Same Old, Same Old

It’s so sad really. I have nothing new to report. Things have been going well, just not much has changed and I really hate to blog about nothing at all.

Okay, so a few things have happened. The surgery date is creeping closer and I feel a feverish need to have my next WIP written and submitted before that happens. Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Unless these characters shove me out of the driver’s seat and take over. Which they might do! I can hope they will at least. But I think I could probably be close to finished with the story in two weeks. If I can write 20k a week…yeah, we’ll see about that.

Next cool thing to happen is I learned a writer I look up to read Primal Song and “loved” it. I think my heart jumped in my throat because there is nothing more amazing than writers whose books you devour reading your working and saying “I really liked it” or something similar. It’s the ultimate compliment and one of the first I’ve had like that. I’m not going to say who she is, but just knowing she liked it is enough to buoy my confidence in the skillz of writing.

The other cool thing happened first thing this morning. My editor sent me an email saying she was accepting the third book in the Cajun Heat series, loosely titled Primal Flavor. Can we all say yay? Of course, part of me is thinking I need to keep my mouth shut. Oh those painful lessons learned when I was a wee writer have stuck with me. But for now, I’m going with optimistic. Yes, me. Optimistic. Amazing, isn’t it?

So yeah, I think that’s it. Really not that much to report. They’re all awesome things, well except for surgery, but that’s motivating me to get my butt in gear and handle up on this story which is a good thing. I have a plan…and enough books to last at least the next five years. Now if only I had won the powerball…

Commitment

First off, I hope everyone had a lovely Mother’s Day.

I had a lazy weekend for the most part. I did housework, but I also worked on world-building for a series I’m trying to kick off the ground. It’s going to be cool and I can hardly wait to hear what others think about it because oh the hopes I have! It’s amazing what a little excitement means to my overall feelings of optimism. I’m not the optimistic type, in case you didn’t know. I prefer grim, stark reality to wishing and hoping for the best. Reality is me thinking this thing is going to tank hard and I’ll be wearing the imprint of hitting the ground on my face forever.

We’ll see. Right now I’m too caffeine deprived to muster up much enthusiasm for anything but sleep.

But that isn’t even the purpose of today’s post. Nope, today is about commitment. Something I think I might have a little trouble with. You see, I realized today marks seven years I’ve been at my present Evil Day Job. It’s the seventh anniversary of the day I walked through the doors and sat at a desk, not my official date because I started as a temp. Sure, things have changed since that day. I’ve been promoted to a position that has convinced several coworkers that I’m a spy. Which I’m totally not. I don’t have time for that sneaky bullshit. I’m a busy person, y’all.

Yet the more I sit here thinking about my job and the fact that this is the only company I’ve worked at for longer than six years…yeah, I’m feeling the urge to move on. Is it the seven-year itch? Or just a misplaced belief that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence? However, just because there’s an urge doesn’t mean I’m going to follow it. That’s where being a “responsible adult” comes into play.

I can’t just pick up and quit my job. I have responsibilities. I want to buy a house, become debt free, put money away for an early retirement. By the way, is 40 too young to retire? I don’t have a chance in hell of retiring that soon, but it’s a dream of mine. Retired at 45! How awesome would that be? I could write full-time, go to conferences…*sigh* Okay, so sometimes I find myself hoping and dreaming of things that’ll never happen. I’m a writer. Go figure.

Anyway, seven years. SEVEN YEARS. Working for one company. I shudder and I try to forget about it. It’s a job, not a lifetime commitment, right? I can leave anytime I want. Right? *whimper* Okay, so it’s probably a good thing I’m not married. I like my freedom a little too much to be tied up that way. Unless Gerard Butler finally decides he’s going to stop being stubborn and see Cajun is the way to go. Then we’ll see.

Meh, that’s enough rambling. I need more coffee.

Happy Monday y’all

Home Sweet Bed

I got back from RT yesterday afternoon and after dragging heavy suitcases all over the south, it was a massive relief to see my brother’s car waiting for me at the airport. It was even better to sit next to Bennett on the ride home. Even if he did tell me “no” to everything I asked him. Which was funny actually.

