Susan Hanniford Crowley's Blog: From Nights of Passion Blog, page 228

Pages to Publication Writer’s Conference

I���m taking a break this week from the ABCs of Romance to tell you about the Pages to Publication Writer���s Conference being sponsored by my local RWA chapter, Chesapeake Romance Writers.

This conference will be held on March 14, 2015 at the Williamsburg Regional Library in Williamsburg, VA. The conference welcomes everyone with a desire to write or to know more about writing, and not just romance. The workshops are geared toward writers in all genres, not only romance and its subgenres.

Our speakers are romance writers Mary Behr, and Meredith Bond. Mary Behr is an award winning author of paranormal romantic suspense novels set in the Tidewater area. Her workshop is entitled, ���Writing Contests: How to get the Most Bang for Your Buck.��� Meredith Bond is an award winning author of a series of traditionally published Regency romances and self-published historical paranormal romances. Her workshop is titled, ���Jumping into Self-Publishing.���

 

We will also have three fantastic editors taking pitches at the conference: Valerie Mann, Decadent Publishing; Dominique Eastwick, Musa Publishing, and Frances Sevilla, The Wild Rose Press. Registrants may sign up for time slots on a first-come basis. All three editors acquire romance novels in all sub-genres and Dominique Eastwick is an acquiring editor in non-romance genres as well.

Other conference events include the presentation of the Rudy awards to Winners of the ���Finish the Damn Book,��� Contest, a 20-line critique session with the editors, a local author book signing, swag table, and gift basket raffles.

Registration is $40.00 in advance or at the door for this full day of workshops.

For more information and to register, please visit the Chesapeake Romance Writers website here.

If you are in the DC, North Carolina, or Central Virginia area, you should treat yourself to this fun packed, highly informative conference for writers of all genres.

Filed under: Craft, Jenna Jaxon, Promotion

Susan's Giveaway at Soul Mate Publishing Blog

In Connecticut, we’re preparing for a snowy Valentine’s. That didn’t stop my husband from going out and buying me roses. He buys himself chocolate, so that was out. After 34 years, I have seriously run out of ideas of what to get him. He said I should make him a card instead of buying one, and I thought about that. Off I went to the local craft shop, which was bustling with people apparently wanting to have things to do while they’re snowed in and possibly without power.

I went into the scrapbooking section and found this box/book scrapbook called Mini scrapbook Configurations Shadow Box Book by Tim Holtz. This is part of his scrapbooking journey called Idea-ology. It opens like a thick book but is actually like a shadow box. I’m going to put it together as a Valentine. I’m in the process of printing family photos off my computer and also some free Valentine clipart. I also bought some scrapbooking papers for different backgrounds and little embellishments. Here is the website, in case you want to check it out and see how I started. http://www.amazon.com/Configurations-...

In the meantime, let me tell you about my contest. One lucky commenter will win their choice of an ebook of Vampire King of New York in Kindle, Nook, or Kobo or a signed print book. Only one can win. Please, comment with “I love Max” at the Soul Mate Publishing Blog. I’d love to know why you’d like the book. Please, include your email so I can contact you if you’re the winner. You can only comment to enter at https://smpauthors.wordpress.com/2015...

The contest ends on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015 at noon Eastern time. In the event you just can’t wait. It’s available at Amazon in Kindle and print, Barnes and Noble Nook and print, and Kobo.

Good luck and have a fun Valentine’s Day.
– Susan
Susan Hanniford Crowley
http://www.susanhannifordcrowley.com
Where love burns eternal and whispers in the dark.

Guest Blog & Contest: Every Day is Valentine���s Day When You���re a Romance Reader By Bianca D���Arc

I really believe the title of this piece is true. Whenever we read a romance novel, we can experience the grand gestures, the simple smiles, and the inexorable attraction that we all usually wish for on special days like Valentine���s Day. Many readers use the phrase ���Book Boyfriend��� to describe the fictional hero that just takes their breath away.

