We're Not Done Yet!

My first book A Love Worth Biting For is still a little over a month from release day.  But I had to share some great news.

Two of the characters you will meet in the first book of the Hart Clan Hybrids series will get their own story in Book 2.

The ink is dry on the paperwork and I can officially say Love's A Witch : Hart Clan Hybrids Book 2 will be published by Samhain Publishing next year.

**CONFETTI!!!**

I get to work with some new people this time around and can't wait to get fresh eyes on these pesky hybrids.

  

I already drank the champagne, so I can't give you any.  But know that it was very tasty.  ;p

Roxy

Sneak Peak at A Love Worth Biting For

Just two more months and Samhain Publishing is releasing Amber Paulson into the world of books for me.  I still shake myself that I have words out there for y'all to read.  I am ridiculously excited for everyone to meet the werewolf that has been snarking her way through my brain for so long now.

Now for a sneak peak at why I love this character so much.  The reading below has some NSFW language, because if you woke up like Amber did, you would be grumpy, too.

A LOVE WORTH BITING FOR

Hart Clan Hybrids Book One

Releases October 1st 2013

“Amber.”

I was dreaming. There was a rabbit hopping ahead of me, and I was chasing it. Yeah. Okay. I have wolf dreams. But you don’t know how fun it is to tear a rabbit apart with your teeth. The way the fur feels against your tongue…

“Amber.”

I was waking up.

“Do I not have your name right? Or are you already ignoring me?”

Damn. Guess the honeymoon was over already.

“Mmhhanmmph.”

“I figured you might say that. So I brought coffee and bacon.”

“I’m awake.” I looked around. I sniffed the air. I frowned. “Where the hell’s the bacon?”

“That, my dear mate, is the point. There is no food here. My control is not where it needs to be. You have to venture out for us.”

I looked around. Crap. Were there any clothes we hadn’t destroyed? I got up and stalked outside to the shed behind the cabin. Our Pack kept a few scant necessities out there. Looked like I would get to do the walk of shame wearing a pair of SpongeBob pajama pants and a “Where’s the Beef?” sweatshirt. Goodie.

I went back inside to find my flip-flops. At least I knew they had made it through. Jake woke me up three different times during the night, and the last time, I had rolled on top of my shoes.

I growled at the chuckling behind me. Fucker was lucky I was going anywhere. If he kept laughing at me, I would make sure to eat everything I brought back right in front of him while I kept him tied to the fireplace.

Ohhh. Jake tied up. With rope.

“Amber! Whatever you are thinking, stop it! I can smell you from here, and if we both keep going like we did last night, we will die of starvation. You need to bring us food.”

“Are we already up to the ‘make me a sandwich’ stage? Keep talking, Jake. That should help with the sexy. I’ll totally be able to control myself if you don’t shut up.” Maybe. He was still naked. And I could tell from the tent in the blanket he had over himself, he was very much enjoying being naked.

He shook his head. His statuesque perfection was gone in the morning light and tousled black strands hit below his ears. The sex-rumpled thing looked great on him. He also didn’t have a scratch on his body that I could see. I knew he healed fast, but even when I was clawing at him like a cat climbing curtains, I couldn’t remember ever having made a mark on his skin.

“Jake—”

“Before you talk, take a few steps back. Please. I need to have a little more control. You smell even more incredible than you did last night. If you are out of my immediate reach, I stand a better chance.”

I took a step back. The fact that he still wanted my body when it was covered with a fluffy, square sponge creature who lives in a pineapple made me feel good. Yeah, it could have been the mating thing, but my ego decided that it was my sexy bod he wanted instead.

“Sooo…what do I get for you? I know that you bit me last night. And it was fucking awesome.” He growled and the spot on my neck where he’d taken from me tingled. Hell, I tingled everywhere when he growled like that. “But was that enough to feed your Edward side? Or do I need to kidnap a coed? Because there is this little chick in my history class that has been really pissing me off.”

“I don’t want anyone but you.”

“Okay, that sounds sexy as hell, but do I need to worry about you sucking me dry? I’m not really up on how this works. And I didn’t really pay attention when they went over the not-really-mythical creatures run-down in Council sooo…what do you eat? Do you only eat meat?”

Sitting up, his feet hit the floor. After the back snapped off of the couch, we left it that way. It made a pretty comfy bed. His hands scrubbed over his face and ruffled his hair before he looked up at me.

“I don’t take enough to hurt people. I don’t actually need as much blood as full vampires. While I needed to bite you and feel your blood inside me, I promise you my orgasm was not due to physical nourishment.”

Pant.

“Okay. So I don’t have to kidnap someone and give them a good old fashioned bleeding?”

“No.”

“Sooo…fast food?”

“I would eat the wrappers right now.”

“Lots of fast food. I’ll be back soon. Do I need to lock you in?”

“You can do that?”

I shrugged. I wasn’t sure how much of our life I was supposed to share here. On one hand, he was my mate, and I should share everything with him. On the other hand, he was a fucking vampire. Were we supposed to keep our vampire and wolf lives separate? How could we? This was a mess.

“You’re not the first wolf to not have full control.”

“I’m a vampire.”

