Elle Parker

Like Pizza and Beer in PRINT!

2011-02-28T09:58:00.000-06:00

Dino and Seth are back in a new and exciting mystery!

Like Pizza and Beer

NOW in PRINT!!

at Amazon - Like Pizza and Beer

From Lyrical Press

Working for his ex and his boyfriend, Dino's past and present cross.

Dino is caught off guard when his ex shows up out of the blue asking for help. His current lover, Seth, is pushing him to find dirt on his sister’s boyfriend. Juggling between two cases – and his boyfriend and ex – isn’t easy, but what choice does he have?

Working with his ex takes Dino on a trip down memory lane, raising a few doubts and stirring up Seth’s jealousy. Now he must save his ex’s restaurant and his relationship with Seth before it’s too late.

Seth hopped out and started around the car to cross the street. I hung back and reached under the seat to grab my gun and holster, which I’d been keeping there since the business with Gigi started. Easy to get to if I need it, but stays hidden until I do.

“What’cha doing?” Seth had turned back and was standing near my side of the car.

“Nothing,” I said. I got out and straightened my jacket, then closed the car door quietly.

“Bullshit.” He eyed me in the dim light of the streetlamp. “You’re actually gonna stand there and lie right to my face?”

“Well…if you can tell I’m lying, then it’s not really a lie, is it?” I nudged him in the direction of the sidewalk. “Let’s go.”

“You think this is that serious?”

“I don’t know. But the kind of guys who sit in cars to intimidate nice women usually speak ‘gun’ very fluently and conversations tend to go better.”

“Yeah, all right,” he said, but I could tell he didn’t like it.

Now you can pick it up from Amazon.com - Like Pizza and Beer

Like Pizza and Beer in PRINT!

2011-02-02T11:23:00.000-06:00

Dino and Seth are back in a new and exciting mystery!

Like Pizza and Beer

Coming soon in PRINT!!

From Lyrical Press

Working for his ex and his boyfriend, Dino's past and present cross.

Dino is caught off guard when his ex shows up out of the blue asking for help. His current lover, Seth, is pushing him to find dirt on his sister’s boyfriend. Juggling between two cases – and his boyfriend and ex – isn’t easy, but what choice does he have?

Working with his ex takes Dino on a trip down memory lane, raising a few doubts and stirring up Seth’s jealousy. Now he must save his ex’s restaurant and his relationship with Seth before it’s too late.

Print copies available soon from Lyrical!!

Watch for further updates!

Contest!!

2010-09-29T21:46:00.000-05:00

Hey! It's a Win It Before You Can Buy It Weekend!!

Chris over at Stumbling Over Chaos is holding a giveaway contest for Like Pizza and Beer. Head on over and check it out, and don't miss the fabulous Misadventures in Stock Photography posts.

You can enter the contest here at Stumbling Over Chaos

By the way - I love this cover!

Dino & Seth are back! Like Pizza and Beer

2010-09-23T15:33:00.003-05:00

Dino and Seth are back in a new and exciting mystery!

Like Pizza and Beer

Coming October 4th!!

Excerpt:

Seth hopped out and started around the car to cross the street. I hung back and reached under the seat to grab my gun and holster, which I’d been keeping there since the business with Gigi started. Easy to get to if I need it, but stays hidden until I do.

“What’cha doing?” Seth had turned back and was standing near my side of the car.

“Nothing,” I said. I got out and straightened my jacket, then closed the car door quietly.

“Bullshit.” He eyed me in the dim light of the streetlamp. “You’re actually gonna stand there and lie right to my face?”

“Well…if you can tell I’m lying, then it’s not really a lie, is it?” I nudged him in the direction of the sidewalk. “Let’s go.”

“You think this is that serious?”

“I don’t know. But the kind of guys who sit in cars to intimidate nice women usually speak ‘gun’ very fluently and conversations tend to go better.”

“Yeah, all right,” he said, but I could tell he didn’t like it.

Get your copy October 4th, 2010 from Lyrical

Print is finally here!

2010-03-25T20:01:00.003-05:00

It's been a bit of a frustrating road, with a few delays, but the print version of Like Coffee and Doughnuts is finally available!!

It's hefty and wonderful to hold, and I'm so thilled with it. *g*

You can get it from Barnes & Noble or Amazon, and very soon from Lyrical's own website. They're in the process doing a major overhaul to their bookstore and it's going to be excellent.

Why spam this way?

2010-03-25T12:42:00.002-05:00

I've been working hard to clean up and catch up, and get things squared away again, and part of that is weeding out a few anonymous comments in the blog.

What is the purpose of spam comments like this???

Anonymous said...

I wish not approve on it. I assume polite post. Expressly the title-deed attracted me to study the sound story.

I can sort of get the ones that advertise Viagra or a website, but what does someone get out of spending their time doing this? I assume there's some computerly purpose I've never heard of, but I'd love to know WHAT.

Update on LCAD

2010-03-02T13:37:00.002-06:00

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans....

Like Coffee and Doughnuts is still in the processing stage for the print release, due to some confusion between printer and publisher.

Hopefully, the print release will be available within a week or so!

~~Elle

Announcements

2010-01-26T10:36:00.003-06:00

I've been a busy, busy girl lately, and I have lots of things to announce!

* This Friday, Jan 29, I will be posting at Clare London's LJ as part of her month long birthday party.

* On February 1st, Like Coffee and Doughnuts is due to be released in print! It will be available from Lyrical's own Once Upon a Bookstore and Amazon. I'll be sure to post direct buy links when they're up, so you can always find it here.

* February 8-12th, I'll be participating in the Holiday Love Fest going on at The Writing Jungle. This one looks to be a lot of fun!

* I've also gotten word that the tentative release for Dino and Seth's second adventure, Like Pizza and Beer, is October 2010.

I have a few other things in the works at the moment and hopefully I'll have more goodies to post soon. Have a great day!

New Dino Martini!!

2010-01-12T05:30:00.000-06:00

I have great news for Dino Martini fans!

Next month, the first book in the series, Like Coffee and Doughnuts, is being released in print. My publisher has designed a fantastic version of the cover for the print version with the current cover and a black spine - it's going to look so sharp!

Watch here for news of the official release of Like Coffee and Doughnuts in print

The second, and even more exciting bit of news is that Lyrical Press has accepted book two in the Dino Martini series, Like Pizza and Beer! That's a working title, but it doesn't seem too likely they'll ask me to change it.

No release date yet because we just signed the deal today, but as soon as I have one, I'll post an update. I'm excited because this second one was SO much fun to write and I'm looking forward to getting it out there.

Friday Finds!

2010-01-01T05:30:00.001-06:00

Friday Finds!

Today I have some randomly weird stuff:

The Octopus Who Loves his Mr Potato Head

Book Porn Very funny, only slightly dirty...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Friday Finds!

2009-12-04T05:30:00.001-06:00

Friday Finds!

Today, I'm all about free reads. There's been a lot of them floating around, and here's some of the best I've seen.

Free ebooks from Harlequin - Celebrating 60 Years

Similar stuff from Mills & Boon

Night Owl Romance has quite a lot of free offerings

Muppets!

2009-11-30T15:30:00.001-06:00

Okay...by now I'm pretty sure everyone has seen the Muppet video going around of Animal & Co. doing Bohemian Rhapsody.

I would like to conter with...Habenera!, Muppet Style

Come and chat with me!

2009-11-16T14:47:00.000-06:00

This coming Wednesday I'm taking part in a very cool chat party over at Talking Two Lips, and everyone is invited!

This one is especially fun for me on two counts: One, my editor organized it, and she's done a bang up job. Two...I have a very big announcement, and I'm going to share there first!

I'm scheduled to be there from 9-10pm (US Central), but if I can get there early I will.

Hope to see you there!

Friday Finds!

2009-11-06T05:30:00.001-06:00

Friday Finds!

Just in time for the holidays! Romance cover notebooks and other goodes from eHARLEQUIN. I saw it at Smart Bitches first.

I have no idea where I saw this, I just found it on a tab in my browser, but I'm all about free writing books Lisa Palmer's For Writers

Chainsaw Pumpkin Carving Contest!