For some it might be a man that cannot exist in the ���real��� world, such as a centuries-old vampire or a shapeshifter who howls at the moon. For others, it might be a man from another time, like Mr. Darcy or Heathcliff.

If you���re single like me and Valentine���s Day has always been just a little disappointing ��� unable to live up to all the media hype ��� then I say, why not curl up in front of the fireplace with a glass of wine and a handsome Book Boyfriend? It���s cheaper and less hassle than eating out. (LOL) And chances are, the fictional man will never let you down the way real men sometimes can.

I think Valentine���s Day puts too much pressure on our real guys to be dashing and romantic. Most men have a hard time knowing what we women really want out of a romantic evening. Flowers are nice. Dinner out is nicer. A pink and white striped shopping bag full of slinky lingerie might be appropriate too. Or the absolutely MASSIVE teddy bear I���ve seen being advertised on TV over the past week. (That could be sort of cute, but where do you store such a thing? Do you just leave it on the couch, staring at you? That could get creepy.)

Some of the real guy���s gifts might be hits. Some might be misses. But the Book Boyfriend never fails us, does he? He���s there when we need him. He���s easily put away when we don���t. So even if you have a real guy, don���t go giving up your Book Boyfriend just yet.

If you don���t have a Book Boyfriend lined up yet for this Valentine���s Day, I can recommend Susan���s books, of course, or humbly suggest a story of mine that was just re-released. It���s called FOREVER VALENTINE and it is, of course, a Valentine story. It��features a centuries-old vampire who���s been tasked to watch over a woman who has recently learned about the existence of vampires. She���s being watched to be sure she will not betray their secret, but the watcher finds her impossible to resist.

I added a little fun history to this book, making the hero ancient enough to have known an even older vampire who knew the actual Valentine ��� a priest in the Roman Empire who married young lovers despite the Emperor���s decree that all soldiers be single, because single men had less to lose and made better soldiers. Or so he thought. Valentine married the soldiers to their sweethearts in secret, until he was jailed for it. So the story goes���

After a short time being out of print, the story is available again on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks and Smashwords. The novella is priced at $2.99 and is perfect for reading on or around Valentine���s Day.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00THIWQ2G/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00THIWQ2G&linkCode=as2&tag=biancadarc00-20&linkId=INK7QNGOSHZ5PH3P
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forever-valentine-bianca-darc/1106518905?ean=2940149954391
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/forever-valentine-3
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/forever-valentine/id966744739?mt=11&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/518742

In fact, to help you along, one lucky commenter on this post will win a copy of the book in either .mobi, .epub or .pdf form. Winner���s choice. So comment and let me know your thoughts on all things Valentine and/or Book Boyfriends. Happy Valentine���s Day! Contest ends on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015 at noon Eastern Time.

Bianca

Come over to ��The D���Arc Side��� WWW.BIANCADARC.COM

Filed under: Bianca D'Arc, Blog Party with Contests, contest, erotic romance, fantasy romance, Guest Blog, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, romance novels, vampire books, vampires

A Writer���s Valentine by Stacy Hoff

Valentine���s Day for me usually means spending time with my husband and family. But��this Valentine���s Day I���ll also be spending it with other folks���an entire group of people in fact. Yes, that���s right, I���ll be at my CT RWA chapter (Connecticut Chapter of the Romance Writers of America) attending our regularly scheduled second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting. What a great way to show my love for my fellow authors!

How do I love thee, CTRWA? Let me count the ways…

This fabulous group of authors has helped me:

write stories that are actually articulate
gain the confidence I needed to submit these stories to publishers
learn how to market so people can know my stories are Amazon

and then they encourage me to do it all over again!

If the pillars of love are built on the foundation of trust, support and loyalty, then I���m in love with my writing group.

In fact, I���m way beyond smitten. It���s time to buy the ring.

Hope my husband isn���t jealous. At least I made reservations for a romantic dinner with him after the meeting.

