Laurann Dohner's Blog, page 7

Slade and other news!

August 19th is approaching fast!!! Whooo Hooo! The second New Species book is coming out. You can click on the cover and it will take you to the blurb and excerpt. I'm hoping (fingers crossed) the third one gets a September release date. It's IN and I'm waiting for edits. Slade and the third book - Valiant are plus sized novels. Fury was a Super Plus sized novel. The second and third books aren't much shorter so if you like longer books...you should be happy. I'm going over the 4th book right now updating it and should get it turned in soon. It's been a TRIP updating these books (9 are written). Way back when I wrote them cell phones weren't common (um...they were BULKY and EXPENSIVE)...so mostly they used land lines to make calls. I've traded out CD players for Mp3 players. Going over the technology stuff isn't so tough. I'm also taking out anything that dates it and references to things that no longer exist! LOL! I'm taking all the things I've learned from my lovely editors and fixing my bad author habits I had. It's been a FUN challenge. Once I get the original 9 books updated, I plan to finish the 3 additional books that were near complete when I stopped writing these. Then....hopefully MORE of them! I have a bunch of partials for some of the secondary characters to get their own books. That's the plan!!!

I've also been working on the 7th Cyborg Seduction book about Krell. I'm having WAY TOO MUCH fun writing it. I love mouthy characters. LOL! I have a lot of fun with cyborgs since they are dealing with women from Earth and our slang that only Sky (cyborg) understands since he studies Earth often. I DO plan to write Sky's story. I get a lot of emails asking about him. With Krell you'll get a peek into the past when Cyborgs were still living on Earth. Yeah...I'm having way too much fun writing this. It's probably why it's taking so long. I don't want to give him up!!! I'm loving Krell.

My family and I had a 'vacation day'. We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was really neat seeing all the tanks of cool stuff. We even got to watch them feed the larger fish with divers in the tanks. I took a bunch of videos so the kids can watch it over and over and over!!! I have to edit out the sounds first though because if you've ever filmed with other people around....you know why! Fifty voices talking in the background. I'll find some neat, mellow music for the kids and they can hopefully watch it and um...fall asleep! We hit the gift shop on the way out and of course I HAD to buy myself some stuffed animal turtles (2 of them). I have NO CLUE what to do with them. The first night they adorned my night table. Last night Mr. Laurann thought it would be funny to put one of them on Dude's back to peer at me over his ears (my 2 foot gargoyle next to my monitor). Currently the stuffed turtles are hanging out on my printer looking huggable. Yeah...I know. But they were just too tempting to not buy! LOL!!! They look like Squirt from Finding Nemo. Who could resist??? (okay...most of you probably could have but not me...) We did buy the kids lots of stuff too.

I love turtles! I had one as a kid. It broke my heart when we went on vacation and someone stole him. Yeah. Sometimes people SUCK! I never forgot King Tut. He had that whole 'regal' thing going on about him. My daughter was recently given a turtle and he's adorable. He swims around in his tank looking way too cute for words. I almost want to steal him and find room for him on my desk next to my gargoyle but you know...she'd cry...so I guess not! Bad parenting 101 to confiscate your child's pet because you want it for yourself. LOL!!! So here's a picture I took outside on our way home.

In other news...I wrote some anthology stories and they were accepted by Ellorascave. I mentioned it before but I still don't have a release date or an official cover. Here's a link to Jaid Black's blog talking about it. LINK I always wanted to be a part of an anthology and I feel so honored to be in books with such amazing, talented authors! As soon as I get the official word about a release date and the official covers...I'll post! I'm ecstatic!!!

I hope everyone is well and happy! School starts at the end of the month and I have to admit...I'm looking forward to some quiet time again during the day. It's been rough with a house full of people. I can relate to Vampires now with their odd hours...only I don't burst into flames when the sun rises. I just realize I worked all night again and should have gone to bed hours before! It's slowed me down a bit but I'm getting in some word count and that's all that matters. LOL!

I updated my author video if you want to take a look at it.

Next book - Slade - has a release date!!!

Slade by Laurann Dohner - August 19th!

Book 2 in the New Species series. The books can be read as stand-alone stories, but they are interwoven so it is advisable to read them in order to get the most enjoyment from the series.

