathroom, love, and I’ll have everything set up when you’re done.”

Okay I'm prepared to spill the name of the book I read last week. It all turned out pretty good. It was What a Rogue Desires by Caroline Linden. The frist scene, told from David's point of view, ends when he leaves the room, but the POV immediately switches to his brother's wife's POV, a character who never appears in the book again. My initial impression was headhopping all over the place, but looking again at that opening scene it was just that one change of POV. Call me picky. Anyway the story was good, and kept me wondering how the two of them were going to end up together. So in the end I enjoyed it.

Now I'm reading another Kristan Higgins book, Fools Rush In.

As I said last week, I had some revisions to do on a manuscript I'd sent to my agent, the fabulous Laura Bradford. She had some suggestions that she thought would make it better. The first thing I did was send it off to my critiqe partner to get her input. Then I started thinking about it myself. Some of the changes I knew I could do fairly easily - others I needed to think about. So that's what I've been working on this week. I deleted one secondary plot and enhanced another. Ideas kept coming to me and I kept adding them in, and in the end the manuscript is pretty much exactly the same length as it was when I started. I was relieved about that!  As for the other problems, I gave them some thought too as I was revising, and came up with a few ideas. I'll see what my crit partner thinks once she's read the manuscript. She did look at it before, but only the first few chapters.

Having someone like Nara to bounce ideas off, to get a second opinion and to get honest feedback is so important. When we started exchanging work three years ago, we were doing line edits and correcting grammar and finding overused words. Now we both are published and that's not the kind of help we need any more - it's deeper things like characterization and conflict and motivation. So many times she's given me good advice about my stories. It's hard when you get so close to your story and your characters that you can't see them clearly any more, and having someone with a bit of distance offer their persepective is invaluable.