Felicity Stripped Bare

It's out in print today!

Feels a little anticlimatic considering the ebook has been out for a year. All the same, it was very cool holding the author copy print book in my hot little hands.

So... if you were interested in Felicity & Daniel's story, but ebooks weren't your thing, now's your chance to get the book.

[/promo at which I suck]

Blurb:

High-school drop-out Felicity Cameron is newly single (by choice), with a new job, a new home, and she’s just signed up with a tutor because of her dyslexia.

So what if her hew job is at a strip club? No one has to know. And who cares if her new flat is in a ramshackle house? The rent’s cheap. The important thing is: Felicity is finally getting her life back on track.

Until the house is sold and her new landlord nearly causes her plans to derail. The man is yummy chocolate-coated on the outside. Chewy moron center.

Torn between fulfilling his father’s dynastic visions at the family law firm and pursuing his own dreams as a custom home builder, Daniel Mackenzie isn’t looking for more complications in his life. But complications are what he gets when his latest property purchase, slated for a flip, comes with one constantly complaining tenant.

It's a shame they got off on the wrong foot, though, considering said tenant was quite a looker. Too bad all you could look at were her tonsils ‘cause her mouth was always flapping.

As they try to get past that little ol’ eviction thing… Felicity strives to keep all her secrets from him, while Daniel does everything he can to pull her into his life and into his arms.

But she seems determined to hold something back. And he’s afraid it’s her heart.

~*~*~


Excerpts can be found here and here.

Some of the places you'll find it for sale:

Samhain
Amazon
Chapters.Indigo
Barnes & Nobel

**Edited to add: I would do a contest, but the last contest I held for a ebook copy was a complete wash (only one entry after posting about it on the writer's news sections at AAR, RT an Romance Divas!! ::cringe::) Anywho, if peeps are interested in a chance to win a copy, either leave a message in the comments or drop me a line at vanessajaye @ hotmail .com and I'll pick a name. Contest closes Friday 12 midnight. I'll post a winner on Saturday (if there are any takers).

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What's the secret to writing short?

Yes. I'm whining.

About the werewolf novella.

I've been poking around in it the last few hours. Just got to the point where the hero sees the heroine for the first time (in this new version). As it stands I've got 4 new scenes totally 4,145 words. Not bad. The next few scenes will (hopefully) flesh out their romance more. I all ready had a scene that fleshed out the background of the world building more, but there'll probably more bits and pieces I'll be able to tuck in here and there.

The thing I'm whiny about is, other folks seem to do the world-building/relationship just fine in a short word count. Sure you might want a few things explained/fleshed out more, but for the most part you're good.

This damn novella was already clocking in at 42K (plus the extra 4K so far in new scenes). I wonder if I'm going all the new writing is going to hit the mark, or if I'll end up with 60K and still fall short.

*pouting, scowling, bitching*

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Ol Skool

This came up on the ipod yesterday while I was at the gym. When this song came out it was one of my absolute favourites and if I wasn't already on the dance floor this would definitly get my booty shakin. (This Youtube version doesn't have base, but that's probably my crappylicious laptop speakers).

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Today's To-do

Going to hit the gym in a bit (first time in months....) Then I'll bichok and do some serious writing today.

That damn werewolf paranormal is still tugging at my sense of guilt. I really want to finish those revisions and resubmit, but everytime I touch it, it's like banging my head against a brickwall. It's so hard to flesh out character in a fairly tightly paced plot-driven short-story. I know it can be done, but it's sooo frustrating. Normally I do character-driven stories and the plot derives from that. I find it much easier to flesh out plot once the characters are established, rather than vice-versa.

In other news... I've been playing around with some characters in my head for a new contemporary story. Think I'll take the Quickpad to the gym with me and work on the new story during the commute. Then work on the novella when I get home later.

