Michele Hauf's Blog, page 7

Blu and Creed soon!

I just found out the short story I'm writing for Blu and Creed will be out in August.  Tentative title is MOONLIGHT WISHES.  I'm filling out the art fact sheet today.  I wonder if they can give me some faery dust on the cover?  ;-)

Win!

See that widget to the left?  I'm giving away 5 copies of THE WEREWOLF'S WIFE through Goodreads!

UK readers can now download HER VAMPIRE HUSBAND for free!...

UK readers can now download HER VAMPIRE HUSBAND for free!  (Click on the cover below to see it in action.)

Six Degrees of Romance

What happens when Harlequin gives 6 author from various lines the same opening paragraph and asks them to finish the story? Six Degrees of Romance!  It's available right now at Amazon for .99 cents.  If you can wait, I happen to know it'll be a free download at Harlequin in February.  My story is "Night of the Living Wed".  Can't wait for you all to read it!

Need a Book to Complete Your Collection?

Okay, before I pack up all the boxes and shove them back in the closet, thought I'd give you all another chance to order from my backlist.  All the details are at this blog post.

Free stuff

Have you picked up these books at your favorite online retailer for free?  I'm not sure how much longer Kiss Me Deadly will be available, so grab it while you can.  I plan to keep The Sin Eater's Promise free forever.  Let me know if you like them!

In with the old...

Though the New Year is fast approaching, I'm tending to some old business.  I finally got around to getting my 3-book historical series, The Saint-Sylvestres, scanned. Didn't have them on digital files, so had to send them in for scanning.  Then I had to read through and re-edit, catch the scanning errors, cringe a bit at the way I used to write, and move on. I didn't do heavy editing. The stories, to me, were, and still are, awesome. And though I feel my writing has improved, I didn't want to go through and totally overhaul them.  They are as close to the originally published versions as possible. Though I did take out a lot of exclamation points. And man, did I used to love the ellipses!  Still do.  ;-)
So I put up TAME ME NOT a few days ago, and that is now available at Amazon and B&N. The Vook service I used to format these books is excellent, but I just noticed it deleted my section breaks in the mobi version, so I will have to go back in and enter *** so readers know when one scene ends.  Hopefully will get to that soon.
Also just put up BETRAY ME NOT today (with *** inserted). This title should be on sale within a day or two.
And ENCHANT ME NOT is next. Plan to start reading/editing that tomorrow, and with luck, I may get that out by the New Year. Though, I sense I will have difficulty finding the perfect image for that cover, of which, the story is set in the Versailles gardens.  Hmm...

Playing With Fire

So by now you should know PLAYING WITH FIRE (click to read first chap and buy links) is available in digital format at all online retailers.  It is a part of my Of Angels & Demons series, but fits in the overall Beautiful Creatures world.  And it's not only set in Paris but also Venice.  This whole story started when I read about the 'green man' living beneath Paris.
Seems a few centuries a go, a cave-in on one of the Parisian streets went down to many layers below the city.  (Cave-ins occur often, even nowadays, because a literal labyrinth of tunnels and passageways snake beneath the city.)  Anyway, during one particular cave-in, a few people also fell into the hole, and though some were not rescued, one was, and claimed to have seen the 'green man' below.  Some sort of demonic figure or, who knows?  It became an oft-whispered about legend in the city for a while.
That got me to thinking.  Who was this green man?  Why was he green?  Where did he come from?  Well, apparently, he must have come from waaaaayyyyy down there.  Like maybe even Beneath?  And did he perhaps work for Himself?  You see how my writer's brain works.  It just goes there.
That provided the background and beginnings for Cinder, hero of Playing With Fire.  I had attempted the story with an actual cave-in and the heroine finding him that way, but that didn't work for me, so instead, the 'green man' is the hero's history, and the whole story takes place very much above ground.  Though, this wouldn't be the first time I was inspired by the tunnels beneath Paris.  If you've read Seducing The Vampire, you'll know why.

Goofy, Giddy, Loopy Kind of Love

Yep, that's the stage I'm at with my current work in progress.  I lurve it!  I adore it.  I want to hug it and kiss it and squeeze it and take it home and call it George.
Most every book hits this stage at some point in the writing process.  Sometimes for a day, sometimes for a week or longer.  It varies with every single story.  But when it hits, I walk around on air.  My mood is elevated and the world feels bright.  Just think about your own job.  If you accomplished something you'd been working toward for a while, or achieved a new level.  It would really rock your socks.

Of course, there are other stages during the course of the book.  There's the beginning which is usually fun love.  It's new, it's exciting.  I'm trying to get it all on the page while the thoughts, images, and ideas spill out.  That's a great stage, too.

Then there's the bored stage.  I've worked with the characters so much they feel like relatives who came to stay for the weekend, and a month later you're still wondering when they'll leave.

The hate stage seems to strike with most books.  Do I have to write about that guy today?  Seriously, why does she love him?  Why can't I just kill them all?  I don't even want to sit in front of the computer.  I want to work on anything but the story.  Heck, I'd rather clean toilets.  (It's a good thing for this stage, otherwise my toilets would never get cleaned.)

I think all stages are necessary to the creation process, but man, I'll take the goofy, giddy, loopy stage anytime, any day.

Hope those who celebrated Thanksgiving had a good time!  And those who ventured out today for shopping found what they needed!

More Favs

Something not quite so easy to just buy in a store, I figure, but so gorgeous.  I'm quite over the moon about decorative wrought iron gates.  Would love to have one on my property.  Maybe some day?

Cats.  All kinds of cats, big, small, skinny, fat.  Black, white, orange, gray.  When we found Maxwell at the pet store, I wasn't looking for him.  I'd gone there with my eye to an older orange cat, but once I held that cat I just didn't feel the connection.  Almost as an afterthought, I asked to see 'that little black one in the bottom cage'.  The moment they handed over Maxwell, he climbed up to my neck, gave me hugs and kisses, and wouldn't stop.  It was like he knew he had but a moment to win us (my hubby and I) and he wasn't going to spoil the chance.  Well, he did win us over, and he's still huggy and full of kisses to this day.  Such a sweetie.  My lover boy.
A sexy Frenchman.  'Nuf said.
And speaking of sexy Frenchmen...(please do, any time) my fav movie this year was actually split into two movies:  Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy #1.  Vincent Cassel played Jacques Mesrine.  You can catch this one on NetFlix right now.  I highly recommend it!