Spring Fever has begun!

I’ve been working like crazy lately. It was okay when it was cold and ugly outside, but now that the sun has been shining and the temperature’s rising, I’m feeling the fever. It’s really hard to concentrate when I know I could be outside having fun.



This is not a good time to be losing my concentration, that’s for sure. We’re waiting on state to come in and do their annual inspection of our facility. Which really isn’t a big deal. We’re a good home and we provide good care. It’s just that this is my first inspection and I’m nervous. I know I really shouldn’t be, but I am anyway. I tend to worry about stupid things I shouldn’t.

Not only that, but I’m studying to take my Nursing Home Administrator test to get my Administrator’s License. I really don’t want to screw that up. It would mean at least doubling my salary. I could really use that right now. So, fingers crossed that I can get through this in one piece.

I really haven’t given up on my writing, I swear! I’ve just had too much on my plate lately. Once I get through this test, I promise to do better again. Cross my heart. I’m actually excited to get busy with my writing projects, which I haven’t been for quite some time. But, I know for the sake of good writing, I don’t have the ability to do it justice right now. That will change.

So, anyway, spring fever is not helping out my situation at the moment. I keep fantasizing about hopping in my car and driving to somewhere fun. Anywhere but here. I’m a major road trip freak! To me, that’s the best thing in the world. I love to travel.



Have you been feeling the bug? Has spring fever set in for you yet? How do you deal with it? Leave me a comment and let me know!

What’s Your Fantasy?

Tonight, I’m sitting at home watching Extreme Home Makeover, and it’s an awesome episode! This family is totally deserving of a home makeover (If you can call it that! They completely tore down their old home and built a new one). While the show was building them a new house, they sent the family on a rock and roll vacation. The family was a very giving group that ran a non-profit music school and so the vacation was a dream come true for them. They got to spend time with KISS and the dad got to play the drums with the band. How awesome would that be? Even if you don’t care for rock music, you’d have to appreciate what a life changing experience that would be.

It got me to thinking, what would be your fantasy? I’m not sure if I could even come up with just one thing. There are tons of people I’d like to meet, and millions of things I’d like to do. For one, I’d love to travel around the world and see all the amazing things out there. I’d love to spend time in Italy, Greece, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia…to name a few. :D That would be awe inspiring!

I’d love to meet some of the musical artists/groups that I listen to all the time. For one, I’d love to meet Brad Paisley. I bet he has an amazing personality. He’d have to. His songs are fun. I love to listen to music that can make me laugh and want to dance at the same time. I’d also like to meet Kelly Pickler. She seems to have a great personality, as well. Of course, those a just a couple of the many, many people on my list.

I’d also be thrilled to go to New York and get to tour a major publishing house. I’d love to see the inner workings of the business. To meet the editors. To see the slush pile. That would be a dream come true for me!

So, what is your fantasy? What would be something that would be life changing for you? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Awesome Giveaway of adult fantasy books filled with myth, magic, eroticism, and the Tarot by Ravenous Romance author Cecilia Tan

Hurts So Good

by Cecilia Tan

I'm a big fan of suffering.
I don't mean I like stubbing my toe, or being cold or hungry. I mean I enjoy it when the main character of a book I'm reading suffers. And as a writer, this means I especially like it when the main character of a book I'm WRITING suffers.

My poor characters. I really do put them through a lot. I'm writing a four book series now called Magic University, which is basically my version of a Harry-Potter-style tale, but set in a college and with my own ideas of magic. As with the Potter books, each book takes place in one school year, and I recently finished writing the second book in the series (The Tower and the Tears, just released last week). It's not really a spoiler to tell you some traumatic things happen to our hero. No surprise there.
The surprise was that although I had planned for him to get over it by year two, when I actually started writing it, it turned out he was definitely not over any of it. Apparently what I'd put him through left him more deeply affected than even I'd realized at the time. While considering this fact, I decided that ultimately it was a good thing. Why? Two reasons. One, if I'm affecting my character so deeply that he's refusing to move on, perhaps it means I am affecting my readers deeply as well. Two, because one aspect of the Harry Potter books I never found believable is that Harry seems so unaffected by the horrible things that happen to him, and so in my world, I want my hero to be changed by his experiences.

