Woo-Fricken-Hoo

I have just finished the galley for Hunting for Clay and have just sent it off to Kris - Fingers crossed it is finished.

I have been hard at it all day today - I think I nearly sent myself blind I was concentrating so hard on trying on any any mistakes I might still have.

I am only going to  keep this short and sweet because today is my birthday I turn the BIG 43 and I want to put my feet up and spend the afternoon reading... in case you are wondering what... I am on a Carol Lynne fix and I am re-reading the Men In Love Series...

Here are some Reviews over on Amazon on Angels on Top.

Amazon Reviews

Here are five songs for my birthday

to get the party started.

Pimping Z Allora...

 I am going to start off by saying I absolutely love this person - Z has turned into a very good friend of mine, & I have Kris Jacen to thank. I first became a stalk... I mean fan of Z when Kris posted and excerpt for The Dark Angels: With Wings, and then I happen to be lucky enough to win a copy of that very book and I fell in love with every character... especially Robin (for some reason his shyness called to me). So without further delay here is my friend Z Allora.

Book Two

Tell us how this particular story came about? Was there a particular instant when it all just fell into place and you thought that is my next story? 

The Dark Angels: Tied Together is the second book in The Dark Angels series. I usually write in a series format because if I am writing about a character I find out his whole story and then I just want to share it. As I was writing The Dark Angels: With Wings, The Dark Angels: Tied Together was being written…as well as parts of the third book in that series (The Dark Angels: Finally Fallen). 

How long have you been writing? 

For as long as I can remember I have always written. I started publishing because I believe gay romance helps promote equality and some of my characters demanded it. 

How do you choose which genre and flavour your story line will take, and what influences your choice? 

I love romance, happily ever afters and sex. Too many times life doesn’t allow happy endings, so I write them. Currently, my characters are gay, bi-sexual, straight but open-minded and a couple of them are transgendered so you could say they picked the genre: erotic gay romance. 

What is your specific writing style, if any? 

Yaoi-style. I write a bit over the top. My characters are larger than life. I allow them to feel their emotions as strongly as they make me feel them. As a reader, I want to get swept away by a story so as a writer I just follow my characters wherever they wish to go…and they all seem to go Yaoi.

Book One

Is there anything you find particularly challenging about bringing a story to life? 

Sometimes, my characters are doing or saying things contrary to reason and it drives me nuts. A good example of this would be Darius Stone in The Dark Angels: With Wings, he made me (and many readers) crazy because he really struggled so hard by refusing to accept a label for his sexual orientation. But he needed his circular thinking to finally follow where love was leading him. Thankfully, by the second book he is happily exploring parts of himself he never did so before.

 Who is your favourite character you've written to date and why? 

I love them all. It’s like asking a parent who is their favourite child. Robin (The Dark Angels: Tied Together) is just too sweet and his conflicting desires make him infinitely appealing to me. But the one character that is really breaking my heart right now is Tai-hua Zhehao from my Made In China series (not yet uncontract). His nephew is the main love interest in the second book of that series and his story involves being separated from the man he loves for twenty years. He plagued me with a reunion scene. Then followed that by a super hot sex scene…Anyway, I love them all!

Which character in your body of works was the hardest to write? 

Boon-nam (from The Lady Boy Chronicles: Illusions & Dreams) born genetically male, she had the surgery that made her outside match her inside. However, she still has some male energy that couldn’t be ignored during the sex scenes. I spent time in both Bangkok and Pattaya with the Lady boys in an attempt to portray the characters in this series as realistic as I could. 

I had a difficult time writing some of the love scenes for Boon-nam because she was recently transgendered person. I couldn’t write it as m/f sex scene because it isn’t. It has a very different feel to it. The katoey I spent time with have a very different energy. I had to really think about Boon-nam as an individual who wasn’t going to fit in the preconceived boxes we like to put people in. So I wasn’t writing a sex scene for a transgendered person but for Boon-nam. I found writing her best friend who maintained her male parts but lived as a woman much easier to write. The difficulties with Boon-nam caused me enough stress to write the first book with two loving couples and not just one. 

Which stories have you enjoyed working on the most and why? 