“With a furry side?”

“Just go get food.”

I took great pleasure in locking his ass in after that.

You can visit Amber at quite a few different places now.  She is making her rounds.  Look for this cover...

You can Pre-Order from the following fabulous ebook sellers.  Just click on the retailer's name.

Amazon - $3.44
Barnes & Noble - $4.49
KOBO - $3.99

Also check out a bit more information about my book including the blurb and another excerpt here.

And don't worry.  There are good things ahead for Amber.  I can't wait until you take the journey with her.

Roxy

Cover Me Excited!

Working with the editorial team at Samhain Publishing has been incredible.  I am almost sad to see the process end.  Okay, not really. (Editing and I are not buddies)  I need an editor with a whip and a harsh deadline to keep moving forward like I should.  Lisa Dunick pushed me in the most wonderful ways, and made me let go of words that didn't work, all the while making me create more words that I loved even more.  I can't thank her enough for everything she has done to help jump start my career.

Then one wonderful day...I got my cover art.  Kanaxa and I never spoke directly, but if I ever meet her, I will hug her and squeeze her and buy her alcohol.  I had some ideas about my cover, but between Lisa and Kanaxa they brought in new ideas that I will be forever grateful for.  

Now that I have gushed about the poster-worthy cover, you are dying to see it aren't you?  

Here it is.

Coming to Samhain Publishing October 2013, A Love Worth Biting For.

God, she's sexy!  

Samhain Publishing is holding her down for a few more months, but my heroine Amber won't let them keep her captive for long. Unless they use silver thread in the cuffs. ;p

Roxy

In the Hybrid Home Stretch

After a chaotic couple of days I am delighted to say that my first book is being finalized as we speak! (or as I type...whatever)

I have learned so much going through this experience, and thank goodness my editor is a VERY patient woman.

Some of the things I have learned...

1. Make sure Track Changes is on BEFORE you do your edits.
        There are probably all kinds of curse words that erupted from my editor's mouth about that.

2. Slow it down.
         My brain moves faster than my fingers at times, and I had to learn to break up my paragraphs into smaller more manageable chunks.  I had to stop my characters from their tendency to monologue.  Slowing down, let the impact of my important points really shine through.

3. Twitter is my friend.
        Sending a quick question, or letting my editor know there was a reason to check her email, was a fabulous way to get a fast response.  It also helped me from sending her endless..."So you got that and the file opened, right?" emails.  Twitter is apparently my editor's friend as well.

These are the things I can quantify.  I learned so many things that I can't fit into easy bullet points.  I learned where I am strong, learned where I need to improve (Hi my name is Roxy, and I have an ellipsis problem), and learned to spot these things in my next story.  Book 2 of my trilogy is covered with pink pen markups.

Mark your books with pink or purple pen folks.  It makes you feel better than if you murder your manuscript with red.  Or it makes me feel better at any rate. ;p

I am waiting on my ARCs now.  But mark your calendars folks!

Coming Fall of 2013...

Get your e-readers ready for The Hart Clan Hybrids Book 1.

A Love Worth Biting For by Roxy Mews

Who's afraid of the big bad hybrid? (I'm not. He's a hottie.)

She's trying to stay away.  He's trying not to turn furry.  They both fail miserably with plenty of enjoyable and sweaty property destruction.

I can't wait until you get to meet both Amber and Jake.  I went way past PG-13, and had a blast doing it.

Roxy

My New Favorite Editing Tool

I am working on edits for two books right now.  One is off for the final round polish and with the second I am going in to tear apart my rough draft and get it ready for submission.
All this editing (not my favorite part of the process) has forced me to improve my technique.  It needed to happen, but I can still whine about it a bit. ;p
I have tried a few different ways to go through my books. I printed them out to work on, read them on my kindle and took notes in the file, and tried just editing in the document itself.
Someone owes my editor alcohol after the steep learning curve I went through with Track Changes. Pretty sure that someone is me. Bourbon, right Lisa?
Then I tried something else. I have an older model Kindle Touch that offers a Text-to-Speech feature. It reads documents (that have the feature enabled) in a robotic, monotonous tone. What I discovered, was that any mixed up or missing words, and other mistakes or awkward wording jumped out at me like blinking neon lights.  I threw my own books on the device and started listening.
Only problem was it was a pain in the booty to follow along on a computer.  So I brought out my printout, and had my "Aha!" moment.
I found my groove and the edits are going so well thanks to my out-of-date e-reader.
Anyone out there have a favorite technique or tool they use during the editing process? Share below!

RT Recovery

I have no idea what day it is.  I have no idea what time it is.  I have no idea where my coffee cup went.

That's right, I am home from RT 2013.

I have some pictures to share.  The first day, I was so excited that I woke up at 4:30 am.  Much to my roommates' dismay, the trend continued.  I am an early riser and always get up ready to go.

 Samhain Publishing had a TON of signage out.  They even had these really cool clings on the elevators.  I might have taken a few pics with my new publisher. Don't judge me, but I may have kissed one or two.

