La La Is No Longer Lagging Behind

Did the title have enough L's for you?

I have caught up on my blogging. I'm also still plugging away (eww) on Cobra. I created a few Pinterest boards because I felt like goofing around. Today, I was reminded of how much certain BBA fawn over me. Can you blame them?

Let's get the blogging shout outs done first. I found a cool zombie anthology and blogged about it on Where Zombies Come to Read. Back in March, I interviewed a badass author named Armand Rosamilia. He contributes to this anthology, so it should be bloody awesome.

If this gif got you in a sexy mood, I have great news! KT Grant has a new erotic novel coming out next month. She was sweet enough to share the cover and blurb. I posted them on Indie Angie and will let everyone know when this sizzling romance is on sale.

On Bijou's blog, I updated readers on my goals for the Damaged series. I plan to have a cover and blurb ready by next week. My brain is fully entrenched in Ellsberg now. No goofing off with side books. All Aaron and Lark, all of the time.

For Dakota's blog, I added an excerpt from The Fallen. My hope is to publish the third book in the series in late Oct/early Nov.

On the Whisperer, we wrote our Weekly Whiny Whiner Update. It was a hit with the whiners. Three of the jayholes we profiled have responded to it by saying they don't care what we say. Caught you looking though, didn't we?

Finally, I want to wish a belated birthday to two bitching babes who shared a birthday yesterday! One is Jenni from Denny's. Today is her Friday, so here's hoping she spends her "weekend" partying. Sweet Gail baked a cake for Jenni. So many of the people at the restaurant are like family and I heart all over them.

The second birthday babe is Sidwell. I salute her ability to be a serious professional, cool mom, sexy wife, and hip chick. Unlike so many Grumpy Gertrudes like in the gif (think PP, Athelissa, and Enema), Sidwell doesn't allow age to define her cool. My pal will be rocking to indie bands, vacationing in eclectic spots, and being awesome even when she's a geriatric babe. Some people are simply born to be a space angel and Sidwell is one of them.

Farewell For Now, Cool Beans!

What an exhausting week! I worked two days at Cool Beans Elementary and adored both classes and not in a fake "all kids are great" way. The kids at Cool Beans are simply charming. After all, there's a reason I made an exception this year for the school.

Since writing is my core employment now, I really didn't need to work at Cool Beans. I tried though because the kids are dolls and the teachers and support staff are awesome too. Yet, with only so many hours in the day, I've made the decision to stop taking jobs for the rest of the year. I still have plans to publish between five and eight more books by January. This means I must say farewell to Cool Beans for 2013!

Bijou readers are getting restless for the next Damaged book. I said Cobra would be ready in late September. They don't care about pen names' books. They want it now! I feel like a lame La La to take this long to finish the book. The upside is I hope to publish Outlaw around Halloween, so readers will have less time to wait between books.

Dmitri is on hold until Cobra is in the hands of beta readers. Same with Blue Awakening and obvious Rebound Biker. I'm panicking a little at how it's already September and I have a ton of writing and editing left to do. No way will I get all of my projected projects completed this year. Bummer. The must haves are:

1) Damaged and the Cobra

2) Damaged and the Outlaw

3) Dmitri (Catalina demands her book this year)

4) Scattered (needs a good editing and revised ending)

5) Wounded Soul (really big edit needed)

6) Blue Awakening

7) Damaged and the Dragon

Hopefully, I can get Gigi or Shadow Sisters started by the end of the year. Would love to get Rebound Biker done in early 2014 for the Etta pen name.

Regular readers probably remember my Denny's buddy Bill. Well, the guy is frigging badass and I'm totally writing him as a character in my next zombie book. He got all shy when I told him, but that's just how the guy is about attention.

You also might remember my fangirl Margo who humps my every move. A few weeks ago, I said she was writing another book and I hoped she would focus on writing instead of being a BBA. Nope. She's back to harassing readers and ignoring her writing. It's obvious where her priorities rest.

Another fangirl is Princess PP who linked her whine blog to my personal blog because she's hearting for me. Since she wanted a shout out, here it is.

In case you don't know, PP is a whiny woman who wears silly hats, writes awful books, cites herself as an editor on her books, and has never met a misogynistic pig she couldn't cuddle with. She's a winner for sure.

The funny thing is she claims I should focus on writing, instead of being "mean" to her. Hmm...since I learned she existed (back around January), I've published five books and two have actually done well. I don't think I need to worry about my priorities. Unlike Margo and PP, I can multitask.