Dr. Trisha Norbit is flat on her back in a hospital bed, pinned under a really big New Species male. Though drugged out of his mind, he promises her ecstasy and is determined to deliver but hospital staff intervenes. 215 is a man she will never forget. But, when she meets him again at Homeland…he doesn't even remember her!

The nosy new doctor wants to know all about the breeding habits between humans and Species. Slade proposes a hands-on education but s

But, when her life is in danger, he's the only one who can save her. As they flee through the wilderness, their desire ignites and cannot be denied. Hot sex, on the run, has consequences that are even more dangerous and will change their lives forever.

(Click on the cover to go read the excerpt!)

Fury is OUT! Yippee! I've gotten a lot of emails about it. They love him. AWESOME! To get this series out is a dream come true for me.

I'm being interviewed at Tabby's Nocturnal Nights blog! LINK

On a personal note ----

I debated on if I should address this or not but if you know me - I'm pretty blunt and upfront. Some people are comparing my New Species series to another well known series and that's fine and even understandable but here's some things to keep in mind just for knowledge sake. First off, I wrote this series before that series was out and I have the old, dusty computer and the dated files to prove it. Second off, anyone ever heard of H.G Wells??? Island of Doctor Moreau was a book written in 1896 and a movie was made about it in the 70's I believe. They did a remake of it some years ago too (90's) if you don't read classics. It was a horror novel about experiments gone wrong with animals/human hybrids. This idea isn't exactly unique. That's just an example and I used it because who hasn't heard of H.G Wells? The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, and the list goes on for his books. He wrote awesome scary stuff and they made fantastic science fiction/horror movies about them. There are more examples but I used that since yeah - who hasn't heard of him??? The idea of genetically altered human beings with animal DNA has been out there for over a hundred years.

Read New Species and you'll see they are different. The only common bond is genetically altered humans with animal DNA. A pharmaceutical company created them (not sure about the other series and how/why they were made) but in reality who would make them? Common sense. I doubt some guy in his basement has the high tech skill or equipment to take on genetic splicing and my chemistry set as a kid sure wouldn't have done the trick. LOL. The science is unfortunately real. They've been doing experiments with human/animal DNA mixing for a lot of years searching to find cures and that's why a drug company was picked in my head to have created them. It made sense to me. Look at the recent news story released on the subject as an example of the possibility. http://in.news.yahoo.com/uk-scientists-slammed-secretly-growing-human-animal-hybrid-111941923.html

I personally wrote about them because my first book/series I ever wrote was about a town hit by chemical weapons and it physically and emotionally changed them. My next series was about werewolves. I started a third series and kind of combined the two. Altered humans and animals met science and they merged. The New Species were born to my imagination. There are a ton of vampire and werewolf books out there. Again, not a unique idea but some AWESOME books are out there! I love them. Keep em' coming!!! Some series are known more than others. I'd hate to have every vampire book compared to Anne Rice because they are so different. (Loved her books, by the way) But... I hope you see the point. Werewolves are so out there in so many forms, in so many series, I can't even think of one that is the most well known in my mind. LOL. Anyway, I just wanted to address that. It saddens me when someone admits they missed out on some great stories about hybrid animal humans.

Have a terrific weekend.

Laurann

Fury - today is the day!!! New Species!!!

Fury - the first book in the New Species series is OUT today at Ellorascave!!! BIG happy dance!!! I can't begin to tell you what this means to me. It's almost as exciting as the first time I was published. I wrote this series a LONG time ago, way back when becoming an author was a far, far distant dream that I wondered if it would ever come true. I wrote this series out of love, in my free time, and honestly - I never thought more than my friends would ever read it. I had some loyal ones who always borrowed the printed out 3 ring binders I used to put my latest books I'd written inside. (I still have a few dozen of them sitting around, the pages yellowed despite them being in page protectors, the binders sagging from the heavy weight of all those printed out pages...LOL) They'd take turns reading my latest obsession that had caught my imagination. I had written a series I'll dub 'Morbid'. Those books were about a small town who experienced the tragedy of being exposed to chemical weapons and it really messed them up. After that one I'd started a shifter series. I took both concepts and kind of made a 'love child' out of them with New Species. Altered humans mixed with animal DNA. They became an OBSESSION of mine. Now Fury, the first book, is being released.


