A LOW PROFILE: May 2007

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Breakfast and Bobbleheads

Another great review of Virtually His! It's at Suspense Romance Writers. I so love the different takes by the reviewers from different sites! In this one, the reviewer called some of the commandos "Flyboy, Big Swimming Guy, and Denim Clad alpha male." Heh heh heh. I love it.

All in all, I'm very excited about the reviews Virtually His has gotten. With the gamble I took, building the suspense through cutting edge technology such as virtual reality and brain entrainment machines, I had my fingers crossed every day for the past year and the half, praying that readers are ready for something a little different. Hail the Techy Goddess!

Question: Do you read reviews? And how do they influence you?

Putting this link on the right of the blog under VHIS cover for easy access....

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Sarah from NZ, this is what Hawaiian bread looks like:

I eat mine with chocolate and strawberries. Sometimes I have sweet grated coconut inside it (we have a version of that in Malaysia too--coconut bun). Best breakfast in the world. Ha. And coffee. Don't forget Da Coffee.

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RB aka Da Gremlin is returning to Dr. Mengele to fix his mangled bottom teeth today. Send him luck and...more luck. I wouldn't have gone back.

He amused me yesterday when he was telling the waitresses at Shit and Grits about his experience and ended it with, "And then she gave me the ultimate insult. She asked me whether I wanted prescription painkillers." (See me roll my eyes here. RB and painkillers are like hotdog and filet mignon) "Why not? I'd have wanted some," asked the waitress innocently. "Don't you know the warrior's creed?" roared Da Gremlin through lisping teeth, "Pain is beautiful. Extreme pain is extremely beautiful."

Oh yeah. I handed him a piece of steak. "Try gnawing on this, Mr. Extremely Beautiful."

Got him back.

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And now, for an icon like Nora Roberts, collecting reviews of her books is just passe. If you're in Hagerstown, the first 1000 at the Minor League Baseball game where she'll be making the first pitch, will get your very own Nora Bobblehead.

Now that's something to aspire to--my very own bobblehead doll!

Way to go, Nora! (What's she holding in her bobblehands?)

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
NO NEED TO CLICK TILL I TELL YA: RESERVED FOR NOT SAFE FOR WORK STUFF

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Blood and Guts

Hugh Laurie, Dr. House, was forty kinds of hot last night. Omar Avila, husband to the patient of the week, was fifty kinds of hawtness. You with me? I thought so.

I like him scruffy better and this pic doesn't show his amazing eyes. Oh Lordy. Pretty eyes. The ending scene with Hugh Laurie and him, with the cigars--Classic House. This was the only season finale that got a thumbs up from me. I'm going to miss that show all summer, sob.

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I finished Keri Arthur's Tempting Evil. Holy cow, that book is violent, but the story is so good. The love triangle remains hot and follows naturally with the plot (or unnaturally, since every character in that book is unnatural!). The final twist, identifying the bad guy, caught me by surprise...didn't expect Arthur to tie that up so neatly, but it worked. So I have one more book of this series to read and I'm excited and sad at the same time. Excited because I want to see how the heroine continues her morphing, but sad because I just know there's going to be an unsatisfying ending. These non-romances always ends bloody sadly.

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Talking about bloody sadly, Ranger Buddy went to the dentist yesterday. She wanted to take his bottom teeth out and replace them with a bridge. I kept asking him about the procedure because I'm like that...I always need to know what the doctors are going to do before allowing them to do something drastic. Wouldn't you, if someone is going to PULL ALL YOUR TEETH OUT? RB didn't know the details and said he was just going to let her do whatever. Stupid man. He came back to work all bloody and MANGLED.

You should have seen his bottom fake "bridge." He looked like Gollum. I was horrified, even as I laughed. I mean, it was scary bad. I couldn't believe that a dentist did that. She told him to go back on Thursday because "he looked terrible." Terrible? Having a bad hair day is terrible. Waking up with zits on your face is terrible. THIS was a disaster, woman. I felt like driving there and telling her she needed to put a picture of his new teeth next to her license.

Sigh. I get protective like that for no reason.

Anyway, he was in pain and in a bad mood. So let's hope he feels better today. Let's hope she FIXES this. Because after all...the man has no bottom teeth now! RB tried to joke about it and said he just had the reverse of a TV makeover. Usually the participant gets their mangled teeth fixed; instead, he goes in with straight bottom teeth and comes out looking like Gollum.

Dr. House would have fired that dentist.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Poor Uber Alpha

I'm on the third book of Arthur's Riley Jensen series, Tempting Evil, and loving it. I didn't want to put it down at all. Unfortunately, there's this thing called writing that I've slotted my free time for. Sigh.

It's just like Leiha said, Anita Blake without the angsty sexual melodrama ;-). There's an Alpha wolf and there's an Ancient Alpha vampire and they have Riley Jensen, special-genes wolf-vamp (dhampire) crossbreed, for their own. Riley would prefer a threesome, really, but these guys don't like to share.

There's a lot of violence in these books, more than some of the other series I've read (Ward included) and each book brings Riley closer and closer to her "fate." I just hope she doesn't get so damn strong she becomes Mama Guardian of The Universe with Whom All NonHumans Want To Mate. That's so Anita Blake ;-/. And I'm hoping, HOPING for a good "happy" ending, but I won't hold my breath. The book's spine, after all, says it's "fantasy," not "romance." Bah.

Did you know that I didn't even know Virtually His can be ordered as an E-book? I was googling yesterday and found several sites selling ebook versions of Virtually His. How cool is that? I wonder whether there are many readers buying VHIS in electronic form?

Here are three pictures that I'll retitle Romance, Chick Lit, and Urban Fantasy:

Heehee. But that's what these genres do to their male leads! Right? LOL.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Uber Roofer Author In Malaysian Article

Laughing my ass off. My Purple Prose Dragon is poking fun of me too.