The not so funny part is how PP named her new blog "Trollstomp." Classy, huh? She acts so uppity and refined, but her blog's title is a threat of violence. After all, I'm one of the "trolls" she hates and she wants to stomp me. Anger management classes clearly need to be in her future.

My blog tracking her bad behavior is called BBA Whisperer. Yes, I whisper to the badly behaving authors in the hopes of changing their vile ways. Meanwhile, PP threatens violence. You know, when she isn't abusing a thesaurus in a sad attempt to seem smart.

One of PP's buddies is Bad Santa who has admitted he plans to track down the personal information of readers and post them on his blog. We wrote about this on BBA Whisperer this week. I also had a lot of fun writing about Bankie Boy needing his diaper changed. The guy is a whiny loser who seems especially angry at women. PP's friends are the epitome of class.

You know who actually is classy? My new reviewer Deadly Dee. She reviewed an awesome author's books this week. I talked up Vincenzo Bilof last week and Dee couldn't say enough wonderful things about his books. Loved them! What a great start to our reviewing feature on Where Zombies Come to Read.

Since I worked at Cool Beans last week, I didn't have a chance to blog for Indie Angie or Bijou. I hope to get caught up in the next few days.

Most of all, I'm focused on finishing Cobra, so I can give it to my beta readers. As always, I have the amazing Candy Girl and Mustang Sally. This time, I'm also blessed with the help of a few great readers who enjoyed the first two Damaged books. My goal is to have Cobra published by October 1. Wish me, Lark, and Aaron luck!!!

Romance and Zombies in the Air

Ooh-la-la! Writing three romance novels would put anyone in a loving mood. This week has been fun and busy. Where to begin?

Got my writing groove going. Wrote a Cooper POV scene for the Bijou blog. Also this week, Three Chicks and Their Books gave Damaged and the Beast a lovely shout out. Plus, a cool chickadee told me about her review for Beast on a saucy blog called Wicked Little Pixie.

Goals-wise, I plan to have Cobra completed by mid to late September. I adore writing Aaron's POV and the novel feels so much bigger because we can see Ellsberg from different perspectives.

I'm so glad readers suggested I write dual POVs. I know F&G mocks me for listening to readers (better for authors to crap on their customers obviously...that's just good business), but I've gained so much from thinking of every reader as a nugget of wisdom.

I'm still buddy writing Dmitri, even though Cobra is receiving the most love right now. Catalina is a riot and Dmitri is a sexy beast. Can't wait to give them my full attention.

Goofing around with scenes from The Rebound Biker. Nothing overly focused though since I need to check Cobra and Dmitri off my to-write list soon. Blue Awakening and Outlaw are must finish projects by end of November too. Oh, and Scattered for Dakota. Sigh. Write faster, La La!

An author who knows how to churn out a great book fast is M. Lauryl Lewis. She's published three books in her Grace zombie series in less than a year. Normally, she writes a book at a time, but I must have been a bad influence because she started working on Schiessl House while writing Fallen from Grace. It's been a long time since I read a great ghost story, so I'm psyched about spooky Schiessl House.

Unsatisfied to simply instill my bad buddy writing habits on Lauryl, I also got it into my head that she should try writing a New Adult romance. Lauryl has a talent for romance after all. She even made a zombie series sexy! Well, I suggested this idea a week ago and Lauryl already has a title, cover, pen name, and the first few chapters completed for her first contemporary novel. Go, Lauryl, go!

Another great author is Chantal Fernando who is preparing to publish another sexy novel. I met Chantal through my Bijou books and interviewed her on Indie Angie. Now, I have the honor of showing off the cover for Maybe This Time. Sizzle. I'll let everyone know when the book is out.

Speaking of new releases, Vincenzo Bilof just published the second book in his Zombie Ascension series titled Queen of the Dead. I interviewed him on Where Zombies Come to Read back in April. The guy's a real talent in the horror field and I'm excited that his books will be the first my zombie blog reviews. With Lauryl's help, I found a reader dubbed "Deadly Dee" to review books. I'm thrilled to add this feature to the zombie blog.

Super busy on the Whisperer blog this week. F&G has been in a meltdown state and our moles have made it easy to find the hate site's weak spots. Athelissa even responded to one of our posts by attacking an author she claimed to support. It was a fine moment in the struggle to show indie authors the path to professionalism. The more F&G falls apart and displays their nasty reader-hating colors, the sooner the rest of us indies can create a better image in the industry.

Great week around the Horn homestead. Summer is giving its last hot hurrah as autumn teases us from around the corner. La La does love her some fall leaves, jack-o-lanterns, and cooler weather!

