Joely Sue Burkhart's Blog, page 90

Weekend in Review

Now that spring is here, it seems like we're "springing"  too.  Saturday, we'd made plans to take Uncle J (That Man's younger brother) and Aunt BB to my family's favorite Mexican place.  We've been eating at this place ever since I can remember.  It was our reward place after going to the dentist.  Anytime we had to drive north to Kansas City (even last year as we were driving to a funeral) we made plans to stop for lunch or dinner at this restaurant, El Sambre's in Clinton, MO.

My sister is a...

Friday Snippet: The Bloodgate Guardian

Since I'm not writing new material this month and June is not that far away, I decided to start teasing you with snippets of The Bloodgate Guardian, coming this June from Carina Press. 

You've been seeing bits of this story under several different names for quite some time.  The original first draft was my first NaNoWriMo project in 2007, then titled Night Sun Rising.  Over a year went by before I got around to the first round of Revision Xibalba.  I spent a lot of time expanding the book...

Inspiration: Movie Review

One of the things I've been trying to do is watch more old Westerns.  That Man enjoys watching them (much more than something like Star Trek, although he's watched several with me), but mostly because I was so impressed with Firefly.  I know it's basically an Space Opera Western, and I loved how familiar it made the world feel despite the science fiction.

That's one thing I think I need to work on.  I can worldbuild all day long and I love it, but I don't think my worlds are always...

Guilt and Ulterior Motive

First, I want to get something off my chest.  I hate feeling guilty.  I especially hate making MYSELF feel guilty over something that's stupid.

I'm talking about Vicki.  I was really making myself feel guilty because I wasn't getting the progress that I wanted.  Any other month (e.g. look back at May, Nov, and Dec. last year) I could have written 50K no problemo.  Way back in 2007, I wrote 50K in 11 days. 

I used to worry about never finishing a book (I'm glad the 2005 archives are gone!!) but ...

Writing Cycles

This is something I've been thinking about off and on for years, and the past few weeks have made me think about it again. 

I've talked before about the writer's journey — how each day can begin with a call to adventure, is fraught with peril, and yes, most of the time, requires passage through the Inner Cave. 

But there's another cycle I'm thinking about now, more like a life cycle, specifically for a computer program (my Evil Day job).  There are stages of coding, just as there are stages of ...

Interview at Book Lovers Inc

I was thrilled to be interviewed by The Geeky Booklover over at Book Lovers Inc.  If you're wondering why letters played such a big part in Conn's and Rae's story, then hop on over for a chance to win a signed print copy of Dear Sir, I'm Yours!

Winner: Launch Vicki's Line

Thank you to everyone who helped me brainstorm Vicki's new fashion line.  I didn't end up using your recommendations, but talking about it helped me come up with the idea I'm going to use (for now):

Bound by Madame, with a swirling V on her label

The winner drawn from comments is:  Marie!  I think I already have your address, and I'll drop you a note once I get your signed Dear Sir, I'm Yours in the mail!

Thanks, everyone!

Dear Sir I'm Yours Review

This is an incredible back-and-forth dual (duel!) review of Dear Sir, I'm Yours, between The HEA Lover and The Geeky Lover at Book Lovers Inc.  They get into characters, go way back to the free prequel Letters and free sequel Take Me — what an incredible, detailed review!  Plus they had some awesome things to say about Conn.  *winks*

Conn… *drools*  Sorry about that, Conn is just perfect. When I read Letters I was intrigued by him. He had so much power about him, he really is a Dominant. I...

Clash of the Covers!

The Bloodgate Guardian is participating in Clash of the Covers at Embrace the Shadows!  Check it out and vote if you're so inclined.

Easter Egg Hunt & Vicki Snippet

Welcome to all the Long & Short of It Scavengers!  My egg should be easy to find (look in the right sidebar) but I hope you stick around awhile and at least check out the Free Reads.

And since I missed the Friday Snippet last week (we were on vacation), and I was generally missing Vicki and the gang something fierce, I decided to post a bit more of Vicki's story.  This scene is after the last one posted at VCONN Tower and occurs in Victor's penthouse suite.  Hopefully you remember Mal — e.g...