Danica: Were you a good boy for mommy and daddy?
Bennett: No.Danica: Somehow I knew that.

It was just great to be home. Normally my dog gives me the cold paw when I return from a long trip, but this time she did the lip smacking, head bowed, butt tucked under “Why did you leave me? No one takes care of me the way you do.” And then there was fat cat who had to lick my elbows and follow me everywhere. Actually, it’s been about 16 hours and they still follow me everywhere.

So much for a private shower, eh?

I had a lot of fun at RT. I took a ton of pictures which I haven’t retrieved from my camera yet, but I will try to get that done today so I can bore everyone with my “and this is a giraffe’s ass” slideshow commentary.

Next year should be a lot easier on me since RT is in New Orleans. No waiting in lines at the airport, no hoping the socks I’m wearing don’t have holes in them when I take my shoes off to go through security, no strange people sitting next to me on the plane. Just me and my car. Yay!

Are you planning to go to RT in New Orleans?

Captain’s Log RT Day 1

We’re here! Well, I’m here. And in Danica World, where I’m the center of the universe, that’s all that matters. Because everything else revolves around me.  I’m rockin’ it too. I have the whole gravity thing going on, some sparkles (stars to the layman) and I’m out of sight!

Okay, I’m laying it on thick. But I’m here in the lovely Kansas City for Romantic Times Booklovers Convention 2013. The flight from New Orleans to KC was fairy uneventful. No extreme hotties for me to ogle, but we were taken for a wild ride when we hit some high winds right before landing.

Then I loafed around the airport waiting for my partners in crime to arrive. Once we were all on the van (me, Lea Barrymire, Cassandra Carr and Shell Saunders-Bryce) I let the “other” me disappear and Danica slowly emerged. My hotel room? Awesomesauce. It’s pretty posh. Walked a bit, had food at the Crayola Cafe. Hello? More awesome.

And we left a calling card:

If you’re ever in the Kansas City area, I highly recommend Tuesday night at the Flying Saucer. It isn’t easy getting a table, but if you do and it’s more room than you need, invite the next folks in line to join you. We did and they turned out to be a lot of fun. I hope they enjoyed themselves at the Fleetwood Mac concert and want to give a huge thanks for them buying our first round of beers.

Anyway, The Flying Saucer was great. The food was good (very good), they had an amazing beer menu (I worked my way through nearly all the pale ales they offered) and they had trivia night. If we would have had more people with us I’m sure we would’ve beat those college kids. Sure of it! There’s also a very trendy grouping of bars and night clubs that I’d love to explore some more. That might be on the agenda. And I need to get T-shirts while I’m here.

But we had fun. I wish I could chat more, but it’s the official “start” of the conference and I need to get a move on. If you’re in the area, be sure to stop by the RT Book EXPO on Thursday afternoon from 4-6 pm. Even if you can’t make it, you can still buy books to support your favorite (and discover new) authors by clicking on their name on the Big Book EXPO page!

The Pre-RT Panic

I’m sure I’m not the only person going through their checklists of what they need to pack. I’m also sure I’m not the only person attending RT who couldn’t sleep because they were trying to make sure they didn’t forget anything. Or hop out of bed at midnight to make sure they packed a necklace they probably won’t wear the entire convention. Right?

I barely slept last night and I don’t think it was because of Vikings’ season finale. It was a nail-biter for sure, but I’m honest enough to know I’m anal when it comes to packing. I also doubt my sleepless night was due to me taking a four-hour nap yesterday morning. I didn’t mean to do it. I woke up early, had a cup of coffee and then it started raining. Oh, it was so lovely to huddle in my bed with the drapes drawn, the rain pattering the roof, my dog snoring at my feet and…voila, I slept four hours.