High Five for Book Five

What a wild week! Highs and lows, joy and anger, giggles and growls. In the end, it was more positive than negative.

Finally published Vivi#2 aka Ain't No Queen. Thanks again to Candy Girl and Mustang Sally for their help preparing the book. In Candy Girl's case, she helped edit the book, pick the cover, and work on the blurb. She's a badass friend.

I'm currently working on four books. I have a sickness, I tell ya! Still slowly writing Blue Awakening. Fellow author and super sweet friend Lauryl gave the first Blue a shout out. Having gotten a taste of her newest horror book Schiessl House, I can say she's writing one heck of a freaky novel. The cover alone has me salivating for its release.

My writing focus is mainly on the romances. This week, I started Dmitri for my Carys Marie pen name. I had worried about Dmitri being too much of a pig or having a personality that would naturally lead to cheating. I hate cheaters. I wrote the first scenes when Dmitri meets Catalina and they hit just the note. Dmitri was the right amount of strutting bad boy without being a Cooper ripoff.

Working on Damaged and the Cobra too and I am loving how Aaron is coming along. Less certain about Lark. How strange that I was so worried about the H and it's the h who is giving me trouble now. I hadn't been able to figure out Tawny either initially, but she ended up being my favorite Smith sister.

The fourth book is one for my new pen name Etta Simone. I had initially planned to release it under Bijou's name, but I decided to make the characters older. Thirty! One foot in the grave really. The working title is The Rebound Biker and I'm still in the plotting phase.

My goal is still to get Dmitri and Cobra out next month. Unsure if I'll make both books. Really unsure if I can get Blue done. I do know in September I'll start editing Scattered, the third book in the Angelic Redemption series. It's finished but needs deep editing before it'll be ready for the beta readers.

Blogging took up a lot of my week. On Where Zombies Come to Read, I interviewed author R.J. Spears. I had an interview for Indie Angie with New Adult romance author Chantal Fernando. I was also lucky enough to share excerpts from God Attacks! by J.R. Kiefer and Schiessl House by M. Lauryl Lewis. Plus, I worked on several posts for the Whisperer blog. There were so many lies to sort out and bullies to profile that it took awhile to organize. Agent M kept me focused and tracked down the info. As usual, we made a great team.

One of the butthurt authors I've put in the mocklight has decided to make herself the victim (shock). A few months ago, she used a slur against the disabled and said she used bats to deal with them. She claimed later to be kidding. Then, she claimed she liked saying the slur for the attention she received for her blog. She proceeded to use the slur a few more times. Now, she's decided she's the victim.

She even had her friends message me to say how she's the nicest person ever and I'm mean and should never speak for the disabled. Let them speak for themselves. Though her friend who wrote this comment claimed to have autism, I assume he doesn't have much experience with others with spectrum.

Communication difficulties are a common problem for those with autism. Even those with strong verbal skills can have trouble explaining their feelings or standing up for themselves. I know a teenager who is essentially nonverbal. His only speech is parroting. One word he parrots when upset is the slur this author used so lightly.

While I doubt he knows the meaning behind the R-word, he understands enough. When he was called this slur, he was six-year-old. Ten years later, he still uses the word when angry. He knows it meant the woman thought he was defective and inferior. He knows it meant he was bad.

Explaining otherwise does no good because he lacks the cognitive skills to rationalize what happened. He can't tell himself the person who used the slur was wrong. He certainly couldn't stand up for himself as a child or even now as a teenager. I suspect when he's sixty that he'll still call himself the slur. It's burned into his mind.

Yet, the author and her friends think I should lighten up. After all, she was just being funny. They claim it's a common thing to say. Maybe it's a cultural difference. Possibly, these people live in a place where using slurs against others is acceptable. However, I live in the US where it's considered cruel and wrong.

It was disheartening to see how far people will go to defend the indefensible. There is a lot of talk of bullying lately and I can't imagine anything worse than mocking those unable to defend themselves.

As you can see it was an emotional week. The upside is I've published my fifth book this year. I'm writing again and no longer have to focus on boring editing. This week, I enjoyed promoting positive professional authors while Agent M and I showcased the badly behaving ones. As I wrote above, the week was more happy than sad so I'll end with cute Boo...

Happy Birthday, Freckles!

Freckles is celebrating his birthday in Heaven today. Hey, bro. Had planned to publish Vivi on this special day, but decided it would just make everything stressful. Instead, I’ll bake a cake and order his favorite food for dinner.

