January is OVER.

And it was sorta productive. Month's count of words: 34,400. Not bad, but it could have been WAY better. We got a LOT done on a few books, and have learned a lot more about the characters we are now working with. I'm hopeful we can double our output for Feb, even though Audra's 25th Birthday is in Feb and Valentines day and all.

did a LOT of promo designs and ordering today. I ordered our pin (button design). Check it:
Pretty? I think so. Yes, if your at RT this year, I will be giving these out along with new DEMONSTYLE stickers. I cant wait. LOL.

So Im out. I have some work to do tonite and Need to get ready for tomorrow. What do you guys think of the button? Ill give you guys some more info about what we are doing at RT soon... I dont wanna ruin the surprise! OOh and all the special goodies too!

Lates!

Damn it. the world went white again.

Damn snow. Makes my life complicated. But not as complicated as Audra, who is trying to complete;y defrost her freezer. Shes got more ice in that thing then there should be, and swears shes chipping away at ice older then her. Yes. Life for Audra is always an adventure.

So with the snow completely dashing any hopes I have of getting out of the house, I plan on working on some new promo design for RT, and some work on the worksheets and such for my workshops. Ooh and some new jewelry. I have some new stuff I still have to list at Stella by Starlight, and Im waiting on some components for my personal RT jewelry.

So today is a bit of work on Moongardens, the long awaited 3rd book in our dragon elementals series. Our Hero is in a Snit because he feels hes waited long enough to get his shit going on. I agree. Spiria has been really interested to meet her guy, so today is going to be a lot of this. Lets hope we get a lot done.

So im off to make some jewelry and wait on Audra. Have a good snow day!

Mushy brain... but with good reason

I feel good.

Audra and I write 12k yesterday, and put a major dent in the second Satyr story. It was good, but now I need to go back in and bulk up, and get the next part ready for next week since we don't write on the weekends. I'm glad we got so much done, though the book isn't on deadline, we have in fact thought up the rest of the series, and what happens after Olanis. Yes, its going to be good. With the first book out for submissions, Im glad we are a bit further then halfway done with the second book.

And we have to really get on the third snake novella because its due in April. We have some done, but it needs a bigger dent to feel like we are back on track. But both books are going well, and we are meeting some new characters and falling back in love with old ones. It feels good to be in this again.

Ooh and we just finished perusing our galley for London for the Holidays. It will be in print soon. Very excited. It will be good to have something new out. So im back to bulking and some promo and cover work. have a good weekend everyone.

it is interesting...

Thank you to all of you that commented and subscribed to the blog. I'm not very surprised that you all feel the same as me about this insanity, and that I haven't been doing things wrong by not writing every minute of every day out on this page for the world to see. Nothing I have done in the past 4 months is that interesting.

And thank you severely for commenting in general. Sometimes I really do feel like Im just posting things here for my health, mental health that is. See I do believe you need to blog, that its healthy, and is a natural outlet for writers especially, but I do believe in too much therapy. Sometimes it can hurt you as much as it helps you.

At least I know we are still on the right track. Now to take that next step.

But thats for later, when I actually do it. If you are available tonite, we(myself and the other Pantheon authors) will be at TRS at 9pm est for a live chat and will be giving away copies of the Pantheon stories in e book. Its a great little antho and I hope you will attend.

Ooh and for those of you in CT: the Feb 7th signing is still on! Borders has been awesome with helping us set this up, and know its going to be a freaking amazing signing, 15 authors and snacks and drinks and lots of gifts and prizes. If you live close enough, come and hangout, we are raffling off 15 gift baskets from 15 different authors!

But for now, Im off to write. Audra and I have to get another 5k done today, at minimum, and put a major dent in these MS's!

Apparently, we arent popular

So let the ranting begin.

Ok so I was talking with another of our amazing writer friends and she told me that an agent said that they check out how popular an author is by the subscriptions to the feeds of the blogs they are on. Well this got me thinking...

See, We don't have many subscriptions on the blogs we are on (Even at the Authors After Dark Blog, which is home to several NYTBS authors!) So by this agent's reasoning, we aren't in any way popular, nor are they. This irks me.

