The Dynamic Trio - Blog

I love music. No surpise, I talk about it almost as much as I talk about writing and books. This last week has served up some of the most productive time writing wise I’ve had in about a year - in the first 11 days of the 70 Days of Sweat challenge I wrote 33,776 words on Wolf Unbound, book three in my Cascadia Wolves series and finished it! Add another nearly 6K on Sisters of Mercy and I’m very pleased. It’s on to revisions on Reading Between the Lines (got started last night) and then Wolf Unbound - turn in and I have about two months of free writing time, wheee!

Anyway, while my writing life and family life have been fabulous, I’ve had some tough times with some friends and I’ve been heartsick and grieving. Yesterday was the first day in about a week I hadn’t felt hung over from all the emotion of it and I pulled out all the music I listen to when I need to raise my spirits.

(Can you sense some youtube videos coming?)

First, I will unashamedly say I love Donna Summer. I think she’s got an amazing voice and Georgio Moroder was one of the most brilliant music producers of the twentieth century.

On The Radio - I love this song. I love the production. I love how it showcases every bit of what a powerhouse voice she has…

I inherited my love of Motown from my dad. He used to drive around in his purple dodge charger and we’d sing along to oldies at the top of our lungs… And how can Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell singing Ain’t No Mountain not make you smile?

And Otis. Happy sigh. I have Otis records but my turntable is dead so I had to convert to Cds. It’s not quite the same, the loss of that crack and hiss just before I’ve Been Loving You added so much. But when I listen to Try a Little Tenderness I always think of that scene in Pretty in Pink when Duckie comes into the record shop and…

And then I got In Through the Out Door. Okay so my old babysitter introduced me to Led Zeppelin when I was younger and that love stuck with me into adulthood. In high school, even when I listened to Joy Division and Bauhaus, I listened to Led Zeppelin. Houses of the Holy and In Through The Out Door - how many memories do I have of these records? Mostly good ones. My favorite Zeppelin song is Fool In the Rain

Speaking of Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Echo And The Bunnymen - Bring On The Dancing Horses (dude, check the 80’s hair! HUGE!!)

Heaven 17 - Let Me Go (I can’t find anything for Fascist Groove Thing which is my favorite and it always makes me think of my friend Kelly and how we’d drive around listening to this cassette)

And then….
Ahhh Push It.. Pppush it real good - Salt and Peppa’s here (I defy you not to start moving when this song comes on)

And I have some guilty pleasures - Clipse is one. I LOVE Clipse despite the cringeworthy lyrics. When The Last Time is a song I listen to a lot when I write (warning about lyrics in this one)

And I admit, I hated this song but it broke me, Fergie broke me and I blame Megan Hart. But this song, I can’t help it, it makes me smile…

Okay, I’m outta here, Harry Potter just arrived, wheee!

Contest? I’ve got a book coming out on Wednesday - Threat of Darkness from EC. Wanna win it? Just reply here with either a song that you love despite the flaws (a guilty pleasure) or something that makes you smile… I’ll choose a winner at random Tuesday night at 5pm my time/ 8 eastern

In New Zealand - at 11.01 a.m. today.

It’s HARRY POTTER

The final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

JK Rowling has a nifty site complete with creeping barking dogs for sound. Check it out here

I’m not intending to visit my bookstore today but I just know I’m going to break down and buy a copy in the next few days. JK Rowling has written such a great series. I just have to know how it ends. Are you a Harry Potter fan? Do you have your book pre-ordered? Are you joining in with the Harry Potter fun at your local bookstore?

I haven’t done Thursday Thirteen for a few weeks and thought I’d jump in with a topic that’s sure to help someone. It’s too damned hot! It’s been over 90 degrees for the past couple of weeks here in Colorado, and that includes the RAINY days (which are too few and far between for this West coast girl)!

Originally referring to a condition brought on by prolonged exposure to the sweltering summer heat, these days summer fatigue (Natsubate) can start as early as late June for some people, because of sudden changes in the weather and freezerlike air conditioning in trains, buses and buildings.

So these are some foods (yes, some of them are on the Japanese side of the house) that can help keep you cool.

