Year End Sexy Veges: ARE YOUR EYES READY?

Here you go, my sexy Vege friends. If this picture doesn't bother you, do click on the link below to show ALL. You've been warned.

Yes, those are nipply sexy veges.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR MORE FUN)

Aren't they the sexiest Veges of 2009? :D Happy now? Now go eat some veges.

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Renewal Coming Up?

I took a few days off the blog to recharge. I have had a pretty stressful two weeks before Christmas, what with three jobs to finish up before the big day. Besides, I figure y'all are happily snuggled with your loved ones, eating cookies and drinking eggnog anyway ;).

It's the last week of 2009. Does the last week of any given year make you reminiscent and contemplative? This one, in particular, because it is the last of year of the decade and we start a whole new one soon.

Remember 1999 and it was headlined by Party Like It's 1999 and everyone was buzzing about Y2K and some people were stocking cans of tuna and water in anticipation of massive power outage, at the very least? Then, before, 1989 was dominated by Massive Crowd Disasters/Gatherings, starting with the Hillsborough Stadium stampede during a football game, followed by the Tian Ah Men protests, and, finally, topped at the end of the year with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

So I was enjoying my wine and trying to think about the big events that would give 2009 its flavor. All I could think about was the horrible economy and because of it, how slow everything seemed to have gotten. For most of us, personal and business lives suffered from stagnation. So, rather depressing.

Took another sip of wine. Change the direction of my thoughts. Let's move onwards, then. What was the beginning of a decade like?

I do measure my own life in decades. Why? Because I'm old enough, that's why, ha. I can actually get to see some kind of pattern in the way my own life progresses.

For example, 1970 marked the beginning of going to school and learning the wondrous new world of communicating in other languages. I excelled in it. And I found a secret world, one in which I was very comfortable and in which I found my own comfort--books.

1980 was the beginning of my adventure as an adult. I was by myself, in a brand new world, and had the whole future ahead of me.

1990 marked the start of my roofing business. Another different planet to explore.

2000 was the year I made the decision to go after the goal of being published. Big Bad Wolf's finaling in the RWA in 1999 had given me confidence and hope that I might be good enough. 2000 was the year I decided I should try writing Big Books, called single titles, so that I could submit to more publishers. 2000 was the year my agent took me on.

Interesting pattern, eh? Following this trend, I wonder what 2010 would start for me? Maybe a different path? Hopefully, a successful one!

Can you trace your own footprints? It doesn't have to be in decades because I know some of you aren't as ancient as moi :-P. How was your year and are you looking forward to 2010? Perhaps you can share a few of your hopes and dreams with me here.

P/S For those wanting a SEXY VEGE entry, I'm looking for some good material to end decade with! :D

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In Case You Think I Don't Want Anything 4 Christmas

Hmm. Bring dessert.



MERRY CHRISTMAS GLOW ONES! I hope your holiday is a warm and wonderful one, with lots of presents and happy times!

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Meljean Brook Does Book PRoN!

Meljean Brook, who has built a fascinating urban fantasy world in her novels, finally came clean and admitted some very dirty things. She even took pictures to prove that she WENT THERE.

NAUGHTY NAUGHTY MELJEAN

It sure makes me jealous my books can't do some of the things her books can, dammit. That clip looks painful. Ouch ouchOUCH!

:D

You should print these pictures for those times when someone hounds you about your reading prOn. Seriously, it would shut them down. And up. Or maybe push them a step or two off their high and mighty ladder.

P/S Should I end the year with some Sexy Vege Pics?

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Pride & Prejudice as Yahoo!ticons

Remember the awesome version of Pride & Prejudice as Twitterama? Thanks to Vanessa Jaye's link, now we have P&P in Yahoo Emoticons :). And...it's just as awesome :-).

Click HERE: Pride and Prejudice in Yahoo!ticons

Makes me want to do Hell and Jed like that, ha!

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What Christmas Shopping?

So sorry I've been so quiet this past fortnight, but I've had to finish three houses before Christmas with very little help. I'm going nuts trying running around in between Christmassy stuff!

I hope you are all doing well at your little corner, busy preparing for the holidays ahead and spending time with visiting family. For me, it's always nice to think about family gatherings and shared laughter at this time of the year.

Are you done with your Christmas list yet? And what do you really, really, really, really want for Christmas? Come on, you can tell Auntie Glow.

For myself, I'd like a whole week at the spa. Just me and those people who'd take care of me, me, and only me. Skin, massage, the works. No running home to feed furbabies either. A whole week at the spa with time to write Jed and Hell's story because I'm so, so, so behind. Don't want anyone to bother me either, except maybe my dogsitter. (Sigh. I don't see this dream-present becoming real)

Your turn to 'fess up.