When I woke up, I was so not motivated to do anything. I didn’t want to pack. I didn’t want to read. I didn’t want to write. I just wanted to veg out, but later in the afternoon I knew I had to make an attempt to get last-minute items. Like a few extra shirts or something. Just in case I decide to change clothes twelve times in one day. What? You don’t do that? Anyway, I’m in the dressing room at the store trying on a new top when I look at my legs in the mirror.

Holy crap! Y’all, I swear it looked like I had elephantiasis of the thighs. Like I was smuggling two piglets in  my pants legs. I forgot that I’d been using a stepper to work out. At least I hope that’s the reason it suddenly looked like my quads were going to burst out of my jeans, but holy hell…I’m never wearing those jeans again. And if you see me at RT, don’t stare at my thighs. *shudder*

Anyway, the panic is starting to set in. I just know I’m going to forget something I really wanted to take with me. All because I had to have a stupid necklace I probably won’t remember to wear. Meh. But it’s okay. I’m going to have fun anyway.

If you’re going to be at the convention and you want to stop to chat, just look for the woman with fire-red hair with blonde and pink streaks. That’ll probably be me.

I’ll also try to keep y’all up on what’s going on. Be sure to follow me on Twitter: @danicaavet and Facebook so you can see pictures of the convention first hand! Sort of. LOL

Bad Blogger, No Treat

Would you believe me if I said I completely forgot to blog yesterday? I totally did. For some reason I thought I had a guest blogger? Or maybe I was so tired from the weekend, I didn’t care. But whatever the reason, I forgot to blog and now I’ll never win Erotic Romance Author Blogger of 2013 *sniff*

*shuffles her feet*

Last week was exhausting. I didn’t mention it here, but my great-nephew had to go to the hospital for surgery on Thursday. He’s fine now and hopefully he’ll start gaining the weight he so desperately needs. On that same day, I had a check up with my orthopedic surgeon who suggested surgery. Of course he also said I could just let it try to work itself out, but I’ll have to deal with pain until then. I opted for surgery. Now I just need to decide when is a good time for it. Oh and later that morning, between my doctor news and Mason’s surgery news, I along with A.M. Griffin and Lea Barrymire joined the crew at Cave Chaos Radio for some fun and laughs. So yeah, last week was tiring.

Really though, the weekend was exhausting. The weather was gorgeous which meant I had this insane urge to do stuff. By do stuff, I mean I woke up at 6:30 on Saturday morning. Finished reading a book I’d started, went back to bed by 7:30 and woke up at 10:00 with just enough time to meet my brother-in-law and sister at the Tractor Supply Company. We’d made plans to get Mom’s Mother’s Day present early and they wanted me there for 10:30. Er. Sure. I brushed my teeth in the shower, put on mismatched clothes and raced there.

We got Mom’s present and she was thrilled with it. So yay! I also took her on a mini-road trip on Sunday which we both enjoyed. I really do love to get behind the wheel of my car and explore the area. The weather was perfect for a drive. It’s times like that I wish I had a Harley or something. Then I recall how many times I ran into trees with my bicycle, how many times I wiped out and I revise my opinion and wish for a convertible. Yeah.

Anyway, that was my weekend and I’m glad to be back…not really. I’d do the weekend all over again. Especially the sleeping part. That was awesomesauce. I need all of the rest I can get before RT next week. What did y’all do over the weekend?

Hysteria

Le sigh, why must it be Monday already? It feels as though the weekend just flew by and left my head spinning.

Probably because if I wasn’t napping, I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Lovely imagery, but there ya go. Saturday should have been spent writing, but there was so much to do before our trivia night. I had headlight bulbs to get changed, groceries and food for my babies to buy and fingernail polish to conquer. Now before you say “Lord, she bought more fingernail polish?” I haven’t bought polish in at least two months. I think.

And I picked up some awesome colors! *skips* Yay!

Trivia night. Okay, in case you haven’t read about them before, teams of 6 get together to battle it out against other teams for first place. It’s sort of like Trivial Pursuit except a lot more fun. We always come out in the middle somewhere. I should probably start hanging out with people who listen to Country music because while we dominate the music category, I can only do so much *ducks* Oh. And I should probably also take my best friend’s advice when she says the most popular ice cream flavor is vanilla, not chocolate. Sorry Angie.

