The ARCs are HERE!!

Damien ARCs just arrived. Yummy yum yum! Everyone who won one in my chat last Saturday I am going to try and get them all out to you by wednesday of next week! (That goes for all prizes won from me lately....I know, I am slow...but I was also SWAMPED!)

In other news, I passed my driver's test (20 years between tests and it is STILL just as hard and scary as the first time...and just as thrilling to beat it!) I am now officially licensed in the State of NC. Ahhh.... Now if I could only find the damn title to my car!!!

And further news, Saturday from 9pm to 10pm I am holding a chat at the SMUT SLUTS website. I am giving away what I like to call the TRIFECTA. Signed copies of all three released books. But I am so delighted to have the ARCS I may just...well, we'll see. Hehe. How can you win the trifecta? Well, it won't be easy...and I'll just say one thing: TREASURE HUNT.

'Nuff said.

I was battling the blues today, but managed to make it through without pizza or chocolate. Imagine that! I have hopes that it gets better from here, though. All my deadlines are achieved for the moment and now I can relax and do some free-thinking writing...where I go wherever the mind takes me. You never know what that will bring. The Shadowdwellers came about this way. Once we get into that series you will see a significant change in my writing. I loosen up, heat up and my plots thicken. Kensington frees me to write however I like, heh, and I just may make them regret that! Just the same, as my reading tastes evolve, as I age, everything I write tends to change in a likewise manner. I don't ever want to become predictable or stuck in a rut. I've seen it happen to some of my favorite writers. I don't believe in "If the formula works, use it again...and again...and again!" Obviously some things will never change. I will always have a HEA. (Happily Ever After) and I will always center my stories around the journey my H and H take to get there. It is romance, after all. Paranormal, fantasy, Sci-fi...yes...but romance just the same.

I want to give a shout to all my favorite soldiers who are out there doing a really tough job for a paycheck. They've really taken to the series, and they've been really gracious and kind to me as well.

Also, feel free to write to me and tell me what you thought of Elijah. I can always use the feedback.

Let's have a contest. Heh. For an ARC of Damien. Comment to this blog to enter a chance to win...by telling me which is your favorite Nightwalker race and why. Short answers are frowned on and may be disqualified. Put some thought into it...like I know you have. Epress yourself as if I might write a romance, and a Nightwalker, JUST for you!

Phew! Are you people tired or is it just me?!?!

Christmas, Kwanzaa, Yule or Hanukkah, call it whatever you will, it means a heck of a lot of shopping and even doing it all online is still exhausting! I don't know how you "out there" shoppers can bear it! Especially the pregnant ones afoot on this board. There ought to be a law!


Now that I got the majority of the bitching out of the way....SECRET SANTA!!! We're doing a Secret Santa! A great way to celebrate all our respective holidays and come together as a family of our own here at JF.com. Here, at least, we know is a group of fabulous humans who all have one thing in common with us. A love of Nightwalkers! So here's the deal. You pony up 20 bux to buy a gift. Simple right? And here's the secret part. We all give Stephanie our addresses in Private Message...because I trust her implicitly with this valuable information and I believe you all agree with me on that...and then she scrambles them all up and secretly hands each of us our respective targets to be gifted. Now, I recommend jumping onto the Secret Santa thread and speculating about several things you might like in the 20 dollar range to help your Secret Santa out. (This is to keep those who need the help from panicking. By no means does it suggest you gotta pick what they request, Santas.) Then everyone sends their surprise gift to their target recipient and voila! We can oohhh and ahh in the Secret Santa thread and on here too if you like.

I went, with Susan, to the Animal Compassion Network (ACN) wine tasting. I hate wine (so does Susan) but I was into the yummies and I even met the GM of the local BAM and we're going to rig up a signing for Elijah's release! So if you are in the Asheville area...I am coming to the new home town and want to see you there!!!

We handed over our juicy raffle check and the women of the ACN were in raptures. 750 bux is nothing to sneeze at. They were appreciative and delighted. I have pics. I will say this though...I won;t be going next year unless they remember key things like trash cans and, most importantly, CHAIRS for the DISABLED folk! There was one chair in the whole place not being used by the band (lovely wonderful awesome music btw) and I swear there were old men and women eyeing those young fellas and considering yanking those chairs out from under them and yelling : It's JAZZ! You can stand when you play jazz!---or maybe that was just me. :)

So anyway, I took pictures :) Here they all are...as promised.

This is me:





And our lovely Susan M.





Our Lovely basket up for auction thanks to Amy!



And a lovely Gingerbread masterpiece from the Biltmore House...the tree as well!



Time to part with the golden ticket!

And that was that. Good deeds done, my dears. I am so pleased. You all did such a wonderful job! I hope Selena liked her goodies!

MWah! Don;t forget...Secret Santa! Oh and even more important....15 Days til ELIJAH!!!!!!

Greetings kidlets!

This time it is really me. I want to apologize to you and my guest bloggers. My vacation and my blogging schedule got totally FUBARed. But...I am home now and can control everything once more. Despite me being back early, the guests will continue as scheduled. This Friday, August tenth, will be the first day open with no one scheduled. I will contact every author that missed and guide them to post together on the tenth....using the twelfth as an alternate because it too is open. I will also be sending out daily notices about the postings from the mailing list as was supposed to happen originally. Sigh. Let's call it gremlins or an omen that Canada just is not somewhere I ought to be while in the process of buying a house.

