Yesterday was going to be a big writing day. Huge. I had grand plans. Write at least 500 words on my third Demonica novel (though I really wanted to get at least 1,000,) and wrestle into submission a scene in the 4th Sydney Croft novel. Then, at 2 PM, I’d get on the elliptical and watch an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (I’m on the second episode of the final season!)

After that, I’d shower and make a lovely Mexican lasagne for dinner.

Oh, yes, I had it all figured out.

Then, right around noon, the phone rang. I checked the Caller ID. School nurse.

Well, crap.

Seems my son, who had been struck in the eye with a baseball, was having major vision problems. So I collect him from school and call the military appointment people. Seems the pediatric clinic is full and can’t see him. Great. So I have to take him to the military hospital’s urgent care clinic.

Where there is a THREE HOUR WAIT.

Well, while we were waiting, I went to the Tricare office and applied to change our medical care to a civilian doctor, because I’ve had it with military medical care. I’ll gladly pay the co-pay to be able to get appointments. And I’m not even talking same-day appointments, here. When you call the military appointment center, they will only schedule out for two weeks. If there’s nothing open, you’re out of luck. You have to get up at 6 AM the next morning and hope you call in time to schedule an appointment for two weeks from that morning. It’s crazy.

So anyway, three hours later, Brennan gets seen. His vision, which is normally GREAT, is so bad he can hardly read the eye chart. The nurse gives me a lecture about getting his eyesight checked. I’m like, I did it at the beginning of the year. And hello…he has AN EYE INJURY. Didn’t matter. Still got lectured.

Doctor sees us. Is concerned enough to send Brennan by ambulance to a civiilian ER. Where the doctor is freaking HOT. (Yes, that’s the important part of this story. *rolls eyes*)

Now, by this time, my son has actually gotten better. (Yep, 20/10…take that, you jerk who gave me the lecture.) His eyesight improves, he stops seeing a pink wash over everything, and the room is no longer bouncing. We get sent home…7 hours after all of this started.

There’s really no point to this rambling story, kinda like there was no point in going to the second hospital, but I did get Mexican food after all. After we left the hospital we stopped at a nearby restaurant, where I had the best cheese and bean enchiladas I’ve ever had.

So it all turned out well. All except my word count…

EDITED TO ADD: Just wanted to mention that although I am VERY frustrated with the military medical system, there are some positives! It’s not all bad. Seems to vary by region…and service. Air Force medical care has been some of the best I’ve experienced. Too bad we don’t live near an Air Force base!

Using random.org, the winner of our Lora Leigh guest blog day is:

Kat! (post #2)

Congrats Kat! Please email me at jaciATjaciburton.com. Lora is going to provide you with a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate. (Thank you Lora!)

Thanks to all of you who stopped by yesterday, and thank you to Lora for taking time out of her extremely busy schedule to be our guest here at Writeminded. Good luck on the release of Wicked Pleasure. Everyone, go out and buy it - its on sale today!

I’m very excited about our guest author today. Lora Leigh is a good friend of mine, and a wonderful author. If you’ve never read her books, you’ve really missed out. She’s a New York Times bestselling author of some of the hottest books on the market today. She writes paranormals, suspense and contemporary erotic romance and I’ve always been a huge fan of hers.

I met Lora when she and I wrote for Ellora’s Cave. She was a big name there when I first came on board, and I met her at one of the RT conferences, and she was sweet and gracious and so was her wonderful husband. We formed a friendship that has lasted today, though we’re both so incredibly busy we don’t have time to share that ‘virtual’ coffee as much as we’d like. But every now and then we still get to chat, and she’ll read my books and offer up her opinion, for which I’m ever so grateful.

Lora has a new book releasing this week. WICKED PLEASURE is the newest book in her Bound Hearts series, one of my absolute favorite series of hers. Probably why she named the heroine Jaci. Heh.

Click here to read an excerpt of WICKED PLEASURE

Unfortunately, Lora is in New York meeting with her editors today, so she won’t be able to be here, but she is offering up an awesome prize. Keep reading to see what the prize is and how you can win.