Anything that is edgy and different. (If you couldn’t tell) I like playing with labels and re-examining what the definitions society has assigned and shake them up a bit. I like working on something that brings ‘normal’ into question so we can take a look at the boxes we tend to put things in. 

Of course, hot rockers will always have a soft spot in my heart. Fantasies of a rock star falling in love and sweeping someone off their feet is too delicious not to enjoy writing. (Okay, not to mention the sexy makeup!)

 What will people come away with after reading your books? 

I hope people come away from my books renewed belief that love is love and gender really shouldn’t be an issue. I want the reader to have a feeling of love and happiness that follows them through their interactions with others. And of course, leaving the reader with a few good sex scenes that replays themselves in a sexy loop. LOL

 What are you currently reading? 

I will be reading NJ’s Rules Are Meant To Be Broken…. as soon as it comes out!!! Have you seen that cover??? Damn!

 (I will let you know as soon as I know. I am still in edits.)

What music is in your stereo at the moment? And does it influence the way you write? 

Tokio Hotel

Absolutely! It helps me focus. When I have trouble getting into a writing space, I watch some music videos. For the series Made In China, I find my focus by watching the Black Veil Brides music video- Fallen. Seeing those sexy rockers in their glam make-up screaming the lyrics puts me in a place to write. 

Are you still as passionate about writing as you were when you first started? 

Yes.  I am looking forward to my life calming a bit because I have a bunch of stories plotted out and I want to give them time to develop. 

Name three Authors you read over and over again? 

Only three? Even NJ couldn’t give only 3 and it was her question! LOL 

Jet Mykles: Heaven Sent Series (on my 15^th read) 

GA Hauser: Action Series (Mark Richfield is one of the best characters ever written) 

SJ Frost: Conquest & Black Heart Down. 

Clancy Nacht & Eucid Thursday: BlackGold (Goldie is too delicious!)

JL Langley (Regency Series-virgin princes’…need I say more? Sexy shifters) 

Ayano Yamane: Crimson Blood & Viewfinder Series (Manga) 

And I have a feeling The Lines of Marsden will be joining this list! 

(I can only hope The Lines of Marsden lives up to your expectations.) 

Can you share any of your current WIPS? 

Made In China- a new band is forming in China. My five and half years of living in Suzhou China helped me write very specific details of the culture that may be missed if my time there was shorter. Most of the characters really struggle against the society that doesn’t even acknowledge ‘gay’ is an option. 

The Lady Boy Chronicles: Illusions & Dreams- This series is about performers in a Bangkok lady boy show. The club owners assist the performers to better themselves as well as helping those who are in a bad situation out.

 Viking Haven- Futuristic, sci-fi space opera. This series will explore life of the lord warriors and the pretty slaves that serve them. In the first book, the punishment wall and The Feast of The Virgins is experienced. We get glimpses of the ruler who wants nothing more than to be a slave himself. Maybe with the invasion of The Black Night Rebels will allow him the opportunity?  

Cambodian Dreams- Brad is almost done with his graduate degree and goes to Cambodia for a little relaxation. Shane is an adorable little do-gooder who dreams of a strong Dom to make all his BDSM dreams come true. 

The Dark Angels: Finally Fallen- This is Dusty’s story. I enjoyed seeing more of his life. He is a very good big brother even though it has made his life much more difficult. His love interest has been horribly violated but is trying to overcome the demons of his past that still plague him.

For those readers that have yet to know you please tell us something about yourself. 

I have lived in Singapore, Israel and China. I don’t think a book can ever have too much sex. I believe in true love and everyone getting their happily-ever-afters.

Z ALLORA - AVAILABLE FROM.

MLRPress Store

Amazon

Website - Z Allora's Haven

One Of Those Days...

  Have you ever had one of those days when you wish you could just crawl back into bed, and have a do over. Well I am having one of those weeks. It wasn't one big thing that went wrong it was a lot of little tiny things that made up the whole. My good friend Z basically said I need to get my happy back on as I have a new release coming out in about ten days or so, and I am, I liked this story and I loved finding out more about Hunter and Clay. I just feel as though I am standing outside of my own life at the moment and watching a car crash in slow motion.