The Malaysian article just came out. It's published by The Star Online and titled OF SPIES AND ROOFTOPS. I wonder what Malaysian readers think of that! LOL. After all, it's still a traditionally conservative country back there. So what do you think of it...is it just me, or did I sound insanely bubbly? Like, "lalalala...oh yeah two degrees...lalalala...why not roofing?...lalalalala hard work will pay off!....lalalala..." Just sayin'.

If the article sounded a bit disconnected, it's probably because the interviews were done through a series of emails early last year that went back and forth, with a questionaire-type format. Except for a few follow-up questions on certain topics, I didn't expand on some of the quickie questions. For its length, I thought that the reporter squeezed in quite a lot of information! Wait till RB reads this ;-). What do you think of it?

Changing topic, have any of you seen the new Pirates movie yet? I heard it's as convoluted as one of my novels, heh heh. I haven't yet, but will do it ASAP, even though, from what I've read of the spoilers, I'll be rewriting the ending. I've always loved the idea of the compass that will lead one to one's heart's desire. Have you ever wondered, if you own such a compass, where would it point you to? (No, not Johnny Depp! Heh.)

Someone sent me a subscription to US Weekly. I have no idea who the generous gifter is, but thank you, if you read this blog. Everyone knows I love me some movie star gossip. Nothing like chowing down on chocolate and Hawaiian bread and shaking my head at the lifestyles of the rich and famous for breakfast. What, you've never had Hawaiian bread with squashed chocolate? Nutrition at its best, dudes!

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Sunday Blues

It's Sunday, and I shouldn't have to work ;-(. But duty calls.

So...here's me and my DREAM SUNDAY:

Sigh...toolbelt time.

Will answer yesterday's comments later....

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Vampire Werewolf COS Commandos!

Glad y'all liked my Alex and T teaser ;-). I love the way those two communicate, ahem. It always amazes me, as a writer, how two characters come together and they just smolder as a couple. I mean, where does the chemistry come from?

Talking about smoldering, I'm reading another version of the super soldier theme. I just devoured the first two books of Keri Arthur's urban fantasy series. It's werewolf/vampire/shapeshifter oriented and the heroine carries the genes that the Big Bad wants, that would or might create the supersoldier.

I loved the books! But I also shake my head at how similar themes can crop up in a spate of books. I mean, as writers, we're dealing with the subconscious, pulling ideas out of "somewhere" to create what we love: a good story. I wonder when Keri Arthur started writing the first of her four books in this series...I've been playing with the supersoldier spy thenes for a few years now, jotting down and collecting CIA declassified reports, reading ex-operative manuals and attending workshops. With four books already written, she must have started around the same time I became enamored with the idea, which was also about the same time Christine Feehan's first GAME book (another genetic enhanced supersoldier spy series). Oh, I just also thought of Christina Skye's enhanced SEALs too.

All these stories, including my own, capture the essence of government experimentation, super operatives with chips and enhanced abilities, the use of high tech, spying on both sides, and shadowy big bads with government influence. However, whereas the others are written for the urban fantasy/paranormal genre, mine is romantic suspense, thus more contemporary, set in the real world, with a touch of techno sci-fi, in the sense that I used current available technology found through research and merged them all together. It's cool how writers can pull together the same elements and make a different costume for a different party.

Interesting, huh? Like we all thought of some form of it around that same time. I would love to do an astrology chart of around that period and study the planets to see whether they were somehow aligned and how that affected my personal chart. ;-)

Anyway, if you haven't read Keri Arthur yet, run and get the first book, Full Moon Rising. It's addictive, like the first Anita Blake book by Laurell K. Hamilton. You will want more.

Warning, though...it's urban fantasy and it's not labeled romance on the spine. The werewolf culture is thoroughly explored here and the heroine is...umm...well, some of you might term her a loose woman, if you like your "romance" traditionally one-man/one-woman. Also, rape and casual sex are present. You've been warned!

The author took pains to explain (show through action and conversation) that the heroine is NOT a human, that she is a werewolf, so sex is treated differently in her world. The neat thing is that the "traditional" side is voiced by a thousand year-old vampire who is deeply attracted to our heroine; the human side of him wants her exclusive and therein lies the conflict of their relationship.

It's an interesting dichotomy. And sort of reminded me of Jed and Hell's problem because Jed is such a tomcat when it comes to sex. Oh man. Riley Jensen, the supersoldier in Arthur's series, BETTER NOT START REMOTE VIEWING!

For those who enjoy urban fantasies and have been a bit overwhelmed by the hundreds of lovers available to Anita Blake lately, they will enjoy this series, or at least, the first two, anyway, which I just finished. They have the same kind of feel to them. Let's just hope Riley doesn't get to be so uber-powerful all her men turn into betadogs. Oh, a special plus--the vampire "hero" (there are many men in and out of Riley's life but Quinn is the main dude...I think...) sounds and talks like J.D. Robb's Roarke, even to the lilting Irish brogue that comes through when he's not in control ;-). Oh, and yeah, he's a billionaire vampire with lots of legal and not-so-legal businesses. Interesting blend, huh?

So, have you read these books? Highly recommended!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Uber Teaser

A quickie tonight.

For those who don't read FYEO and are fans of...ahem...T and Alex, I'm adding this new link below as an EXCERPT in VIRTUALLY HERS. It's seen through COMCEN's eyes in this version, of course, and will be rewritten in the final version of the book.

T and Alex's moment

Evil?