See, the truth is, I dont blog much on here, and I blog on my appointed day at the group blogs. Why dont I blog here? Because I dont have anything interesting to say for one, and for two, I would much rather be writing a new book or story to get out to you, our awesome readers. But apparently, because I dont blog a lot I dont have a lot of readers and that inturn makes me very unpopular. Does that make any sense? I mean I'm not Neil Gaiman for gods sake.

Sorry. Gimme a chance to center my chi.

Ah thats better. See, I dont find the majority of what I have to say on the every day scale interesting, and I dont think you would either. See, I have no life outside of this computer most of the time, and I rarely leave my house in the winter. And to be honest, my personal life isnt sordid or anything either. The Hunny comes over, we eat dinner, he's on his compy I'm on mine, When hes tired, he kisses me good night, and he leaves. No, he doesnt live with me.

I'm not part of any sort of crazy publishing dibacle, nor am going to spew venom about publishers I'm not with nor know nothing about the inner workings of. I do my writing, I love my publishers (mostly) and I hope for a better tomorrow. Could I be blogging about my 100R's for the snake novel? Yes. Would that be wise? No. Me bitching about the closed mindedness of the industry isn not going to do anything for the book or my career aside from getting us blacklisted from several agents and publisher.

Do I want all that? No.

So I blog about the positive, and on occasion, if something really pisses me off, I will blog about it, in a rational and concise manner, as i have done in the past. But the positives are few and far between. We dont have releases every month, and we dont have anything insane happening to make us keep you up to date on the awesomeness that is our books. I blog about events, and I blog about awards we are up for, but again: few and far between.

I dont blog about our books on the whole because a lot of what we are writing isnt in the mainstream, and I'll be honest, WE want to be the one known for trailblazing. So I dont say much about the new characters we have, races we have developed or storylines we are working on because the last thing we need is to be shut out of something we write first because someone with a NY contract or with a publisher more popular then the ones we are with has bitten it off and gotten their book pubbed first. Not that I'm saying anyone would steal an idea, but if I dont put it out there, theres not coincidence. I know people have similar ideas, bu paranoia in this industry runs rampant.

So either I should get a life and quit trying to write and get work out (as they always say, the best promotion is to write another book) or just keep on my merry way and hope for the best. Or, you, our grandiose readers, can just subscribe to the bloggy via Blogger, RSS or feedburner, and let me know that what we do we do not do in vein.

Oh and BTW, getting a life isnt as easy as it sounds when you live here. Will I be blogging about my numerous signings this year? Yes, and the events I'm going to (ComiCon) and the ones I have been invited to attend(NECRWA and CTRWA)? Yes. Will I tell you all about the books we have coming up and offer contests that no one will enter? Yes. So nothing really has changed on this side of the blog... I guess maybe we just need to know we arent alone out there.

So what say you? Just because your not a darling of the blog feed world, do you really have to worry that your not popular and all the other stuff you do to further your career isnt paying off? Do you as a reader always subscribe to blogs? Do you know how? Please comment on anything in this blog... I'm open to a discussion.

SO Excited!

So i sent our edits back to our TEB editor (who is by far, the COOLEST) and I'm very happy with the changes she made to the book, and the feedback she gave us pertaining to how we write and the stories we tell. I like her a lot, and I'm looking forward to working with her on the next books (And more if things work out well!)

And now I'm even more anxious to see what cover we get! Not to mention I have promo to design for the book too. Apparently we release on the 20th of april, which is awesome, because its the week of RT and we can really promote it at the Expo. SO looking forward to that.

So today is some writing on the third snake novella for TEB, and hopefully some extra promo work done for another author. Its a good day.

Reconnection and sweaters.

So yesterday was no writing day. Why? because Audra and I spent the day on the phone and then the evening on video Skype. It was more fun then I have had for a long time. Every once in a while, we need to do that, just chat till we don't understand each other, and drink a bottle or two of wine. It was a good time, and it felt good to reconnect with Audra, to remember why it is we love each other, why we dont fight about our books and why we adore the characters that live with us.

FYI: the snake in the sweater conversation still has not been resolved.

So today is a no writing day either. Its Battlestar Galactica Day. So im doing some promo work, and watching BSG marathon on SciFi and then Ill have dinner brought from Pizza Hut and enjoy my night.

