Silk & Shadows

Currently working on: Expanding a story
Mood: Widening

Last weekend, I went to the Oregon Coast with some writer friends for a beach retreat. (I accidentally typed “treat” and it WAS a treat.) Writing retreats are enormous fun, of course, but I also want the time to be productive. So here are some of my suggestions for a productive writing retreat:

Go to the beach at a yucky time of year.

At the Oregon Coast, you can be guaranteed gusting rain November through July (and prohibitive prices August through September). So usually the horizontal “moisturizing and exfoliating” is enough to keep us inside at our computers.

Here’s a picture of me, measuring how many words I have yet to add. See, this is why you go to the beach in bad weather. Sunshine DEMANDS a walk on the beach.

Bring the right friends.

It’s best to surround yourself with writers who share similar productivity goals. Friends who constantly tempt you to walk on the beach as the sun sets are counterproductive.

Sadly, it turns out I am that friend. So don’t bring me. Except you have to bring me because I always bring the mint brownies.

Find an inspiring spot.

Not only is the right physical spot important — like this lovely little beach house surrounded by chirping frogs — but the right spot in your mindset and your work in progress.

I try to prepare for a writing retreat by making sure I have the right sort of project and that I clear my “real life” of distractions that might creep into the weekend. Actually, this last weekend, I did a bad job of choosing the project. I’m working on revising, and I found that I did not do as well as when I bring a hot draft to a retreat. I’ll know that for next time.

Never mind the inspiration, just focus!

Part of my problem with choosing a revision project instead of a hot draft, is that when I’m revising, I tend to stare off into space while I think. When I’m at home, in my little office, there’s not much to look at and I quickly go back to work. But at the beach… I just stared at the waves for hours! I needed to bring my focus closer.

A good writing retreat has a clear focus, whether it’s writing, brainstorming or just refilling the well. Be sure you know what purpose your retreat will serve.

Track progress on the retreat days.

Like tracking the sun across the sky… It’s easier for me to stay accountable if I track my progress in three chunks during a retreat day: morning session, afternoon session, evening session. If I only review my progress once at the end of the day, I might find I didn’t do enough, but now it’s too late. If I track in chunks, then a slacker morning session (sun on the beach!) can be rectified in the afternoon, or a slow afternoon (afternoon nap on the sunny beach!) can be made up in the evening (no sun).

Indulge.

As much as I want a writing retreat to be productive, well, it is a retreat. I try to capture some of that glory — and some of that sun — and take it back with me to rainy Portland.

Do you have a favorite getaway that never fails to rejuvenate you? Do you bring back souvenirs? I love to find good rocks.

Currently working on: Unpacking
Mood: Sandy

My parents were in town this weekend and the weather was that gorgeous secret of the Pacific Northwest: the sunny week in October. See, right before the rains close in, nature gives us one more week of glorious blue skies and balmy temps. A cruel taunt? A promise? Whichever.

So we headed up to the Olympic Peninsula for a bit of walking, then back down Hwy 101 to the Oregon Coast.

While we walked, I thought about the new story I’m working on, and it seems to me, that our hiking and my story have a lot in common.

1. The stuff

When I start a new idea, I am excited and overwhelmed by all the stuff I might stuff in the story. Secondary love triangle! BB guns! String theory!

Much like my car has five doors for stuffing, I figure my story has many, many openings to be filled. But as you can see, Monster Girl is concerned about where she will fit. So it goes with my story; I have to ask myself — fun though it might be — whether I really need a talking, one-armed octopus.

2. First steps

I love the beginnings of hikes and the beginning chapters of a story. Both are so filled with promise. I feel strong and confident, with plenty of chocolate in my backpack.

The way ahead doesn’t necessarily look easy. There are barriers to be surmounted, but the adventure calls.

3. Lost

This part is less fun, but it seems to be true of hikes and stories, at least for me. Okay, I’m not EXACTLY lost, but there comes the moment where I definitely want to sit down, where the way seems a little more hazy and bleak than just a few steps or chapters ago.