Yes. Me evil. ;-) But you enjoyed it.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Idle Thoughts

This should be scary depressing. I'm enjoying American Idol's finale with all the past Idols singing and power stars (shit, even Bette Midler is making an appearance) coming on more than the Emmys and whatever music award shows they put on these days that I happen to catch now and then. Wow. I mean Green Day and Steve Perry on AMERICAN IDOL? What does it mean?

I can't wait for the day Marilyn Manson guest-sings and teaches the idol-wannabes on American Idol! Now, that would be one episode I'll watch, just to see Simon's face. LOL.

So anyway, right now...fifteen minutes before they crown...yawn...Jordin as the new Idol. Blake is doomed because I wanted him to win, just as I'd wanted Chris Daughtrey last season, and Bo the season before. They too were doomed.

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I went to Walmart's the other night, and out of curiosity, wandered to the book aisle. Yup...NOTHING there. There's, like, six stacks of Linda Howard's newest Silhouette, three stacks of her newly-issued paperback, Cover of Night, four thousand stacks of La Nora ;-) and J.D. Robb's Born In Death, about five other authors with new books out (sorry, I blank out for the moment) and that was it. The rest were last month's books. I picked up Brenda Joyce's Dark Seduction and J.D. Robb's Born In Death.

What are the June books coming up that you're looking forward to?

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I got to edit to add: That obligatory last Idol song sucks canal water. Last year's too. Ugh. Would you download those songs for your Ipod?!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

I So Wrote A Romance Too!

IMO, THIS is one of the better written reviews of Virtually His. The reviewer did an excellent job summing up Book One in the first few paragraphs, something that I* had trouble doing for my proposal, LOL. I should hire her to sum up my other Virtual books!

This is the review that says that Virtually His isn't a romance because there is no romance found inside the pages. I can see where the reviewer is coming from, of course, because there is no direct interaction between Hell and her trainer, and even though Jed DOES appear physically several times, it was more as a tease for Hell while she tries to figure her trainer's identity. In that sense, there's no romance within the book.

But, if one loosely generalizes the parts of a romance as:
1) set up
2) heroine meets hero
3) sexual tension
4) conflict (external and internal)
5) bonding
6) revelation,

I can defend that these elements are present in Virtually His. Granted, they don't exactly "meet" in a physical manner, but hey, there was a romance recently that was written mostly in email form between the protagonist, yes? Sexual tension is always present in a romance but can it be sustained throughout a series? For me, in many books, once the hero and heroine start going at it like horny rabbits, much of the tension afterwards is lost.

As for the romantic conflict, well, for me, and obviously for Hell, is what she is feeling real? That is the main conflict and will still be the real conflict in Book Two. Even after she meets Jed in person, there is this itsy bitsy problem of the sexual trigger. And her accidental bumping into another remote viewer and absorbing his perverted sexual "cache." And the knowledge that she is one independent GEM operative. It's a BIG itsy bitsy problem in a budding romance.

The bonding and revelation. There was a physical get-together. Did you think Jed was just going to be normal about their sexual encounter? Not the first time, surely. Nor the second or the third. He's going to be his manipulative self, always looking for a way out of saying that it is anything but sex. Is the reader going to dislike him? Well, that's the gamble when I chose Jed as the hero to this series. He's not a LIKEABLE fellow. Lickable, yes ;-).

The final revelation isn't "I love you" or "Will you marry me" or any other committed phrase. It's Hell finally finding out, through her remote viewing skill, who her trainer is. Yeah, I could have been more succinct, written in a confrontation. There were different ways to end it but no matter what, it was going to be a cliffhanger anyway. Even if Jed walks enters her apartment in the flesh and says, "I'm Jed and yes, I'm your trainer," and I end there, some readers would still want more.

As it stands, the way I ended it was a writer's decision to make it look like a TV season finale. Sort of Jack Bauer-ish ;-). Because, as you know, I love that TV series (except for Day 6, when I just love parts of it).

Although I really enjoyed this review, I've to disagree with this sentence from the last paragraph: After investing a great deal of time reading this almost 400 page book that sets the stage for the climactic revelation of identity of Hades, the story just stops, and we are left hanging in midair wondering who Hades really is. IMHO, I think that it was quite clearly Jed McNeil who is the monitor. Throughout the book, I took pains in describing the eye color or clothing of every of the commando that was introduced. Flyboy with the blond hair and blue eyes. Armando with his Asian features and cloak. Jed and his silver eyes and those jeans. Heath and his chocolate melty eyes. Diamond and his nakedness ;-). Where the story ended, with Hell seeing silver eyes and blue jeans, well, take a wild guess as to who the hero of the next book is...go on...;-P.

Question: Did you have trouble guessing the monitor's identity? Did you get the clues (or were you too busy drooling over them like Hell, heh heh)? And if you know Jed from the other books, do you agree that he acted consistently?

I want to thank you Romance Reviews Today for reviewing the book and giving me a great blogging entry! In Virtually Hers, less techy, more Jedness!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Not A Romance or Not Romantic?

The Malaysian Abroad article about me was supposedly going to be up today. I couldn't find it.

Romance Reviews Today was going to post a review of VIRTUALLY HIS yesterday. The reviewer brought up something interesting that I never considered. She said Virtually His wasn't a romance, or rather, there was no romance in the story. But the review isn't up at their site yet, so I can't bring that up for discussion.

The review itself was very well written and recommended Virtually His. I liked it that the reviewer relayed what worked and didn't work for her, so readers can see the different elements of the story. I knew there would be lots of hate generated from the techy stuff, but never ever did it cross my mind that I wasn't writing a romance. It's not romantic, yeah. Well, it's book one and the start of a very strange relationship, so there can't be too much "I want you, I love you, you are mine" declarations.

