A dear friend of mine, and amazing critique partner, has a new release out today.
Weekend Games, by Cara Carnes, from Loose-id.
Here's the blurb from her website:
Best friends Aubrey, Charlotte, Francie and Julia have had horrible personal lives the past year and have decided that needs to be changed. What better way to kick-start their sex lives than some role playing games on Halloween weekend? The four concoct the perfect scenario: each one invites one or more former male “friends” to participate in the roles. The men will not only play a part in the hedonistic play, but will create the roles.
When Halloween night arrives, the four women discover the seven sexy men have constructed role plays meant to not only tap into their dark desires, but to push them to a new level of awareness about themselves..
It began as fun and games - a weekend of no holds barred pleasure - but it soon morphs into passion that none of them could have possibly expected. Suddenly a weekend doesn’t seem like nearly enough time.
Let me just say, I have started reading it and it is awesome! So far, Matias is my favorite. Damn, that man is hot! But there's six more to go so I might end up changing my mind before it's over! LOL
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
So....
So...such a small word, such a large pain the ass!
When I first sold my story to Samhain, Heidi, my wonderful editor, sent me a "Pre-edit checklist." It had a list of things for me to go through my story and look for, prior to her beginning her edits, so (lol) that the editing process went quicker and was easier for both of us.
One of the things Heidi had in her checklist was a list of garbage words. These are...well, garbage words, that can often be deleted. They're filler words. Words that slow down a sentence and add nothing. One of the garbage words was "so."
Now, I'll be perfectly honest. I seriouly considered skipping over it and going on to the next garbage word on the list, "just." I mean...really..."so?" I didn't remember typing that word a single time. Obviously I didn't have an overabundance of them because I would have remembered typing it. Right?
At this point, if Heidi reads this, she's rolling on the floor laughing her ass off.
In my 30,000 word novella I had 80!!!
Yes, you read that right...80!
Now, in all fairness, the "find" feature does also recognize words with "so" anywhere in them. So (LOL), words like "someone" or "somebody" would be included in that total. But let me tell you...there weren't that many of those words that were added to the count.
My heroine was very much out of her comfort zone and uncomfortable for most of the story. I wanted to show her tentativeness when she spoke and, apparently, I did that by starting almost every sentence with her saying, "So,...." I never would have believed it if I hadn't done the "find" feature myself.
Now, in my current WIP, I'm oh so (lol) very aware of that word. See, even typing my blog, I realize every time I type those 2 tiny letters side by side.
So (lol, jeez!), what words are you overly fond of that need to be purged from your WIP? We can treat this like a support group! LOL
Make it a great day, everyone!
Peace and Love,
Alannah
When I first sold my story to Samhain, Heidi, my wonderful editor, sent me a "Pre-edit checklist." It had a list of things for me to go through my story and look for, prior to her beginning her edits, so (lol) that the editing process went quicker and was easier for both of us.
One of the things Heidi had in her checklist was a list of garbage words. These are...well, garbage words, that can often be deleted. They're filler words. Words that slow down a sentence and add nothing. One of the garbage words was "so."
Now, I'll be perfectly honest. I seriouly considered skipping over it and going on to the next garbage word on the list, "just." I mean...really..."so?" I didn't remember typing that word a single time. Obviously I didn't have an overabundance of them because I would have remembered typing it. Right?
At this point, if Heidi reads this, she's rolling on the floor laughing her ass off.
In my 30,000 word novella I had 80!!!
Yes, you read that right...80!
Now, in all fairness, the "find" feature does also recognize words with "so" anywhere in them. So (LOL), words like "someone" or "somebody" would be included in that total. But let me tell you...there weren't that many of those words that were added to the count.
My heroine was very much out of her comfort zone and uncomfortable for most of the story. I wanted to show her tentativeness when she spoke and, apparently, I did that by starting almost every sentence with her saying, "So,...." I never would have believed it if I hadn't done the "find" feature myself.
Now, in my current WIP, I'm oh so (lol) very aware of that word. See, even typing my blog, I realize every time I type those 2 tiny letters side by side.
So (lol, jeez!), what words are you overly fond of that need to be purged from your WIP? We can treat this like a support group! LOL
Make it a great day, everyone!
Peace and Love,
Alannah
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Hump Day Humor...
I love to laugh. It makes me feel good and it's good for you. And as I started typing this, I realized it goes totally against my post at Plotmonkeys this morning. Because this video is one of the funniest things I have ever seen, and it is definitely laughing AT someone. I might have to go back over there and ammend my post! LOL
If you've never seen the "bachelor ride home" video...well, I'm posting a spew alert! I can't figure out how to get the damn thing to load. Sorry you've got to do a cut/paste thing but I hope you enjoy anyway.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jik8r-m6dP8
If you've never seen the "bachelor ride home" video...well, I'm posting a spew alert! I can't figure out how to get the damn thing to load. Sorry you've got to do a cut/paste thing but I hope you enjoy anyway.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jik8r-m6dP8
Monday, October 13, 2008
Good news!!!
I have some terrific news and I just had to share it! Actually, I have several pieces of good news.