This is where hikers and writers are made, I think. To quit? To continue? Walking out into the waves isn’t really an option (not on a Pacific Northwest beach, at least, not without a dry suit!) but I could parallel the shore on a new path.

Or build a boat of driftwood and dreams.

4. The view

I must continue — somehow — because I know — somewhere — I will come to the point where I can SEE the point. THIS is why I am here.

5. Panting fun

I’ve said before, I love love love The End. Whether writing or hiking, coming to the end (in mostly one piece with relatively few debilitating blisters) is a great feeling of satisfaction. But the satisfaction does seem relative to the exertion. Some of our best hikes (and by best, I mean make the best stories, of course) have been the worst technical hikes. Too long, too wet, too ridiculous, waaaay too much panting. But in The End, totally worth the reliving.

Especially if there’s a little chocolate left.

Do you find a certain pleasure in some kinds of hard work? Got any favorite hikes I should try someday?

What I Did On My Summer Vacation
By Jessa Slade

My summer started with a family road trip to bury my grandfather with full military honors at Arlington Cemetery. He has a lovely spot next to an apple tree with a peek-a-boo view of the Washington Monument.

Although the reason for our gathering was somber, we had a wonderful reunion with the whole clan where we spent several days at a cottage on a back channel of Chesapeake Bay, harassing the blue crabs and eating Maryland Madness ice cream (lemon ice cream with raspberry swirl, chocolate chips and white chocolate; yes, sounds like madness, but tastes like summer).

Speaking of tastes of summer, I returned home to the first cucumbers of the season. Being a lazy homemaker, I invented this great pickle recipe:

• Take 1 cucumber.
• Slice it thin.
• Put it in an empty jar of store-bought pickle juice.
• Let sit for three days.
• Eat.

This only works two or three times before you leach all the flavor from the pickle juice. As lazy recipes go, I think I’ve hit a new personal low.

The pickle juice had only just gone bland when I departed for two reader conventions: RomCon in Denver was a laff riot with events like Build-A-Hero (pictured below, where I contributed the rippling abs, thankyewthankyewverymuch) and Authors After Dark in Philadelphia.

AAD, which is geared specifically for paranormal readers, is in NEW ORLEANS next year! On Bourbon Street! A seven minute walk from Cafe Du Monde beignets! You’re coming too, right?

Scarcely had I returned home (again) when I left (again) on a long weekend writing retreat up in Washington state.

To prove I was working reeeelly hard (shuh, right):

And now I am back at my computer (again) ready to work hard (really, this time). As a welcome home present — to you! – we’re giving away some book treasures from my travels and from some of my favorite book friends.

At the end of the week, Random.org will choose a winner from our newsletter subscribers. If you are already subscribed, just say hey. If you aren’t signed up yet, you can do that from the upper left corner, right up there, see it? One winner will get a party pack of Laurie London, Erin Kellison and Elisabeth Naughton. And I bet I can find some goodies for two more winners too, so go sign up.

We’re glad to be back! How about you? Eager for the change of seasons, or are you clinging to summer with both hands and all ten summer-pedicured toes?

Currently working on: A new world
Mood: Adventurous

So I’ve been writing hard for awhile. This is not noteworthy, really, since writing is what writers do. But because I’ve been writing hard, I’ve let a few other chores slip.

This is one of three dust-apatosauruses I found under the bed. I’m not proud of my lax housekeeping skills (actually, I am, kind of; you think just ANYbody can manage a herd of dust-apatosauruses?) which is why I finally dragged out the vacuum cleaner (pictured here for scale) to tame the beasts.

[Editor's note: No dust-apatosauruses were injured in the cleaning of this house. All dust-wildlife was released into the wild.]

Is it just my imagination — which I admit runs rampant on occasion — or does it seem to you that we’re all busier than ever? My brain is constantly humming with to-do’s and deadlines and wish-lists.

Really, the bees in my poppies got nothing on the buzz in my head.

Which is why Silk & Shadows is taking a summer vacation. We’ll be back the first week of September, fresh and spunky, maybe with new notebooks and first-day-of-school shoes.