2009-11-01T12:13:00.002-06:00

My Halloween plans worked out WAY better than I ever expected.

We learned a long time ago about the proposed Chainsaw Pumpkin Carving Contest to be held at one of our favorite country bars. I had no idea how this might work, but I was dying to find out.

Turns out - it's exactly what it sounds like. Stepping outside the bar, getting a pal to hold your beer, taking up the chainsaw, and carving a pumpkin.

It was fabulous.

I have posted a ton of pictures at my LiveJournal if you'd LIKE TO SEE MORE!

Funny!

2009-10-30T15:33:00.003-05:00

HA!

Just today, I told my editor my goal was to have book two done by the end of November.

Then I saw this...

Inkygirl.com

Halloween Chat!

2009-10-30T10:51:00.003-05:00

Well, I finally got the skinny on the Mistress Bella Halloween Bash...

We are each having our own personal chats at Tinychat! I have never used Tinychat, so this should be fun...

The link for my chat is:

http://tinychat.com/eetne

http://tinychat.com/eetne

And I'm on from 1pm - 2pm Central Time.

Please feel free to come join me and hangout for a little while, and we'll talk all things Halloween!

EDIT: Whew! I'm warnin' y'all....I have NO IDEA what I'm doing with Tinychat. This ought to be interesting....SCARY!

Friday Finds!

2009-10-30T05:30:00.002-05:00

Friday Finds!

I have all kinds of interesting stuff for you today!

First off is the link that revolutionized MY LIFE. Seriously.

Read It Later

This is a spiffy little system that lets you save websites and blog posts to your Reading List for later use - which is nifty enough on its own if you're like me and usually have forty-two tabs open with things you want to read but haven't had time to yet. The Reading List compiles them all in one place and you don't lose them when your browser crashes. (Under the weight of forty-two tabs).

What makes it revolutionary is that there is an iPhone/iTouch app that allows me to download those webpages and blog posts to my iPod (Jeeves) and read them later OFFLINE. This is the big beautiful kicker. OFFLINE.

I have been struggling with all sorts of ways to convert the text of blog posts so I can read them even if I'm not in range of an open wireless source. Not only does Read It Later save these as they appear on my computer, but saving them in the first place is far easier than my usual cut-n-paste or save as, convert, load, blah blah blah. Now, I just click a link in my favorites list, and TA-DA! the page is on my Reading List. At the end of the day, I sync my iPod to my reading list and I'm good to go!

I didn't look too hard, but I understand they have ways for other smart phones to access your reading list, and they apparently have a killer FireFox extension.

Sasha White has an interesting post on Tracking Your Work over at Genreality. There are several good suggestions for websites and downloads that allow you to track works in progress and submissions you're waiting on.

Some I'm planning to look at:

Writer's Database

Downloadable Writer's Database

Sonar 3

Smart Bitches has an interesting post on publishing your work as an APP for smart phones and ipods. Apps for Authors

And finally Carol Burge at Romance Writer Woes has compiled a list of Writing Contests that are currently open.

Interview!

2009-10-28T13:58:00.001-05:00

Oh! I just noticed my turn is up at Marianne Arkins's blog!

What, When, Where, Why and How with Elle Parker

She's been doing this series for a long time now, and it's always worth the read.

Friday Finds!

2009-10-23T05:30:00.003-05:00

Friday finds is back!

Cerebral Reviews is offering a free download of their editor's advice writing manual: Sharpening the Quill

(Shout out to Obsidian Bookshelf where I originally found the link - Thanks!)

Dame Jackie of Deadline Dames talks about Making Time to write. (A subject very dear to me right now)

And an interesting follow up: Gina Badalaty explains Five Minute Editing at Mama Writers

Halloween Contest!

2009-10-21T05:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Halloween!!!

This is my favorite time of year, and Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so to celebrate, I'm taking part in a few Halloween contests and promo events!

The first, which is going on now and runs for quite a while is Romance Junkies Halloween Contest. You guys...this contest is so COOL! They've set up a virtual haunted house for you to explore, filled with giveaways and promotions from a whole bunch of authors and publishers.

The link takes you to their contest page, and from there you scroll down to find the graphic like the one posted here. That will take you to the haunted house! There is music on the contest site, so turn your speakers up or down depending on where you are *g*.

I'm giving away an ebook copy of Like Coffee and Doughnuts and a bag of coffee beans. I won't tell you where my trivia question is hidden, but I will give you a hint...It's where you would expect to find an author! Good Luck!

The second one is Mistress Bella's Halloween Bash. She is putting together a whole weekend of chats and giveaways at the blog, and it sounds like it's going to be a blast. I don't have all the info on the where's and how's yet, but I can tell you that I'm signed up for 1-2pm US Central Time, and plan to hang out for much of the rest of the day. I'll post more info on that when I get it.

Friday Finds!

2009-10-09T05:30:00.001-05:00

Friday Finds!

Moonrat, over at Editorial Ass, has posted a whole slew of links to previous entries on writing and publishing and there's a lot of great stuff there: Moonrat's Publishing Backlist

Lesli Richardson has a clever trick for an easy start to historical research: Historical Research Quick Tip

Which reminds me of my favorite way to name American characters: I take a search through the Social Security Popular Baby Names which allows you to enter a birth year and find out the most popular names in that year.

Really?!

2009-10-05T22:19:00.002-05:00

Did I just see a TV commercial advertising a Sony Reader for $199.00 ?????

Welcome!

2009-10-03T16:09:00.002-05:00

I'd like to introduce you all to the new kid on the block...

Gwenna Sebastian

http://gwennasebastian.blogspot.com/

She happens to be a great personal friend of mine, and is an all around marvelous person. She's also a great writer, and I wish her the best of luck as she starts out!

Friday Finds!

2009-10-02T05:30:00.002-05:00

Friday Finds!

This week Wave posted the results of the Readers’ Favourite Gay Books project at Reviews by Jessewave, and it's just marvelous.

I'm deeply honored to be on that list for Like Coffee and Doughnuts. Right alongside Victor J. Banis, no less! (Okay, that's because it's alphabetical by title, but STILL...)

Here's an excellent post on internet marketing that goes beyond the usual ones: Pimp My Monkey (Guest Blogger: Chris Eldin)

Referenced in that post is another one I've had open in my tabs for a couple weeks now: The Ten Commandments of Blogging

And since we're talking about blogging (and cleaning out my tabs as well), here's another I've been sitting on for a bit: How to Build Traffic on Your Blog, Part 2 by Jennifer Fulwiler!

Archy McNally Series

2009-09-26T05:30:00.000-05:00

I have a fun new discovery - new to me anyway. I'd be curious to know if anyone reading has already heard of these books, and what you think.

My dad shares my same love of series mystery, and we're both big fans of Robert B. Parker, Rex Stout, John Sandford, Sue Grafton, and others. He's been telling me about this series for AGES - how much he loved it, how funny it was, how much he liked the main character...the only thing he couldn't tell me was the name of the author, the titles of the series, or the name of the main character. He just knew he'd read these great books once upon a time.

Finally, over Labor Day weekend, he finally remembered "McNally". After that, it was pretty easy to track down, thanks to the internet.

The series turned out to be the Archy McNally series, by Lawrence Sanders (and later, Vincent Lardo)

McNally's Secret is the first book of the series, and I'll tell you, I was hooked. It's got everything I love: A great main character, fun sidekick, colorful guest characters, good mystery, interesting detective work, and a lot of little details that bring Archy to life.

Archy is a 37 year old bachelor who lives in Palm Beach, Florida. His family is reasonably wealthy, and he occupies a suite of rooms on the third floor of his parents house. He also works for his father. The elder McNally is a lawyer with a stable of insanely wealthy clients who often make unusual demands of him. Archy is the head (and sole employee) of the Department for Discreet Inquiries. He handles all those unusual requests, and generally solves problems. He also generally trips across a body or two in the process.

