I made it through to Round #6 – even through the last anonymous excerpt, which was one I really liked.

This round we’ve had to respond to a reader letter, asking where we come up with our ideas. Go check mine out (and vote for me if you think it’s good) – this round is not anonymous. Here’s the link http://www.theromancestudio.com/diva.php

There are 15 authors left and they will cut three at the end of this round.

I love books.

Last week I went to Chapters to use my Mother’s Day gift card from my kids (smart kids, a gift card from Chapters and a gift card from Starbucks, conveniently located in Chapters).

Armed with only $30, I knew I had to be very careful how I spent it. What would I choose? What was I in the mood for?

The first thing I did was wander around looking for any of my author friends and turning their books face out. My local Chapters was sadly lacking this time, but I did my best. I turned out Wild, Wicked and Wanton by Jaci Burton (weirdly located in romance instead of erotica, strange since it’s one of the hottest books I read last year – I mean smoke pouring off the pages), Unpredictable by Eileen Cook (a wonderful local author who’s doing so well and is a joy to talk to), several of the Midnight Breed series by Lara Adrian and Dark Garden by Eden Bradley.

Feeling very satisfied with myself I searched out books by Alison Kent and HelenKay Dimon, two authors who’s blogs I have been loyally reading this year. I couldn’t find either, but Chapters said they would bring them in. In fact, I wasn’t having any luck finding a lot of Brava releases (they had a 2007 release from Sylvia Day and I was looking for a new one), which I also pointed out to the clerks.

So then I went to the scan every shelf method. In the end this is what I picked up:

Well, ok, I picked up more than that, but I had to put some down didn’t I? $30 doesn’t go very far when the spines of books still show a $3-6 difference in the Canadian and US pricing (one example $13 USD, $17.95 CAD). Um, yeah, our dollar has been almost at par for some time now. According to the bookstore they bought them at the higher rate so that’s how they had to sell them. Right. So basically it’s cheaper for me to go to the US to buy my books. Point taken, but I still had that gift card that I had to use.

And yes, to get these four books with Canadian pricing meant that I actually spent $9+ of my own money, but since I couldn’t decide which one to put down I took them all.

So far I’ve only managed to read the Jane Porter book (met her at ECWC last year, she’s so interesting and I loved Flirting with Forty) because we’ve just finished moving. I can’t wait to read the rest! I love books (not that you could tell from the stack of boxes marked books, sitting beside me ).

I am one of those writers who has to have music playing in order to write. The music helps put me in the mood. I can see how this music could be a soundtrack to the movie going on in my head.

Here is the soundtrack I composed for A Chance Encounter. It is totally made of new songs. No old school songs here. Check it out. Even the titles create a picture in your mind.

A Chance Encounter Playlist

1.) Over You – Daughtry
2.) Fergalicious – Fergie
3.) No Air – Jordin Sparks
4.) When I See U – Fantasia
5.) Tattoo – Jordin Sparks
6.) Outta My System – Bow Wow
7.) Bye Bye – Mariah Carey
8.) Because of You – Ne-Yo
9.) Anonymous – Bobby Valentino
10.) Gone – Daughtry
11.) Lesson Learned – Alicia Keys
12.) Hate That I Love You – Rhianna
13.) Wait for You – Elliot Yamin
14.) It’s Not Over – Daughtry

I still love to listen to this one. I also have playlist for Vampire Oracle: Sacrifice, The Diamond Heartstone, and Soundwave’s Surrender.

www.leilabrown.com
www.leilabrown.blogspot.com
~Addictive Erotic Romance You Can’t Resist~

A Day in the life of L. Shannon

4:00 AM
Moira Reid on IM: BUZZ!!
Moira Reid: Hey girl! It’s time to get up!
Moira Reid: BUZZ!! Get up so we can write something GREAT!
Moira Reid: Where are you? Did you hit the snooze again?
Shannon: huh? whaaa? *grabs a can of diet dew from my nightstand and slam it down in an attempt to become coherent*
Moira Reid: GET UP! TIME TO WRITE
Shannon: I’m up. I’m up. *grumble* (it’s 5:30 by now. Snooze is broke.)

7:00
Shannon: Bye chick, have a great day at work! (fall back into bed and stare at ceiling for another hour.)

8:00
Dogs wake up. They are so much smarter than me. I drink another dew and let everyone out to potty while I fix them breakfast. Then we play a little ball, come back in and eat.

10:00
Everyone is settled in and the house is quiet (except for the itunes playing disturbed *loudly*) I sit down (with another dew – I don’t remember if/when I finished the last one) and check my emails and try to get caught up on what I need to do today. I keep a daily list in a file marked PROJECTS and put the important things in red.

In theory I then get started writing or editing or whatever is on my to-do list. In reality, emails usually take an hour or more if the phone doesn’t ring. If it does… there’s no telling what will take over my day.

11:00
Dogs want out again. I go with them and throw the ball, feed the fish, clean the filters, try to catch the stupid snake terroizing my main pond. Then I check the garden, weed a little, water everything that needs it. I do all this one handed while sipping another dew.