Oh well. More tomorrow if the article is up by then. I'd love to hear your thoughts whether you consider VHIS a romance. Not whether it's romantic, which is a different creature entirely. Also, were the clues to the trainer that vague to the reader not familiar with the COS commandos? I'm biased, of course; I thought with all the eye colors I kept throwing out, and the revelation of the monitor's eyes at the end, it's pretty obvious that the trainer/monitor was no other than Jed McNeil himself.

The review ends with a question, wondering how the author (me) was going to handle the disclosure of Jed as the trainer.

Ah. Well. I can disclose that no problem. Courtesy from Lauren Dane, there will be lots of this:

(AND AIMEE, HE IS MINE MINE MINE, so you can't have him!!!! Not after this short video! Heh.)

Yup. And nope, it's not going to be romantic sex either. Solly. Jed doesn't do romantic sex. ;-P And if you think the sex between Stefan (Jed) and Sia-Sia was a bit much in The Protector, what with the use of the drug and chains, I'm afraid to think what you're going to think about Jed and Helen's sexual scenes. Because in Book Two, there's no reason to hold back. Right? Ahem. RIGHT?

Saturday, May 19, 2007

WhatChoo Gonna Do?

Yeah, especially, if you have no book stores close by your house!

Okay, made a list of books we couldn't find in Walmart since May started:

Kresley Cole
Christine Warren
Morgan Wolf
Kim Harrison (I think they probably have her. Kim's, like, MEGA)
Eileen Wilks
Well, yeah, my book ;-P

Anyone else?

I'm lucky. There's a Books-A-Million about five miles away from me.

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This video by Alanis Morrisette parodying Fergie cracks me up:

Slowed down, the lyrics of the original Fergie song speak for themselves ;-). I mean, "My lumps, my lumps, my lovely lady lumps" in melodic softness? Genius!

Friday, May 18, 2007

KETCHUP and Uber Question

Another source has confirmed that Walmart and Target are cutting down on their midlist book buying. I was wondering: what books have you been looking for in the past month that you haven't been able to find at Walmarts and other discount stores like it?

For example, I was looking for Sasha Lord's new book. Not there. I ask my inde bookseller who does some buying there and she told me, besides mine, she was looking for Kresley Cole.

Let's make a list, 'kay?

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RECALL OF MORE PET FOOD

Lick Your Chops Kitten and Cat Dry Food and Evolve Kitten Food have been recalled. Please be careful.

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Grey's Anatomy Season Finale

This show is so brain dead, DO NOT RESUSCITATE. I hate, hate, hate where all the relationships have gone and are going. I hate, hate, hate the impending doom of adding on Lexie Grey, who looks too damn perky for someone whose MOTHER JUST DIED OF HICCUPS. I hate, hate, hate how they've destroyed all my favorite couples, including McDreamy and Meredeath.

Okay, rant over.

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So I'm caught my breath back a bit and I'm going back to FYEO and resuming COMCEN's posts. I'd left it as it was for a while as readers absorb the now declassified VIRTUALLY HIS. Now that the identity of the monitor is out, you may ask all your questions THERE.

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Yes, I know, you're waiting with bated breath for my debacle at Atlanta airport last week. ;-) It's such a long AND PAINFUL story, I need a big stretch of writing time to fill you in. This weekend, maybe? You will die laughing ***heading hanging***. I just know you will. No one suffers Delta and ATL Hub like I do.

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Remember to give me the titles of the books you can't find at your usual friendly Walmart and Target.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

What Are You Uber-Hungry For?

First, my reaction to Idol last night: Dammit. I knew it would happen. Split votes for the girls and the boy slips through. But I did like Blake over Jordan. Why? Well, even though Jordan can sing better, I never did enjoy her song choices. Nice old songs, but on a CD? Yawn. When she tried to rock out, she sounded very forced. Blake can have a CD out, just like that, no prob. Melinda is the ultimate performer and can sing almost anything, so she should have been in the final.

Ah well. My favorite never makes it. So prediction: Jordan will be American Idol.

;-P

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Whew. I've caught up with most e-mails and have replied to the comments on this blog from the last few days. Yikes. I can't believe how exhausted I am! And I still have tons of chores to do, among which is finishing a book, ahem***. Real life, eh?

Someone emailed me asking me to post my speech here, but it's awfully long--half an hour's worth--and too personal, really, like tooting my own horn. Also, I might be able to reuse sections of it in my future career as closing speaker! LOL. Actually, I was advised that speakers do this all the time, so when I get invited for another speech, I'd be so ready this time.

Wow. Me, motivating people to write. How ironic...when, as you know, I'm the world's best (or worst?) procrastinator. But I do think writing that speech did help put things in perspective for me. What makes me write? Why do I enjoy it? And when I pinpointed that everything comes from a certain desperation in my life, I had to sit back and explain to myself and everyone what I meant. So I brought back a few memories about my childhood and my earlier years learning about writing and hanging on to a dream. About real desperation and real hunger. A surprise to me, everything tied together.

Which brought me to my second point: timing and serendipity. When event A was happening, it was years afterwards that I connected it to event B. And then event C. I mean, what has a childhood civil war memory has to do with being lost in the writing world, or being desperate and ending up as a roofer? But somehow, my writing the speech led to some sort of self-discovery, that yes, indeedy, my life has a roadmap to it! I even tied it up nicely with my name, Gennita. As some of you know, from earlier posts on this blog, the buying editor of Into Danger, my first book, turned out to have the SAME name as mine! We both didn't know this initially because I was Jenn and she was Gena to everyone. But it blew both our minds when we discovered this while we were discussing about using another name/pseudonym for my writing career. Timing and serendipity right there, huh?

So those were the themes in my speech in a nutshell. And I ended it by challenging the writers in the audience to pinpoint their "hungry friend."

OMG. ***smackingforehead*** I just realized where my use of "hungry ghosts" and "feeding them" in FACING FEAR came from!