In the meantime, we will be frolicking in the misty fields like Nils Blommer’s Meadow Elves:

Nah, actually, we’ll all probably be writing like fiends. Because that’s what writers do.

See you in the fall!

Currently working on: Missing all my friends in New York
Mood: Wistful

As you read this, about 2,000 romance writers are converging on New York City for the annual Romance Writers of America conference. Con attendees will take workshop, “network” at the bar, giggle too much, and get blisters in the miles of hotel corridors.

In the weeks leading up to a major conference, the blogging world, Facebook and Twitter are full of advice for newbies old war horses trying to be more efficient with their conference time and money. The advice runs the gamut from the eminently practical (“stay hydrated” and “bring a sweater; some rooms are cold!”) to the sublime (“RWA is not a popularity conference. Which makes it easier to win”) to the ridiculous (“Remember, editors and agents are human too”; no they aren’t, if they hold the life of your work in their hands, that makes them demi-gods at least).

But I haven’t seen as much on post-conference advice. To rectify that…

1. Don’t lose momentum.
Conferences are exhausting. With the prep time before you leave, the travel stress, and the forced extroversion (not to mention the laundry and dirty dishes that mysteriously piled up at home while you were gone) it’s easy to come back from conference utterly drained. Take some time to recover, but don’t let it derail you for more days than the conference itself, which can easily happen.

2. SUBMIT your requested work.
The anecdotal number varies, but editors and agents all say that they get surprisingly few of the manuscripts they request at conferences. Don’t be that writer. Or if you want to be that writer, don’t take away the ed/ag appointment from a writer who WILL follow up.  After conferences, there’s always a flurry of emails on writing loops asking “How long do I have to send in my story? Cuz, uh, actually, it’s not done. Really, it’s not even started.”

My answer (and not everyone agrees) is: Send it fast. It has to be good too. Not fast OR good; fast AND good. An editor or agent isn’t going to ding you on points if you take too long, but if she asked for it, it’s because she thinks she has a place for it.* Later, that maybe not be the case.

* Or because she’s just being nice. Which is a waste of everyone’s time. But don’t waste more time by NOT sending your work.

3. Do something with those business cards you collected.
If you followed the pre-conference advice and networked like crazy, you probably have lots of cards. Hopefully you followed good pre-con advice and jotted down a note on the card to remind you who this person was. Now to figure out what use you can make of those cards. Rather than keep scraps of paper around, you can data enter names, email addresses and the identifying feature you noted earlier into a word doc or spreadsheet for later retrieval. Send a quick email to people you want to remember so you have their addresses handy in your contact system.

4. Distribute all that swag.
You probably came home with more bookmarks, pens and plastic whatnots than you thought possible.  Contact your local romance book club or indie bookstore to see if they’d like to paw through it for the vicarious thrill. Your local RWA chapter might be interested in deconstructing the swag to see what marketing efforts seemed effective.

5. Put your favorite workshop advice to use.
Handouts and jotted notes seem to accrue more easily than mastery.  Actually TRY some of the craft, business or inspiration ideas that you learned. Also, share them with writing friends to reinforce them in your own mind. Keep a folder of only the very best (for you) of what you learned. That’s a great folder to take with you to writing retreats when you need a boost of remembered excitement.

6. Stay hydrated.
Hey, can’t hurt.

What’s your best post-conference advice? Anybody going anywhere else fun this summer? I’ll be at RomCon in Denver the first weekend of August and Authors After Dark in Philadelphia the second weekend of August. I’ll let you know if I follow my own advice!

Currently working on: Kicking this nasty cold
Mood: Disgustingly congested

XY and I hike and camp in the summer, often through Eastern Oregon and over and down into Idaho and Nevada, so I was saddened to read about a couple lost after traveling in the area. The wife was recovered alive this weekend after seven weeks missing, having survived on creek water and trail mix; the husband tried to walk out for help and has not yet been found. It’s rugged country, much of it still snowbound this time of year.

According to some reports, the couple had been following some scenic route with the help of a GPS when they became trapped in a ravine.