1. Tomato (rich in antioxidants to help protect against ultraviolet light)
2. Eggplant (same here)
3. Cucumber (and ditto)
4. Watermelon (duh…actually, it’s rich in minerals that are lost during perspiration)
5. Pears (these, too)
6. Tangerines (rich in potassium and magnesium, plus the citric acid is good for recovering from exhaustion)
7. Believe it or not, pork (because it’s rich in B vitamins)
8. Soybeans (for the B vitamins, too)
9. Soba noodles (yep, the vitamins again)
10. Milk (ditto)
11. Ume plums
12. Plum juice
13. Cold Miso Soup (recipe below)

If you want to try something new, here is a recipe for HIYAJIRU (Cold Miso Soup over Rice)
1. Choose the type of fish you want to use. The most common fish used in many households is iriko (dried small fish). Fry the iriko in a pan, then crush them with a mortar. You can also use hiraki (fish cut open and dried), in which case grill them and separate the flesh from the bones.
2. To create a soup, fill a sauce pan with water, add katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings) and kombu seaweed and let the water boil for a few minutes.
3. Spread miso on tin foil and heat it for several minutes, giving it a nice roasted flavor.
4. Put the fish and some mashed-up tofu into the soup and bring it to the boil. Add the miso little by little, using a touch more of the paste than usual, because sliced cucumber (to be added later) thins out the taste.
5. Now the most time-consuming part: Let the soup cool to room temperature. Add the cucumber, chopped oba (Japanese basil) and ground sesame seeds. Prepare a portion of rice as usual.
6. Cool the soup in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Cool your rice to room temperature. Finally, don’t forget to chill your rice bowls in the refrigerator.

Don’t forget to link up so I can visit you, then leave me a post, m’kay?

technorati

Hear ye! Hear ye! Get ready for Arcane August, a huge, honkin’ contest in celebration of my paranormal August releases from Ellora’s Cave and Samhain Publishing! Serati’s Flame, Vampire Council of Ethics Book 2 hits the wires on August 21st, and Egyptian Voyage - A Torrid Tarot Novel breaks out from EC on the 29th.

Whaddaya playing for? For the chance to get some of these awesome books from all of these authors! If we get three winners, you’ll split the books. If you’re the only winner…YOU GET ‘EM ALL! The Night Whispers Authors and the Dynamic Trio are all fabulous multi-published writers, the hottest and most innovative in the industry. Wooo! Way to go, ladies!

• Kate Hill’s Savage Amusement from Changeling Press
  
• Mechele Armstrongs Blood Lines 4: Night’s Journey from Loose Id
  
• Anna J. Evans’ Fang Shui from Lady Aibell Publishing
  
• Ashlyn Chase’s Vampire Vintage from Ellora’s Cave
  
• Mary Winter’s Polar Heat from Ellora’s Cave
  
• And one of my new releases, of course!
  

Along with books from Shelley Munro, Lauren Dane, and Denise Agnew ‘ta boot!

So what do you have to do to get in on this madness? The authors named in next month’s newsletter will place a special logo (I like to call him the Flaming Tut) somewhere on their website. Simply tell us where you found it. In the case an author has put forth a trivia question, just give the answer. The trivia questions will be in August’s TJ On A Tangent, which we’ll post at midnight on July 31st.

Now for the rules:
1) Contest starts August 1st and ends with the release of my Torrid Tarot novel, Egyptian Voyage, on August 29th. You have a whole month to play and enjoy the goodies from the authors who so graciously offered to be a part of this event. Some have free chapters up on their sites, other have awesome excerpts.

2) You must find ALL the logos and correctly answer ALL the trivia questions for ALL the authors. Yeah, it sounds like a lot but you have a month and this is a LOT of books, which means a lot of hard work, brain wracking, and creative energy went into these books (and it’s royalties these generous authors won’t receive).

3) Send all contest entries to contests@tjmichaels.com. Put all information in ONE e-mail. To make it a little easier, simply copy and paste the info below and use it for your entry.

a) Author name: (put author’s name)
b) I found a logo: (put where you found it)
c) The trivia question is: (put the question here)
The trivia answer is: (put the answer here)
d) If I win, I’d like my books in the following format: (put .pdf, .html, .rb, etc.., here)

Good luck!

For the first time in a while I feel very calm about writing. Not rushed. Not hurried or harried. I’m ahead of deadlines, I have things out on desks and I’m just about to finish a book I really love, recently finished another I also loved and when I finish with edits and get them off to my editor, I will start on a new project I’m wicked excited about.