On the reading front, I blew through Julia Quinn's latest What Happens In London. It was a frothy farcical story with likable characters. I love that it felt like a ROMANCE--not in a melodramtic way, just that you felt the two leads truly liked and loved each other in the end. There was an element of that big 'swept away' feeling to their romance, even while retaining that down to earth recognition of each other's foibles and their own. There was only one 'warm' lovescene in the last quarter of the story, but I didn't mind that because I was lovin' the H/h's interactions/banter. Nice read, but in the end the overall feeling I was left with was it was a little too light; I enjoyed it very much (finished the darn thing in a day), but it won't be a keeper because I don't see myself re-reading it.


Happy July 4th to my American friends!!

**edited for (some) typos.

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Where’s My Defibrillator?

I opened up the latest issue of Esquire magazine, and low and behold what do my eyeballs smack up against on page 2 and 3?

(click on pic for larger view)

Land’s sake, have mercy! Folks have to warn a body such a sight is in the offing.

Also, the least they could have done was have the decency to supply a scratch n sniff strip…. for the cologne. That's what they're selling, right?

Damn, his tuck-game is tight.

**edited to add: More after the cut...



You know what else strikes me the longer I study this picture?

::releases inner Georgia O'Keeffe::




(no, sadly, you can't take me anywhere)

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80's Romance Heroes

I was poking around Jezebel and came across this series of post for The Worst 80s Romance Heroes:

Contestant #1 - Jay Courtland, from Rules of the Game.

Contestant #2 - Dr. Ray Culver, from Stormy Springtime.

Contestant #3 - Owen Tudor, from The Road To Forever.

And to think I use to inhale these books back in the day!! No way would I read a book with these asshats now, (unless it was to indulge in that omg-I-can't-believe-he-just-said/did-that!! guilty-pleasure trainwreck experience).

Here's a fun test to take over on Racy Romance Reviews: Do you Really heart Harleqin Presents?

And here's a discussion thread over on AAR on the worst romance novel heroes. Of course that Clay from Whitney, My Love made the list.

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Happy Canada Day!

It's an absolutely gorgeous day out. Enjoy!!

I'm over at Southern Fried Chicas today, figuratively, but quite literally I'll be chilling on my deck.

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Holy Crap! Is it true?

Just got home from the supermarket. Put food on the table, flopped on the couch and turned on the tv and HLN/CNN is reporting that Michael Jackson is dead!!

ETA; Looks like its true. I'm deeply saddened. Regardless of the issues that plagued his life in the last years, he's a musical legend.

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Dinner conversation at the Jaye household

So Day and I were talking music and somehow DMX's name comes up. I start giggling and ask da boy if he remembers this DMX crackhead quote (bolding mine):

"Yo, no matter how much vacation I'm on - we been to St Thomas, Bahamas, all the little islands - I don't wear no flip-flops. I'm never that comfortable, ever, not even in my house."



Day starts laughing too, then says: "Hey I don't like flip-flops either. I gotta be ready to run."




insert Mom Side-eye-->


"Run?"

"Yeah. Like if Godzilla shows up."

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Today's Joke

A woman was at her hairdresser's getting her hair styled for a trip to Rome with her husband.. She mentioned the trip to the hairdresser, who responded:

"Rome? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded and dirty. You're crazy to go toRome. So, how are you getting there?"

"We're taking Continental," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"

"Continental?" exclaimed the hairdresser, "That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome?"

"We'll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome's Tiber River called Teste."

"Don't go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks it's gonna be something special and exclusive, but it's really a dump."

"We're going to go to see the Vatican and maybe get to see the Pope."

"That's rich," laughed the hairdresser. You and a million other people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."

A month later, the woman again came in for a hairdo. The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome.

"It was wonderful," explained the woman, "not only were we on time in one of Continental's brand new planes, but it was as overbooked, and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a handsome 28-year-old steward who waited on me hand and foot.

And the hotel was great! They'd just finished a $5 million remodeling job, and now it's a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner's suite at no extra charge!"

"Well," muttered the hairdresser, "that's all well and good, but I know you didn't get to see the Pope."

"Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican , a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me.

Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few words to me."

"Oh, really! What'd he say?"

He said: "Who fucked up your hair?"

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Stories from Childhood

There are the obvious ones of course, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Curious George, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Madeline, Cat in the Hat.

