Business Time
Happy Friday and Happy Weekend! Good for us making it through the week. Though you know me when I’m in deadline mode weekends mean nothing and it’s business time and not in the HA HA way, but in the get down to business and get these edits done way.
That’s ok. The weekend are for everyone and business is what you make of it. Enjoy!
All the best,
KMJ
image from amandaonwriting.tumblr.com
Press Pause
My weekend:
write,
edit,
write,
edit,
edit,
edit,
pause to refill
church &
this perfection:
Edit
now back to editing as deadline looms. What’s your week looking like?
All the best,
KMJ
Flipping the Script
I have gotten my edits back from my lovely editor on my final book in my Crimson trilogy and to say my head is spinning right now is a huge understatement. I have to keep cleaning my glasses to see the black left on the pages through all the red at this point (yes I know a necessary evil but still, WAAAA!). So to that I will be a little MIA for a bit while I clear the fog in my brain, try to flip colors and turn my frown upside down to bring some order and control back to this story. See you on the other side and I hope your week is fantastic.
All the best,
KMJ
Image from Amanda On Writing Tumblr
Persistence
Yesterday I met with my buddies, The Knitsters for the 1st time in a long time. It was wonderful to step out of the Bat Cave and into the light for a few hours and it was also great to pick up the knitting needles again after being away from them for so long.
In anticipation I bought some new heather gray yarn in order to start on shawl that I had been admiring my friend knitting with a beautiful open weave stitch that was a step up from my usual knit/purl action.
I cast on the 97 stitches and got to the point where I needed some help so I got my friend to show me the steps in the stitch that I didn’t know. Here’s how it went: K1*yfwd, k3tog,yrn,P1,rep from*
No you’d think I’d be able to count, pay attention, and get that pattern but, um, no. My 1st try and I ended up off by 20 stitches. My 2nd try and I ended up off by 3, my 3rd try and I was off by 1. Yes people it took me 4 tries and this was no small scarf, I was casting on 97 stitches with each go, but after 4 times I finally got the row right and was so pleased with myself.
I think this says something to my never give it spirit (or just shows I’m loopy). Now I have to turn this attitude back toward my writing but remember to move away from the keyboard at times and bring it back to the needles.
Have a great weekend and I hope you try something new or an old fave this weekend.
All the best,
Kwana
Being Jack
I had to give Jack a bath yesterday as well as the rest of the house since he got up high and got into the dangerous leftover Halloween candy. I swear having Jack around is like having a very bad teen. I’m thinking I may finally need a liquor cabinet with a lock to keep the bread and chocolate away from him. Yep, he got into it all and ended up sick all over himself and the house. Nope, things have not been fun for the past few days. Not fun at all. But, thankfully we’ve made it through fresher and cleaner.
And I’m glad to see in the end he’s thinking about his actions. Or maybe he’s plotting his next mission. Who knows?
All the best,
KMJ
Goody Two Shoes!
Thanks so much to all who entered my Goodreads SEDUCTION’S CANVAS giveaway. I’m excited to say I had 929 entries and Goodreads picked the two winners. One from California and the other from Great Britain. The lovelies Sarah and Sheila.
How cool that Seduction is on the way across the States and across the pond?! Feeling quite good about that. Makes me want to do a little Sunday Goody Two Shoes dance which I would be doing if I didn’t dance so much out with the DH and friends last night. Sidebar: me and a heels just don’t mix. Oh well, I can always chair dance to Adam Ant!
Thanks again to all who entered and I hope you will be seduced by Seduction’s Canvas.
All the best,
KMJ
Friday Hangover and a Winner!
Happy Friday! I hope you all had a good night last night with plenty of treats and no tricks. Things started out slow over by me. I decorated the porch along with Jack who was without a costume this year but still feeling festive and we sat and waited.
And waited some more. But once it got dark and my purple lights came up the kids really started to come out and it was quite a lot of fun answering the door in my Witch’s Hat. It started to drizzle around 8:45 which put an end to the Trick or Treaters wich was fine by me because it was getting on time to settle in for the real Halloween scare with Scandal.
Wow! It was so good. You can check out my recap for the week over at Heroes and Heartbreakers. I’d love to hear your comments.
A big thank you to all who commented on the fab Lise Horton’s WORDS OF LUST interview. I’m so grateful to Lise for being here. Thanks to random number generator I have pulled a name for her book giveaway and the winner is Maria Ferrer! Congrats Maria! Lise will be in touch. And no worries if you didn’t win you can click here to buy your own copy of WORDS OF LUST.
Have a great weekend!
All the best,
KMJ
image from Scandalabc tumblr
Boo!
Don’t get too tangled up in the tricks and treats this Halloween!
It’s back to work on Friday!
All the best,
KMJ
P.S. There is still time to comment on yesterday’s interview with author Lise Horton and be entered in the giveaway. Click on over.
image from here
Getting Wordy with Words of Lust author Lise Horton + a Giveaway!
It’s a lovely day over here at ye old blog and an exciting one as I’m so pleased and honored to welcome my dear friend and fellow RWA NYC chapter mate, Lise Horton. Lise is here to discuss writing, life in the NYC and her fabulous debut novel out from Carina Press: WORDS OF LUST. Believe me folks this is one you don’t want to miss and a voice you will not forget.
Thanks so much for being here today, Lise. I’m so thrilled to have you over at ye old blog!
