I've got a free story available over at Captiva Press: "I Now Know Why the Dog Howls at the Moon," writing as Tymber Dalton.

*Happy Dancing!*

Okay, first of all, thank you to all who voted for "Love Slave for Two: Beginnings" as book of the week, because...IT WON!!! *Snoopy Dancing!*

Second big news, and yes, I'm waaaay behind updating my websites and blog... I had a total of three books make it to the annual EPIC contest, "Out of the Darkness" and "Cross Country Chaos" (as Lesli Richardson) and "The Reluctant Dom" (as Tymber Dalton). Woot!!! I won't find out until their annual conference in March if any of them win or not. (*my nail biting commences...now*)

Third... The first volume of the Triple Trouble series is NOW IN PRINT!!! Okay, but be advised!!! This is books one and two in the series on one volume: "Trouble Comes in Threes" and "Storm Warning." So You will be getting TWO books in one by buying it. It just came up, as of today the cover isn't even showing up yet.

http://www.amazon.com/Triple-Trouble-Threes-Warning-Menage/dp/1606015265

Okay... Fourth... "Safe Harbor" is now available for pre-purchase on the Siren-BookStrand website! I don't have a final release date yet, I imagine it will be in the next few weeks, so when you buy it you won't be able to download it until the release date.

http://www.bookstrand.com/product-safeharbor-15987-200.html

If you enjoyed "The Reluctant Dom," you will LOVE "Safe Harbor." (Without giving anything away, I can tell you less tissues will be required for reading. *LOL*)

And on a related note, Ray and Oot, who made their first appearance in "Love Slave for Two: Beginnings," also make a brief appearance in "Safe Harbor."

If you haven't picked up LSFT: Beginnings, you can get it here:

http://www.bookstrand.com/product-loveslavefortwobeginnings-14938-200.html

If you have a Kindle, you SHOULD be able to get one of the other formats (I don't remember which one it is) and convert it and upload it to your Kindle. I don't have a Kindle, I have a Sony and use .pdf for most things, but I know there's a way to do it. So Kindle users, you won't have to wait to read how Tyler and Thomas met. LOL

So while you're waiting for your next installment of the Lyall brothers' story, don't forget you can read my shape-shifters over at Amira Press ("Doggy Walk" and "Doggy Style") writing as Lesli Richardson, as well as my Brimstone vampires.

http://www.amirapress.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=73

And if you still need more, you can get the first two installments of my scorching hot "Good Will Ghost Hunting" series from Lyrical Press (also writing as Lesli Richardson):

http://www.onceuponabookstore.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=65

Thanks!!

This whole ripping up my carpets to put down new flooring experience has taught me a lot. Including giving me a perfect metaphor for writing. (Bear with me.)

The flooring we picked is like linoleum, but it's not. It comes in planks, like laminate wood flooring, but it doesn't stick to the floor, it has overlapping edging strips that stick to each other. So the floor doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to be solid and fairly smooth.

With me so far?

By contrast, when I did my kitchen floor a couple of years ago, I had to rip up the old sheet linoleum that was stuck to the concrete sub-floor. Meaning days of scraping the leftover backing off the concrete so I could put down the peel-and-stick linoleum tile I used in there. It HAD to be dang near perfect, or the tiles would lift.

Now, that job was a damn sight harder than this new flooring. Yes, it's a pain in the ass to pull up carpet and padding. We have to move furniture around like one of those frigging tile puzzles where you have to keep shifting tiles around to unscramble the picture, but you can only move the tiles certain ways. Add to this I have a small house FULL of furniture and six dogs who want to "help." And the new floor has to be laid straight (it looks like dark bamboo) or it will look really weird.

And while concrete sub-floors don't need a lot of prep, I've found as I pull up the carpet tack strips along the walls, usually the nails holding them down (the house is over twenty-five years old, and I don't know how old the carpet is, but we've been here for over twelve and it's the carpet that was here when we moved in) rip out a chunk of concrete when they let loose. So I do need to patch around the edges. If I don't, sure as God made little green apples, my dogs will find those little indentations and rip up strips.