But we had fun. We weren’t drinking, yet we were still cutting up more than the other tables. Apparently I’m hysterical when I’m trying to get my mother to understand a question about silver being added to the penny. My sister nearly fell out of her chair laughing at me with my brother and best friend not far behind. Mais, I didn’t see what was so funny, but someone said something about me looking like a lion pouncing on a wounded gazelle. Poor Mom.

We came out in 8th place out of 17 teams. Not too good, not too bad, but we had a blast and plan to do it again next year. My cousin even suggested we have a family trivia night. Not just for fun, but also for practice because she wants to kick ass next time around.

Sunday was spent recovering from my misplaced belief that I was 20 again and could stay up until 4 am without a problem. *snort* I slept late, got up, saw my friend off for home then went back to bed. Oh, the sleep! Fat cat and doggie were happy to have Mommy in bed and not moving for several hours. They were so tired, you know. What does this mean? It means I didn’t write a single word all weekend long.

I tell myself that’s okay because while I didn’t write, I brainstormed. Yes, that’s what I told myself as I saw on the sofa and watched X-Men: The Last Stand, Pineapple Express, The Green Hornet, and Vikings. I was brainstorming! And I slept like absolute hell last night because my characters wouldn’t leave me alone.

So what did you do this weekend?

Time Flies

Happy April Fool’s Day. Which makes no sense whatsoever really. Who wants to be made a fool of? Meh. April Fool’s Day isn’t a big deal for my family since they prank each other all the time. This is just a blip on their radar.

No, I’m going to talk about how fast time is flying. Because really, I can’t be the only one who realized we’re in April. Already. Already! It seems just like yesterday we were celebrating making it through the Mayan End of Days and we’re now in the fourth month of 2013. FOURTH! Am I the only one having trouble wrapping their mind around this?

I had such huge plans when 2013 started. I had eight, or was it ten, books planned for the year. Do you know how many I’ve written since the start of the year? Two very short stories. I’m close to finishing the third, but hello. Eight, or ten, stories a year means I’d have to write a story every month and a half. And they can’t all be under 10k words. No, they have to be more than that. But the one I’m trying to finish now is testing me. Oh those sneaky characters!

For those of y’all wondering, yes, I am working on the third book in the Cajun Heat series. It’s tentatively called Primal Flavor and it’s about that bad boy chef and baker, Zach Trahan. And let me tell y’all, he’s tested my patience. What was supposed to be a quick, hot read has turned into an emotional mess. I didn’t even know Zach had all of these feelings, but he’s surprised not only me, but also his heroine. This story has surpassed the previous two Cajun Heat books in word count and it doesn’t seem ready to stop yet. However, I’m almost positive I can get it finished this week. So that’s one more book down for the count.

Should be a major yay, right? Hmph.

Finishing Primal Flavor only means I have eight months to write the fourth book in the series, two contemporary romances I’ve got planned for a series, another short story or two (an exokita and a spoof), a sci-fi I can barely wait to get my hands on again, possibly another paranormal (a spin off from the Cajun Heat series), and a contemporary romance I have a title for, but no story yet. Yes, I do come up with titles first sometimes. It just happens that way. And don’t even get me started on all the plot bunnies that popped into mind yesterday while I was at the zoo. Mais, it’s enough to make me crazy.

I have to buckle down, so it’s probably a good thing we don’t have anymore holidays coming up for a few months. Okay, okay s there’ll be a whole week I won’t write because I’ll be at RT, but after that…it’s on! And that means the next time I lift my head from the grindstone, it’ll be October and I’ll be in Ohio for RomantiCon. Right?

How about y’all? Has time been flying for you? Or do you feel like a kid again and the days keep dragging?

The Hilarity Continues

Just a quick note to announce that today the Cabal of Hotness received its covers for the next three volumes of the Fondled and Gobbled anthologies.

