What’s an inter-cle-rial? It’s a cross between an interview, article and editorial. What does that made up word have to do with me? One of my alter ego’s wrote an inter-cle-rial for JERR and it’s appearing in the next issue coming out this weekend. Yay! I’m so excited for everyone to read one of my babies, even if it doesn’t include a romance story with yummy sex. *g*

So, it’s an interview because there are some quotes from my fave m/m authors. An article because there are actual paragraphs involved, though I use the term article VERY loosely. And an editorial because it’s absolutely filled to the top with little snippets of my opinion.

I’m excited and nervous all at the same time as I wait for it to be “released”. Excited because I really love what I’ve written though nervous because *gasp* what if the author’s that are included in the inter-cle-rial hate it? What if they read it and complain that it just sucks and they can’t believe that they agree to participate in my project? So, I’m going to be on edge until approximately noon on Sunday waiting for it to come out. Want to wait with me? Click HERE to sign up for the JERR newsletter and have my inter-cle-rial delivered to your inbox on Sunday and read it with the other 2,000 subscribers. Then, come here and tell me how wonderful I am or how much I suck.

*sigh* Even if I suck, can you please lie to me?

Celia

PS. YML pics are posted both in honor of my inter-cle-rial and Nicole’s nameless friend. Enjoy!

I love those two buttons on my keyboard. They’ve been my saviors more times that I can count and this post is dedicated to them. Without Shift+F7 I would have had an entire manuscript with more realizing’s than I could ever count. I’d have been stuck with a ton of obviously’s. let’s not even start talking about the number of understood’s there would have been. It wasn’t pretty folks. *sigh* Then I found Shift+F7 and I fell in love.

For those of you that don’t know…Shift+F7 are the keys you can hit when in Word to pull up the thesaurus. Thesaurus…hmmm…dreams of synonyms and antonyms dance through my head at the sound of that word. So, today’s post and pic are dedicated to the two keys that give me a more diversified vocabulary. If someone told me I had to ditch all of the cool things my computer did but one. I’d ditch everything but Shift+F7.

You have to admit…that kinda sounds like love.

Celia

I feel like I’m in a little bit of a competition with blogger now. Everytime I change something or work around what was given to users by blogger I feel like doing a happy dance and sticking my tongue out at the computer. Mature, I know. Today’s accomplishment is changing the font. Now, that seems easy enough and in reality it is, unless you want to change the title and post content font. That’s where it gets tricky. I couldn’t actually find any coding that dictated the font for the title or posts. So what did I do? I insterted a line. So a great big Ha! and Neaner! to blogger cause I figured it out and now my blogger font and my website fonts match! *happy dance, happy dance* Pftttttttttt at you blogger!

Words managed to show up last night so I didn’t play much. I got another 1500 on Good Dom and it seems like my character, Jess, has finally worked past her issues and we’ll be getting down and dirty soon. Can’t wait! Best part about writing erotic romance, writing sex! Anyone that tells you it doesn’t turn you on while their writing it….lied! So, here’s a little piccy to get you in the mood. This book is m/f hence the lack of YML. If I’d had this blog during Good Woman you’d be seeing a lot more of the man on man pics, but *sigh* you’ll just have to wait on more of those for now.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be getting Good Woman back from my amazing friends Shara and Jan soon. Though I do have the teensiest bit of fear. I know they like the story, it’s all the grammar and head hopping that occurred that I’m worried about. Not much I can do now though, I’ll just have to fix it when it comes back.

Have a wonderful day all and as Paz says, Happy Writing!

Celia

Yep, Brown! Why Brown? Go check out my website and you’ll see why. *smile* Remember the other night when I bought a website when the words wouldn’t come? Well, I couldn’t write last night. So mosey over to www.celiakyle.com to see the new and improved layout and let me know what you think. If you don’t feel like checking it out now, that’s ok. Stay and drool over the yummy pic instead.

Celia

*sigh* This pic is here again for a few reasons:

1) To get back at blogger for not posting it for me the first time around.
2) So everyone that didn’t visit over the weekend and doesn’t scroll past the most recent post will get to see it.
3) It’s just too damn yummy not to look at again. (That spot seems so kissable!)