Unfortunately, because of illness and situation, I have had to cancel my signing in Nova Scotia. To all those who may have planned to attend, I am deeply apologetic. I will have to call the store today and break the news to them. I am sure they will be very disappointed in me, as I am in myself. I was so careful with my plans to see that something like this would be avoided at all costs, but you know what they say about the best laid plans.

I further wish to thank Deidre (Desine) for being such an excellent friend and coming to my rescue. She has a beautiful home and a wonderful family. (And her hubby ought to be on the eye candy thread hehehe...ladies, she has been holding out on us!!) Seriously, Dwight is a charming and funny man and a super sweet Dad. It's nice to see. Even nicer to be around. But Deidre IS going to hell for introducing me to Minaimo Bars. (sp?)

Unfortunately I have come to the understanding that I am a princess. A spoilt American. A big fat baby. I am stuck in the grooves of my routine and though the heart is willing to go out and explore, the body is not capable. I am totally bummed about it. But I do have film of us getting LOST on Prince Edward Island...and it was the highlight of my trip lol! I will post a link on a thread somewhere. Truthfully, when I vacation I want to START at status quo and improve from there. While the trip was breathtakingly beautiful to the eyes, it was too rustic for someone with special needs like I have and I was in medical trouble within days. I will reserve specifics unless someone gives me cause to BE more specific (I.E. not refunding my money as agreed) Then I will get all kinds of specific all over the place, I assure you. Sound like a threat? More like a promise. I have lost thousands of dollars in one week and I won't allow it to happen to others. My needs aside...or as cause..., I was very careful every step of the way in planning this. My flaw was in not realizing that my definition of something clearly differs from other's definitions. Lesson learned....but hopefully not at too great an expense.

I missed you all. The house thing will no doubt have me crazy. You may not see much of me. Enjoy your guest bloggers!

Jacki

Adrianna Dane Saying Hi - Risking the Comfort Zone

Thanks, Jacquelyn, for inviting me to come and visit today while you're away. This is probably one of those "outside the comfort" zone moments in my life. Listening in to my characters and then translating their words is one thing, but traveling outside my little cave, on my own, quite another, and something I don't often push myself to do. What's your comfort zone and do you get out much?

First, let me tell you a bit about me. My name is Adrianna Dane and I write sensual and erotic romance. Currently, I'm published with four publishers--Amber Quill Press, Loose Id, Phaze, and Lady Aibell Press.

Tempt Me Not is my latest release from Amber Heat, the erotic imprint of Amber Quill Press. It's an erotic dark fantasy romance about a tempting demon and a bit of time travel.

I tend to be an introvert and quite enjoy sitting in my cave and writing my stories, sort of oblivious to the rest of the world. But as I...mature...I find myself willing to take more risks--both in my fantasy worlds and in the real world.

I did "break out" so to speak just a few weeks ago as I attended a festival all on my own, without my husband of thirty-four years. It was something I needed to do. And something I wanted to do. And the experience was different than it would have been had my husband accompanied me. We have learned over the years that just because we're married and enjoy each other's company, we are not attached at the hip. Although I must admit I've been less adventurous over the years than he has been. He's much more outgoing than I am.

Without someone there to latch onto, a sort of captive conversationalist, I found myself more in tune with what was going on around me and to other people. Take the fact that I arrived a day early, gathered up my courage and trekked over to the grounds to make sure I knew where I was going and ended up being allowed in to witness some of the pre-festival activity. Thank goodness I brought my trusty camera with me, although I hadn't expected to be allowed inside. Would I have gone that extra day early if my husband had been with me? Probably not. But "Ms. Wrong-Way Adrianna" felt a definite need to check out the way of the land first. And I wouldn't have met Juliet and her family, whom I discovered came from the state where I grew up, all the way across the country. We had a lovely chat and I discovered Juliet's father lived for a time in a small town (even smaller than my own) right next door to where I grew up in central New York. Now I have to say, nobody knows about that tiny place except my mom, who grew up there. :-) That was fun.

So that was just the beginning, and it was a good start. I met others throughout the weekend--Thomas, who was traveling across the country on his own had another interesting story. Then there were the authors I had the chance to meet, the mostly Celtic music played by the bands, that I was able to enjoy, and the atmosphere I was simply able to immerse myself into. And the raptors from the raptor sanctuary I could just enjoy sitting and watching as others visited with them as well. It was wonderful to just experience and soak up the creativity and whimsical nature of the festival.

If you'd like to see some pictures from the festival, you can find them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adriannadane/sets/72157600967432792/ I took so many pictures. Everyone was decked out so beautifully, I just couldn't resist. Thank goodness for digital cameras.

We often move in packs and I think we miss some of the experience by doing that. Is it fear? Protection? A little of both maybe that make us skittish about venturing out alone? And into unknown lands? Probably a little of all those things, who knows for certain?

What do you think?

Thanks for inviting me come visit at your place, Jacquelyn.

Adrianna

"Passionate stories with adventurous heart

www.adriannadane.com

www.zytarri.com

www.midnight-pearl.com

www.adriannadane.blogspot.com

www.myspace.com/adriannadane