From The Romance Studio reviewer Maura: “This is a great series and I look forward to continuing to read about the Sirens. Rom and Meghan have so much chemistry that the love scenes sear the page; there is also a bit of humor in the story, such as two centuries-old vampires living like modern day computer geeks. This is a great way to hide in modern society, as is Meghan’s rock star persona. That allows for all kinds of eccentricities. I can’t wait for Lisa and Valentine’s story.” Woot! Full review is here.

About Valentine and Lisa’s story, I took down the free ebook and am trying to figure out what to do with it. Even though I had it here free, people buying and reading Night Music didn’t know about Night Rhythm. I’d have to expand it to sell it to Samhain, so I am considering my options, there. I’d like to make it easier for people to get their Sirens all in one spot.

PBW’s list of what she read in a week had my jaw hanging open and my soul writhing in envy. All that reading! I don’t get time to read that much. But I am making more room in my schedule to read, and I thought I’d start with keeping track of everything I read and listing it here. Maybe once a month, my month in books. I’ve never kept a reading journal, but I’ve noticed several readers do and it strikes me as a good idea to at least write down on a list somewhere all the books, magazines, etc. I read. (Another recent decision: read more magazines. I got out of the habit, and I could stand to broaden my reading horizons.) So I will keep track through July and do a round-up at the end of the month.

What I’ve read in the past week:
Stray, Rachel Vincent
All About Evie, Beth Ciotta
The Good Guy, Dean Koontz

Up next: The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes, Crusie/Dreyer/Stuart.

What are you reading?

1. Read over and revise the previous day’s (or session’s) writing. It’s a nice warmup for easing into the flow of the story and getting new words going.
2. 10 minutes timed writing about anything at all. If you don’t stop until the 10 minutes are up, you did it right.
3. Think about the 5 senses, look at the scene you’re writing, and imagine how and what the characters see, feel, hear, smell, taste.
4. Baby steps. Write for ten minutes on the work in progress, take a break. Work another ten minutes, take a break. You can fill up a lot of pages with baby steps.
5. “If you’re blocked, lower your sights.” This is my favorite Lawrence Block quote, and it’s very true. Quit thinking about the book’s future sales or performance. It doesn’t have to be the best novel ever written. It just has to be YOUR novel, and written.
6. Play “how many ways”. How many ways could this scene be written, or how many ways could it end? How many ways can your character communicate the piece of information that has to be said? Iambic pentameter, rap, sign language. Sure, you’ll come up with silly ideas that won’t work, but you’ll get out of a mental rut.
7. Read. Reading greases the wheels of the imagination.
8. Start with a starter sentence, and go on from there. If you can’t think of a starter sentence, there’s always the classic, “It was a dark and stormy night”. Raid your bookshelf for somebody else’s sentence and use that as your starter.
9. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Instead of thinking of writing the whole book and feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the task, focus on writing this page. This scene.
10. If you really can’t get yourself going, maybe something is wrong with the story. Write for 10 minutes about the project, how you feel about it, what you suspect is causing you to stop. I often get hung up because there’s something I have to go back and fix in the first act in order to set up the story’s correct development in the second and third acts.
11. If you already know what’s broken, go fix it. Don’t be a Nazi about not making changes until the bitter end. Fixing it now will save you work.
12. If you can’t figure out what’s broken and can’t move forward, ask a friend or two to read it for you and give feedback. Even if you don’t have a regular critique partner, there’s probably a writer in your acquaintance that you can ask. In return, be willing to read their broken story and help them out when they need it.
13. Write something else. Yes, if all else fails, put that project aside and write something else. Keep moving forward. Prove to yourself that you can still write, build up your confidence, and eventually that tangled manuscript will unsnarl itself and you’ll move forward on it again.

I’m at RTB talking about S-E-X. Writing it, that is. Come on over and share your thoughts!

The Tied to the Tracks meme is Rosina Lippi’s very creative way to get the word out about her paperback release! Visit her site for details. Participate and you can build up some good karma and a chance to win $100 Amazon gift certificate. My contribution: 5 Reasons The Best Writers Come From Middle Earth.

