Naked Sushi, Harlequin, and Cosmo, oh my! by Jina Bacarr
September 11, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as August, Cosmo, Cosmopolitan, erotic, erotic romance, espionage, Gail Chasan, Harlequin, Malle Vallik, naked, OCC, OCC/RWA, Red-Hot Reads, romance, spy, sushiThe hot, lazy days of summer heated up last month when Harlequin editors, Gail Chasan and Malle Vallik came to speak at our August OCC meeting.
I was especially thrilled to see Malle Vallik. I’ll never forget the excitement racing through me when I found out that Malle wanted my NAKED SUSHI novella for the new Cosmo Red-Hot Read line from Harlequin. Not only did the Harlequin team have to approve each manuscript, but also the team from Cosmopolitan. This was a story I loved because I used my own experiences producing video podcasts as well as working for a computer magazine and a video game company to create her character.
A selfie of Malle and me — somehow the OCC Chapter sign got reversed when I put it up on Instagram.
In Naked Sushi, Pepper O’Malley is a tech-head but under that flannel shirt, she’s just itchin’ to find the right guy and fall in love. And she wants to be a spy:
Here’s the cover copy:
One day I’m getting canned from my job as a computer programmer for having wild copy-room sex with a guy I thought was the new game designer. The next, I’m crashing my ex-boss’s business lunch in a creative attempt to get my job back and men are eating sushi off my naked body!
——————
Here’s a fun Instagram video I made with the opening lines from Naked Sushi:
Coming in October 2013 from Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin:
Copyright © 2013 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Cover copy text used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited.
Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved.
used under license. by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.”
Music:
Publisher: Shockwave-Sound.Com
Promotional Whirlwind by Kitty Bucholtz
September 10, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as book signing, It's Worth It, Kitty Bucholtz, Little Miss Lovesick, Unexpected SuperheroI just arrived home yesterday from over a month on the road. I’m exhausted, but it’s been a good few weeks. I started at the Romance Novel Convention in Las Vegas. Lots of great opportunities there, but not as much foot traffic as I expected.
Then I flew to Michigan for several events. I did a book signing at a charity event, ROCK for CHUM, raising funds for my sister’s charity. (She does therapeutic riding and hippotherapy, really amazing stuff!) Then I ran a charity half marathon, RUN for CHUM, and had to be available to sign books after. Um, note to self, don’t plan to run 13.1 miles and try to have your head together for selling and signing books afterward.
A few days later, it got really exciting – I was interviewed live on a radio morning show! That was so fun! The radio DJ made it easy to sound like I’d done this a hundred times before. As soon as I get the recording, I’ll post it on my web site.
I spent the rest of the day getting in touch with my old high school (they took a picture of me with my book to put on their web site), stopping by my college library and the two local libraries in my hometown area (one had already bought all my books!), and doing some research for upcoming books.
The next day, I signed books in the morning at Top Comics, and in the afternoon at Horizon Books. Both stores hold a spot in my heart – the former is co-owned by a long-time friend, the latter is the first bookstore I remember ever going to as a kid. I felt on top of the world all day!
Plus, after several years of on and off searching, I found my sixth grade teacher to whom I dedicated Little Miss Lovesick. The newspaper took pictures of us meeting again for the first time in over 30 years and interviewed us. Then I presented the book to her at the beginning of the signing. Friends and flowers and lots of laughter made the day more special than I have words to express.
When I list it all here, it sounds like a lot of work – and it was! I didn’t have much free time. But when you can get your heart connected with your promotion, it gives you an energy boost. And it makes you feel like a million bucks!
Maybe you have some new ideas about what you can do to get your heart involved in your promotion. Good luck!
Kitty Bucholtz decided to combine her undergraduate degree in business, her years of experience in accounting and finance, and her graduate degree in creative writing to become a writer-turned-independent-publisher. Her first novel, Little Miss Lovesick, came out in 2011. Her new novel, Unexpected Superhero, book one in The Adventures of Lewis & Clarke humorous urban fantasy series, is now available in print and ebook format. Love at the Fluff and Fold, book one in The Strays of Loon Lake romantic comedy series, will be released later this year. Her short stories can be found in the anthologies Romancing the Pages and Moonlit Encounters, available in both print and ebook formats.
OCCRWA Proudly Presents: September 16 –
September 2, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives
TALKING BACK TO YOUR BRAIN
The Golden Rule
August 24, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category ArchivesYou know, the one that says: “Treat others as you would be treated.” And apparently there’s a Silver Rule (who knew?) that is the ‘negative’ form of the Golden Rule, that is: “do not treat people in ways that you would not care to be treated.”
It’s interesting to consider the fact that the saying: “an eye for an eye” also captures a kind of negative Golden Rule—that is: “as you have been done to, so too should you do.”