I actually cried when Fury was contracted. (Happy tears - promise) I mean...it took me back all those years ago when all I had was a seemingly impossible dream, a love of writing, and to be honest, not everyone understood. I mean - who does that? Who writes book after book, year after year, staying up late nights, using all their free time - just to write for the fun of it? I never had time to follow my dreams. Mr. Laurann and I were raising kids, struggling financially, and even had some medical problems to deal with. My own or close family members. I got a lot of...well...crap for writing from a lot of people. "Give up it", "Waste of time", and lectures of how impossible it would be to get published. I've heard it all, trust me, and sometimes it wasn't said kindly. Sometimes - it was downright cruel. I almost gave up once but the truth is - writing is a part of me. It's like breathing. It's what I enjoy, something I love, and it makes me happy to do it. Life can be really TOUGH sometimes. It can yank the rug right out from under you when you lose someone you love to life or to death. It can be so unfair. I've seen it, survived it, and probably should own the T-shirt or a closet full of them. Writing made my world right when things went wrong.


Opening up a new page to type on...it's like I'm flying. Everything is possible. It's...magical. It reminds me how much Mr. Laurann loves me (he always supported my love of writing...then and now). It makes all those years I wrote...with just a dream and a love for doing it...AWESOME! LOL! I can't say it enough. I feel so blessed and grateful for all I have. Mr. Laurann, our kids, and the wonderful friends who read every single book I ever wrote even when I was handing them 3 ring binders who helped me keep my dream alive. I am in awe that so many people read my books... (Yeah - an author without words! LOL!!!) Thank you. I know that doesn't really cover it but it comes from the heart.

Berrr's Vow in PRINT and Fury's Cover!!!

WOW! Today Berrr's Vow hits Print at Ellorascave!!! That means all the current Zorn Warrior books are in PRINT! Awesome!!! Yes, I do plan to write more. If you click on the cover - it will take you directly to Ellorascave! It should be added to amazon and the other stores soon. I have no idea when though. SUPER exciting!


I LOVE the cover for Fury!!! He's been freed from his chains so how appropriate that he's gripping them! It's less than a week away from coming out. I'm really excited and nervous. That's normal for me.

I'm dieting. Ugg. I've lost a few pounds so that's good. I bought a treadmill. The kids LOVE it too! I have to fight sometimes to get to use it. LOL! My son has never slept so good. I had to make a few LAWS though. First, they have to always clip their shirts to the safety feature that auto shuts it off if they step off, fall, or move too far away from the top of it. The second one is NO CATS are allowed on it. Yeah. We have 3 indoor cats and my kids think it would be cool if they get some exercise. (Shaking head) Kids are FUNNY!


Happy Weekend everyone!!!!

The past, the present, and the future...(Book news!)

(NOT THE COVER - this is just the pic I put together for my monitor)
Okay - I've been keeping the news close to the vest but I have HINTED strongly that an old series I wrote some years ago has been a project of mine for the past few months. If you've read my blog or my website you're aware that I wrote for a LOT of years before I tried to get published in 2009 and wrote over fifty books between 1993-2008. I get asked a lot about what kind of books I wrote. It got me to open up some old files to read some of my older series. I was obsessed with one of them and when I re-read it, I became fixated again. I sent the nine books (yes - NINE finished books to a beta reader who not only read them within a week but 3 more mostly finished books in that same series). She loved them. I began editing and updating the first book (um...as an example the lead in the first book had to exchange her CD player for an MP3 player and add in the use of CELL phones since when this was written...yeah....they weren't common and called people on land lines). I had to go through four old computers to see when I began to write this series. The oldest files I could find were the beginning of 2002. I have one more computer that is older which will have more files but I didn't have the right cord for it. We're talking some OLD darn computers! LOL. Good thing I don't throw them away since I found some partial books I'd forgotten about when I was tracking how far back ago I'd been working on this series. Anyway, If you're wondering exactly when I began this series...it was before 2002 since I found files with those dates to tell me I'd written at least the first three by then.

I have been updating the first three books to the NS series. Writing is a learning process. I'm always studying edits, seeing where I make mistakes, and trying to learn from them by taking notes. I had a lot of work to do on these books. As an example... Alright is actually TWO WORDS. I had a redundancy issue and tended to ramble. These are NOT short books. I looked up Ellorascave word count list and the first book is considered a Super Plus Novel in length. LOL! It was time consuming but I believe WELL worth it! As a matter of fact my CP threatened to fly to California and kick my butt if I didn't submit this series. (LOL - I think she meant it!) The beta reader read these books in my old writing style (not pretty!) and she still loved the stories. Those two things really encouraged me A LOT to try to get this series out!

