She Walks in Beauty

She Walks in Beauty by: George Gordon (Lord) Byron (1788-1824) HE walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellow’d to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.   One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impair’d the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o’er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.   And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The... 

date9 Jan

Bushed

I’m bushed. My body aches. I walked forever yesterday in West Hollywood with authors Z.A. Maxfield and James Buchanan. We went to the West Hollywood Book Fair to look around, attend a panel and meet fellow MLR Press author Haley Walsh who also writes as Jeri Westerson. The panel was on the second floor of the West Hollywood Library and the plate glass windows behind Jeri offered a view of the Pacific Design Center and the gorgeous LA day. (See photo below.) We saw Meredith Baxter Birney, Florence Henderson, Kevin Sorbo, Julie Newmar and some actors whose names we couldn’t remember.... 

date3 Oct

For the Puppy Monster

I’m back from moving into my new house and killing off my desktop computer. The new computer is amazing and I didn’t lose any files so all’s well that ends well there. I’m blogging today instead of Monday for a reason. Today is an anniversary for a blogger friend, but it’s an anniversary no parent should ever have. Please, hug your children today. Mine is flying off to Wisconsin for her school break and believe me, I’ll be giving her extra hugs. And this summer, if your kids are around any bodies of water, please be extra safe and extra vigilant. My heart goes... 

date21 Jun
commentsComments Off

Conference Moments

As you all know, I went to the Romantic Times Book Lovers convention this past week. It was my first convention and also my first as a published author. I had a great time mostly because I had very cool people to hang out with. The workshops turned out to not be my thing but a lot of that had to do with the fact that I was on sensory overload and I wouldn’t have remembered a damn thing from a workshop. I went to the lunches and balls and cocktail parties and mixers. And I hung out in the Lobby Court with a lot of very cool authors. I didn’t have to fly to the conference because it was... 

date11 Apr

Belonging

Over the years, I’ve belonged to different groups on the internet. They always seem to fade away at some point. Not so much because people get bored with what the group does, although I’m sure there’s a portion that do, but because the dynamics of the group change. Back when Rott and I belonged to KNAC.com, the group started splintering because of new people joining and fights and wars that broke out. It wasn’t fun anymore so some people stopped going. That changed the dynamic of the group the extent that it wasn’t fun for other people anymore either and they stopped... 

date7 Mar

Happy Ho Ho

Amaretto di Saronno in dark chocolate hot chocolate…warm jammies with polka dots…Christmas music (Oh, that Andrea Bocelli singing When a Child is Born)…the scent of ham and cloves wafting from the oven…and the babies fighting and tumbling across the room yowling and hissing and spitting in mock battle with each other. Thank God I have no tree for them to tear apart limb by limb. At any rate, Christmas in this house isn’t the usual fare. No tree. No presents. No lights. No Motley.  The new year is looking like a hunt for a mobile home to buy. Long story with good points... 

date25 Dec

30 Days

Ta da! I’m unveiling a big contest for readers and fans of my books and the books of some dear friends. For the next 30 days, beginning tomorrow and ending on Christmas, I’ll be giving away books. Up for grabs is my entire backlist plus some books by friends. I was going to do it here on Sunlight Sucks but I don’t want to disrupt my regular routine here so this will take place on the Lex Valentine blog. Every day a random commenter will be chosen at midnight Eastern time for the book of the day. So if you’ve already read that day’s book and don’t want a another... 

date25 Nov

Birthday Explosions

I was a dedicated Tweeter a couple of years ago. I lived on Twitter. My Facebook…meh. Not so much. I had far, far more people on my Twitter account than my Facebook. Then two things happened at once. One, some people I knew on Twitter began lessening their Twitter usage. And two, I couldn’t have it on at work anymore. That took my Twitter karma to like zero pretty quickly. The same thing happened with my Yahoo IM. A few people I talked to almost daily stopped using it or used it very rarely (or had themselves invisible to me cause they didn’t want to talk to me anymore) and again,... 

date1 Nov

Goulash

This is a goulash post today, a little bit of everything.  My brain is a little too fried to actually come up with a topic to discuss or yak about so I figured I’d just let it wander from topic to topic as I ramble on. Memes Okay, so I got tagged for this Bald Face Liar game. Originally, when I first saw this meme on a few blogs, I laughed because a couple of the authors who were playing really are bald faced liars so I found it rather ironic. I never did do memes well and I prefer the truth even with regard to games so I doubt I’ll play.  My friend Lisa is playing though, so if you... 

date24 May

Now Comes the Night

This past week has been a rough one. Friends are having trouble with all sorts of bad things. I have my share of stuff too and stress over them is really bogging me down. Despite where I work and what I write, mortality isn’t something I think about every day. At least not in a conscious, personal way. Yet, a few things have happened that reminded me that I don’t live in the Darkworld where the immortals die mostly when they feel like retiring, giving up their bodies, and moving on to the Afterlife. Two of the nicest people I know have had tragedies befall them. Both things happened... 

date10 May

Can You Believe?

Can you believe I had a blog post for today all set in my head on Saturday? Rott said something, a “Can you believe…?” thing, and we were both laughing and I said, “That’s my blog post for Monday!” and we expounded on it… and… Um, yeah. I can’t remember it. So I guess my post is Can You Believe I Forgot My Blog Post? It will probably come back to me when I’ve stopped trying to remember what it is. The sad thing is, I know I should write shit down. Not only am I getting older and more ADD by the day, but I juggle a lot of stuff. Not just... 

date5 Apr

Speshul

Today is the birthday of someone very speshul. He reads my blog sometimes and back when I was first writing about becoming an author, he coined the phrase TVC. Throbbing Vampire Cock. See, he didn’t want to read about TVC. But then, he had to create a cartoon so he decided to create TVC, the dick that sucks you! No one, nowhere, no how, could have thought up such a thing and executed it better than my friend Dave, who has been known to leap tall lattes in a single bound to get pudding. Who survived, and enjoyed, being injected with Teh Gay. (Jester and Dave) Who was tormented for like... 

date24 Mar