Jaci Burton’s Muse

Finally, the third Demon Hunters book has a title!

Are you ready for it?

I hope you love it. I love it.

My editor loves it.

The title is:

THE DEMON’S TOUCH
:sasmokin:

Doesn’t it freakin rock?

Thank you all again for your input on titles. I’ll have to go back through the list and see if anyone recommended that title or something close to it.

But right now, I’m freakin relieved. I find it difficult to write a book when it isn’t titled. Weird quirk, huh?

Demon Moon is releasing June 5th.

Well. Where do I start? Meljean’s worldbuilding is simply stunning. Grab your popcorn and something to drink and settle in for an epic journey of lush, lyrical prose, and an adventure unlike anything you’ve ever read.

Too many times I hear readers complain that so many paranormals are just a lot of the ’same old thing’. Meljean’s world isn’t at all the same old thing. It’s utterly unique. I’ve never read anything like these books before. Her writing is a hip, modern take on a centuries old world and an ancient battle. There are monsters, horrors, gruesomeness, but also heartbreaking tenderness and some of the hottest sexual tension I have ever experienced. (Pant, pant, drool, drool, and omg Meljean I wanted to beat you over the head for making me WAIT! Holy crap! But oh so well worth it. YOWZA! :sasmokin:)

Colin is simply a fantastic hero. He makes no excuses for who and what he is, nor for his arrogance and flaws. I love that about him. But underneath, the reader senses what he really needs - Savi.

Savi is an incredible heroine. Strong, yet vulnerable. Not perfect, either, and yet drawn to Colin in a way that made my heart break (though I wanted to push her aside and jump Colin myself…heh).

I really want to blab on and on about this book, but I don’t want to give anything away. Trust me when I say that it’s worth reading. And you know me…I don’t have time to read. So when I say it’s really damn good…it’s really damn good.

Demon Moon is the followup to Demon Angel. No, in my opinion, these books don’t stand alone. If you haven’t read Demon Angel, you need to. And you really want to. These books are well worth reading. Take the time, enjoy immersing yourself in this incredible, unique world that Meljean has created.

Order Demon Moon here. If you haven’t read Demon Angel, order that too. Read them both. You won’t regret it.

USA Today Bestselling Author Lara Adrian’s Midnight Breed series offers up the second book today, Kiss of Crimson.

Kiss of Midnight released May 1st.

With back to back releases, readers didn’t have to wait long for Dante’s book, Kiss of Crimson.

(Just FYI, both Lucan and Dante made me drool. :sasmokin:)

I LOVED both books, and there’s a damn good reason Lara Adrian slid into the USA Today Bestseller list with this brand new series.

If you love vamps and you haven’t started reading this series yet, go get Kiss of Midnight and Kiss of Crimson. Sexy vampires on a mission, strong women as their partners and compelling plotlines make this a must read series. Lara Adrian’s voice is lush, lyrical, sensual and unputdownable! (yes, that’s a word )

Order Kiss of Crimson here

Order Kiss of Midnight here

Get these books!!!!

To all those who died fighting to keep us free, you will never be forgotten.

To those who fought and put their lives on the line to protect what we hold dear, I thank you for your sacrifice and your bravery.

Since technology has been kicking my butt the past couple weeks, I’m fresh out of blog ideas. Between wet phone lines kicking out my internet connection for almost two weeks, a broken laptop for months and now a pc that doesn’t want to work, I’ve about reached the end of my rope. And all these issues are sucking out my brain cells, preventing me from blogging about an intelligent topic (hey, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it)

So I stole this from the vivacious ViviAnna who stole it from Gena Showalter who stole it from the fabulous Michelle Rowen, who stole it from the equally fabulous Bonnie. You answer all the questions using only ONE word.

1. WHERE IS YOUR CELL PHONE?: table
2. RELATIONSHIP?: perfect
3. YOUR HAIR?: short
4. WORK?: always
5. YOUR SISTER?: myrock (shhh, I cheated)
6. YOUR FAVORITE THING?: Charlie
7. YOUR DREAM LAST NIGHT?: weird
8. YOUR FAVORITE DRINK?: pop
9. YOUR DREAM CAR?: Vette
10. THE ROOM YOU’RE IN?: family
11. YOUR SHOES?: None
12. YOUR FEARS?: drowning
13. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE IN 10 YEARS?: Jaci
14. WHO DID YOU HANG OUT WITH THIS WEEKEND?: Charlie
15. WHAT ARE YOU NOT GOOD AT?: waiting
16. MUFFIN?: blueberry
17. ONE OF YOUR WISH LIST ITEMS?: success
18. WHERE YOU GREW UP? missouri
19.LAST THING YOU DID?: phone
20. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?: capris
21. WHAT AREN’T YOU WEARING?: uhhhh
22. YOUR PET?: dogs
23. YOUR COMPUTER?: paininmyass
24. YOUR LIFE?: insane
25. YOUR MOOD?: frustrated
26. MISSING?: Mom
27. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW?: writing
28. YOUR CAR?: Tahoe
29. YOUR KITCHEN?: clean
30. YOUR SUMMER?: hot
31. YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?: purple
32. LAST TIME YOU LAUGHED?: today
33. LAST TIME YOU CRIED?: wednesday
34. SCHOOL?: done
35. LOVE?: Charlie

Feel free to steal it for your own blogs.