I'm on the third one now, and I'm still enjoying the series (I've been inspired to try several new cocktails) - but I will say, it's taught me a lesson in not belaboring those little details. I'm about done hearing that Archy's father has his telephone books bound in leather. It's in every book. It's possible that my patience for some of this will run out before the books do, but I doubt it - I'm pretty forgiving if the mystery is good.

Over all - from what I've read so far, I'd recommend this series to anyone who likes fun, slightly fluffy, but genuine mysteries.

McNally's Secret. Putnam's, 1992
McNally's Luck. Putnam's Sons, 1992
McNally's Risk. Putnam's Sons, 1993
McNally's Caper. Putnam's Sons, 1994
McNally's Trial. Putnam's Sons, 1995
McNally's Puzzle. Putnam's Sons, 1996
McNally's Gamble. Putnam's Sons, 1997
*McNally's Dilemma. Putnam's Sons, 1999
McNally's Folly. Putnam's Sons, 2000
McNally's Chance. Putnam's Sons, 2001
McNally's Alibi. Putnam's Sons, 2002
McNally's Dare. Putnam's Sone, 2003.
McNally's Bluff. Putnam's Sone, 2004.

*After the death of Lawrence Sanders in 1998, Vincent Lardo was chosen by the Sanders estate to continue the McNally series.

Friday Finds!

2009-09-25T05:30:00.004-05:00

I have a few things today that aren't really new. In fact, a lot of people have probably seen them before, but they bear linking.

I've known about yWriter for a few years now, and even downloaded and tried it. I couldn't figure it out. The layout and the functions just didn't make sense to me, so I abandoned it and went back to Word.

Now, I have discovered Page Four, which is a similar program, but looks more straightforward and simple. So, I'm going to give that a try.

ADDITION: I have actually tried it now, and I can say that it's a good program, but I'm not sure it's for me. For one thing, an unlimited version costs $39.95 - a perfectly reasonable amount of money, but still a tad higher than I am willing to pay if I can do the same thing elsewhere with software I've already purchased.

It has a very nice system of Notebooks and Pages, and is very nice for organizing the parts of a novel. It also has a few writerly bells and whistles, such as the ability to scan for repetitive words, etc.

However, in the limited version (which is free to use for all time and does not expire) you can only have three notebooks and 20 pages (I'm not sure if that's 20 total or 20 per notebook). I managed to just about fill that to capacity just importing the two novels I'm working on now. I also just felt a little....uncomfortable about working on anything in there, simply because I'm not used to it and what if I lose or destroy my novel?

On the other hand - I think it might serve me very well as a tool to organize research, editing notes, and things like chapter lists.

Author Storm Grant found this useful tool for writers: Wordcounter.com which will tell you the frequency of any word in a body of text.

Sarah Simas posted over at Mama Writers with a Show and Tell style run-down of her organizational tricks when working on a novel.

Elle is a Fangirl

2009-09-22T05:30:00.001-05:00

I am a fangirl, I admit it. I've always been a fangirl, since way back when I watched Emergency! as a kid. I LOVE series TV, I can't help it. Just as I love books in series, I love the excitement of tuning in every week to see what my favorite characters are up to.

And really, that's what it is for me - the characters. I will happily watch the crappiest, cheesiest TV shows imaginable if I love the characters (The A-Team anyone? Wonderful, marvelous cheese!)

So this is it! This is the week most of the shows are premiering for the season, and it's like a holiday for me. I looked up the dates AGES ago so I wouldn't miss them. When I say them, I usually mean 2-4 shows tops. That's about the limit of what I can follow at any given time and still have a life.

I've already gotten my Leverage fix, at least until winter - they're already on hiatus again.

So this week there are two big premieres I'm excited about. My whole family is, actually, we watch these as a family activity and have a lot of fun discussing and debating.

NCIS - We've been fans of this one since half-way through the first season. The characters are wonderful, and the stories are interesting and fun. I was confused and less than deeply thrilled with the season ender from last year, so I don't know what to expect for this season. And I'm okay with that. I suspect they'll have to give another nod to the new NCIS. I doubt we'll be getting into that one.

And the REALLY exciting one, the one I'm just panting for is Criminal Minds. I LOVE this show, with its complex characters and dark, dark subject matter. Last season? They nearly killed me. They ENDED THE SEASON with a gunshot and a black screen!! How was I supposed to survive that? One of my favorite characters was on the receiving end of that shot, and I still don't know what's happened to him. (If you know, DON'T tell me). This could go several ways, and I'm dying to see what they do with it!

What are your favorites at the moment?

Website Update

2009-09-20T14:56:00.003-05:00

I spent much of today working with my wonderful web designer, DC, and we've made several great updates to my website.

The most exciting part is several new reviews for Like Coffee and Doughnuts, including Jessewave, Joyfully Reviewed, Manic Readers, CoffeeTime Romance and The Romance Studio.

There's also some new announcements on the side bar, and pic from WriterCon that I attended at the beginning of August.

Coming up this week, I'll be quest blogging at the Lyrical Press Blog on Friday.

And finally, I'd like to take a minute to say again how wonderful and talented my web designer is. She's also always on the lookout for new clients, so if you're in the market for an inexpensive but classy looking site, contact Laurie of Dawn Chaser Web Designs at dawnchaserwebdesigns@yahoo.com.

Friday Finds!

2009-09-18T05:30:00.003-05:00

Here's a few Friday Finds for you. I've been saving them up as I find them, and now I just have to remember where I put them all.

Here's an article on backing up your social media, with bonus links to ones on backing up Google Docs and Gmail: How to back up your social media accounts

Some extra info on Maximizing Google Alerts - with a few things I hadn't thought of.

Some Synopsis Dos and Don'ts from the RedLines and Deadlines

For Firefox users: 15 useful Firefox extensions for bloggers

Still Thrashing

2009-09-15T11:46:00.002-05:00

Thrashing indeed!

I'm STILL struggling to get caught up, but I have made progress. (Google Reader is now only at 215!)

It feels like more of a struggle than usual, because what's really going on is I'm trying to get everything else taken care of so I can focus on what I really want to be doing - finishing my second novel.

I've finally gotten the house cleaned up, and I revised and sent back a short story, did a review (my last for a while until I get the book done), and done the whole family/job/life-aside-from-writing thing.

Part of the reason I'm doing everything BUT...is that I'm at a tough spot with the novel. I had the main plot completely outlined AGES ago, but as I've merrily written along, it's become clear that this is going to get me nowhere NEAR word count. So I needed to craft a subplot that worked with the main story, and wasn't just an add on. I've done that, and have been working on weaving the subplot into the manuscript before I continue forward.

It's slow going. And to make matters worse, I'm under a HUGE amount of self-imposed pressure on this one. I SHOULD have had this finished and submitted months ago, but one look at the state of this blog and you can guess my summer plans went awry.

Getting back on the horse isn't easy, especially when you're pressed for time.

How do you keep your focus and get your writing done when you know the clock is ticking?

Beginning or end?

2009-09-02T10:21:00.002-05:00

I am working my way though my woefully neglected Google Reader (1000+)(and it took a LoooooNG time to get below that 1K, too!), and I just passed a post at Dear Author that had a poll: Do you like the beginning or the end of the book the best?

Now, I'll admit, I didn't stop to read the post. The first thing that popped into my head was:

I like the middle the best.

My favorite part of just about any book I've ever read is the middle section, when you're knee deep in the action, you know the characters well enough to care about them, and there's a lot of story left to go. I usually have to struggle a bit at the beginning, getting a sense of place and who the story is about; and towards the end, I'm racing through to find out what happens, but also painfully aware that my time with these characters is coming to an end and there will be no more.

The middle is the happy place where we're all good friends with nothing but time on our hands. The middle is often the place where you will get lots of details and the wonderful little everyday, slice of life scenes. You get a lot of the comic relief scenes there too, when you need a pause between the intro of the PLOT, and the climax when everything comes to a head. (This is why I like series so much - you get WHOLE BOOKS worth of "middle")

What about you? What's your favorite part of a book?

I emerge!

2009-08-27T05:00:00.001-05:00

Well...can we just say the summer kind of exploded on me? WOW.