But there are others that stick with you for one reason or the other. Maybe you really identified with that little boy or girl; they were having the adventures you always dreamed of, lived the house/castle you would have like to live in. Had a big red dog. :-D

Sometimes it was a simple matter of the artwork.

Such is the reason for one particular story that has stuck in my mind. I couldn't even remember the whole story. And for the longest while I thought it was Little Red Riding Hood because it was about a little girl and a wolf. But really what stuck in my mind about this story, or I should say *that* book, was the artwork that showed the little girl in a field of flowers.

In The Gunnywolf (or Gunniwolf) the little girl disobeys her parents' order to not go out in the forest. She's not a naughty girl, you see, but the temptation of all the pretty flowers were too much to resist:

The little girl promised that she would never go into the forest. “I won’t go! I won’t go!” As soon as her mother had gone, the little girl decided to pick flowers to decorate the house. The first flowers were yellow flowers that grew right beside the fence around the year and the garden. But, as she picked the yellow flowers, she saw some pretty blue flowers blooming right at the edge of the forest, and she forgot about her promise.


While she picked the blue flowers, she saw some beautiful white flowers. They would look so lovely in a vase with the yellow and blue flowers. She could surprise her mother with them when she came home. The little girl just had to pick some of them too."

No, not naughty in the least! Good intentions and all that. ;)

If you're wondering why the reminiscence, it's because every time I take a certain way home and/or to work through the nearby ravine, this sight always strikes me as what the little girl saw. (exactly what the book’s artwork meant to conveyed):




Don't think I blame her a minute for being enticed down that path deep into the woods. (My crappy camera didn't quite capture how magical those blue and white wild flowers look alongside the trail. You can see a close up of the flowers in the bottom right hand corner.)

Unfortunately I couldn't find examples of the artwork from that book online, but while googling I came across an interesting article on the story on the Clayton County Library Blog if you'd like to read more on it.

Never underestimate the power of the story. You never outgrow its magic. Are there stories from your childhood that stick with you, not just because of the story itself but because of a certain image?

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I give up, let’s do it again

I’ve been on a quasi break from writing due to crazy hours I was putting in on a project for my daytime job. I say quasi because I was still struggling with the revisions on the werewolf novella (I think I’m up to my 6th try on second new scene I had planned to write).

Recently I commented over on Southern Fried Chicas, that I was going to put the revisions aside for now. I was just tired of hitting my head against the wall trying to achieve something that would address my editor’s concerns while at the same time not feeling like filler to me or requiring a complete rewrite.

The funny thing is, the minute I posted that statement for all to see, I wanted to take it back. I wasn’t truly finished with trying to work out a solution. I just needed to think on it some more. In the mean time I also came up with an interesting paranormal western romance that requires a bit of research. I was going to forge ahead with that while still mulling over the werewolf problem, but that werewolf novella is like cavity I can’t stop probing.

I think (once again) I have a solution, I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of days now from different angles. Going to start working on the new ideas in a minute.

Another writing problem I’ve been dealing with is this blog. I’ve been meaning to wean myself off online for awhile now. The situation at work kinda forced the issue, but I’ve found that now that things have (temporarily) calmed down at work, I’m not all that hepped up to jump back into the fray. Just today, for instance, I spent 3 hours in garden. And later tonight I’ll be baking some spelt ‘n oatmeal muffins to take to work in the mornings for breakfast. I’m reading more, watching TV/movies more, and having more conversations with friends/family. Even hit the AGO a couple of weeks ago and plan visit several other museums around town. Plus, I still have to make it back to the gym on a regular basis, and of course I will be writing (or trying to).

And all that means being online less.

Fine with me.

Except…

I do enjoy my blog and as an epublished author I need to keep a visible online presence. While I using the joke posts as a crutch lately, I would really like to blog with more substance.

So that’s what I’m going to do. Once a week I’ll post something thoughtful (on writing, or what I’m reading, stuff happening in real life, etc). I’ll probably still post the jokes, etc. but the blog—-and the few peeps who drop by, or have me on their reader—-deserve to be treated better.

ps: I’ll let you know how try #7 on scene two works out.

**edited to add links

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