You see? Writing is a constant state of self-discovery. What are you "hungry" for? And how do you "feed" it?

Too damn deep a topic? Oh, all right. I can be shallow too:

Trying out new background colors to get a darker font to PLEASE JORDAN SUMMERS. Kidding.... I don't think I like this blue either.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

READING UPDATE

Thank you to the many of you who dropped by at Romance By The Blog and participated in the guestblog! It was fun...lots of sighing over the Bad Boy ;-).

I'm still trying to catch up with email and work, so please excuse the tardiness if you emailed me the last ten days and still haven't heard back. I really appreciate all the feedback you've been sending me about my new series. AND it's good to know you find the hero sexy ;-). And bad. Bad is important, yes?

While I try to get back to roofing, why don't you tell me what you're reading these days?

I picked up Mario Acevedo's X-RATED BLOOD SUCKERS at the CRW Conference. Isn't that an intriguing title?! He told me it's not exactly a romance but I was totally taken in by the title ;-P.

I loved La Linda Howard's newest Silhouette, INFERNO. It was really good, with the kind of Alpha Hero that she used to write. There is a controversial scene in it that everyone is calling "mind-rape." I didn't find it so, and I have a feeling that the term is used because the heroine herself accused the hero of "mind-rape." Which, being an Alpha, he denied, of course.

It was a bit too short but it's a categorical, so within its limits, I think La Linda did an excellent job setting up the background and universe as well as weave a romance through it. It's too bad categories have been cut back another 5,000-10,000 words. It's been a while since La Linda's last category for Silhouette, so I'm sure this new shorter length affected the story-telling in the editing stage. That said, the heroine was strong and certainly was a good match to the King of the Raintrees.

Has any of you read INFERNO?

Any other hot books in your hands right now?

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Jumping Bean

Quickly, as I just woke up ;-P...

I'm guestblogging today at ROMANCING BY THE BLOG and my topic is UBER BADNESS in BAD BOYS. So please join me there and post your thoughts about your idea of badness. I'll be going back there a few times during today to answer questions.

Now I have to go get coffee, wake up, and think Roofing again.

I might edit and talk more about the CRW conference here later, 'kay?

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Call Me Uber Speaker!

The Colorado Romance Writers conference is done. It was, IMHO, a total success. I made new contacts, reconnected with good friends, and actually survived being a closing speaker ;-).

The food was fab. I'll have you know that Bob Mayer was impressed at how quickly I destroyed this beautiful work of art.

That's Mr. Bob Mayer, with his books (also the one he co-wrote with Jennifer Crusie), and moi, with mine. I sold out of all my copies of Virtually His, hurrah!

We had fun and informative workshops. Just ask multi-talented author/pal, Pamela Clare, who somehow lost the key to her handcuffs ;-). Let me tell you, there were some doubletakes as she walked around the hotel like that.

Here's me, looking like a dork:

Yes, the closing speech moment. Notice the deer in headlights stare. The clenched fist. You can't see the wine glass hiding behind the podium ;-).

BUT

I KILLED IT, BABEEEeeeeeeee!

Woohoo!

I talked about desperation and what it meant in my life, how it developed me into the person and writer that I am today. I joked a little about my crazy background--the day I was lost in the market back home, the day I flew to the States with all my luggage, the day I had no money and no electricity. It was all somehow tied back to my love of writing a good story. Anyway, it worked and my audience was very happy with me, which was the goal, right?

I came away very relieved and very shocked that everyone loved the speech. I was even invited by a few people to do this again at several other conferences. Hahaha. Hahahahahahaha. You know that big NO was hanging at the tip of my tongue, right? They then SNEAKILY added that this would really help promote me and my books. Sigh. I dunno. Maybe it's just a fluke today that I didn't embarrass myself.

I talked to Sue Grimshaw, Romance Book Buyer from Borders and an all-round great romance reader/friend/expert, and she told me that Virtually His is selling quite well at Borders. She also confirmed, through her own sources, that Walmart and Target were cutting down on their romance buying. Sue told me that this gave her the opportunity to buy more stock for certain authors and promote them. She gave many tips to attending authors on how to get their name out there. This is why conferences/networking is important.

I have more pics to share but need to do some packing now. Just wanted to show off our SUITE. The bed was take-homeworthy. And we had a whole sitting room to party in, with a little kitchen-bar. This is the way to do it, girls and boys ;-).

Now all I need is to borrow Pamela Clare's handcuffs and we're set! Heeheehee.

Friday, May 11, 2007

About Uber Female Spies

I'm going off to meet Linnea Sinclair and Bob Mayer today! Also, I'll be partying down with good friends Kally Jo Surbeck, Pamela Clare and Robin Owens.

So, here is my guest blog entry for ROMANCE READERS AT HEART today. Check out what I have to say about romantic suspense and VHIS's uberspy heroine. What do you think of today's kickass heroines in our favorite genre?

Thursday, May 10, 2007

So I Wrote The Uber Speech

I did it! It's done and I'm pretty pleased with it. Now, if I just don't fall on my face while staring at the audience, start mumbling incoherently like an idiot, or forget how to work my tongue, it's going to be a pretty good closing speech.

My main theme will be about a desperate woman. Since I seem to be always desperately trying to get somewhere or finish something, I deem myself an expert on the subject.

Writing the speech was tough. It took days of thinking about what I want to convey and a whole morning to finally piece all my thoughts together. I've never written one that's so long before (half an hour!!!) and of course, the sight of the pages and pages of handwritten notes is awesomely mind-boggling. I mean, I have to read all those words out loud to a captivated audience! Yikes.