I have been busy as hell, and for a while, I didn't even know which way to turn. There are have been a lot of things going on. I spent part of my summer under kind of a dark cloud, and dealing with a slight health issue. That sapped a lot of my energy and attention for a while, but I think we're getting it under control and life is looking a great deal sunnier lately.

More recently, my time's been taken up with quite a few fun things, including a trip to WriterCon, where I got to sit a table in the dealer's room to promote my book, and this past weekend I took four friends with me to the cabin I've spoken so often of, and we had a wonderful time. There was much fangirling and sitting in the lake on lawn chairs. Coming up any day now is the newest addition to our family, and I'm prepared to dart out of town the minute I hear my sister's gone into labor.

This week, I am finally getting my feet under me again, and I've been catching up with the blogosphere and other on-line haunts. I've also picked up the pace on work on the second Dino Martini novel, as that's long overdue.

I'm part of the TwoLips Reviews Anniversary Scavenger Hunt which wraps up at the start of next week, so there's still time to get in on that if you like.

Also this week is Lyrical Press's huge End of Summer Event, which I'm also taking part in. Tomorrow, Thursday, my author profile will be posted on the LPI Blog, and all commenters have a chance to win a copy of Like Coffee and Doughnuts. I'll also be there for the Live Blogcast held at LPI Blog on Saturday.

Here's the official announcement:

LPI celebrates a great summer of reading with the End of Summer Blog Event. Monday through Friday, August 24 – 28, we’ll feature author and editor profiles on the LPI Blog. Many author profiles will include giveaways, so please come visit for your chance to get to know Lyrical Press and win prizes.

We’ll round out the week with two live blogcasts:

Saturday, August 29, 6 – 9PM Central Time: Author Chat

http://lyricalpress.blogspot.com

Many, many LPI authors will be joining in the fray while Editor in Chief Emma Wayne Porter announces giveaway winners and hands out even more free goodies. Readers are invited to ask questions, hang out, and get to know the people behind all those stories.

Sunday, August 30, 6 – 9PM Central Time: Editor Chat

http://lyricalpress.blogspot.com

During this live blogcast, the LPI editorial staff gets its day in the hotseat. Readers are invited to give their opinions on what kind of stories they want to read. Authors are invited to ask questions about submission guidelines, and maybe even pitch an idea or two. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to speak directly to publishing staff, and be heard!

Oh Music, My Fickle Muse...

2009-06-30T05:30:00.001-05:00

She led me astray this weekend.

I rely heavily on music to motivate and inspire me when I write. In fact, I create a specific playlist for each project I'm working on, and always listen to it when writing. The songs become entwined with the story in my head, and hearing them gets me into the story faster and deeper than I would on my own. Once there, the music affects my mood and fuels my creativity.

This weekend, however...that process let me down. Or, well, iTunes did.

See, I had a few blissful hours all alone in my house Saturday morning, and I was all geared up to sit down and write. I actually got off to a great start. I had a few little ideas I wanted to get down right away, and I managed about 250 words on my current novel before I realized something was missing. I hadn't turned on the music yet.

I clicked iTunes to fire it up, but instead of giving me my playlists, I got a small grey box asking if I wanted to start the installation. I shrugged and clicked "Yes", but was perplexed because I KNOW it was already installed. When that led to error messages, I assumed Something Was Bad in the World of Computers, and decided the best thing would be to just download and reinstall.

* So I pulled up my browser to download iTunes

* But while I had that open, I should check my email, right?

* and LiveJournal?

* All right, THEN I went to the Apple page and downloaded iTunes

* Since that would take a few minutes, I went to get a can of pop

* While I was in the kitchen, I grabbed a few things to throw in the recycling

* and the dishwasher needed loading

* Back in the office, I had to shut everything down and start the install

* Which would also take a while

* So I went to run a load of laundry....

You can see where this is all going. By the time I got my music up and running, and was getting back into the flow of writing, my husband called to see what I wanted for lunch, since he was on his way home.

Two lessons learned here: Keep the iPod charged so next time I can just use that. And don't become so dependent on any one writing tool that you can't work without it. Personally, I think if I had time to kill somewhere and was handed a notebook and pen, I could produce something...But on Saturday, I let my writing routine become more important than the writing itself, and sucked up all my quiet time with little to show for it.

Friday Finds!

2009-06-26T05:30:00.001-05:00

I have quite a lot of nifty stuff for you this week!

13 Tips For Actually Getting Some Writing Done from Gretchen Rubin

On Writing Tension by Craig Lancaster

The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor

Fifty Things Under $50 Bucks To Promote Your Book from Penny C. Sansevieri

Via Alexis Grant - Soc Media 101 on How to Format Your Posts So People Will Read Them

The iTouch happens to be my ereader of choice, so I found this article especially good: Avid Reader on The iPhone as Ereading Device

How Long Is Too Long To Market A Book? also by Penny Sansevieri

And finally, in a sillier vein: 15 Caterpillars That Should Just Get a Freakin’ Haircut by Karl Fabricius (The Woolly Bears are my favorite!)

Have a great weekend!!

Things you didn't know about me...

2009-06-24T14:12:00.001-05:00

I saw this at Cassie Exline's blog and just had to try it:

	Elle Parker -- [noun]: An aphrodisiac made of cucumbers
'How will you be defined in the Sexual Dictionary?' at QuizUniverse.com

Who knew?

Feels Like Home to Me

2009-06-22T11:53:00.004-05:00

I spent a glorious and relaxing weekend at the family cabin and am much refreshed by it. This is one of the few places left in my world that I've been going to all my life. The cabin we stay in now isn't the one I grew up in, but even better - I helped build it. The old cottage is still on the property, too, refurbished into a writer's retreat and place to go for a little quiet time.

On Saturday, while the rest of family celebrated the opening of bass season, I took advantage of the peace to do a little writing. At least, I tried. My writing space was invaded by a HUGE and pale spider who was much too close for comfort. I had to retreat and wait for my son to come back from his run to rescue my computer for me.

Once that was taken care of, I settled back in and polished up the short story I've been working on. It's now been sent off for submission and I'll be waiting with fingers crossed.

That evening, we had fresh caught bass for dinner, along with new potatoes and green beans, with blackberry pie for dessert. So good!

Sunday was a nice lazy day. My step-mom put a ham in the oven after breakfast and the whole place smelled wonderful and homey. Perfect for sipping wine and snoozing in a chair while watching a favorite old movie.

I was sad to go, but am looking forward to the next visit.

Tomorrow, I'll be host for the day at Beth Wylde's Yahoo Group as part of her Pride Month celebration. Feel free to stop by and chat with me, and read a few excerpts.

I'm up for Book of the Week!

2009-06-20T10:25:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I was informed that not only was my book, Like Coffee and Doughnuts, reviewed at Whipped Cream Reviews...but it's also up for their Book of the Week contest.

You can check out the contest here at Whipped Cream Reviews Main Page

If you missed the review, you can read it here Whipped Cream Review of Like Coffee and Doughnuts

Me? I'm off to finish up and submit that short story.

Friday Finds!

2009-06-18T23:09:00.005-05:00

I spent most of my free time this week finishing up and editing that short story, which paid off well. I have a little tweaking to do, and then I'll be ready to submit - well before the deadline, which is a nice feeling.

As a consequence, I didn't have much time for internet surfing, but I did find a couple good things:

Great article from Mundania Press on Promotion and Branding

Hidden benefits of blogging from Duct Tape Marketing

I've also been test driving HootSuite for Twitter - recommended by Dani of Blog Book Tours

So far, I think it's the best of the applications I've tried for keeping up with Twitter. If it had groups, I'd be in love.

I prefer a web based app, because I can use that from anywhere and it's less hassle when working on my own computer. On the other hand, I REALLY like several of the bells and whistles that Tweetdeck and Twitterfon have - namely the ability to easily click and RT, and Tweetdeck's built in url squisher. The biggest problem I have with Tweetdeck is that setting up the groups is a big hassle, and I can't tell if I have all my followers into one group or another, there's no leftovers list. ALSO - Tweetdeck is still listing people I stopped following ages ago, so it's sloppy.

