Lori Devoti, paranormal romance and urban fantasy author

Length for a Nocturne Bite is supposed to be between 10,000 and 15,000 words. Mine wound up at around 14,000 before edits. Which means it took me longer than I had planned. But it is done!!

So, this weekend I can work on editing it and The Vampire Who Stole Christmas and Monday (hopefully) get at least Vampire off to my editor.

Happy, happy, happy!

I liked this book. I said that here–but IMO writers just can’t judge their own work. Seriously, I don’t think writers have any concept as whether what the wrote was fantabulous or pond-water-suckage.

I remember reading an interview with some big name author whose books to me were obviously great. The interviewer asked her this question or something like it and you could tell she was kind of dumbfounded anyone would think she would know. I didn’t understand, but now that I have writer friends who will SWEAR that whatever project they are working on will be the death of their career because it is SO bad, and then the book goes on to win awards and garner great reviews–and just be great–I get it. I also totally ignore those friend’s calls of doom and tell them to just sit their behinds down and get back to writing. ‘Cause what do they know? Nothing.

That all said here’s my RT review…proof of nothing except someone other than myself didn’t think it was pond-water-suckage. (You, of course, should decide for yourself.)

4 1/2 stars TOP PICK!
In Wild Hunt, Lori Devoti provides yet another action-packed
mythological tale. Her characters have depth, her plot is novel and
her writing is strong. This is a great read!

Apologies to the reviewer, I don’t have the magazine and this is all my friend (at RT Con) sent me.

Oh, and here is a link to preorder Wild Hunt.

First word is out. Amazon Ink, my story of a modern day Amazon family that lives in Madison Wisconsin and runs a tattoo shop, is going to be released by Juno Books (check them out–do they have the best covers or what?). I like this book–I really do. It’s kind of special to me. It’s urban fantasy with a touch of women’s fiction, but still lots of action. (Or at least I plan it that way. I haven’t actually finished it yet.) And I love the tattoo part. For whatever reason I love tattoos (the history of them, etc.) even though I personally don’t have any.

More to come on Amazon Ink later.

Second, I’ve joined a new group blog. I know ANOTHER one. I need counseling. This one though is just for shape-shifter romance. How great is that? The actual blog hasn’t started yet, but here is the link. There is also going to be an announcement-only Yahoo group–to let people know when something big and exciting is happening on the blog. Since it is announcement only, it will be pretty low mail.

Click to join shapeshifterromance

That’s it for now. My vampire novella is done, but not due for a few weeks so I’m shipping it off to a friend who will hopefully not find too many issues with it. And today I’m starting on my Nocturne Bite. Venge’s mom…did you know she was really alive?

This is my local chapter. :) Here are all the finalists.

Wisconsin Romance Writers Announces the
2008 WRITE TOUCH READERS’ AWARD CONTEST FINALISTS
(Final placements will be announced at the 2008 Conference, “Love is
in the Cards-2″ in Green Bay, Wisconsin, May 16-18, 2008.)

Congratulations to all these wonderful writers! (Authors listed in
alphabetical order.)
**WisRWA member

SHORT/LONG CONTEMPORARY
Linda Conrad, Shadow Whispers
Holly Jacobs, The House on Briar Hill Road
Geri Krotow, A Rendezvous to Remember
Linda Warren, Once a Cowboy

EROTICA/ROMANTICA
Lacey Alexander, Voyeur
Elizabeth Amber, Nicholas, The Lords of Satyr
Karen Kelley, Double Dating With the Dead
Sharon Page, Blood Red

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
Valerie Hansen, Shadow of Turning
Brenda Novak, Dead Giveaway
Brenda Novak, Dead Right

CONTEMPORARY SINGLE TITLE
**Anna Jeffery, Sweet Return
Susan Mallery, Tempting
Lori Wilde, There Goes the Bride

MAINSTREAM W/ROMANTIC ELEMENTS
Claire Cross, All or Nothing
Marlo Schalesky, Veil of Fire
**Kathy Steffen, First, There is a River
Karen White, Learning to Breathe

