A lot of would-be authors, and even some published authors, mistakenly believe that writing a story is muse-driven.  They cannot write unless the muse is upon them, pouring forth with their creativity, and shutting out the world for a time, almost as if they’ve received a vision from On High like a prophet of God.

While we would all love to write in such a way, there are times when you stare at the flashing cursor on the blank screen for hours.  There are times when you literally write a line or two and sit there to think about what to do next.  There are times when you actually avoid your project because you just don’t know where to go or what comes next.

But what a lot of authors don’t realize is that writing is a j-o-b.  If you want to  make any money at this gig, you’ve got to EARN your income.  You can’t wait for the miraculous muse to sprinkle her manna from heaven.  Sometimes, you’ve just got to sit down and make yourself write!

Write…what?

ANYTHING!

For me, to break through my writer’s block, I need to loosen my fingers along with my imagination.  The way I do this is to decide whose point of view the new scene is in and jump in.  Begin with their thoughts of what happened the chapter before.  Move the plot forward with some internal conflict.  Get into their head.  Once I do that, I find that the floodgates open and I can write again.

But sitting down and just doing it takes discipline.  I avoided my current project for a few days because of this problem of not knowing where to go next.  The main plot of the book was finished, I only have some wrap up to do.  But it’s the end of the book that can sometimes lull for an author.  Either they love the book too much to let it end, or the excitement of the plot is over and tying things together with a pretty bow can be a chore.

Today, I decided to just sit down and write.  See where it took me.  What transpired was, perhaps, the most tender and pivotal love scene in the book.  They’d already *said* their I love yous earlier on, however, what I wrote was a scene where they “showed” their love for each other in soft caresses and sweet sighs, with no words to speak of.

I challenged myself to make it different, as after you’ve written X amount of books, you begin to have a pattern to your writing style.  I didn’t want it to be a throw-away love scene that you could cut and paste into any of my other books.  And what it became was probably my favorite scene from the book.

You never know where “just sit down and write” will take you.  But everyone on the planet has only 24 hours a day.  Some of us struggle to find the time to write, while others have loads of time on their hands.  But one thing’s for sure.  The successful authors are the ones who just sat down and wrote, regardless if the TV was on, regardless if the kids were playing, regardless if the DH is home.  True, we all have responsibilities to take care of, but when those are all said and done, anything less than just sitting down and writing is an excuse NOT to write.

Nine times out of ten, we’ll NEVER get that coveted time alone, that quiet time, where we can pour forth our muse.

And let’s face it — even if you DO get that quiet time…how many of you are playing online rather than writing?  **raises hand**  Oh, I’m guilty of that, believe me.

But there comes a point in every writer’s life where they have to suck it up and just DO IT!  Perhaps, like me, you’ll find yourself writing the most inspiring scene of your book. 

~~Becka

DH and I were a little “late” doing our Christmas cards this year.  We usually like to get them out by the 15th of December, but this year we were lazy/busy and didn’t get them done in our usual timely manner.  But, since we know friends and family love to have pictures of the kids at least once a year, we knew we had to do them.

My hubby has a nice camera, so we got everything ready and took photos of the kids.  After he put them on an SD card for me, I was on my way to get them processed for our Christmas cards.

I had some grocery shopping to do, as well as some Christmas shopping, and I had to get the photos printed.  This past summer, Walmart just opened a Super Walmart in my neck of the woods.  I love Walmart, and since I could do all three of my errands in one place, I decided to do a one-stop-shop and go to my local Wally’s.

One hour photo was great.  I chose what I wanted and selected my prints.  Did my shopping, got my pictures after an hour and was on my way.  I should have looked at the photos before I left the store.  When I got home, the group shot had the kids’ foreheads chopped.  ACK!!  Are you kidding me?  The pics were perfectly cropped on the SD card, why were they weird in the prints?!

SIGH

This means I have to go back out to Walmart.  And it’s not that close, it’s about 5 miles away.  Okay, well, DH has a prescription to fill and I did want to get some Christmas gifts for the kids while they’re hanging out with Daddy.  So, later that evening, I go back out to Wally’s to get these other errands done — and to have them fix my prints.

Bad idea.  BAAAAD idea.  See, I probably would have gone to Target or Costco to get it done (they’re both closer) BUT, I spent too much $$ on these prints AND I couldn’t find the damn receipt.  *sob*

So I get there, and the lady informs me she can do it in a few minutes.  But while she puts my bad prints aside, someone comes up to the counter with a request to pick up a package at the site-to-store counter, which just so happens to be — wait for it — the one hour photo counter!  Ding ding ding!