HootSuite has the one click RT, url squisher, web base, and some other nice features, including the ability to manage more than one Twitter account from the same place.

(If anyone knows an app besides Tweetdeck that does groups? I would LOVE to hear about it)

Also, in great news, I got a fabulous review from Whipped Cream Reviews

Have a great weekend everyone!

Interview

2009-06-17T08:50:00.002-05:00

Today is a very exciting day for me. I'm being interviewed at Reviews by Jessewave today! Her blog is top notch and I've spent a lot of hours reading there, so it's quite an honor to be featured now.

Interview at Reviews by Jessewave

Please stop by and say hi!

But Spam can be FUN!

2009-06-16T10:13:00.002-05:00

Alas....that new email smell has worn off my Elle Parker email account. The spammers finally found me.

For the longest time, I didn't have to worry about spam on my account because it was too new to be on anyone's list. I kept an eagle eye on that Spam folder to make sure nothing important fell in there. Mostly it was digests of my Yahoo groups, but quite often email from someone new would land there because my email didn't recognize it.

That's how I found out I'd sold my book - I found it in my Spam folder.

That was during the time when every morning I'd eagerly race to the computer to check my email and see if I'd heard back. I had not, or so I thought, and was letting go of the daily excitement and gearing up for the day when I clicked on the Spam folder to clear it out...and lo and behold, there was a message that said "Your Novel LIKE COFFEE AND DOUGHNUTS". I think I shrieked or made some kind of unusual noise, because my husband came rushing in to see what was going on.

Since then, I've always felt a little thrill when checking the Spam because I've found other good things there too, notes from my editor, a review notice, etc.

The past few weeks? I will be paid handsomely for my assistance in collecting a large inheritance and must contact Uganda immediately....

Anyone need some Viagra? I have a good source.

*sigh*

Friday Finds!

2009-06-12T09:48:00.005-05:00

Hey there! I hope you all have had a dandy week. I've had a CRAZY week! There's not been one single night that we haven't had somewhere to be, and that's going to continue right on through the weekend. Add to that, I'm trying to prepare a short story submission, do an interview, do a review AND work on my novel. *whew*

Just a couple of fun things for you today:

Why Writers Should Use Twitter by Alexis Grant

English getting its millionth word

I haven't yet had a chance to try out those gadgets I mentioned. Can anyone tell me about their experience with Windows Live Writer? I'm thinking of trying it out for blogging.

Have a great weekend!!

Inexpensive Web Design Services

2009-06-09T05:30:00.003-05:00

One of the things new authors are always told, especially those of us in ebooks, is Get Yourself A Website. It's usually number one or two on the list.

Now, there's a lot of ways to go about creating a website:

You can do it yourself, using a free site and some web templates. I've seen some rather decent websites designed that way, but I've seen some dreadful ones too. I tried to go that route at first myself, because I have other sites I built on my own and they look pretty good. Not good enough, unfortunately, and I found the kind of site I wanted to build was beyond my abilities.

You can pay a fancy design service to do it for you. Sure, you'll have a flashy site and look marvelously professional. Unless you're like me and have no money. (Honestly, what brand new or aspiring author has money?)

Or there's a third option: Much like the fledgling e-publishers, who saw what was being done and knew they could strike out on their own as well, there are quite a number of new free lance web designers out there, just getting their start. For not a lot of money, they can design and maintain a serviceable website for you, hassle free.

I'm lucky. One of those people is a very good friend of mine, and she offered to do my website. She's done a hell of a great job. Not only does she keep it up to date whenever I send her new information, but she's full of great design ideas and usually all I have to do is give her an idea of what I want and she runs with it, making it better than I had imagined. And if I don't like something she's done? She's more than happy to change it.

I happen to know she's eager for more clients, and since a I know a number similarly strapped authors read my blog, I thought it would be a great idea to promote her here. Below is all her information, and samples of her work - if you're at all interested, please drop her a line, she's a dream to work with.

DawnChaser Web Designs
Dawnchaserwebdesigns@yahoo.com

Keeping it simple and straight forward, Laurie offers easy access to anyone who wants a fresh look for a reasonable price. Most webpages are just $50.00 and include Laurie's design services, domain registration and prompt updates as you need them. (More labor intensive and extensive web pages and designs will be slightly higher in price, based on requirements.) Laurie designs for individual, business/professional and for the fandom world and strives to make sure you are happy with your webpage.

Examples of some of her work can be seen at:

Business/Professional-
www.cnyyogacenter.com
www.positivelypinkpackages.org

Individual:
www.elleparker.com

Fandom (under the business name of MaD Web designs- Designs by Mel and DC)
http://www.tourofdutyvids.com/
http://www.doc2sjournals.com/

Romance Junkies Chat

2009-06-08T21:18:00.001-05:00

Quick post!

If you were at the Romance Junkies Chat tonight, and you missed how to get your free cookbook, just send me an email and I'll get you a copy!

elle.parker@ymail.com

Thanks to all who were there, I had so much fun!

Elle

More Fun Events!

2009-06-08T11:27:00.004-05:00

It's been a busy month for me, and I have more fun events to share!

Tonight I'll be joining Lyrical Press authors, Piper Denna and Savannah Chase for a live chat at Romance Junkies. There will be contests and giveaways.

The chat runs from 8:00-9:00PM U.S Central time.

Romance Junkies Live Chat

Next Week, I'll be Author of Week at Reviews by Jessewave, and she'll be putting up a fun interview.

Also, I have two new reviews to share!

Lydia has given Like Coffee and Doughnuts five stars at Rainbow Reviews

And Mystical Nymph gave a excellent review at Literary Nymphs

Coffee Time Romance Chat Today!

2009-06-06T06:00:00.001-05:00

COME JOIN THE GLBT EXTRAVAGANZA! Come and chat with Stormy Glenn, Alex Draven, Jaime Samms, Elle Parker, Amber Kell, and other GLBT authors all day in the Latte Lounge at http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/board/index.php

Today, ALL DAY!

Come read excerpts and blurbs, see covers, talk to your favorite GLBT authors. Please be sure to register for the forum asap! I'll be there, sharing excerpts from my new M/M novel, Like Coffee and Doughnuts. I also have a fun freebie to give away!

Any questions please feel free to email Stormy @ stormyglenn@hotmail.com

Friday Finds!

2009-06-05T05:30:00.002-05:00

Friday Finds

I have a slew of these kinds of sites, but I'm always on the lookout for more, because sometimes you just need a little help coming up with just the right word

Mondoerotica Sex & Porn Thesaurus

and from Bren MacCarty - an online dictionary that doesn't censor "dirty" words

Hyperdictionary

Sensual Treats - a free magazine devoted to all things romantic

Lee Benoit pointed me in the direction of this new and ambitious effort - GLBT Bookshelf. I'm in the process of setting up my own page here as soon as I figure out how it all works

GLBT Bookshelf

From Elizabeth Craig via Twitter - A list of creative blogs too good not to pass along. It's arranged by category and there's something for everyone. This is a must see.

100 Creative Blogs

I'm especially thrilled with this batch, it's been a good week for link hunting! Plus I have a few gadgets I'm test driving, and if they're good, I'll be sharing them next week.

Spelling cutie

2009-06-02T16:24:00.002-05:00

My husband has charmed me in many ways over the years, and all of them are quite wonderful. One, however, is also amusing...

His poor spelling.

He never did learn to spell properly, even though he's a smart guy. He's not really a words person anyway, he's more numbers and practical smarts.

Here are some of my very favorites:

Thys

Squerl

And most recent one, which inspired this post...

Ostrage

I love him so much. *g*

Reviews for Like Coffee and Doughnuts

2009-06-01T08:54:00.005-05:00

I have reviews!

There are two reviews out for Like Coffee and Doughnuts, and both of them are very good.

The first is from Hayley of Fallen Angel Reviews, in her blog Admitting is the First Step:

Review of Like Coffee and Doughnuts

The combination of old fashioned Dino and happy go lucky Seth worked for me. The two were opposites but complimented each other to a tee.