Do you have any writing partners or groups you are in love with? Let me know because it’s time to spread the love!

Find Stacy on Social Media: http://www.facebook.com/authorStacyHoff Twitter: twitter.com/authorStacyHoff Web: http://www.stacyhoff.com

Desire in the Everglades available on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Desire-Everglades-Stacy-Hoff-ebook/dp/B00NFSMCYG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410289138&sr=8-1&keywords=desire+in+the+everglades.

Filed under: A writer's life, Holidays, romance, Stacy Hoff, Time Enought to Love, Valentine's Day, Writer Workshops, Writer's life, Writing

The Love Quiz: How Romantic Are You? by Susan Hanniford Crowley

Do you consider yourself romantic? Let’s have a little fun. Take the quiz and find out how romantic you are.

1. The object of your affection is upset? What do you do?

a. Offer a hug.

b. Give roses

c. Do both

2. You would like to get romantic. What do you do to inspire your beloved?

a. Watch tv and hug

b. Make a great dinner

c. Start with kissing and whisper a suggestion

3. It’s Valentine’s Day. What do you give to your love?

a. Sign a card and give it to them

b. Buy flowers and candy and a card

c. Write a poem in the card and give a suggestive gift

4. What is a suggestive gift?

a. Fortune cookies that suggest certain activities that can’t be expressed on a PG blog

b. A novel you want to read together

c. A spontaneous trip to a hideaway hotel

5. What place do you find romantic?

a. The bedroom

b. The closet

c. A hotel room overlooking a lake or ocean

6. What is the most romantic thing you could say?

a. I love you.

b. I will love you forever.

c. You are my true love.

Courtesy of http://vintageholidaycrafts.com/free-vintage-clip-art-valentines-day/

How it’s time to score to your quiz.

For every A, give yourself one point.

For every B, give yourself two points.

For every C, give yourself three points.

6-9 points – You are basically romantic, but there’s room for more fun.

10-13 points – You are more daring. Yay for you!

14-18 points – You are HOT! You are so romantic and adventurous.

Thank you for taking our little quiz. This quiz is for entertainment purposes. Happy St. Valentine’s Day. Have fun!

-Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley, Amazon Kindle Bestselling Author of Vampire Romance

www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Where love burns eternal and whispers in the dark!

Vampire King of New York available at Amazon Kindle and print, Barnes and Noble Nook and print and in Kobo

A Vampire for Christmas in Kindle

Filed under: A Vampire for Christmas, Love Quiz, Max Vander Meer, romance, romance novels, Susan Hanniford Crowley, the romance of life, Valentine's Day, vampire books, Vampire King of New York In Print, Vampire Maximillion Vander Meer, vampires, What inspires you?

Vulnerability

I know last week, I wrote about Amy Cuddy and her ted talk on the power of body language and confidence, but this week I���d like to share another ted talk by Bren�� Brown on vulnerability. If you���d like to watch it click here. The reason I chose this topic to blog about this week is because as writers, I feel it absolutely essential for us to be vulnerable in our writing.

Why, you ask? Bren�� Brown does a great job of explaining how vulnerability is two-fold. Sure it exposes us to all the things that could possibly hurt us, but it also exposes us to all the great things in life as well. When we do what we do to numb ourselves from difficult things we face numbing ourselves from the great things we have to experience as well.

As writers, one of the greatest challenges is making our readers truly feel the emotions we aim to portray through our characters. I can���t speak for everyone but there I certain times that I must write certain scenes. Music helps put me in a certain mood, but it isn���t always fool proof. Emotions add a whole different level of complexity and to get them down, we truly need to be open to letting ourselves feel what our characters feel. Sometimes this can be great, but other times, we open a box of very ugly facets of life that most of us would rather just avoid.

What about you all, do you make yourselves vulnerable through your writing? How would you say it affects you?

Happy writing this week.