I have great hope that next week we will put a mega dent in the WIP, and hopefully finish up some work that has been dangling. Ah. I love 2009.

Finished and off!

So our revisions for Of Crimson and Collars are done, and off to the editor, and now the waiting game begins. We added a lot, about 10k, which was insane considering our schedule for the holiday season, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. It feels good to get it out there, and to see if it will see the light of day this year. I think it needed to get lengthened and get more depth then when we first wrote it.

So now we wait. But no idly. We are already hard at work on the second of the series, and have a small chunk started, so I'm excited about that as well. And the fact that we are already hard at work on the the third snake novella, A Gift of Daybreak, for Total -E-Bound. Its stewing, simmering like a pot, and scenes and dialog are rising to the surface. So excited. I LOVE that we are getting to return to these characters yet again and see whats going on with them. The Knossos West snakes are just fantastic, and we hope everyone likes Fajer and Andy... and a sneak peak to some new snakes that you will see in the novels(still praying for NY with those.)

So im back to work. I need to decide on a name for the next Satyrs book, and have to write atleast 2k today to keep on schedule. Blogging done, on the next thing.

Join us on the Radio tonight!

Join the authors of Tease Publishing's hot new anthology, Love's Immortal: Pantheon. Joining us will be Stella Price (writing as Dagmar Avery), Tilly Greene, Eliza Gayle, Kayleigh Jamison, Diana DeRicci, Selena Illyria, and ARe's own Cat Johnson doing double duty as participating author and interviewer. It should be interesting if nothing else!

LISTEN HERE AT 930 pm EST!

And be sure to pick up all the Pantheon stories starting January 15th!

We finaled!

Yes! Another year and another turn at the Fantasm Awards!

Guess what? We finaled in three categories!

Short Story: Best Paranormal Romance Story: Hot Rio Nights

Novel: Best Shifter (non-wolf): Deep Water

Novel: Best Demonic Romance: Frost and Flame

Woo! Im super excited about this, especially cuz Deep water got nominated! So Ill be posting soon about the voting, but we would LOVE if you guys voted for us!

Excerpt: Beyond the Vision of Dreams

Hey all. theres been some requests for an excerpt for the first Snake were book, so I thought I would oblige. This is a small excerpt from the first book in the Knossos West Weresnakes series, Beyond the Vision of Dreams, in which Remy Crane, unmated Python, meets the woman hes been dream screwing for a few weeks at the front door of the Mansion...

The Compound, A sprawling mansion just outside town sat on about fifty acres of land and was hidden by the dense copes of evergreens, elms and birches that were indigenous to the area. For the past hundred years it had housed the upstate New York nest with relative ease and very little scrutiny. The residents had the freedom to come and go as they pleased, live their own lives, and not have to worry about the once a month hunt in a place where giant snakes were unheard of. The fifty acres that surrounded the sixty five thousand square foot mansion was protected land, lush and fertile and the perfect environment for the nest to hunt in.

He loved it here, and had stayed because of that, when a good portion of the other males had gone to other crèches. New York just flat out did it for him, and he loved the people here. As he walked down the next set of stairs he took in the ground floor tiling, the embedded snake motif that weaved through it was only truly visible from the third floor stand off outside the Archon’s room but from living here so long he knew exactly where to look. As he descended the stairs, the pattern became geometric shapes, not meant to be seen by just anyone coming to the house. It was a little trick to them, a way of hiding what they were but keeping it all out in the open.

Remy was so engrossed in his musings he didn’t even notice the woman standing in the foyer. As he bumped into her he cursed and shook the pleasant thoughts from his mind and concentrated on being the gentleman most people rarely saw when they looked at him. “Ah shit let me help you up! I didn’t see you there, I’m sorry.” He rambled, focusing on the dark black hair and that was hanging in the woman’s face. “Are you ok?”

“Sure,” she bit out snarkly, “Don’t mention it, I try to get knocked on my ass at least once a day.” She growled as she straitened herself out, and pulled back her hair, and Remy almost died.

