R.L. Naquin's Blog, page 10

On Not Being Stressed

So, Friday was a bust here at the old blog. Maybe you noticed. Maybe you didn’t.

I think it’s time for me to accept the fact that three days a week is a little much at the moment. It could happen, but for now, let’s say two and be surprised if I get another one out on Fridays, okay?

I’m working hard on Fairies in My Fireplace. Today we moved past the 20k mark. Judging by how things went on the first two books, it should go pretty quick from here on out. Which is a really good thing, because I need to get it done by the middle of next month.

Why? Because November is coming. NaNoWriMo. That’s right. I’m going to turn around and write another book two weeks after I finish this one.

So, you can see why I’m having trouble focusing on blog posts three times a week. Two books in four months? Yeah. I can totally do it. That and three blog posts a week? Plus tweets and Facebook updates? Probably not. I’ll try, but I’m not promising anything.

Also, there’s an online writer’s conference called Coyote Con coming up next month. I’ll tell you more about it when I have more exact information to give you, but I’m on a couple of panels for that, and a lot of what I’ll be saying has to be written ahead of time. There will probably be virtual meetings with the other panelists to plan our strategy, too. And I have to give a talk at the library for the NaNoWriMo kickoff event.

The plate is a little full, and I’ve got to concentrate a little more on getting myself through the next four months without a meltdown. You’ve seen some of the meltdowns. It happens when I bite off too much. Knowing what I’ve got to accomplish over the course of that time, I’m opting to take smaller bites.

I don’t want you to think I’m stressed. I’m really not. I’m planning ahead so I don’t get stressed. I’m being ‘sponsible. It’s cool. I got this.

Because I’m a writer. And that rocks. It rocks hard.

A Full House at the Cafe

Happy Wednesday!

Before I direct you to the Cafe in my usual Wednesday way, I have to tell you some Super-Happy-Funtime news about my fellow confabulator and awesome writer buddy, Sara Lundberg. She recently made her first sale, and the anthology she’s in is now available on Amazon: Shadows of the Mind. I’m really proud of Sara, and I just wanted to share it with you all. Go, Sara!

On a side note, Sara is one of the sweetest, kindest people I know, yet her short stories over at the cafe are almost always the most disturbing out of the group. There’s something really dark buried underneath that smiling face. I like that about her.

It’s my day to post over at the Confabulator Cafe. This week, we’re talking about crowd control–how to handle a large cast of characters in a story. The consensus of opinion is to try not to have too many characters in the first place, but sometimes, you know, it takes a village. Head on over, if you have a mind to, and see our tips on keeping all those people under control so they don’t get swallowed up by each other. You can start with mine: Crowd Noise.

I’ll be back Friday with, oh, I don’t know. Something!

See you real soon!

Spreading Some Love: Jeffe Kennedy

This is the new version, recently republished under her own name.

I promised that today I would talk about someone other than me. But in order to tell you about Jeffe Kennedy, I have to tell you a little story–and yeah, I’m in it, too.

I am a sucker for fairy-tale retellings, and a new take on Beauty and the Beast will always have my attention. I came across a book called Petals and Thorns by Jennifer Paris (Jeffe’s pseudonym at the time), so I bought it and read it. The genre was a little different from the typical retake of fairy tales. It was an erotic BDSM story.

And it was beautiful. Not for the faint-of-heart or the prudish, but the prose was gorgeous, and the story was lovely. I started following the author’s blog. When she wrote a post about how she was hesitant (because of the genre) to announce her book to her college alumni association so they could put it in the newsletter, I felt moved to comment. She had nothing to be ashamed of, because the book was beautiful, completely aside from genre. She should be proud and tell everyone. She said I made her day. From then on, I kept an eye on her, and I hoped to follow her lead in publishing success.

This all happened while Monster in My Closet was out on submission with Carina. Imagine my surprise when she announced a new release from Carina Press, Sapphire, a few days before I got the call making me offer. Weird, huh? That book was also an erotic BDSM, and I enjoyed it, too.

Before I tell you the next cool thing, I have to tell you this: If you enjoyed or are considering reading the 50 Shades series, I implore you to read Jeffe’s books instead. They are far, far better written, and much more enjoyable.

So, fast forward another year, and Jeffe has another book, Rogue’s Pawn. This one is a full length novel, and a different genre: Paranormal romance. Much closer to my genre, this time. And it released two weeks before mine. Also, it’s the beginning of the Covenant of Thorns series.