Filed under: A writer's life, Toni Kelly, Writer's Life

Hot for the Holidays Super Valentine’s Day Sale by Mandy Rosko

Hey everyone! It’s that special time of year where I get depressed for not having a date again, but super stoked from all the book sales :) Part of being so excited is that I can bring some super sweet sales to you!

A lot of authors are putting their books into the pot, many of which are absolutely free, while some are as low as 99 cents. A lot of New York Times and or USA Today Bestsellers are in this sale, Including Mandy Roth, Cathryn Fox, Michelle M. Pillow, and many others.

For this sale, I’ll be using up my 5 free kindle days to give Burns Like Fire free to anyone who wants a copy :) The Legend of the Werewolf is going to be 99 cents, and My Angel Lover, Have Mercy on Me, a M/M paranormal with vampires and angels, will also be just 99 cents for the sale ;) As always, The Dragon and The Wolf,��an M/M paranormal novella, is also still free (yay!)

Now, these sales are only on from Feb 9-13th, so I highly suggest looking over these cool sales and picking up what you like before they vanish in time for Valentine’s Day. I’m still looking through what I’d like to get, and so far I’ve found a couple of gems that I can’t wait to get started on ;)

I’m sure there’s only about a thousand things that I’m forgetting to mention because this excites me so damned much, but I’ll try and remember them all for next week’s post. I need to get back to my book shopping :3

Cheers and happy reading!

XOXO

~Mandy

Burns Like Fire (Dangerous Creatures Book One) is��Available Now!

The Princess’ Dragon Lord is Now Available at��Amazon��and��B&N

Connect with me online:

Facebook

www.goodreads.com/Mandyrosko

Twitter: @rizzorosko

Mandyrosko.com

Want the latest on hot guys, erotic romance, and sizzling action? Add your super cool name to my Newsletter list and I’ll make sure you’re the first to hear about new releases the day they come out:��http://rizzorosko.com/contact.html
Filed under: romance

Paranormal-Scope & Jupiter Ascending Movie Review by Susan Hanniford Crowley

Before the Paranormal-Scope this week, I’m doing a movie review. Some of you might know I used to be a movie reviewer.�� I’m bursting at the seams with excitement about “Jupiter Ascending.” The Wachowskis wrote and directed this fun, exciting, action-packed, Earth/space adventure about a young woman named Jupiter Jones, who hates her life. Remember what can happen if you say that. Mila Kunis plays Jupiter, a woman who doesn’t want to spend her whole life washing toilets, who dreams of the stars like her stargazing father. Channing Tatum portrays Caine Wise, an alien warrior paid to retrieve her. For what is he retrieving her?�� I’m not going to tell. If you love starship battles and great alien worlds, if you love almost non-stop action and a story about an underdog who is more than what they seem, then you’re going to love “Jupiter Ascending.” I saw this movie yesterday and loved it. The performances are great. The special effects equally great. To tell you more about this out-of-this-world adventure would be to cheat you of the experience.�� Five Stars for “Jupiter Ascending” and I’m a hard reviewer. I’m begging them now for the sequel.

Now for the Paranormal-Scope, which is anything but normal.

While I am not qualified in any way to read neither stars nor planets, I am intimately linked to the paranormal in the world in many ways. So are you.

The paranormal-scope is for entertainment purposes only and is not meant to guide your life by.

The week for:

Aries:

Aliens can be a drag this week. Lay low and stay out of trouble. Focus on work.

Taurus:

You’ll run into a warrior from your past. Reviving an old friendship can be to your benefit.

Gemini:

Looking through a telescope can give you a new perspective of the world. Not everything that shines is so far away. Goals are within your grasp.

Cancer:

Waste has an awful habit of piling up. Go through your clutter, and find some important things you misplaced.

Leo:

Youth is fleeting. Be young at heart instead. Trying to stay young is best done through happiness. Do things you enjoy. Hang out with friends.

Virgo:

The distant stars are calling you. You have adventures waiting.