However (despite its sweetness), revenge is not an ideal way to live one’s life. It tends to start an endless cycle of retaliation—because your entirely appropriate and justified “revenge” is often seen by the revengee (?) as an act that needs to be—you guessed it—avenged! And so it goes, back & forth, escalating and unstoppable until there is no one or nothing left. Not so very sweet after all.
But there is a reverse angle view of the Rule: that if you do something, you are giving cosmic permission to have it done to you. Because by your action, you have declared it is an OK thing to do. So of course it is OK for others to do as well.
So if you, for example, cut in front of people in line, you really have no right to complain when others cut in front of you. You have set your seal of approval on the action. If you’re dishing it out, you’ve got to take it—that’s only fair.
It’s something to think about when caught in a retaliatory action. Perhaps someone says something sexist and negative about women. It’s almost automatic (if you’re a woman) to say something sexist and negative back about men. Justified, as really, they are just being given a taste of their own medicine. Surely that will offer insight and learning!
But actually by that reaction, there is an implied declaration that being sexist is an OK thing to be. The two people simply disagree as to what justifies being sexist, or racist, or whatever. But being sexist or racist or whatever is clearly OK, because both parties are actively participating in being sexist (or racist, or whatever).
Another example is if people make negative statements about “rich people.” They are, by definition, endorsing any parallel behavior that makes negative statements about “poor people.” Because they clearly indicate it’s entirely justifiable to make negative statements about “people” based on their financial status. Of course they happen to think it’s only justified when people have more Vs less money, but really the concept is fine.
I loved Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Ain’t She Sweet, but I always wanted Sugar to say that every one’s retaliatory meanness comforted her, because her enemies had sunk to the same level, behaving in just as appalling a manner as she had. The issue was not that the behavior was bad and should not have happened—by their actions, that kind of behavior was fine. They just disagreed on what justified it.
It is not easy to quell the desire to retaliate. But if the behavior is wrong, it is wrong.
0 0 Read moreThat Pesky Internal Editor
August 19, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as 1959, editing, Mona Karel, Sound of MusicI think we’ve all laughed along with the t-shirt motto: I’m Secretly Correcting Your Grammar. And nodded because, yes, we are. We each have our own particular misuse or phrase that acts like fingernails on a blackboard. For me it’s Who/Which/That. I find myself inserting “Who” for “That” while following a conversation, or listening to a television news personality.
We can also be distracted by titles or weak plot points. Most recently I remember a title referring to the hero as soldier coming home. Lovely thoughts. Except this particular hero was a Navy SEAL, as in SAILOR. Somehow this faux pas made it past multiple editors as well as an author who has in the past shown excellent military knowledge.
Maybe we’ve become experts at catching plot anomalies such as horses changing color (or their riders shifting from in the saddle to on the ground to in the saddle without ever actually mounting or dismounting) I remember one love scene where the hero unbuttoned the heroine’s blouse then removed her dress…guess she really wanted to cover up.
Sometimes that editor doesn’t even show up when we first read or hear something that will one day bother us. I’m thinking about “Sound of Music” which I saw when it came out at the drive-in theatre (remember those?) and subsequently wore out the sound track on my record player. Sometimes while I’m gardening or working with the dogs, I’ll break out into show tunes, since there’s no one around to hear me. I was singing “(How Do You Solve a Problem Like) Maria,” trying to sing all parts myself since the dogs aren’t great at following a tune.
“She climbs a tree and scrapes her knee. Her dress has got a tear. She waltzes on the way to mass and whistles on the stair. And underneath her wimple she has curlers in her hair. I’ve even…” Wait a minute? Curlers in her hair? For a young woman from a small village who intends to be a nun? Where would she buy curlers and why would she spend her money in that fashion? For that matter, if she’s a novitiate, wearing a wimple, she’s not going to have enough hair to wear curlers. Certainly Julie Andrews wasn’t showing off flowing locks of hair in the movie.
Minor? Perhaps, in this instance. After all the movie, the music, the story all combined to enchant us to such an extent we probably wouldn’t question the curlers. I certainly didn’t until, well let’s see, Sound of Music came out in 1959 and it’s…ahem. Well, anyway…
We’d all like to hope our characters are so compelling readers will ignore minor editing issues. Except what’s minor when it comes to editing? A character who despises coffee in the first chapter and is swilling down espressos in the second half of the book, with no logical explanation for the change in taste. Although come to think of it, that is an interesting plot point. Hmmmm
Sorry for the digression, must be too much coffee. Or maybe not enough? Of course we’d rather be known for scintillating dialogue and compelling characters instead of unintended humor due to poor editing. And we really don’t want to dump a confusing mess on our editors, especially if we want to keep sending them books.
This problem has many solutions including beta readers, critique partners, and people you pay to give your book a cold read. Just be sure whoever has input on your story cares enough about you to be brutally honest when necessary. Better them than someone reading your story after publication.
Happy writing
Monica Stoner w/a Mona Karel
http://mona-karel.com/
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