Which made me think about my writing.

I’m a plotter. Evidence at right. I like tools to help me find my way, whether that’s a GPS or a scene-by-scene beat sheet. When the tools are working, everything can be wonderful, each step proceeding accordingly and to plan, miles/pages whirling by under the feet/fingers.

But when it doesn’t work…

Hopefully you packed extra trail mix.

On Saturday, I drove up to the Seattle area for a romance reader event. (By the way, if you live between the Covington WA Library and Portland Oregon and want a signed copy of VOWED IN SHADOWS, check your local Barnes & Noble; I probably signed it.)  For the three-hour interstate drive, I had the following:

• Turkey croissant with cheese
• Apple (with knife; always have a knife)
• His Bakery chocolate chip cookie
• Trader Joe’s chocolate chip cookies (just in case)
• Trader Joe’s gluten-free ginger snaps (for gluten free just in case)
• Gardettos (garlic to keep vampires away)
• Pringles (because vampires aren’t real)
• York peppermint patties (because garlic IS real)
• Dark chocolate M&Ms
• Organic Valley chocolate milk
• Water

XY asked if I was EVER coming back. [Author's note: I don't usually eat this trashy. Special occasion only.] While I didn’t intend to become stranded on the side of the interstate for seven weeks, you just never know. I find the same is true of my writing: I never intend to become stranded after I fill out all my plot sheets, but it’s best to have a contingency plan.

I don’t know how the lost woman survived for seven weeks, not knowing what would happen to her, still not knowing what happened to her husband. Maybe she’ll write a book someday. But here’s a little bit about what I’ve learned when I’m lost in my writing, and not in a good way:

Don’t get more lost.

Lost people do walk in circles. Actual scientific studies found that, devoid of locational cues (i.e. blindfolded), walkers will end up going in circles less than 100 feet in diameter.

When I don’t know where I’m going with my story, my writing can become equally cramped and pointless. It’s better for me to stop, orient to my last known position in the story, and then make a new plan before moving forward.

Send up a flare
Sometimes I get so lost in my own head, I just can’t see a way out. I need help. Call the Coast Guard! And make sure the Navy SEAL is hot! (Aren’t they all?) Also, bring more chocolate.

My writer version of a distress beacon/sat phone is a brainstorming session with other writers. A lot of times, I don’t even need them to answer me, really, I just need to talk through the path and lay it out for my own mind’s eye.

Letting someone else know where you are going to be and when you are expected back is always good advice when headed into wild country. I think the same applies to writing; having someone else know what I’m trying to accomplish — with deadline included — helps keep me on track. And they can come calling for me if I haven’t been heard from for awhile.

Use your skills and your senses
There have been several stories in the past few years about unprepared people following their GPS units into trouble. Usually, the trouble starts with nice spring weather that degenerates back into winter as they blunder higher and farther. Sadly in these stories, it seems even the sight of multiple feet of snow doesn’t alert them to trouble. Having all the right tools can’t always keep you safe. Worse, sometimes the tools — whether is GPSs, seat heaters and cell phones or GMC, turning points and high concept — add a false sense of safety.

For example, I’ve learned to smell the snow of the freeze-out that usually hits me in Chapter 7. Even when I plot, Chapter 7 is when I hit my “I’m bored of this story, I see a shiny new idea over there” wall. The story could end right there if I’m not careful.

The adventure in the wilderness of the story is worth a lot of risks, I think. Not foolish risks, of course. Being prepared only makes sense. There will be plenty of unknowns to keep me busy even if I plot every step.

I feel for that lost couple. You don’t usually hear a lot of follow-up to the stories of the lost. Getting found (or not) often seems to be the end of it. For the writer, who will be going out again and again, I always want to know what could be next.

What happens next? I guess that IS the heart of storytelling.

Have you ever been lost, in real life or story life? What did you do?

Currently working on: Light at the end of Book 4
Mood: Dazzled by oncoming train headlight

I’m late on this week’s post about staying motivated (Thursday instead of Monday isn’t toooo late, is it?) because a half-dozen looming deadlines motivated me to run away for a week of blissfully empty-headed camping in the high desert of Oregon.