Of course, I read it. I loved it. It’s got fairies and hot guys and a wonderful heroine. In fact, here’s the blurb:

This is no fairy tale…

Haunted by nightmares of a black dog, sick to death of my mind-numbing career and heart-numbing fiancé, I impulsively walked out of my life–and fell into Faerie. Terrified, fascinated, I discover I possess a power I can’t control: my wishes come true. After an all-too-real attack by the animal from my dreams, I wake to find myself the captive of the seductive and ruthless fae lord Rogue. In return for my rescue, he demands an extravagant price–my firstborn child, which he intends to sire himself…

With no hope of escaping this world, I must learn to harness my magic and build a new life despite the perils–including my own inexplicable and debilitating desire for Rogue. I swear I will never submit to his demands, no matter what erotic torment he subjects me to…

So, there you go. Not a review, just me telling you that Jeffe’s books are great. She’s also got a few other books out that I haven’t read yet. Also, Jeffe herself is pretty cool. She lives in the desert and posts beautiful pictures of her surroundings. Also, if you catch her at a signing, you’ll see her in a fabulous, floppy diva hat.

So. Go see what Jeffe has that might interest you. The whole list is on her Amazon page. You can also find her on her website. Or say “hi” to her on Twitter. She’s much better at the tweeting than I am.

See you Wednesday!

Fresh Meat, No Reviews

I have a confession to make: I’m a little weirded out about writing book reviews. I’m also wildly uncomfortable about people I know reviewing my books. And it’s not for the reason you might think.

It’s got very little to do with worrying over whether they’ll like it. Seriously, if they’re my friends and they didn’t like it, they’d stay silent, right? What friend reads your book and writes a horrible review? Not my friends. My friends are awesome. I flat-out refuse to ask/encourage my friends to write a review for me. I don’t like asking people to do stuff for me anyway, it’s a lot of pressure to put on a friend, and also, it’s a little skeevy.

Now, having said that, some of my friends have written reviews, and for that, I want to say thank you. I am deeply touched, humbled, and grateful for your kind words and the time you spent reading my book and writing up your opinions. I have the most awesome friends ever.

But I digress. I don’t write reviews myself. I probably should get over myself and do it, but I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. I freeze up and get stage fright. I’ve been fretting over it, because I’ve been reading a lot of books–especially by my fellow Carina Press authors–and I feel like I should say something about these marvelous books and authors.

Last night it finally hit me–I have my own blog. I can do whatever the hell I want here.

So, here’s what we’re going to do. From time to time, I’m going to talk about somebody else here, somebody I think is interesting, whose books I enjoyed, and who I think you might like to know about. Nothing formal. Not a review. Just a “hey, I loved this, let me tell you about it.” What’s the difference between that and a review? Beats me, but it doesn’t make me nervous. Also, I’m not rating anybody’s baby. I’m just sharing.

In addition, I’ve added this site to a database for Carina Press authors looking for places to guest blog, so at some point you might come here and I won’t even be here.

I feel like we’re kicking it up a notch by doing this. You probably need a break from my endless monster chatter and talk about me, me, me all the time. I get sick of myself, too. It’s okay.

So, come back Monday. I’ve got somebody in mind I’d like to talk about. No, I’m not telling you ahead of time. You’ll have to wait and see. But she’s awesome. She’s got several books in two different genres I’d like to tell you about. And she wears big floppy diva hats.

Have a great weekend!

Embarrassing Content at the Cafe

It’s Wednesday, so I’m over at the Confabulator Cafe. This week, they asked us how we felt about our moms (or other family members) reading our work, and whether it holds us back from certain subjects. Now, taken in a literal sense, no, I’m not at all worried about my mom’s reaction. She likes my stuff, and I don’t hold back for fear of embarrassing or offending her with shocking bits.

But that wasn’t really the point of the question. Moms aren’t the only ones we might have to worry about. Mind you, if you read my Trauma Llama story the other day, you’ll know I’m not too worried about making an ass out of myself or writing about sensitive stuff.

But everybody has something or someone they worry about when they’re writing. So, head on over to the Cafe, if you’re interested, and read my take on this quandary: Write Like Your Mom’s Not Watching.

If you’re on Twitter, keep an eye out. I’ve started doing #monstertrivia again. Did you know that Yeti get hives from chocolate? Do you know what to do if you stumble across a selkie’s seal skin? Be more informed about the world of the Hidden. Wow your friends with your expertise. Follow @rlnaquin and have all your monster questions answered.