I also have to start each initial row I lay by staggering the length of the strip so it doesn't look fake. My hallway is done, and it looks fantastic. (Although my dogs hate it because now they can't run down the hallway without sliding into the closet door at the far end.)

What the heck does this have to do with writing?

Your prep work needs to be properly done. This means you can't just slap something together and hope it turns out okay. If you slack on the basics (research, grammar, punctuation, point of view, continuity, etc.) then the final result will look like crap, and it'll be a LOT harder to go in and fix things once you're finished. It's much easier to adjust things causing problems as soon as you see them.

I mean, some things, yes, you can fix at the end. I can caulk any edges of my flooring to hide gaps. I can wait until the end to fit pieces into the door jambs. (I can fix misplaced commas and remove/replace overused words.) But if I screw up and don't lay a row properly during installation, it will throw off everything I try to lay after it.

Everyone has their own way of writing. Whether they are a "pants-ster" or a "plotter," whether they throw everything including the kitchen sink in at the beginning and write quickly with plans to trim later, or slow and steady writers who edit everything before they move to the next chapter, that's fine.

What success stories have in common is that they take the time when they begin to do the prep work necessary to make sure their floor (story) looks seamless at the end. Maybe you do a room, realize you need to do more prep work for the next room, and take time to do that. You might realize three chapters into your new work that you don't know nearly enough about one of the topics and have to do research. That's fine. Better to do it sooner than to write yourself into a corner you cannot escape from later.

One of my current WIPs is stalled because it's part of a series. As I was writing and showing it to my friend (who is also an editor and has seen snippets of scenes I've written for later books in the series), she said, "Weren't you going to do X in book six?"

Aw, CRAP!

Yes, I was. So now I'm left looking at trying to figure out how to change the manuscript to preserve a THREE-BOOK STORY ARC. (Actually, it's a six-book story arc, but this WIP is book three in the series.)

Fortunately, this was caught early enough that I don't have to rip up any large sections of "flooring" (to continue the metaphor) but it means I need to step back and figure out how to proceed so I can preserve the originally planned story arc. I know there's a solution, I just need to work it out.

So how solid are your writing foundations? You cannot slap something together -- and you especially cannot send it out for submissions -- without making sure it's as "perfect" as you can make it. Believe me, if you don't take the time to do this, editors will notice. (And so will anyone who walks into your house and sees your floors laying at a wierd angle! *LOL*)

What writer hasn't made a butt-load of lists in their life? I think it sort of goes hand in hand with the whole "I'm a writer" gig.

Thanks to the magic of Twitter, I was led to this writers "list of lists" (The (Nearly) Ultimate Resource: 176 Tips for Writers) and thought it was a hoot because, frankly, I've done quite a few of them myself, although not all of them, but one of them hit home particularly hard:

    65. Approach writing with gratitude, not just with a ‘must do this’ attitude.


Wow.

Considering this IS my evil day job, and I spend anywhere from eight to fourteen hours a day doing it, there is the rare occasion I whine, "Man, why the hell isn't this scene coming together!" I mean, yes, I'm living my dream, working my dream job, no complaints there overall. But the big picture sometimes gets lost.

So today, I'm going to quit reading lists and following links (yet another tip on the list) and get back to work with an attitude of gratitude. (I actually think that last part was a line from The Secret, but hey, it works.)

Woot! It's release day! The third book in my Triple Trouble shape-shifter series, "Trouble Comes in Threes" (writing as Tymber Dalton) is now available from Siren-BookStrand:

http://www.bookstrand.com/product-threedognight-14722-200.html

Blurb:

[Menage Amour: Erotic Paranormal Menage a Quatre Romance, F/M/M/M, Shape-Shifters]

For Elain Pardie, every night is a three dog night. With Ain, Brodey, and Cail Lyall as her mates, Elain's biggest worry is getting through her wedding. She doesn't want to let the cat out of the bag to her mom that she's living with three Alpha wolf shape-shifters.

Between learning about her new way of life, a creepy, mysterious stranger in town, and a hot-to-trot feline shifter with her sights set on Brodey, Elain's got her hands full. Not to mention her strange need for a hunt is back with a vengeance. Can life get any crazier?