So the ONE lady working the one hour photo goes in the back to look for this person’s package.  She’s gone for a good five minutes.  While we’re both waiting, a line begins to form.  The lady comes back, and begins helping all these people in line, who all just happen to be — wait for it — site-to-store customers!  What does that mean?  It means they order something online, and they pick it up at the store.

Apparently, site-to-store trumps reprinting my bitchy prints, because this lady keeps helping everyone in line, supposedly waiting for a break in the insanity.  But none comes.  Person after person is lining up for pick ups at site-to-store, and she disappears time and again for more packages, all the while saying, “I’ll get to you in a moment” or “I’m so sorry, I’ll be right with you.”

LIES, ALL LIES!

After about a 1/2 hour of waiting, I finally just say, I’m going to come back.  She looks relieved, still having a long-ass line to take care of for site-to-store.  I’m rather pissy, because customer service lady told me it would only be maybe 5 minutes to reprint my photos.  So I leave, do my other shopping, and return, only to have the lady tell me she couldn’t print the photos without chopping off the foreheads and she’d have to have her manager do it.  When does the manager come in?

The next day.

I take a deep breath, surpress my inner bitch (because I haven’t eaten yet, and anyone who knows me knows I will bite your head off and chew on your neck if you look at me cross-eyed when I have an empty stomach), and agree to the terms.  ONLY because I have to come back to Walmart the *next* day to pick up another prescription (they didn’t have it in stock) and to return a book I’d bought there previously.  And also because I understood the lady behind the counter wasn’t the brightest light on the tree.

“We’ll call you,” she said.  Lies.  All lies.

So the next day, I decide to call first, and of course, the photos desk doesn’t answer their phone.  I noticed this when the lady had been helping site-to-store the previous evening.  She ignored it.

I’m going in!

I get there, and of course, the prints haven’t yet been reprinted (it’s about 19 hours later, mind), BUT, the manager is IN.  Yay!  She informs me she can include the foreheads, but she’ll have to crop their chests.  UHM…no one effing cares about their chests — DO IT ALREADY!!!

And omg, more site-to-store people.  GO THE EFF AWAY!!!

Boss lady says, “This’ll take 5 minutes, just wait, we’ll be done in a flash.”

Lies.  All lies.

So I’m waiting.  The boss is looking for packages, it seems she’s training a newbie OR this person is a few weeks in, because they had a somewhat deer-in-headlights look about her.  After 10 minutes, boss says, “Sorry, we’ll get to you in a minute”.  After another 15 minutes, she explains, “I’m so sorry, but we had a huge greeting card order to print before I printed yours, and I didn’t know until it came through.”

WHAT?!  So tell me to go shop or something, don’t tell me to stand there and wait because it’ll be “5 minutes”.  But now that I’ve already waited this long, the greeting card order is now finished.  And the boss decides that’s a good time to… leave.  I don’t know where she went, but she left, she might have gone on break, decided to do something else, I don’t know.  But she left my reprints in the hands of deer-in-headlights lady.

I wait another 20 minutes.  And by now I’m right pissed.  With nothing else to do, I take one of their “suggestion box” slips and proceed to write a rant — front and back of the slip — of my saga.  I slammed Walmart for the bad prints for one, for making me wait for two, for lumping site-to-store with one hour photo for three, and telling them I will NEVER order prints from them again OR do the site-to-store option, because I also witnessed THOSE people waiting for 1/2 hour 45 minutes for someone to find their packages in the back.  I told them BOO, VERY BOO, Walmart!!  I even left my phone number.

I will LOVE to talk to someone if they call me.  I doubt they will.

I understand it’s Christmas.  I understand lines will happen.  But my GAWD, Wally, the Customer Service ladies were doing NOTHING at their counter, make THEM do the effing site-to-store!!!  Why does it have to be one hour photo that gets the shaft?!  And if the photo reprints were as easy as chopping a sliver of their chests to get their entire heads, then why didn’t the first lady know how to do that?!

It was an epic FAIL all the way around.  If I were a bitchier lady, I would have been vocal, I would have been ranting — in store — I would have demanded my money back, even though I didn’t have a receipt.  But I’m very non-confrontational, and I do understand when things get busy and hectic.

But I what I expect is some modicum of decorum from ANYONE involved in this debacle to tell me to go shopping — this will take awhile.  Don’t tell me it will be “5 minutes” and then leave for your g’damn lunch break.  Don’t tell me you have everything under control and then proceed to IGNORE me in favor of site-to-store.