The second is from Elisa Rolle, a highly respected reviewer in the M/M genre, and I'm just thrilled that she reviewed my work:

Elisa's Review of Like Coffee and Doughnuts

Coffee / Dino is old fashioned like the real Italian coffee (sorry, American coffee is not the same...), and like the coffee, you have to stop and savor it, you can't drink it while hurrying somewhere else; Doughnut / Seth is a burst of energy, hyper-calories that you have to run a marathon to digest. Can two men as different match and love? yes, as well and good as coffee and doughnut go together.

Thanks to both of you for such kind words, and I hope you know how very much the authors appreciate what you do.

Friday Finds!

2009-05-29T03:00:00.001-05:00

Book Marketing Buzz has a huge list of Twitter apps and useful sites

http://bookmarketingbuzz.com/2009/05/22/the-evergrowing-list-of-twitter-tools-and-applications-to-help-streamline-your-promotions/

Dear Author gives us 10 Author Online Promotional Don'ts

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2009/05/26/10-author-online-promotional-donts/

A new networking tool for romance writer's, via Renee Rocco of Lyrical Press

http://romancetweets.com/

To brand or not to brand - from Tera Kleinfelter at Samhain's blog

http://samhainpublishing.com/blog/2009/05/25/to-brand-or-not-to-brand

Have a great weekend!

Evolution of a Novel

2009-05-28T09:17:00.000-05:00

I'm guest blogging at Lyrical Press today!!

http://lyricalpress.blogspot.com/2009/05/evolution-of-novel.html

Come and read about the long and twisted process from friendly nudge to completed novel, and find out how Dino and Seth came to be.

LIKE COFFEE AND DOUGHNUTS A Dino Martini Mystery by Elle Parker

Where was I all weekend?

2009-05-26T14:13:00.000-05:00

I was at my dad's cabin, one of my favorite places in the world, and also one of my best places for writing. Our cabin has beautiful views out every window and a serene and peaceful atmosphere. It also has several great spots to set up and work on my latest novel...

This is my favorite:

This is the desk my dad built up in the loft of the cabin, and I have spent many happy and productive hours working at this desk. You have to kind of crawl into place in that chair, because most grown adults can't stand up straight in the loft, but once you're there, it's a very comfortable spot.

The weather was so nice this weekend, I actually did most of my work sitting out on the screen porch - but that's much less photogenic.

I dearly love to see other people's work spaces. Do you have a picture of your desk on-line? Post and link in the comments and let everyone see.

Friday Finds!

2009-05-22T11:31:00.001-05:00

Here's the links for this week. Just a couple since it was a busy busy week around here.

Excellent advice on using social media for authors, from Malle Vallik

http://www.romancingtheblog.com/blog/2009/05/15/how-authors-should-use-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-31417

From Linda Suzane via Twitter - very useful little site to help you get a handle on your Twitter followers

http://friendorfollow.com/

Coming up in the next week or so, I'll have lots of fun things going on. I'm taking part in the big 3-day M/M Chat at LiteraryNymphsChat, which should be a lot of fun. AND, I'm going to be guest blogging at the Lyrical Press Blog

Have a wonderful long weekend everyone! I plan to - I'm heading to the cabin!

Interviews!

2009-05-20T06:16:00.000-05:00

Today you can find me answering Ten Silly Questions over at Rick Reed's Blog!

And congratulations to Hoskie, who won the copy of LIKE COFFEE AND DOUGHNUTSat the Lyrical Press blog yesterday.

Giveaway Day!

2009-05-19T08:49:00.000-05:00

Lyrical Press is giving away a book a day this month, in celebration of their first birthday - and today is MY day!!

If you would like a chance to win a free copy of my M/M erotic romance/mystery novel, then hop over to the Lyrical Press Blog and comment on the LIKE COFFEE AND DOUGHNUTS giveaway page!

The winner will be announced tomorrow in the blog.

If you can't wait that long and you'd like to buy your own copy, you can go straight to the website: BUY YOUR COPY NOW

Like Coffee and Doughnuts - Available today!

2009-05-18T06:48:00.000-05:00

My book is out! Available right now at Lyrical Press!!

Like Coffee and Doughnuts
$5.50
By Elle Parker
Genre: Romance/M/M
Digital ISBN: 978-0-9824170-5-8
Length: Novel
Digital Publication Date: May 18, 2009
Cover Art by Renee Rocco

BUY YOUR COPY NOW

BLURB:

Dino Martini might accept his friend Seth as a lover--if they can stay alive.

Dino Martini is an old-school P.I. in a modern age. Sure, he may do most of his work on a computer, but he carries a gun, drives a convertible, and lives on the beach. Best friend and mechanic Seth Donnelly will back him in a fight, and there's not a lot more Dino could ask from life.

Until his world is turned upside down.

A dangerous case and a new apartment are just the start. His friendship with Seth has turned into a romance, only Dino has never had a boyfriend before. Can he handle this sudden twist? Just as he begins to believe it's possible, he loses Seth in more ways than one...

EXCERPT:

Chapter One

When I went into Ed's Garage looking to get backup from my friend Seth, I knew immediately my job was going to be harder than I'd thought. Seth and his latest "date," a blonde with short spiky hair and pretty legs, were tangled up on top of a red Ford Torino necking like the world was coming to an end. Neither one of them had a shirt on, but she wore a black and pink polka dot bra. She also wore a pale green skirt under which Seth's hand had disappeared. My timing wasn't good, but I was glad I hadn't come any later.

She saw me first and gave me a pretty smile, apparently not too disturbed by a stranger walking in on her fun. Seth was doing something to her neck that might have been kissing, but reminded me of the way he ate.

She prodded him and said, "Hey, we've got company."

When Seth raised his head, he looked surprised, but that quickly changed to irritation when he saw who it was. He didn't need to say a word for me to know exactly what he was thinking.

I smiled. "I thought you had to have the hood up to do a tune up."

"Not when we start with me first," he said. "Don't you have someplace better to be?"

"I'm sorry, I had no choice. Believe me, I did not want to do this, but duty calls."

"Tell duty to call back in about an hour, Dino." He went back to what he'd been doing.

"You're Dino?" the girl asked, lighting up. "I've heard about you."

"Dino Martini, at your service," I said. "Nice...bra."

"Thanks." She grabbed a fistful of Seth's hair and pulled him up to look at her. 'Don't be rude to your friend. He's obviously here for something important."

"He's here because whatever job he's got going this evening involves a high likelihood of him getting his ass kicked." He turned to look at me. "Am I wrong?"

I shrugged. "Hard to say with a case like this, but I don't like to take chances."

"What now?" Seth looked defeated already, which was good, because it meant this wouldn't be nearly as difficult as I'd thought.

"Cheating wife," I said. "You know how those can be."

"Yeah, yeah, all right."

Seth Donnelly is about five foot seven, has an unruly mop of carrot colored hair, and although he's thirty-three, he often acts like he's twelve. He's my mechanic, but he's also been a good friend for a lot of years, and there's no one I'd rather have next to me in a fight.

He slid off the hood of the car and told the girl, "I guess I'm gonna have to catch you some other time."

"That's okay," she said, climbing down and pulling her shirt on. "I have to get to work anyway. Can you look at my car tomorrow?"

"Sure, bring it by after three."

She gave him a quick kiss, got in the Ford and drove out, turning left, toward the beach. I was willing to bet she worked in one of the tourist bars down in John's Pass.

"Sorry about that," I said, turning to Seth.

"No sweat. Buy me dinner and we're square. She's cute enough, but her brother's the one I'd really like to nail."

I shook my head. "You bring a whole new meaning to the word 'sleaze', you know that?"

"Oh, come on, it's not like that. She knows. She's just in it for the fun and the free service on that wreck she drives. Did she look especially brokenhearted to you?"

"No," I admitted. "I can't say that she did."

"So tell me about the case," he said, grabbing his shirt off the workbench.

"Not that much to tell. This guy's had me following his wife for a while, and I finally caught her cheating on him with a long haul trucker. Turns out she's been meeting up with all kinds of them off a website called The Hot Trucker's Hookup."

"No shit, are you serious?"

"Yep."