Yes, I actually on occasion talk about writing on this blog. Shocking, huh?

Sifting through all the blog brouhahas going on the past few weeks, I came upon a couple blogs about books and editing. So I thought I’d tackle that topic today.

As a writer, you write the book (duh). When you’re finished, you edit the book, making sure that not only your plot is sound and your characters are believable and exciting, but that overall your book is something that both you and a publisher want to put on the shelves. Then, you submit said book to a publishing house that (hopefully) will want to buy it.

Let’s say they do buy it. Then comes the revision process. The editor takes over, reads the book and makes suggestions on how to make the book better. I call those content edits. Those could be changes to the plot, characterization, worldbuilding, etc. Along with those there could be some line edits (which are grammar, typograpical, spelling, etc. type of changes). The author gets those revisions back from the editor, makes the requested changes and hopefully reads through the book again to make sure it’s good to go. Once those are done, a copyeditor will go through the book to make sure it’s nice and clean, send it back to the author for yet another read through.

Throughout this process, the author works in tandem and in partnership with her editor.

Your editor is not the bad guy, though I’ve often had conversations with other writers who think the editor is the enemy. Boggles my mind. I’ve known authors who nitpick every freakin change, from a specific word all the way down to the punctuation.

Dude, it’s your editor’s job to edit the book. They’re hired to make your book better, not to sabotage it so it sucks.

I don’t spend my time obsessing over dangling participles, or the serial comma. And if my editor says my characterization blows, my heroine is a brainless twit, my hero is an ass, or there’s a hole in my worldbuilding, then I need to go back and figure out where I screwed up. That’s my editor’s job. Editor’s know what they’re doing. Let them do their jobs.

On Karen Scott’s blog, this topic was discussed, and I thought one of the things said by Nora Roberts was brilliant, and I quote: In my experience, the editors I’ve worked with have been right 99% of the time when they make suggestions to improve the work. I don’t argue, so that when that 1% comes up, and I think she’s wrong and I’m write, she doesn’t argue.
(And I hope Nora doesn’t kick my ass for quoting her )

But she’s absolutely right. Pick your battles. Don’t argue the small shit. Save your contentions for big plot points where you know you’re right, not the freakin comma and semicolon battles.

I love my editors. They have often saved me from looking like a blithering idiot. They have turned many an average book into a great book. They have occasionally kicked my ass, leaving me grumbling about rewrites, but dammit, they’re always right. Any successes I have enjoyed have been largely in part to their expert assistance in helping make my books better.

I couldn’t do what I do without them.

I love American Idol. Been watching it for several years now. Loved the Carrie Underwood/Bo Bice finale. Hated Taylor Hicks winning last year, and thought Chris Daughtry was the absolute best. (Did y’all see him last night? Squeee!!!!!)

Anyway, for all you Idol worshippers out there, what did you think of last night’s final two? I was a Melinda fan, but not at all surprised she left last week. She was almost two perfect to the point of being boring, plus she’s too old school, not really Idol material. I think she’ll still get a great record deal and make great music, but clearly wasn’t going to get the votes from the younger crowd.

My vote’s on Jordin, though I like Blake too. Blake’s beat boxing is fun and entertaining, but Jordin’s got the voice. Love her in a huge, huge way. She gives me chills when she sings. And poor Blake just got his ass kicked during that ballad last night. So not his type of music. Jordin rocked it though. It was perfect.

But will the voters pick the singer, or the entertainer?

I’ll be watching tonight.

Check out these covers!

RIDING WILD releases from Berkley Heat in February, 2008.

SHOW ME releases in ebook from Samhain Publishing in July, 2007.

Annnnnd, here’s a sneak peek (pun intended) for the print book associated with Show Me. Shelley Bradley and I have written connected stories. Hers is Watch Me. Mine is Show Me. The print book will be released January, 2008, titled SNEAK PEEK.

I am so damn lucky with covers.

Don’t these just kick ass?

Yowza!

Hey y’all! Thanks so much for all the title help! I’ve passed on lots of titles to my editor, so we’ll see what she says. I’ll keep you posted.

You all rock! :hips:

Help meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

I need a title for the third Demon Hunters book like….yesterday.

My editor and I came up with a few, but the powers that be at Bantam said…uh, no. And we need a title immediately.

For background, Book 1 was Surviving Demon Island

Book 2 will be Hunting the Demon

Book 4 will (hopefully be) Demon on the Run

So here’s the working titles that got squashed so far for Book 3:

The Demon Beneath

Unveiling the Demon

Exposing the Demon

Revealing the Demon

The theme of the book is all about ’secrets’ of the characters. And my editor said ‘think sexy’.

If anyone comes remotely close to coming up with a title they accept, you get an ARC of Hunting the Demon (oh yes, I have ARCs. That’ll be coming up in another blog post soon :giggle:).

So…get your thinking caps on and please, please, help me!