If anyone's been keeping track, I imagine it's become very apparent that I'm going to suck - SUCK DIDDLY-UCK! - at blogging. And it's not like I didn't know I would, 'cause I did, but Cliff (the fellow who created this webpage) insisted that every author needs a blog, so...
You know how I knew I'd suck at this? About every three years, as I was growing up, I asked for a diary for Christmas. They were so cool looking, tooled pink or aquamarine leather; the last one was red, as I'd reached the very mature age of 14 by then, and pink and aqua was for babies! Anyway, I'd get these little secret journals and hide my key away from my pesky sisters and write in it religiously...for about 3 days. Then it'd gather dust for a year until I came to the inevitable conclusion that I wasn't a diary typa gal and would toss it in the trash. The key was always lost by then, anyway. A few years would pass, and then I'd start the cycle again.
So, yeah, suckin' at the blog. But if you check back twice a year I'm sure - pretty sure - I'll have something new for ya to read. :)
Today is one of those days...one of those days when I post a whole lotta info that I should have been inputing all along. Ready Freddy?
What prompted me to jot down my thoughts today was the fabulously nice surprise of finding out that Josey Vogel has featured me as her link of the week under It Ain't Harlequin!
This is in response to an article she posted last week in her 'My Messy Bedroom' column about how Harlequin was creating unrealistic expectations in young girls with their bogus representation of sex, and women having massive, mindblowing orgasms from plain ol' missionary with no extra clitoral stimulation...*snark!* Yeah right, right? But it's true, young girls get caught up in this fiction, and it takes a lot of years before they put away the fantasy and concentrate on the reality of sex...messy, sweaty, sometimes painful, almost always awkward at some juncture...sex. Or at least, it took me a few years. But I digress, Cliff, super friend that he is, dropped her a line telling her that not all romance authors are created equal and to check out my site. She did. And apparently she liked what she saw...thus the link. Yay! People like me, they really like me...well, my writing anyway...close enough.
In other news:
My short story Stay With Me in Aphrodite's Apples 'Masquerade' Antho is due to be released alot sooner than I expected. Like, in three days. So that's exciting. Hope we get good reviews. Here's a nice big picture of the cover with the authors listed. (This one's for you Mom) As soon as it's available for purchase, I'll link the cover to the buy it page. Buy it! Please?
Ummm, other/other news...
I've won a spot in Erotic dreams Cock Appreciation Month contest. One of only 5 winners, and they had so many entries they closed down submission acceptance a week early. So I feel good about that. I mean come on Cock Appreciation? I'm all over that. Lol. Oh, it's MM...just a FYI for those it squicks. I'm told the story will be up in either Sept or Oct, so again, I'll link when I can.
I signed my first writing contract with Torquere for Who Will Know? going in Rob Knight's Shifting Again Antho. He's done two shifting Anthologies before this one, and they've been very well received, so I'm quite happy about that, too. (Another MM piece, hmmm....maybe I should ditch the het shit and concentrate on my fag-hag tendencies.) Again the story's not being released 'till Oct...will link to buy. Buy, buy,buy... (that's supposed to be subliminal...just skim over it really fast.)
Clean Sheets has had my story Our Secret for two damned months now. I sent it in and one month later (almost exactly) they replied that all 3 editors loved it but CS didn't do incest fics. And to get them to say yes could I make it an extended family situation instead, and tighten it up (it was about 5500 words.) "No problem," said I. Though I think taking out the taboo dulls the piece...but they don't do incest...so fine. I rewrote, cut 500 words and sent it off again. Tomorrow will be the end of month 2. I really want to get in at CS, because they're quite well respected, and editors seem to plumb them first for new writers. Ah, well, it's always a waiting game. Hell, for the Erotic Dreams contest they said they'd get back in a month...but I didn't learn that I'd won until after I'd written the story off as a loss 9 weeks later...
I'm learning to be patient. Honest, I am!
Also, I've hit the halfway point on The Summoner, 35,000 words, with a clear end in sight...so that's good. I suffered through almost a month of block on this story, and was beginning to panic. But the muse finally came knocking. Finicky Bitch.
Speaking of writer's block, though...
I haven't done any schoolwork in almost 2 months, now, because my Prof said that all of my proposal ideas for Black Lace were too outre, and that I should come up with some real people situations. The 6 I proposed to him were all dark fantasy. Talk about being blocked! Crap, I am, apparently, so NOT interested in RP, as I can't seem to come up with anything. He assures me that BL will like my writing; and he's a good contact to have, as his students are often signed there. So not being able to come up with a story is pretty depressing. I am absolutely open to suggestions. Got a kinky fantasy you want to see written down? Email me at alisha@alishasteele.com If your idea gets chosen I'll mail you an autographed copy of the book and thank you profusely in the acknowledgments. Help!
Right, that's all for now.
Talk to you again...sometime... :)