Enjoy!

Celia

Yesterday blogger wouldn’t let me post my pick…so, a big ole neaner, neaner to blogger because here it is! Don’t ya just wanna kiss him right there….

Celia

Once again blogger hated my pic…

*Drum Roll Please*

Ok, today’s post has two topics. (Who knew I’d have TWO things to talk about today?) First, my new website complete with my very own web address is now up and running. Woo Hoo! I’ve updated the link on the right, but just in case you want to check it out yourself:

www.celiakyle.com

Look mom, No Ads!

*Kids In China*

I’m amazed by the children in China. Why you ask? I’ve been playing with blog templates recently. Doing my best to set up a blog for my serial story to be presented on once I’ve got a good bit of it written. (If you want to take a look at it in its current state you can click the link to the right that says Celia Kyle’s Sinful Little Secrets or you can click HERE. Yes, I know its dark, but I can’t do anything about that yet. Currently consulting the 16yr old I refer to as “The Singapore Kid” Like Billy the kid with computers.)

What does setting up my blog template have to do with kids in China? They create the wonderful templates I’m finding, of course. Yep, you heard right. Some of the coolest blog templates I’ve ever seen are made by 15 year old kids in China. China! (Well mine is made by a kid in Singapore, but you know what I mean.) Ok, I can get over the fact that there are some amazingly intelligent kids in the world, but if you go to Blogskins you’ll notice that they have an ENTIRE community of them.

So, here I am, template in place and I want some customization done on it. I’m willing to pay to have it done of course, but do you know what I have to do? Email a 16 yr old in Singapore for help. I’m 26 years old and I’m getting help from a 16 yr old in Singapore. Makes ya feel dumb, doesn’t it? I feel about thisbig (imagine my thumb and forefinger reallly close together) having to ask a kid for help.

Well, if you’d like to download some cool “skins” as the kids call them, here are a few links to help you along:

www.blogskins.com

http://www.diaphaneity.com/layouts/page1.php

http://www.funkzyde.blogspot.com/

http://bloggertemplatesbycaz.blogspot.com/

http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish my grovelling to Wang so that he’ll help me out. I’m grovelling to a kid. *Hangs head in shame*

Celia

PS. Are you a kid in China that knows amazing amounts of stuff about coding HTML? Let me know. Hey even if you’re a kid from some other country I could use the help.

That right there is a woman that knows what she wants and is going after it! Ha! Nothing to ramble about today, but I wanted to at least leave you all with a yummy pic to carry you through your day. Don’t you wish you were connected to that hand? Yummy!

Celia

Alison Tyler. Have you heard of her? Ever read anything by her?

I discovered her blog last week and I’m hooked. She’s a writer like none I’ve encountered before. Currently, she’s posting daily entries on her blog that will amount to her memoirs and after reading them, I’m speechless.

Let me set this up for you: It’s last Wednesday, work sucks of course so I surf the net. Stop by a few of my fave blogs. Wander over to Saskia Walker’s blog in the morning. Post a little note (cause I love her and her stuff) and then wander away. Afternoon rolls around and I stop by Saskia’s again to see if she posts a response and see what anyone else may have said. Then I see her…Alison’s posted a note to Saskia. (Saskia and Alison work together as Alison is not only a truly amazing writer, but an editor as well.) So, I’ve heard her name before, but never realized she had a blog. Intrigued, I head on over to see what she’d been saying recently and that’s when I became lost.

When I first started reading, I thought that perhaps she was merely writing a serial story for her fans in first person. It wasn’t until I went several posts back and saw where she stated that these experiences she was describing are….well….their hers. It’s her. I have to let you know now that every post is related to BDSM and honestly, until I read her blog, I never ‘got’ the lifestyle.

When I would read other BDSM works from authors it always felt forced, fake, and lacked realism or emotion. I never understood how someone could ask for a spanking or enjoy being flogged, but now I realize that it’s a need. For both people involved.

