by Mlissa | May 30, 2012 | Favorites
It’s a busy day. A very busy day and I haven’t even started writing yet, which is something I need to do before the day is over. In a little bit I’ll be headed out to the post office, the gas station, and the grocery store. Last minute errands before I leave tomorrow morning.
For those of you who don’t know, I’ll be headed to Cincinnati, Ohio for the annual Lori Foster Reader/Author Get Together. I always look forward to this trip. It’s fun, relaxed, and Cincinnati is one of my favorite cities. If you’re going to be in attendance, please say hi! I’d love to see you, or meet you if I haven’t before.
I drive to the event because I love road trips. I love to drive, even though it’s mentally exhausting and I’m stiff and achy when I get out of the car after being in the seat for 3-4 hours, I love to drive and take road trips. I don’t do it as often as I’d like, what with gas prices and the up-keep repairs on vehicles and the idiots on the road, but, I do love them. And if I can take a road that is not a major highway or an Interstate, I’m even happier.
I haven’t been to many places in my life, not as many as I’d like to, and definitely not as many as I intend to, but of those that I have, I have loved them. Driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Driving through the low-country in Georgia and South Carolina. Driving through the farm lands of Kentucky and Ohio. Driving through the hills of West Virginia and Virginia. Driving through the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennesee and North Carolina. Yes, I am a Southern girl. This is very well established…lol.
But the other thing about road trips is snacks. I’ll be gathering those today on my outing to the store. Some of my favorite snacks are:
1. Coke and peanuts. Yes, I’m talking peanuts IN the coke. Yum.
2. Water. I always buy a flat of water to take with me.
3. Grapes, cheese sticks, beef jerky, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, baby carrots, dried fruit. Have to have the healthy snacks because…
4. Moonpies or Little Debbie Snack Cakes or Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, or even something homemade like Fruity Pebbles Marshmallow Treats. …There’s always the junk food!
5. Gum. Variety of flavors.
What about you? What are your favorite on the road snacks?
~lissa
by Mlissa | Nov 27, 2011 | Cowboy
A few months ago, author Delilah Devlin put out a call for cowboy stories to include in an anthology from Cleis Press. These were to be short stories and after some thought, I decided to write and submit one. I spent weeks on the 4500 word story. I spent days reading, revising, reading, revising, reading, etc… to get it just right, to get it perfect enough. Delilah writes awesome cowboys. I don’t ever pass up on of her cowboy books. Ever. She’s an amazing author who I admire more than words. I was able to spend some time with her at the Lori Foster con over the summer and I sat enthralled whenever she talked. I learned a lot from her in just a short period, so when she put out this call, I knew I had to try.
It paid off, this taking a chance thing. My story, Small Town Famous, will be included. It’s about a couple, Bethann and Tommy, who have been together since high school, who live in sin, who love each other fiercely, who are rather well known for their public sexual escapades. When a new girl comes to town and dares to lay a hand on Tommy, all hell breaks loose in the form of a shot gun, Bethann behind bars, and Tommy all kinds of turned on. It was a fun little story, inspired by Miranda Lambert’s song, Famous in a Small Town.
The title of the anthology is Cowboy Lust and it will be available come Fall 2012.
Other authors include Cari Quinn, Cat Johnson, Delilah Devlin, Cheyenne Blue, and Charlene Teglia. For a full list of authors and for the full write up of the book’s introduction, click here to be taken to Delilah’s blog.
I am so excited!
Oh, and we have 23 days left before the release of Twisted Up!
Have a great Sunday!
~lissa
by Mlissa | Jun 12, 2011 | Uncategorized
I’m still here. I promise. I pinched a nerve in my lower back a few days ago and well… PAIN. To sit, to walk, to stand, to pretty much move at all. PAIN. Add in PMS and I’m just a barrel of fun!
I was just starting to get back to my writing after the Lori Foster event. I didn’t get the chance to write as much as I’d hoped. I did spend a lot of time people watching though. I was asked, begged, pleaded with to try and go to Authors After Dark in August in Philly. There were a few spots open because some people didn’t pay evidently by the end date and I jumped in and reserved a place. I’m all paid up, too.
I’m going as an author but I won’t be doing the signing because my books are not in print. Oh well. I will have some promo at Authors After Dark. And my friend and I are looking to do a Do You Know Vinter? promo thing… How fun, right?
In case y’all didn’t know, we took some winding, mountain roads through Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina on the way home from Cincinnati. Beautiful areas. Depressed areas. Crazy ‘get me the hell out of here’ areas, and lots of inspiration. We happened upon a park called Breaks Interstate Park. It’s the Grand Canyon of the South. It’s gorgeous and spans both Virgina and Kentucky. I was speechless at the views.
