Virginia Nelson's Blog, page 14

How college killed my #Thanksgiving joy

So, everyone is all, "It is almost Thanksgiving! You know what that means, right?" Uh, sure I do. It means that someone will make a turkey. I will eat the turkey. I will have a turkey coma. Maybe someone will tell me that I didn't burn the pie (which I totally did) and people will give me hugs. No pilgrims will be at any meal I attend and I will have some quality time to fight with my children. Why fight? Uh, toothpaste and hair brushes mostly. Maybe the occasional wail of, "But I hate wearing button down shirts, Mom!"

Still, that's good times and all. But I'm not jumping up and down or anything. So, people mention, when I'm not all rainbows and unicorns, "But it is almost Black Friday! Aren't you excited?" Well, no, actually. I'm a broke single mother of three kids trying to prepare for Christmas. The fact that I could get a flatscreen for $300? Not thrilling. I don't have $300 to blow on a TV. You do? That's great. I've heard the lines at 4am aren't bad. Have fun with that freezing your behind off standing in those lines and don't drop the TV, ok?

"So, Virg, if you're not excited about Thanksgiving or Black Friday, what ARE you thinking about?"

Uh, this.

#NewRelease #Spanking #SpankOrTreat ~ The Elder Warlock, by Virginia Nelson #99cents #Sale

Available now...
16 sexy stories of spanking including my Elder Warlock.
Buy Links
Amazon | ARe | Smashwords

SPANK OR TREAT 2014 *** 18+ Contest & Story!

SPANK OR TREAT 2014Spank or Treat 2014 is finally here! Visit Governing Ana for the prize list, sign-up sheet, and full instructions. You can win from a prize pool valued at over $1,000, including a Kindle Fire or Nook HD donated by Blushing Books!Many authors will also offer a contest on their individual blogs.  Your comment on their blogs automatically enters you in both the main contest and the individual contests! How do you play?
1.Visit each blog between Friday, October 24th and Sunday, October 26th to read the stories.
2. Leave a comment on each blog. You must demonstrate that you have read the entire story. Copy-and-paste or inappropriate comments will be disqualified. You will receive one entry per blog for the grand prize drawing. Note: You must have a minimum of five entries in order to win a grand prize.
3.If you have visited all of the blogs, visit Ana’s blog to sign up for FIVE bonus entries to the grand prize.
4.Deadline is midnight EST (UTC -5) on Sunday, October 26th!
5. If you successfully completed a previous challenge (Sci Spanks 2014, Love Spanks 2014, Spank or Treat 2013, Spankee Doodle 2013, Love Spanks 2013, or Spank or Treat 2012), you may add “VIP” to your comments.  You will earn THREE bonus entries toward the grand prize.  (Yes, we will be doing this again.  Yes, if you successfully complete the Spank or Treat 2014 challenge you can become a VIP for our next activity!)

6. If you are a writer of fiction (any kind), add “W” to your comments to be entered in the special author prize drawings.

7. If you are a Spank or Treat 2014 Ambassador, please add “Amb” to your comments to receive your extra prize drawing.8.Visit Governing Ana or any of the participating blogs on Friday, October 31st to find out the lucky winners. Will it be you? We will also announce prizes on the Spank or Treat Facebook page.

Like these events? Want to support your favorite authors? Become a Spank or Treat Ambassador! In exchange for promoting this event, you will receive one extra prize entry, AND you are still eligible to participate and win prizes! To find out the details, sign up on the Ambassador page.
For more information, updates, and a list of participating authors, please visit Anastasia Vitsky’s blog.Like Spank or Treaton Facebook!Tweet #SpankOrTreat on Twitter!Join the exclusive chat with Spank or Treat authors! Message AnastasiaVitsky on Facebook or any of the authors to receive an invitationFor more spanking fun, visit Saturday Spankings for additional snippets. Find links to the rest of the Spank or Treat stories at Governing Ana! The more blogs you visit and comment, the more chance to win prizes!

Void where prohibited and must be 18 years or older to win.

Be sure to join me October 24 ~ 9 to 10 PM EDT 
on Facebook for lots of fun and prizes!Story deleted for publication in anthology...coming soon!!
GIVEAWAY!!! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story. Let me know in a comment below (with your email) or tell me your favorite candy that you'd get trick or treating, for a chance to WIN a swag package including Odd Stuff, signed. Contest is national, US entrants only (Sorry!!).