Since I am a long time, ardent admirer of KwanaWrites, I am totally tickled to be here!
First off can you tell is a little about WORDS OF LUST?
This novel, my debut, is a contemporary, New York City-set erotic romance in which two very different people are brought together by fate and discover that love – and lust – can overcome all those obstacles: Age differences, IQ, disparate occupations, and even sexual history.
WORDS OF LUST is a pretty saucy (I adore that word) title. What was the inspiration for that? Did you come up with it or was it an editorial collaboration?
The idea for the novel itself was the final line of James Joyce’s Ulysses – the famous line where Molly Bloom climaxes, “. . . I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.” I created a woman who hasn’t had the experience of the heroines of the classic erotic fiction she teaches. My original title was Words of Love but it was decided it was not right for an erotic romance. And since lust figures prominently in my story as Nick and Serafina’s relationship blossoms, it seemed quite fitting.
WORDS OF LUST is a bit of an opposite attracts story (as many of the best are) tell us, what made you pair a professor with a construction worker? Sidebar: Don’t we all love a man that’s good with his hands?
I adore opposites attract stories because I love lots of conflict that my hero and heroine have to deal with, and what better than coming from different worlds. It adds another lovely layer of complication and conflict, both internal and external. Nick and Serafina learn to discover that the truth, is hearts don’t recognize class, or wardrobe or bank accounts. And they’re also forced to navigate the sometimes choppy waters of society where loving outside of your group can get sticky. But in the end it allowed me to give my readers that terrific happily ever after and reinforce once again, that love can conquer all.
You are a New Yorker, what does the city mean to you and how does it influence your writing?
I lived the first year of my life on the West Side of Manhattan. As a child and teen I visited often the historical monuments, the theatre and museums here. And I’ve spent my adult life working here at various jobs, and in various neighborhoods throughout the City. I lived here for a decade (6 apartments in 3 years before finding my HEA apartment – pre-war, doorman building in the West 50’s – where I got my inspiration for Serafina Luca’s apartment) before moving back to LI to take care of my Mom. So I’ve experienced this grand and glorious metropolis during all the stages of my life and just can’t get enough of it. I am continually both awed and inspired by the life, the energy, the history and the amazing diversity here, both of experience as well as the citizens themselves. As a writer, I have my entire “world” right at my fingertips. So I am incredibly lucky to be able to use favorite neighborhoods, the habits of city dwellers, and attractions like the High Line, to give atmosphere, character and immediacy to my story. And these are a people I love to portray on the page! Like they say, there’s a million naked stories in this City (OK, so I took a bit of liberty there!)
Now for my favorite question, tell us the story of your “overnight” success.
As a former singer and actress, I’ve always gotten a kick out of that concept. In fact, while I’ve dabbled for quite a while, I didn’t get totally serious until 2008. That was the year I completed my first full-length novel. I started submitting in 2009, and made my very first professional sale in 2011: A short story called Share and Share Alike in the Ravenous Romance anthology, My First Threesome. The big moment came in November 2012, after I survived Hurricane Sandy and ten days in the dark in the aftermath, AND the ice storm that blew in just when the lights when on. (Although I can now brag I’ve cooked pasta on a hibachi and held back the darkness with my trusty book light and lots of great romance novels.) As you can all imagine, I was pretty burnt out about then. Then I received “the call” from Angela James at Carina Press. And it’s been a storm of a much more delightful nature ever since.
Lastly, what can we look for next from you?
I’m very excited to be finishing up book two in the Stellato Siblings series. I’ll be doing some revision and polishing before sending it off to my super editor at Carina Press, Alissa Davis. So I hope everyone crosses their fingers for me that she loves it as much as I do! And in the interim, I will have my short story “My Master’s Mark” included in the upcoming Cleis Press print anthology “Slave Girls”, edited by D. L. King. The story is dark – and it is pure erotica – but incredibly romantic (kinky, but romantic). I’m very proud of it, and thrilled to be in the company of some of the top writers of erotica in fiction today.
Thanks so much for being here today, Lise. What a great treat!
I cannot thank you enough for having me here, Kwana, and for being my friend, and being here to celebrate our mutual publications! Here’s to many, many more great love stories and thundering applause for all the readers who can’t get enough of them.
Lise Horton is a native of NYC and a Long Island suburb. She loves her rescued fur friends, her special needs brother, her mom, and writing books that make readers fall in love – and be just a little afraid. Words of Lust from Carina Press is her debut novel. You can find Lise at her Website: http://bit.ly/1aRWECL and Words of Lust can be found on Amazon: http://amzn.to/19UmTfe and at Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1cZjZqV Happy Reading!
Now for some BONUS fun! Lise will give away a digital copy of Words of Lust to one lucky commenter. So please comment away and be sure to leave your contact info. A winner will be chosen on Friday by 12 noon EST. Thanks Lise 🙂
All the best,
Kwana
Author photo thanks to katana-photography.com
Squeak on!
Jack says (in his own Jackster way) a big thanks for all the birthday wishes here and on FB. For his birthday he got a fun new ducky gift (sorry for the bad pic) that was supposed to be extra durable. We was in love with it and then quickly became obsessed with finding the squeaker inside.
The duck lasted all of 20 minutes before the squeaker was found and out. As you can see with Jack nothing is indestructible.
He never gives up until he achieves his goal.
We can learn a bit from the old Jackster.
Wishing you an indestructible week filled with knocking out all your goals.
All the best,
KMJ