Tomorrow is my guest-blogging day for Romance Readers At Heart so do please drop by and leave comment. Click on the link here, 'kay? While you're reading that, I'll be giving a workshop at the conference about The Problem Child: The Second Book.

I don't know whether I've posted this here, but I found out from my publisher that Walmart and Target hadn't picked up Virtually His. It seems they have a new policy, beginning April 2007, to just sell books written by the upper tier bestselling authors, like Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, and Elizabeth Lowell. Mid-list authors such as me and some of my friends are out of luck ;-(.

Worrisome. I told myself I can't let this get me down, but it's still a nagging disappointment. Not only do I want my first book to do well the first few weeks because Walmart sales account for a huge part of an author's numbers, but I also want readers to be able to easily get my books. Some people don't live close by an independent bookstore or a Barnes and Noble but has a Walmart down the street.

Sigh.

Another thing for new and mid-list authors to lose their sleep over. I'm trying my best to promote this book, but really, what else is there to do but to just keep writing and praying that good word-of-mouth will help generate interest?

Thanks for listening to my mini-pout. I promise to get over this hump.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

So I Started The Uber Speech

The things I have to do to get into a speech-writing mode:

Quick, quick updates on Virtually His:

Check out this VHIS AD that Reader to Reader Book News sent out in their bulletin. Isn't it KEWL? I love it!

Also Romance Designs is featuring a whole week of Virtually His excerpts.

The newest review, from ROMANCE JUNKIES makes me jump up and down like a kid ;-). The reviewer loves the techy stuff! Yipppppeeee! Thank you for the kick-ass review, Romance Junkies!

I'm also the guest blogger for Romance Readers At Heart this Friday, May 11. No, I don't know what my topic is yet, so any suggestions? ;-)

While all this is going on, I'm getting ready for the Colorado Romance Writers Conference. I put up the addy for the hotel, as well as the time and date, if you're interested in coming to the signing (OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!). There will some big authors, among them Susan, Wiggs, Linnea Sinclair and Bob Mayer!

The weather here finally warmed up today and I can even wear shorts! So I put on my CIA hat and did a nice jog around the park behind the house and played with two very beautiful kiddos!

As you can tell, I'm working really hard on my speech ;-).

I do have a beginning, you know. It starts with:

First comes the dream. (wow, I can see everyone nodding off already....)

Monday, May 07, 2007

Can We Skip Atlanta? No?

Stuck in planes. Stuck on the tarmac. Stuck in the airport. Stuck between cities. You name it; I went through it a little over 24 hours ago. And I think I've lost a little of my sanity somewhere back in Atlanta.

I'm finally here in Colorado, recuperating from my disaster and bad karma on Saturday at the hands of the evil demons in Atlanta Airport. It was horrible. I still can't talk about it. It was that bad. ::shudder:: ::cringe:: ::cowering from the nightmare of it all::

Thank God Steve's mom knew how to cheer me up: a bottle of my favorite zinfandel ;-). But man, I don't know whether I could ever live down this new airline debacle.

But I finally made it to one of my destinations, thank goodness, and in one piece, and even got the car rental people to give me a Hummer. The weather's been COLD and rainy, but at least I'm sleeping in a warm bed and not curled up in a tight ATL airport chair, whimpering into a cell phone to some alien in a foreign (Indian) accent reciting to me the different cities I could be flown to in order to get to Sacramento (one choice they put me down for was Atl-Chicago-Sacramento. Oh yeah, and did I add that was an eight hour flight going north, sideways and back down south?).

Needless to say, my luck with ATL air traveling continues. I swear I need a cleansing. Chicken blood sacrifices maybe? I dunno. Karen, a friend who lives in Calif., swears I must have pissed off SOMETHING somewhere sometime in this or another life to make Atlanta Airport hates me so much.

My next challenge is to write that inspirational speech for my role as the conference closing speaker. I'm so wondering how a woman who can't get any luck traveling through an airport could be of any inspiration to anyone ;-), except maybe to actually stand there and weather the storm and get to that destination no matter what....hmm....

OTOH, Moms has more wine in her cellar ;-).

Friday, May 04, 2007

A Mysterious Link and Mr. Romance 2007

Business First!

The Mystery of Snuffy continues. This is just tooooooo damn weird and cool and amazing and mind-boggling. You decide.

There's an anonymous comment on the blog from yesterday, when I posted a bit about Snuffy's email to me. The comment had just one link and it was unsigned. I cut and pasted this link and it came up to an ordinary Board of Director's page:

THE LINK THAT MADE ME GO OOOOOOOOOH

It's a boring page. Boring names. It contains names for the Library Board. But look to the right and check out the email addys. It's...it's...it's SNUFFY! OMG! Snuffy is a librarian at Durham County! I don't know who put that link on my comment area but it's either him or someone who knows Snuffy.

I don't know what to think. Does this mean that my books are now banned from the Durham County Library for being trash? ;-P AND, HOW COULD HE NOT KNOW WHO ANGELA KNIGHT OR LAURELL K. HAMILTON ARE????!

Interesting bit of mystery here, eh?

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I'll be on the road tomorrow, so posing will be sparse again for a few days. I'll be in Sacramento! Can't wait to chat with Susan Grant, pilot/author extraordinaire.

The address and phone number of the book store is on the right side of this blog. Hope to see you there!

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The Goddess La Nora Roberts is on the Time 100 list. She's in the TOP TEN, right after Leonardo di Caprio. Here's the link if you want to go through the complete list. I used the page where Nora appears: TIME 100 . I can't believe they put Justin Timberlake ahead of her. Sheesh.

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And now, the last main event at Houston RT:
MR. ROMANCE CONTEST

It was fun to play judge again. I always enjoy it. Front row seat watching men posing down, what's not to like? I sat by Chris Keesler, an editor from Dorchester, and he kept me laughing with his masculine comments as we put down our marks for "Pose," "Articulation," etc. Yeah, you read right. ARTICULATION. Hee.