Double #CoverReveal from Samantha Holt!

Tempting His Mistress Coming November 10th
What could possibly induce at woman to follow in the footsteps of her mother and further sully her reputation by becoming a mistress?
Lilly Claremont is well used to being at the centre of gossip.  Being the illegitimate child of a rich businessman never failed to titillate the gossips and while she cared little about the wagging tongues she never intended to reinforce their opinions of her by ruining herself completely.
But it seems Lord Hawksley is determined to make the fascinating Lilly his mistress…
Evan has no doubt her bold tongue and beautiful body could keep him entertained for some time. Captivated by her, he must find a way to burn through his desire for her. He cannot marry a woman of such social standing so why not make her his mistress?
After the murder of her father, Lilly is searching for answers and they lead her directly to Lord Hawksley. But will they also lead her to his bed...?




Once Upon a RakeComing November 24th
In Victorian England, little Ellie Browning swiftly discovered happy endings did not exist, and rakes were simply rakes. When the man she had adored for years kissed her and left her heartbroken, she resolved to put any dreams of fairy tales aside. Seven years later, the widowed Eleanor, Countess of Hawthorne, has returned to England after years of travelling with a few ideas in mind. Firstly, she will continue to be the refined, elegant woman she has learned to be—or at least she shall try her best—and secondly, she will make a difference to the lives of those less fortunate than her.  A fine opportunity presents itself when she discovers she is now a part owner of a cotton mill.But the owner of the mill and the very same rake who had hurt her, has no desire to let a woman interfere with his business, let alone little Ellie Browning. After one of Lucian’s mills succumbed to fire, he’s fighting to save the other and continue his father’s legacy of fine business decisions and accruing wealth.However, after a series of accidents, it becomes clear someone wishes the mill to close. But who, and why? Forced together to investigate the incidents, they must get past their shared history if they want to save the business. If only the growing attraction between them did not prove such a distraction. With things heating up between them, it becomes clear that they are both at risk of getting burned...

#NewRelease #Spotlight on Thianna D and Chemistry of Attraction

Chemistry of AttractionTake one hot summer. Add in an intellectual chemist and a dominant retired Marine. Once the chemistry ignites, combustion is soon to follow.
By Thianna DGoodreads  Buy links
Thianna D | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Blushing Books
Retired Marine Brandon Delt, moves to Corbin’s Bend after his recently divorced wife marries his cousin. Tired of living a non-discipline lifestyle, he fully welcomes the openness of the Corbin’s Bend spanking community. One day he hopes to meet the woman he could make his TiH. He doesn’t expect to meet her on day one.

Carodine Minor’s just in Corbin’s Bend for the summer. Just graduated with her master’s degree in chemistry, Dina isn’t sure of her next step in life. Not once has she ever considered being spanked. Logical woman that she is, when she finds herself intrigued by the idea of a hand across her derriere, she asks for a demonstration from Brandon. One demo turns into a wild night of passion neither wants to let go of.

Take one hot summer. Add in an intellectual chemist and a dominant retired Marine. Once the chemistry ignites, combustion is soon to follow.
Excerpt:Her stomach did a little flip as he drove them to his house. She assumed he still had every intention of spanking her, and she was on board. But now she was kind of hoping for even more and what if a spanking made it so that she couldn’t enjoy anything afterward? Just how much pain would she be in when all was said and done?
Brandon’s house was much smaller than her grandparents’, and it was rather comfortable. After he got them each a glass of wine, he sat down on the sofa and pulled her down next to him. “You don’t have to be afraid of me,” he said into her ear. “I won’t do anything you don’t want.”
Giggling nervously, because she hadn’t realized how much she was emitting her worried state, she snuggled into his warm arms. “I want everything.” Realizing how blunt that sounded, she winced and looked up into his gray eyes.
“You want an erotic spanking and sex?” he asked, speaking the words she didn’t think she could say.
“Yes.” The thought of being in his arms and having sex made her blood boil. It had been too long since she had been with a man and somehow she knew Brandon would make things good.
“All right.” He removed the wine from her hands and put both glasses on the coffee table. “We can have that later. Come with me.” Standing up, he took her hand and pulled her to her feet. She trailed along after him into his bedroom. The walls were clear except for a picture of him in his dress uniform with two people flanking him that she assumed were his parents. The room itself was taken up with a huge bed and her eyes snapped onto it.
Author Bio:Thianna D. likes to say she’s eclectic, fun, and just a bit naughty. She writes erotica and erotic romance with both M/F and M/M main characters. No matter what she writes, all the hot scenes support the story instead of the other way around.
She’s also the creator of and acquisition editor for the Corbin’s Bend spanking romance series. Who else wants to be safe, secure, and spanked in Colorado?
Where you can find her:Website |  Blog | Corbin’s Bend | Facebook Author Page | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

