Jaci Burton’s Muse

After the long Memorial Day weekend, it’s time to catch up.

Yes I know I should have done that yesterday, but I spent 5 freakin hours dicking around with my satellite ISP people, who are morons. I can’t send emails with attachments. But only here at home. At work when I’m on DSL, I can send attachments. The satellite people tell me it’s the email provider’s fault. Um, no, obviously it isn’t since when I’m at work and on DSL I can send fine. We went round and round. And English is not their first language. Imagine rapid rise in blood pressure. Then they tell me they want to speed test my line. Well they can’t get into my system so they want ME to get something called a NIC card from my satellite provider, whatever that is. Hell-lo….aren’t THEY my satellite provider? I just don’t think they want to solve my problem.

Gah! And I’m locked into a contract with these %@#@% idiots. Hate them, hate them, hate them. Am currently accepting bids on any and all curses to send their way. And no, my problem is not solved.

Though I did have a short window of opportunity yesterday where I could actually attach my proposal for the second Demon book to Bantam and shoot that baby off to my editor. Yes! Another project completed and off my desk. That’s two projects in two weeks that are finished, since I also shipped off WWW to Berkley last week. Damn it feels good to FINISH a few things.

Now I need to write an EC contracted story for the Hardcover anthology. But there’s a werewolf story I want to write for EC too. Hmmmm. And I need to start plotting my second Berkley book. No ideas brewing on that one yet. Think, think, think.

Number 2 son flying here from California in 2 weeks to spend a couple weeks with us. Sooo excited to see him! Finished up his reservations last night.

Don’t forget about my goodie bag giveaway from the Romantic Times Convention. I’m giving away several bags of free books and promo items I picked up at the conference. Just join my announcement only newsletter for a chance to win!

Isn’t that just the hottest, sexiest cover?

I was lucky enough to score an ARC of this book, which is releasing right now. (Okay, I browbeat Gena into handing it over. I whine a lot. She gave in. *g*).

It’s fabulous! The heroine is one kickass babe, the hero is lucious (hehehe) and lickable, the action is nonstop and I couldn’t put the book down. Action, adventure, hot sex and sizzling chemistry between the characters means Enslave Me Sweetly has everything I love in a book. Set in the same futuristic society as her first book in this series, Awaken Me Darkly, the book stands alone and AMD doesn’t have to be read first to enjoy Enslave Me Sweetly. But since I also loved Awaken Me Darkly, I recommend you read that one too if you haven’t.

On sale right now at Amazon and other bookstores! I highly recommend it!

My boxes of ’stuff’ from RT have arrived!!!

Did I ever score a bunch of books! I’ve already given away a couple goodie bags in my chat group, but I have tons of books and promo to give away, so I’m going to do some drawings in my newsletter group in the coming weeks.

So if you’d like a chance to win free books (as well as some surprise *goodies*), please join my newsletter group. All you have to do for a chance to win is be a member.

To join, click HERE. I do an occasional newsletter so it’s extremely low volume.

I have no room in my house for more books! Ack! Okay, so I am keeping a few for myself.

hehehe

So I started off my day by dumping an entire cup of coffee onto my keyboard, myself, my chair, the floor. Bleh. Big ole’ mess. The keyboard survived. Logitech wireless. I’m rather impressed. It was a helluva lot of coffee. The chair is still drying *g*

The day has to look up from there, right?

Today I mail off Wild, Wicked and Wanton to Berkley. I really hope she likes the book. I love the way it turned out. I’ll just chew off all my acrylic nails til I get the verdict.

I’m reworking the proposal to the second Demon book for Bantam. Since I rewrote Demon Island I had to rewrite the proposal for book 2 because of plot changes (I’m thinking of changing my middle name to ‘rewrite’ *g*). So far so good. First draft of the proposal is moving along. Needs some oomph here and there, but I don’t want to pitch it in the fireplace yet, so that’s a good sign..lol. I need to get the proposal finished and crank out a few chapters and shoot it back to her asap though, so must flog myself into hurrying. Hard to do with having RT-lag.

I should do laundry today. And I still haven’t gone to the grocery store since I’ve been back. I don’t wanna. I’m too busy.

American Idol finale was last night. I really enjoyed the show. After all, Chris was back. hehehe. As far as who won, didn’t really give a flying monkey’s ass. Chris was back. *g* The show as entertaining though. I liked seeing the finalists return. And Chris was back. He sang with Live. It was great. I enjoyed seeing Chris. Did I mention Chris returned for the finale? ;-)

Gena Showalter is touring me today. Or rather, she’s touring OUT OF THE DARKNESS. She gave it her highest rating - 5 gold vibrators. She called me delicious. She gave me beefcake.

I think I love her. No, I KNOW I love her. I hope Charlie doesn’t mind.

*g*

Conventions are exhausting. I’m drained, physically and mentally. But I had such a great time at the RT convention! I have loads of pics that I’m not even going to begin to post here, but I do have a link so you can peruse. I even labeled the pics. It took hours. But I hate when people put pictures up and then don’t tell you who the hell the people are in the picture. Look here for mounds of pictures from RT.

The great thing about going to the RT Convention every year is that, first of all, there are readers there. And I get to meet not only my old friends whom I love dearly, but new ones. This year was no different. Several of my friends from my Paradise chat group came - Kelly, Sue, Dobby, Renny, Claudia, Danny, Patrice, Cap’n Bob, Jackie, Debbie. It was so good to see them. They’re like family to me because we spend every day together….online anyway *g*.