Moral of this story folks, because I gotta share this with you so you aren’t stuck in the same FUBARED SNAFU — NEVER get your pictures printed at Walmart, and NEVER do site-to-store.  I told you, Walmart, never again would I utilize you for these two services.  And now, I’ve educated my readers.  Hope you’re pleased with yourself.

~~Becka, who is NOW releasing her inner bitch

Good bad news?  What is that?!  Well, the short version: Doc didn’t find anything wrong.  Good news because nothing is wrong — bad news because nothing is wrong.  There is nothing further my doctor can do for me.

He suggested I go see a rheumatologist.  In his experience, patients who present with “phantom” pain are often diagnosed a year or two down the road with a condition that gives hindsight to the pain, such as rheumatoid arthritis.  Even though the bone scan showed no inflammation (I don’t understand how that’s possible), it is still in my best interest to get checked out.  There is no cure for RA, however, early treatment can work wonders, apparently.

The doc did give me a blood test back in May that came up negative for RA, however, he mentioned it’s not as detailed as a blood test a rheumatologist would give me.  And since my mother has it, there is a chance I could get it too.

I just think it’s so odd that nothing showed up.  A bone scan can see inflammation, hairline fractures, ligament tears, infections…  There was nothing.  It looked exactly the same as my “healthy” side.  Couple that with my doctor mentioning the cortisone shot I had didn’t do anything for me, he just has no idea what’s wrong with me.

I’d thought maybe my doc had missed something on the MRI, but you’d think whatever they missed would have shown on the bone scan.  I just don’t understand it.  I do have other aches and pains in many of my other joints.  My ankles and knees are stiff a lot.  My shoulders ache sometimes.  But I’m overweight.  I don’t have the best diet.  I do chores throughout the day.  I have five kids.  A normal person is bound to have aches and pains, right?

Maybe this is a good thing.  Maybe this is all a symptom of something that has nothing to do with my TFCC.  But if the rheumatologist can’t find RA, I’m back to square one.   I suppose I could get a second opinion since all the various tests have been done, just to have another set of eyes on my films.  I don’t know.  I kind of feel defeated.  I feel like the RA thing is a red herring.  But I’ll do it, just to be able to say, “I did that, it’s not that.”

When/if that point comes, will I just have to live with this?  That…kinda sucks. 

~~Becka

Finally got my bone scan scheduled at the hospital — after my doctor’s office called me to tell me my insurance told them that a bone scan doesn’t need an approval.  I could have scheduled it last week!  ARGH!!

It’s scheduled for Wednesday, November 17th.  They’re doing a bilateral upper extremities scan, meaning, they inject both of my wrists to compare and contrast my healthy wrist to my not-so-healthy wrist.  They inject me with the radioactive goo at 9am, and I go back in to get scanned at 1:30pm, to give the radioactive goo time to be absorbed into my bones.

A bone scan was explained to me like the opposite of an x-ray.  Where an x-ray shoots radiation into you, a bone scan reads the radiation coming off of you.  It’s a nuclear test.

I gotta say, that’s kind of scary…    Not that I’m going to be blowing any light bulbs or growing a third eye, but I wonder what a Geiger Counter would do while I’m shot up with that stuff?  It’s supposed to leave your system within 24 hours.  Anyway, my doc said he’ll personally call me right away to discuss the results.  I’m hoping I can see my own scans before I leave the hospital.  I mean, are bone scans as fricken’ secretive as MRI’s?  Dang, trying to see MY OWN MRI was like I’d asked to hold audience with President Obama.

They showed it to me, but it was under duress, and I never saw it again, after that brief 20 seconds of the radiologist scrolling through pics I couldn’t discern.  I mean, I get it, the radiologist cannot discuss findings with me right after the pictures come out.  But I just want to see the darn things.  Why can’t I examine them?  I’m curious.  I’ve never seen an MRI film before.  So what’s with the dang secrecy?  I can see my x-rays right away.  Heck, I even saw my father’s CT scan after his stroke — his doc wasn’t douchy and let my sister and I see it.

So WHAT’s with the MRI??  Is it some secret technology they don’t want to fall into the hands of Zee Germans?  SRSLY, radiologists, can anyone explain that to me?!?!  LOL

~~Becka

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, folks, but ever since my birthday, I’ve had an obsession with nail polish.  I got a couple of gift certificates to Amazon, and I thought I would use them to buy some eBooks.  And I did.  But the rest of the cards were used to buy nail polish.