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Doggies Decorating Christmas Tree!

This is the bestest Christmas video ever :D. My doggies would have eaten all the toys!

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Marjorie Liu Has New Romance Game!

This woman never ceases to amaze me with her ability to cross genres and create new paths for romance.

She has partnered with Passion Fruit Games to give you a romance video game called Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box, which is based on her wonderful debut novel of the same title. It sounds so neat and just in time for Christmas pre-orders too!

Tell your man you want this instead of the pap smear suggestions from CBS!

Congrats, Marjorie! This looks awesome.

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Free Ebooks For Xmas!

Received and email from http://www.allromance.com/:

A D V A N C E D P R E S S R E L E A S E F O R R E P O S T I N G

ARe Gives Readers the Gift of eBooks to Celebr ate the Holidays

I t's the season of giving and All Romance eBooks™ (ARe) and some very special publishers are giving away eBooks.

Palm Harbor, FL, December 15, 2009 – During the busiest of shopping seasons, ARe and their partner publishers are making things easy and free. Shoppers can get select eBook titles from Harlequin, Liquid Silver Books, Tease Publishing, Pink Petal Books, Excessica Publishing, Eternal Press, The GA Hauser Collection, and eXstasy Books free of charge for a limited time thanks to ARe's 12 Days of Christmas campaign.

One free title will be announced each day for the twelve days preceding the Christmas Holiday in a special mailing to all subscribers of ARe's Wildfire eZine. In addition to the rotating eBooks offered for free, Harlequin is giving Wrapped and Ready, a holiday short story by Julie Kenner, away to readers all month long. The link can be found on any book detail page on the site. Readers put the free selection in their shopping cart, check out and the title will appear in their library instantly.

"Retailers like to run shoppers ragged to get a bargain this time of year, making them buy between certain hours, clip coupons, enter special codes. The holidays are hectic enough. ARe is about making things as easy as possible for the customer," says Media and Public Relations Manager, Cat Johnson. "With all the things we do for others at this time of year, it's really nice to get a little something for ourselves. And with our new gift giving feature, readers on a budget can take this opportunity to pass on the gift of an eBook to a friend—free."

TO SIGN UP FOR THE WILDFIRE NEWSLETTER:
Go to allromanceebooks.com or omnilit.com and register as a customer. Newsletter sign-up options can be found on-line in the account profile.

ABOUT ALL ROMANCE eBOOKS
All Romance eBooks, LLC was founded in 2006, is privately held in partnership, and headquartered in Palm Harbor, Florida. The company owns All Romance, which specializes in the sale of romance eBooks and OmniLit, which sells both fiction and non-fiction eBooks.

Thought I'd share it with you. Maybe there are some authors you've been wanting to try out. Or you can get some e-books for Christmas/New Year!

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A Quick Reflection on 2009

It wasn't great but it also wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Writing-wise, I did manage to have three books out, although one is a self-pub. The self-pub, btw, has made more money than the ebook to Samhain so far, but that's probably because it's been out almost a year whereas Virtually Hers has just been out 2 months. Still, I'm very pleased with the self-publishing experiment. It does prove that, with some knowledge and a good story, an author with readers can sell her books beyond her usual 100 copies spread out among friends and family. Now, if I can write one book a month....that would be enough to pay the mortgage ;-)...maybe.

It's definitely an improvement from last year's frozen status. Talking about frozen, yeah, roofing has picked up some too, so I'm actually making an income instead of living off my savings, whew. I'm very, very relieved about that.

Like I said, the year hasn't given me everything I'd hoped for, but I had many blessings:

1) Virtually Hers finally out, Virtually One contracted and on the way
2) My health (yes, the roof incident!)
3) Print version of my books.
4) Good friends who are supportive and generous
5) More roofing jobs
6) My Two Grand Old Furbabies' health--this is actually my most fervent wish, as everyday with them happy, healthy and eating (and no emergency vet bills!) is a gift to me.

What are your reflections on your year?

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What If Your Darling Man Gave You This For Christmas?

This is the bestest gift idea ever. Not.

Imagine your guy saying this to you on Christmas morning. And you found out that he wasn't joking. Let's say you just bought him a new HDTV? Or an I-Phone? How violent would you get? ;-)

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Alan Elsner's List Of Top "Romance" Books

I was writing this spoof on author Alan Elsner's dismissive article about how romance books today killed romance (but not his romance book) on HuffPo to the kewl tune of Milkshake....then I changed my mind about putting it out in public because, you know, it's Christmas time and...and...my readers won't care about being indirectly called stupid by Alan Elsner, great love story writer.

