new banner and background

I'm so excited! This site finally looks like something that belongs to an erotica author! I owe it all to a patient and generous friend who made up the sexy, sexy hottie you see in the background off to the side.  It's taken me an embarrassingly long time to get it just right with the settings and layout, but now it is!  Whew!

I hope everyone checks out the  Total-E-Bound 12 Days of SeXmas. There are going to be a lot of prizes, some great promotions, and maybe even a visit from a sexy Santa!

plot vs character development

I know there's plenty of debate, many books, and endless websites dedicated to the eternal question of whether plot or character development is more crucial to the story.  I've been thinking about this after watching this week's episode of "Homeland" titled "Broken Hearts."  There have been a lot of reviews debating the merits of the episode with many questioning the direction the show is taking and the plausibility of the events that took place. 

But one columnist made me think about my own writing when he said that "Homeland" is sacrificing character development in favor of advancing the plot at a more rapid pace.  I enjoyed this week's episode, but then I like fast paced, edge of your seat television.  TV shows that dwell too much on navel gazing fall out of favor with me pretty quick.  It goes that way with books too.  I can't stand books where a character has endless scenes of Hamlet indecisiveness without there being any real payoff.  But then, too, I don't like books where the characters are cardboard cutouts who do nothing but go from one plot point to another.  There has to be a balance, but I think I lean more towards plot than character development.

Cover Art!!!

I'm sorry I've been out of touch all month!  I promise I'll do better.  I know, I know, I always say that, but I really do mean it this time.  It's going to be a 2013 New Year's resolution.  But at least I'm blogging with something important to say.....I have cover art!!!!!!!  My first ever cover art!!!!!! Take a peek...

Cool, isn't it?  Not to mention sexy, hot, sensual, desirable....okay, you get the idea.  Anyway it's my first cover for a story so I know I'm going a bit overboard.  But you have a first cover only once so a little bit of going overboard is in order.  :)

being bad

I should be writing but instead I'm looking at TV.  Yes, I'm being bad, but I'm enjoying it!  "Nashville" is living up to all the hype.  Between this show and "Revenge" maybe the nighttime soap opera is making a comeback?  I hope so because juicy tales of backstabbing and betrayal are my favorite things to watch on tv as well as read.  I think I'll make backstabbing and betrayal one of the themes for my NaNoWriMo novel.

my first guest post / interview

I'm so happy to announce that I've completed my first guest post / interview with author H K Carlton on her blog Pick A Genre Already. Although my story doesn't come out until March, she generously gave me the opportunity to introduce myself to other authors and readers.  As anyone can probably guess, I'm still getting the hang of social media, so getting exposure like this is huge.  I hope I get more chances like this because this kind of networking and exposure are crucial to making it as a writer.  Please check out the article and let me know what you think!

taking care of business

I'm going on vacation in a couple of weeks and I'd like to be able to leave with a clean slate.  I've made some progress in that direction but still need to finish my short story and finish revising my novella.  Accomplishing both is definitely doable but will take more discipline than I've been exercising this week.  However, setting a deadline might help in achieving this goal.

new contacts

I've joined three new writing groups and have made a lot of new contacts.  Two of the groups I'd been a member for a couple of weeks before I worked up the nerve to write a introductory post.  Don't know what I was afraid of because the worst that could have happened was *crickets.*  Not good, but not fatal either. 

However, that was not the case when I joined any of the groups.  All of the writers were extremely welcoming, and I've even accepted invitations to do a guest blogs when my short short comes out.  The invitations are extremely gracious, I hope I don't disappoint.  Now I'll have to get my own blog up to speed so that I can reciprocate.  But that's a few weeks away.  I've probably already bitten off more than I can chew with the guest blogs in addition to the short stories I need to finish editing and writing.  So, yes, things are still busy, but I'm slowly making progress.