Stephanie Tyler's Blog, page 5

Stray

NAL makes me happy with their covers…

DIRE WANTS:  Book 2 in the Eternal Wolf Clan series (November 2012)

The supernatural world is rising up against the human one. The weretrappers want control, and only the immortal Dire wolves stand in the way of total destruction. Stray, a Dire, and his long-lost brother, Killian, emerge as the leaders of their pack. To keep themselves and the humans safe, the Dires need a witch as powerful as Seb, who betrayed the Dires to work for the weretrappers. 

They find what they are looking for in Kate, a human who survived a horrible car accident that left her back scarred with a handprint no one else can see. Stray senses Kate’s abilities as a witch and recruits her to help the Dires—all the while knowing she is so powerful they will need to kill her once she helps defeat the weretrappers.

Stray doesn’t expect the powerful connection that he feels with Kate, or his irresistible need to protect her. They cannot hide their feelings or each other, and what once was taboo now seems inevitable…

 

©2012 Stephanie Tyler's Weblog. All Rights Reserved.

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little bit of this, little bit of that…

Warning, randomness ahead, fueled by migraine and Starbucks frap.

I just finished reading a book that disturbed the shit out of me – and that’s a good thing, since it’s got me thinking about it weeks later.  It’s Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  I saw something about it when it was upcoming so I read her first two and they were disturbing, but this one much more so.

Anyone read it?  Anyone disturbed?

Currently watching – Real Housewives of NYC.  Loving Carole Radziwill.  It made me go back and reread her memoir, What Remains.  She’s got a beautiful way of writing, at least to me. Maybe if I pointed out a line or two, you’d be like, really?  But there’s just something about it that makes me reread.   I think that’s why I like poetry so much – the strength of each individual line is so important – each one has to be weighted.  In fiction (or non-fiction, as What Remains is), it’s not as necessary but breathtaking when it happens.  Oh, and fwiw, RHONYC isn’t so great this time around.  Of course, I’ll still be watching.

Also liking Longmire (TV series).  Am halfway through the first book in the series by Craig Johnson – I like that the series differs enough that I’m not watching and going, but it’s not like that in the book.  Kind of like True Blood – the books are so different from the show, especially now, that it doesn’t bother me.  If there’s a show or movie made from a book, I’ve always got to read the book first – just me?

 

©2012 Stephanie Tyler's Weblog. All Rights Reserved.

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What time is it? *

*(that's a Spin Doctors song, right? Come on, you know you loved Two Princes…)

For the past six months, my clock radio has remained an hour behind.  Since I couldn't figure out how to make it fall back and asked Zoo a million times and he never changed it, it became a big joke.  And then I got used to it, in that way when you wake up in a panic and see the time and then realize, oh, it's my day off / weekend, whatever.

Granted, I don't have days off and weekends and weekdays are quite similar to me, but I remember those days when I was teaching.

So yeah, it was nice to look at the clock and be like, on no, it's already 3PM…oh wait, it's only 2PM!

What?  Sometimes tricking yourself makes everything better.

So now, with spring ahead, the clock is correct.  I cannot handle this.  Zoo just laughs and won't change it for me.  And the only thing that makes it better is that I have another way to drive Zoo crazy.  See, a couple of years ago, we were away for like a month in a state that was an hour behind New York.  For the entire month, I kept my watch on New York time – and so when he'd ask me what time it was, I'd say, what time is it in New York or what time is it here?

Seriously.  I'd do it every time!  Can you imagine how annoying that would be?

So now, when he asks me what time it is, I say, do you want to know what time it would be if it wasn't daylight savings or the real time?

I have a feeling he'll change my clock back an hour just to avoid this.

Hey, you've got to make your own fun around here…

 

©2012 Stephanie Tyler's Weblog. All Rights Reserved.

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writer ways

I like my horoscopes when I agree with them – and I realize how wrong that is.  But I really liked this one from Free Will Astrology (for Aries):

"Controlled hysteria is what is required," said playwright Arthur Miller in speaking about his creative process. "To exist constantly in a state of controlled hysteria. It's agony. But everyone has agony. The difference is that I try to take my agony home and teach it to sing." I hope this little outburst inspires you, Aries. It's an excellent time for you to harness your hysteria and instruct your agony in the fine art of singing. To boost your chances of success in pulling off this dicey feat, use every means at your disposal to have fun and stay amused."