#Release Week Sale! From Delphina Henley

 
Happy Release Week Sale!!!  Only $.99 for one week only! Always be yourself... that was the last advice Scout's Grandma Nora gave her before she died. Scout has spent her life trying to be anything but, but she has a chance to start anew as she moves several states away to college. She had always thought the glowing aura she saw around some people was a childhood fancy, but when it starts coming back just as she's starting her new life, she learns there was much hidden about who she truly is.Thankfully, she has a motley crew to help her along the way: a spunky bookseller, a trustworthy pub owner, a commanding grandmother, a possible best friend, and a hot rocker boy who only has eyes for her.Unless You Can Be A Unicorn is a New Adult Paranormal Romance with content appropriate for a Young Adult audience.
 Amazon [image error] Giveaway: Be sure to enter to win a Ginormous Gift Pack of Awesome including a GC, Books, swag and more :You can check out the prize pack on the FB Release Day Extravaganza page and join the fun!a Rafflecopter giveaway

Maybe I work too much...

Yesterday, I took a good chunk of the day off. I wasn't working--not on school or kid's school or editing or writing or graphics work for most of the day.

I went to the yard sales happening because of the Covered Bridge Festival. I had lunch in a bar with Ma and Shell. I got home, delivered all of my various junking finds to their new owners...and then answered the phone and a call to help with a float.


I decorated a float with friends. I laughed and was ridiculous and silly and giggly.

When I came home, I fully intended to work. Brought the computer downstairs and everything, but instead I kicked back on my couch and watched Two Weeks Notice and 27 Dresses.

One of the 'adopted' boys came over after the football game and saw me there and said, "This is weird."

I asked what and he said, "You're never laying on the couch and just watching TV."

Which is oddly true. I mean, sure, some days I manage to catch Jeopardy! I do USUALLY remember to take time off work on Sunday nights for Once Upon a Time and The Walking Dead (although if I have enough work, I dvr them and try to see them later...)

But mostly? Yeah, I spend very little time NOT working and that the kids have noticed this?

I've set this goal before and totally failed it, but my new goal for fall is to take one day off a week to not work.

Yeah, okay, so I handled about an hour of school things yesterday and I did answer some emails, but mostly off work is better than looking weird when I veg on my own couch, so I'll shoot for that.

Workaholics of the world, unite!
Or plan to and work through the meeting. You know, whichever.

Dancing in the rain

A dear friend recently pointed out to me that my life used to read like the pages of misadventure some of my less lucky characters face. Chaos, panic, one disaster following the other and constantly in a state of almost damsel like distress.

She was being kind, as I've faced some interesting storms over the course of my life (doesn't everyone, really?) however I gave it a bit of thought on my drive back and forth to school and realized it isn't that my life has become less stormy.

In the past week alone, my son was in a car accident with my mother (they got rearended), I got venom testing done (which sounds so much prettier than they shot me full of stuff I'm allergic to and blew me up like a pufferfish), I dealt with various midterms and midterm projects for college, my battery died on the car one day, my dad fell and a whole cluster of other lesser catastrophes (phone replacement and issues, spacebar dying, little things).

I realized it isn't so much that my life became less of a muddle, it is more that I've learned not to let the various roadblocks and scary moments stop me from moving on. I've learned, somewhere along the way, to dance in the rain.

I'm not sure when or how, but if I have one wish for anyone reading this? It is that whatever things are jumping in your path or flat out barricading your way...

I hope you dance in the rain and come out of the storm fresh and strong.

How to train your writer

My best friend has excelled at this particular skill, so I figured a couple methods she's used in her hard work in training me might be useful to someone out there.

