Elle Parker Books

Welcome!

I'm so thrilled! I finished the first draft of Dino 2 last night!! I still have a lot of work to do in revisions, but I tend to find that to be a more productive phase. I'm still a bit shy of word count too, so I'll be looking for places that need more fleshing out or scenes that are missing.

I'm in the home stretch now! I haven't exactly been keeping to the 1200 a day schedule, but I've had some days that were well over, so it's roughly balanced out. I'm still a little behind where I'd like to be, but not very far.

Also? I'm having FUN with it! These are so much fun to write (at least...when the muse is flowing)

I have a lot of time off next week, and I'd really like to be using that time for revisions if I can get there.

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!

I have a game plan!

I sat down yesterday and did a little writerly math. I would have liked to participate in NaNo this year, because it's fun and because I have good friends who do it every year. This year, however, I have a novel that needs finishing in the worst way - so I've planned to use the *spirit* of NaNo to energize me.

Toward that end, I took a look at the month of November and made a plan. I figured out if I write at least 1200 words a day through Nov 22, I will have a finished first draft, and a week ahead of me for edits and revisions. (I may or may not need more words to finish the story, but these numbers should work out about right based on what I have now and where I'm at in the story)

The goal is to have the project finished by the end of the month - or as near to it as possible. If I need a little more editing time, that's fine, but I NEVER planned to take this long to get book 2 finished.

I'm already formulating a better plan for book 3 (which does NOT include falling apart in the spring *g*)

So! Yesterday's count was 1284, I'm off and runnin'....

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



( Lots more pictures behind the cut )


We are definitely going back next year!

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

I signed up to take part in this promotion and the communication was a little spotty. Not everything can go off without a hitch, and this one's going to interesting. It's still a good chance to experiment with new promotions and learn something.

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

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! You can promote a book or just use it as an excuse to test out Tinychat - that's what I'm doing *g*

EDIT: Whew! I'm warnin' y'all....I have NO IDEA what I'm doing with Tinychat.

I've had my head down and my nose to the grindstone lately, and I've made a LOT of progress on the second Dino Martini novel. I'm very pleased with how it's turning out and having so much fun writing it.

I'm very quickly evolving into a hardcore plotter. I kept getting stuck and waffling around whenever I sat to write, so one day I slapped a pad of paper on the desk and sketched out each day's worth of activities and scenes for the entire rest of the book as I know it so far.

That's been VERY liberating. All week, I've been racking up significant word counts and writing good flowing scenes because I'm doing them in one sitting. It's a BLAST! And I'm still flexible enough to be able to alter the planned outline if something new crops up that I hadn't considered before.

Now that I know this, I've been working on the third book in my off time, making notes and starting to form a plot. This time, I'm going to completely flesh it out before I start writing and hope that will be a more efficient use of my time.

Also, I've posted a couple of contests and appearances in my blog, so stop by and check those out!

http://elleparkerbooks.blogspot.com/

Wave has posted the results of their Readers’ Favourite Gay Books...

And I'm ON the list! I'm very flattered and honored that Like Coffee and Doughnuts is listed.

I am finally catching up after a summer of unexpected weirdness. I got very very busy at the same time I lost all motivation to do much of anything. It wasn't fun.

Things have finally turned around, fortunately, and I've spent the last month getting caught up and squared away again. And it feels great! I'm doing better than I have in a long time.

Most importantly I'm back to serious work on the next Dino novel, which is making me happier than I have a right to be. I am loving this one, and I can't wait to get it finished and submitted. One very gratifying thing that's been happening, and it kind of blows me away...people have been asking about it! And I don't mean my mother and my best friend, I mean bloggers and reviewers and a few fans. (I have fans!) So, that's been a lot of fun.

I have also started another novel (or novella) on the side in response to a submission call I saw recently. It's an idea I've been toying with in the back of my head for a while now, and I thought I'd take a stab at it. I've been wanting to try writing more than one project at a time just to see how I do - My hope is that if I'm stuck on one, I can turn to the other and ultimately be more productive in the long run. Which would be nice, because I'm a slow writer. On the other hand...one always runs the risk of being too distracted to be effective on either one. We'll see, I guess!