Alison takes hold of your hand and pulls you into her life. Her words let you feel the paddle on your ass and make you want to beg for more. If you enjoy BDSM…go there. You won’t regret a moment of it. And hey, you just may learn something.

Celia

PS. To begin reading her ’story’ from the beginning, start on Aug. 11

Note before you begin reading: Blogger sucks and won’t let me upload the yummy pic of the day. *pout*

Now for those reader’s in England…you know what that sentence means (or variations of that sentence), but to those of us in the US…that is one scary thing to hear as a writer. Let me explain:

The Players:
Tasha – Friend and fellow aspiring writer, We’re working on To My Darling One together
Shara Cooper (Take a look at her blog, link to the right)- Friend, fellow aspiring writer, proofer & editor for uber popular erotic romance authors (Like U-B-E-R)

Ok, so I started what I call ‘this writing thing’ on 8/5/06. How do I know I started then? Because that’s when Tasha sent me what she had for Darling One and asked me to add what I could and then send it back. So, we did that for a couple of weeks. The word count rose and then we decided that we should send it to our friend Shara to look over and let us know if we were doing ok. And off it goes…this is the morning of 8/17/06.

La di da…I’m worried of course because I’ve NEVER written before and I have no clue if I suck. (Like NEVER EVER) Not to mention that what we sent her included my first attempts at literary sex. (I’ve heard from others…I’m good!) Ha! So that afternoon I’m chatting online while at work. (I know…Bad Celia Bad!) And I discover that I’ve won a book on Eve Vaughn’s loop. Yay! (Won 4Saken, yummy book, go buy it.) Now, I know that Tasha chat’s with Eve and since I’m new to the scene and I never win anything I begin to wonder if Tasha asked Eve to let me win. (Yeah, as if! But sometimes I’m an idiot with idiot ideas.) So, being the kind of person I am, I hop back into chat to ask her:

Me: Tasha did you tell Eve to let me win the book?
Tasha: No…hold on…oh, Shara’s said you’ve lost the plot…

And that’s when I have to jump off the compu and do real work. I have to do real work when my co-author tells me that the woman reviewing our work says that I’ve lost the plot. I was freaked! 30 minutes later I hop in the car and curse as I scroll through my address book on my cell looking for Tasha’s name. (Couldn’t her mother have named her something like Amy so she’d be at the top of my list? That’s it…Tasha your name is now Amy so that I can find you easier.) Anyway. I find her number, press send and wait….

Tasha: Hello?
Me(I’m yelling, loud): What do you mean I’ve lost the plot?! There’s only three chapters and the third is all sex! There isn’t any real plot in sex…it’s…sex dammit! Sex in the club, sex in the cab and sex in the hotel! We haven’t even really developed a plot! I’m not even sure what a damn plot is let alone if we had one! How can I lose something I probably never had in the first place? What is she talking about? That’s it, no more editing for her!
Tasha: Celia?
Me: How did I lose the plot that damn quick? I told you I suck at this. I know I said that ‘you suck’ is easier to take in an email, but I lied. ‘You suck’ sounds bad on the phone and in an email. I told you writing reviews is a lot different than writing books. How could I lose it?
Tasha: Hold on.

So, I sit there and hold as she futzes with the phone until suddenly there’s a british voice on the phone. Tasha had called Shara three way so that she could join in the fun. I had never talked to her before, but that didn’t stop me from raving like a lunatic at her from the get go. So I repeated EVERYTHING that I had yelled to Tasha without any first time pleasantries such as ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ and do you know what they did then?

They laughed, hard, for a very very long time. Apparently Tasha was supposed to tell me that I’d lost my plot not the plot. Meaning, I had lost my ever loving mind if I thought that Eve had rigged some contest because Tasha had asked her to.

Well if I hadn’t lost my mind before, it was definitely at risk that afternoon. So my new favorite thing to say to Shara?

“Have a great day hon and try not to lose your plot.” And then I laugh very, very hard.

Celia

Ok, I thought I was done for the day, but one of my alter ego’s had a couple of book reviews she wrote published today. Yay! These are the first few reviews I wrote as Larissa Hayes for The Romance Studio and now they’re on the website. Yay! So what reviews got posted?