1. If you feed them, they will come.

Not an exact science, since a writer in their natural habitat won't leave their natural habitat (staring at the screen or paper), however if you feed your writer, they will make appearances. Like most wild animals, the writer must eventually eat. If you provide warm food--or even cold food, depending on the length of time since you've last seen your writer--the writer will (like a stray) come back for more. Sometimes, just shoving food in the general direction of your writer will be the most you can do, but if you wait patiently, they will again reemerge from the writing cave and seek out what they know is a good source for sustenance.

2. Let them babble.

Writing is a most solitary profession, so your writer likely spends hours if not days (and nights) with no other sound than the tap of their fingers and maybe their own voice if they pause and read things out loud. Other than, "Get down, cat!" your writer might not have spoken at all since the last time you've seen them. Although you yourself might have things to say, just let your writer babble for a bit to remove the words bursting as if from a dam just broken and they will eventually run out of steam. Allowing for this babble will mean that your writer will hear you when you speak, since the pressure from all the words unspoken has been relieved.

3. Sympathize.

Your writer is babbling about some author or publisher or editor? Now they're telling you all about this person who made them mad, only for you to realize a half an hour into the conversation that they're talking about a fictional character in either their story or one they've read? Just sympathize, even if you have no clue what they're babbling about. Sometimes, your writer isn't so much looking for you to follow all that they're saying, they're simply hoping for someone to sympathize since they can't talk to anyone in the business about these things.

4. Pet frequently.

Remember, your writer is an artist at their core, no matter how businesslike they might pretend to be. As an artist, this means their temperament leads to the favorable insofar as they're great people watchers and might understand you pretty well when most people only see the surface stuff.

Conversely, this same artistic temperament means your author is constantly battling monsters known as self-doubt, insecurities, and otherwise a general surety that they're a hack. If you pet your writer, perhaps even remind them that you loved that one thing they wrote that one time, it will give your writer the steam to keep on keeping on, so to speak. One tiny nugget of belief is enough to fuel your writer for weeks, since they hoard any cheerleading comments like dragons guarding gold. When your author goes out into the world to deal with trolls, negative reviews, rejections and revisions, your breadcrumb of belief is the stuff that keeps them from turning in the writing hat and planting a nice garden instead.

5. Don't take their hermit ways personally.

Your writer can't be a writer if they're not writing. This means, sometimes? They're literally not present. They're home or in the office and writing away and it isn't that they've decided not to hang out with you...

They're not there at all. They're off slaying a dragon or otherwise living the lives of the character. They've probably not showered or eaten or even slept. So it isn't a rejection of you...they've forgotten themselves, too. It isn't personal. They do love you, but they're working. Once in a while, it is totally okay to steal your writer away from their work, since they likely won't remember to do it themselves, and will also likely thank you for the much needed break they didn't realize they required. Expect hugs and sometimes tears for this kind of rescue, but don't think it means they won't again be eaten alive by the next story or chapter.

6. Prepare to be immortalized.

Your writer will love you and cherish you so much that they'll likely give you immortality on the page. That one time you gave them a hug when they were crying? In a book. Your writer might sometimes burst into tears over fictional people or stare into space with a vague look on their face...while not remembering what you asked them to get at the store...but your writer still loves you, so you will live forever in the words they string together into stories.

Ugly Crying Because Higgins ~ A #review of #newrelease In Your Dreams

I preorder every new book by Kristan Higgins which, for a single mama and college student (omg the cost of books) is saying a lot. MOST books? I wait for some reviewers to have at them, just to be sure I really, really, really want to buy the book (otherwise, I'd own ALL the books and be gnawing on the dog for sustenance.) Not Higgins. Preordered this one the MOMENT it became available and, spoiler alert? I don't regret it.

She's yet to make me regret that easy one-click-preorder option Amazon so nicely offers.

Her newest release, In Your Dreams , is yet another tale in the Blue Heron series and focuses on brother Jack--the perfect one. On one hand, how can she fail to make me love Jack? Everyone loves Jack, even the other characters. Former military, a hunk, a family man, the perfect brother and son, the perfect uncle, a winemaker, hot, knows he's hot and uses his powers of hotness for good and not evil (he's EVERYONE's loaner date guy. Have a wedding and don't want to go alone? Call Jack. Have a reunion and need a guy so your former classmates don't know it is just you and your cat? Bingo, call Jack.) and all of that besides being part of the Holland family who readers have grown to love as this series progressed.