And I got to meet new people too. Robin, who lurks in my chat group *g*, and then some new authors I hadn’t met before. Tara Nina is a fabulous new EC author and I adore her, she’s such a sweetheart. Joey Hill I met for the first time and I’m a huge fan of hers. She’s one of the nicest, sweetest people I’ve ever met, she’s gorgeous and she and I share the same agent! *grin*. She also just sold to Berkley Heat, so congrats Joey! Wooo hooo!!!!!

I got to meet one of my breakfast babes, Mandy Roth! She’s just as funny and vivacious in person and she brought her husband Shane, who seemed to be having a really good time at the EC party! I got to meet MacKenzie McCade who’s an absolute riot and made me laugh constantly. I saw Ann Wesley Hardin again who I’ve known since the days we were targeting Harlequin and it’s like stepping into the familiar and the comfortable whenever I see her. So many authors I’ve met before and I really like spending time with - Ruby Storm, Titania Ladley, Arianna Hart, Rhyannon Byrd, Lisa Stoddard, Shelley Bradley, Sylvia Day. Dakota Cassidy brought her babe, Rob…the man of her dreams…the pea in her pod….they’re adorable together….she seemed to be missing a tiara, though *g*. (I love you Dakota ;-) ).; Leigh “Bouncing Around Like Tigger” Wyndfield (I want whatever happy juice she was having *g*). People I just really like a lot because they’re warm, friendly and have not an ounce of pretention. You can simply walk up to them and talk or sit next to them and never feel like you’re intruding. Believe me, not every author is like that. ;-)

The Ellora’s Cave party was a blast. We were all introduced onstage and escorted by a cover model. yummm. Charlie, since he’s now an author, declined having a male cover model escort him onto the stage *g*. The music was loud but the dancing was fabulous.

I had dinner with my Bantam editor, Shauna Summers!! It was great to get to meet her for the first time, and not only that, we had dinner with another Bantam editor, Anne Groell, and Linnea Sinclair, Kelley Armstrong, Keri Arthur and Lois Greiman. Talk about total fangirl moment. Wheeeee!!! It was wonderful.

One of the highlights of the convention was being able to be there in person to receive my Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Paranormal Erotic Romance. The lunch food sucked, but the people who stayed for the whole awards ceremony rock and I will never forget them. It was a truly amazing experience.

The Faery Ball was Friday night and absolutely amazing. The decorations were phenomenal - they turned a ballroom into a fairy forest and it was beautiful. Those of us on the fairy court were thrilled with how everything turned out. Connie Perry and Jo Carol Jones of RT are magical fairies in their own right - I don’t think those women have slept for months. I was proud to have sponsored that event.

The bookfair was great. We sold out of OUT OF THE DARKNESS within an hour which made Charlie happy, because then he could wander the bookfair *g*. I got several books signed, we shipped two boxes of stuff home via UPS, and of course came home completely wiped out.

All in all, a great conference. And Charlie and I managed to hit the beach every day for at least an hour, so I have a great tan. No way was I going to Florida without taking advantage of the gorgeous sunshine and beautiful beach and ocean. It was lovely there.

Now it’s RWA coming up in July and I get to do all this again.

I’m tired just thinking about it *g*

I’ll be right here….on Daytona Beach *g*

That’s the view from my hotel room. Sweet!

Ciao y’all! Time to hit the beach! I’ll try to blog as much as I can and hopefully upload some pics during the conference.

I actually typed “Bran” Dead above and almost left it because it was so freakin amusing *g*

Demon Island line and content edits are done. Done done done. Sent to my editor. Wooo hoooo!!!!!

Now I have two books to plot. Wild Nights, the Berkley novella and the sequel to Demon Island, working title Demons Down Under ( isn’t it cute? *g*).

I have to pack for RT in Daytona. Omg I so don’t want to pack. It gives me hives just thinking about all the crap I have to toss in suitcases.

Did anyone watch American Idol last night? I am SOOOOO pissed. Now I don’t give a flying monkey’s ass who wins. That’s all I have to say about that, other than W-T-F?

I need to get my nails done and get a pedicure today. Does it look like I have time for that?

Did I mention that I have an ARC of Gena Showalter’s Enslave Me Sweetly? bwahahahahahahaha!

I leave for Daytona on Sunday…did I mention I’m not ready yet? That I don’t have time to spend a week in Florida? That I have two books to plot and I have to turn in Wild, Wicked and Wanton June 1st? Yes, it’s done, but I have to tweak it.

I need a vacation *g*

Hey it’s Wednesday - Hump Day! *grin*

So the edits on Demon Island are moving along. Gah, they’re very detailed. But I should get through the book today, then there are a few sections I need to read through since I made some content changes and have to go through some areas for continunity. Then it’s back to the editor and I’m done with this book for awhile. Yayyyy!

My Bantam editor called yesterday about the proposal for book 2 in the series. The proposal needs LOTS of changes, which I knew already since I changed so much of Demon Island. But my editor wants even more changes than that, so I need to rework the story line. She had some awesome suggestions, though, and while we were talking I came up with some ideas that I’m really charged up about for this book, so I can’t wait to get started on it.

And my beautiful friend Annmarie helped me brainstorm titles for my Berkley novella, and my editor loved one of her suggestions. So my novella will be titled Wild Nights. Isn’t that an awesome title? *grin*

Back to work for me.