Posting every week in 2011!

So I’ve decided that I’m going to blog more this year. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now. I will be posting on this blog at least once a week for all of 2011.

I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.

If you already read our blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way. One way or another, I’ll begin to post on a more regular basis.

Here’s to blogging in 2011!

Kensana

So I’ve hit the mother of all writer’s block (41Weeks and 2 days)

What now? I’ve had blocks before, but this one…this one has taken over my life!

I’ve come to the realization that the year 2009 kicked my ass.  I did spend nine months of it pregnant. The last of which I spent on bed rest. 

Then 2010 came in. Starting the new year with  a teenager graduating. another teenager venturing into a new high, and moving into a new home just two weeks after the birth of our new baby. Later, I had to learn all over again how to leave a new baby with a stranger and head back to work. During this time…let’s just say the writing wasn’t happening.  Yes, it was a rough year.

So, the block has been with me for almost a year now. Yup, I didn’t studder. Now I have to admit I’ve written some things here and there, but between eight hours at the office and taking care of my family duties, I just can’t seem to find the flow to put the finish on anything. So what can I do? 

Not being one for New Year’s resolutions, I’m going to try a little exercise. I plan to begin writing short entries at least every other day somewhere on the web. I have a few different places I’ll post, Facebook, my blog, Twitter, Formulations of my Mind blog and of course the Playground. Hopefully something will spark and I’ll get back on the proverbial horse again.

Come find me and leave a comment. There will be gifts along the way, so be sure to comment. Besides, I could really use the supportive boost.

Ready, set, go!

First Kiss Friday

My first guest at the Playground needs no introduction. That’s right…no introduction. If you do not know who Larissa Ione is and have not read one of her books then I seriously have to ask―what rock have you been living under?

Larissa Ione is not only a talented author, she’s a totally cool individual and trust me I don’t throw comments around easily. I’d so totally want to be like her if—well—you know if I were like alive and all that.

Anyway, she is one half of the awesome writing duo, Sydney Croft, responsible for giving woman a whole new reason to love the weather and its sudden changes.

Her second book in the Demonica series, Desire Unchained, is unbelievable. Today I get the opportunity not only to meet this fantastic author, but she’s brought Shade and Runa with her today to share a little of their story with us.

So without further ado, please welcome Larissa Ione, Shade and Runa Wagner.

Larissa:
Thanks for having me!

Runa: Nice to be here!

Shade: *nods*

Sameera: It’s cool to have you guys here today. Larissa I was totally ecstatic when Kensana told me you’d accepted our invite.

 Larissa: I’m always happy to do anything for Kensana. She’s awesome!

Sameera: Could you tell us a little about the Demonica Series.

Larissa: Well, it’s a dark paranormal series set in and around an underworld hospital run by demons, vampires, and werewolves. The main characters are three brothers who happen to be incubi (sex demons.) Their breed’s natural abilities give them healing qualities, which help them run the hospital. The oldest brother, Eidolon, heads up the hospital.

Sameera: So the whole thing started with Eidolon and Tayla?

Larissa: Yes. He was on duty when Tayla, a demon slayer, was brought in after being badly injured by a demon. Eidolon felt the need to help her. Wraith and Shade pretty much just wanted to kill her. Those guys aren’t quite as sympathetic as Eidolon, which becomes rather clear in Shade’s book. *ahem*

Sameera: Runa, how did it feel when you ran into Shade again after your breakup?

Runa: I wanted to kill him. Had every intention of it, actually! But then we were chained up together and forced to…well, anyway, I really wanted to kill him.

Sameera: Shade, you can’t help but notice Runa is not your run of the mill human. No offense to you, Runa. What was it that drew you to her?

Shade: She’s hot. And she stands up to me. Which is even hotter.

Sameera: Larissa, you’ve managed to create a world any being of the night could live in comfortably. The whole demon hospital thing, I never knew such a place existed. Where did your inspiration for this world come from?

Larissa: From an episode of Angel. I’d always been interested in emergency medicine (to the point that I became an EMT so I could write my medical characters accurately – at the time I was writing contemporaries,) and when Angel got hurt, someone (I think it was Oz) suggested that he go to the hospital…but he couldn’t. He was a vampire. So I started thinking…what if there was some sort of facility vampires and other creatures of the underworld could go to? And what if it was run by these very creatures? And Underworld General was born!

Sameera: Runa, you get to kick a little ass in this book. Do you miss being the Runa of old?

Runa: Not at all! This being a werewolf thing? Awesome.

Sameera: Shade, do you like the new changes in Runa? I mean you fell in love with a human, was it hard to deal with her with the new hmm…changes to her personality?