Ellorascave should be sending me the cover for Fury really soon and I should have a release date pretty quickly! I will post as soon as I get them! It really should be VERY soon! I'm going to wait for the official blurb to come out at Ellorascave Coming Soon page so you'll see it there along with the excerpt when they add it. I know - you want more details. What I can tell you is that if this series goes over well.... NINE of them have been written. Yeah. NINE. I was obsessed with this series for a lot of years. They are Alpha males, gruff, and a bit starved for affection. They won't be for long! I came up with the idea for the series because in 1993 I wrote my first book I'll dub 'Morbid'. It was horror story meets romance after a biological weapon accident occurred. My second series I ever wrote was about shapeshifters. I did one of those 'what if' questions...and came up with this series after those two. LOL! (Did that help any?)

My fingers are crossed that the series goes over really well and the rest of the books are picked up! I'd love to get all nine out and finish the rest of the ones I started on this NS series before I had to take a year off writing after my son was born in 2004. It was a rough year when I was pretty ill and afterward, I began writing different stuff and had given the NS series a rest. I've had a blast revisiting the past and being inside their world once more. I MISSED IT and them! (I REALLY LOVE these guys and hope you will too!!!) I'm really excited thinking about writing more of their books once I finish editing and updating the ones already written. I am also working on current series books! You'll see more of your favorite ones soon! I really do love to write and have more books planned for each series. I feel SUPER blessed!

Also - last but not least - THANK YOU to everyone who writes to me, posts on Facebook, and buys my books! This really is a dream come true for me to get to do what makes me happy and the fact that so many people read them = AWESOME!!!

Romanticon - Summer - link with News!

I wanted to apologize for not updating my blog. At first it was having issues and then I just allowed life to swamp me. (Still having issues it seems since I'm having spacing/text problems...GRRRRRR) I'm taking the time now. My daughter is getting married this weekend. We're really excited. This is also the last week my smaller kids are in school. That means...summer vacation. They are so excited. I am trying to make sure that they have plenty of things to keep them amused. Bored kids are...yeah...NOT good! LOL!

I am without a vehicle right now. GROAN. You know how you tell your kids NOT to slam doors? There's a reason. LOL! It seems side doors on vans CAN and DO break! A very nice, strong tow truck driver wrestled the door back into place in a parking lot of an office supply store. My van has been in the shop since Saturday. They had to order parts to be shipped and I don't get it back until tomorrow. I thought I was a homebody - totally - but after not leaving the house for so many days...I can tell you that I'd give a LOT to go for a drive...anywhere! The grocery store...the dollar store...to even fill the tank. I just miss walking out the door and leaving for twenty minutes.

I have been writing a lot! I have a link to another blog to share with you. Click it on and you'll see one thing I've been working on. : )

Jaid Black's blog LINK <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I've been writing some books too and hopefully will finish one of the four I'm working on by the end the month for submission. I wanted to say a big THANK YOU for all the emails and comments I've received over His Purrfect Mate! Awesome and I totally will be writing more books about the Harris family. One of the books I'm working on is the next one in that line. (cousin Brand's story). I always say this but keep getting emails asking - I have NO PLANS to end any of my series. I'm a mood writer, I never know what book will finish first, I write more than one at a time, but I will be finishing more of them real soon. When I have any official word to share - that means when they are picked up and the contracts are signed - I'll be sure to post. Sometimes I learn news but I can't share it until that happens. I can tell you that I DO and WILL have GREAT news to share soon!!! YIPPEE! So...look forward to some great news if you enjoy my books.

This summer my goal is to finish at least three to four books that are currently on my plate. I do put in a lot of hours, I feel certain that I'll get them done, and some of them are going to be from your favorite series. My other goal is to lose some weight before Romanticon. I'm so looking forward to going with Mr. Laurann. We bought our tickets and we've booked our hotel room! I'm putting together some promo items to take. This year I've been told Romance trading cards are IN! This excites me. I can't wait to collect some of my own!!! I even bought a binder to hold them - if that tells you anything - and am currently making some to pass out. I've designed one that I'm thinking about. Here it is. I think I'll go with this. What do you think? I'm not sure about the top 'Zorn Warriors' but I really liked the planets tossed in there. LOL!

