Cougar Challenge Contest

Hey Guys,

I'm sneaking in on Saturday to cross posting this contest for the Cougar Challenge being run By Dalton Diaz on the Blackraven's Erotic Cafe, from Tuesday, November 17, 2009. Pop over and have a bit of fun with Dalton's Scavenger hunt... all the details are below.

Blackraven Eating Crow Contest....

Good evening everyone,

I bet you're wondering why I'm eating crow. Well, here's the deal...Dalton Diaz was at the Cafe today promoting her new book Winters' Thaw, which is GREAT! And, she was kind enough to give one lucky winner access to her books at Ellora's Cave, which is even better.

I know what you're thinking, if all this is so GREAT, then why is The Blackraven eating CROW? Well, I goofed and told you that Winters' Thaw was being released today when in actuality, it's tomorrow, Nov. 18th. See the problem. So, first I would like to apologize for getting you all excited and making you think that you could go to Ellora's Cave an purchase Winters' Thaw.

Second, since I'm eating CROW, Dalton has took pity on me and has decided to make this BIG MISTAKE a win-win for not only me, but also and most importantly YOU. How you might ask??? Well let me tell you...

Dalton has agreed to give one lucky winner...are you ready for this...$25 worth of ebooks of THEIR CHOICE from the Jasmine Jade site, aka. Ellora's Cave. That's right $25 of e-books that you get to choose from Ellora's Cave.

Is everyone breathing again...at least long enough for me to tell you how the contest will work.

First Stipulation: You need to sign up to follow the Tempt The Cougar Blog by CLICKING HERE! Once you sign up, leave a COMMENT in the Winters' Thaw post letting Dalton know that you've signed up and your followers' name.

Second Stipulation: You need to answer the following 3 questions from the Tempt The Cougar blog and our interview. You need to email your responses to The Blackraven at the following address theblackraven36 AT yahoo DOT com.


QUESTIONS:

1. List the authors of the Cougar Challenge - they do not have to be in any particular order.

2. Which Cougar series character first posted the challenge, and in which book?

3. Who came up with the Dalton Diaz pen name, and why?

Easy as pie!

Just to make sure that everyone understands, you need to sign up as a follower on the Tempt the Cougar blog and post that you've done so in the COMMENTS' section of Winters' Thaw post with the heading "It's My Turn!"

Then, you need to find the answers to the three questions shown above by looking on the Tempt the Cougar blog and The Blackraven's Erotic Cafe blog by researching Dalton and my interview. Once you have the answers, email them to me at theblackraven36 AT yahoo DOT com.


THE PRIZE:

Once again, the winner will receive $25 worth of ebooks of their choice from the Jasmine Jade site, aka Ellora's Cave, compliments of Dalton Diaz. The lucky winner will send their wish list to me at theblackraven36 AT yahoo DOT com and I will forward it to Dalton for her to purchase your books.


PLEASE NOTE: Unlike most of my contests where I basically give you the answer, the responses will blocked once you enter your response, which means everyone will have to do their own legwork! This is an AWESOME prize, so it's only fair.


CONTEST ENDS:

Because we've created a mini scavenger hunt, the contest will end Sunday night, Nov. 22nd at midnight. The lucky winner will be announced on Monday morning, November 23rd because we'll need time to go through the responses.

What a Week

(Dwayne is here just because he's pretty.)

This week was chock full of Sam. Well, at least for me. I had a new book video come out. It's on You Tube, and I posted it here at K&T on Tues.

I realized I haven't been great about posting recent interviews and such. So you can catch one here at Blackraven's Erotic Cafe, and I guest blogged here at Selena Illyria's.

I did an interview at the Ellora's Cave editors blog Redlines and Deadlines. This one is advice for new authors, so all you aspiring writers might want to check it out. It's the beginning of a series of interviews with authors over there.

I had two wonderful reviews this week. Over at The Romance Studio Play It Again, Sam received five hearts, and was up for Favorite Five Heart Review of the week. And over at Speak It's Name, Islands received 4 1/2 out of 5. Both are very nicely written reviews.

On top of all that, I'm trying to edit a book, I'm researching my next Brothers In Arms, my computer was upgraded (I just got it back last night. Yay!), my six year old was sick AGAIN, I tried to cook dinner (don't ask), I did about sixty-five loads of laundry (if I ever miss a blogging day chances are I'm buried alive under a mountain of dirty laundry), my roof is still leaking (need a new one), my espresso machine broke (also need a new one), and the first of several school Thanksgiving feasts is today.

I got a new phrase from lisabea. "Defcon five" now means that state of lapsed grooming writers achieve in the middle of a deadline, or several. Do they have defcon eight? I'm at defcon eight.

Katherine Ashe, the same one Mari had dinner with this week, sent this around to our RWA chapter loop. It's how to write a Regency in two minutes. It is hilarious for those of us who write or love Regencies.