HISTORICAL
**Kathryn Albright, The Angel and the Outlaw
Victoria Alexander, What a Lady Wants
Victoria Alexander, A Little Bit Wicked
Candice Hern, Lady be Bad

INSPIRATIONAL
Nikki Arana, As I Have Loved You
**Lynn Cote, Dangerous Secrets
Valerie Hansen, A Treasure of the Heart
Shirley Jump, Back to Mr. & Mrs.
Mae Nunn, Mom in the Middle

PARANORMAL
**Lori Devoti, Unbound
Patti O’Shea, In the Midnight Hour
C.L. Wilson, Lord of the Fading Land

Over at The Midnight Moon Cafe. AND they are giving away a copy of Unbound–which is darn hard to fine now. So, if you would like a chance at a copy, stop by and comment.

There is also a review of Guardian’s Keep up at The Good, The Bad and The Unread. Check it out too. And for those of you who share Sandy’s love of the tortured hero–Venge is out in June. :) And I think my vampire, Drystan, from my December novella is going to be pretty darn tortured too…

Okay, a bit of a disclaimer…This book is set in a ghost town, but the town is roughly based on one I used to live in–Rimini, Montana. There are no cactus in the book. Also, I didn’t really see Venge wearing Western wear–of course I never said he didn’t either. So, use your imagination there as you like. And finally, yes (if you read Unbound) he should be wearing a silver chain; the totem thing in this image is not in the story.

So, that all said, what do you think?

Uh, that’s about all I have to say right now. It was in paranormal, winners to be announced April 12th and the woman who left the message on my voice mail had the loveliest Southern accent. Gotta love a Southern accent, don’t you? I think I’ve lost most of my Ozarkian accent, and I don’t think it was exactly lovely anyway…

Boy, that just makes you want to trot right out to Amazonand pre-order it, doesn’t it?

I am at the copy edit/AA (galley with other publishers) stage. At this point you have read the book WAY too many times. At this point with Unbound I wanted to crawl under my couch and hide. Seriously the thought that I should call Harlequin and offer to give them their money back (to avoid the public humiliation that was sure to follow when the book actually went live) pounded through my brain more than once. With Guardian’s Keep I didn’t feel this way, but I so loved Kol….

Now, Wild Hunt…sigh. It was a booger to write, and I spent more time revising it before even sending it to Harlequin than I have the other two, because I really wanted it to be good.

I can’t say that you will think it is good, but I can say that at this point when frequently hearing just the title of my upcoming release sends a shudder through me–I like it! And that’s enough for now.

Another crazy day ahead of me. January was a blur of crazy days and the non-stop snow didn’t make them any more sane.

Today I have spin class–which I am going to because I had to skip the last two weeks. Then I’m meeting some writer-types for lunch, then I have a book signing at Waldenbooks at West Towne Mall in Madison, Wisconsin. Kathryn Albright and Kathy Steffen will be signing with me.

Then you get into the normal life stuff–like the library and Target. The fun never ends–especially since at that point I will be dragging two horse anchors (excuse me, children) along behind me.

Remember when you were seven and Saturdays basically meant getting up, eating a donut and watching Scooby Doo? Those were the days. Now I run in fear if someone shows me a donut. (Do you know how long I’d have to spin to burn that thing off?)

On other fronts, I have news. Harlequin is starting a fun new program called Nocturne Bites. They are 10 to 15,000 word short stories that will be available as downloads only from eHarlequin. If you are familiar with Spice Briefs it’s the same idea. I’m not sure what the price will be. Spice Briefs are under $3. Anyway, I’ve been asked to write one–so I’m looking for ideas of a character people would like to know more about. I’m thinking a hellhound. Thoughts? It’s going to be a short, sexy read with some action because I gotta have that action.

I’ve also been asked to participate in another project for Nocturne, but I’m not going to say too much about it just yet. I will say it is something outside of my Unbound world. I just started on it, but I think it is going to be fun to write. Always good to try something a little different now and again…

Thanks to Nancy for alerting me! Here’s a link.