Beyond that, I have the paranormal that I'm still outlining and have very high hopes for that if I can flesh out the plotline enough.

Man, it feels good to be back!

I spent a wonderful weekend at the cabin and am much refreshed for it.

There was a dicey spot where a HUGE pale spider invaded my writing area, and I had to wait for my son to back from his run to handle that for me, but otherwise, it was relaxing and pleasant.

Once my computer was rescued from spider hell, I was able to polish up my short story and send off the submission. I'm very excited about that one, and would dearly love to be part of that anthology, so I'll be watching the email with rapt attention for a while.

I have one review to write, and I need to get on that like yesterday, but then the goal is to put some hard focus on the novel for a while and see if I can't get the first draft done and into revisions as soon as possible. I'd like to be submitting this one by August if I can.

Hello all!

It's been a crazy, busy spring and I am so ready for a break. Mostly, it's been good things. I've been learning how to do promo for the book and taking a crash course in blogging. Things at work have been hectic as hell, and stressful, but there might a light at the end of the tunnel. We've hired a production manager who ought to help streamline the process. (We hope)

In the meantime, I've been working away at the second novel, but nowhere near fast enough and I'm starting to feel the pressure from that. I need to learn how to back off from that feeling and just focus on the writing, but it's a hard thing to do. And I haven't helped matters much by adding a short story project to the mix. I'm nearly done with that, though, and should have it edited and submitted by sometime next week.

Today, I'm the Author in the Spotlight at Jessewave's blog, and I'm very excited about that.

We have plans to head to the cabin this weekend, and historically, I do very well writing there, so I'm hoping to have the short story off to the beta and get some serious word counts done on the novel. Plus I get to see my kiddos, who summer there and have now been gone since Friday.

I have two new reviews for my M/M erotic romance/mystery, LIKE COFFEE AND DOUGHNUTS !!

The first is from Hayley at Admitting is the First Step:

http://admittingisthefirststep.blogspot.com/2009/05/review-like-coffee-and-doughnuts-by.html

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 respected M/M reviewer, Elisa Rolle:

http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/664942.html

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.



You can also find links to both at my blog: http://elleparkerbooks.blogspot.com/


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

New review!

Rainbow Reviews

Ultimate Lesbian Erotica 2009 edited by Nicole Foster


Lesbian Erotica Anthology
Alyson Books

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

( Read an Excerpt )


BUY YOUR COPY NOW


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

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.

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 donted 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/

Boy, it's been a busy few weeks!

I've been working hard on final edits and the paperwork that goes with that, chosing excerpts, and designing and ordering promo material. It feels like the ball is really rolling now, and it's hard to believe I have a novel coming out in less than a month! I'm so excited. This has been such a great experience so far and I haven't even hit my release date.

Work on the new novel, and the idea building on the third one, have been put on hold while I get my ducks in a row for the first one, but we're nearly there. This summer is shaping up to be a fun and relaxing one for me, and I should have plenty of time to work on them then.

In and amongst the craziness of the past few weeks, I was able to take a trip down to Florida to visit my dad, and to hang out in Dino and Seth's stomping grounds. I came back with new inspiration and an even deeper love for them.



I also visited one of the bars I wrote about in the book, and found out that it actually used to be a gay bar at one time! The bartender was tickled pink to learn that I'd written it into a book and said she'd be sure to pass that along to the owner. I thought that was pretty nifty. I'm also glad I took pictures of it last year, because now it has a new name and a new paint job and apparently, a new orientation as well. It's still a dive, and I still love it.

New review! (And this story is a gorgeous one)

Rainbow Reviews

Loving My Lady by Penelope Friday

Lesbian Romance/Erotica
Torquere Press

New review!

TCM Reviews

Primal Red by Nicole Kimberling

Erotic LGBT Mystery/Suspense, M/M
LooseId Publishing