Have a fantastic week!!!

My desk (pic) and book talk

Okay, in my last blog I talked about how I made my work space a priority. Here is 1/3rd of my living room. That's my big L-shaped desk. The hutch stands taller than I do, which in all fairness, isn't hard. I'm a tad under five foot three. I LOVE my work space. I work full time, put in a lot of hours, and I honestly believe that you need a comfy writing zone to really enjoy what you do. (this after NOT having comfy writing spaces for a lot of years!!! LOL)


I am really happy that I was able to do it. It didn't even cost that much. I hit up Staples. My desk was a display model I bought for about $120. I paid my neighbor and his friend $100 to disassemble it, drive it to my home, and put it back together. I have a laptop, it's there on the desk, but I prefer the desktop. I've got a 24" widescreen monitor. You can put two word documents in full size next to each other. That really comes in handy when you write a series. You can open a previous book you wrote to check facts as you write the new one. When I'm editing them before submission, I pull up that second area to go over the editing notes I've made from my editor. If I'm working but paying attention to facebook, I can do both. Since this picture was taken I upgraded my desktop so my old one with a new 23" monitor now sits on it too. That comes in handy. Two big monitors and two computers. LOL. So this is where I spend most of my time.


Redeeming Zorus got a fantastic review. Here's the LINK When I wrote it, I was all kinds of nervous. I think I've admitted that. Zorus was the bad guy. I know I mentioned the weekly stream of emails I received with suggestions on how to kill him slowly and painfully from readers of the Cyborg Seduction series. Yeah. He was HATED! When I mentioned to some of my friends that I had started to write his story - the reactions were kind of funny but scary. A few people thought I'd lost my mind. One person thought I was setting myself up for failure. She said "You can't make anyone like that a**hole." That's a direct quote. LOL. Hence the nervous part. I wondered if I shouldn't do it. Kind of a .... ' have I lost my mind?' moment. I couldn't ignore it though. The story was there, it was unfolding inside my head, and I continued to write it. I'm one of those 'be true to your muse' types. I'd rather write something I know will never get published just to get it out of my system than allow it to fester inside my mind bugging me. I am pretty sure even my editor probably arched eyebrows when I told her what I was working on it but she's awesome. She never discouraged me. She never said "Don't write it!". She just smoothly accepted that was my current WIP. LOL. I love her!!!


I actually felt sick to my stomach when I submitted it. (Is that uncool to admit???) Yeah. Um...but true! I was really nervous. I finally calmed down by realizing the worst could happen is a big NO (if it didn't end up getting picked up), I survived rejections in the past, and I was happy with the story. Keep in mind I wrote a LOT of books for a LOT of years for no other reason except I loved to write in my free time. The pressure is on after you become published. Readers are waiting on books to come out, you don't want to waste time on a writing a long shot when you could be writing a book that does have a better chance of getting out there. It made me feel torn. It all came down to who I am, I guess. That story was there, I wanted to tell it, and it made me happy to write it. I always want to work on stories that I love.

It was picked up, it came out, and I started getting emails and great feedback! Awesome!!! Sheer amazement in a lot of cases that they really enjoyed the story and I was able to redeem Zorus. YIPPEE! So...I'm really glad I took a chance. I get a story stuck in my head and it won't let go. Zorus was especially stubborn! BIG surprise, right??? LOL.

His Purrfect Mate came out. WOW! Thank you!!! I have gotten such wonderful feedback and awesome emails about this book. Some of my friends snorted when I had dubbed this 'kitty love by woof woof'. (Yeah - I know. Hey...I didn't submit that title!!!) I plan to write more of them. I LOVE the Harris family. I've been working on a big project I'll wrap up by the end of the weekend but by next week... I'll be story deep in working on books for the current series - Zorn, Raines, Cyborgs, and now Mating Heat.


