Laurel Cremant's Blog, page 19

What Is Sexy?

I recently came up with a storyline for a new erotic short story. The bulk of all the scenes take place in an office setting. I've always thought that there was something very naughty and forbiden about having a sexual encounter where you work, but when I mentioned the story idea to a friend she stated how un-exciting the workplace seemed to her. At first I thought she meant that the office was just too recycled and too cliche. However when I asked for clarification, she stated that the office just didn't seem like a sexy place. Since I thought the opposite it got me thinking about what we all consider sexy.

I'm a firm believer that sexy (in romance novels specifically) is all about the characters involved, the emotional tension and the actual action in the scene. For me the setting very rarely detracts from the overall sexy factor if all the proper elements are in place.

What do you consider sexy? Is setting a deal breaker for you too? Or is it all about tension and anticipation?

Talk to you soon,
Laurel

Cover Art for "How to Kill Your Immortal"

'How to Kill Your immortal"Hello Lovelies,
""
The cover art for "How to Kill Your Immortal" is ready! I found an absolutely phenomenal artist who goes by the name of Ravven78. You can find examples of her work here. She was incredibly professional and walked a newbie like me through the process of designing a book cove patiently and painlessly. I can't say enough good things about my experience with Ravven.


My experience with getting the cover art done is yet another post topic I have to complete. It's actually pretty embarrassing to admit, but I was so focused on finishing the book and getting the preview chapters listed that I never even considered the cover art.I cobbled together a basic image from stock photos and MS publisher for the preview chapters I uploaded to Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Smashwords. However, every article and book I read on self-publishing stressed the importance of professional cover art. Of course I read all of theses articles and books while I was trying to upload my chapters, not prior to (queue hysterical crying). Thankfully I was able to put together the art for the preview chapters myself an find a kick-ass artist afterwards.


The cover has my main character Jasmine LaCroix looking hot and bad-ass and I absolutely LOVE it!
I can't wait to release the final book for everyone to enjoy.


Talk to you soon,
Laurel

Blog Design Change

Hi Everyone,


I was doing a bit of spring cleaning, and decided to change up my blog design. Hope you enjoy!


Talk to you soon,
Laurel

Now on Amazon!

The preview chapters for "How to Kill Your Immortal" are now available on Amazon and Smashwords! Whoopeeee!

"How to Kill Your Immortal" Preview Chapters on Sale at Barnes & Noble

Hi Everyone,


On Sale Now!It's done! I finally loaded the preview chapters to my book "How to Kill Your Immortal" to the Barnes & Noble Nook bookstore. The preview is listed at $0.99.The process was a lot easier than  thought it would be. I ran into a few glitches, but I'll   talk about those in a post dedicated to the PubIt! process.


The current cover art is temporary, and will be replaced with something a lot more professional and reflective of the story line. I designed the current cover myself using purchased stock photos. I'm happy with the result considering I've never worked on something like this before, but now I completely understand why other self publishing authors hire
cover artists to create their cover art. 


Of course, as soon as I posted the chapters I found a typo or two (or three or four), but I'm still very happy with the overall result. The first part of my book is finally out there and I'm so excited. I of course know there will be plenty of critiques, but at the same time I love knowing that somewhere out there someone will find my preview and actually enjoy it. They will actually meet my characters and want to read more. 


My soundtrack for today? Hate on Me by Jill Scott :)


Talk to you soon,
Laurel

First Chapter of "How to Kill Your Immortal" Posted!

Hi Everyone, 


As promised, the first chapter of  my novel "How to Kill Your Immortal" is now posted on the Book Excerpts page of this blog. I hope you all enjoy it! I'm still in the process of getting the first five chapters posted to PubIt, but I'll keep you all posted on the release date. 


Talk to you soon,
Laurel

It's Been A Year!

Hello Lovelies,


I can't believe that it's been a year since I started this blog! Things have been incredibly busy these last 6 months. I stated a new job, started planning a wedding and started doing some side data work. As a result the amount of free hours left in my days narrowed down to zero! Still, my books and characters have never really been far from my mind. 


I just finally got back to editing my first book, still tentatively titled "How to Kill Your Immortal". I've also decided to release the first five chapters using Barnes and Noble's PubIt! I'll put together a post describing my experience with PubIt! as soon as I can. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to use. Either way, I'm incredibly excited and can't wait to get some feedback on my book! "How to Kill Your Immortal" is a contemporary paranormal romance set in sultry Miami, Florida. I had a lot of fun with this story and these characters and hope you enjoy meeting them as much as I did creating them. 


I'll be posting an excerpt here on my blog soon, so stay tuned!


Talk to you soon,
Laurel   

Changes and Revisions

There are many changes a foot. Now that I have some actual free time to work on my book. All I can find are things that need to be changed or revised. It's funny how stepping away from a project brings new perspective. Dialogue that I thought was fresh and clear a month ago now seems convoluted and redundant. Argh! Well hopefully they won't take to long to fix to my current liking!


Talk to you soon,
Laurel

If wishes were horses...

Just a quick random thought...If wishes were horses, who would go around picking up all the pooh? On that same note...If I have cake, why wouldn't I want to eat it too? If I've made my bed, why wouldn't I want to sleep in it?
Where do all of these sayings come from? Just a random thought.
Talk to you soon, Laurel

Reminiscing...

I was running around today trying to get some much needed cleaning and errands done, and came across a poem I wrote a few years ago while in grad school. Reading it now, I definitely find some wince-inducing errors, but at the same time I realize that I wouldn't change a word. The poem itself was inspired by my now fiancée, and the feelings and images I included in the poem are like a time capsule or snapshot of our relationship. Changing or editing the poem now would be like trying to change or erase history. I suppose I'm also being rather biased because I feel as if those feelings have only grown since I wrote the poem. However, I suppose this might be the same feeling avid journal or diary writers get when reading past entries—a sense that they are watching a very accurate documentary of not only their lives, but their feelings at each moment. The name of my poem is Five Summers. Do you have any old works that you've found fault with but would never change? If you do, please share your reasons for either loving or hating it today, despite or because of its flaws.
Five SummersFive summers have passed since first your soul Tangled mine. Unearthly chains forged trueWith each kiss, each sigh of the heart rejoiced In Hephaestus' gift to only us, No jealous God can dispatch.
Five summers spent loving muscle And flesh with words panted harshly In heat, whispered earnestly in silence,Cleaved your heart to my breast.
Five summers while time has suckled sweetlyLove, the milk still fresh. Winters have comeAnd gone, cold orbs quickly warmed bySpring's sun, swelling rushing riversTo summer's shore, stroking frenzied bodiesForever embraced, entwined.
Five summers, no space between. SecretsExists no more love. Breath for breath,We are Death's charmed catch, blessed. And still, I crave you. A simple thing. Come, restUpon my breast. Breathe in my soul.
Five summers, consumed with hands slowly Drifting round. Tilt, sway, kiss, holdfast, Perfect fit. Till time ends love. Dig Deeper love, the earth cannot but yield.The dense dirt cannot dare to hold.Our constant love is too bold.Write to you soon, Laurel