Ain, Brodey, and Cail suspect it can: someone's killing shifter mates. As a cousin and his new mate move in, Ain's worries mount. And while trying to untangle secrets of Elain's distant past, Ain discovers a connection to an old family that could threaten not just their happiness...but their very lives.

Dialogue (or dialog) tags tend to trip some writers. Add to the mix that the US tag standard differs from the UK, and it can add to the confusion.


    CORRECT: "I don't like spinach," she said.
    CORRECT: She said, "I don't like spinach."
    INCORRECT: "I don't like spinach." she said.
    INCORRECT: "I don't like spinach." She said.
    INCORRECT: She said. "I don't like spinach."


http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/dialogue.shtml
http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/writingexercises/qt/punctuation.htm
http://web.njcu.edu/sites/faculty/egarvey/Content/punctuating_dialog.asp

Another problem, besides improperly punctuating the tags, is the tendency to tag with "unspeakables."

    "Don't do that," she slapped him.
    "I like that," she smiled.


Both of those are wrong. You cannot use an action that is not "spoken" as a tag. Smiled is the biggie and one that even I sometimes, if I'm cranking with a story, will forget and add in. Easy fix, though.

    She slapped him. "Don't do that!"
    She smiled. "I like that." (Or, alternatively: "I like that." She smiled.)


Some publishers have house styles that will also chop certain things like breathed, sighed, moaned, or gasped as well. Some will allow them. Sometimes it depends on the editor you get.

Here's the thing, one of the fastest ways to pick out a newbie writer is to find one whose characters rarely "said" or "asked" anything. They scream, chortle, yell, yodel, and choke every line. (You get the point.)

There is NOTHING WRONG with "said" and "asked" as dialog tags. Nothing. And you will get far more mileage out of your dialog by bracketing it with actions that put the dialog into crystal clear context. Or if it's a dialog exchange by two characters, let them talk and let the reader put it into context. You don't need to "block" action for the reader. They've got a good imagination, trust me. You don't need to put a dialog tag on ever line either, especially if it's just two characters talking and easy to keep up with them. An occasional tag will suffice and tidy up your writing.


http://murderby4.blogspot.com/2009/05/dialog-tags.html
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2006/04/elements-of-dialog.html
http://speakcoffeetome.blogspot.com/2008/05/dialog-tags.html

I'm so excited! You can now get the first in my "Triple Trouble" shape-shifter series from BookStrand, "Trouble Comes in Threes!"

http://www.bookstrand.com/product-troublecomesinthrees-14441-200.html

Blurb:

Elain Pardie worked hard to become a TV news reporter. When a huge, black wolf-like dog with green eyes jumps into her news van, Elain has no idea her life will drastically change.

Aindreas, Brodey, and Cailean Lyall aren't just triplets--they're Alpha shape-shifters running a Florida cattle ranch. They've never found their One, the woman destined to be their mate. Until the day of the Arcadia Highland Games, when both Brodey and Cailean lock onto Her scent. Brodey shifts and gives chase, then goes home with Elain and confirms she is their One.

When Prime Alpha Aindreas mistakenly thinks Elain's already taken and refuses to use force to claim and mark her, Brodey and Cailean must resort to trickery to learn the truth about the wedding ring Elain wears and work to convince her that triple trouble could very easily put her into seventh heaven in their arms.

My latest Tymber Dalton book, "The Reluctant Dom," is now available from Lyrical Press!

http://www.lyricalpress.com/the_reluctant_dom.html

Love hurts...if you're lucky.

Kaden knows he's dying, but before he goes, he has one problem he needs to solve - he must ask his oldest friend Seth to take over as his beloved wife's Dom and Master after his death. Seth has always seen himself as the perpetual screw-up and Kaden as the strong and steady one, so his friend's request rocks his world.

Now Seth finds himself immersed in a role he's far from comfortable with: inflicting pain to provide emotional comfort for the woman he's secretly loved for years. Can he deal with his crushing grief and learn the skills he must master in time to become THE RELUCTANT DOM?