 This is a shot of me with Lexi Blake/Sophie Oak.  I fell in love with this author when I found her first book under the Sophie Oak name.  Small Town Siren.  I found book two in the series, and then promptly emailed her and let her know that I was stalking her.  For some reason she responded rather than blocking me, and she is just the most fabulous person.  I was so glad to run into her again.

This was my embarrassing fangirl moment of the con.  Victoria Dahl was one of the first authors I read that let me know it was okay to be funny and sexy at the same time.  Her books and her female characters were strong and snarky and fabulous.  I hugged her.  It was great.

At that same book signing I also met Angie Fox!  She took such time to chat with me, I was amazed. Angie Fox is also one of my funny idols.  I was freaking out a bit when she handed me her card and TOTALLY forgot to get a picture.  She signed my book, and I love that she wrote all over the page for me.  Know that she is also awesome.

And now, for what you really want.  Here is a picture of one of the cover models wondering around the convention.  The Ellora's Cave Cavemen were there as well, but only stayed for a night and didn't really hang out and have fun with us like these guys did. Until I learned Charles Paz's name, I might have referred to him as the guy with shoulders bigger than his head. But don't tell him that. He is a great guy who worked hard to keep the energy up at the events.  Another cover model not pictured, is DeLonn Donovan.  He was my dancing buddy at the Ellora's Cave Disco.  I blame him for my busted knee.

I also am heartbroken that I don't have a picture of Dawn from Daydrmzzz (http://daydrmzzz.blogspot.com/).  Dawn and I met on Goodreads, and we touched base for just a couple hours in Chicago at the last RT.  She introduced me to some fabulous people, and I just had to hang on for the ride.  She also beat me with an evil stick, but don't worry.  It was totally consensual.  :D
 

My roommates were Mary Abshire aka Diane Thorne and Dani Morgan.  We were sad to see the week end.  It was an incredible experience, and I hope both of them are going to RT 2014.  New Orleans sounds like an absolute blast. 

Now I am off to do epic amounts of laundry, and drink even more epic amounts of coffee until my body recovers.  

Oh, and I suppose I should actually be writing, too!  I only wrote 3k the whole time I was away, so I have some editing and new word catch up to do.  Hopefully my body will be a little bit more motivated today. I yawned as I typed that.  

Thank you to all the people I met.  I am going through all the business cards and each time I add someone to twitter or mark their book on Goodreads, I am hit with another amazing memory.  

The romance community truly is a home away from home for me.  I am so glad I found you all, and can't thank you enough for the fabulous time.

Roxy

Getting Ready for the RT Convention!

The RT Booklovers Convention (http://www.rtconvention.com/) is my first official conference as an author.  I have been to a couple of other cons as a reader and had a blast.  Meaning, I got tons of free swag and fabulous conversation with some of my favorite authors.

Book cons for me are a complete escape from everyday life.  And as an added bonus I get to go as my alter-ego.  Roxy Mews is my pen name, but I find she is much more me, than I am most of the time.

I get to go out, talk about books, and chat with other authors and readers about what they have on their e-readers that they can't turn off. That's right, I am addicted to ebooks. My kindle goes everywhere with me.  It is overflowing with more books than I will probably ever read in a lifetime, and I still wait like a kid at Christmas for those Tuesday releases.

Although my book isn't out yet, I am taking some business cards and information about my book with me.  My cover was recently finalized and I will be handing out some postcards to give readers a heads up.

Even though I am going in a slightly different capacity this round, I will have a lot of the same prep.  Over the weekend I will be packing, making lists, realizing I forgot my underwear and starting over when I realize I don't have any room left in my suitcase.

For anyone going to RT, I have a few words of advice.

1. Don't worry about a big purse.  There are tons of totebags that you will be given through the days.  Carry one of those.  Authors will be wandering everywhere, and you never know what there will be to haul around.  Also, the totes are fab to get autographs on as a free souvenir.

2.  Bring permanent markers.  Seeing your favorite author's autograph in skinny, skipping pen is such a disappointment.  Keep markers in your totebag and be ready for those completely inappropriate fangirl moments.

3.  BYOB. This might not make me popular with the hotel staff, but if you are driving rather than flying in you can bring in your own alcohol, and save your money.  Those cash bar tabs add up pretty fast. Bringing in your own can allow a little extra cash for books.  BUT don't skip out on the bar totally!  A lot of shenanigans go down where the alcohol flows.  Make sure you don't miss out.

4.  Keep a small clutch or wristlet in your totebag.  This should have a bit of cash, your room key, and any necessities like medicine, glasses, or breathmints.  When you are ready to head for an official party, this makes it easy to drop your larger bag off at the room and hurry to the next event.

5.  Be ready to wait in line.  RT is a HUGE con. And it actually sold out this year.  Get in line for the big parties early, or make sure one of your group camps out to save you chairs.  The big parties have big swag, and you want to get to a table close to the action.

6. Be ready to throw that carefully planned agenda out the window.  Because if the author you go fangirl crazy for offers to take you to lunch, or if the publisher of your dreams wants to chat, GO WITH THEM! All the panels are wonderful, but the connections you make will be where you make the most impact.

Look for me at RT.  I will be one of the authors with a silk flower on her badge.  I can't wait to chat with all of you.

Roxy