I had a Real Author moment this week, when I was asked for a quote on a book. Which I happily gave, because I loved the book. But it made me giggle and think, “I’m a Real Author now!” And this led to discussion about when do you arrive?

There are so many landmarks I can look back on in the last two years. My first contracts, first book releases, first print book on shelves, then the next, first royalty payments received, first reviews, first reader feedback. And it’s not like that stuff loses impact. Every release, every review, award, letter from a reader who liked my story enough to tell me so, it all means just as much to me. Getting a boxful of author copies is a thrill. A new contract is a thrill. And yet I think I’m pretty far from having arrived, whatever that is.

Maybe nobody ever arrives. Because here’s the amazing thing about writing, there’s always new ground, new challenges. I don’t think it’s possible to reach the “I have done it all” point. I’m not even sure mastery is possible in this craft, although it’s certainly something to strive for. Well, life is a journey, not an arrival, and I’m very happy to be taking this trip with my notebook in hand.

“Night Rhythm is the story of Valentine, Romney’s friend, partner and fellow vampire. I found him intriguing, sexy, and just downright luscious. For heaven’s sake, he waited centuries to make love to the one woman who he loved and for that reason alone, my heart was his. No matter that he didn’t notice me because he only had eyes for Lisa. He was justifiably delicious.

I adore vampires in love and Night Rhythm was that as well as a wonderful story. Charlene Teglia is quickly becoming an automatic read for me!” - Talia Ricci

Full review is online here.

Thank you, Joyfully Reviewed! Night Rhythm is a free story in my Siren series which begins with RT Reviewer’s Choice Award nominee, The Gripping Beast and continues in Night Music, now in the print anthology Beginnings. You can download Night Rhythm from my free reads page!

Here’s the list!

Aames, Lani – Gillian’s Island
Aires, Rebecca – Devon’s Vix
Alexander, Lacey – The Pirate and the Pussycat (Sept)
Black, Jaid – Bossie & Clyde (Dec)
Boyett-Compo, Charlotte – Wendy’s Summer Job (June)
Devlin, Delilah – Her Lance-A lot (March)
Evans, Anna J. – The Best of Both Worlds
Feisty, Lillian – Dance of the Plain Jane (March)
Fox, Cathryn – Panther’s Pleasure
James, Allyson – Club Vamp (March)
Kerans, Megan – Chasing the Dragon
Logen, Melany – Viking’s Pledge (June)
McCall, BJ - Silk
McCray, Cheyenne – Taking It All (June)
Moore, Natasha – Taste of Honey
Quinn, Sherrill – Choosing Madison (March)
Rossetti, Denise – Come Howling (March)
Strong, Jory – Lyrael’s Sacrifice (March)
Teglia, Charlene – I Was An Alien’s Love Slave
Walters, NJ – Sunshine for a Vampire
Willoughby, Kate – A Man of Vision

Stories are still being assigned to volumes, although tentatively I Was An Alien’s Love Slave is slated for June 21, Vol. 2. I’ve read NJ’s Sunshine for a Vampire, and oh, was it good. I can’t wait to read the rest of these stories!

I’m at RTB today, talking about likeable and/or believable characters. Come and share your thoughts!

Good thing I was sitting down reading my email this morning, because I’ve just learned that The Gripping Beast is a 2006 Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award nominee for Best Erotic Romance! SQUEEEEEEE! It’s a huge honor and I’m thrilled. Picture the Vikings milling around, posing and flexing, as they bask in the glow.

Our area lost internet this morning. There was much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, cast into outer darkness without even dial-up. OK, maybe it wasn’t that bad but when you’re remote and you rely on the connection with the rest of the world, it is disconcerting! It’s good to be back online.

I’m doing the Fast Draft class, for which I can blame, I mean thank, Jordan, and it’s great to have that impetus to get back into gear. I needed to hit the new year running! I love the “no excuses” philosophy. Although as I’ve discovered this winter, hurricanes and floods and extended power outages really can stop you and there’s not much you can do about it. But barring bizarre circumstances like that, the commitment to use the time you have adds up in a big way. I’ve done 10 pages this morning, while doing laundry, cooking, dishes, and tending two small people. 5 minutes here, fifteen there, naptime, it adds up. Write on!

That’s right, I’ve got no better ideas today, so it’s Thursday Thirteen! Thirteen things I’ve written about in my books but never done.

1. Seen Bigfoot (I Was An Alien’s Love Slave, EC June 07)

2. Been abducted by aliens (I Was An Alien’s Love Slave, EC June 07)

3. Tested fireworks (Love and Rockets, Ellora’s Cave)

4. Talked to an AI (Dangerous Games, Ellora’s Cave)

5. Met a band of Vikings (The Gripping Beast, Samhain)

6. Cast a love spell (Love Spell: Ellora’s Cavemen Legendary Tails II)

7. Invited a vampire home (Night Music: Beginnings Anthology, Samhain)

8. Shot a werewolf with silver bullets (Wolf In Cheap Clothing, Ellora’s Cave)

9. Fought as a wolf (the hunt scene in Wolf In Shining Armor, Ellora’s Cave)

10. Painted pictures of psychic visions (Only Human, Torrid Tarot EC 07)

11. Conspired with a partner to evade holiday matchmaking (Yule Be Mine, Cerridwen)

12. Laid a trap to catch a con artist (Miss Lonely Hearts, Samhain, coming soon)

13. Got a tattoo (Wild Wild West, St. Martin’s Press, Aug. 07)

There’s no example from Catalyst, because I’ve lived in a Victorian town with an attack cat and I learned to cook very late in life. The fun thing about fiction is that you can vicariously experience pretty much anything, no matter what your reality is.

Those Crayola Wonder pens that only write on Crayola Wonder paper, thus thwarting budding young muralists from using bedroom walls as their canvas? An enterprising toddler can break the ink tip off and jam it so far up her nose that it has to be removed. Just FYI.