Archive for March, 2007



Saturday, March 31st, 2007
Talofa

Hello! (Tah-loh-fah)

Aggie Grey Resort, SamoaIt’s not my day to blog but I thought I’d pop in and say a quick hello. Mr. Munro and I had a wonderful time in Western Samoa.

We swam, snorkelled, ate and drank lots, did a little sightseeing and relaxed. I read so many books I think my eyes have changed shape!

This is a photo taken from the resort beach. The water was like a warm bath. The holiday really was wonderful, but it’s back to reality tomorrow. I have to knock my WIP into shape so it’s ready to send off to my agent. We’ve picked up the dog from the farm and given her a bath to get rid of the layers of mud. As I said - back to reality!

Thursday, March 29th, 2007
Whispers Chat Tonight

Tonight - March 29 at 6 pm pacific/9 eastern - come by the FAR Chat to meet with the Whispers Authors and for chances to win some awesome prizes. It’s a round robin chat and there’ll be several authors there so it should be fun and fast.

Sleight of Hand will be in the Nightwhispers II print anthology coming out August 30 - if you’d like to check out an excerpt of SOH - make with the clicky.

Hope to see y’all tonight!
Lauren

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007
Today Is A Great Day!

First, I got a fabulous 4 1/2 star review from RT for Tri Mates. Gail says in part: Dane’s intricate world of werewolf culture and pack politics only gets better with each book. Her fans will love revisiting familiar characters and new readers will be hooked. The Warden family is so real that they jump off the page. Their teasing, bickering and overprotectiveness is endearing, but there’s plenty of heat as well. This story focuses on Tracy, who finds love with not one but two hot alphas. Their sexual encounters, whether as a couple or a threesome, are very erotic and tremendously arousing, and a glimpse of sexual interaction between the two alpha males is tantalizing. The secondary characters play important roles as well and fill in any back story. Readers will be panting for more.

Wow! I’m so excited and happy about this review.

And I also got a review for Chased from PNR that was unexpected but no less wonderful. Jan said in part: Chased is a great story. Liv and Marc’s relationship builds to such a peak that every woman will identify with. The characters are great. Liv is so sweet and her emotional battles are ones that I identified with right away. Marc would be any woman’s dream. He’s so thoughtful and watches the little things. The supporting characters of Marc’s family are great too. The changes that Liv and Marc go through pull the reader through this book by their heartstrings.

But best of all? One of my dearest friends finally met her daughter and she and her husband have completed their family. How wonderful is that? When I saw the pictures this morning when I got online I cried for them - they look beautiful together and it’s been a very long wait so their journey is just beginning. All my love goes to them!

OH! And speaking of dear friends and love - Today is Megan Hart’s birthday. I first met Megan online gosh, nearly three years ago and in person two years ago this June. Megan is just a wonderful person and an extremely talented writer. She’s been a wonderful friend, a fabulous crit partner and someone who makes me laugh on a regular basis. Happy Birthday, Sparkles!

Titilating Tuesday excerpts up at my messageboard, by the way!

Have a great day folks!!

Saturday, March 24th, 2007
Saturday Morning After Finishing A Book…

It’s dark and rainy this morning but the sound of the rain last night, not torrential, not with wind so hard it threatened to blow my house down - just rain, was lovely and made for a nice night’s rest. I’m still tired though, LOL. I’ve been operating on 4 or so hours’ sleep a night for the last 10 days or so with finishing up several projects and when I go to to bed finally my mind races about whatever work I just finished and the other things on my to do list. Last night I got nearly 7 hours, which is a lot better than 4.

I finished For A Few Demons More and I have to say this first - OH NO YOU DID NOT, KIM HARRISON! Oh how I gasped, and man was I pissed off but I loved this book.

After I finished it, I couldn’t go right to sleep so I turned on my laptop and opened up Wolf Unbound and remembered how much I love Tegan and Ben so I’ll be getting back to it soon.

I got my cover for Sword and Crown and I want to post it but I haven’t heard back on my email about whether or not it’s official so I can. It’s seriously gorgeous, vivid, very sort of 1920’s film poster - I love where they seem to be going with the Torrid Tarot series so I can’t wait to put it up.

Honestly, I get the creepiest spam comments here! Suffice it to say that there are things in the world I’m quite pleased not to know about, nor do I want pictures or live camera shots of it. People should try volunteering at the local foodbank if they’ve got enough spare time they can actually film this bizarre stuff and then spam my blog with offers designed to tempt people into watching after they gobble down illegal mail order drugs they don’t have prescriptions for.

Blah, I’m babbling but I’m sleepy and my poor husband has to work today for most of the day and the kids are going to go stir crazy because of the weather but whatevah, I want to get over this “gah, I just finished a book and revisions and I feel like i need to sleep for a week” slightly nauseated exhaustion thing.

I’m off to get a cup of chai and to stop a fight over bionicles (sigh). Y’all enjoy your Saturday and stay dry if you’re here in the Northwest!