"Sweet deal for the truckers, man. They can line up something everywhere they stop."

"That's pretty much the idea," I said. "They've got quite the little community on there."

I had followed Amy Ware all the way out to Florida's Interstate 75 and wound up spending an afternoon playing "Peeping Tom" through the ground floor window of a cheap hotel. On my fifth pass, I nearly swallowed my cigarette. She had her guy trussed up in a horse's harness and reins with the thing in the mouth and the whole nine yards, and she was ridin' him for all he was worth. I took easily fifty shots of that.

I'm kind of a mix between the old school P.I. and the modern "private investigator," which means I do my fair share of computer searches and background checks on top of the more traditional tailing of cheaters and mystery solving. But I drive a Mustang convertible, I carry a gun, and I live on the beach.

Well, close to the beach.

You are what you drive, they say, and I am a 1966 model of stylish sophistication with a sporty rakishness and a lot of muscle. Instead of Vintage Burgundy, though, I'm your average Italian color, and I have maybe a moderate amount of muscle. When I was a little younger, I had the classic Italian greaser look going on. Now I don't have quite enough hair on top to pull it off, but I'm told I still look pretty damn good.

I named the car Matilda because of her white ragtop, which makes her look like an old lady. She is, without a doubt, my most prized possession. I bought her eight years ago, after an especially lucrative case, and while she was in pretty good condition to begin with, Seth and I restored her to the level of perfection she exists in most of the time these days.

Outside, Seth dropped into the front seat next to me. He looked in the side view mirror and scrubbed his fingers through his hair. That's what passes for styling for him. He plucked his sunglasses out of the collar of his shirt and slid them on. It never fails to impress me how he can make slovenly look good.

"You goin' in carrying on this one?" he asked.

"I don't think so," I told him. "This guy is money. If he gives me trouble, it's going to be of the fist swinging variety, which is why I wanted you along."

"Are we gonna run it the usual way, then?"

"If you expect to be fed."

Certain people do not take bad news well, and if they can't lash out at the object of their anger, they'll often take it out on the closest thing available. I generally happen to be sitting across from them at that point, and I've learned to take precautions.

BUY YOUR COPY NOW

I'm so excited - seems like I've been waiting forever for this, and now it's real!

Like Coffee and Doughnuts - Cars style!

2009-05-17T12:44:00.000-05:00

I've had a crazy busy week, and I can't quite think coherently - especially with the excitement of my book coming out tomorrow...

So I bring you a photo representation of my novel done with Matchbook cars! The burgundy Mustang is Dino (he drives a '66 Mustang convertible named Matilda), and the Chevelle is a redhead, like Seth. The sand in the bottle is actually from Madeira Beach.

Friday Finds!

2009-05-15T06:33:00.001-05:00

Here's the latest round of things I found interesting, useful, or worthy of passing on this week:

Phaze call for submissions

Phaze Raven - Halloween/Horror
Publisher: Phaze.com
Deadline: June 1, 2009

http://www.phaze.com/submissions.html

Good advice on submitting for anthologies from Samhain

http://samhainpublishing.com/blog/2009/05/11/getting-picked-for-an-anthology

A look at story length from Obsidian Bookshelf – are novellas the new black?

http://obsidianbookshelf.blogspot.com/2009/05/reader-perspective-novellas.html

Here’s some story fodder for you: Babies switched at birth found out 56 years later

http://eastoregonian.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=92438

How to avoid the pitfalls of first person narrative – by Julie Ann Dawson

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977680081&nav=Namespace

Via Lisa J Jackson on Twitter – a PDF to editable text converter

http://www.pdftoword.com/

Show me your gadgets!

2009-05-13T08:42:00.000-05:00

Well, I did have to resort to the complete hard drive reformat, but that went well, and I now have a fresh clean desktop to work with. I've gotten Windows all updated, and I'm downloading all the newest versions of my favorite programs.

The thrill of being able to do all my work on one computer again, and getting all my applications set up just the way I want them, reminded me of the thrill of discovering a cool new app or tool for the first time.

Last fall, I learned about Google Reader and it revolutionized my life. I'm serious - it made the chore of following blogs into something fun and easy and now I see new posts right away. I would link to Google Reader, but the link goes to my own account rather than a website. If you Google it, it's the first thing you see - well worth a try if you haven't used it.

Another of my very favorite discoveries was shown to me by a good friend, about five years ago. It's called Maxthon, and it's the best browser I have EVER used (including Firefox). Maxthon is tabbed browsing at its best, with drag-n-drop links, split screens and many other nifty tools.

http://www.maxthon.com/

Now that I'm learning how to use Twitter, and getting something of a following, I'm starting to look around at some of the applications for Twitter, and I've strongly been eyeing up Tweetdeck. Supposedly, it lets you group followers into columns and makes it easier to follow what's going on - something I could use.

What I would REALLY like to find is a program that lets me read and manage two or more FREE Yahoo email accounts at one time. Sadly, the only way you seem to be able to link accounts is if you upgrade to their paid service. At $20 a year, it's not too bad, but I still prefer free.

What are YOUR favorite tools, gadgets, programs or websites? I'm always looking for more spiffy toys!

An Ode to Editing

2009-05-12T09:02:00.001-05:00

This post was sparked by a comment Alexis Grant made a few days ago, in which she said that she, too, loved editing.

I don't hear that from too many people.

In fact, what I hear most of the time is how much people HATE editing. But I don't, I adore it. There are times when I think I like it better than the actual writing.

The truth is, I'm really more of a words person than I am an ideas person, so getting the story down on paper in the first place can sometimes be a pretty big struggle for me. But give me pages and pages of prose that need to be polished up (and cleaned of unnecessary alliteration), and I get all excited. It's like sculpting to me. I can take this mass of verbiage that has "potential" and reshape into something that's actually fun to read.

I enjoy tinkering with words and experimenting with turns of phrase. I love to take a clunky scene, figure out what's wrong with it, and turn it into a valuable part of the story.

On a grander scale, I have learned that I really do have the power to completely rework a novel if I have to. When I was writing my last novel, I got to a point where I realized the beginning was much to slow and I needed to bring the actual mystery forward more. To make such drastic revisions, I printed out the pages and cut apart all the sections so I could try them in various configurations. When I found the one that worked, I taped all the sections back together and used that as a template while I reworked the MS file.

It was a blast - when I was done, I felt like I was on top of the world.

Monday - can't live with it, can't shoot it.

2009-05-11T13:19:00.000-05:00

It's really not THAT bad a Monday. It's not as bad as several of my days last week. But someone's got to be the scapegoat, and who better than Monday, right?

I've had a chronic computer issue for several weeks now, in that I can't get on-line with my main laptop. This is frustrating the hell out of me, because I am used to being able to do all my work, promo, networking, etc. from one computer - that one. I have all my photos and files, my excerpts on there.

I've been making do by working from my desktop computer at work, and from my husband's computer at home, but really....this is driving me nuts! I want everything back in one central location again. (And I want it NOW! *stamps foot*)

We're going to put in a call to an old employee of ours who was always very good at this stuff, and see if some beer and maybe a dinner won't entice him to take a look at my baby.

Wish me luck?

I take my assignments seriously!

2009-05-10T13:08:00.001-05:00

Part of the Blog Book Tours class that I'm taking involves creating a Twitter account and learning how to effectively network and promote in that format. So, I've been spending quite a lot of time playing with and thinking about Twitter in the last few days.

Last night? I dreamed about it.

I had the strangest dream last night in which I was walking around town and noticed that Twitter ID names were standing around, leaned up against street lights or trees, coummunity bicycle style. They were there for anyone to use who needed to send a Twitter message and wasn't at home to do it. It was so bizzare - the words were actually about the SIZE of a bicycle, and just leaning there, kind of like Sesame Street.

Since I brought it up anyway, I should introduce my Twitter and invite anyone who would like to, to follow me!

http://twitter.com/Elle_Parker

Hello muse!

2009-05-09T10:11:00.000-05:00

Life is good! My wayward muse came back to me last night, and I finally managed to move forward from the point I've been stuck at for weeks.