  My hubs would say take a teaspoon of cement and harden the fuck up!!! And I know he is right. I am just at a stage in my life where I am questioning everything - see the bottom of this post and give me some advice. (I think it is because my birthday is two days away - and I think holy fuck I am getting old Or it could be I just haven't had enough coffee this morning.)

  Okay I promised myself that 2012 is going to be the year of me - where I am the most important thing in my life - does that make me selfish? - Probably. We all know in the end I will be in the thick of my ever-loving family, and wanting to slap them up the side of the head - but hey that's how families work.

  I have had my bitch for the month so now it is time to pull up my big girl socks and take the next step... You will be happy to know  that today I am working on When Souls Collide. I am hoping to hit at least 11K on it.

  I have sent Admetus Gaea to Cinders who is going to run fresh eyes over it (yes I know it isn't finished but I want to make sure that when I converted it from M/F to M/M I got all the he/she/him/her changed as well. We all know it is the little things I forget). And lets just say lucky I sent Windblown Kisses: My Knight In Tarnished Armour to Sue as she found some great big glaringly obvious storyline holes that will need fixing before submit it.

  I have a question so feel free to leave me a comment and answer it - it is about your reading likes.

  Q 1: If my The Lines of Marsden series is mostly M/M is it okay to highlight a M/F relationship or should I change it to a M/M relationship? I need to know pretty soon as I will have to change it in book one, actually it will just be a change of name mentioned in book 1, the actual relationship is not until when the second line comes into their powers.

I know that Ro will say change it... and I am willing to if everyone is in the same frame of mind. So please leave me a comment with your views - because I read any genre that sort of thing doesn't worry me. so there is a second question related to the first.

  Q 2: Should Michaela become a guy? And if so what should be the new name? (Not Michael as he is the father) so I need to come up with a new name, at the moment she is Michaela Marsden (Kayla) and her twin is Raphael Marsden (Raph).

  Okay on that note I am out of here - I have some writing to catch up on and a sex scene to write by Friday for Jettermane. As well as figure out what the hell happened to Simian in Wind Walkers by Monday. I will talk to you all tomorrow when I ask Z Allora some questions...

Em's Turn

I have posted these song just for my mum (the bitch face,) even though BFMV is my favourite band this song is for  her and Nickelback is just because I like it.

Answering My Own Pimping Questions

What are you working on now? Was there a particular instant when it all just fell into place and you thought that is my next story?

I have just had my first official release of Angels on Top through MLRPress  

Blurb

All Marlowe wants to do is find his place in the world with someone to love. Someone who sees just who he is.

Thrown out of home for not conforming to his parents wishes, Angelo heads to the one place he knows he will be welcomed with open arms.

With a little help from their family and friends can Angelo and Marlowe figure out just who is stalking Marlowe before Christmas morning? Can Marlowe win the heart of the boy next door? Can Angelo figure out that even straight boys sometimes fall in love with their best friends?

 Also through MLRPress I will have the follow on story in this series Hunting for Clay - (I will post cover when I see it.)

Blurb

Two years have passed since Clay and Hunter met on that fateful morning in Tello’s Diner. Getting passed the fact Clay was stalking Marlowe was the easy part.

Clay Montgomery’s life has changed for the better the day he found the man who was meant to be the other half of him. Hunter understood him well, and knew how to give him exactly what he needs to be happy.

Hunter Weldon knows what he wants, and just how to get it. For two years he has loved the man in his arms and now it was time to up the anti. 

Also through MLRPress I have the first book in my series The Lines Of Marsden: Rules Are Meant To Be Broken.

Blurb

The Lines of Marsden were born into existence for a reason: to right the wrongs that had once taken place. Destiny fated that they must destroy the Eldren before evil wins.

Michael Marsden wants to die – for real this time. He wasn’t meant to lead the half-life that he does. He chooses to let it go and let death take what it had already claimed.

But Christian Risely isn’t about to let that happen.  He is drawn to Michael and is willing to do anything to ensure that he lives, even if that means keeping him alive against his will.

How long have you been writing?