Here Be Dragons by TA Chase (I Lurv Him)
Pull My Hair by Kimberly Kaye Terry
Darius by Gail Faulkner

So go check out the reviews and while you’re at it grab Here be Dragons. I loved, loved, loved the book and can’t wait for more…

Hugs,

Celia erm and Larissa too….

Didn’t do much but write this weekend. Well, I did get a couple of pairs of yummy shoes… But back to the writing. I’m up to 20k on Good Dom!!!! Ok, that was a lie. I’m only up to 19,684. It’s close enough though, right? I’m gonna call it good at 20k. I did have a bit of an accomplishment this weekend…I started writing a serial story that will eventually get posted for all to see and when I sent the first installment to Paz Edwards for review it wasn’t covered in red. Yay!!!! The first time Paz looked at something for me, I got it back and she had a higher word count in the doc than I did. So, as soon as I manage to get a few installments written you guys will get a little present from me each week.

Happy Writing,

Celia

And see that I’ve added a Feedblitz box! It’s one of THE coolest things ever. If you enter your email in the box and follow the directions you’ll get an email with my blog entry everytime I come on here and blab. Now to avoid confusion…The pretty purple box is for newsletter type stuff only. (In all actuality, I don’t have too much to fill a newsletter with so you’d be safe to sign up for it since it’ll be a while before you actually hear from me.) Now. The box below it…That’s the service that’ll get my lovely blog writings delivered to your inboxes whenever I can’t shut up. So, sign up already! Getting me automatically delivered to your inboxes everyday couldn’t be easier!

And for those of you that stop by to see what yummy pic I post…well you’ll get those too.

Celia

I received an anonymous request *cough, Nicole, cough* for a YML pic. So, here it is. I only hope you’ll be able to write now that you’ve got this added distraction. Lots of hugs!

Celia

What about the color red? Well, other than it’s every writer’s nightmare and every editor’s wet dream? Nothing is necessarily special or spectacular about the color red. Unless it’s your favorite color and then it rocks! But for me, red is the enemy. Especially in the form of a pen. Or in today’s world, Word’s tracked changes. *shudder*

Of course, it didn’t become my enemy until I started writing. Before writing…I looked great in red. I have this one red dress that I look H-O-T, Hot! In. Now…I won’t go near it with a ten foot pole. Why you ask? Well if you write and have had your work edited by someone, you already know the answer to that question. If you don’t write, I can tell you what’s wrong with it in two simple words….It’s Evil.

It mar’s the beautiful manuscript that you’ve worked so hard to create. Hour upon hour of careful consideration, thought, blood, sweat, and tears have gone into this masterpiece of literary magnificence that would make any writer proud…Then do you know what happens? Red comes.

Red slices through your paragraphs with no consideration of your time. It doesn’t care that you cried with your character when you sent her lover away. Why should it care that you sat at the edge of your seat when your character was in the hospital and you didn’t even know if she would make it? It shouldn’t care really, and it doesn’t. It only cares about sticking with one point of view. It only cares that proper grammar is used. It only cares about using my active voice.

Well, as much as I fear it…I can appreciate its points. I should use only one point of view. I’ve read the difference between two scenes. One with two different points of view and then that same scene rewritten to only contain one point of view; it is definitely much easier to read when you’re only in one head at a time. (Point one for Red) Proper grammar…well this goes without saying and Red doesn’t need to defend its position on grammar, I agree wholeheartedly. (Point two for Red) Where we come into a slight disagreement, if you will, is with active vs. passive voice.

What’s the difference? Hell if I know. Since I’m not a published author, (I haven’t even submitted anything yet) I feel comfortable enough to admit this to the world. I have absolutely NO idea what the difference between passive and active voice is. None! I even bought this book, The Elements of Style, in hopes that it would help…Nope, not where voice is concerned. To help me in reducing the appearance of Red due to this (among other things), I’m taking a self-editing course online with the Roses. Maybe they can help me. Or maybe I’m hopeless where this is concerned.

I know one thing for sure, Red is evil and it must be stopped!

Celia