Kate Lowell's Blog, page 42

Morning!

Reblogged from Rhys Ford:

Hello, beautiful!

Still busy cleaning up from the Great Christmas Marshmallow War, but I promise a post tomorrow--a belated Tuesday Tickle, maybe? Not that there's been many new words over the past weeks. But hopefully that will change later tonight, after I've finished hauling feed in for the ponies.

A Merry Christmas Giveaway

Lisa at The Novel Approach gave me space to offer one more copy of Christmas Goes Analog to a lucky commenter. In the post, you also get a chance to see my poor Charlie Brown Christmas tree, pre-decorations. It’s much prettier now. If you click back to yesterday’s post, you can see it in the background behind the Christmas booze and the hamster.

And in honour of all the Christmas gatherings taking place this evening:

Filed under: Christmas Goes Analog Tagged: giveaway, mm romance

My Christmas Present to Me

Here is me, getting into my Christmas stocking a bit early–don’t tell me I peeked. Lol. Fancy glass, a guy who won’t talk my ear off and is easily turned on (and off), my Charlie Brown Christmas tree, and my daughter’s Russian hamster, who is currently getting rodent-high on caramel rice cakes. Said daughter is off at a friend’s tonight, which leaves me free to clean up some of the mess around here after wrapping gifts. Or, to break into my stocking stuffers a bit early and relax with some interesting British documentaries. In what other job is it research to watch a documentary on Debbie Does Dallas? if only I could find some way to charge someone for that time…

Hard to believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve. One last trip to town to get feed for the ponies, drop presents off to my brother and pick up a few last groceries and a gift card for the guy who cleans out my driveway, and then I’ll be done. Christmas dinner is up at my mother-in-law’s and I’ve been relegated this year to bringing the punch–easy peasey, which is good, because my poor brain is done.

I hope you all have a happy holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate. Come back tomorrow for the link to The Novel Approach, because I’m giving away one last Christmas present–a copy of Christmas Goes Analog.

Filed under: Random Weirdness Tagged: Christmas, mm romance

This is the Best. Thing. Ever.

Christmas is killing me. I needed a pick me up. And then another author turned me onto this site. Not only are there some really insightful, intelligent posts on the topics of sex and acceptance, but the link above takes you to the first of many posts, as the blogger describes her reactions while reading the infamous Fifty Shades of Gray.

I cried, I laughed so hard. The commentary is spot on, and not only does she point out places where Ms. James really needed another editing pass, but places where the fantastical assumptions of the book attempt to make stalking and abusive behaviour acceptable within the context of ‘true love’. *roll eyes*

Filed under: Random Weirdness Tagged: BDSM, book critique, satire

Hey, it’s Friday! Don’t forget about the giveaways!

Scorching Reviews is giving away a $50 gift certificate. This runs until the end of the month, but what a way to ring in the New Year!

And Sinfully Sexy is giving away a copy of my heartwarming, not-very-angsty novella, Christmas Goes Analog. There’s still a day left on this one.

So follow the links and throw your name in the hat!

Oh, and my brain shut down last week. The winner of the Christmas ornament was Lori Meehan. Her prize is been winging (I hope!) its way across the border to her as we speak.

Filed under: Random Weirdness Tagged: giveaways, guest posts, mm romance

I’m at Sinfully Sexy today, Giving Away a Copy of Christmas Goes Analog

She also reviewed the story, for which I have to say thank you, because I know she’s had a lot going on lately. Here’s the link, if you’d like to see what she has to say about my boys.

Filed under: Christmas Goes Analog Tagged: giveaway, mm romance, review

Tuesday Tickle: Bite Me (Later)

First off, fingers crossed that I get a storm day tomorrow. I could really use the extra time.

Also, I’m going to be at Sinfully Sexy tomorrow, talking about Christmas music. I feel a little bipolar right now, bouncing back and forth between happy Christmas romance and angsty, violent werewolf romance. Factor in the shiny, and it’s a very odd feeling.

“Bryan.” Those were eyes.

“What?”

“Come here.”

Bryan looked up from his marshmallow. “Are you that drunk you can’t even carry two beer?”

Levi took a slow step back toward the fire. The eyes came closer, and the shape of a dog-like head formed around them.

“Bryan.” Levi tried to keep the panic out of his voice, but even he could hear the sudden tremor in it. Another rustle to his right, and another pair of eyes.

“What?” Bryan pulled his marshmallow out of the fire and stood up, scowling. The frown faded when he saw Levi’s expression. “What’s wrong, Levi?”

Levi didn’t dare turn his head. “We need to get out of here. Right now.”

Then Bryan looked past Levi and saw what had his attention so firmly fixed on the trees. “Oh my God.”

Levi nodded. “On the count of three, head for the truck.” There were more heads appearing out of the darkness, the flames flickering in their eyes.

They looked hungry.

“You ready?” he asked Bryan.

“Yeah,” came Bryan’s soft reply.

“Okay. One, two, three!” And they turned and bolted into the woods, running for their lives.

Filed under: Bite Me Later, Tuesday Tickle Tagged: mm romance, werewolf

Storm Day Pluses and Minuses

This is what it looks like outside my house right now. We’re in the middle of a nor’easter, with tons of snow blowing around and wind sucking the heat out of the house as fast as I can put it in. Still, having to get up to feed the stove keeps me from calcifying in place.

