Jaci Burton’s Muse

It’s a dirty job but I do what I have to do as an author, ya know *g*

Me and the Ellora’s Cave cover models at the booksigning this weekend. Oh, the things I’m ‘forced’ to do for my art. *cough*

hehehe

Jaci

Authors: Sitting: Lorie O’Clare, JC Wilder, Madeline Oh, Cheyenne McCray
Standing: Jaid Black, Jaci Burton, Marly Chance, Sherri King, Sahara Kelly, Ann Jacobs

I had such a blast in Ohio this weekend! It was thrilling, exhausting and we came away finally able to announce our HUGE NEWS! Ellora’s Cave is going to put out their first ever HARDCOVER! Entitled FORBIDDEN FANTASTIES, it will launch October, 2006 with stories from the authors in the picture above.

I was so honored to be invited to participate in this hardcover anthology. I’m already eager to get started writing my story. Yes, more deadlines….I should change my middle name to ‘deadline’ *g*. But what an incredible opportunity!

Stay tuned …….

So this time I”m off to Ohio at the butt crack of dawn Friday morning. But I”m going to Ellora’s Cave this time for a fun weekend and a booksigning. Check out below who’s going to be there.

If anyone lives near Akron or Canton, come see me! Quite a few EC authors in attendance

October 29 (4-7p.m.): Meet Lorie O’Clare, Jaid Black, Jaci Burton, Ann Jacobs, Sherri L. King, Rosemary Laurey, Cheyenne McCray, Sahara Kelly, Marly Chance and J C Wilder at Borders on the Strip, 6751 Strip Avenue NW, North Canton, OH 44720, (330)494-4776.

So I had to send the first half of Demon Island to my editor at Bantam Dell, because after I sold the book she asked to take a peek at it when I was halfway done.

*shudder*

I sent it to her, with the caveat that it was first-drafty, i.e. total and utter crap (yeah yeah…my favorite word related to this book). She acknowledged its crappiness in advance and read through it while I hid under my desk. (Where are Shan’s cool emoticons when you need them?)

After a few weeks she called me and we talked about the book. Fortunately the word ‘crap’ never entered the conversation. (Clearly she’s just too nice and professional to use that word when describing my book *g*). Anyway, she gave me some awesome feedback and direction on the book, told me she was sending some notes, so I waited. The next day the mss arrived along with a cover letter and some notes on the mss.

I’ve never done this before…had notes made on a book I haven’t even finished yet. Have I mentioned I haven’t finished writing this book yet? Eeeeek. Screeeching halt, because her feedback meant I had to stop what I was doing, make some major revisions to the front end of the book that affected the back end of the book. I spent last week rewriting, weaving, doing a little more in-depth worldbuilding and basically making my book better. And yes. Oh yes, her comments definitely made the book better.

And guess what? Along the way, I fell madly in love with my story, my characters, the whole damn book. For the first time since I wrote the outline I realized that I am totally, completely crazy in love with my book.

About damn time, too. *g*

Brand Name Dates By Melani Blazer

Men…dating…shopping.

Jill Anthony, newspaper photographer and self-imposed loner, has just had her life turned topsy turvy by her meddlesome mother and roommate. She can’t understand why everyone thinks she needs to date to have a fulfilling life. Her career is good and she is content.

But then work offers her the chance to get the monkey off her back. Fake dates—just for research purposes. No commitment, just information. Suddenly, men are like clothes—fabric, size, color, cut, even care instructions can all be matched to her impression of her date’s personality.

When it’s over, she intends to go back to life as it had been. If only it is that easy. She doesn’t anticipate finding a piece of clothing she can’t leave behind. And she doesn’t expect the price tag to be so darn hefty…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My wonderful friend Melani Blazer wrote this awesome chick lit book a few years ago and it’s just now being released today. I remember brainstorming this idea with her and laughing about how men were like trying on different clothes. Some men were comfortable cotton and some were scratchy wool. And the book just sailed right out of her muse from there.

