After careful consideration – I have come to the conclusion that both my writing personas can co-exist in the same blog space…

But a change had to be made to make them feel at home…

So, please follow the link to the new blog home of Debora Dennis and Desiree Miller -

The Saucy Scribe!

See you there…

Find today’s blog entry at my alter-ego – Desiree Miller!

Wow – have I been a bad, bad blogger? Yes, I have.

So, here’s the deal: Now that I have my novel out making some rounds, and waiting till after the holiday rush to be delivered to others – I’ve decided I needed to cleanse my writing palate. To do that, I’ve decided to write my first erotic novella! Really, what else is a girl supposed to do when an idea materializes in her head and it just won’t leave?

And I couldn’t just write a novella without creating an erotic pen name to go along with it, and that of course meant a new website to go along with the name (Desiree Miller)…and I think you get the picture on where my head has been lately!

Now for the hard part…I absolutely can’t blog in two places everyday. From now on, I’m thinking of splitting the blogging between my two alter-egos (DD Mills & Desiree Miller).

My new schedule will be:

Man Monday – Desiree Miller’s blog
Tuesday – Here
Wednesday – Desiree Miller’s blog
Thursday 13 – FREE DAY (could be either one, I love to keep people guessing!)
Friday – Here

Moving on —-

I’ve been tagged by Sandra to blog about one of my earliest childhood memories. Thinking back that long ago before I’ve had my second cup of coffee is probably asking for trouble, but here goes.

I think one of my earliest memories occurred when I was three or four. I was playing out around my Grandparent’s house in the summer. I remember running through the grass, in and out of bushes and laughing. Even at that young age, I hated wearing shoes and would take them off whenever my grandmother wasn’t looking. Nex thing I know, I’ve stepped on a bumble bee and the stinger is attached to the bottom of my little foot. I remember my grandmother scooping me up and gently removing the stinger and kissing the bottom of my foot and then enveloping me in her arms while I cried. I remember her scent and her voice like it was yesterday. (She’s gone now, but not forgotten!)

Okay that’s it for me…

Who shall I tag to delve into their past and post a memory?

Jennifer
Jennifer
Valerie
Lara

What’s the next best thing to announcing my own sale? Announcing the first sale of a friend, of course!

So, since I’ve got absolutely nothing in the blogging well at the moment, I’m going to send you over the my good friend and charter member of the Passionate Critters. Please head on over the Jennifer’s blog and congratulate her on her very first sale to Samhain!

Have a great weekend – and I promise to back burning up the blogoshpere on Monday!

Today’s Coffee: Green Mountain Columbian Supreme - with an extra splash of English Toffee flavored coffee syrup!

to post or report. I’ve been busy trying to make my “sweatin with Sven” goals – oh, damn, I just realized I should be checking in over there. So, now we’ll just add hanging my head in shame to my list of things to do today…

Off to get something done, so tomorrow I can post some progress on the Sven site and here at the blog.

Have a good one!

These are not my rules! But I do love them – if you want to read more, Robert Masello has 101 of them in his book “Robert’s Rules of Writing – 101 unconventional lessons every writer needs to know.”

1. Take the prozac. – If you don’t know by now, writing can be a depressing occupation. Rejection isn’t positive – depression is inevitable.

2. Lose the muse - If you haven’t figured out yet the muse is fickle and is prone to take vacations when you need her most – listen up – you don’t need the muse. Sit at the damn computer and write already.

3. Make ‘em worry - You want the reader to keep turning the pages right? Make them worry about your characters. You already knew that right?

4. Get rejected - first this means you sent something out – so yay! Second this is merely a right of passage. Get used to it, accept it and make your peace with it.

5. Know no shame - The best part about being a writer (Robert claims) is that you have the right to be nosy and you don’t have to hide it anymore. I’m reseraching a book, ya know…

6. Gather ye moonbeams - Writers are born daydreamers. Yes, I may look like I’m staring at the blank computer screen or watching the grass grow – but I’m really letting my mind wander and as John Fowles once said “in a novelist, mind wandering is a good thing.”

7. Be a tease - and I’m not talking about erotica. Don’t let all the good stuff out too soon – drag it out, make them turn the page.

8. Wave Goodbye - Don’t try to catch the publishing wave. Write what you love, what your style and voice are best at. Good books get bought – period.

9. Set the clock - show up at your desk and write – this is your job right?

10. Keep your pomises. No matter what your subject matter – your reader is expecting to be fulfilled, to be entertained or enlightened. Don’t miss the boat and not deliver the goods. Keeping your promises ensures they’ll be back in line to buy the next book.

11. Refill the well. Yes, for people like me, this a tough one. Get out of the house. Take a walk, let the outside world inspire your creativity.

12. Make an entrance - Grab the reader from the get go.

13. Break the rules! – For everyone who tells you – “do it this way” there is going to be someone who says not to do it that way. Stand on your own two feet and be yourself. Sometimes breaking a rule or two is just the ticket to making your work sing!

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Misty Linky and I don’t get along…leave your link in the comments and I’ll add you here.

1. Gina
2. Tempest Knight
3. Jennifer
4. Lesley
5.

70 days of sweat – official site

If you’re a writer – the man for today is Sven and he’s here to make you sweat and get those words on the page!

Haven’t heard about the 70 days of sweat challenge? Click the link under Sven and check it out. It’s also down along my sidebar. If you’ve signed up – good luck! I’ll be tracking my progress here, feel free to comment and cheer me on. If you’ve signed up, let me know and I’ll cheer for you too!

Happy monday!