I will be driving to Authors After Dark and well, I can only imagine the winding roads I’ll find on that trip. I’m looking forward to it. I’m going as a tag-along, a hanger-on because I hadn’t planned on going at all. We’ll see how it goes.
For those readers of mine that are wondering, I have not heard from my Samhain editor. I sent her a follow-up email. Hopefully, she’s just incredibly busy and will get back to me soon.
I will be venturing into self-publishing this Summer and it will hopefully allow me to write some shorter, hot pieces while I still working on the longer pieces for my publishers. Speaking of… let me ask y’all this… Do you want hot, erotic books still? Or are your tastes leaning toward more mainstream, sweet romance? I know Samhain has been pushing that they accept mainstream and sweet and yes they still accept and take erotic and I’m really wanting to know what readers are wanting. Are you still interested in erotic stories or have your tastes calmed and now you want more of a mainstream book?
As a reader, I don’t want sweet. I don’t really want mainstream all that much. I still want the hot, sexy, squirm in my seat and locate the batteries books.
So as a reader, what do you want to read more of? Spill your guts…
And now, I’m going to have to cut this short. I’ve stood here writing this post and my back is protesting mightily. It’s off to the couch for me with some ibuprofen and a pillow between my knees. An iced caramel macchiato that can be sipped through a straw is probably a good idea too.
Hope y’all are staying cool this weekend…
~lissa
by Mlissa | Apr 28, 2011 | Nascar, NFL Draft, Trader Joe's
Today’s post is exactly that. Random. As a matter of fact, it’s so random, I completely forgot what I was going to blog about. Isn’t that lovely?
Let’s see if I can at least come up with thirteen things to talk mention…
1. Tonight is the NFL Draft. I think there will definitely be an NFL season. I think players get paid too much. I think rookies that get bonus’ higher than the salaries of veteran players is outrageous. I think there’s too much talk about ‘Show Me The Money’ and not enough talk of ‘What kind of player are you going to be for me, for the team, for the fans?’ I don’t think Cam Newton should go first. I do think I’ll be handing my husband a tissue to cry into when the Jacksonville Jaguars make some hideous draft choices.
2. My family and friends in the Alabama area are fine and safe and their homes are still intact. My thoughts go out to those who have been injured, have lost everything, have lost someone near and dear.
3. I am reading Rednecks and Roses by Judy Mays. It’s freakin’ hilarious. What’s been done to her is appalling and atrocious.
4. I’m going to Atlanta this weekend with my family. DH and DS are going to a Braves game of which I could care less. DD and I are going to spend the day at the Georgia Aquarium. We’re staying in a downtown high rise hotel and are going to have a blast. I hope to visit reader Janeen’s family’s Italian Restaurant Saturday evening before we head back home.
5. People that abandon animals should be shot.
6. Trader Joe’s has some of the most addicting foods and snack items. Ever. My current obsession is their Chile Spiced Mango slices. I love their selection of cheeses too.
7. I am loving both my Kindle and my Nook Color. Both are very different but wonderful.
8. I am going to the Lori Foster event in June. Are you?
9. Twisted Up will be turned in tomorrow evening before I leave for Atlanta.
10. I watched the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 today. I will be devastated when all is said and done. As with Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter has been an awesome adventure. My daughter has grown up watching HP and to her, it signifies the end of her childhood as she’s always known it. It is bittersweet but I cannot wait to see it July 15th.
11. NASCAR will be in North Carolina next month and y’all know I’ll be going so’s I can scream and yell my fool head off. It will help inspire me to work on Drive Shaft. At the present time, Alli is nursing her second beer.
12. Did y’all know my books are available on Barnes and Noble for the Nook? I’m guessing by the rankings that most of you don’t. Most of your friends don’t either. I’m hoping to change that soon with a Nook giveaway.
13. It’s 6:30pm and I need to get working on more revisions before the Draft starts in a couple of hours.
13 1/2. Yes, I am getting up at 3something in the morning to watch the wedding. I watched Princess Diana get married. I watched her funeral. It’s only fitting that I watch her son. I wish them the very best of life and I hope their marriage fairs better than his mother’s did. You can see her in his smile. I have always been fascinated by British history, by the monarchy. The first book I read, that I remember aside from Cinderella was called Good Queen Bess about Queen Elizabeth I. She has always been my heroine and I think that’s where my fascination began with history in general and with British history in particular.
Have a great night.
~lissa