On the other hand? Uh, he's too perfect. Way too perfect. Of course it will be easy to love him? What on earth is there NOT to love?

Lots, apparently, because Jack is suffering from some very well deserved PTSD, and his ex-wife (enter Southern Belle Barbie) who is back in town and, well, all that perfect. (Yes, I said he was suffering from the ex-wife and being perfect--that wasn't a misplaced word. These are things to be endured, not perks, promise.)

Because what woman can believe she deserves all that is Jack Holland and can keep him too?

Not Emmaline Neal, local cop and hockey player. She's quite sure, from page one practically, that he's not for her.

I've said this before, yet it bears repeating...each time I read the description of one of Higgins' heroines, I think to myself, "Yeah, she and I have nothing in common." Me? Well, I have a really decent case of writer's butt. I have rainbow-bright hair and three kids. I live in a barn with some poisonous frogs, loud and boisterous teenagers, a rescued dog and some no-longer-stray cats and otherwise...

It just doesn't seem likely that I'd find much common ground with an outgoing cop who likes sports and (shuddering) running. On purpose. Like, even if she's not being chased by zombies. Shoot, I don't think that even zombies would make me run...I'd probably meander quickly, figuring it was my fate if one bit me, and hope someone else tripped or something. Running? For fun?

Not in my vocab, sorry.

But Emmaline shared that magical trait that Higgins' heroines all do. I love her. I adored her. I sympathized her and ended the book really bummed that I couldn't call her up so we could hang out. She's flawed. She's strong. She's been hurt and isn't letting it cripple her.

Plus, uh, did I mention Jack is hot? Because yeeeowza.

He cooks, by the way, as if all his earlier traits weren't sufficient to make him hero material. And offers cake as foreplay. I gotta be honest, if he'd been ugly and mean? The cake offering as foreplay might have won me over. I'm easy like that. Also, uh, I like cake. We mentioned writer's butt already, right?

Eh, but I digress.

Without giving away spoilers, I'll say that Emmaline was once in love with a guy who wasn't perfect, but he was hers. He even proposed, planned the wedding...all that. But then he left her for his trainer and since then? Emmaline has been a little gunshy. Well, not gunshy. In typically Higgins fashion, we started the book with one of those unforgettable first sentences, to be honest.

Nothing kicked off Emmaline Neal's weekend like using a Taser.
-Kristan Higgins, In Your Dreams
So when the ex invites her to the wedding in SoCal (to be attended by her parents, her sibling, and a whole slew of folks from her past, Emmaline tries for a date so that, at the very least, the People magazine article which dubbed her the unsupportive ex will be somewhat ignored due to her not being the cast-off badguy.
 Jack? Well, he's got that PTSD I mentioned and no one local either recognizes or seems willing to stop triggering it with their attempts at helping him. He's also got Southern Belle Barbie back in town...and all in all, the offer to fly off to parts unknown and escape winter and the real world? She's kind of doing him a favor. 
Once at the wedding, nothing goes as planned. Even if there wasn't much of a plan to begin with, but still it manages to veer right into the land of hilarity and misadventure. I laughed with these characters. When they got back to town and things continued to spiral out of control? I ached for these characters.

By the end of the book? I cried with these characters. Ugly tears. My kids can now tell simply by the bouts of unrestrained laughter followed by sobs that I'm reading a new Higgins book (or rereading an old one. Both kind of have the same reaction from me, though from the kids I'm never quite as bad with rereading them as I am when I get my greedy fingers on a new one.)

I wanted to hang out with Em, maybe join the Bitter Betrayeds, and then give Angela a hug for being such a great sister.

I wanted my very own Jack, flaws and all, and I only have one complaint. That it ended and I find myself yet again in the gap between Kristen Higgins books. 

( Dear Santa--All I want for Christmas is more Higgins books. I won't lie and tell you I've been a good girl, but...JACK ON THE KITCHEN TABLE. Just sayin. )

Highly recommend. Full of hilarity, poignant bits, and the amazing identifiable nature of the characters I've come to expect from this author.

Now, back to nursing my book hangover...

Note: I did not receive this copy from the author or publisher in return for an honest review. I just bought it because I'm an addict and I cannot resist stuff by this author.