(I'm checking daily to see if it's been added to Kindle, B&N, or ARE but I haven't found it yet...sorry)

This is a wallpaper I made for my computer for the 'big project' I've been working on. He's a male, it's at night, and he's not 100 percent human. LOL. I have submitted the first two books, will submit the third one in this series by the end of the month... so please cross your fingers!!! I'm trying not to get my hopes up because this series is an older one I wrote that I've been working on cleaning, touching up, and after my CP emailed me after reading the first book...I knew I had to submit it. She threatened to get on a plane and come kick my ass if I didn't. LOL. I enjoy my butt remaining unbruised. I suspect it will take a while to hear back on if it's being picked up or not...considering this isn't just a one book submission. There are nine books total in this series that have been written so far. The males of this series were an obsession of mine for YEARS. I lived, breathed, and daydreamed about them non-stop. YEARS. Before I had the time to write full time...I'd only have an hour or so a day, not even every day, to write. It would take me at least six months to finish a book, sometimes up to a good ten months. 9 books + 6-10 months each = LONG TIME . LOL! When I hear yes or no.... I'll share. Happy thoughts!

Today is the day! His Purrfect Mate!!!

In a matter of hours from the time I write this, His Purrfect Mate will go live on Ellorascave! I'm really excited (and nervous!) about that. LOL! I always get excited and nervous though. You'd think at some point that would ease but no...it doesn't. I have been told it's a good thing that I keep that sick feeling inside my tummy as I wait for some feedback to come in. I CARE if people enjoy the books I put out. I really do! LOL. I hope everyone really loves Shannon and Anton, the way I've come to.

I debated on just a 'it's out!' blog or actually writing about something while I had your attention. I decided to write. (BIG surprise, right? Yeah. I love to write!) So what is the topic of today's blog? I thought books would be appropriate and since I have a new one coming out, BINGO! Blog topic about my books and writing. LOL. So... here goes.

I'm ALWAYS trying to improve as an author. I take every edit as a lesson. I make notes. I also read feedback from readers about my books. YES, I know...I'm admitting that I'm stalking sites for feedback. I want to know what people have to say. As an example, a lot of readers hated the overuse of Babe in Propositioning Mr. Raine. NOTED! I put a 'post it' sticker on my forehead for a week. LOL. (not really...my kids would have laughed and yeah...the people at McDonalds I see every morning to buy iced coffee from would have tagged me with some funny name) The point is I listen. I care. I try really hard to learn and grow as an author. I think there's a big difference from when I wrote Ral's Woman to say... Redeeming Zorus, as an example. Editors are goddesses, I swear. They point out my bad writing habits and I make notes so I don't make the same mistakes over and over until they want to nail a post it note somewhere painful on me. (they wouldn't really but yeah...I imagine being chased by someone with a nail gun...LOL) The point is, I listen. I take things to heart. I try to improve as an author.

Some authors are super impressive. I read blogs and they tell how they uses plot boards, carefully plan each book out before they write it, and I'm in awe. Really. That sounds so organized and I'm so not! I admit that freely. I literally think I'm going to write about (insert name here from insert whatever series), open up a blank document, and allow my imagination to go wild. I don't even know what's going to happen in the next chapter. Sometimes I surprise myself. Really. I'll sit back after writing something and think...'where the heck did that come from?' Only I don't use heck. If you've read my books you know I use curse words. Yes, NOTED! LOL. I try to scale it back now when I edit a book on curse words. Some readers have complained about that. I can't remove them all though. LOL. I do cut a lot of them these days. The characters just appear inside my head (I don't need meds, swear, the voices I hear are characters for books and they aren't telling me to join a cult...) and they form into real people to me, in whatever world they live in, and they breathe life that comes out in a book. I just try to type fast enough to keep up with what they tell me.

I also envy authors sometimes who write one book at a time. I don't do that. I can literally have anywhere from two to six book projects I work on in a week. I'm a 'mood' writer. If I'm having a bad day, that bar fight scene in book five is awesome to write because my character can break some heads. Sometimes a book story will grab me and I become obsessed. Literally obsessed. I can't stop. Here's an example. Ral's Woman. I wrote it in six days. I put in about twenty hours each day, barely slept more than three hours (giving myself potty breaks and food breaks for an hour in that day), but it just grabbed hold of me and wouldn't let go. When I become obsessed I tend to daydream about the storyline if I'm not typing it out. I may as well put in the hours and write it, right? And I do put in some series hours. I also never suffer from writer's block because if I get hung up on one book, I can work on another. I never know which book will finish first. It all depends on which one grips me the hardest at the time, depending on my moods, and that's the method I use. LOL!