On storm days, we all seem to hunker down and–I don’t know about you–but I can get all sorts of things done that don’t need to be done. To me, a storm day is a great day to glue myself to the computer and write. Almost never on what I’m supposed to be writing, but instead working on things where I’m trying to decide if they’re worth keeping on with, or adding words into something that’s so far in the future it doesn’t even show up on my schedule. It’s kind of like a day off, with writing.

That being said, because my brain takes a storm day as an excuse not to work on what it’s supposed to be focused on, this is going to put me behind. And I don’t care, because that’s the other half of the storm day mindset. Woohoo! Free day! Let us run wild and be merry.

But inside please. There’s no way I’m braving the weather today. Speaking of running wild and being merry, my friend Karenna Colcroft is over at Love Romances Café today for a chat. Why not pop over and visit? She’s giving things away…

Filed under: Random Weirdness, writing Tagged: storm day

So, who’s finished their Christmas shopping?

That’s for all you who are finished.

I’m not quite at the ‘racing through the mall throwing random things in the cart in the hopes that I’ll find appropriate gifts in the mess afterwards’ stage, but we’re getting close. It all depends on how tomorrow goes. Hardware store for tarps and a staple gun, plus whatever catches my eye. Grocery store, because I’m apparently a masochist, for all my dominant tendencies. Bulk foods store, for containers for bus driver presents. Mall, for any other random presents I happen to see (including a gift certificate to the lingerie store for the 12 year old’s friend–seriously?) Stop at the post office to pick up two parcels. Stop at the liquour store, because I’m going to need it. Then home to batten down the hatches and prepare to be snowed in for a day or two. The darn thing about living on the east coast of Canada is that we get storms that come up the Eastern Seaboard, and storms that cross the country to rain (or snow) on our parade. Twice the fun.

Not really.

But all this running around has seriously cut into writing time and the only thing I can do is hope I get some down time over Christmas to catch up. If I can get all the presents done this weekend (or by Tuesday, if I have to), then I can just stay home, except for one last foray to the grocery store, where I shall wield my shopping cart like a tank as I battle the hordes of Christmas zombies to get enough supplies that I and the kitten will survive for a week or so without having to venture out. (I’ve been stocking up on ground-to-ground missiles for a while, just in case–grocery stores are bad enough at the best of times).

In the meantime, I’d like to say a thank you to everyone who’s bought a copy of Christmas Goes Analog. And if you haven’t, Hearts on Fire reviewed it yesterday. The review can be found here. And it’s still on sale at Loose Id for $4.49 right now, so if you like the review, grab it at that price–I think you have until Tuesday.

And that’s it for me, because I think I’m about to turn into a pumpkin, and I plan to be on the road by 7:30 tomorrow morning, which means feeding the old pony around 6:30. Ugh. But I shall sleep in on Sunday. And, if I’m lucky, Monday too. (I’ll be doing my storm dance Sunday night–you may want to avert your eyes.)

Filed under: Random Weirdness

Tuesday Tickle: Bite Me (Later)

Before I forget, Christmas Goes Analog is on for $4.49 at Loose Id right now. So if you’ve been thinking about it and wavering, now’s the time to click over and grab it, before it goes back to regular price.

I’ve been working away at the story of how Levi and Glyn got together and, yes, my subconscious is still a better writer than I am. I’m surprised by all the things it keeps throwing at me. Particularly about Glyn. He baffles me constantly, but I like it.

The brackets are up there because–as per usual–I’m thinking about changing the name. What if I just lopped off the later and called it simply Bite Me? Only, there’s a vampire book out there with that name. What if I leave the brackets in? Will the cover artist have an aneurism? I’m kind of hoping to get the same cover artist for this one–I wonder if Loose Id will do requests? Lol.

Oh, there’s two hours left to throw your name into the hat for the Christmas ornament. Click and leave a comment!

Anyway, here’s a few lines, from Levi, before he was Levi the wolf:

Levi drained the last of his beer in one long swallow, wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, and lobbed the empty over the fire toward the edge of the clearing. With a grunt, he got up and walked halfway around the campfire to rummage in the cheap styrofoam cooler sitting just out of range of the flame’s heat.

“Any hotdogs left?” Bryan asked, poking at the fire with a sturdy branch.

Levi dug down in the melting ice that filled the bottom third of the cooler. “A couple. You still hungry?”

“I could eat. Toss ‘em over.”

He pulled the package, dripping, out of the icy water and lobbed them carefully back at his friend, then dug out another beer and twisted the cap off with a bare hand. “You want another beer, too?”

“Why not?” Bryan didn’t look up from where he was carefully impaling the tubes of meat on his branch. “We’ve still got that dozen in the brook.”

Levi glanced at the bottles left in the cooler. “There’s only two left. I’ll go get them.”

Bryan nodded absentmindedly, intent on his cooking. “You want the flashlight?”

Levi laughed. “Man, it’s a full moon. I’ll be fine.”

Muwhahahahaha. Famous last words. Well, not quite his last, but, you know…

Filed under: Bite Me Later, Tuesday Tickle Tagged: mm romance, werewolves