Below are thirteen reasons I love being a romance writer – or being a writer in general, in no particular order…

1. I’ve got control issues. Since I haven’t figured out yet how to completely manipulate the lives of the breathing people around me – I’ve taken the next best route and created some characters of my own to torture.

2. I’ve become an internet adict. I’m not really adicted. (As long as I can get on the computer and refresh my forums every five minutes, there won’t be a problem.

3. Happily Ever After. All roads lead to love and happiness. Um, what better way to spend a day?

4. The boss lets me drink all the coffee I want at my desk. Since I’m the boss, toss in a few chocolate bars and I’m good to go.

5. The questions I have to field from idiots. Sorry, no hubby and I don’t act out the sex scenes.

6. Rejection. Doesn’t everyone thrive on being told they suck?

7. Acceptance. I’m talking acceptance among peers. The romance writing world might seem huge at first glance – but like everything else, the internet has managed to bring us all a little bit closer. Finding others that accept your quirks and accept you as you are – well, just priceless!

8. Finding joy in black & white. The stellar sentence, the kick-ass discription, the emotional rollercoaster – it’s all there on any given day. All I have to do is dream…

9. The feather boas. Oh wait – those feathers make me sneeze. Let’s stick with my fuzzy slippers and robe. Who wouldn’t want to go to work like that?

10. Finally a way to put my people watching skills to good use. It’s not called being nosy anymore…It’s all research baby.

11. People are a little nicer when they fear being the villian in your next book. Even a pre-pubbed like myself can hold this over their heads – hey, you never know when my genius will be discovered and all those villians will hit the streets.

12. The gadgets. Computers, laptops, PDAs, mini-digital records. Ah the techno-geek in paradise…Not to mention the trips to the office supply store – hold me back and hide the credit cards! Colorful pads to write out my plots, stickie notes to remind me I have other things to do besides write, pens and pencils to chew while deep in thought.

13. No one questions my need to spend hours in the bookstore. Coffee in one hand, new books in the other…send out the search party if I’m not back by morning.

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Mr. Linky and I don’t get along, so leave your name and link in the comments and I’ll add you to the list!

1. Tempest Knight
2. Gina
3. Zee
4. Jennifer
5. Heather
6. Kaige
7. Carrie Lofty
8. Tara Nichols
9. Paisley Scott
10. You’re name here!

NipTickShow.com

Your eye candy for this morning is Julian McMahon.

I loved him as the demon Cole in the Charmed TV series…I cried when he left and for me the show was never the same without him. He was probably the only redeeming feature of Sandra Bullock’s latest movie, Premonition (which I was so sorry I couldn’t like. I usually like her and her movies – but the romantic in me couldn’t live with that ending and it ruined the whole movie for me…) even though he didn’t get enough airtime in the movie – he’s always a treat to watch. While I don’t watch Nip/Tuck (cause I can’t watch anything medical related…I’m a bit too squeemish) – I hear that he’s great!

Happy Monday!

Remember when you were growing up and your mother had all those little sayings that drove you crazy? Remember how you said you’d never torture your own kids by repeating them? Haha…I’ve turned into my mother!

1. Always wear clean underwear - I think this is pretty self-explanatory, and even though it made me mad when she said, I mean really, why wouldn’t I wear clean underwear – when you have kids, you understand as a mom, you have to say this!

2. I don’t care what so-so is allowed to, I care about you - Oh yeah, have myself two teenage boys, I’m using this one a lot lately!

3. Don’t burn your bridges - Didn’t make much sense to me when I was ten – now I know better.

4. Don’t make that face, it might freeze that way - We know this isn’t actually true, but who can resist saying it when the kids are making those nasty faces.

5. Don’t assume - gotcha. Assuming only makes an ass out of u and me!

6. Never leave the house without your smile.

and later…

7. Never leave the house with lipstick on your smile. – I’m a firm believer (as mother is) that even with no other make-up on your face, that little bit of color on your lips can perk up your face!

8. Look for the positive - I try, I try (really!)

9. Blood is thicker than water - This is a tough one when you don’t always get along with your siblings. But I’ve found that I this is one thing I’ve been pounding into my boys since they were pretty young. Twenty-six months apart, I’ve always maintained this motto. I don’t care if you wrestle to the ground and hate each other at home, but when you’re out – no matter what – you’ve got your brother’s back, you are a united front against the world. Because at the end of the day, you can make a new friend, you forever only have one brother. (Wow, that’s a little preachy for a T13, sorry about that ) **Sidenote, my oldest is a special needs child. This summer at a barbecue he was being harrassed by a relative close his own age. My other son jumped right into the fray and stood between his brother and cousin, put up his hand and said “back-off” – Made me proud!

10. No friends in the house when I’m not home - Teenagers, alone in my house without parental supervision – Nope. Not here.

11. Be yourself - Really? This is hard to here when you’re a kid struggling to fit in. But it’s true.

12. Tell your father it was on sale - Hmmm, I learned at a young age shopping was the best way to reduce stress and Mom always found some great deals…Dad usually didn’t agree.

13. Because I said so. – Oh the horror of it all. Do I even have to publicly admit that I use this one? Geez, bad mother…

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Okay, Mr. Linky doesn’t like me lately, so I’m not even going to try. Leave me your name and link in the comments and I’ll add you here!

1. Jennifer
2. Tempest Knight
3. Sara
4. Gina Ardito
5. Jennifer
6. Rhonda Stapleton
7. Debbie Mumford
8. Savannah Chase
9. Sandra Cormier
10. Morgan St. John
11. Paige Tyler