I've got a lot going on in my writing life and lots of it's fun and some of it's hair pulling and that's basically the norm, the way it's been since even before I got published.  I can't imagine it will ever be any different, but as long as the fun is there, then it's okay.  And I think that sometimes writers forget the fun of the actual writing (I know I do) and that sometimes if you're all tense and pissed off in general, most of the time you're not pissed at the external forces in your life…no, it's that you haven't written.  You've got to think of it like a balloon that's too full – until you syphon (siphon?) off some of the air, it's going to be uncomfortable to the point of bursting.  But once you actually write something – anything – there's relief.  There's that, oh, that's what's been missing.

I used to hate to hear from published writers who'd say, don't rush to get published because you don't know how good you have it.  And I still don't agree with that and I'll never say it.  What I will say is that you have to love what you do because in the end, that's going to be what matters.  If you don't love it, if you don't get twitchy as hell if you haven't written, then that means you can quit, and if you can quit, you might be better off. I think Mark Twain has a quote to that effect.

In a way, writing now through Mom being sick reminds me a lot of when I started writing and why – when my daughter was born and she was sick and I wrote to escape but also to be able to stay close to her while I escaped.  I still love hearing from readers who will especially tell me that my work got them through a tough time in their lives, because to me, that's what I set out to do.  My key audience, in my mind, is me, sitting along by my kid's bedside all alone at 3AM in the hospital and being able to be there with her and still being able to get pulled into another world.  So that's my core audience, in my mind, my ideal reader, as Stephen King says in On Writing.  Every writer needs that person to keep in mind because that's what's going to stop you from trying to please everyone, to figure out what's important enough in the story to make that ideal reader love it.

On that note, I have SO much writing to do  Spoke to my editor yesterday about DIRE WANTS and what fixes it needs but mainly she loves it and says it moves very fast and it's very fun.  So YAY!  All good stuff.

©2012 Stephanie Tyler's Weblog. All Rights Reserved.

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A short conversation…

Me:  I want to learn to play electric guitar.

Zoo:  You're really goddamned nuts, you know that?

Me:  That's news?

©2012 Stephanie Tyler's Weblog. All Rights Reserved.

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tread lightly

I've had people asking if I'm still going to AAD NOLA for the past few weeks now and I've been putting off answering because…because for a little while I didn't know.  And then I knew and I didn't know if I wanted to share, and that was weird, because I'd always shared a lot on this blog, but that was before the internet became this weird, snarky place instead of the fun, safe place I used to know and love.  Sounds nostalgic, I know – sappy too but hey, I miss those good old days when blogging was all fun and I used to run from blog to blog, checking in on old friends and making new ones.  Today it's all landmines and reviews and people taking things you say in interviews and twisting them up and just a lot of stuff that leaves me with a shitty taste in my mouth – and I end up just walking away from it instead of continuing to stake my happy little place on the internet.

Anyway, long story longer, I decided that not sharing was giving into all that shit, so I'm sharing.  A few weeks ago, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer during a routine mammogram.  We went together (and I keep telling her that since I saved her life, she owes me, but since she gave birth to me, it probably evens out…)  Anyway, she's doing well and the prognosis is thankfully (so far) good, but it still means a long road ahead, and since my dad's sick and I'm an only child, planning any kind of trip in the not so distant future just seems like a foolish move to me.

So yeah, I'm more sensitive than usual (which means I'm really goddamned sensitive) and I'm trying to avoid a lot of online places that will make me even more sensitive.  Which, during release time, is really, really hard.  So bear with me, okay?

©2012 Stephanie Tyler's Weblog. All Rights Reserved.

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Dire Needs giveaway at Larissa’s Blog!

My writing partner and partner in crime, the amazing Larissa Ione is giving away three ARCs of Dire Needs today on her blog so go for a chance to win!  The contest will run for 24 hours, so everyone will have a chance to put their names in!