Shade: Not hard at all. The new Runa makes for some…interesting nights.

Sameera: I’ll bet. Larissa, in this book you also gave more time with Gem and Kynan, can you share anything on their situation with us? Oh, and I can’t forget about Wraith. His book is your most recent release. He’s so dark and brooding. I would so date him.

Larissa: Gem and Kynan have gone over a lot of speedbumps in their road through books 2 and 3. And they appear in book 4…Kynan plays a very
significant role in Lore’s book!

Sameera: Well, when Lore’s book comes out I’ll have to get my own copy. I don’t particularly like reading over Kensana’s shoulder. Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers out there?

Larissa: Yes! I’d just like to shout out a big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me and bought these books! Writing them has been a dream come true, but readers have taken that dream and made it bigger than I ever could have hoped. Because of YOU, Desire Unchained hit the USA Today bestseller list, and Passion Unleashed hit both the USA Today AND New York Times lists. Wow. Just…wow. Thank you!!!!

Sameera: Whoa, USA Today and New York Times lists? That’s awesome! I’d like to thank Larissa, Runa and Shade for dropping by and chatting with me today. It has been a pleasure and an honor to chill with one of the greats. I hope you’ll join us again. I can’t wait to tell Gideon.

Larissa: Thank you so much for having us! It’s been awesome!

Runa: Definitely appreciated being here. It’s not often we get out to hang with humans!

Shade: Yeah…that’s because humans are—oof!—Runa!

Larissa: Demons. Sorry…you can’t take ’em anywhere…

Sameera: If you haven’t read or picked up a book in this series, you don’t know what you’re missing. As usual, Larissa Ione creates such a realistic world within the darkness of paranormal that you’ll wonder why you haven’t visited it sooner. Once you begin reading Runa and Shade’s story you won’t want to put it down until you’re done.

About Larissa Ione…

Larissa Ione writes dark paranormal romances (the Demonica series) for Grand Central Publishing, as well as sexy contemporary romance for Samhain and Red Sage. She also pens erotic s/f action suspense novels for Random House under the name Sydney Croft, with writing partner Stephanie Tyler. She lives a nomadic lifestyle with her Coast Guard husband, 12 year old son, and a newly adopted stray cat.

Abigail’s Secret has a cover!

Abigail’s Secret, my second stand alone title has been contracted with Freya’s Bower. Today I’m sharing the new cover created by Valerie Tibbs.

Blurb
When Gabriel left town to take a job in Virginia, he expected his longtime friend Abigail to always be there for him. The last thing he expected was for her to drop completely out of his life without so much as a phone call. Six years later, he certainly didn’t expect to find her with a child and a new life. Now, he must fight to win her heart all over again to claim what he left behind. Or will the secret Abby holds end all hopes of their happiness together?

I’ll let you guys know as soon as I have a release date.

Back from Lori Foster’s Get Together…

OTOG Authors

And it was AWESOME!!! This author and my daughter who jumped in for Jax, certainly had a blast. Lori, Dianne and the gang did a wonderful job of pulling the event together. I got the chance to met people I’ve known for quite awhile and never had the chance to meet–like Ms. Brea and my wonderful cover artist Valerie. Not to mention, Faith Bicknell-Brown, the woman responsible for giving me a chance to show my stuff in her One Touch, One Glance Anthology and Trinity Blacio, who graced the pages with myself, Brea and Faith.

I also had a chance to sit and chat with one of the biggest motivators I’ve met on my road to becoming a published author, The Great One, Ms. Jacquelyn Frank, author of the Nightwalker series. Her new series, Shadowdwellers is sure to shine as bright as those gentleman in the Nightwalker series did.

Me & Jacqueline Frank

I also had the chance to meet Bianca D’Arc, who is responsible for putting Jacki and I together. If not for her I would have never found out that one of the top paranormal romance authors lived right in the same area as I do. Who knew? And folks, I hate to brag but I road the elevator with Shiloh Walker. Yes indeed, from the fifth floor all the way down to the first floor. I know, you don’t have to tell me, you’re jealous. 🙂

There were a lot of events planned for the weekend, meeting and greeting, presentations, book fair and the such. I have to say one of the highlights of my weekend, was getting to know some members of the Ravenous Romance family. Lori Perkins, a name that has had the living daylights scared out of me since the day I read about her, (Which you have to check out when you get the chance) proved to be nothing I’d ever thought an agent would be and everything an agent should be. She shared a world of information and ice cream with my daughter and I. Then I met some of her authors, Jamaica Layne, Lexi Ryan and Bethany Michaels. Let me tell you these ladies are a hoot to be around and definitely people I will have to stay in touch with. I am now hooked on Graeter’s ice cream thanks to Jamaica. 🙂

Jamaica Layne Me & Lori Perkins

So with a weekend of networking, shopping and eating things I know I shouldn’t but had to, and watching my fourteen year old shop till she dropped, I can say I’m really looking forward to next year.