It’s hip, laugh-out-loud funny, charming and I just fell in love with the story. I hope you do too. It’s available at Cerridwen Press in e-book format and I encourage you to read it. You won’t regret it. Oh, and Benny is mine. ;-)

Love you, Mel

Jaci

Another fun book to read!

Jaci

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UNDEAD AND UNRETURNABLE by MaryJanice Davidson
(Berkley, October 25, 2005)

Even the undead celebrate Christmas, and Betsy is in heaven shopping for gifts. But all is not merry in the mansion. It’s become infested with ghosts—really needy ones who have no qualms asking Betsy to run errands for them to rectify their pasts. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose, and, being tall and blonde, Betsy perfectly fits his type. They say Christmas is a time for friends and family. But with a half-sister who’s the devil’s daughter, an evil stepmother, a fiend living in her basement, and assorted spirits and killers running amok, Betsy is not sure she’ll survive the holidays. Oh, right. She’s already dead…

Excerpt:
http://www.maryjanicedavidson.net/Undead%20and%20Unreturnable.htm

Cover:
http://www.maryjanicedavidson.net/new%20re3.jpg

ABOUT MARYJANICE DAVIDSON
MaryJanice Davidson is the best-selling author of several romance novels, including UNDEAD AND UNWED and HELLO GORGEOUS. Her books have been on the USA Today best seller list, as well as the New York Times list. She lives in Minnesota with her husband, two children, and dog, and is secretly addicted to Peanut Buster Parfaits.

REVIEWS
“This is one of the funniest, most satisfying series to come along lately. If you’re fans of Sookie Stackhouse and Anita Blake, don’t miss Betsy Taylor. She rocks.”—The Best Reviews

“Mary Janice Davidson is a refreshing voice to both the romance and vampire world of writing…I cannot recommend her enough!”—ParaNormal Romance Reviews

Website: http://www.maryjanicedavidson.net

Reunion Picture:

Left to right: Gale, me, Connie and Linda.

So I had an absolute blast this weekend! So my old girlfriends (though I guess at our age I should never use ‘old’ in a sentence…hehehe). Friday night we had a big happy hour for our class at ET’s House of Rock. Saw a bunch of people I recognized right off. Others I couldn’t have recognized at all if they hadn’t told me who they were. It was much easier to recognize the woman than the men. Go figure!

Anyway, we partied hard and the news was out that I wrote erotic romance. It was quite a HUGE buzz and I got lots of attention! It was a total thrill for me and I laughed a lot at some of the comments I got about it. Some of the guys wanted me to give advice to their wives *snicker* I had requests for people to sign their books. I even gave a book to someone who’d never read one of mine. Two of my girlfriends, Linda and Connie, read my books all the time - they’re like my newest, bestest promo managers ever - they told EVERYBODY about my writing - (I adore them *g*).

There’s nothing like seeing my girlfriends. It’s like picking up right where I left off with them years and years ago, and nothing has changed. They all married their high school sweethearts or guys they met right after high school so I know all their guys too. A great bunch of people and I really miss them all a lot. Really makes me wish I lived closer.

So Saturday night was the reunion. More visiting, more partying, LOTS more dancing. (And lots more resting in between dancing *g*). My girlfriend Connie and I were awarded a prize for best rack…not bad for old girls..hehehe.

Some reunions aren’t fun. Mine have always been fun, and that’s because of my girlfriends. I love seeing them. I miss them and this is always a great opportunity to catch up. Some friends come and go over the years and you lose touch, but with these friends, we never have. No matter how many years have gone by, they have always welcomed me back as if I never left. You can’t ask for better friends than that. I love you girls!