Some people warn me I'll burn out or that they don't think it's healthy. I disagree. I really LOVE writing. It's fun for me. Like taking a vacation every time I open up a book. WHEEEE! Here we go! I'm Alice jumping into sexy Wonderland. I'm always careful to spend time with my family. My office is IN my living room, the central hub of our home (it's 1,200 square feet and we don't have a den or family room so yeah...they see me plenty and interact with me). That's why I write with headphones and loud music. I have to write over them playing video games sometimes. Nothing is more distracting than them grouped around the TV playing something like Halo, bombs exploding and guns firing, them yelling at the screen, while I'm trying to write something. LOL. It's kind of crazy but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I do have some 'weird' habits. I drink 3 iced coffees a day. I take the kids to school, swing by McDonalds, buy them, and put 2 in the fridge. I sip them all day while I'm writing. I have amusing things on my desk. I splurged on my desk. It's a huge L-shaped monster with a hutch taller than I am. I bought gargoyles and werewolves, sexy sculptures, and even have some cute stuffed animal bats hanging from the hutch that were Happy Meal toys. (Total cuteness in my defense). I live in 'comfy' clothes. T-shirts, baggy pants, and hardly wear shoes. I won't spend $60 on a pair of shoes but I'll totally drop $100 in stock photos. LOL! With every book I try to make a screen saver to reflect the character(s) I'm writing. Sometimes it's just some hunky guy. Sometimes it's a couple. Sometimes it's an entire group of men or couples in a series. Sometimes I just have a book cover up or even...ALL of them. I have a 24" wide screen monitor. I want to be comfortable and I spend a lot of time at my desk.

I totally went above and beyond to have a comfortable workspace that I love. I am probably weird about that because I've written in some uncomfortable places. Nothing like trying to balance a laptop on your lap while sitting on a floor with kids crawling all over you. Been there, done that. I used to have a 'hand me down' laptop that died every 20 minutes. It overheated. I also remember when we lived in Texas my computer was set up in the kitchen with a chair that compared to sitting on a rock. The back door was drafty. In other words, I'd huddle in a jacket, freezing my uncomfortable butt off, and trying to ignore how miserable it was while I wrote. In the summer it was sauna time in that same kitchen. Sweat pouring off me while I wondered if I could accidentally electrocute myself...LOL. Yeah. Now I tend to make having a comfortable 'writing zone' for myself. One day I'd love to have an actual office. A room I could close the door to. One that I didn't have to always glance over my shoulder to make sure one of my kids didn't stop behind me to glance at my screen. They don't do that. They know better. But I am a parent who still worries that it could happen. I write erotica after all. LOL!

I hope everyone has a terrific week!!!

Laurann

His Purrfect Mate - Release date 5/18!!!

YIPPEE! In less than a week the second book to Mate Set is going to be available at Ellorascave. I had written three cyborg books back to back and after I finished Redeeming Zorus, I was able to complete the second book to this series. Yes, series. There will be more books about the Harris family! Here's the blurb for His Purrfect Mate. The excerpt is up at Ellorascave. If you click on the cover...it will take you directly to the site.

Book 2 in the Mating Heat series.

Shannon is a quarter puma but can't shift. She is just a human with a few extra genes. She knows how dangerous shifters are and now she is their prey, captured by a group of werewolves for a deadly hunt. But she is rescued by the biggest werewolf of them all. He's the sexiest male she's ever seen—jet-black hair, muscular body, piercing dark eyes and a growl that heats her blood.

Anton talks the woman down from a tree but her instinct is to climb anything nearby―that being him now. His body responds fervently to hers and he vows to protect her with his life, only to discover that she is the enemy.

Anton is the future alpha of his pack and a cat will never be accepted. There'll be hell to pay. But it is mating heat and he is about to lose all control to that driving sexual need. His wolf wants her and can smell her desire for him. There's no way to stop it now—his animal won't be denied.

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />In other news...I'm writing. Always! LOL. I can't tell you exactly what book will be finished next, I work on more than one at a time, depending on what character demands my attention, but you'll be seeing more of Zorn, the Cyborgs, the Raine brothers, and the Harris family in the near future.