1. When the writing gets tough, the tough stop for second breakfast. This gives us the strength to go on.
2. Blowing elaborate smoke circles with pipeweed gives the brain a good chance to work out plot points.
3. We avoid adventures. Nasty things, make you late for dinner. This means we’re always home to write.
4. We’re very good at keeping the faith. The king will return, you know. And the book will sell.
5. We have a wizard for a literary agent. If Gandalf can fight off Balrogs, he can deal with gotcha clauses.

Tied to the Tracks by Rosina Lippi. July 3, 2007. ISBN: 0425215326

“[This] is a hilarious, smart, sexy novel with a heart of gold.” — Susan Wiggs

“[Lippi] turns her buoyant creative talents to the romantic comedy genre with an effervescent tale of a trio of offbeat Yankee filmmakers plunked down deep in the heart of Dixie.” — Booklist

Read an excerpt. (Adobe Reader required)| Watch the book trailer

You can find Tied to the Tracks at Amazon , Barnes & Nobel, Borders, Powells, or at your local independent bookseller.

This meme has been entered in the Tied to the Tracks contest, originating on Rosina Lippi’s Storytelling2 weblog. If you’d like to enter the BUCKS & BOOKS meme contest, get the rules here.

4 Stars from JERR: “Only Human was a quick read that kept my attention from start to finish. The characters of Elaine and Damon are the focus of this short, intense story and they really grabbed my attention. I was hooked by the paranormal elements, sensuality, emotional development, and both characters. I really enjoyed Only Human. I will be looking for more stories by Charlene Teglia.”

5 Hearts from My Book Cravings: “Charlene Teglia did it again. She wrote a great story with a wonderful man in it that shows Elaine that there is much more to life then her job. I love anything to do with books with Psychic men or woman in them. The draw of being able to see what someone needs before they do or help them when there is danger makes the story so much more for me. I look forward to reading more from this author.”

I love how they both say “More”.

My reading recommendation: If you’re looking for a big, fun, sexy contemporary, grab yourself a copy of Beth Ciotta’s All About Evie! I am a huge fan of con artist caper plots so I’ve been looking forward to this ever since Beth’s sale announcement, and it did not disappoint. The chemistry between Arch and Evie sizzles, the characters are fully realized and multi-dimensional, the emotions add depth and heart to a very fun caper plot, and the pace never lags. I loved the kick-off to The Chameleon Chronicles and cannot wait to find out what happens next!

Well, vacation time is over. The past few days have been the first in a very long time that I took off on purpose. Not sick days, not severe weather days that shut me down against my will but actual on purpose days off. By the calendar I couldn’t afford them, but by the state of my brain I couldn’t afford not to take them. I’ve been skirting the edge of burnout in a state I’m calling brownout. You know when the power grid is overloaded and the lights start to dim and flicker and things surge, but it’s not actually a power failure? The mental equivalent of this.

You know you’re in brownout when everything takes longer than it should because you just don’t have enough juice. The cure for brownout is to heed the warning signs and act before it becomes burnout, and then progresses to something worse like a full-on block. I made the choice to take time off while my parents were here, whether I was done with the projects I’m working on or not. (Not, as it happens.) I made the choice to celebrate and be happy and spend time with my family and take lots of walks. Last weekend I chose to spend two nights staying up late to read. Yesterday I chose to dive into Stray and read it from start to finish.

I still have deadlines. I still have revisions to finish and return. I still have more work than I like to think about right now to finish before 2007 ends. But the best way to get all that work done is to take care of the engine that drives it all. Laugh with the people I love, look for Bigfoot, watch a young bald eagle perch on top of a tree like a very awkward ornament, read books, listen to music, eat cake, and understand that there is more to life than work, and if all I do is work, pretty soon there’s not much flavor to life and not much fuel to feed the work.

Today I’m finishing revisions on Satisfaction and reading All About Evie. I love me some con artist caper romance! Happy Sunday, all.