SIDE NOTE: My son, Matt, reads my blog. His eyes are probably bleeding by now since he tends to cringe at anything personal and all the sex talk, even though he’s 24 and CLEARLY old enough to handle it *g*. Everyone be sure to say hi to Matt and commiserate on his behalf. Hi sweetie…hehehe

Which means a short week for me, which means I’ve been writing like crazy, or trying to. But I’ve almost made my writing goal for the week so I should be a-ok by the time we leave town Friday morning.

But the fun stuff is my 30th high school reunion. Still hard to believe I’ve been out of school 30 years. Part of me still feels young and silly (We won’t get into the parts of me that have a hard time getting out of bed in the mornings *g*). I’ve been emailing back and forth with one of my girlfriends from high school who I’m going to see this weekend since the reunion is in St Louis and we have to drive out of town to get there. I don’t get home very often anymore so it’s always a big deal to see old friends from school. We’re giddy and excited and making big plans for both Friday and Saturday night.

I went to my 10th and 20th reunions, and they were an absolute blast. Hung out with my friends and we laughed and danced all night. I intend to do the same thing this weekend. And everyone gets to meet Charlie which will be great. And…great news! No one’s dressing up! So no cocktail dresses for this girl….jeans for me! Woo hoo! Amazingly enough, there’s still the whole ‘what to wear’ angst even though it’s a jeans weekend. But I’ve got a jeans skirt and my cool new cowgirl boots and a sexy camisole for Friday night, and then jeans, heels and another sexy top for Saturday night. Hey, I was a shy, pimply, skinny geek girl in high school…gotta wow the crowd now, right? ;-)

Me: I’m on deadline and we’re getting nowhere fast.

Gina: You’re boring me. I can’t get motivated if I’m bored.

Me: I can’t help it. I needed some angst.

Gina: Well you almost had me being nice in Chapter 12, for Christ’s sake. What’s wrong with you?

Me: *whimper* I don’t know. I need a vacation.

Gina: Quit whining and refer to your sucknopsis. You know me by now. We’ve been through almost 70,000 words together. I am not wimpy, I am not weak. I am strong willed and kickass.

Me: You need to have some faults. You’re not superwoman. If you’re too perfect Derek won’t love you.

Gina: Yes he will, because I’m a great f–

Me: Don’t say it or I swear I’ll remove you completely from the next chapter and let Derek use explosives without you.

Gina: *glaring*…You wouldn’t dare.

Me: *hovering over the delete key*

Gina: You win. But you just wait til you want to sleep tonight. I’ll be in your head with all kinds of ideas for Chapter 14.

I hate my heroines….

Gotta love that title *g* . Check out this book by the uber talented PC Cast!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Candy Cox and the Big Bad (Were) Wolf” featured in BEWITCHED, BOTHERED AND BEVAMPYRED by PC Cast
(Triskelion Press)

Welcome to Brokenoggin Falls, where the housewives are not only desperate, they’re Witches! (And one of them might be a Harpy) The spells cast by moonlight frequently go awry. And there are times when toads and Chihuahuas seem abundant as black flies in the summer, the dragons are a little touchy, the Forest Trolls are in danger of extinction from teeny-boppers, the Gryphons need help conceiving and…the scientist are crunchy and good with ketchup…

All proceeds from the sales of this book will go to the International Red Cross.

Godiva Tawdry casts a spell and burned-out school teacher Candy Cox finds the sexy young were-lover of her dreams. But when she finds out he’s really the pack slut, she sets out to “teach” him a life lesson. It’s never smart to piss off a woman who makes a career of disciplining teenagers…

Be on the lookout for MYSTERIA, an anthology expanding on the episode and characters PC created in BEWITCHED, BOTHERED AND BEVAMPYRED. MYSTERIA (Berkley) hits shelves in August 2006!

ABOUT PC CAST
Award-winning author PC Cast is a dynamic, entertaining orator and an extraordinary teacher. Currently, her realm is in Oklahoma, where she resides with her daughter, her spoiled cat, and her rotten Scottie dogs.

WEBSITE http://www.pccast.net/