I love painting my toenails.  I can’t stand my naked toes, but I usually hate painting them because it’s such a chore, and I hate going to the salon because it’s money I could spend elsewhere.  I do get mani’s and pedi’s every now and again, but most of the time, I don’t like the colors they have on the wall.

And I don’t paint my fingernails because I work so much with my hands typing and doing housework that they chip all the time, usually within 24 hours of painting them, and let’s not even TALK about drying time.  Color on my toes would stay on until the cows came home, but keeping paint on my nails? Fuggettaboudit!

Well, that’s all changed.  I’ve found that the nicer a nail polish is, the longer it will stay on your nails.  And yes, by “nicer”, I mean more expensive than the cheap $1 – $2 polishes we’re wooed into buying.  And a lot of the time, if you have a great topcoat, your manicure will stay on longer as well.

I haven’t been in the “polish” business long, I’ve always had about 7 colors I really liked.  A few glitters, a nice lavender, a black, and a couple of pinks.  Maybe a red.  Now, I have over 30.  It’s boomed in under a MONTH.  Already, I have favorite nail polish lines.  I LOVE Orly and O.P.I.  They go on my nail and they STAY on my nail without chipping.  I currently have Orly’s Fantasea on my fingers for the past 48 hours.  No chipping.  I have Orly’s Flagstone Rush on my toes.  It’s gorgeous!

Recently, I bought almost all of the creme polishes in OPI’s Burlesque line.  There is a glitter from that line I still want to get.  Here are a nail polish reviewer’s swatches on this line:

http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2010/10/opi-burlesque-collection-holiday-2010-swatches-review-comparisons.html

I also just bought China Glaze’s Halloween collection called “Awakenings”:

http://beautopia.onsugar.com/China-Glaze-Awakening-Collection-Halloween-2010-10702555

I’ve also bought Space Cadet from Orly’s Cosmic FX line:

http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2010/08/orly-cosmic-fx-fall-2010-collection-swatches-review.html

I’m also getting Galaxy Girl and Out of This World. 

I keep telling myself I only have ten fingers and ten toes.  When am I going to wear all of this polish?  Then again, I don’t wear make-up unless it’s a special occasion, so nail polish makes me feel pretty.    Besides, I just ordered Orly’s Sec N’Dry top coat and I have my hair dryer at the ready to make drying a … forgive me … BREEZE! 

I need to get off of these nail polish review sites.  Now, I want OPI’s Extra-Va-Vaganza and Orly’s Rage.  And does SOMEBODY have a MAC Bad Fairy that doesn’t cost $30?!?

GACK!  SOMEBODY STOP ME!  lol

~~Becka

Where?  Back to Yahoo!

If you’d like to come yak with me and my readers, please come and join me in the new and improved The Magic of Romance Yahoo Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themagicofromance

Google’s deleting their files and pages section, as well as their custom welcome messages, essentially trimming their groups to nothing more than a mailing list.  Since I want more customization, a move back to Yahoo was the right thing to do.  Now, we can post in the files section, have photo albums, hold polls, and mark appearances on our calendar – with reminder emails to the whole group! 

Come and play with me, my readers, and my fellow author friends on my new shiny author loop!

~~Becka

Okay, okay, dramatic, I know, but hear me out.

I’ve been saturated in the eBook world for years now, long before the Kindle was even a glimmer in Amazon’s eye.  As an author, I firmly believe one must continue reading, not only to study how other authors tell their stories, but to refuel one’s own worn-out muse.  Nothing helps me get back into my writing like reading a good book.

Recently, I picked up a book I hadn’t planned on buying, but it’s by one of my favorite authors, so I was excited to read it.  The prose – fantastic.  The plot – well researched and well executed.  The tension between the hero and heroine – top notch.  But the sex scenes?  Left much to be desired.

In fact, there was only one full love scene, the other two, maybe three, were glossed over and implied.  I can’t even remember if it was two or three.  I think it was three, because the third one was a memory, the “they had reached for each other again in the middle of the night” kind of memory, but no details.  The reason why this disappointed me so much was because the kissing scenes were so hot.

The love scene itself had telling, not showing sentences.  I can understand the author’s idea of making it vague so the reader can fill in the blanks.  But you see, since I’ve been wallowing in the detailed descriptions of the eBook world, I’ve found that despite that the book was solid in it’s own right, I couldn’t bring myself to like it as much as I wanted to.  To give you an example, the author made mention of something like “they spoke whispered promises, only meant for each other…”

….?