I love camping and hiking. The simplicity and clarity of a week outdoors frees my mind. More importantly, there is no wifi cloud over Steens Mountain to distract me from vacationing.

There were, however, plenty of cloud-clouds over Steens Mountain. Notice how those clouds are dripping down the peaks toward my blissfully empty-headed self.

From the time the first drop of rain hit our peacefully sleeping, upturned faces at 10:30 pm on our first night (we normally don’t put up the tent and just toss the sleeping bags out under the stars), we knew this particular camping trip was going to require a little more from us than our usual blithe daisy-sniffing.

No, it was clear we’d have to work a little harder to stay motivated, especially once we encountered the rattlesnake:

And then more rain, then sleet, then hail and then snow:

Under such conditions, it can be hard to stay motivated. In fact, you might just want to curl up into a little ball and wait for the frost to melt:

But if you do that, you never make it out of camp. So, staying motivated — whether during mile 8 of a long hike or in the long haul of a big project (like, oh, say, Book 4…) — seems to me to call for many of the same responses:

1. Bring hot cocoa. Lots of hot cocoa.
Oh come on, you knew I was going to say that first. Little marshmallows are optional, but highly recommended.

2. Rock the proper footwear.
In the case of writing, you need thick socks and maybe slippers.  When desert hiking, solid boots (thick enough to take a rattlesnake strike, for example) are best.  When crossing semi-freezing, hail/sleet/snow-fed streams… Well, sometimes you just have to suck it up and run across in your bare feet and shriek while your nerve endings turn to popsickles. Sometimes good fortune and preparation must be replaced with dumb fortitude:

3. Have a hint of an idea where you are going.
Staying motivated is easier if you kinda know where you are going and how to get there. Having a map, a compass, and an emergency transponder beacon so the Mounties can come rescue your ass can keep your spirits up when the way gets dark.

It’s also good to stop and look up once and awhile. When you’re on the long slog, sometimes you find you’ve been staring down at your mud-covered boots for miles and have no idea where you’ve been or what’s head. Take a break, eat some chocolate (hey, why not?) and look around you.

4. Enjoy the successes.
Eventually the miles and the rains do end, and the sun comes out, and you can see what you’ve been working toward. Revel in it. Cuz you got a long walk back.

5. Dream big.
On our camping trips, we only have a week, so we make every moment count.  Not rain nor rattlesnakes can stop us. (Maybe briefly sidetrack us, but you understand.) Want it — and want it bad — and power your motivation on that desire. Feel it like the warmth of a sleeping bag as the sun goes down. Smell it like sun-heated pine trees. Taste it like hot cocoa with little marshmallows. Only you can walk the miles to where you want to be.

Currently working on: Unpacking from the Romance Writers of America 2010 national conference
Mood: Mouse earred

Last week’s RWA con was — as usual — fun and exhausting, full of shrieking and passion and laying around the Walt Disney Dolphin pool. In short, it would make an excellent reality television show, which just so happens to be this week’s topic.

Due to the crappy reception in the basement where my TV resides, I don’t get to watch many shows. (Plus, there are no Joss Whedon shows to tempt me.) But since I got to meet two of my three fellow S&S bloggers at #rwa10 (following the Twitter hash tag was like experiencing the con through dragonfly eyes — from dozens of different vantage points) I can now imagine the “characters” that would exist in a reality TV show “written” about romance writers at a conference.

The Pretty Girl
The Pretty Girl will be Kim Lenox, who I hardly got to see because she was so popular and dresses nice.

The Smart Girl
The Smart Girl will be played by Sharon Ashwood, who I passed many times in deep conversations that probably involved demons and esoterica.

The Tough Girl
Annette McCleave will be the Tough Girl, because she was the missing quadrant of S&S, and she must have a will of iron to resist the event horizon allure of 2000+ romance writers amassed in one location.

Additional characters will include:

The Wild Child
Played by Monica Kaye, who gets everybody into trouble with her tweets about the lickability of a certain well-known agent. (Those erotica writers; you can’t take them anywhere… without a ball gag.)

