Janine Ashbless's Blog, page 141

Sale! - Red Grow the Roses

Finally, finally, finally - I have signed the contract for my erotic vampire novel Red Grow the Roses . It's going to be published in 2012! I am so pleased I could bite someone!
(And no, I still can't tell you who with...)

Vampire PARTAAAAAY!!


Also this week - I finished the first draft of erotic fairy novel Named and Shamed. Woooohoooo!
I've got paranormals coming out my ears at the mo :-)

When I was 44...

Heh heh.

Belated, of course, but I still wanted to do my traditional birthday round-up post. This is where I log all the things I did for the first time in the previous year, just to make sure I'm not sitting in a daze on my midde-aged arse.

So, when I was 44, for the first time...

I went to the Alps, and climbed about in the snow on really really high mountaintops, and walked inside a glacier.I found out what snowblindness is like. I bought a laundry basket. (My lack of a laundry basket was regarded by my mother as a sign of my wild bohemian eccentricity.)One of my books  featured in a porn clip and I got a mention on the Maxim website, lol! ... thank you Jenny!I smoked a clay pipe, and chewed coca leaves.I rode in a red sports car with the top down (BMW Z4, I believe). (I'm no car-slut, but it's a pretty cool car. Sadly I disgraced myself by screaming "OH FUCK NO!!" as we overtook into oncoming traffic...)I pogoed! It was at my first Big Country gig. I also saw Simple Minds and Hayseed Dixie, live, for the first time.I met a whole slew of wonderful smutwriters at a public reading at Sh!
I went canyoning. Okay, so it was a small, English, canyon, but we did have to leap into icy rockpools.I harvested chequers. Yum. I went to Maelstrom, the LARP fest. I played Call of Cthulhu via Skype. Go technology!I had my official photo taken as part of a professional portfolio.I went on a romance writing course, and it was excellent.I got caught short on the motorway, and had to pull in on the hard shoulder and dive over the barrier and down a bank to pee. (This is not such a good sign.)I got over my kissing phobia. With help ;-D I went to Bologna in Italy - where I was also subject to my first attempted pickpocketing. My first Ellora's Cave romantic novel, The King's Viper , came out.I sold my romantic Arabian Nights adventure, Heart of Flame, to Samhain.I tried a Hollywood wax. (It was the shock of my life when it grew back black, instead of ginger.)I wrote an e-signature. (I'm left-handed. Weirdly, I have to fake my own signature with my right hand, when using a mouse to write.)I filed an American tax form.I had champagne (and only champagne) for lunch. (Result: terrible sunburn.)I went to Peru! Where I went sand-boarding, walked in the Amazon jungle, and fed piranha. I saw wild condors and sea lions :-)
And I sold 5 short stories - down on last year, because I've been writing and editing novels instead. But not bad.
All other Firsts this year are filed under "Classified - restricted personnel only."
;-)
Looking forward to being 45!

Eyecandy Monday

I am too good at procrastination. Give me an internet connection and a long enough period of time, and I will move ... absolutely nothing.
Grrr.
I want to go back to my isolation cell :-(

Card-carrying Samhain writer

 
Look - Samhain Publishing actually sent me a birthday card!

That is how you cultivate writer loyalty, you other publishers - not by planting horrendous tie-in clauses in your contracts.
Just saying.

Away with the fairies

8pm, and there I was still in pyjamas...
Note my cheery "Piss off, I'm writing" expression :-)

In 7 days I did 19,000 words. The longer it went on the easier it got, and the weaker grew my grip on reality. On my best day I managed 5,000 words!
Also, I broke my record on Tetris ;-)

So, basically, I have one chapter left to go on Named and Shamed. Wheeeeeee!

In retreat

For my birthday treat, I'm getting a week in solitary confinement :-)

Well, not quite solitary (Mr Ashbless is allowed conjugal visits, at his own risk). But, a rented apartment far far from home. No dogs, no housework, no visitors, no shopping, and almost no Internet. If I can't get this novel nailed down in that time, there's something wrong with me.

I'll be back on the 9th December, assuming it's not actually possible to die from writing sex scenes.
:-)

Eyecandy Monday

I'm taking forever to wake up this morning. I could probably do with some coffee...


A shower would help...


Or perhaps a nice bracing walk...


But really, I just need to pull my finger out and write.
;-)

Ol' Man River

It's a beautiful song, but you sure shouldn't listen to it if you're feeling down, because it's really bleak. Existential despair for the musical-going audience.

Luckily for me, I'm having a happy week, so I can listen all I like :-)

Wielding the sword on Heart of Flame

 
It doesn't mean anything. It's not an official review, and it'll never appear on any public romance site. But my editor at Samhain passed on this note from the Final Line Editor, about Heart of Flame, during prep for publication:

"Fantastic storyline. The world-building and mythos were extremely well done. The pattern of the writing was flowing and in keeping with the storyline. One of the most unique ebooks I've had the privilege to not only work with but read."

Which made me happy!

In case you're interested in the nitty-gritty of the editing process...
At each stage I have to read through and okay the changes. We've been through 4 stages in the last month, speeding up as we went along, until it's been a gallop over the last week:

1st edit: Switching UK punctuation to USA (' to "). Dedicated editor checks word choice and continuity, suggests clarifications for meaning or plot. A million semicolons die a bloody death. Commas disappear from before "then" and reappear before "and". Much muttering from the author about "crazy American punctuation."2nd edit: Same again, but more stringent. Second round of spelling conversion - I had a lot of "honour"s and "colour"s that needed their "U"s culling."Caliph" and "Amir" lose their capitals.Final Line Edit: New, specialist editor, mostly checking punctuation and fiddly technical stuff like margins and spacing, I think. Lots of "try ands" converted to "try to"s.ARC edit: This is to check that the text, which has now been re-formatted into an e-version, hasn't had any lines deleted or transposed by digital formatting. No, I don't know what "ARC" means! At this stage you can correct typos and mistakes, but no further tweaks of the text.I'm knocked out by the high standards demanded by this e-publisher. The book has been polished to within an inch of its life ;-) And yes - I now have the final PDF version in my (virtual) hands!

Oh - and what did my lovely and incredibly hard-working editor think of the novel?

"You must be so incredibly proud of this story – the world building, the characters, two love stories running simultaneously, and not a single flat spot in 93K. It is quite simply amazing!"

Yeah .. I think I am proud. Exhausted and a bit shell-shocked too, but happy. Samhain rocks.



Heart of Flame out 20th December 2011 from Samhain as an e-book6th November 2012 in paperback

USA Today

HOLY COW!! I couldn't wait untill Wednesday to post this!
My e-novel The King's Viper has had a great big mention (with picture!) in USA Today!

Raelene Gorlinsky, publisher at Ellora's Cave, says:
"The first and last chapters, which frame the story, sold me on the whole book when the author submitted it. It's a dark, angsty story. The hero starts out not very likable or admirable, but the reader comes to learn about him and his life as the heroine does so, and by the last chapter you'll love this tortured, honorable, loyal man."