Am I the only reader out there who wants to KNOW what those whispered promises are?  In my mind, I feel like I got cheated out of a key moment in these people’s lives.  I wanted to go through their love scenes with them.  Not because I’m a voyeur…but because I firmly believe love scenes show the reader the closest intimate connection two people can have.  And since these two characters were suffering in their own right, I wanted to go with them when they found each other.  It didn’t seem *enough* to me to be told that “he explored her body and she explored his” I wanted to read it.

This is why I believe I’ve been ruined by eBooks.  Not every eBook under the sun is erotic.  Not every eBook under the sun is overly descriptive with sex.  But…I have noticed a trend.  EBooks have more love scenes.  Unless you write for a hotter NY house, I’ve noticed there’s a trend with love scenes from the Big Boys and Girls.  One scene fully fleshed out (if you can call it that) and maybe one or two more, but implied scenes.  EBooks, however, don’t follow this formula.  Even in a non-erotic eBook, you have two or three *fleshed out* love scenes.

But heck, eBooks have never followed a formula, perhaps that is why they have gotten so very popular these days.

I don’t believe adding more love scenes is superfluous.  Not if they drive the plot, especially if the hero and heroine are reunited after a particularly harrowing and scary/stressful/emotional plot point.  I want to read how they come back together.  I don’t read the sex scenes to be titillated.  I read them for the emotional connection.  When two people make love, it is the most intensely emotional and personal thing they can share.  And when that intense emotion and connection is glossed over, the book falls flat to me.

Thinking on the books that I have written, I think they’d feel gutted if I’d glossed over my love scenes.  There are some great moments of connection there.  When Mac and Robyn finally come together after intense anticipation…  When Talon and Alison’s relationship changes from friends to lovers…  When Tariq establishes his dominance over Sabine in a most powerful way…

Is that because I use my own love scenes to drive my plots rather than the love scene being a perk of the book?  Perhaps.  But as a fellow author, I must say I did feel cheated, and I believe it to be because I’ve been ruined by eBooks.

But in a VERY good way.

~~Becka

After a long and harrowing adventure a year in the making, THE FALL OF JERICHO has finally found a home.  I am delighted to announce this book has been bought by Cobblestone Press!

I wrote this story originally for the Harlequin Historicals Undone line, and after six LONG months, they R’d it.  Then, Carina and Samhain R’d it too.  :’(  Hmm.  It’s really not a horrible book, I promise you!  I was told a six month wait time is a long time for HQ Undone to get back to you so I was on pins and needles.  But with their rejection, they sent me a nice letter of plot points that didn’t work for them, another “rarity” supposedly with these short stories.

So close and yet so far!  **sobs into beer**

But being the intrepid eBook author I am, I spiced it up some and handed it to Cobblestone with shaking hands.  It had been R’d three times.  Gack, by the fourth time, you’re ready to throw it in the trash and start over, you know?  Thoughts of “Hmm… Maybe I should offer this as a free read since no one wants to publish this dreck?”

BUT, there wasn’t a fourth rejection.  Cobblestone really enjoyed the story, and I must say, I’m very happy/joyous/relieved they did.  Why?  Well, I finished JERICHO in June of ’09.  Here it is, one year later, and the ink isn’t even dry on my contract.  I suppose I’m spoiled by the fast pace of ePublishing, as one year to get a contract is quite the long haul for us eAuthors.  But I’m also relieved because this story proves that A.) not every house will love every story  B.) Even if you’ve been around the block, you’re never guaranteed a sale and C.) THE FALL OF JERICHO isn’t dreck!  YAY!

So to that end, I will leave you all with my blurb.  I’m hoping to see this story published in the coming months.

Author hopefuls, may this be a lesson to you.  Never give up, never surrender!  Your Plan D might just be the ticket. 

~*~*~

The walls around his heart come crashing down…

Mercy Ainsworth never stopped loving Jericho James after he’d left town. She’d once pledged her virtue to him after a stolen kiss. Now that he’s returned, one look is all it takes to convince her he’s still the reason the sun rises and sets.

After the death of his sister, Jericho became a hardened bounty hunter. When he travels back home, danger follows him, and the girl he once loved is now a woman who desperately needs his help.

Sparks fly as old embers are fanned into roaring flames, but will love alone keep Jericho by Mercy’s side?

~*~*~

Yup, another Western.  Expect anything less??  \:D/

~~Becka

I just want to say for the record, that the movie (and the game) Prince of Persia did nothing to inspire me to write my books about hot princes and shifting sands in the scorching desert.  Since the movie is releasing this Friday, May 28th, I wanted to make that clear, should a new batch of hot desert princes make their way into romance novels due to this flick.