The Slut
Everyone group household has one, you know, so ours will be Delilah Marvelle, whose naughty historical bits are on display EVERYwhere but mostly on her blog.

The Token Male
Just as a BFK (Bailey’s, Frangelico and Kahlua mixed into hot cocoa mix or coffee) is enhanced by a shot of whipping cream, estrogen is even more fun with a side of testosterone, so we’ll bring Andrew Shaffer for walk-on/run off appearances.

And lastly, I suppose, we’ll have the Weird One. And that’d be me.

In case you doubt the potential wackiness of a reality TV show based on romance writers, check out this pic of the 500-author-strong book fair:

Oh yeah, that’s drama.  In addition to meeting up with friends and chatting with colleagues, I also scored a bunch of signed books which we’ll be parceling out through the summer, starting with Jessica Andersen‘s DEMONKEEPERS plus an ARC of her latest, BLOOD SPELLS.

Just leave a comment anytime this week and you’ll be entered for a chance to win Jessica’s books. To get the party started, which character would you like to be in any popular reality television show?

Currently working on: Unpacking from RomCon
Mood: Sleepy

This week’s topic is “The vacation untaken” (sort of a spin on Robert Frost’s ”The Road Not Taken,” perhaps, if you’re feeling poetical) but I thought I’d mention the trip I DID just take — the first annual RomCon romance readers convention.

I headed out to Denver Colorado early Friday morning. The sun is not up at 4:15, in case you were curious.  The picture below — taken from the car on the way to the airport — is a good visual representation of my oracular and mental functioning at 4:15 a.m.:

The pale fuzzy squiggle at the top is the moon.  Poor moon.

The convenient part of arriving at the airport so early is that I had time to visit the three Powell’s Books in the various concourses.  And lo and behold…

Liam’s fine (and signed!) butt could become airborne at any moment.  Much thanks to the Powell’s employees who were waaay more awake than me and helped me find my copies.

I took a nap on the plane and that was the last sleep for the weekend. I roomed with the always wickedly delightful Delilah Marvelle, who brought her infamous penis candy to give away by the handsful. (Well, not handsful, really; they were very tiny penises.)

The party started right away with workshop and events and author/reader chats. It was a convivial group. As one reader told me, she had come to the convention by herself but she felt completely comfortable finding an empty seat at dinner, knowing that everyone there was a fellow romance reader. If ever the conversation lagged (and trust me, it did not) one simple question could restart the talk for hours: “What do you read?”

My favorite events included:

Betwixt & Between Paranormal Tea: Paranormal romance authors and readers gathered for cookies and chatting.

Monster Charades: Despite being held at 10 a.m. (that’s almost as early as 4:14 a.m.!) on Saturday, the guessing-game of paranormal authors, titles, series, characters and creatures was huge fun.  Thanks (and I mean that sarcastically) to author Carolyn Crane for coming up with some baffling stumpers that had us laughing through the guessing.

Build-a-Hero Workshop: The dark fae we created — Shikar of the magic hands — somehow lost out to the historical hero Sir Rochester, but we love him still.  I was supposed to bring home the whiteboard where we’d written his description (including his… um, manly measurements) but I lost it at the Denver airport on the way home!  Someone there is going to be very confused.  Luckily, we took good notes:

And a close-up of the final version, written in the preternaturally tidy script of Elizabeth:

Thanks to Sabrina for forwarding me the pictures!  And thanks to author Meagan Hatfield, especially for coming up with our team name: Team Awesome!  We were, weren’t we?

I think the brightest highlight for me was the chance to sit with Nalini Singh, Christine Feehan and C.L. Wilson on a paranormal author panel.  Can you imagine?  Sitting next to those stars?  In comparison, I looked a little like that fuzzy moon I posted earlier!  But I felt very much at ease because they are among the nicest people in the world (or most other worlds you can imagine).  The fact they write the stories that rock MY world is the frosting-and-sprinkles on the cupcake of my glee!