In other non-book news, I just saw Dr. Oz taking about alternative remedies for migraines – he mentioned a homeopathic med called Feverfew – anyone ever taken it with any success?  I’m thinking of trying it because, hey, why not?  Especially since this migraine has been here since, oh Tuesday.  I swear, it’s going to snow – I don’t care what the weather people say – this is a snowgraine for sure.

Okay, back to typing in the 25 longhand pages of Unbreakable (the new Section 8 romantic suspense I’m working on).  And I should have some news on the Reid/ Grier book soon as well!

Oh, and if you’re on Pinterest, come friend me!  It’s my newest addiction :0

 

©2012 Stephanie Tyler's Weblog. All Rights Reserved.

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Dire Needs giveaway at Larissa's Blog!

My writing partner and partner in crime, the amazing Larissa Ione is giving away three ARCs of Dire Needs today on her blog so go for a chance to win!  The contest will run for 24 hours, so everyone will have a chance to put their names in!

In other non-book news, I just saw Dr. Oz taking about alternative remedies for migraines – he mentioned a homeopathic med called Feverfew – anyone ever taken it with any success?  I'm thinking of trying it because, hey, why not?  Especially since this migraine has been here since, oh Tuesday.  I swear, it's going to snow – I don't care what the weather people say – this is a snowgraine for sure.

Okay, back to typing in the 25 longhand pages of Unbreakable (the new Section 8 romantic suspense I'm working on).  And I should have some news on the Reid/ Grier book soon as well!

Oh, and if you're on Pinterest, come friend me!  It's my newest addiction :0

 

©2012 Stephanie Tyler's Weblog. All Rights Reserved.

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Dire Needs ARC winner & a short story…

Winner of the Dire Needs ARC is Linda Scarchuk, as chosen by Zoo, because he can be as random as any random number generator!  Linda, just email me your addy and I'll get the ARC out to you.  And it's not the last contest for ARCs – promise!  And thanks so much for making release day for Dire Warning so much fun

And now, a short story for your reading pleasure:

You know when you tell your husband something like maybe you should buy a second can of the same exact paint with the built-in primer since that's what you started painting the living room with and he says something like, the primer's already worked with the first coat so I can just buy the regular pain without primer and you say something like, but I think it would be best if you continued with the same exact thing you started with and he comes home with the regular non-primer paint and says, the guy in the paint store said it would be fine and then you look at the paint job the next morning in the light and you can clearly see where the paint with primer was applied and where it wasn't?

Yes, that. In my living room at the present time.

Moral of story – I win!!! And somehow lose, all at the same time.

©2012 Stephanie Tyler's Weblog. All Rights Reserved.

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Release Day for Dire Warning (& a contest)!!!

DIRE WARNING: A Novella of the Eternal Wolf Clan is available now!  It's an eSpecial, a prequel to the Eternal Wolf Clan series that starts with Book 1, Dire Needs, next month!  

Ahem.  Anyway, this novella is about 25K (100 pages) and it centers on introducing you to the main Dire Wolf characters – it lets you into the world and is heavy on alpha male interaction  What could be more fun?!

Here's the blurb:

A breathtaking new tale of the Dire Wolves, from the bestselling author of Dire Needs…

Immortal and invincible, Rifter is the head of the last surviving pack of Dire Wolves—a band of Alpha brothers charged with protecting the Weres. But now that witches have joined forces with nefarious weretrappers, it's a perfect storm for double trouble. When the murder of a human points to a wolf, along with the threat of the packs being outted to the world, the Dires fear that something even more dangerous is out there hiding in the dark, something waiting for the right time to show itself.

You can read an excerpt here!  And you can go buy it on Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook and iBooks through the links here!

And I'm going to give away another ARC of Dire Needs here today  All you have to do is buy Dire Warning and show me the receipt!

Kidding.  (What?  It's a good strategy – and there are exclamation points )

Anyway, seriously, to be eligible to win an ARC (uncorrected print copy) of Dire Needs, just leave a comment below and tell me how much you love Dire Warning, the SEAL books, me in general what you're reading!  I'm just starting Book 1 in Lora Leigh's Breed Series.  Somehow, I started waaay in the middle.

©2012 Stephanie Tyler's Weblog. All Rights Reserved.

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