I have been writing for a long as I can remember, it was as necessary as breathing. Though, I began writing my first novel when I was twelve years old. Admetus Gaea – Untamed World… it started out as a HET book, when I recently found it after a thirty year absence, I decided to add it to my current list of Wips and convert it to MM.

How do you choose which genre and flavour your story line will take, and what influences your choice?

Honestly, I am a paranormal writer at heart. That is my favourite kind of story to read as well. My love affair with all things paranormal hit me at an early age and it just never let go. You could say they sank their canines/fangs into me.

Usually I just write whatever voice is screaming loudest in my head – sometimes my muse thinks it is funny to unleash them all at once. That is how my NaNo ended up becoming a spin-off to one of my other shifter stories… Vladimir (my Muse) can be funny like that.

What is your specific writing style, if any?

I don’t think I have a specific style of writing – I mainly just write whatever the hell falls out of my head as the mood strikes me. I don’t plot (at all) and when I do try and plot, the story line never ends up where I think it will. LOL – Sometimes I even give myself the Whoa!!! Factor as I write. I have been guilty of ringing my daughter at work and go, “Did you know…?”

Is there anything you find particularly challenging about bringing a story to life?

Yes - I hate it when I start out with the decision of having two characters together and then halfway through it changes. Or like this: I have written most of the first twelve books in my series The Lines of Marsden, one of my background characters, kept jumping out at me screaming look at me – look at me. So in the end I have decided to go back through what I have written and bring Doyle further into the storyline. Mind you, once I started that process I ended up taking out four other characters, which caused the challenging factor in how I reworked the story without changing the story line. Not as much fun as you would think.

Who is your favourite character you‘ve written to date and why?

That is a hard one… I love Michael because there are so many elements of me in him. I love Doyle - I feel that Doyle is a truly beautiful soul. Though, if you ask my daughter she would say Maffa and Jaffa, the twin werewolves.

In other works I think that Tucker the drunken witch from my free Goodreads story Shadows on the Heart. He and Kylfa will be getting their own story: On The Flipside of Reverse. All the spells that have the possibility of going wrong… I am chuckling already just thinking about it.

Which character in your body of works was the hardest to write?

Christian Kincaid – Risely: He keeps surprising me with little twist that makes me have to go back and tweak parts of his personal storyline. He is a 300 year old Vampire that doesn’t remember how old he is – he thinks he is newly made… LOL - you will just have to read series to find out more.

Which stories have you enjoyed working on the most and why?

The Lines of Marsden… It was a something I started writing for my daughter. (For a full explanation, go to Jadette Paige’s blogspot on December 15^th as I am writing the story behind the story.) This is my most fun book - but the hardest.

What will people come away with after reading your books?

With the belief that no matter how hard of a struggle you go through to be with the one you love, in the end it is all worth it because sometimes true love and soul mates really do exist… Or…That Michael is a whiner, (just ask my daughter she tells me every damn day – LOL.)

What are you currently reading?

Lavinia Lewis - her Shifter Haven series. I am a total sucker for re-reading my favourites over and over again.

What music is in your stereo at the moment? And does it influence the way you write?

Nickelback: Dark Horse. I listen to them when I am working on all things in the Lines of Marsden Nickelback is kind of Michael’s theme music. Yes I am one of those authors that has to have music for each character – Doyle is Good Charlotte. & Christian is any music that you can dance badly to… Christian & Doyle kind of have my dancing skills. (At my wedding I had to dance to The Cure’s – Friday I’m in Love… just to cover up my bad dancing – Awesome wedding, it lasted three days and rained the whole time.)

Are you still as passionate about writing as you were when you first started?

Honestly, barring the last month, which was a real horror month for me. I had a relative die; my whole family came down with a virus that we just couldn’t shake. I had relatives rock up to stay at my house and then on top of all that I wrote a novel for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) I wrote the first book in a shifter series called Watson Falls: Between One Heartbeat & The Next – turns out it is a spin-off to Pack Matters. Total count: 50,707.