It's been an amazing week. On Wednesday, I worked at a great school here in Yama. Cool Beans Elementary has an awesome vibe to it. I especially enjoy the ethnic makeup of the elementary students. It reminds me of when I was growing up in a suburb of Los Angeles. Instead of Koreans, the Asian students at Cool Beans Elementary are mainly immigrants from Myanmar.

Most of the children are first generation English speakers, but they embrace education and are some of most charming kids you’ll meet. It’s why I choose to work at Cool Beans out of the dozens of schools available.

Writing is paying the bills, so I don’t plan to teach much this year. For Cool Beans, I’ll make an exception because I have the best time there.

The sweetest part of Wednesday was seeing a boy I’d met when he was in kindergarten. From a quiet kindergartner to a five feet tall fourth grader, he remains as focused, intelligent, and personable as I remember. Even now, I’m grinning thinking about him.

Started my buddy write yesterday. A few sexy scenes between Dmitri and Catalina. Yep, that’s how I write my romances. Jump right into the naughty parts and then build around them. Sizzle.

As for Cobra, I put together a fun scene between Cooper and Aaron. While I worried about getting into Aaron’s head, I've found it a comforting place. He makes more sense to me as I create his back story. Aaron’s not a haunted guy like Judd or an OTT guy like Cooper. He’s a guy suited for love, but he’s missing his girl. This longing is fun to play around with and I had a good time writing him.

Found a sexy pic of a guy I’m using as “inspiration” for Aaron. No tats, but the bod and face are just right. I’ll post it on the Bijou blog in a few days. Also, plan to write up a scene with Coop, Judd, and Vaughn this week.

Remember the reader who wanted signed copies of the Damaged books? Well, she’s a NA romance author too! Her series looks really hot and I’m interviewing her for the Indie Angie blog. I love how connected the world has become because of technology.

Lauryl has given me the go-ahead to publish an excerpt for her fourth book. Fallen From Grace isn't due until winter, but you can get a glimpse on Indie Angie. I’ll have it posted on Where Zombies Come to Read in a few days.

With August halfway over, I hope everyone is staying cool and badass.

How awkward!

Weirdest thing happened yesterday. I was working at Denny's (not the weird part) and one of the regulars started talking books with me (again not weird). She likes those Southern mystery-type books. I don't write them but found myself recommending one. Here's the weird part. It was a Peggy Holloway book.

If you don't know who Peggy is (get in line), she's an indie BBA who whined about reviewers months ago. Why would I recommend her book? Two reasons. Well, mainly one. Here's a hint: p-ty.

Reason One: Mustang Sally read a book by Peggy and didn't hate it (got it for free, of course). She didn't love it either, but that genre isn't really her deal. I tried reading it, but I don't have the patience to read much the last few months. The book wasn't bad. I don't mean it wasn't bad compared to books by BBA like Spamalotta and Krazy Monkey Ass (shudder). I mean, it was an okay read.

Reason Two: I do pity Peggy. I can imagine the chick was trying to fit in with the cool kids back in December when she kissed Claude's stinky ass. All of the lame losers in her author groups were bitching about reviewers, so Peggy did too. She's a sheep, not a shepherd. What did it get her though?

Nothing.

When Breaking Bad Santa posted her picture and called her a liar on his FB page, where were all of her BBA buddies? They didn't give a shit.

Scammer Mouse didn't even offer to buy her damn books like she did with Butt Plug. Athelissa allows Hoax Hugger to post on her shitsite at will, even though she doesn't like him.

No one likes the fucker, but that's the point. They hate readers so much that any author who attacks a reviewer is immediately in their clique. Standards aren't in their vocabulary since none of the shitheads stuck up for Peggy. Not Princess PP or Annabutt. Not the other jerks whose names I don't remember. No one. In fact, Rick still has Peggy's picture plastered on his FB page where he calls her a liar and none of them care.

So I felt sorry for Peggy who wrote an okay book and was screwed over by her allies in the asshat arena. I guess I felt sorry for her because no one else did and she deserved some defending.

Rick was full of shit by attacking her for being a prolific reviewer. Just because he doesn't read or review books except for those belonging to his friends and clients, doesn't mean other people don't read and review a lot. Mustang Sally has read tens of thousands of books over the years. Who's to say Peggy hasn't too? Screw Dipshit for saying otherwise and screw the F&G fucks for not defending Peggy over that piece of shit.

With that said, Peggy remains on my BBA list and I'm not planning to friend her or anything. It was just weird to be in the position of recommending a BBA's book. I think I'm getting too nice in my old age.