I know, I know, it's cheezie and weird. The place can get to sound like the inside of a Chippendale's. Those who cringe at this side of the romance business usually don't attend. It's all done in fun, really. The models get a shot to be on the cover of a Dorchester book and head on to a year of possibly a new career in their lives. So they strut their stuff and show off why they would look good on a romance cover:

This guy has EIGHT kids. Eight. A woman from the audience asked him a question: "Do you have cable?"

I died laughing.

Jason had a great pose above. And I was pulled on stage to ask him a question. I asked: "What's your best pick up line?" All the ladies oohed. Jason gave me one of his sexy looks and said, "I'd say, "Girl, you're a parking ticket waiting to happen because you got FIiiiiiiiinnnne written all over you!"" Ooooh, he won a lot of cheers from the ladies! ;-)

Chris, a friend of mine, did well too.

This guy was a last minute substitute and his UNIFORM won. I think, when he walked to frontstage and snapped a salute, most of the judges gave him 100 points. LOL. He took second place.

The winner is dashing Jason. I'll have a close up of his pic with the other contestants once I get it scanned. That one was taken by a pro, not by a crazy judge sitting there balancing a camera and pen and laughing too hard to keep still. ;-)

All in all, RT was a fun time connecting with friends and readers. I just wish I was able to have dinner/lunch/breaks with everyone I've missed! RWA, huh? ;-)

Thursday, May 03, 2007

RT in Houston Day 4...I think...

Business first!

Thank you for all the supportive emails and cyber hugs posted here and sent privately. You girls are the bomb! Thank you, too, to the fab authors (Angela, Cheyenne, Jordan) for dropping by.

Okay, Snuffy is Gone. For good, I hope. I did an MJD (Mary Janice) on him (okay, I didn't because I don't have her balls, but "he" kept writing and writing and I had to tell him to shove it).

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I'm preparing my workshop for next week's conference: The Importance of the Second Book (sophomore, trilogy, and series) at the Colorado Romance Writers conference next week. Sounds so serious, doesn't it?

Then there is that closing speech. Argghhh. Let's not think about that one. Maybe I'll talk about raw sex and Snuffy. "He" must have been sent to me for some reason....

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Readers can't find VIRTUALLY HIS at Walmart's yet. This is worrisome. I see La Linda Howard's newest Silhouette and single title but no Gennita Low. This is, by the way, the fear and paranoia of all authors...that their books Out This Week are sitting in a box in the back room. The first week is so important for the sales department, you know. Sigh. I wish I know where to check.

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More Romantic Times Convention pics:

RT NIGHTS

By this time of the week, you realized that everything is a blur. Every night is a party...this one, I believe is during the Cowboy Vampire Ball. We're in Houston, you know. This is Sly, a good friend, who share an affinity with me for pineapple and zinfandel. We had a couple and this is what happens:

:-)

Then, I got cuffed to Chris, which wasn't a bad thing at all. Uh huh. Do you know it's very hard to undo buttons and catches with gloves on, no matter how thin they are? Yup. Things I do for research....

Author Mary Stella had a good laugh at my antics:

I bumped into my publicist and she introduced me to the lovely Sasha Lord (the farthest right).

Then I was attacked by this dude with fangs when I was trying to take a pic in front of the skulls. He was very weird; he kept following me around showing his fangs.

So I ran back to my table to hide behind these guys:

I remember dancing and drinking but that's not what RT is all about. ;-) Because the next day was the BOOK FAIR, which is what RT is ALL ABOUT. Three hundred authors in one room. Hundreds and hundreds of eager fans moving up and down the aisle, talking to authors and getting books signed. That is the best fun of all!

This is me all authorly-looking with Margaret Bell, a bookseller from Australia:

This is me with Del Rhea, a reader who brought ALL my books from her collection as well as friends'! Her husband carried a whole suitcase of books for her! Words cannot express how I feel, that someone would go through so much trouble for me. Thank you, Del Rhea!

The photo below has been approved by Jordan Summers ;-)

I had fun with Jade Lee below. We are still hoping to write that anthology we'd been talking about for years. Jade and I (and hopefully Liz Maverick and Marjorie Liu) want to write a series of novellas codenamed Crouching Tigresses Magic Swords. Ah well. These things take time.

Marjorie sat five or six authors apart from me. I was sitting by Kathy Love again, a wonderful author with a great sense of humor. During the last half hour, I ran around buying the books I've wanted: Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, Marjorie Liu's....let's not make me cry about my lost books again, shall we?

I was so hungry after the Book Fair (10am-2.30pm!), I was looking around the hotel lobby for Prime Meat.

;-). I mean, real food...until later, of course, when I have to judge the Mr. Romance contest. Heehee.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

More RT in Houston Adventures!

WRITING BUSINESS FIRST ;-).

First, a wonderful review of VIRTUALLY HIS is up at The Romance Readers Connection. Read it HERE. Thank you, Wendy Keel, for taking the time to write such an in-indepth critique of Hell's first book!

Now this put me in a GREAT MOOD! Until...I received this (edited) email last night:

----- Original Message -----
From: Mr. Ednace ***
To: jenn@gennita.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 8:22 PM
Subject: virtually his
This book is terrible! It is totally based on sex! There is about 1/2 chapter based on any kind of plot! I have been gypped! If the government ever gets to this REM it better be based on more than screwing each other! You are supposed to have a book based on some type of plot...where is it? I kept reading thinking that surely it would get better...nope! did not happen! This girl needs to get another job!