Please disregard the expressions on my face in some of them. I was talking to my daughter while she was taking the pictures and with teenagers, you only get one snap and that’s it. LOL

Attending Authors

Cover Model

OMG! Did I forget to mention the cover model? Or as my daughter refers to him as “The Sexy Beast.” LOL

Later Folks!
Kensi

Gideon is home!

Gideon: Where is everyone? Boy a man takes a little vacation and you write him off.

Kensana: Gideon!

Gideon: There’s my girl.

Kensana: Where have you been? And don’t tell me Christmas vacation because that has been over for a while now.

Gideon: My dear Kensa you were venturing into a different world than I’m used to traveling. Well I guess that’s not all together true. It’s a world I’d rather not venture. The dark side can be a little—tempting for us God types.

Kensana: In that case I totally understand. I missed you and the ladies have been asking about you.

Gideon: I’ll have to stop by for a visit when my girls are around. I missed you all. However, from what I understand, that head of yours hasn’t been empty since I left. I ran into Samera. She’s umm…different.

Kensana: She’s okay once you get to know her. We’re making good progress on Shades of Grey. Hopefully we’ll finish within the week. I’m glad you’re back though, we have an author’s chat to
attend in a few weeks and Whispers in the Wind is your story. I can’t talk about it without you. We even won an award from Love Romance Café & More, while you were gone.

Gideon: I’m glad the new work is going well for you and Samera. I’d like to meet her when she’s around. An award? That’s wonderful news Kensa.

Kensana: If I catch her in the right mood, she’d probably like to meet you as well. Until then, here’s a picture of her.

Gideon: What a beautiful girl. A little eerie on the eyes though.

Kensana: She’s okay, trust me.

Gideon: If you say she’s all right, then she’s okay in my book. I’m going to head over to the PM Club. Maybe I’ll find Brighid and Heather there.

Kensana: Yeah I do have work to do. We’ll catch up later. Have fun.

Gideon: Later luv.

Come join the OTOG Authors at Midnight Seductions

The strange face of love

What is love? It’s defined in many ways for different people. For one it may mean diamonds, flowers or cash. To another, it’s a reason to give oneself to another. For those who have experienced real lover, it’s none of that but so much more.
In my teenage years, I witnessed all the drama of young love gone bad. Some of those would put your One Tree Hills and 90210s to shame. Fight in the hallways filled my young ears with obscenities and declaration such as, “He doesn’t want you.” This confident statement made by the present girlfriend. Generally countered by, “Well he did last night,” by the girlfriend on deck or the object of the boyfriends discretion, so to speak. All the while, what I notice is the boyfriend and his entourage, who standby and are apparently quite amused by the whole ordeal. After the big crowd pleasing breakup, I ask myself, where is the love?
Through early adult life, I realized it didn’t get any better. Even as young adults, people still made fools of themselves in the name of love, and military men and woman is no exception. Let’s take…we’ll call him John, for example. John is a good man. He loves his wife, comes home every night faithfully and serves his country with all the honor and dedication he can muster. Much like his marriage. He gives his wife the world and then some. He encourages her to get in touch with herself, go out and find a hobby to fill up her time when he’s away. Does she return his love? Not exactly. She did decide to take his advice. She found he hobby and its name was Jane. After spending a month in the field, John returns home to find his beloved and her new hobby intertwined in the center of his living room floor. Again, I had to ask myself, where’s the love?
Now a little older, definitely a little wiser, I’ve seen couples around me come and go, as my own relationship has outlast them all. The definition of love is still a quandary for some. The focus of what love is remains lost for most. Some say love is blind. I say love’s eyesight is twenty-twenty. It is the person who possesses a clouded perception of love and refuses to see it, who should try on the magnified glasses. Strip away all of the gifts, trips, money and yes, sex and see what remains. To know love and be loved is the most wonderful gift in the world. It doesn’t come gift wrapped. It can’t be summed up in monetary value. To experience love, you must have the ability to love. A favorite quote of mine expresses it perfectly. “Love isn’t an emotion, it’s an ability.” After all is said and done, true, unadulterated love will always stand on it’s own, shining for all to see.

Today’s question…

Last Week’s Results: What kind of friend would you be?
In it for the benefits 43%
Hook up till sun up 43%
Bootie call with no recall 14%

Come join us at Savannah’s Big Bash!