And read the Q&A for an enlightening look into this very busy, incredibly talented author.

1. Tell me how you manage the 9,485 books you have to write this year (Jaci asks, tongue in cheek.) What’s your writing schedule like?
The writing schedule gets pretty harrowing at times. Usually eighteen hour days, though I do break for meals. Somedays I might see 25 pages written, sometimes I might see 100. Its all according to how its flowing and whether or not I’ve decided to be sick that day. LOL. I’ve spent the last three months in flu hell.

2. When you actually do get to take a day off, what do you do for fun?
I love to go fishing. We live near a very nice lake and go out as often as possible, though most days taken off are to take care of grocery shopping etc. The writing is an adventure to me, and as long as its flowing, then the last thing I want to do is leave my own little fantasy world.

3. If you could run off with any one of the sexy alpha males you write, which one would it be and why? (I won’t tell your husband, honest…heh)
Dash Sinclair or Jonas Wyatt. You know I can’t pick just one. LOL Though Callan has evolved so much, that he would be in the running as well. Of course, Micah, from my new Elite Ops series totally has my attention, so… Well, you get the idea. Can’t I just run away with ALL of them?

4. What books are releasing this year and when?
Oh man. February was Dawn’s Awakening. In March Killer Secrets released. In May of course is Wicked Pleasure. July is the Rescue Me Anthology which includes Macey’s story from the SEALs series. August is Nauti Dreams, Natches story. August 26th is Wild Card, the first of the Elite Ops series which continues the series began with Tempting SEALs, just in a different arena. In September is the breed book Mercury’s Wars and in the October Magical Christmas Cat anthology is another Breed, Noble’s story.

5. Now tell us all about Wicked Pleasure, your Bound Hearts book releasing this week?
Wicked Pleasure is the story of Jaci Wright, an interior designer that has been running from the one thing she knows she wants more than breathing. Cameron Falladay, the bad boy that once tempted her in her small Oklahoma hometown. She ran from Cameron because he wanted more than her innocence could accept at the time, but over the years, Jaci has learned that her fascination and her love for Cam has never gone away. And neither has the danger of involving him in her life unless she takes cares of one little problem she has first.
Cam and his twin Chase have never forgotten the girl that ran from them, and now she’s there, in their backyard so to speak. The relationship was stormy, Cam and Jaci were both determined, stubborn, and yet they loved each other enough to try.
The book was sometimes hard to write, because Cam’s past was darker than I had first imagined, and that caused problems throughout the story for Jaci, but the ending made it all worth it I believe.

6. What haven’t you written yet that you’d just love to sink your teeth into?
Oh man. So much. There are a lot of books still in my head, clawing to get out. One is a horror, and that one gives me nightmares. I don’t do horror well. LOL

7. Where can readers find you? Website, chat group, etc? Links please.
Readers can always find me on my forum. You can go to www.loraleigh.com and hit the forum link, or go here: http://pub4.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=330493581&cpv=2
Or by email at loraleigh2@aol.com

Thanks Jaci, it’s always fun to talk to you.
Thank you Lora! We need to have “coffee” soon.

Lora is offering a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate to one lucky winner, so post here what your favorite Lora Leigh book is. And if you haven’t read her books yet, go visit her website here and let us know what you’d like to read. I’ll choose a winner tomorrow morning!

You guys had some great responses to my question on how many chances an author gets before a reader says “so long.” I really enjoyed reading all the comments while I was propped on the couch being lazy over the weekend.

The winner of the 20.00 gift certificate to Samhain Publishing is Lori T. Comment #3. Congrats, Lori! If you’ll drop me an email at mayaATmayabanks.com, I’ll arrange for the delivery of your gift certificate.

Hope everyone has a terrific week ahead!

Not that I’m really here…but here is what I’m currently pondering.

Every once in awhile I hear something like “Oh, I love all her books but I read her most recent book and OMG it was horrible. I’m never reading her again.” (Not not in reference to me, just in general when speaking of an author’s books) Or I hear something like “This was a new to me author. I hated her book. I’ll never buy her again.” You get the drift.