Nope, you didn’t read that wrong! We have three more volumes coming out with four gut busting stories in each. We’ve even added three more authors to the anthologies, bringing in Kinky Hotness Cara Carnes, Shy Hotness Sky Robinson and Big Daddy Hotness himself, Justin Whitfield!

First up is Fondled and Gobbled: Back for More with funny women, Lea Barrymire, Cara Carnes, Cassandra Carr, and A.M. Griffin:

Next up is Fondle and Gobbled: One More Slurp featuring stories by me, Sasha Devlin, Anya Richards and Sky Robinson:

And last, but not least is Fondled and Gobbled: Messier Than Ever with stories by Amy Ruttan, Cristal Ryder, Piper Trace and Justin Whitfield:

There’s a licking theme going on…or would that be a tongue theme? Heh. Either way the covers really reflect the humor of the stories as well as the eroticism because despite them being funny, they’re hawt! Kind of like us!

Before you leave, don’t forget there are three giveaways going on right now. The What is Danica thinking? giveaway ends tonight. The Big Cocks and Shamrocks Blog Hop ends on Sunday and my Scavenger Hunt for Dean’s List ends next week. Be sure to get your chances to win swag, books and naughty stuff. Everyone loves naughty stuff, don’t they?

Oh! And in case I forget, tomorrow I have another interview…rar, one I think everyone will definitely appreciate. *waggles her eyebrows*

A Small Complaint

I love music. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to y’all. I managed to fit my love of music into a schedule on my blog with What’s Playing Wednesdays. It’s been an essential part of my life for as long as I can remember.

My mom loves to tell stories about me as a child singing every song that came on the radio. Every song. Including the commercial jingles. Not much has changed. I still sing along, but my tastes have changed. *shuffle* Okay, so there are a few commercials I still sing along with, but not as many.

I love nearly all kinds of music, although I gravitate more toward rock and heavy metal.  I just enjoy the intensity of the songs, but that doesn’t mean I scoff at softer bands. I will get teary-eyed listening to Snow Patrol because wow, that songwriting. *sigh* Rap, hip-hop, some country, some pop, classic rock, golden oldies, jazz, blues, alternative, I love it all. But in the end, I would rather listen to screaming guitars and growling vocals.

Which is why the current trend in crappy female-led metal bands pisses me off. Oh sure, I’m all for girl power. I think it’s awesome that the music industry is starting to see that women love to rock out as much as men do. I think it’s a wonderful thing and I’m all for music that supports that. When it’s good. I’m sorry, I’m sure there are some people out there who just love some of the bands that have become popular lately, but all I can say is “are you kidding me?”

When did being female become more important than writing good music? When did having tits and ass become the most vital part to a band’s popularity than good musica ability and some vocal ability? There are very few bands that I’ll listen to these days with a female singer. VERY few. I can count them on one hand. Those are the bands that are about the music. If I can listen to a song and it takes me a while to realize the singer is female because I’m so entranced by the music, by the lyrics, by the sheer power of the song. I shouldn’t wince when the song comes on because it sounds like two cats fighting and screwing in an alley. The screeching-I’m-so-sexy-I-don’t-need-musical-ability of the newer bands turns me off. And that’s probably wrong of me, but there you go.

There are a lot of bands out there who have female singers who make their songs more about femininity than just a walking vagina singing on stage. Those are the groups I’ll listen to because being a woman is secondary to the music. It isn’t the primary aspect. I can respect that because it shows me they’re not just in it to make men go “Oh man, I wouldn’t kick her out of my bed if she hadn’t shaved her legs in five weeks”.

Of course the record companies aren’t catering to me. Although they should. Maybe if they picked bands who had a smidgen of talent and passion for the music instead of the ones that were only a hair off from being bubblegum pop groups, I’d like them better and share them on my blog.

I surely can’t be the only one who’s noticed this, right? Have any y’all realized the same thing? Or am I really just that snobbish about music?