The best is, hubby had an MRI last week and then his regular follow-up appointment at Duke. The PA and the doctor both said the MRI looked great and even hinted that there might be some regression of the tumor! Yippee!!!! Great, great news!
They said the fact that the seizures have stopped is another indication that the chemo tablets are working. The doctor also said a healthy immune system is the best thing that he can do for himself.
That led to a conversation about using organic milk/meat/cheese (because they don't contain any hormones or anti-biotics) and he confirmed that it is very important to avoid those things and that we're definitely on the right track by eating all organic. (Long story but I've often been laughed at for eating organic and told that it was a waste of money - I've been vindicated! LOL)
The second piece of good news is that I got the cover for my December release...It's so cool and I feel official now.
I've also been added to the "coming soon" pages at Samhain Publishing.
Does anyone else have any good news they'd like to share. I'd love to celebrate your good news with you, just let me know about it!
Peace and Love,
Alannah
The best is, hubby had an MRI last week and then his regular follow-up appointment at Duke. The PA and the doctor both said the MRI looked great and even hinted that there might be some regression of the tumor! Yippee!!!! Great, great news!
They said the fact that the seizures have stopped is another indication that the chemo tablets are working. The doctor also said a healthy immune system is the best thing that he can do for himself.
That led to a conversation about using organic milk/meat/cheese (because they don't contain any hormones or anti-biotics) and he confirmed that it is very important to avoid those things and that we're definitely on the right track by eating all organic. (Long story but I've often been laughed at for eating organic and told that it was a waste of money - I've been vindicated! LOL)
The second piece of good news is that I got the cover for my December release...It's so cool and I feel official now.
I've also been added to the "coming soon" pages at Samhain Publishing.
Does anyone else have any good news they'd like to share. I'd love to celebrate your good news with you, just let me know about it!
Peace and Love,
Alannah
Monday, October 6, 2008
Update on life.....
I can't believe I haven't updated in weeks. Life gets going and sometimes its hard to keep up. Unfortunately, blogging ends up at the bottom of the "to do" list.
But I have had some major revelations over the last few weeks and have made some changes to myself and my life. Those who know me well know the last year has been stressful. And over the last year I've done a phenomenal job of taking care of my family...LOL, if I do say so myself. But honestly, I think they would agree and my husband thanks me constantly for everything I do for him.
But I haven't done such a great job of taking care of me.
I realized the weight gain was just a symptom of how I've been treating myself (or not treating myself) and so I've decided to stop ignoring myself, do what I need to do to make myself feel better. And part of that is looking better.
I'd let my hair grow out until it was down to my waist. I decided it was time to get it cut. We started with a 10" swath (10" so that I could donate it to Locks of Love) and then she just kept cutting from there. It's now above my shoulders, long layers and with my natural curl its just a cute, kind of flirty look that I really like. I've received tons of sincere compliments on it, and of course, that makes me feel good.
I haven't gone overboard with the make-up thing, but I am trying to at least put on foundation and mascara in the mornings. LOL...baby steps, people, baby steps.
Just doing those simple things has made me feel better and it's the funniest thing. I realize I'm eating a lot less too. The late afternoon munchies aren't as troublesome as they used to be and when I do find that I absolutely have to eat something I'm fixing a small bag of popcorn and it holds me over until dinner.
It's gonna take a while but I'm feeling better and better about those thirty pounds coming off. Now, if I can just figure out how to get by without that Pepsi every morning!
Hope you're all doing well. Leave me a comment and let me know how things are going for all of you!!
Peace and Love
Alannah
But I have had some major revelations over the last few weeks and have made some changes to myself and my life. Those who know me well know the last year has been stressful. And over the last year I've done a phenomenal job of taking care of my family...LOL, if I do say so myself. But honestly, I think they would agree and my husband thanks me constantly for everything I do for him.
But I haven't done such a great job of taking care of me.
I realized the weight gain was just a symptom of how I've been treating myself (or not treating myself) and so I've decided to stop ignoring myself, do what I need to do to make myself feel better. And part of that is looking better.
I'd let my hair grow out until it was down to my waist. I decided it was time to get it cut. We started with a 10" swath (10" so that I could donate it to Locks of Love) and then she just kept cutting from there. It's now above my shoulders, long layers and with my natural curl its just a cute, kind of flirty look that I really like. I've received tons of sincere compliments on it, and of course, that makes me feel good.
I haven't gone overboard with the make-up thing, but I am trying to at least put on foundation and mascara in the mornings. LOL...baby steps, people, baby steps.
Just doing those simple things has made me feel better and it's the funniest thing. I realize I'm eating a lot less too. The late afternoon munchies aren't as troublesome as they used to be and when I do find that I absolutely have to eat something I'm fixing a small bag of popcorn and it holds me over until dinner.
It's gonna take a while but I'm feeling better and better about those thirty pounds coming off. Now, if I can just figure out how to get by without that Pepsi every morning!
Hope you're all doing well. Leave me a comment and let me know how things are going for all of you!!
Peace and Love
Alannah
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