It got me to wondering. About how many chances an author gets. Does she/he only get one stinker and thus are written off forever? Or do they get two crappy efforts? At what point does a reader give up and say no more, never again?

I can sorta see a reader’s point if they pick up a book by an author they’ve never read before, hate the book and so aren’t inspired to ever pick up another. But I can also see why a reader doesn’t take it so well when an author they’ve previously enjoyed lets them down. It’s sort of a betrayal of an implied trust, no?

Now obviously I’m approaching the subject from the viewpoint of a reader. As an author I want to say but but but! everyone has a bad day. Every book can’t be utter perfection. You can’t please everyone all the time. No one will ever like every single book an author writes. It’s just not possible.

So that swings everything back to the original question. How many chances does an author get before a reader says goodbye? Does it depend on the longevity of the reader/author relationship? Would you ever give a new to you author another try if she disappointed you the first time out? What would it take for you to buy her again?

Yes, I’m in a contemplative mood

So to get to the giveaway part….wade in and tell me where you stand. If I’m perky by Sunday, I’ll draw a winner for a twenty dollar gift certificate to Samhain Publishing. If I’m not perky, I’ll make Amy do it

I’m not much a pink person. I mean I don’t hate it. But there’s just so many other colors I prefer. And in my opinion, pink never ever belongs in living rooms or bathrooms or kitchens. Or my bedroom for that matter… My daughter’s room? Welcome to it.

Not surprisingly, I’ve been taunted with PINK in just about every *&#$@!$ house I’ve lived in. First there was the small house my husband and I rented when we first got married. Okay, if I had been the one to rent it, it wouldn’t have been rented, but that’s water under the bridge. It was the house my husband already lived in when we married. Pink walls in the living room. Pepto Bismal pink. Kitchen? You guessed it. Pink. *shudder*

We moved, and the only house we could find had…a pink kitchen.

Then we moved to misery er uhm Missouri, my brief and unpleasant stint above the Mason Dixon. Pink kitchen. Pink bathroom. For the love of GOD, what is it with PINK?

Then we bought a house and it was NOT pink (thank the Lord)

But then we moved back down south (yay!) to Texas and found a really great house. But…the woman who lived in it before loved friggin pink. I mean she loved it with a scary passion. She decorated the entire house in pink friggin’ flamingos. Pink blinds in the living room, which were easy enough to replace. Mauve carpet in the master bedroom, which took a little longer to replace but I DID eventually put wooden floors and rip out that nasty pink puke carpet.

The worst? Pink bathroom *sigh* Huge ass jacuzzie tub…PINK. Pink countertops. Pink sinks. Pink fucking shower. I want to go find the woman who built this damn house and ask her what the living fuck she was thinking and if she’s since beat her drug addiction.

As you can imagine, not as easily fixed as replacing carpet or blinds because this is a huge, expensive tub and if I ripped out countertops, showers and tubs, well…you get the point.

So this week wonderful hubby informs me that we can have the bathroom refinished for a third of the cost to rip out and replace the fixtures and do I want to do it.

Uh….yeah!

I get a chance to finally rid myself of all vestiges of PINK?

Hell yeah.

I’ll also wish everyone an early happy weekend. I’m off to Houston for surgery so I’ll be offline a few days. See ya when I get back!

Okay, I’m just throwing this out there because I’m curious…

But if you use bookmarks, what are your favorites? Do you like book thongs? Those cool foldy-over magnetic ones? How about the kind that work like really big paper clips? Do you use author bookmarks? Or my favorite, the bungee bookmarks from Levenger that hold your book closed while saving your page? (I really do love those, but I have a tendency to use a lot of book thongs…)

So there you have it…random question of the day…

…selected via Randomizer.org, is…Joan Woods, comment #2!

If you’ll email me via my contact page with your address, I’ll forward it to Cynthia and she’ll get your book to you. Congrats!