Now, I'll admit I haven't been giving the WIP my utmost attention lately, what with organizing promo, doing homework for the Blog Book Tours class, and trying to promote the May Birthday Celebration for Lyrical Press. Not to mention the kids and the day job...

But in the back of my mind, every time I thought about opening that file and getting back to work - I'd freeze up. I was convinced it stunk and there was no rescue and no point in bothering. Finally, finally, I sat down last night and started to peck at the keyboard, putting down any old words until things started to flow again.

And they DID! I mean, it still stinks, but that's okay - I'm allowed to write shitty first drafts, that's my mantra. I can fix it in editing, and I like editing. We're not talking pages and pages of prose, either. I wrote about 1200 words, but that feels like SO MUCH when you've been stuck.

The really nice part is that I know where the scene is going and when I sit down to write this morning, I think things are going to go pretty well.

Notable links of the week

2009-05-08T08:22:00.001-05:00

I have a routine of reading various blogs and groups throughout the week, and I learn all kinds of valuable things that I'm so grateful someone posted. So, I like to gather them up and pass them along for others who might might have missed this information.

Happy Friday!

By way of NA Sharpe’s blog, I have news of the 4th annual Muse Online Writers Conference: October 12 - 18, 2009. It’s free and it’s on-line! Registration ends August 1st.

http://nasharpe.blogspot.com/2009/05/free-online-writers-conference.html#links

Great discussion of ebook piracy here on Jessiewave’s Review blog

http://reviewsbyjessewave.blogspot.com/2009/05/piracy-and-not-on-high-seas.html

A good article about Twitter for authors in Publisher’s Weekly, via BlogBookTours in…Twitter! What else?

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6647149.html

Both Loose Id and Torquere Press have been putting out calls for submissions in their short story and anthology lines

http://www.loose-id.com/submissions.aspx
http://www.torquerepress.com/submissions/index.html

What makes you take a chance?

2009-05-07T13:01:00.001-05:00

So, what is it that will make you take a chance on an author you've never heard of before?

It's no secret that my first novel is coming out in a couple of weeks, and I have a lot of promo and advertising ahead of me. I've been out there in the groups and loops, offering opinions in Yahoo, taking part in chats, and schmoozing on blogs. I've been making an effort to get my name known out there.

Soon, however, is the real deal. On May 18th I have an actual book to promote and I'll be out there showing my baby off to the world....

I have some printed cards, I have a slew of interesting blog posts relating to the book, I have some giveaways and contests planned. I even already have a handful of blog tour stops set up.

People will often buy books from authors whose work they're already familiar with, but what is it really that makes you take a chance on a brand new one?

Sometimes you just have to phone it in...

2009-05-06T18:12:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it's just one of those days.

Sometimes there is family drama, and your publisher is calling in help, and work is crazy busy. Every time you answer the phone, you're landed with another short deadline, another problem, another project. The bills are past due, the paperwork is piling up, and something else needs to be redone.

Sometimes you just have to retreat to a bar, get a beer, and send in your blog challenge with your iPod....

What is your escape when you have one of those days?

A little summer dreaming...

2009-05-05T10:54:00.000-05:00

This is one of my favorite views in Madeira Beach, FL - Dino Martini's stomping grounds. That's taken from the gazebo of a little restaurant called Waltz.

Now all I need is a glass of sangria!

Free ebooks all month long!

2009-05-04T09:40:00.000-05:00

This month marks the first full year for Lyrical Press, Inc. and to celebrate they have lots of fun things in the works.

For starters, they are giving away an ebook a day at the LPI Blog. All you have to do each day is comment and you have a chance to win a free ebook - winners are announced the following day.

That's 31 chances to win free ebooks!

Including my own LIKE COFFEE AND DOUGHNUTS later this month.

At the end of the month, they'll be giving away a gift basket filled with all kinds of goodies donated by Lyrical Press authors (including something fun from me).

So stop by the Lyrical Press blog this month and check out the party!!

http://lyricalpress.blogspot.com/

2009-05-03T11:20:00.000-05:00

I'd like to take a moment to welcome everyone from the Blog Book Tours group!

This is a fantastic learning experience and it looks to be a lot of fun. You can expect to be hearing more from me now that I'm taking part, AND I can finally say those magic words:

My book is coming out this month!

Like Coffee and Doughnuts will be released from Lyrical Press on May 18, so you can look forward to announcements, interviews, guest blogging, and even a few contests!

On top of that, this month is Lyrical Press's first birthday and I'll be taking part in several events to promote that as well.

It's going to be a fun month!

~~Elle

Like Coffee and Doughnuts - cover art

2009-02-11T18:15:00.000-06:00

I just got the cover art for my novel today, and I have to say...it's very striking!

This is an M/M Erotic Romance/Mystery featuring Florida P.I. Dino Martini and his best friend and machanic, Seth Donnelly.

Full blurb coming soon!

Coming May 2009 from Lyrical Press!!

Waxing Jack is out!!

2008-12-17T09:16:00.001-06:00

Toybox: Candles is out from Torquere Press!!

In it, you can find the first of my Hardwood Mansion stories, "Waxing Jack". This is a fun, humorous, and smoking hot story in which Jack Jones finds himself tricked into a sexy job interview that involves candle play with the very handsome and very rich owner of Hardwood Mansion. Will Jack pass the test and get the job?

Get your copy here:

Toybox: Candles - Waxing Jack

Happy reading!
Elle

Christmas Freebies!!

2008-12-16T11:02:00.001-06:00

One of my publishers, Lyrical Press, is offering a whole slew of Christmas goodies from the ranks of their talented authors, and I'm letting you all know so you can get in on it!

Here's the official blurb and the how-to info:

Lyrical Press Holiday Story Giveaway

The talented authors and staff of Lyrical Press have come together with an absolutely amazing collection of short stories for your enjoyment. From some pretty creative twists on “A Christmas Carol” to some steamy Yuletide lovin’ (and some with a little of both!) you’re guaranteed to enjoy the assortment we’ve got for you.

Starting Sunday, December 14th, you will have a chance to receive these free stories. Each story’s author will spend a day highlighted on the Lyrical Press blog at: http://lyricalpress.blogspot.com

We’ll have a posting from the author, a brief description (and “heat” rating) of each story, and once the posting is up, simply follow the instructions on each post to get the story emailed to you (.pdf format only, sorry!) by Lesli the Promo Elf. Make sure to respond before time runs out to get the story or you’ll end up with coal in your inbox!

Now, because this is the holiday season and we don’t want to ruin the surprise, we aren’t going to “unwrap” our stories too soon. To stay up-to-date and to make sure you don’t miss a chance for a freebie from some of your favorite LPI authors, make sure you also join our Lyrical Press email list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lyricalpress/

The schedule will be revealed there, as will a special holiday surprise at the end of the giveaway for our readers.

Happy Holidays!!

Elle

Coming soon!

2008-11-08T22:58:00.000-06:00

I am happy to report that Lyrical Press has offered me a contract for my first full length novel, and I have accepted!

I signed it and sent it back Friday morning. I couldn't be more pleased.

So, watch this space for details coming soon.

~~Elle

MySpace

2008-11-05T08:59:00.001-06:00

I have signed and sent back the contract for my short story that will be appearing in Torquere Press's Toybox series this December, which is massively exciting.

Because I will soon have things to market, I'm expanding my web presence. I have a new MySpace page, for those who like to follow authors that way:

http://www.myspace.com/elleparkerbooks

Please feel free to add me to your friends list there. Thanks!

Novel Submission!

2008-10-26T15:22:00.000-05:00

I have finally completed the numerous rounds of edits on my novel, and last night...I sent it off to my first choice publisher!

I'm extremely excited about this, and will be waiting patiently (yeah, right) to hear back from them. I have confidence in Dino and Seth.

In the meantime, I'm cleaning up and clearing the decks for the next project. I have several to choose from, including a sequel to the one I've just finished.

Friday Inspiration

2008-09-12T11:26:00.001-05:00

2008-08-28T11:20:00.000-05:00

I am currently at work on my first M/M romance novel, and have high hopes for this project.