Writing is an exeptionally solitary thing. It’s all in your head and then you let it go and it’s out of your control. It’s that part that often drives me crazy. Submission and then waiting. Sometimes it can make you doubt yourself or worry, it’s very rollercoasterish in many ways.

But for now, I’m even. I feel like I’ve managed to let the stress go and I want to enjoy that while it lasts! I’ve read several really good books lately, reminding me why I love to write so much. So many wonderful worlds out there to experience.

New excerpts up at my messageboard. I’ve got a contest running at the Bradford Bunch. Yadda yadda, LOL. Anyone up to anything exciting this week?

I have a question for you today.

Do you like free reads on an author’s website? Do you read them? If so, which author’s website do you return to most often to read their free stories?

Oops, I turned my one question into several. Just call me curious.

Oh my freaking god! I just saw TRANSFORMERS and it was off the chain! I used to watch the cartoon when I was growing up, and I have to say the movie folks did a fabulous job of adapting the story without making it ‘cartoony.’ And the action sequences and graphics they used to make the autobots transform were simply amazing. I talked my daughter into going with me. She went kickin’ and screamin’ (not literally, thank goodness), and had no interest whatsoever. After it was over, even she was beaming about it.

The human characters/actors all did a hell of a job (no Gigli stuff here!). And Optimus Prime? Damn, talk about sexy. Wooo goodness!

Change of topic - thanks to everyone who posted on the 4th of July “I made love to a spoon” and the Hard Gay Fooooo blog topics! It was so much fun sharing those, er, ’subjects’ with you guys. We picked a couple of random winners (actually, we let the computer pick ‘em) for some cool promo items. The winners are Grammar Geek and Christina! Congratulations!

Send me your snail mail addresses to tj@tjmichaels.com and we’ll get your packages out to you. You have ONE WEEK to claim your prize.

And don’t forget, the HA-YUGE contest is coming up - we’re calling it the Arcane August contest in celebration of my upcoming releases, SERATI’S FLAME, V.C.O.E. Book 2, and EGYPTIAN VOYAGE, A Torrid Tarot Novel. So stick around and stay tuned…

So apparently I’ve pissed off the spam gods and all the sudden Russian pornographers and penis enhancer spam people adore me. What is up with that? Today, I received this “Let The Big Dick Fairy Bless You” and um, okay! I mean I like the big dick fairy and all, as long as it’s not overkill or anything and as long as he likes girls and is my husband and well, you get the point.

I have to wonder if this kind of spam actually works. I suppose it must or they wouldn’t do it. After a period of time, they’d stop if it wasn’t making money. But I wonder about the guy who gets the “megadik” (no kidding) ad and runs off to spend money on a product like that. It’s sort of sad really.

It’s interesting how spam is sort of an odd little experiment on the ideals of our culture and what does and doesn’t matter. The kinds of spam I receive most often deal with penises and illegal presription drugs by mail. After that it’s fat burning stuff. The first issue - a pill isn’t going to make your penis bigger. Nor will a patch or a pump or whatever. It makes me feel bad for men, all this emphasis on size. What a thing to have to think about.

I suppose you need the discount drugs for when you realize the penis pump doesn’t work and the fat burning stuff comes in when you eat too much after losing your job when you get addicted to vicodin, right?

I dunno, how about spam that helps you just accept your life and work to make what you’ve got the best you can?

I have a new look website. The wonderful Frauke from Croco Designs designed it for me. I’m thrilled with the new design and just love it. Check it out here

Meanwhile I’ve sold a new contemporary story to Ellora’s Cave called Fancy Free. I’m not sure of a release date yet but it will probably be in early 2008. At the moment I’m about halfway through the next Middlemarch story. The hero, Leo and heroine, Isabella are being a mite difficult. They don’t seem to think I know a thing about their journey to happy-ever-after. Talk about opinionated!

I don’t have much planned for the weekend so far. Hubby and I are doing shopping etc. I might check out bikinis. Although it’s still the middle of winter here I received a spring catalogue in the mail. Somehow it seems wrong to think about summer when it’s still winter, but I’m off on holiday in September and need a new swimsuit. I’m going to have to brave the changing rooms with the horrid mirrors that magnify everything. Wish me luck!

What are you doing for the weekend?