I need to sell the Desert Princes of Jikkar!  I want to be a pioneer, not seem like I’m just hopping on the bandwagon! 

However, I also feel the need to post the following pic.

Now, I must say, that IS inspiring.  Jake Gyllenhaal is quite the be-muscled hottie.

>>stares<<

>>drools<<

Heh, for obvious reasons, I want to see this movie!  But let it be known I’ve had this desert idea rattling around in my head for a few years, so I’m not copying anything…at least…not consciously.    And hey, who knows, perhaps hype for this movie will make my books look that much more attractive to the average romance reader.

Let’s hope Prince of Persia does WELL.  Woohoo!

~~Becka

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been disillusioned and disappointed, disheartened and dissatisfied with myself, my writing, and my wrist.  I’ve certainly been depressed over the health of my wrist, even though I try not to let it show too much.  What does this mean for my future books?  Can I write like I used to with marathon sessions?  Or should I be satisfied with a few short bursts?  Writing is writing, after all, no matter how much you do, right?

Aside from that, it’s never easy getting a rejection.  You’re constantly plagued by “What do they have that I don’t have?”  Especially when you believe you’re good enough.  Okay, perhaps it was that story.  I can see that.  Not every plot will work for every publisher.  But when book after book gets rejected time and again, at different agents/publishers, it wears at the ol’ ego until you wonder, “Am I really as good as I think I am?”

Now, this is not to say I’m whining.  My wrist fiasco has put me in a pensive mood and forced me to think about things that are no longer important to me, things that I’ve been reaching for, like some golden carrot dangling in front of my nose.  And these things are as follows:

A.) I am an author. The fact that I am an eBook author merely means I’ve got a head-start on a new age of cutting-edge digital media. Therefore, I no longer need to seek validation by being published at a New York publisher.

B.) I am ePublished. Therefore, I will embrace my eBooks and no longer seek validation by having/needing my book(s) in print.

C.) I am multi-published.  I’m not a newbie.  My books are on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, & Powell’s online, to name a few.  So whenever I’m feeling down in the dumps about my rejections, I will no longer need to seek validation by automatically selling my manuscripts to the first publisher I submit them to.

It’s hard, because for me, it’s a perspective thing, right?  The digital age is moving so fast, it’s hard for us authors to wrap our heads around it.  Just five years ago, you almost couldn’t pay people to read eBooks, and now, it seems like everyone’s got an eReading device.  We eAuthors must evolve as fast as the market, and realize it’s okay to be an eBook author.  It’s okay to never have your book in print.  It’s a reimagining of your age-old dream, not giving up on it all together.

And I think that’s what I’m coming to grips with, the disconnect between being a Best-Selling Author On the Bookstore Shelves and being a best-selling author on the virtual shelves.  Sure, the pay is not as wonderful, and the recognition isn’t as great, but the work is the same.  The writing, the editing, the promotion.

But I’ve come to realize that over the years, I’ve grown to love my close-knit online community.  I love my fans, my fellow authors, and my publishing houses.  I love doing everything on the computer without having to print out bulky manuscripts.  I love how fast-paced the eBook world is, from submission to contract to editing to publication.  I love writing books that aren’t your norm, books that definitely don’t have a home in more traditional circles.  And I love reading these books as well.  Romances about a raven-shifter in Regency England.  Romances about time-traveling Egyptian Pharoahs searching for their lost love’s reincarnation.  Romances involving dragons, Irish werewolves, aliens, a gay twist on a beloved theme, menages, angels, demons….   Shall I go on?

Or shall I say: WE’VE GOT IT GOIN’ ON!

I am proud to be an eBook author.  I am excited that no matter what weird plot might pop into my head, I will still get a contract offer.  I’m overjoyed my books reach as many people as they do, that the story I thought of as a thirteen year old girl has now made it’s rounds.

I will never regret the path I chose to fulfill my dreams.  Every single goal I had as a kid has come true, and then some.  I am truly blessed to be where I am, and anything less than gratitude and gratefulness is unacceptable.

I am damn proud to be an eBook author.  I am in Good Company!  Our books have flavor, punch, pizzazz, passion, and a certain unpredicable-ness.  The sky’s the limit, really, to write we want to write.  And hallelujah, I say!

I wouldn’t want it ANY other way.  So THERE, “validation,” get thee behind me.  I done kicked you in the JUNK!

~~Becka