NOON
Cat reminds me that I haven’t fed him in months (liar)

12:15
I clean up the dog’s room and wash and refresh all water bowls. Then I see that Lexy is all hairy again. (how dare she grow hair when I don’t have time to give her a hair cut?) So I set up the grooming table and trim her down and give her a bath. (hair in my dew-ewwww) During which time, Damian and Justin show their stinky butts so I bath them too. (Talbot hid. I’ll get him tomorrow)

3:00
Go get the mail (if I remember) Usually nothing but bills anyhow. While I’m out I weed around the mailbox and chat with my cousin’s kids just getting off the school bus.

4:00
Dogs back out again. Justin knocked down one of my fence posts so I have to go redig and plant a new post and put the fence back up all while telling him to get his formerly clean butt out of the creek. *SIGH* Get him out of the water and retreive the 5 tennis balls he has floating down stream. (drink another dew while considering a wine cooler)

6:00
Everyone is back inside. The A/C is on and they are asleep (in their crates because Talbot got up on the table to counter surf again. He ate an apple, two bites of orange and parts of three bananas.) Time for them to go to bed and let me get something done. Sitting down I have no idea what I need to do so I open up my PROJECTS file and look at what’s in red.

6:30
Moira Reid: I’m home. You ready to write?
Shannon: I’m too tired to write.
Moira Reid: No way. Get that file open.
Shannon: k

7:00
I am on dew number what? Have I eaten anything? Oh heck. I haven’t. I tell Moira I’m writing and go and make grilled cheese sandwiches. I’m back before she misses me and then I eat while trying to figure out what I should be writing.

7:30
Oh yeah I was working on a spin off story from my Vampire Oracle: Love story. I add another 1000 or so words before the phone rings and I have to help sort out something for the local dog club or for the local writing club or for family or for friends. Not that I’m indespensible. I’m not, but I do like to be involved so I think I often get the calls because I’m willing to take them.

8:30
Take the dogs out again. Once their settled then I get back into the story. Make another chunk of headway. YAY! (some days this doesn’t happen because there are a few days that I like to spend the evening with my parents or gosh even have a date with hubby)

9:30
Moira Reid: I’m going to bed. See you at 4?
Shannon: I’ll try.
Shannon: I’ll set my alarm.
Moira Reid: NITE!

10:00
House is quiet (except for itunes playing Linkin Park *loudly*) I update my website, and then turn all my focus on the story. This is when I do my best work. Sometimes I stay up all night, sometimes just until 1 or 2 AM.

4:00 AM
Moira Reid: BUZZ!! You up?

Yep, that’s a day in the life of L. Shannon. Such glamour. LOL If you’d like to try and keep up with me, sign up for my newsletter at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LShannon/ Being a member there will also enter you for at least one contest every month, usually more than one.

*opens a wine cooler* Cheers!

Shannon
http://lshannon.net

The publication of Valentine by Cobblestone Press is very special for me. It is the realization of a dream that I’ve carried inside me for years now: to be a romance author.

I’m a long time lover of romance novels. I love them, can’t get enough of them. They express the passion that a lot of us have inside ourselves; they have great plots, suspense, secrets, betrayal and, almost always, a happy ending. What could be a better reading experience than that?

For a long time, I didn’t think I could write romance. I tried but the words fell flat on the page. I hadn’t experienced love, real love; so how could I write a romance novel? If I had no romance in my life on which to draw upon, how could I write a novel with any shred of romance in it?

That all changed when I met my husband. He showed me that love is real, that it exists outside of novels and books. Three years on and we’re still as much in love as when we first met but more so I think.

I wrote Valentine for me, but it is his book. I dedicated it to him. He was the one that showed me that love was possible, that love was real. My words are the most valuable thing I have to give and he was more excited than I was when Valentine was contracted for publication.

Not everyone is thrilled however. I’ve been promoting the heck out of Valentine and I keep getting the same reaction: Romance? Gross! How can you write that?

They get this funny look in their eyes as if they aren’t quite sure how to respond.>>
After a little while I realized that I was making people uncomfortable. At fist, I was a little baffled by this. I mean, Romance has existed as a genre for a long time, right? Look at D. H. Lawrence and Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Romance has been a passion for people for decades.

My husband, however, provided me with an insight into others that I was lacking: “Just because they make icky faces when you mention you write erotica doesn’t mean they won’t read it.” He said. “You’re forcing them to confront their own desires and this always makes people uncomfortable.”

I can see the sense in that. It is their decision whether or not they want to read Valentine and I hope they do. It’s about passion, about right and wrong and about discovering the passion that lies within you.

For now, I know that my husband loved it and that’s enough for me. He’s my toughest critic. And in the end, I am doing what I love: I’m writing and living my dream at the same time. I can’t ask for more than that.

And so I have given him my words and now I give them to you. I hope that you all enjoy Valentine and that the love it grew out of shines through as you read each word.

For more info on Valentine, check out the blog!

www.valentineanovel.blogspot.com

And, while you’re at it, don’t forget to pick up your copy of Valentine by clicking here:

http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/valentinejw
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