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007
Why God Made Moms

I know Mother’s Day is still a couple months off but I’d kinda like to talk about moms. We’ve all either heard or delivered the famous last words, “Because I said so!” at some time in our lives. But THIS is priceless! It should be called, “Ode to Second Graders.” Check it:

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She’s the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men’s bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you Your mother & not some other mom?
1. We’re related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people’s moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my Mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don’t know because I wasn’t there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your Mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn’t have her thinking cap on.

Who’s the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn’t want to be boss, but she has to because dad’s such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What’s the difference between Moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home & dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but Moms have all the real power ’cause that’s who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend’s.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your Mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don’t do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your Mom perfect?
1. On the inside she’s already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I’d diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I’d get rid of that.
2. I’d make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007
Contest Winners

I’m announcing the winners for my contest today. Whenever I do anything online I need to juggle the time difference. I did everything right but wrote down the NZ date, so sorry about that.

The winners are:

ISSY’S INFATUATION - Kris
WILD CHILD - Holly

Congratulations to both of you!! Please email me at shelley munro @ gmail.com (no spaces) and I’ll get your prizes to you - that’s as long as you email me today. I’m off to Samoa tonight - sun, sand and rain by the looks of the weather forecast. I’m taking plenty of books so I don’t really mind what the weather does!!

Have a great week, and happy reading

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007
Hump Day Promo

I always forget Wednesday is promo day! This week I just have to share - CARINIAN’S SEEKER received a 4/5 Hot rating from JERR (Just Erotic Romance Reviews) and I’m totally over the moon! Plus, this review from ParaNormal Romance is up on the Samhain website and I’m so excited I could just…just…, well heck, I don’t know what!

It starts out like this…”one of the best female leads I’ve read this year”

SQUEEE! SQUEEE! SQUEEE!

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007
Wednesday Check In

Intermittently, I tried to post this yesterday but couldn’t but today my internet service is better so here it is…

I finally finished up Making Chase night before last! There was a flat point and I figured it out while I was working out so I went back, added two small scenes and bam, it worked. So I’m done and it’s printing out now and I’ll read it over, revise, send to beta and get it to my editor a week before my deadline and be very happy.

Still, I’m going to miss Petal. Although Tate’s brother Nathan is a character who doesn’t want to let go just yet so maybe next year I’ll write something for him and revisit Petal.

I also figured out what I’m going to be writing next. I’m not going to say much just yet because I’m superstitious that way but I was listening to Ministry when a scene popped into my head and it’s sort of stewing around in my brain now. So I’m hoping to start this one this weekend. It’s funny how music influences me - I’ve been listening to a lot of Ministry, Kittie and TV On the Radio and I need to write something darker, edgier. Maybe it’s the other way around and I sought out music to feed that, LOL.

I got 3K written on it last night so I’m really excited about it!

Sneaky peek of Making Chase and Ascension up at my messageboard if you’re interested. I’ve also gotten some wonderful reviews of Chased and a new cover for the print anthology, Night Whispers II that Sleight of Hand will be in - comes out August 30!

Monday, March 19th, 2007
This is the Story

That’s me with the purple shirt and I’m actually mending a rip in my shorts while I’m wearing them. The roads carve through thick jungle, so at the end of each day we’d set up camp in the middle of the road, pitching our tents and cooking right where we stopped because there was nowhere else to camp. We’d have to be up early each morning to let the rest of the trucks and vehicles through.

The trucks tend to travel in a convoy with one going through a mud hole and waiting to pull the next one through if it gets stuck. We spent a lot of time digging our truck out of mudholes. I’m sure this is why some of the holes in the road are so deep! It was amazing how patient everyone was - no road rage because everyone knew there was another mudhole just around the corner. We also had to do a bit of bridge building in places and carried planks of wood in our truck for this purpose. Um…actually acquired them at the start of our journey and gave them to another truck traveling South once we were safely through so it wasn’t really stealing…

The photo with the truck at the far end of the road (about to go through the mudhole) is the one we traveled on all the way through Africa.

We visited a pygmy tribe in the jungle, went for a ride in wooden canoes up a long river, stayed at Epulu research station where they had orphans chimps and the rare animal called an okapi (looked like a cross between a zebra and an antelope). The chimps were a huge source of amusement - very playful but strong. One whipped off my glasses and broke them while playing with them. They were very intelligent and knew exactly how to wear the glasses. The insurance company payed out promptly because we had photos to prove my claim. The chimps also liked to steal toothbrushes and hair scrunchies!!

The trip through Zaire was stressful because it took so long and because the country had a civil war raging in the south, however it was an experience I’ll never forget. I think we stayed at one place where we could wash in a river but have since heard that crocodiles have killed several tourists where we swam. Other than that it was a quick wash with a cloth and a very small bowl of water. I’ve never felt so grubby in all my life!

Sunday, March 18th, 2007
Muscle Relaxers are from God!

Hi all,
This post is alot later than I typically put something up. Unfortunately, I’m having muscles spasms up my back which makes it difficult to sit up or turn my head. My solution? MUSCLE RELAXERS!

And since I am currently somewhat loopy, instead of trying to think of something to blog about (which would probably end up being something about the joys of cyclobenzaprine) I’ve posted as Sneak Peek instead.

Follow the link to get a peek of the next V.C.O.E. book…

CLICK HERE for a SNEAK PEEK of SERATI’S FLAME