Next Best Celler Winner Available For Pre-Order

HOW TO LOSE A DEMON IN 10 DAYS is now available for pre-order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Borders!

Okay, so I sold a book. Now what?

Don't get me wrong, I'm still tickled ten shades of pink. (A color my current hero seems to find very entrancing on his heroine.)

I'm prepared for the editing, the revisions, whatever flaming hoops my editor wants me to jump through, I'll do it with a smile on my face. Why? Because I get to type "my editor" for one. *laughs*

I've submitted my input for my cover art. I can't wait to share that with you.

But right now, I feel like that kid in class who finished her test early and isn't sure if she's supposed to be studying for the next one or just sitting quietly. Waiting. I've got the most cake too, just so you know. I'll share. *g*

I've never been a patient creature. I'm a woman of many talents, (Which I think is okay to admit. I like me.) but patience is a virtue that I do not possess and nor do I entreat the universe to teach me such. I don't want to be patient. *laughs* I do want to be professional though, but I think that is another blogpost in itself.

So what am I supposed to be doing? Aside from finishing my WIP, I'm hunting agent.

Why do I need an agent? I sold, right? Nope! That's not the end of it. Not that I'm not thrilled with my editor, my publishing house or anything else, but I want to be smart about it. Someone who has been in the business for 20 years would have plenty to offer me by way of navigation through these new and certainly deep waters.

Anyway, I've done loads of research and chosen a few that I'm interested in and queried. I've had some bites, I think my bait is top notch! We'll see if I get to real in the big fish.

What's after that? I haven't got that sorted yet, but I expect by next week, I will have another post for you.

If anyone has any questions about the process as far as what I've experienced, I'm happy to answer those questions and I plan on doing a series of blogs showcasing the process every step of the way. I know it was very illuminating when fellow blogger and Text Diva Shannon Delaney shared her experiences with us. I learned a lot.

Have a stellar week and I hope your muse dances for you twice today!

X-posted at Writer's Gone Wild because I thought today was Tuesday. *g*

A Crit by Published and Award-Winning Horror Novelist Ray Garton

This is a special, out of the norm post from Text Diva Saranna DeWylde. Nope, your calendar isn't wrong. It's not Wylde Wednesday. My friend and insanely talented author, Ray Garton is auctioning off a novel critique. Check below for details! He's been in the trenches awhile and knows what he's talking about, my darlings. A great guy who will give you an honest critique and real answers to any questions you have about your novel or the publishing industry! Of course, if you haven't read his Ravenous you should! It's the definitive werewolf novel, it's right up there next to The Howling for me! Okay, on to the dirty (juicy) details!



Have your unpublished novel critiqued by a professional novelist!

Award-winning bestseller Ray Garton is auctioning off a critique.



Are you an aspiring writer with an unpublished novel that you’re eager to sell? Could you use some advice from a professional writer? Would you be interested in having a veteran writer give you a full critique of your novel and answer any questions you may have about writing, the publishing business and getting published? That’s what this auction offers to the winning bidder.



My name is Ray Garton and over the last 25 years, I’ve written about 60 books (it’s been awhile since I’ve done an exact count). My novels include Seductions, Darklings, the Bram Stoker Award-nominated Live Girls, Crucifax, Trade Secrets, The New Neighbor, Dark Channel, Shackled, Sex and Violence in Hollywood, Biofire, Night Life, The Loveliest Dead, Ravenous, Bestial, and the upcoming paperback release Scissors, among others. Four of my books are in the works as movies. I wrote the 1992 book In A Dark Place: The Story of A True Haunting, which told the allegedly “true” story of a family who claimed to have been plagued by demons while living in a former funeral home. The same story was used as the basis for the TV re-enactment and feature film The Haunting in Connecticut. I have written dozens of short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies and in five collections: Methods of Madness, Pieces of Hate, Slivers of Bone, The Girl in the Basement and Other Stories, and ‘Nids and Other Stories. Under the pseudonym Joseph Locke, I’ve written several young adult thrillers and horror novels, including Kill the Teacher’s Pet, Petrified, Game Over, Kiss of Death, 1-900-Killer, and Vengeance. I’ve also written several movie novelizations – The Nightmares on Elm Street, Invaders From Mars, Warlock, and others – and numerous TV tie-ins for shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Secret World of Alex Mack. My novel Live Girls (soon to be a motion picture) was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel of the Year by the Horror Writers Association, and in 2006 I received the Grand Master of Horror Award from the World Horror Society.



