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!

Happy Yowloween!

Well, at least that is what it is in my house! With six cats, two of whom are new kittens, there's a whole lotta bitchin' going on.


It's funny because I got kittens for two reasons. One, I saw how my big bully, Damien, ended up harrassing the adult cat I adopted last year because he never saw him as anything but annoying competition. They still have fights even a year later. Not good. But when Leo came to live with us, as a kitten, he and Leo became buds quickly.


Well it worked like a charm again. Damien has once again shown his softer side and completely does a 'proud papa' with the new boys. Of course...strictly on his own terms and until he gets annoyed and decides to push them off, but still he is the only cat in the house that has warmed up to them, lets them sleep against him, and even bathes them.


The second reason was so that the very kittenish Leo would have playmates. As the former youngest of the group, he wants to leap and pounce and play...and he often wants to do it on bully-boy's back. It has led to yowling cat fights because though they are buds, Damien has no desire to play. Hissing and spitting ensues. Fur flies. So I thought youthful kitties for Leo to play with would be just the thing.





Instead, my formerly passive and sweet Leo yowls, growls, hisses and snaps out to bite the poor boogers on their heads. This is not good. Not good at all. Leo knows he was the delta of the group, and he is determined to set these two spunky kittens below him. Unfortunately, scolding him every time he bites them hasn't helped things...but for once I am at a total loss as to how to manage them! I made peaceful transitions between four cats. What is different this time??


Well, part of the problem was that Magellan, the black kitten, hurt himself on Friday so badly he couldn't bear weight on his left front paw and he was squealing incessantly in pain. Although nothing was broken, the vet thought it wise to support the paw with a cast.



BEFORE:





AFTER:







The Bully and the Baby with the BOOBOO:




This resulted in some MAJOR coddling all weekend long...especially cuz the splint was freakin' as big as he was! He couldn't move at first. And then I had to drug him for the pain so he spent a lot of time stoned out on my chest. Thus...Leo's fave place was usurped and he did NOT take kindly to it.

FILMAGE:

But after seeing such a pathetic little thing, wouldn't you want to spoil him? Anyway the cast came off this Monday and all is better for Magellan...save for the random nip on the head. I am giving Leo some loving as we speak. Maybe he will get over it tolerably after a bit of time.

So now that you have a cat update, I wanted to give you a Halloween update on the raffle status. Keep in mind I haven;t been to my post office box yet, but I have given out numbers 1-20 for ticket numbers so far. I am very happy about that, and grateful to those who sent in above the raffle total just for the ACN with no expectation of reward or favor in return. I will continue to take donations and sell tickets until the moment I draw on November 15th or until I reach number 100 in ticket sales. This means you will have a 1/100 (or better...I don't think I will sell every chance though I hope I do!) chance of winning. 1 in 50 if you buy two tickets. 1 in 25 if you get four. Remember, you can pay via paypal to email addy jacquelynfrank@hotmail.com or you can snail mail a check to PO Box 2164 Skyland NC 28776. Please make this donation. The more I talk about this, the more horror stories I hear about the Hendersonville Shelter. The ACN is, pardon the pun, rabid about closing them down and about providing a humane alternative. Please help me support them.

On a book note (bet you never thought you would hear about my books again!!) Elijah is on the cusp of release! Only two months left to go! I wanted to say a couple of things. Firstly, E got his review in PW and boy was I happy! Romantic Times releases E's review in the next issue in time for his Jan. 2nd release and I just saw the gorgeous ad Kensington is putting up. (Although, I did try to get them to make the book cover bigger...sigh. You know I try my best for you gals!! LOL!!) Apparently the consensus is that this book is scorching hot. Searing. POOF! You'll be nothing but ashes. But, (demure eyelash flutter) that's not me saying it. It's the reviewers...but you know ow THEY exaggerate...

I thought I would celebrate the holiday with a giveaway. Comment here to enter and you will win a chance at the raffle basket. I will donate the five bucks for ticket number 21. I will draw the name at the witching hour. Heh. Midnight tonight. Winner gets ticket number 21. I guess I ought to have saved number 13 lol...but I wasn't thinking ahead.

Anyway...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

PS: I am the featured author HERE: http://ravenhappyhour.com/ravenblog/?p=184

The site is run by Mandy Roth and Michelle Pillow :)

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