I'm on the planning committee (with Mari) of a very exciting conference next year. The Writers' Police Academy, the brainchild of writer and police procedure consultant Lee Lofland, is a two-day academy next Sept. 24-25 where writers will be able to take workshops and watch demonstrations with policemen, EMT's, firemen, forensic specialists, and ATF agents at a public safety training course. It's hands-on, so that we writers can learn what we need to know to write realistic scenes. This is a great opportunity for anyone who writes mystery, romantic suspense, urban fantasy, thrillers, or horror. The banquet speaker is NYT bestseller Jeffery Deaver, and NYC Chief Medical Examiner and mystery writer Jonathan Hayes will be giving a special presentation as well. Registration opened last week and the spaces are filling up fast! There is limited space available, and the hotel (which is a fantastic deal) has even less space. So go check it out and register now.

I joined Twitter today! Find me. http://twitter.com/skaneauthor

Happy Turkey Day (early) for my fellow Americans, and for all my friends around the world I'm sending thoughts of thanks and plenty your way.

Thursday Thirteen...Writing (and cover squee!!)

It's the middle of November. Next week is Thanksgiving. Christmas is only 36 days away. And I still have a lot of writing and related things to accomplish before 11:59pm on December 31.

And so...here we go:

1. Turn in Sugar Rush edits (done)
2. Write paranormal Thanksgiving short
3. Write blogs (Raven Blog, Kiss and Tell, Romance in the Backseat, my blog)
4. Promo release of Ellora's Cave Exotika: Simple Need (release date November 25)
5. Finish writing Mating a Demon (Ellora's Cave)
6. Finish writing Exstasy (Ellora's Cave)
7. Finish writing Raspberries and Cream (Samhain)
8. second round of Sugar Rush edits
9. finish cover art and blurb forms
10. try to find a new name for second Loose Id book
11. participate in chats, do interviews
12. purchase a large piece of whiteboard from Lowe's and some cool dry erase markers (so i can see what the hell i'm doing when i'm editing/revising/rewriting)
13. write 3 synopses

Now, what about all of you? What as a writer do you still have left to do by the end of the year? As readers/reviewers, what do you hope to read/review by the end of the year? And to anyone else that reads this...what do you have still to accomplish before the fireworks and champagne at midnight January 1, 2010?

I promised cover art...

Isn't he yummy!!!!!!

Have a great Thursday!
~lissa

Rambling thoughts and Cover Love

I’m still in the writing mode. The sequel to Beware of the Cowboy is almost complete. I know… a year later. What-Evah… I’ve been busy. It’s coming. Keep your pants on. I promise it’s worth the wait.

Last night, I had dinner with the lovely Katharine Ashe. Look for her new regency romance from Avon in August. The title- Swept Away by a Kiss… yes we giggled. It’s a regency, they love those titles. She’s in my RWA chapter and after several years, we managed to get some quiet time to get to know each other.

I realized as we were chatting that writer’s tell their life story based around their writing history. When did you start writing? When did you start full time? How did you know you wanted to write? When did you start selling you work? Later, after way too many nachos, crab won tons and lettuce wraps (yes, we were piggies) we got to talk of husbands and kids and such.

Funny. It’s not that those things aren’t important in our lives, because they are, really…But, when it’s writer and writer… one to one… the questions, conversation and connections center on the shared love of storytelling. Is this the case when lawyers or carnival workers get together? Maybe. Do clowns talk shop when they’re out for a beer?
--“Hey Bozo, did you see how I fit into that car?"
--“Yeah Zeke, you got crazy small."

Anyway, I had a great time with Katherine and the Pomegranate Mojitos.

The big news I have for the day is a giant cover squeeeeeeee. Sin on Skin is my contribution to the multi-author series called the Cougar Challenge. You may remember Samantha’s Play it Again, Sam came out a few weeks ago. You can read all the funny posts from the authors of the books and the fabulous characters on the Tempt the Cougar blog. And there’s lots of man-candy… younger man-candy.

Today, Dalton Diaz’s book, Winters’ Thaw is releasing. And to celebrate, Dalton is holding a contest for $25 in Ellora’s Cave books over at the Black Raven Erotic Café. You might want to check that out to get some free stuffage.

I think you’ll get to meet my character Stevie and her smoking hot tattoo artist, Errol in Sin on Skin, December 9th. A birdie says it might be earlier….I’ll let ya know.


Happy Reading….
~Mari

New Samantha Kane Book Video for "Love In Exile"

I have a shiny new book trailer to go with my shiny new book coming out Dec. 11. It's Book Six of my Brothers In Arms series. Love In Exile is about a half-Polynesian naturalist named Gregory Anderson who has been sailing and exploring the world for the last seven years. He returns to London to present his findings to the Royal Society, and to see his old friends again. At a ball celebrating the marriage of his old friend Ian Witherspoon, Gregory meets Nat and Alecia Digby, a young married couple. The three set out to have a nice, meaningless, highly erotic affair, but love gets in the way. Gregory has to fight his old fears that Nat and Alecia are only attracted to him because he's different, and once they've satisfied their curiosity they'll move on. For Nat and Alecia, loving Gregory means growing up and making sacrifices. Can they all forget the pain of their pasts and move forward into an uncertain future?

Read an excerpt here.


Kendra of CBK Productions did this video for me. Kendra is the genius behind my Retreat From Love and Tomorrow videos, too. I love the look and feel of this video. What do you all think?



And in yet another shameless self-promotion I humbly ask you to go and vote for me at The Romance Studio for Favorite Five Heart Review of the week for Play It Again, Sam. Thank you.