Libra:

Being beautiful isn’t everything. Okay, you can get that thing you love. But be cautious of your budget.

Scorpio:

Spaceships are cool. Think of your car as a spaceship and make sure it’s clean, equipped, and ready to go.

Sagittarius:

Someone amazing will come into your life.�� Be ready to take the challenge.

Capricorn:

Sleep can restore. Be open to some extra nap time. It will give you a better outlook.

Aquarius:

Everyone is different. Be open to making new friends.

Pisces:

A secret from your past will come to light. You have choices ahead of you. You can go far.

-Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley, Amazon Kindle Bestselling Author of Vampire Romance

www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Where love burns eternal and whispers in the dark!

Vampire King of New York available at Amazon Kindle and print, Barnes and Noble Nook and print and in Kobo

A Vampire for Christmas in Kindle

P.S. I’m planning a surprise on Valentine’s Day!�� It may be a double surprise!

Filed under: A Vampire for Christmas, Max Vander Meer, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, Susan Hanniford Crowley, vampire books, Vampire David Hilliard, Vampire King of New York, Vampire King of New York In Print, Vampire Maximillion Vander Meer, vampires, Weekly Paranormal-Scope

Happy Valentines’ Day: E is for Eros

William Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825 – 1905) A Young Girl Defending Herself against Eros, about 1880, Oil on canvas The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

 

���Cupid, draw back your bow.���

I thought it rather a quirk of Fate that today���s letter was ���E��� for the week before St. Valentine���s Day. What���s more perfect than Eros, the Greek god of fertility, who is also the god the Roman���s called ���Cupid,��� who is associated with February 14th?

Eros is the son of Aphrodite, goddess of love. His name is the Greek word for passionate

Eros Farnese
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

love and desire and the root of the word ���erotic.��� Erotic love is said to be a ���madness��� and such love is said to come to one through arrows or darts. Love at first sight was said to occur this way, through the arrows or darts from Eros���s bow.

The Greeks did not see ���eros��� as a positive kind of love. Rather because it was such a strong love, fiery and irrational, they viewed it as dangerous. Other types of love with a more positive aspect were ���philia��� or friendship, ���ludus��� or playful love, such as children or young teens show when flirting, ���pragma,��� which is a practical or logical love in which someone actively searches for a partner with certain characteristics, and ���agape,��� or self-less love for your fellow man.

Surprisingly, according to researchers at Texas Tech, ���men tend to view love more in terms of the romantic, intense eros love, or the game-playing love of ludas. Women often have a more logical outlook in the practical pragma love.���

In the end, however, as Gregory Alper reminds us in ���The Forces of Sex, Eros and Love in Relationships,��� Eros is not love. ���Eros is the sense of adventure, excitement, romance.��� And Eros is temporary. It is the moment of being shot by Cupid���s arrow and falling hopelessly in love.

���Cupid, draw back your bow.��� Here���s wishing you a visit from the little cherub with the arrows next weekend.

Cupid Shooting a Bow
Courtesy Wikimedia Common

 

Filed under: Holidays, Jenna Jaxon

How Do You Celebrate Valentine’s Day? By Susan Hanniford Crowley

Card courtesy of http://vintageholidaycrafts.com/free-vintage-clip-art-valentines-day/

Next Saturday is St. Valentine’s Day!

There are different legends of St. Valentine but the one that appears the most popular is that he was a priest in Rome and was thrown into prison for marrying soldiers to their sweethearts which was forbidden. While in prison awaiting his execution ordered by the Roman emperor, he healed the blind daughter of his jailer. Before his execution, he wrote a note to her (Julia) and signed it “Your Valentine.”

St. Valentine’s Day has been celebrated with notes of love and devotion, poetry, cards, flowers and candy.�� Some cards through the ages have been fanciful to romantic.

, vampire books, Vampire King of New York, Vampire King of New York In Print, Vampire Maximillion Vander Meer