 
Which isn't to say that I want things to swing totally the other way into being emo. Kyle, my main character in The Siren and the Sword (book one of the series) takes a lot of things in stride. But I did discover just how deep the scars really go. It changed the way book two unfolded and intensified the effect of the traumas he meets in his second year, as well. There is suffering, there is heartbreak, there are "learning experiences" which are painful.

Of course, when my characters suffer, my readers suffer, too. But in a good way, I hope. Because really, I want the experience of reading to be good for them. The Magic University books are romance, after all. I'm not giving away anything by saying there will be a happy ending. But in a four book series, the end can seem very far away!
Hang in there, Kyle. I start writing book three in two weeks. You get a reprieve until then.

 

Blurb: Kyle is a college sophomore worrying about the usual things students do, like what he's going to major in and getting along with his dorm mates, but he attends a most unusual college. He's a student at Veritas, the hidden magical university inside Harvard.
Before he got to Harvard, Kyle hadn't even known he was magical. Now he finds he has a talent for sex magic and the erotic arts. Not only that, a girl in his sex magic class has a crush on him. Kyle looks forward to lots of "study sessions" together with Ciara and their friend Marjory, but when their professor is mysteriously attacked, Kyle finds himself embroiled in a mystery deeper than university department politics. Someone has been stealing magical artifacts and the dean suspects Ciara, sending Kyle on a quest to discover the real culprit.
Kyle will learn sizzling sexual technique and unleash powerful magic on his incredible erotic journey, but is the study of sex really the route to true love? Perhaps what Kyle needs to learn about most is himself.

Bio: Cecilia Tan has been writing professionally since she was a teenager, which she definitely isn't, anymore. She is the author of several romances for Ravenous Romance, including her "Harry Potter for adults" the Magic University series and Mind Games, as well as the BDSM sci-fi adventure Royal Treatment just released from Torquere Press. Her literary erotica has been published nearly everywhere. She loves tea, baseball, cats, and books, and more of her thoughts on these and other subjects can be found at her blog: http://blog.ceciliatan.com.

Buy link, book one: http://www.ravenousromance.com/fantastica/magic-university-book-one-the-siren-and-the-sword.php
Buy link, book two: http://www.ravenousromance.com/fantastica/magic-university-the-tower-and-the-tears.php

 

The Tower and the Tears is the second book in the Magic University series by Cecilia Tan. Bringing together myth, magic, eroticism, and the Tarot, the Magic University books are for all the adult readers of classic fantasy who want a bedtime tale of their own.

 

WIN Book one or Book two

Leave your comment for Cecilia, follow this blog and you’ll be entered  to win.

 

Thanks!

 

Tierney O’Malley

Hey there all,

I’m so glad to be a part of the “Wicked Thorn and Roses” blog. But what does that mean? Well, let’s break it down, shall we? According to dictionary.com ‘wicked’ means:

wick⋅ed /ˈwɪkɪd/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [wik-id] adjective, -er, -est, adverb
1. evil or morally bad in principle or practice
2. mischievous or playfully malicious
3. slang: wonderful; great; masterful; deeply satisfying.

I think wicked can mean so much more than what the dictionary states, especially when it comes to writing and being an author. That feeling I get when I’ve placed down a choice word or phrase, or I’ve completed a manuscript, ready to send out into the big wide world is wicked. I think wicked can cover that sort feeling and so much more.

When characters I’ve created come to life, take over and have thoughts and dreams and hopes and love just like they are really living it is amazing. That’s why I love writing so much. I can create anything, go anywhere, and above all, put my characters under so much that I become compelled by how they react and concerned with how their story will end.

So yes, I am a ‘wicked’ writer and pleased to be a part of the Wicked Thorn and Roses blog. My writing centres around the fantasy and sci-fi genres, with a male/male twist…well, okay, there’s plenty of male/male action, you got me on that! Lol But the true essence of what my stories are about is the character. How the character reacts or doesn’t in some cases is paramount for any writing in my opinion.

So what does the ‘Thorn and the Roses’ part mean? Well, that’s simple really.. I’m the thorn (being the male, of course…although one would hope ‘thorn’ didn’t relate to a certain body part. Mine’s waaaayyyy bigger than that *grin*) and the five other authors I share this blog with are the beautiful roses, always in bloom. Naturally.

Anyway, enough of me blathering about what I write. Why not see for yourself. Comment on my post and you could have a chance of winning a free copy of my latest release “Call of the Hunted.” Yep…you heard, for free!

Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you all next time.
*hugs*
Mark Alders.