It’s Thursday ya’ll - one more day to go and the day job is history for a couple of days. My plans this weekend are getting harder and harder to pin down - do I go see Transformers, or do I go see Harry Potter? Or do I just sit on my butt and relax? Or maybe go for a hike if the weather is nice? Tough choice.

I also need to pick a winner of some promo stuff from Thursday and Sunday’s posters (which means you!). I didn’t forget and will make sure to announce the winners (we’ll pick two) this weekend.

Also, I got so many requests for more Hard Gay, we’ll find you something ’special’ *snark* and get it up for you (that sounded all kinda wrong).

I don’t usually post promo on my blog days, but I”m getting more and more excited about the release of EGYPTIAN VOYAGE next month. This book rocks! And darn it, I just can’t help it! So here *chuckle*

*Woman, you make no sense. You had no problem facing him after coming together in the warm pool before.*

‘Hot tub, Adonei,’ she huffed

*As you wish. However, if you were able to face him then, you can face him now. He is your mate, you are meant to be. He knows this as well as you, yes?*

‘Yes, I know he’s my mate.’ A deep sigh followed the admission she didn’t think she’d ever make, simply because she hadn’t expected to have Rahn.

*Then why would he not want you as much in the light of day as he did under the light of the moon?*

‘It’s just that before, when we had a chance to be together, it didn’t work out. And, well…hell, you know what happened. You were my spirit guide, after all.’

*Yes, the spirit guide who tried to tell you…*

‘I know, Adonei, I know. You tried to tell me I was tripping and that he wasn’t serious about the woman he was working that case with.’

*Yet you still chose to become engaged with that dreadful what’s-his-name.*

Chrys grimaced. Sheesh, talk about the disaster of a lifetime. And she’d been so determined to walk into the disaster just to make Rahn jealous, it took her almost-mom-in-law disclosing the secret from hell to shake her resolve—she would have been wife number four. And it wasn’t just the number of marriages that made her back up and take stock, it was the fact the asshole hadn’t told her then, and still wouldn’t own up to it. Not to mention the way he’d gotten rid of wife number one. The sneaky bastard had movers come while he was at work, pack the woman up and ship her off. When he got home that evening, he was happily wifeless.

Unfortunately, by the time Chrys had come to her senses and broken off the engagement, Rahn had moved back to London

Now here she was with a second chance to be with the man of her dreams and fear had her damn near paralyzed…unless she was in his arms being fucked silly, of course. In truth, other than the constant state of horny-ness since Rahn showed up on her doorstep, Chrys was scared down to her toes.

*Do not worry, woman. There are events in motion larger than yourself. And they are all good things. Trust your instincts and listen to your guide. Neither of us has ever led you
astray, yes?*

‘Yes, you’re right. Thanks, Adonei.’

*Of course, I am right,* he sniffed, all smug male lion.

His ever-present place in her mind lessened and the big cat’s corporeal form glimmered and faded. Her stomach knotted nervously.

Chrys scented Rahn as he approached and almost groaned. She hadn’t had time to completely process the meaning of the explosive bout of lovemaking—scratch that—no holds barred jungle fucking they’d done on the living room floor. There was no way she could handle a confrontation with him right now.

Adonei popped back in long enough to say, *And you know it will be a confrontation because…?*

‘Oh hush, already,’ she admonished.

Her eyes flew open on a squeak when she found herself hauled up against a hard chest, then set on her feet on top of the bath seat. Rahn nuzzled her navel as she stood in front of him.

"I don’t like waking without you, Chrys."

Tilting her head to the side, she settled a fist on her hip. Was the man growling at her?

Ignoring her posturing, he continued. "It makes me think…"

She sucked in a breath when her bikini top flew across the deck and the ocean breeze teased her nipples.

"That you regret our time spent together last night."

The man skipped all the preliminary niceties. Hell, he hadn’t even kissed her. Just picked her up and dove for her pussy like his lifetime supply of breakfast, lunch and dinner oozed from her rapidly swelling sex.

He backed off long enough to ask, "Do you regret it, Chrys?"

"I-I, no. I don’t, uh. Oh god."

How the hell was she supposed to think, talk and feel all at the same time, damn it?

His warm tongue slipped between her pouty folds, wreaked havoc on her senses. Fingers eased up and down her bare thighs as his mouth devoured her on the spot.