Another November, another “I have no idea what I’m going to write”.
I really just have to admit it. I’m a pantser at heart.
Despite valiant efforts at outlining and character sheets, I’m still at a loss as to what will transpire this November. And that, dear reader, is the absolute magic of it all. Continue reading
Want to meet me in person?
Of course you do!
I will be a featured author at the Passport to Romance Reader Appreciation Event sponsored by the Emerald City Writers’ Conference!
This evening cocktail — or “booktail” — party is free to all and will be held Saturday, October 14th, 6pm-8pm, at the Bellevue Westin Hotel, Bellevue (near Seattle), Washington.
The first 100 readers to arrive will receive a goody bag with lots of author swag, including a download card for a copy of my historical erotic romance The Pleasure Device (Harwell Heirs Book 1)!
I will also be giving away: Continue reading
Woot! For the first time ever I won Camp NaNoWriMo!
If you know me, you know I’ve been participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, since November 2006. And I’ve won every year. Continue reading
N.B. I will update this blog post as more of my stories go live on Google Play!
[UPDATE: All my books are now listed on Google Play!]
I have been waiting for an opportunity to sell my books on Google Play for a couple of years now, but Google Play is currently unavailable to “new publishers”. A few years back there was a scandal involving book pirates and app scammers plaguing the site, so Google felt the best method of dealing with this was to simply shut down access to all new publishers, including legitimate self-publishers like myself.
Trust me, I would never scam you. Continue reading
Vote for my historical romance covers in the JABBIC!
It’s that time of year again, when everyone gets to vote in the JABBIC Readers’ Choice contest!
What’s the JABBIC? It’s Judge A Book By Its Cover (JABBIC), a well-known contest run every year by the Houston Bay Area Chapter of Romance Writers of America. It’s a super fun way to see lots of book covers by genre: Contemporary Romance, Historical, Inspirational, Mainstream, Romantic Suspense, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Paranormal, Sexiest Cover, and Young Adult. [UPDATE: The JABBIC contest is, sadly, no longer held!]
This year I entered >four of my covers, all in the Historical Romance category:
Imperial Warriors: Two Scorching Tales of the Roman Empire
The Pleasure Device (Harwell Heirs Book 1)
Disobedience By Design (Harwell Heirs Book 2)
Where Destiny Plays (Harwell Heirs Book 3)
They are all on page 4 of the JABBIC Historical category listing, and I’d love your 5-star votes! Continue reading
I am beyond excited to announce the re-release of Where Destiny Plays, Book 3 in my Victorian erotic romance series, The Harwell Heirs. I am even more excited to show off the new cover: Continue reading
Undamaged: A Dallas Fire & Rescue Kindle World Novella, released in October, and my upcoming novelette Disputed Boundaries, appearing in the Naughty Flames: Eleven Fiery Romances boxed set, form part of my Stories from The San Juan Islands collection.
Both are set on San Juan Island in Washington state, very close to the Canadian border. It’s a place near and dear to my heart. It’s pretty remote, accessible only by boat or plane. In the summer, the island is crawling with tourists. In the winter, only the locals remain. Continue reading
I have a title. I have a (tentative) blurb. I have a fake cover.
And it’s only October 29th.
Welcome to #NaNoPrep2016 where I’ve pulled together what I’m going to do for National Novel Writing Month at the last minute. Continue reading
In Part One of this blog miniseries, we learned how Victorian doctors defined “hysteria” and how they treated it. Spoiler alert: doctors used various methods of stimulation to bring women to achieve the “hysterical paroxysm”, i.e., an orgasm.
Around 1879, the electric or electro-mechanical vibrator was introduced into doctors’ tools of the trade for treating hysteria. Vibrators were first used in France, then this method spread to the rest of the European continent, England, and America.
But what did this Victorian stimulation device look like? One perhaps imagines corseted women cowering as a mustachioed doctor approaches with some bizarre Steampunkish contraption… Continue reading
I recently saw a revival of the play In The Next Room, Or The Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl. In case you haven’t heard about this play it takes place in upstate New York in the 1880s. A doctor provides treatments for hysteria – to both women and men – using the latest technology, the electric vibrator. In the course of the play there is emotional and sexual discovery amongst all the characters, along with several orgasms.
I originally saw the play in February 2009 at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California. The play had been written for the Berkeley Rep and made its debut there before being launched on Broadway. I’m not a theater regular – I do see shows from time to time – but when I heard about this play, I absolutely had to see it.
“Had to” because I had already started my notes for Dr. Christopher’s Device (later The Pleasure Device). Perhaps I should have subtitled that book, Or, The Vibrator Erotic Romance. Continue reading