Just Liz...Checking In....Pondering Life...and an Excerpt

Well...really I'm procrastinating. You see, I've reached that moment where the combination of successes and hard work this summer are resulting in, uh, yeah--more hard work.

It's a phenomenon I've been pondering lately and because I am here on my blog and you are there, reading it, I'm gonna share it with you.

As a writer I watch other, more successful ones -- I not only read many of their books, I observe how they interact with the (mostly internet) public via their social networking platforms, how much time they spend on this versus the actual "craft" itself.  I can only speak as one whose successes are creeping along slowly but steadily and who is not bound by Major Publisher Deadlines but by deadlines of my own pretty strict design. But it seems to me that the key is the "craft." 
***with 37 Amazon reviews averaging 4.5 STARS!
Write the dang book.

Promote it of course, but don't beat people over the head with it. Give it away free for a few days, sure, we've all done that. Blog hop until you can't see straight, then do a few more, you know because "one more reader" you reach is exactly that: "one more reader." Run the blurbs and excerpts up the flagpoles of your various and sundry Yahoo groups once or twice.
Then what?  
A Just Erotic Romance Review GOLD STAR winner
Write the next dang book.

I take one of my favorite, most inspirational and creative sexy romance writers: Lauren Dane and study her website a fair bit. The woman has umpteen zillion titles to her name. She has written the dang books people. And trust me for those of you who have NOT done it--writing the book is a flipping hard thing. You drag characters and plots from nowhere (ideally, but then again I don't get the fan fic thing--that's just me so relax fan fictioneers), dump them out of your fevered, busy head and onto the screen, fingers flying over the keyboard, or clenched in anxiety when the words won't come. 
5 STARS from The Romance Reviews and a Top Pick!
Then you spit and polish and submit (if you are new, you send it through the crit group/crit partner meat grinder FIRST please) and then edit, rewrite/revise, then again, then again. Then....it's done.  It is a long grueling process that at times is so daunting it thwarts many a good-decent-potentially great writer from even finishing.
Another JERR Gold Star Winner and TRR Top Pick.

So this is me, Liz, sitting here with 4 books to galley check before sending them up for a next print run in anticipation of my book signing this fall-- a sequel that is nearly 40k words done but has only just reached the conflict--a new release to promote--a next book to edit for an October release--and yet another epic Stewart Realty novel to revise/edit/revise for said Fall signing.
Available August 25, 2012
The more you work, the more work you create.  The more people who read you and become your fans, the more readers and fans there are still out there to discover you.  The harder you try, there is still yet another more challenging project to craft (I know I have one in my head that I can't wait to start!). And the never ending cycle of write/edit/publish/promote/write/edit/publish/promote keeps spinning in endless squeaky circles, like a worn out ceiling fan you know you should turn off, but can't make yourself. Because really, it's a nice feeling, that breeze....


NEWS:
The Turkish Delights series is kicking reviewer ASS lately:
Tulip Princess gets 4 stars from The Romance Reviews: 
http://erotic.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=6167

Flower Passage gets 5 stars and a TOP PICK from The Romance Reviews: http://glbt.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=6169

The Diplomat's Daughter gets 5 Hearts from The Romance Studio:
http://www.theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/diplomatsdaughtercrowe.htm


Lust on Tap is now available on All Romance Ebooks:
 http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-lustontap-910421-340.html

and Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lust-on-Tap-ebook/dp/B008VS643U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345737610&sr=8-1&keywords=lust+on+tap+liz+crowe

You can PRE ORDER CONDITIONAL OFFER the 5th Stewart Realty book at ARe:
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-conditionaloffer-907922-148.html

And I'm hard at work on the sequel to Cheeky Blonde. Honey Red will be the story of Jen and Sean's brothers, Liam and Cameron and Hannah. It's a hot, emotional m/m/f story featuring a wounded warrior, a skittish single dad and a woman who brings them together. Here is a teensy taste: 


The room was loud. The band was setting up about to get going. That weird tingly sensation hit him again. He looked around, ignoring the people in front of him seeking the red hair of one, and the blond of another. He ended the conversation, wandered back to the bar and had them pour him another mild lager. He was trying to keep it cool, to be the sober one. He sensed Hannah, as if their few encounters had encoded her smell, her touch, into his brain. Her hand on his waist, that then dropped down to his ass made his cock press against the back of his zipper so fast he gasped, and stepped away from her. “Cut it out,” he muttered into his beer. “Liam,” she whispered, setting his every nerve ending on edge.  “I need you.”“No you don’t,” but he he grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the crowd. There was a basement to the small club where Sean and Jen were throwing themselves a reception. And his body was crying out, fairly screaming for contact with her. He no longer heard the band, or the conversations, or pretty much anything but her voice in his ear as they found a dark corner.“Jesus, Red, what’s gotten into you?” he groaned and shoved her skirt up, needing to touch her, to taste her. “You have Liam. God help me.” She sighed, as he ran his thumb across her lips and stroked into her, hard up against the wall. “Yes, oh yes.” She gripped his hair, yanked his face to hers and kissed him as her body clenched around his, pulling him over the orgasmic edge fast.“Shit,” he grunted, gripping her ass and pumping into her. “You are…ah god.” She smiled, threaded her fingers in his hair. “Lucky me. I remembered your condoms.”“Yeah,” he said, burying his face between her breasts. A sweet scent filled his nose, something he’d noticed before around her but that seemed even more intense right now in this illicit hidden space under his brother’s newly married feet. “Hannah,” he sighed as his body released, tensing and holding her close while her pussy spasmed and pulsed around him. “Huh,” she said, lifting herself up and off him, zipping him back up and adjusting her dress. “That’s me.”He pulled the condom off and wrapped it in a paper towel, his face flushed and his heart pounding. He held her face, stared into her eyes. “You are going to kill me. Or something.”She bit his lower lip and slipped out from his touch again, like she always did. “Something I’d hope. So you’re around for more.” She took a few steps around the corner while he leaned there, trying to recover and get a grip on himself. “Oh, uh, hi, Cam.”Liam tucked is shirt back in fast, then looked up to see him, the man he had loved, still did, if he would admit it, standing with a look of disbelief on his face. “You smell like honey when you come,” Cam said, leaning into Hannah but keeping his face turned to Liam. “Sorry to interrupt. But your son is throwing a fit worthy of a pop star diva up there. I was sent to find you. I guess I can thank my dog that I got to catch the last bit of your quickie.”He turned and walked slowly back up the steps. Liam stood, mouth gaping open. Hannah scratched her nose, fiddled with her hair. “Wow.” She said, not looking at him. “Yeah,” he said, walking past her. But she put a hand on his arm.“I still don’t want any more from you…” she put a hand on his zipper. “But...you need to clear the air with him.” She said. “For both of your sakes.” Her eyes were sad and Liam felt all kinds of shitty at that moment. “Hannah, I…” But she turned from him, and climbed the stairs, leaving him alone yet again.
It's a hot one, I promise.
Oh, and for those of you awaiting your Jack Gordon fix, never fear! The next book Escalation Clause is currently being put through its editing paces! We will reveal the cover next week. In the meantime, if you haven't already TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE STEWART REALTY SERIES! I will happily Skype into a book club meeting with you to discuss it.
cheersLiz