When Berkley brought the four of us together for the anthology Unlaced, they told us the stories didn’t have to have anything else in common, but a corset had to figure into each one. The pleasure of writing romance is that an article of clothing can become an important part of the plot, and in this case, a very provocative one. For this blog, each of us decided to take a stab at explaining how this sensuous garment – or torturous, depending on your perspective –influenced the story she wrote for the anthology. The answers varied from very important, to not important at all! Check it out…

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Hey, that was fun! Thanks for ‘fessing up about what frightens the living daylights outta you. Only thing worse really, might be to find yourself in a book. *evil cackle*

Karin, congratulations! - you win a signed ARC (Advance Review Copy) of THE FLAME AND THE SHADOW. Email Bam to claim your prize and be sure to include your snail mail.

best
Denise

A few months ago, I had a doozy of a nightmare. You know, the sort that has you jerking awake with your heart pounding and your palms all sweaty. After a few seconds, I realised it was only a dream. Lord, the relief was indescribable! And in the strange way of dreams, I couldn’t quite recall what it was that was so utterly terrifying – except that it was me, changed in some hideous fashion into something entirely different.

This blog post isn’t about dream analysis, so let’s not worry about what that particular nightmare says about my twisted little self. But it did get me thinking as I lay there next to the oblivious, slumbering form of My Beloved.

(What this post is about, BTW, is giving away a signed copy of my new release, The Flame and the Shadow, to a random commenter. But more about that in a minute.)

I’m a real scaredy-cat. I don’t go to violent movies, let alone the splatter-fests. I even find Stephen King difficult to read because he has such magnificently horrible ideas and they won’t vacate my head after the last page. But after my nightmare, I did find the idea of an evil me far more terrifying than a platoon of Freddy Kruegers. Imagine looking in the mirror and seeing your demonic twin smile slowly back. Or worse, catching sight of her out of the corner of your eye. This is what the Germans call a doppelganger. To see your doppelganger means the worst of bad luck, and possibly even death. Ooo-errr… *shivers*

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Okay, guys. Drew my name from my guest blog the other day. The winner is Shannon. Shannon commented:

To everybody, thanks for stopping by and I hope you check out The Missing.

Thanks to Dionne for having me crash her blog again.

I figure since blog-hopping can be considered working if I do some promo first, let me just say…

I have a new book due on 11/4/08, titled THE MISSING. It’s a paranormal romantic suspense, featuring a heroine with psychic abilities.

Da blurb…

From a bestselling author whose stories are “exhilarating [and] action-packed”* comes a sinfully sexy novel of romantic suspense about a woman whose psychic gift drives away the man she loves—and years later draws him back to her…

LOVE LOST

As a teenager, Taige Branch was able to do things with her psychic gift that others couldn’t understand—except for Cullen Morgan, the boy her stole her heart. He did his best to accept her abilities, until his mother was brutally murdered—and he couldn’t forgive Taige for not preventing her death.

PASSION FOUND

Now a widowed father, Cullen Morgan has never forgotten Taige. But what brings her back into his life is another tragic event. His beloved little girl has been kidnapped, and Taige is his only hope of finding her.

A LOVE THAT NEVER DIED

Working together against the clock, Cullen and Taige can’t help but wonder whether—if they find his daughter in time—it isn’t too late for the overpowering love that still burns between them…

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…and the winner is Mona, comment #19. You win any book you want from Nalini’s backlist. Please email me with your info and we will send you your prize ASAP. Thanks again to Nalini Singh for blogging with us!

Blatant Promo (but connected to this post) - I’m currently running a contest to celebrate the Sep 2nd release of Hostage to Pleasure. You can read the details on my blog, and, if you haven’t entered yet, there’s still time to win that lovely gift certificate.

My aim with the contest is fairly simple – to spread the word about the book’s release. And as a bonus, I’m hopefully giving readers something fun to think about. Is it working? I think so.

Staying on that topic, today, I want to pick your brains on the topic of author/book promotion. What gets you to pick up a book? What kind of contests do you like to enter? Have you seen any marketing idea that really struck you as interesting and different?

Everyone who leaves a comment goes into a draw to win a book from my backlist (not including HtP).

Question: What color is your parachute and do you mind if I poke some holes in it?

There is an attitude online that is growing in popularity. It’s the “You suck as a writer, and yes I’m talking to you even though you think I’m talking to everyone but you, you smug bastard so QUIT NOW.”

On the one hand, the kind of writer that would quit over someone out in cyberspace on a crusade against unpublished writers, probably doesn’t have the fortitude to make it in this business in the first place. It almost requires a “Screw you, I’m doing it anyway” mentality. And maybe that’s a good thing. Probably the slush pile doesn’t need to grow higher with people who submit their rough drafts as if what flows from their pen is so perfect it can’t stand going through even a cursory edit.

Too many people submit crap. This isn’t news. But in my opinion, dealing with this reality by unilaterally encouraging all unpublished writers to quit, is a bit like saying: “The world is awful, everything sucks, you’ll never reach your dreams, better slit your wrists now.” It’s the same mentality.

In fact, the history of publishing doesn’t tell us that if you get X number of rejection letters you automatically should stop trying, but quite the opposite. It’s those who gave up after X number of rejection letters that failed. Because they quit. If you quit you automatically fail. If you keep going, you stand some chance, no matter how small those odds may seem.

I think the cynical anti-motivation advice should be restated in the following way: “Don’t write, if the only reason you do it is because you want to be published.” Do I want to be published? Most definitely. Do I plan to have an audience of some sort no matter how few or how many whether I’m published or not? Another yes. Would I write if I was the only person who ever saw it? Yes.

Because the act of writing for me, of building fictional worlds, of improving on them, of developing characters and story is personally enriching to my life. Many people paint and never plan to exhibit their work in a museum. If you love something it’s not important how “good” you are, only that you enjoy it. If you want to take the next step and share it with the world, you have to reach for a higher level of quality and marketability.

That’s where I am. Where are you?

Zoe Winters is a yet to be published paranormal romance writer. Her long list of impressive credits include not quite having an erotic short story published, and almost having an agent like her novel. She can be found in a dank little corner on the internet at http://zoewinters.wordpress.com.