I am offering a full critique of your unpublished novel. I’ll read the manuscript, make notes (this is a critique and not a line-by-line edit), and then you and I will have a long online chat. We will discuss every aspect of your novel at length, what I think works, what I think doesn’t work, and how I think you might improve your book with an eye toward selling it. I will answer any questions you have about the novel, the publishing business, and writing in general.



I’m just one writer, of course, and I cannot guarantee that your book will sell. The best I can do is offer you my opinion, but it will be an opinion based on 25 years of professional writing experience, of mistakes made, lessons learned, and goals achieved. This auction will be your chance to draw on that experience.



I look forward to reading your novel and doing what I can to help you achieve your goals.

Clickety-Click!
Bid Now

What If Your Hero Won't Put Out?

It's Wylde Wednesday here with the Text Divas where we text about the spicier things between the sheets! So, pull up a chair and a Pomegranate-Tini in the stripper boot glass (a favorite of mine) and let it all hang out. There are Godivas for your pleasure while we enjoy a moment of silence to watch the parade of our hunky heroes in their broad-shouldered goodness on their way to work. Watching them step into the pages makes me wonder, what happens when they don't do their jobs? If they want to take a sick day? You can't call in to Cupid, not when your job is true love and certainly not when it comes to the baloney pony horse show where he is the star attraction.

What happens if the hero won't put out? I know ladies, when it happens to you, it's almost like you want to ask the universe, "Did this just happen to me? Am I here right now?" Yes, you are. It really happened. Feel free to insert indigant gasps. At least it's heavy breathing.

Sometimes our heroes get their jocks in a knot, sometimes there are other issues that must be resolved before they'll put on the saddle. Also, it should be noted that while shining armor is an ideal, or even slighlty tarnished armor for our tasty anti-heroes, it has been known to chafe. Being mad at him doesn't help. Neither does throwing things. So what do you do?

Why, seduce him of course. Just like you would any other red-blooded alpha male. In fact, the more reluctant the better. It can help add tension to the scene. Your heroine's actions can be intentional, or that innocent sway of her hips, the lushness of her mouth, or even a physical proximity caused by some unforseen necessity.

But like in real life, our hero can't have it so easily. Not when we had to work so hard to get him where we want him. Oh, no. After you get him going, our dear heroine needs to wash her hair, get her head stuck in the microwave or clip coupons for her bomb shelter stash of Monistat. Or the sky falls, you know, anything to make it impossible for them to do what it was you wanted to begin with.

Sure, it will be a little frustrating for you if your hero's a snatch tease, but dangle it in front of his nose and he'll be begging to put out. You just have to open his eyes and that taunting button-fly to everything he never knew he wanted.

If he still won't put out, well, then you have bigger issues and need to re-examine where you are in the story and if that connection between them is missing.

I'm always the first one in the check out line to take the purple-headed womb ferret out for a walk, but it needs to be a plot device. Sex has to further the story. In my current WIP, there is some demon rodeo action right from the start. Does it further their relationship? No, but it establishes it. It's the part of the plot where the smutty Mephistophelean contract comes in. Sex for the sake of sex is boring. At least when we're talking romance. I will confess to skipping over some sex scenes if I haven't made that connection or felt the tension between the hero and heroine.

If your hero won't put out and you've tried the seduction and he's still being stubborn, the sex isn't the problem. It's somewhere else in your book. Listen to what Hunk-a-licious has to say, he won't steer you wrong. He's your hero after all. Let him save the day!

Out From Under The Covers

This world is a changing, and you can be bedside! Texting Between The Sheets features Textnovel's up-and-coming authors in the romance genre. They are on the fringe of a technological boom already seen in Japan, the cell phone novel. Think Dickens--with an iPhone. You'll find links to their work, their causes, and their creative genius.