I also have been spending a lot of my free time working on a new series. I'm hoping to have news about it by this summer. I don't want to give out too many details. I don't like to do that until I know if it's going to be picked up or not. If you follow me on facebook you know that I got obsessed with a 'new series' a while back. I'm almost ready to submit it. I wanted to write the first three books of it before I submitted them so that I didn't have to worry about trying to fit them into my busy schedule (and yes, I keep busy writing!). I hate keeping anyone waiting if they want to read more books in a series so I do tend to put in some extreme hours. I love what I do so it's fantastic for me. What can I tell you about the new series? This is on my computer monitor when I work on them. That's about all I can say! (Tease...I know...I write erotica so what do you expect???) LOL!!!

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I hope everyone has a fantastic week!!!

Redeeming Zorus is at Kindle and news!

Here's the LINK. I get a lot of emails asking about that so...LOL! In other news... the next book coming out is titled His Purrfect Mate. It's the second book following Mate Set. This one is about Anton. I don't have an official blurb yet or a cover...it should be coming soon. As soon as I get a release date...I'll post it!

I had to buy a new computer. I ran my other one into the ground. It was only two years old but I put a LOT of mileage on it. The fan was constantly running, it was acting up, sluggish (yes, I ran every virus scan known to man on it) but the truth was...I wore it out. I always laugh when people suggest I write more. Writeaholic here who killed a new computer in two year's time. LOL! I write a lot. I didn't toss it out. I instead set it up on my desk (yes, I have 2 computers and a laptop now on my desk). I figure the kids can play with my old one and until I get a new wireless thingy...the old one isn't hooked to the Internet. I have a HUGE desk, big ole L-shaped one so I had the room to have two out. I've been totally lazy though for two days while all my old files are installed on the new computer. It takes about 30 hours to do that since I have a LOT of files to restore. It's not just what I write but pictures, videos, and my ebook collection...plus my music so yeah. LOTS to download back into it. I'm just happy I don't have to do it manually! I just have to wait until all the files are restored on the new computer. It should be all done by morning. In the meantime I've caught up on a ton of shows we had taped, watched a lot of Ninja Warrior, took some naps, and cuddled with Mr. Laurann...A LOT! Now I'm ready to get back to writing in the WORST way. I've decided I don't do well with not writing for a few days. I feel like an addict in dire need of a fix! (I imagine it that way - I've never actually done drugs. Anti drug but you get the picture.)

I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has send me such fantastic comments on Redeeming Zorus. I know that some people believed I'd lost my mind when I wrote his story (LOL!). I really had to do it. It was there just waiting to be told. I am so glad that I did it and that all the feedback has been so wonderful! Again, thank you! I've also been pounded with questions of is there going to be more cyborgs. YES. I plan to write more. Krell, Sky, and Onyx are my next characters when I return to Cyborg Seduction. I'm working on books from my other series right now. I wrote three Cyborg books back to back so I need to give some attention to Zorn, Raines, and a new series I've been working on. I'm not planning on ending any of the series I have going (I get asked that a lot - so more books will come - I'm working on them!) I'm hoping to have some news to share by summer about the new series. Sorry, no real spoilers. I don't want to give out any details until I actually have something solid to share. What I can say - they are Alpha males and they are M/F books. That's about all I can say until I submit them and see what happens. Crossing my fingers they get picked up!

In my personal world - my oldest daughter is getting married this summer! Very excited! The younger girls are super excited too because both of them are going to be a part of the wedding. My eight year old is practicing the 'walk' for being the flower girl and my twelve year old is walking in small high heels to prepare for the wedding too. LOL. My son is, well, a boy. He doesn't care for such things but I assured him he'd have fun. (Him sitting still will be interesting - hoping he can do it). I need to go shopping for something to wear. It's a summer wedding, outdoors, so they asked people to dress casual. I'm going to take my oldest daughter with me shopping to help find a dress for me. LOL. That way...I know she's happy with what I wear since I buy black...often. I'm not a 'summer color' kind of person so I'll let her dress me. It's her day so if I have to wear yellow or (shudder) pale green...I'll do it for her. I'm hoping for something blue (my favorite color even though I don't wear it often). Mr. Laurann has bought a new suit. He's really excited too. He loves to wear suits though and he does look good in them!

Have a terrific week!