So, anyway, I thought I'd just show the link to bad sex passages (Literary Review entries) of non-romance writers who are probably great love story writers like Alan Elsner instead. I'm sure you'll agree these are gems. Like:

She puts her hands flat against his chest and leans into him in a simulacrum of a swoon, making a mewling sound. Her hips are goosefleshed and he can feel all the tiny hairs erect on her forearms. When he kisses her hot, soft mouth, which is bruised a little at one corner, he knows at once that she has been with another man, and recently - faint as it is there is no mistaking that tang of fish-slime and sawdust - for he has no doubt that this is the mouth of a busy working girl. (The Infinites by John Banvilled)

or, for the win:

Then, Bobby starts scrabbling frantically across the carpet for Mr Condom, sending five or six multicolour Durexes flying through the air, and he struggles getting the packet open and Georgie has to roll Mr Condom down Mr Penis for him and she has to help insert him into Mrs Vagina (Ten Storey Love Song by Richard Milward)

Oh yes, these entries certainly beat my little rap song about Alan Elsner's milkshake getting all the boys. Hee.

Get thee there and tell me how you love these great sex scenes!

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Brainstorm With Me

So I'm set to reread the beginning and parts of Sleeping With The Agent. The Jed bits. Because, if you've read Virtually Hers, SWTA is part of the timeframe and you'll notice that Jed was delegating in those beginning chapters.

I'd like to read your thoughts on several things bouncing around in my head.

1) Jed's state of mind at the beginning when he came in for the meeting.

2) Jed's dependence on Nikki. Can you imagine a scene/convo between those two? ;-)

3) Let's hear your theories on sleeper tie-ins and end of Virtually Hers.

Come on, put your smart caps on and help me create a tight GLow world ;-).

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BESTEST New Moon Spoof Evah!

You have to click on the link below. It's New Moon with LOLKittehs! I think I lost a spleen cackling.

NEW MOON REVIEW WITH LOLCATS N MOAR

Warning: Don't drink and read.

Thank you, Microsuede, for making my lunch hour.

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Year End List of Recommended Books Pt. 1

I can't believe it's December already. Are you guys ready for the rush towards 2010?

I always like to look back at the past year around this time--what I've read, what I've done, significant events. When I used to keep a journal, I'd have these long-ass entries about the year, with side- and footnotes as I reread them in the following years. Sometimes I wish I kept up with the hobby, but what with writing for a living, doing blogs, tweeting and facebooking, I think the private journal has sort of gone out of style.

I mean, are we private about anything any more? :-P I know why writers do it--we like to share our thoughts in writing because you know, that's our thing, and we love the acknowledgement of our output. In fact, I'd say most writers need it because writing in public help us gather our ideas and give our Muse something to work with; we observe, opine, and when a light bulb comes on, we tell stories.

Which segues us to new stories I've read this year that are in my Top List ;-). I'm going to start with just five, and during the rest of the month, have a few more posts of fives titles. Here they are, in no particular order.

1) Magic Strikes--Ilona Andrews

Urban fantasy. Book 3 of the Kate Daniels series. This series is getting better and better and thank God Ilona hasn't sacrificed the romance/relationship. Sometimes I get frustrated with reading urban fantasy because I want more relationship and not gory supernatural murders, you know?

2) Pleasure and Purpose--Megan Hart

Fantasy erotic romance that reads like a historical. The worldbuilding is really cool and the three novellas in this anthology were riveting. Each sexual situation was different and because of the worldbuilding, the erotic elements worked very well with the romance (it's tough in erotic romance, imho, especially short stories).

3) Scandal--Carolyn Jewel

Historical. Her stories are always character-driven, very internal, and thus, very engaging for me. Sexy too, because the author takes her time.

4) Bone Crossed--Patricia Briggs

Another urban fantasy series that I follow. Mercedes the mechanic makes Gennita the roofer smile. And she is snarky without being overbearingly so. I like the werewolf politics in Briggs' world and every character is interesting. And Mercedes is kickass too, taking care of certain gory business and not needing much help, in spite of being surrounded by the alphaest of werewolves, and her being a small little coyote shifter who's just trying to stay out of trouble just adds to the fun.

5) Seducing Mr. Darcy--Gwyn Cready

Delightful historical/modern time travel! You guessed it--the heroine goes back to Mr. Darcy's time and yeah, there are some hottie-tottie moments with him that changed the text of the modern-day version. It's damn original and so much fun to read.

What about you? What have you read in 2009 that you'd like to recommend to other GLow readers?

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