He blinked not sure how the hell this was happening, but the woman from his dreams, the woman whose body he knew so damn well was standing right in front of him, and boy was she better than the dream one. Tight stomach peaking from under her cut off band shit, ample high breasts, tiny waist, hips just right to hold onto , long shapely legs encased in ultra low hip huggers… his cock was growing hard just looking at her. Her lips and eyes caught him and he bit back a groan of need as he tried to gain composure. She was exactly like his dream, what the fuck was going on here?

His composure back in place he smirked. “You don’t live here, what exactly are you doing here? Picking someone up? Delivering something? No, that’s not it, you’re not dressed in any manner to be delivering anything, except maybe a…” he trailed off. The fact that he was about to end the sentence with ‘except maybe a wet dream’ did not escape him. Seeing his dream girl in the flesh, in front of him, well none of his thoughts were G rated, not even PG rated.

The woman raised an eyebrow. “Don’t live here? Gee, well that’s a nice attitude... I'm new, I just got here. Didn’t anybody mention it?”

He shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t hear from the Archon that we were getting a new arrival, of course that could be cuz I missed the house meeting... Where the fuck are my manners? I’m Remy Crane.” He extended his shaky hand to her. The nest as it stood was twenty people, including the Archon, himself, the other four single snakes still searching, two sets of couples and the remaining ten were the couples’ children, respectively, though the crèche as a whole took responsibility for raising the young. Now they were at twenty-one with this ravishing creature joining them. Well twenty-one has always been my lucky number.

She took his hand, "Chrissy Stanford. It’s nice too meet you, even if I didn't quite enjoy the trip to the floor." She smiled at him.

"I’m sorry; I’m not used to meeting up with anyone this early in the day. My mind was elsewhere."

"Obviously. So you missed a meeting? I didn't think that was allowed in such a big nest."

"Elise runs a very informal household. While we all belong to the nest, we all have our own lives. Each of us has things we do, even her, so she is really lax about that stuff." Not to mention I’m not the first one they tell anything to, but why bring that up to her?

She smiled nodding. "So, I don’t suppose there’s a hope in hell that you know where she's going to put me? All my things are kinda at the door and it's gonna take a few trips as it is. I’d like to get it all away as soon as..."

He smiled. "Odds are you’ll go on the second floor. Most of the rug rats are on the first floor, the second and third reserved for the adults." he shook his head. "God I’m an asshole. Let me help, cool? Kinda like making up for the ass plant."

"Sure thing, that was my next question anyway. So, what do you do, Remy? That is when you’re not knocking people over." She grinned teasingly at him.

Interested? Well lemme know what you think! Beyond the Vision of Dreams will be out April 20th 2009.

Day one of the 2 month work week

Ok its not a work week...

But well, Audra and I have 8 weeks for writing ahead of us to put a dent into out WIP list. Why 8 weeks? becuase Audra's hubby is away for 2 months for work. So we have decided to try and get atleast 4 books out of the way, but we are going to try for 6.

What 6?

Masquerade, Of Crimson and Collars, A Gift of Daybreak, Darkness, yet untitled Satyrs Book, and Tithe.

Of Crimson and Collars is a Revise and Resubmit, and has one scene left till its done. I'm confident that we will be getting it finished this week and edited down to send back in. Heres hoping we get it done.

Masquerade is needing at least another 35-40k. We will be finishing this, no doubt, though I cant say if it will be this month, or next.

A Gift of Daybreak is the third in our Snake novella's. We are thinking its going to end up being around 30k, and Im hoping that we get the book finished by the end of Feb.

Darkness, our new Agent book, Needs 5 more scenes and an epilogue. Im content that it will be completey finished and ready to pitch by April.

The yet as untitled Satyr book, book 2, needs to end up being atleast 20k before the end of the 2 months.

Tithe is our short story about a fallen and a regular angel. Its a romance, but its not a HEA, and its been hard to write because we keep crying. its sad to say the least. So Im hoping we get to it but Im not holding my breath. We shall see.

So I have already worked on Masquerade today, done about 1k and Im back to work now to get another 1k done before Aud gets online. Heres hoping.

Just Released!

Start off your new year right with a sexy and smarmy vampire sure to get your blood pumping!