(If you’re on Twitter and want a blow-by-blow account, you can scroll back through #romcon for commentary.)

Last and best, I had the chance to meet readers, a few of whom had even read my stories   What a trip!  I was on Cloud 9.  Actually, I was above Cloud 9 and just a little to the north of Mt. Hood (thanks to Southwest Airlines and their two free bags policy which allowed me to bring 100 lbs. of giveaways and snacks):

The event is in the planning stages for next year in Denver. I’ll post word here as soon as I hear what’s up. I’d love to meet some Silk And Shadows readers at RomCon 2011!

Meanwhile, I brought home a few books.  Honestly, just a few.  But the highlight… I have a signed copy of Nalini Singh’s ANGEL’S BLOOD!   It’s the first book in her Guild Hunter series and you do NOT want to be left behind on this one.  Just leave a comment on any post this week and you’ll be entered for a chance to win.  I’ll warn you now, you’ll want to go get your copy of the second book, ARCHANGEL’S KISS, before you start reading.  Yes, it is that good.

What do you think?  Would you be interested in attending a romance readers’ convention?  Which author would you most want to meet?

Currently working on: Staying on top of the raspberry and snow pea harvest
Mood: Wondering how many dishes include both raspberries AND snow peas…

So we’re halfway through the year.  (Well, halfway plus a little bit, but I’m always behind.)  This is usually when I pull out my New Year’s Resolutions, laugh hysterically, and reassess.  What are my NEW New Half Year’s Resolutions?

When I look at what I have to get done before the end of the year, the hysteria becomes more pronounced and other living beings in my household find heavy objects to find under.  But the trick is always first things first.  So in honor of this week’s blog topic of “My next project,” I bring you my first task: Announcing the winner of last week’s Ava Gray SKIN GAME giveaway.  Random.org picked:

Spav, who is distracted by Twitter. Aren’t we all?  Congrats, Spav, and thanks to all who commented.

Now, onto the next task…

I’ll be attending RomCon, a new convention for romance readers and writers, in a couple weeks (which, like the end of the year, is coming faster than I anticipate, I know).  I’m very much looking forward to stalking some of my favorite authors, hanging with friends, chatting with readers, and signing books.  If you live in Denver or have friends, family or Facebook acquaintances who live in Denver or anywhere in the Rockies for that matter, come join us!  The giant book fair is open to the public. Details:

RomCon
Crowne Plaza Denver Airport
15500 East 40th Avenue, Denver, CO
Saturday, July 10, Noon Book Fair
Meet Jo Beverley, Christine Feehan, Julia Quinn, Lori Foster, Meljean Brook, Nalini Singh, Carly Phillips, Susan Mallery, Melissa Mayhue, Catherine Anderson, Jodi Thomas and dozens of other fabulous authors [Note from Jessa: You'll see I am not a listed author at this point in my life, but at least I am fabulous] our multi-author booksigning sponsored by Borders. Bring up to 3 books from your own library for your favorite author to sign!

But before I go, I have to finish writing a short story from the world of the Marked Souls.  It’s the possession story of Corvus Valerius.  I’m going to give away limited edition prints of the story at RomCon before I post it to my website.  If you want a copy (when I finally finish it) email your snail mail addy to jessa at jessaslade dot com with the subject line: Corvus.

Writing his story has been harder than I thought it would be.  Okay, all writing is harder for me than I think it will be.  But Corvus’s tale is especially hard because… Well, as soon as I started writing him, he became my hero. 

There’s a saying among writers: Every villain is the hero of his own story.  That’s been true of Corvus through the first two books of the Marked Souls and it’s even more true when we see how he gave in to temptation — and his demon.  What do you think, does evil always believe itself in the right, or sometimes does evil just say, hell yeah I’m evil?

I’m also running a contest/asking a favor/assigning you an enviable task at my personal blog.  I need to find a royalty free picture of Corvus for the cover of the short story.  If somebody finds a shot I can use, she’ll get a signed copy of SEDUCED BY SHADOWS or FORGED OF SHADOWS.  You can read the details here. 

See you (hopefully) in Denver!