Okay, totally got side tracked… yes I do still enjoy writing as much today as I did when I started. I get a kick out of telling our workers that if they misbehave they will end up as a character in one of my stories… we own a construction company… my husband quite often fills the guys in on what I am up to – nothing better than running into one of the and they ask me. I have even had them tell me what sort of paranormal creature that they want to be… puts a huge grin on my face – it is times like that that I think – Yes; it is so worth it.

Name three Authors you read over and over again?

Gabrielle Evans

Stormy Glenn

Andrew Grey

ZA Maxfield - Bonus

Lynn Hagen - Bonus

Carol Lynne – Bonus

Z Allora - Bonus

Lavinia Lewis - Bonus

Can you share any of your current WIPS?

First: One Last Kiss Goodbye - This is story of young love that finds itself again after six-years has passed. Jacen Ives & Kayne Henderson, have to struggle through their trouble and mixed up lives to find their way back together.

Second: Pack Matters 1: Chasing Dreams of You – Is the first book in a shifter series. In this book we follow Todd Creely and Micah Adams as they fight the Alpha for the right to leadership of the Lockyer Valley Pack and to save that same pack from the Current Alpha’s destructive and volatile behaviour.

Third: The Diamond Rose - This is a one off book (I think) that starts with the death of a policeman and involves a drug cartel and a strip club.Officer William (Billy) Martin is an undercover cop in the in the strip club The Diamond Rose and gets put into protective custody with Officer Cole Jackson.

Fourth: Roxy's Heart ~ Harlin's Hands - This is the first book that sets up the whole universe of S.P.A.M. Inc. Roxy  fey heir finds himself mated to the very human Harlin Edwards. We delve into their mating and all the problems that come with it from interfering C.O.P.E members, evil witches (yes of the magical kind) and a whole slew of characters that you will all fall in love with.

On the back burner:

Shadows on the heart (extention): GoodReads freebie invloving a werewolf, a vampire, and a viking (sounds like the start of a very good joke.)

Admetus Gaea: Fey and Elven Kind

Windblown Kisses: My Knight In Tarnished Armour: This is almost ready to submit

Day Walkers: Paranormal

Upcoming Guest Blog Appearances:

Jan 16 - Gabrielle Evans

Feb 11-14 Valentine Blog Hop

Feb 22 Jana Downs

Apr 27 Karenna Colcroft

What's Happening!!!

In the life of N.J. Nielsen

Okay, I know you are all dying to find out what is going on in my life well I can tell you there isn't much happening in my everyday real life - except laundry - I swear the washing multiplies when you aren't looking and we have been having a very wet week which isn't helping. I love the rain for the tank water - but other than that it drives me nuts - and we all worry about another flood happening.

On the writing front honestly I have done Sweet F A, but I will get back into it I swear. I spent yesterday reading other peoples work and loving it.

Everyone in my home life are all hunky dory, though Em and I both have peeling tattoos, so they are at that whole annoying itchy stage.where you just wanna scratch the skin off your arms.

ON WRITING

Well I have been keeping busy, I am waiting for the galley proof for Hunting for Clay, and then that is read for release around Feb 10th I think.  I am also waiting for the next round of edits on The Lines Of Marsden: Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, hopefully they will be easy as the last lot. I am working on Windblown Kisses: My Knight In Tarnished Armour, I just got the first half back from my beta reader Sue. I am also tweaking book two in TLOM: Living In Shadows, just making minor changes, hopefully to make it flow better. I am working on a Father's Day submission called When Souls Collide, I am about 1/3 of the way through it. I am still working on Pack Matters: Chasing Dreams Of You. Plus I am working on one for my daughter called The Diamond Rose which is a police story. And last but not least is the series I am working on with Embry Carlysle S.P.A.M. Inc. My first book is Roxy's Heart ~ Harlin's Hands & Embry's is Can't Get You Out Of My Head.

My Girl Embry is working on: Saving Souls: Saving Jamie. I am asking everyone to keep on encouraging her to finish her story and submit it. I can tell you what I have read of it you won't be disappointed. Check out her blog story Finding Will... I am already hooked. And today you can even find her gas-bagging over at  Gabrielle Evans Blog  drop on by and leave her a comment for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate at BookStrand.

Em's Turn

These 2 songs have been stuck in head all weekend..