London for the Holidays
Vampire/ Menage/ Urban Fantasy
E book Available Now
Print Feb. 2nd

Running from a disappointing situation in the states, Thisbe Winters, recent concubine of the king of the ice demons, is a woman learning what its like to be young and single again. She's determined to enjoy her new status and start the coming year with a completely clean slate.

As a dancer on the club circuit, her chances of meeting a quality guy are slim to none, that is, until loner vampire Malcolm Frost walks into her life.

Sent in as her bodyguard, Malcolm is told Thisbe is a look don't touch job, a fact he totally disregards after saving the raven-haired beauty from a life-altering situation. She is an indulgence he can ill afford, and a temptation he cannot deny.

Then word comes in of a serious threat to Thisbe from a wolf pack, and Malcolm has to spirit her out of London to his employer's mansion deep within the territory of a master vampire who has a price on his head. Malcolm was never good at playing nice with others of his own kind.

So now its up to Malcolm to keep her safe, all while he sets up a truce and takes out an entire wolf pack, ensuring the woman that makes his body burn is his for all time.

And guess what? The print version has a special treat in it. We have added a story called No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, and its a little ditty about Marsh and Janey and the Devil. Yes, its a peek, but sorry, no sex guys, Janey is preggers after all!

VOTING!
Audra and I are up for some awesome awards this January, and we could really do well with votes, So please pop by and vote for us if you can, we would love to win this year!

We are up for GIFTS for best Bookart at P&E VOTE
I am up for best Cover Artist at P&E VOTE
We are up for Authors of the year too VOTE

Also, if your so inclined, Please go and nominate us for an Ariadne ! (we would REALLY love to be nominated for Frost and Flame this year, and for GIFTS as the best bookcover!)


CONTEST:
the first 10 people to email us at stella@stellaandaudra.com with the answer to this question will win a Djinn gift pack and one random winner will win a free print book!

Question: What is the name of Mal's freind that meets him and Thisbe at the Mansion in LONDON FOR THE HOLIDAYS?

Well thats it for us for this month. Please enjoy the books when you read them, and do come and hangout with us at the chats, blogging and the events!

Thanks for being so awesome and reading, and have a great month guys!

Stella

Lots going on!

Well this will be a lean year for us in contests and lists, but we did get on a few! Audra and I are nominated for Authors of the Year at PE, and GIFTS is up for cover of the year at PE as well as me being up for Artist of the Year. If you got the chance, please go and vote for us!

And I just found out, I'm up for Cover Artist 2008 at Love Romances Cafe, and up for Cover of the Year with The Werewolf Whisperer, a cover I have already won a Ariana for this year at the Eppies.

Good stuff. I'm excited. And I'm very excited that London for the Holidays comes out with Phaze on Monday. FINALLY! Malcolm will be out to the reading public, and you guys will get your fix of our smarmy vampire. And his cover is delicious, and the story is hot! its our first threesome story (enter: Hottie Fallen Angel Sammael!) and our first vampire story. It will probably be the only one too. Unless we do a short. *shrug* it depends. I hope youll go and pick it up monday, And help us start the new year off right!

Ooh and if you dont know, We have revived our Newsletter group and will be giving away goodies and books with each issue. So JOIN NOW and get in on all the goodies and infor for this year!

On the writing front, I started writing the second Satyrs book last night, hit about 2k, And I think you guys will like this one as much as the first (Once you read Ben and Minerva's book!). We are almost finished with the rewrites for book one, titled Of Crimson and Collars , and it has been lengthened 4k so far already. Im very happy with that. and it should end up around 35k once we are done. And Lets all hope the pubby that asked for the R&R will take it when we send it back in. I do love this story and the Satyr world so much.

Also, Now that Aud will have the time to get stuff done, we are going to be finishing up loose ends so to speak. Masquerade, Bitter Kiss, Tithe, Moongardens... Its coming to an end LOL.

And Im LOVING how A Gift of Daybreak is coming out. Our snakes are a favorite of ours for a reason, and its great to get back to those who you love and understand so well. I think the readers of our snake series are going to love this one, and finally see what a country club kid passes for in the Ophidian world.

So im back to writing, I need to get another 2k done today and I have lots to write!