And now, back to Maya’s release day festivities…

Stay With Me is now available!

Getting her back will be the toughest deal they’ve ever negotiated.

On the night of her fifth anniversary, Catherine Cullen-Wellesley intends to break the news to the two men in her life. She’s pregnant with their child. It’ll be the perfect preamble to the vacation they’ve promised her: Two weeks on a Jamaican beach. No cell phones, no emails, no business.

But when Logan and Rhys blow off the trip for yet another “business emergency”, Catherine faces some difficult truths. She hasn’t come first in her busy husbands’ lives in a long time. Defiantly, she packs her bags for her long-awaited vacation—alone. It’ll give her a chance to figure out what the hell she’s going to do with the rest of her life.

When Logan and Rhys come home to an empty house, they realize two things: One, it was a mistake to take Catherine for granted. Two, they’re not willing to just let her walk out of their lives.

Winning her back will be the most difficult battle of their lives—more important than any business deal they’ve ever negotiated.

You can go here for an excerpt!

Or go here to purchase.

We were talking over the weekend in the Writeminded Reader’s Group about Stay With Me and I mentioned that while I love writing about finding love, meeting newly and going on to the happily ever after, there was something so powerful about taking people who had already embarked on their HEA and show them holding onto their love, fighting for it. People make mistakes, they make stupid choices. They’re human. To me it’s rewarding to see a couple not give up when faced with hard times. Forgiveness is a big part of loving someone unconditionally. Who hasn’t made a mistake that they’ve needed forgiveness for?

This was my focus for this book. I hope that if you pick it up, you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Hey, all!

I’d like to introduce you to a wonderfully talented author (I have the luck of having her as an anthology mate in both of my Secrets volumes!) and good friend, Cynthia Eden. Read on to learn about her new release (OMG, is that an awesome cover, or what?) and to get a shot at winning one of her books.

So welcome, Cynthia. Good to have you here!

* * *

Characters—The Good and The Very Bad

First. a big thank you to all of the wonderful and oh-so-talented ladies here at Write Minded (and particularly to the lovely Larissa) for inviting me to guest post today.

For my post, I thought I’d talk a bit about characters. Ah, characters—they can sure make or break books. Some characters are so wonderful and so strong that they stay with you long after a book is closed and set aside. (I think Linda Howard is an absolute pro at creating unforgettable characters like this—Dane from Dream Man is one of my all-time favorite heroes).

And some characters, well, they stay with you not because they were incredibly strong or heroic, but because they were bad. (Ahem—not “bad” in the sense of throw-the-book-against-the wall, that’s another post.) No, they’re bad because they’re supposed to be evil. I’m talking about villains or villainesses who aren’t drab or dull—no, they’re the grab-you-by-the throat and don’t-let-go evil that is absolutely gripping. My favorite example of this character? The infamous Hannibal Lecter.

For writers, I think the real trick is to create a book in which the hero and heroine are great in that beautiful, unforgettable way, while also having other characters that are multi-dimensional…and in the case of the bad guys…layered and evil. Such a fun challenge.

My first single-title release from Kensington Brava, HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT, is on the shelves now, and as I was writing this book, the character that called to me the most was my heroine, Dr. Emily Drake. Emily is a psychologist, but she only treats paranormal patients—so she has some pretty unusual clients. When a supernatural killer begins stalking the streets, Emily is the only one who can profile him. Ah, a tough job, but I think she’s just the woman for the case—besides, she has the hero, wolf-shifter Colin Gyth, to back her up in those dark and dangerous situations.

I hope readers like Emily—and I hope they find my villain to be—well, evil.

But what about you? I’d love to hear about a few of your “unforgettable” characters—and I’d love to hear about some bad villains, too!

Answer, and one commenter will be chosen to win a copy of When He Was Bad (an early copy! Woot!) Winner will be announced on Tuesday.

Cynthia Eden
www.cynthiaeden.com
HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT—Available now from Kensington Brava
WHEN HE WAS BAD—Available May 27 from Kensington Brava