Have a lovely rest of the week. I’ll check back with you Friday to see how you’re doing.

See you real soon!

Sharks, Dinosaurs, and Traumatic Llamas

We donated money toward keeping those lights on. It’s not gambling if you just figure you’re paying a fee to play.

I’m back! I’m refreshed, rejuvenated, rewound, rekindled, regurgitated, and resplendent. Or something.

Before I tell you about my fabulous trip into the unknown, I have a confession of sorts. The lovely Anya Breton runs a segment on her blog called Trauma Llama. It’s brilliant. It’s hilarious. It’s mortifying if you’re the subject. Authors send in their most traumatizing, embarrassing stories, and she posts them, along with info about the author and their books. So, it’s an exchange. They’re all funny, and I took the bait.

I jumped into my Wayback machine and sought out my most awkward story. It’s been fifteen years since this happened, and I still can’t tell it without laughing myself into tears. And now it can be yours. Head on over to “Trauma Llama – R.L. Naquin explains why you should always lock up your stuff” for my thrilling story of danger, children, and grownup toys.

Sharing this story with the world proves that I will do anything to market my books.

And now back to vacation stuff.

We get these urges for short getaways from time to time, and we’re always trying to find somewhere new to do it. From Kansas City, you can go any direction. We’ve tried most of them. We’ve done Denver, Wichita, Chicago, Lake of the Ozarks, St. Louis, Tulsa. Most of those places we’ve managed to hit a zoo. There was one direction we hadn’t gone yet: North. And the Omaha Zoo was supposed to be something special.

We spent a couple of nights at the Ameristar in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which is about two minutes from Omaha, Nebraska. Very nice room. Spectacular customer service. Food that was incredible in both restaurants we tried. Slot machines that were quite accommodating in accepting the money we put in them and keeping it there. (Confession–I’m horrible at gambling. It makes me nervous and twitchy, and I called a halt to it long before the money we’d set aside was used up.)

The Omaha zoo was really nice. They have some unique habitats encased in domes. One was for the desert and another was filled with rainforests from around the world.

The aquarium in particular was gorgeous. I took a video of sharks for my editor, Alison, but it turns out I have no software to convert it. Anything free I’ve found to do the trick kindly puts their logo across the screen so you can’t see the footage very well. I’ll keep working on it, Alison.

The whole place was impressive, and we dragged our out-of-shape bodies through the 100 degree heat to see most of it.

But my favorite part? Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure in IMax 3D. You guys. You guys! You know how much I love dinosaurs. These were ocean dinosaurs! On an IMax screen! In 3D!

I live a charmed life. See you on Wednesday!

I’d Rather be Succinct than Have Genital Warts

In case you’re wondering where you can get this shirt, it’s by Love Offensively. You can get it here: http://loveoffensively.com/apparel/t-...

I was looking for a picture to put with another blog post and came across this. My husband said it was inappropriate for the Confabulator Cafe. Not sure whether he was right or wrong, but I found something else for that post. Still, this image intrigued me enough that I saved it.

After all, this blog is mine. We can talk about anything, right?

This t-shirt uses words meant to shock you into attention. If you saw the words “genital warts” emblazoned across someone’s chest, you’d take notice, right?

Sadly, that wasn’t what got me to stop.

When did “prude” become an adjective? Did they run out of room for the words “prudish” or “prudent?” What about the word “a,” as in “I’d rather be a prude?” Surely there was room enough for that.

Yeah. Leave it to me to take a heartfelt message and have a problem with the grammar.

I looked it up. Webster definitely says it’s a noun. There was no adjective choice. The wording makes me itch, like I imagine the threatened genital warts might also do.

It’s a shame their message is lost in poor word choice. Let that be a lesson to us all.

And I’d like to leave you with a final message from the folks at Love Offensively, who created this shirt:

Purity is a way better gift than genital warts when you’re considering a wedding present.

Quoted for truth, my friends.

I’m actually on vacation right now and without my laptop. I’ll be back on Friday. Until then, feel free to talk amongst yourselves regarding poor grammar, genital warts, and awesome wedding gifts.

See you real soon!

Victory Lap

Where am I going? Here. I’m off to see this.

I’m leaving tomorrow to go on vacation for a few days. This is partly in celebration of turning in the last of the line edits for Pooka in My Pantry, and partly because the last month or two has been a little insane. We deserve a break, even if it’s just a small one.

And also, because I’m totally spoiled. So, there’s that.

