A Smex Author's Office

Hello Lovelies,

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm still in the process of setting up my home office in my new home. The color palette I've chosen is a combination of turquoise and pink. Yes I know...but hear me out...I LOVE IT!!! I'm affectionately calling it a throw up of color, because I'm also going to be adding in some orange accents. Why? Because I LOVE IT!!! :)

I ordered some table legs from Home Depot and purchased some paint, a 2 x 4 foot mdf board and some 2 X 1 inch poplar and with a drill, some paint, and a grumbling hubby have a ridiculous hot desk:

To round out the color explosion I decided that I just HAD to paint some of my book cases. I figured if the whole experiment failed I could get new ones. I've had these for years and they aren't exactly the best quality. I'm prettty sure they were less than $40 bucks each at Walmart. Plus now that I have a wood saw, drill and some DIY swagger I may be able to build some new ones (possibly). Either way it was off back to the store for some more paint:

So yes, I still have to put the actual shelves back up, but doesn't this just look pretty? There are three of these tall bad boys just waiting for some love. I have three white smaller bookcase that will remain white, just to give the color explosion a break :). I even spray painted my dry erase board (you can totally see who's coming up in the guest blog post line-up):

Once the shelves are all good and dry I'll finally unpack all of by books and feel somewhat settled. I'll post the final picks once I'm done.  

As much fun as I've had getting my office ready, I can't wait for it to be done! I want to get back to hours of solitude and muse wrangling.

Oh and FYI...
The turquoise: Bali Bliss by Behr paint and primer in one (eggshell)
The pink: Pink Salmon by Glidden paint and primer in one (eggshell)

Talk to you soon,
Laurel

Spring Musings

Good Evening Lovelies,

It's the middle of April, and spring is officially in full swing. Admittedly I live in Miami so technically I experience a year long spring/summer, either way Happy Spring! I've been running around like crazy lately tiling soil, planting seeds, pruning bushes and what-not for my next book releases (hooray metaphors hyperbole...whatever!) This is what I get for trying to look smart. Anyway I've basically been busting my butt, making sure that I have at least three new releases for 2013.

The first book officially completed this year was Persuasion Skills, the second book in my Boardroom Acts series. This is a stand alone contemporary romance that shares the co-worker theme/trope from Negotiating Skills but with a whole new set of characters. I teetered back and forth for months trying to decide whether I was going to self-pub this book or submit it for publication, and finally decided to send it out for publication. Fingers crossed that it will be picked up because aside from the fact that I wrote it, I really do think that its a great story and has mile long legs to stand on. I'll let you know how it goes. According to experts/people out in the interwebs, I shouldn't talk about this. Mainly because it will look bad if the book doesn't get picked up. Thankfully not only do I think that's a load of bull, I also want to provide any insight into this process as I can for those of you embarking on your own journey into writing.

I finally figured out how to fix my How To Kill Your Immortal, dilemma and have decided  to release a few books set up in the HTKYI world, prior to releasing Dante and Jasmine's story. I've struggled with this for over a year. No matter how I looked at it, and no matter how much I love their characters, I just don't think Dante and Jasmine are ready for prime time. It's funny actually because a writer friend of mine told me I would have separation anxiety when it came to releasing my first book and she was sooooo right! Although Negotiating Skills was my first published book, HTKYI, was my first completed book. I hyperventilate every time I think about publishing it. It's crazy, I know. It doesn't make a lick of sense, but there it is. I'm absolutely terrified of putting my baby out there.  But, thankfully, I can't put it off forever. When I first came up for the idea for my current work in progress, Frosted Bites, it was intended to be a short three book PNR series, but somehow my characters found their way into Dante and Jasmine's world and wouldn't leave! Next thing I knew I had half a book completed with Dante and Jasmine doing cameos. Talk about my subconscious kicking my ass! The awesome thing is that it totally works and I'm crazy excited about it!. So sadly, my lovelies you will have to wait a little longer for HTKYI, but before you get it you'll have:

1.) Sweet Dreams (A Frosted Bites Prequel)

2.) Cupcakes at Midnight

3.) Death by Chocolate

4.) Whipped and Chained

Sweet Dreams is already completed and as soon as I have a free moment to edit the second draft it will be off to my editor. I'm also already two chapters into Cupcakes at Midnight. It was originally intended to be a short story, but after outlining it, I realized it will be another novella. *Sigh* One day I will master the short story. I swear it.