Oooh ouch! So I checked the Properties of this wonderful email and found that this person's email addy was Snuffy@blahblah and I couldn't help but snigger at the thought of a man named EDNACE whose email is SNUFFY. I'm thinking, maybe some prankster? So, I decided I'd send out a "polite" response, using his moniker:

To: Mr. Ednace ***
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 8:39 PM
Subject: Re: virtually his
Dear Snuffy,

So sorry. Can you please return this book to the romance section of the bookstore? It must have been shelved under government documents by mistake.

Thank you.

Gennita

I don't think he appreciated my calling him Mr. Snuffy because he replied with this (edited):

----- Original Message -----
From: Mr. Ednace ***
To: GENNITA
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 8:50 PM
Subject: Re: virtually his
I don't want a refund. I just do not expect that kind of trashy writing! This is the first time that I have ever sent an email such as this, but that book was so offensive that I could not comment! There are readers out here that recognize the difference between writing and trash. If this is what you want for a future then grow up!

and...

...if you consider what you wrote romance, then I feel sorry for you. Raw sex has nothing to do with romance. How about Karen Robards, Anne Stuart , Brenda Novak, Kay Hooper. I think you need other role models. These authors have been around awhile. I have never even heard of Lora Leigh, Angela Knight or Laurell Hamilton. If you want a career in writing that will last, rather than a flash in a brief time span, then I think you need to revise your writing so that you have a plot that you develop that keeps a readers attention. Really, how long can you keep a person's interest when all you talk about is getting a man's head (or hand) between a woman's legs.

and...

Gennita, we live in a time when there is a great deal of interest in sex...there always has been but if you want to be a writer that last beyond 2010 then you need to study other authors. Ones that are not here today and gone tomorrrow.

Well. That was nice. ;-) I'll post my response tomorrow, just to keep you hanging. After all, I'm...uh...trying to be suspenseful here. LOL.

So, anyway, I need a HUGGgggggg. Or at least, some comments about my pretty RT pics below...

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Romantic Times Convention Day Three

I woke up early to get attend a workshop on Urban Fantasy. Marjorie Liu is on the panel, along with great writers of the genre: Charlaine Harris, Rachel Caine, and Jim Butcher!

That's Jim looking all serious, handing the mic over to Charlaine but he was really, really funny. And witty. When one of the audience asked each author to describe Urban Fantasy in one succinct line, he said: "Dirty Harry Potter." We all laughed, but I thought, "Perfect!"

So I took a pic with The Man himself:

I later bought a whole bunch of his books signed by him AND someone STOLE them. I am still mad about that.

After the panel, Liz Maverick was interviewing Marjorie Liu, so of course I have to sidle in and interrupt! Liz looked fabulous and she owed me a drink!. ;-)

Of course I had my mid-morning drink ;-). Then I had to go to Club RT to meet with some readers and what do I see? Bare chested men.

Well, damn. And this was just around noon, mind you. Of course, I have to do this to get pictures for the blog (really hard work!):

This is Chris, from Virginia. His talent: clapping with his feet. I have photos!

This is Brian and he has nice shoulders. And abs. And...never mind. I needed another drink after that particular pose.

So off I went with some readers for a quick luncheon drink and bumped into Angela Knight! Goddess! Angela looked fabulous and I snatched up a book from her ;-).

Later that evening, I behaved. I dutifully hugged the right guy.

Then more merriment followed. I shall post more pictures tomorrow!

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

The First Two Days At RT

First, some business:

I received this email last night:

My copy of virtually his is screwed up .It repeats it's self.you get to page 128,then it skips to page 225,then it skips to page 161,then it finishes the book.You might have more like mine. Thank You for reading this email.

I've forwarded this to my publisher. Please check your copy of VIRTUALLY HIS and let me know if you have a similar problem. I hope it's not widespread, sigh.

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Okay, RT FIRST AND SECOND DAYS

My plane trip to Houston was only interrupted by a flash storm that produced flooding and hale. I didn't know about this till I opened my eyes upon landing and when I became puzzled that no one was rushing to get their carry-on luggage, the nice lady sitting next to me explained that we were in NEW ORLEANS, not Houston. Because of the dangerous weather condition, Houston wouldn't let our plane land.

Sigh. Of course. Did I expect an uneventful plane trip.

I finally reached my destination two hours and the half hours late and missed my first appointment with Jill Smith, one of RT's top reviewers, and my publicist. However, upon arriving at the hotel, Jill was still at the bar, so after dumping my luggage in the room, I sat down for a nice long Toasted Jenn Almond with her, chatting about Virtually His and the series.

A pair of male hands suddenly covered my eyes. Uh...a man with big hands. Hmmm.

It was my Steve, surprising me with a visit. He'd told me he couldn't be with me this time because of business. Well, HERE HE WAS standing there at the bar. What was the business? He's one of the calendar models. My Steve is a freaking calendar model, yo. Visions of him posing half-naked floating in my tired brain.... Oh-kayyyyy...waiter, another Toasted Jenn Almond please....

Later, we changed for a late dinner and I had more Toasted Jenn Almonds.

It was wonderful bumping into friends walking in and out the hotel lobby and bar area. We were buying each other drinks and catching up on news. I went to the Ellora's Cave Ball and checked out the beautiful Ellora Cave men in nothing else but suspenders and top hats. However, I didn't have my camera with me, so I couldn't share their beauty with you.

The next day, I bumped in tall and beautiful Marjorie Liu, one of my favorite writers.

We talked and talked and talked and then she graciously gave me free reign of her camera so I can take pictures. I told you I love this girl.

So that night, I had fun playing with the camera at the Faerie Ball. This is me in my faery costume. I had a wig on and a very naughty fairy doll sitting on my chest with her legs wide open. I couldn't close them! She kept flashing me and everyone else. Steve says she's my Inner Flasher coming out to party....