Wednesday I won’t have a Confabulator Cafe post for you. This one was a flash fiction assignment, and I was in the middle of edits. I crashed and burned. For the first time, I admitted defeat and stepped away from the Cafe. However, you should still head over there this week and check out the flash fiction from everyone else. They all wrote a story inspired by a painting by our friend, Dave DeHetre.

But have no fear! I’ve got a post set up for you while I’m gone. Come back Wednesday to talk about genital warts! Yes, really.

So, that’s it. The big promo push for Monster is behind me. Edits (except for copy edits which  are weeks away and don’t take very long) and the cover art worksheet are turned in for Pooka, so nothing more for me to do there either.

And this.

Know what that means? Nothing but Fairies from here on out. Book three will have my full attention. Considering I have another book I need to get to come November, I’d better get cracking.

I’ve learned over the last few months that, no matter how much I think I can handle it, I suck at multitasking. But that’s okay. I’m not beating myself up over it. I cleared everything else, so now I can devote all I’ve got to writing for awhile.

Sort of. Because, you know, something will always come up.

But first, a road trip!

Have a great week! I’ll see you when I get back!

Page Turner at the Cafe

Monday slipped past me in a blur of edits, and Wednesday almost ran away when my back was turned.

So, a quickie for you, lest you think I’ve languished away in some dark corner of the Internet. I’m here. I’m just being quiet. Sometimes you have to lay still and quiet in the foliage so the plot bunnies and the dancing characters don’t know you’re watching.

This week’s question over at the Confabulator Cafe is about the techniques we use to keep readers turning the page. Tough question. There’s always the concern that I’m going to come off sounding egotistical when I answer something like that. Who’s to say I am coaxing people into turning the page? And if they are, do I know what I did to make that happen?

I answered the best that I could. My post One Good Turn went up this morning.

Other than that, not much to report. Edits on Pooka in My Pantry should all be finished up this week. We’re down to the last fifty pages or so.

Epiphany hit a few days ago, and I now know what I was missing in Fairies in My Fireplace. The writing will go much more smoothly now that I’ve untangled the knots that were holding me up. But first, edits.

Then I’ve got nothing holding me back. So, there’s that.

I’ll try not to let Friday slip past me. See you real soon!

Are You Haunted?

Is it real, or is it Memorex?

No monsters today. We’ve talked a lot about monsters lately, and we’ve talked a few times about zombies, too.

It’s time we had a chat about ghosts, don’t you think?

The next book I’m working on, once I finish Fairies in My Fireplace, features spirits, lost souls, ghosts–whatever you want to call them. Actually, in the book, they’re escaped souls. Their bodies check out, and rather than follow the light down the tunnel, the souls make a break for it and have to be hunted down by soul catchers in order to keep order in the world.

It seems to me that all the ghostly supernatural stuff on TV gets lumped into one category, when there are several different things potentially going on. I’ve divided them up according to my warped vision of how it all works:

Ghost trains, ladies in white walking through the house, murder scene reenactments: My best guess is this isn’t a ghost at all. This sort of activity loops and repeats, often in a pattern. Energy can do all sorts of things we don’t understand. A charged event–like a horrendous crime–probably leaves behind a charge. So might a single action that repeats over and over, like someone walking around their house or a train running every night at the same time. Energy collects and leaves a residue like a recording. Who knows what triggers the play button?

Scents, dreams, moved objects, flickering lights, and other signals: Still not going to call these “ghosts.” I’ve had stuff happen. Most people I know have had stuff happen. Sometimes people we’ve lost come visit. They do a little something to get our attention so we know they’re here, then they go back. They aren’t trapped here. They’re just saying “hi” and maybe goofing around a little. Dead people often think they’re hilarious.

Possession, poltergeists, blood from the faucet, and other scary stuff: I’m not big on the concepts of “good” and “evil.” I prefer to call it “positive or negative energy.” No, we’re not going all religious or New Agey here. It’s less scary is all. However, I have never seen anything in this category, nor do I wish to. I also think if it’s real, it’s pretty damn rare. Let’s keep it that way, huh? I love horror movies. I do not want them to be real, though.

Which leaves us the last category: Stuck souls. True ghosts. The lost, the angry, the ones with unfinished business. Pass on a message. Go to the light.

Those are the ones going into my next book. All while being chased by a djinn with a lack of social skills. It’s going to be epic.

Stay safe. Burn some incense. Circle your house with salt.

Have a great weekend!