Okay those are the updates I have for now, hopefully in a week or so I'll have good news to share regarding Persuasion Skills. Either way I'll share with you my mental breakdown over query letters and the like soon.

Talk to you soon,
Laurel

I Heart Jane Austen and Alan Rickman

Hello Lovelies,

     Yes you read that correctly. I totally HEART HEART them both! I watched Sense & Sensibility again last night and completely fell in love with Mr. Alan Rickman AKA Professor Snape AKA Mr. Smooth & Smexy. 

     Now my love for Ms. Austen is always and forever. And Admittedly I've got a Love Jones going for the BEST DARCY EVER, Colin Firth as well, but oh yummy yum yum, Mr. Rickman you totally have me lusting and  inspired. 

     Note to all of yo, this is what happens when I am Austen deprived. I spend months without reading one of her books or watching one of the film adaptations, and then BAM!  I remember why she will forever be the queen of romance and drama. If you have somehow managed to live up until this moment without reading one of her books or watching one of her movies, then please don't deprive yourself any longer. Add it to your bucket list. Just do it, you won't be sorry.

So back to sensuous lips Rickman...yup I'm still crushing hard there. His character has totally inspired an erotic romance character for me! The lovely Janet Eckford threw down a challenge when I was gushing about him in a book group last night and I have graciously and excitedly accepted! Brace yourselves, It's gonna be naughty!

Okay Lovelies, that's all the ramblings of an Austen induced coma victim yo're gonna get from me tonight.

Talk to you soon,
Laurel 

A Brief Moment In Time

Hi All, 

For a brief moment in time today I cracked 20,000 in Amazon's Sales Rank. It was a very brief moment, but a moment nonetheless and I took a moment of my own to screen shot it and do a little happy dance. It was somewhat awkward considereing I was at work at the time and my boss happened to walk through the my door in the middle of my dance, nut the awkward moment was totally worth it! 

Things like this totally make my day. I know for some this may not seem like a big deal, but it was a huge milestone for me. Especially being a self-published author. Anyway I'm off to bask in the glow of a moment long #16,539 . 

Talk to you soon,
Laurel 
    

My Next Project!

Hi All,

I've already started on my next project, which thankfully is finally getting How to Kill Your Immortal fully edited and available for purchase. HTKYI will be the first in a series of full length novels called OWLS Inc. I already have the next two books in the series outlined and ready to go. I'm super excited to move forward.

The books in this series will all be available in print book format as well as most e-book formats. Ravven provided me with such a kick ass cover for the first book that it would be a shame not to have it in print as well. I'll be posting more information here through out the process so please stay tuned!

Over the last few months I've gotten a lot of feedback regarding the teaser chapters I released in February and I really appreciate all of the interest and support. In recognition of your support I'll be giving away free advanced copies of the book to the next 10 people who follow me via email. I'll also be doing a few other sneak peeks and giveaways before the official release so stay tuned!

Talk to you Soon,
Laurel

Inspiration and Book Ideas

Hello Lovelies,

     I can't believe I'm saying this, but I had a moment of inspiration yesterday that I think has led to the beginnings of a new story. The moment came when I was making myself a smoothie and listening to the movie Iron Man play in the background. The moment it crept into my head I turned off the blender and rushed to jot down some notes. I learned my lesson about noting book ideas as soon as possible a while ago. More than once an idea for an amazing story has come to me, and I would foolishly tell myself that I would remember it later--this is so NOT true (at least not for me). After more than a few forgotten plot or transition ideas, I learned to always have a notebook handy.
     Anyhoo, I have a notebook full of ideas, but unfortunately I'm finicky as hell. Even though every idea I have I think is worthy of being written, sometimes I'm just not in the mood for some of the characters I've envisioned. Some of them have sad stories that I'm just not in the mood to deal with. Some of them are too happy and others just too angry. I wonder if other writers have this same problem. Do they already know the personalities and baggage of the characters they are about to write about? It sounds silly but I have to brace myself before having to rip a character's world apart.
    Regardless, it's time for me to choose my next project. I had fun with Negotiating Skills and How to Kill Your Immortal. Both projects taught me different lessons and each pushed me in ways I didn't expect. Negotiating Skills will be released this Saturday (August 18th 2012) and the full version release of How to Kill Your Immortal is still on hold (more on that later). Either way, I need to sit down soon and decide on my next project. My characters are getting restless and eventually I'm going to have to sit down and give them a voice. 

Talk to you soon, 
Laurel