Otherwise, the last few days were all kinds of tough because of my new tomato allergy. Getting the hang of avoiding my beloved fruit is tricky since I love salsa, spaghetti, and ketchup. Even as I type this, the bottle of ketchup at Denny's is mocking me.

I've started writing three books today while Candy Girl beta reads Vivi. My main goal is to write Damaged and the Cobra since it's the book that readers want. The last few days I've craved writing Dmitri though. I think because the heroine is Vivi-like and I enjoyed goofing around with her. Blue isn't a goofing around character, but I need to finish the series soon. As much as I liked writing young adult, I'd rather stick to adult books for a year or two.

Oh, Mustang Sally wants a laptop now. In the past, she never had interest in one. As soon as extra money started coming into the house, suddenly she thinks a laptop would help her proof my books. Uh-huh.

I've wanted to buy her one for a while. As I wrote above, she's a hardcore reader. A book a day. While the local library is stellar, more and more of their catalog is ebooks. Sally prefers physical copies, but I know she'd love access to a wider selection. Just the free books on Amazon would keep her in reader heaven. Since Sally's a Libra, her birthday is just around the corner. I guess I know what I'm buying her.

Before I sign off, let me draw attention to a few awesome authors. On Where Zombies Come to Read, I interview J. Powell. His book, Vermont Voodoo, takes zombies in a great new direction. Very cool.

Also, Grace Lost by Lauryl will only be .99 for a while longer. Her zombie books are sexy fun. The sexy isn't with the zombies. Just wanted to clarify that.

KT Grant just released a new paranormal romance called Sharp Bite of Pleasure.

Let's finish with some funky ginger fun...

Sad Week for La La

The first week of school is always stressful, but this one was tougher than usual. So much mayhem and I'm finally ready to air my woes. Get your hankies ready, ladies, gents, and circus freaks (I see you there).

First, Candy Girl (MM) and Lauryl were feeling crappy at the start of the week. The latter still managed stellar writing and blogging. The former managed to make BBA shit themselves. Can't keep those badass babes down.

On Tuesday, my great uncle passed away. He had suffered from health issues for several decades, but it was still a shock. He's high fiving Freckles in heaven now.

I just finished editing Vivi today. It still needs to be picked apart by Mustang Sally and Candy Girl. Haven't started on the blurb or cover either. Unsure if I'll make my deadline.

While the beta readers do their thing, I'll write up a few Cooper POV scenes for the Bijou blog. Blue and Cobra are waiting too. My goal is to write Cobra as a novel rather than a novella. Let's see if the material warrants a full-length book.

Another tough part of my week is holding back a lot of the info I've gotten from moles inside the F&G camp. I'd love to dish all of the juicy details in one info dump after another, but it'll be more fun to spread out the love over a few weeks. Yet, it's difficult because new info is provided almost daily. Gotta stick to my slow-sell strategy, though.

A particular asshat who has dubbed herself Road Kill was on my nerves this week. The emotionally stunted pet is in a rage because I plan to write mermaid books. She acts like she totally invented the concept of mermaids with a shitty book no one's read. What a wanker.

FYI, Bad Santa is freaking out because the Whisperers plan to air his dirty laundry on the blog. Here's a tip, old timer. Don't piss off your allies and they won't come running to us to sell you out. Just saying. Oh, and word has it that Signore Puke was really upset to learn he's not sexy. Shit, someone buy this fucker a mirror already.

As some of you know, I was dealt a huge blow this week when I learned I might be allergic to tomatoes. Anyone who has read my "All about La La" page knows how I love me some tomatoes. I eat them every fucking day. It could be worse, though. I could be allergic to onions. NOOOOOO!!!

Next, I'll answer the question many of you have been asking me since my last post.

Unfortunately, Tinker is still crazy obsessed with canned food. All attempts to wean her from the addiction have failed. Mostly because I can't tolerate all of her whiny meowing. Hell, don't I hear enough whining from BBA? At least, my precious angel (in the body of an evil cat) is fucking adorable. Even those crazy eyes watching me whenever I near the kitchen warm the heart. She's a precious nutter, for sure.

This week wasn't all tomato allergies, addicted cats, sad losses, and giggles at the expense of duh. On Friday, my pals Dick and Maryann showed up at Denny's and asked me to sign Damaged and the Beast. It turned into a signing party where the servers I dedicated the book to also left their autographs. We had a great time and I think it really made their day.

On that upbeat note, let's end with a happy Boo...