Apple, you've let me down.

You won't catch me with anything but an iPod, I changed from pc to Mac when I updated my laptop, and I eyed the iPhone with lust, though my bank account firmly said NO! (plus we're not with AT&T). So when I saw that Apple was releasing the iTouch - just like an iPhone with no phone - I thought to myself "A HA! That's why they didn't put an eBook app in the Phone, they're going to cover the PDA market and make a run at the Iliad and the Panasonic".

Eagerly I hit Apple.com, scanning the features and requirements only to exclaim aloud "What the Fuck? No eBook App?". Music, check; Video, check; browser, check; eBook reader, big fat cross.

Steve Jobs, you and Apple are beginning to shake my faith in your ability to see into the future.

Had an eBook app, with all the lovely pinch screen technology, been on the iTouch, I would have given kiddo the nano, and been at the store, card in hand, slavering with the masses on release day. But now? No so much. It does look pretty though.

Counting down, and a giveway. . .

Final proofreader edits went back early this morning (in ePublishing deadlines tend to be a lot closer to publication than in print), so I can put the cap back on the Tums and party like it's my Birthday ... oh, wait! It is! Well, on Friday that is. I'll be the ripe old age of 34.

So in honor of my birthday I'm giving away Tea for Three mouse pad and some goodies of the chocolaty persuasion. Perfect for sitting down and reading your favorite eBooks with!

Email me, using the address in my profile, with the names of the names of the three lead characters of Tea for Three (hint: you don't have to look far, or hit my main website) by Sunday 27th May, midday, and my 7yr old will scientifically choose a winner from the entrants.

Catch up

No not Ketchup, catch up. Besides it's called tomato sauce anyway :)

I've not been blogging a whole lot this week as I've been working hard on my WIP ... along with actually doing the housework I've been putting off for far too long.

Accidentally Were is a 24k and climbing, I haven't got to the mystical woo-woo part yet so I'm thinking that I'm going to end up around 40-50k before I start editing and cutting and adding. Of course since I'm notorious for not using contractions, there's 1000 words that disappear right there. Tell me, in this little scene that I'm penning this afternoon, have I gone overboard with the euphemisms? (assuming I have that right, euphemism that is, and I have a feeling I am wrong.) :

(this is VERY much unedited at the moment folks)

When he pushed her back up against the side of his truck her little angry growls stopped and a low sexy rumble started up instead. “I wasn’t sure there for a second, but I think you were right, this is a damn good idea.”
Rex barely had time to brace himself before Pearl climbed her way up his body and wrapped her legs around his waist. As he wasn’t quite balanced they fell back against the truck with a panel-popping thud that pressed Pearl up against him like she was a stripper and he was the pole. Quite apt really considering his dick felt like a bloody steel bar.
Pearl’s hands were wound through his hair again; holding him tight as she fairly ate at his lips. Pearl made a cacophony of sound as she mewled and groaned as she rode his cock like a cowboy on a prize bull determined to make it to eight seconds. She tore her mouth away and shouted to the sky, “Yes! More, just like that!” and Rex had to wonder what the hell alien had taken over the woman who was usually so uptight and proper she’d make a Mongrel Mob member quake in his boots for being to loud in a library.

Tea for Three's release is a little over a week away now. We should be getting everything finalized this weekend, so it will be nice to get that out of the way until the Monday before release day when I'll sit up late obsessively refreshing the screen until the new releases are posted -- and don't think I wont!

I've got a release out, a sub being read (do you know hard it is to sit on your fingers and not email "Have you read it yet, whaddya think" to your editor?), and I've been trying to make a decision about a national print ad -- I'm not usually one to stress and obsess, but trying to break my caffeine addiction (I'm failing I might add), has me a little twitchy :).

BUT ... I put that twitchiness to good use and I now have clean floors. Eh, which reminds me I need to go finish off the bathroom, bugger!

The last 13 eBooks I've read

1. Jock Dorm: Vince and Drew
2. Kyriakis Curse
3. Go Fetch
4. Haleys Cabin
5. In a Heartbeat
6. King of Dragons, King of Men
7. Some Rough Edge Smoothing
8. Missing in Action
9. Nothing Personal
10. Vampire Vintage
11. Colorado Gold
12. Wolverine and the Rose
13. Acting like Family

AnneD's 13 steps to surviving your first ,and subsequent, release days

I blogged about Racy's NINJA (btw good book y'all, go get it!), and when I posted a congratulations on her blog, she emailed me back with a severe case of the "oh fuck, what have I done!'s"

She ask for my great, sage advice ( cause I'm an old pro at this of course, since I have done this...oh...once more than she has!) on how to cope with the fact the whole world knew she wrote, and she wrote erotic ninja romance - seriously, if you're a reader not a writer, there is a lot of "Ohmigawd, my grandma is going to know I know that she knows I know this stuff!" going on in your head. You really start to feel for that girl in the Exorcist.

So here was the cure I emaled (oops Freudian slip maybe?) to Racy:

Anne's cure for release day jitters:

1. Hop in car
2. Drive to the liquor store
3. Buy a large bottle of your preferred wine variety - Rieslings my flavour of the moment, and I can heartily recommend any Marlborough, NZ Savignon Blanc
4. Return home
5. Situate yourself in any of the following places
- in front of the fireplace
- in front of your open and often refreshed email and web browsers as you look for something - god knows what, but something!
- huddled under your covers as you contemplate the end of the world as you know it
6. Consume the entire bottle of wine and say some very weird and odd things to your SO, enough that he is still laughing about it next week
7. At this stage I should point out that fireplaces, glasses, wine bottles, small children and cats are extremely dangerous.
8. Wake up when its all over with a sore head that you can't shake in wonderment at how stupid you were the day before because it hurts too damn much
9. Despite your hangover, fire up the computer and hit the send/receive button.
10. When you hear the magic ding say "you've got male" (oops, another Freudian slip), close your eyes and hit the open button. Open your lashes one at a time until you can peek at the email that tell you that you're the superbest of the superbliest - fairly much, your story didn't stuck arse.
11. Dance around the room in a manner akin to a chicken being chased by a pig giving hubby more ammunition to arm him in smart retorts for months.
12. Get thyself to a nunne...umm...make that the bathroom, cause you forgot all about that hangover now, didn't you?! Then take the rest of the day off.
13. Now that you have run the gamut of all possible emotions from despair to unparallelled squee girl happiness, sit down at the computer and write so you can start the whole damn process over again next release day.

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