Gracen's blogging at Elizabeth Black's!

Hey everyone!

Go visit The Countess - Elizabeth Black's blog today to support our very own Gracen Miller! Gracen is talking about Nightmares and Demons and how they influenced her writing of The Devil's Den. She's even giving away a copy of her novel.

Here's the link:

http://trishwilson.typepad.com/blog

Come Chat with The Deadly Vixens now!

Come chat with us at Romance at Heart. Here is the link: http://romanceatheart.com/cgi-bin/cgi-binrah/rahen/cgi-bin/chat.pl

Exciting News

Hey everyone! I figured for my post this week, I'll let everyone know some really exciting news that we've been looking forward to sharing with you all. Next week we will have our first Publisher week with The Wild Rose Press. That will include a visit from three authors and three editors (including Editor-in-Chief, Rhonda Penders) starting on Sunday the 14th. We will have a giveaway on Saturday like usual with the winners available on Tuesday. Let everyone know so they can mark their calendars and join in on this great event right here with The Deadly Vixens!

Please Welcome Cozy Griffith

Hello, I'm Cozy Griffith and this is my first blog although I am already a member of this wicked bunch. I have responded to several of the posted questions, so you guys know a little about me. First I'll tell you some things that you don't know about me and then I'll try my best to thrill you and chill you with a ghost story. I am an aspiring writer and mother of three children. I am fortunate to have a very flexible work schedule, but nonetheless, I usually stay extremely busy. I am a long time friend of Gracen's (since we were 11) and have spent many years writing both my own stories and shared stories with her. I think I was about 6 when I wrote my first book, which was mostly illustrations with crayons and very simple words. I still have it and believe it or not my 6-year-old daughter just started writing her own books. All through junior high and high school, Gracen and I used to write stories back and forth to each other first in letterform and then in story form. Our stories eventually turned into sagas that spanned several generations of our characters. I think it was good practice and helped us both develop our skills as writers. I am currently working on a novel that I have been trying to bring to life for so many years. It started out with a simple idea and for so many years it wouldn't go anywhere. I had a beginning and an ending and that was it. No matter how hard I tried to force the words to come, they wouldn't. I finally set it aside and didn't think about it again for several years. During those years my life was quite chaotic and I didn't have time to even think about my novel. There was no reason to anyway; it had no substance. I just picked it back up this February and have been blazing through it. You see, I met inspiration in human form and finally found a purpose for the novel I had begun. I can't give too many details about my novel, but I will tell you it is a vampire love story that is full of intrigue, deception, awareness and of course, sex. It will be a few more months before its completed, but hopefully soon.

Now that you know a little about me, let me tell you about the picture that I am sending in with this blog. My friend and I spent a wonderful weekend in New Orleans this February. Walking around the French Quarter this time was like seeing it with new eyes. I heard things and felt things that I had never experienced before. I have already alluded to the incident in the bar where a stranger who apparently knew my friend from a former life approached us. Creepy... We visited a tarot reader on Jackson Square who knew things about us that there is no way she could have known. The door of the restaurant in the lobby of our hotel opened and closed on its own. Freaky... On our last morning there we were walking around the Quarter, finishing up last minute shopping and taking pictures. As we walked down Ursilines, we passed a building with a sign that said 'Haunted Hotel on Ursilines'. Just for fun we took 2 pictures. That evening when we got home I uploaded the pictures to my computer so we could all look at them. When we got to those pictures, I zoomed in on the window and behold we could all see a ghost! Thought that was pretty cool. Take a look at the picture and see if you see what we did.

I also took a picture of Marie Leveau's Voodoo Shop and it turned out blurry except for the Bourbon Street sign in the middle of it. I thought this was strange, too.

I’d love for you to come friend me at my myspace page here.

Well, that's about all the time I have right now. Hope I did all right, G.

* * * * *

Disclaimer (because we don't have a choice): The views expressed by the guest blogger do not necessarily reflect those of The Deadly Vixens.

Also, don't forget to join Sarah and I at The Literary Nymphs TODAY for a chat from 12pm-6pm EST.

Dreams and Nightmares

Hi everyone! Just as a reminder, I'll be at The Literary Nymphs TOMORROW for a chat from 12pm-6pm EST. And now on to the fun stuff!

Dreams... I'm pretty much known in my household for my wacky dreams. My husband and mother raise their eyebrows at me when I tell them, but I am so serious about what happened because it's beyond belief, but I really do dream crazy things. I guess I'll give you guys a couple of dreams I've had and then y'all can be the judge of what you think.

This first one is one I'd had the night before Sierra and I had our discussion on dreams, which is what brought up the topic in the first place. *grins* Before I had gone to bed I'd played peek-a-boo with one of my cats. He was sitting in the tub, and I was outside of the tub with the shower curtain partially closed. I would open the shower curtain and say "peek-a-boo!" and he would sit there and stare at me. Then I'd close the curtain, wait a few moments, and do it again with the same result. In my dream, I was in my bathroom outside of the tub, and I opened the shower curtain and there was a strange monster in the tub that would leer at me and make hissing noises. I opened and closed the shower curtain a few times and it was still there. I attacked it and then I don't really remember much after that. Weird, huh?

My other dream is one I had a few years ago, but I still remember it. I was running through a graveyard and trying to fight these obese zombies, but I didn't have anymore bullets in my gun in the dream or whatnot. I had a spoon though, which I had to use to behead them. I didn't do too bad at it, but it was odd! I was getting overwhelmed with the task and climbed onto a mausoleum, but they could get to me. I have no idea what had brought that dream on.

I don't consider those dreams nightmares. I try to think of them as inspiration and fodder for my novels. For me, a nightmare is something that invokes sadness or pain that stays with me a little when I wake up. I've had a few of those recently, too, but they weren't noteworthy or paranormal in nature.

So! Leave me a comment about what you think of my strange dreams. I'd love to hear from you!

Events this Week

Hello everyone! Here are The Deadly Vixens' Events for this week.

Outside events:
4/13/08 -- Sarah will be having a Launch Party today (4/13/08) at Coffee Time Romance at 9 pm EST. http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Chat.html
description: Come join me for my Launch Party. All who attend will be given a small thank you gift, and three people will win prizes in the giveaway! =)

4/17/08 -- Join Sarah Mäkelä and Gracen Miller at the Literary Nymphs yahoo group at 12pm-6pm EST. They'll be sharing excerpts of their books and more!http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LiteraryNymphsChat/


TDV Blog events:

4/14 -- Sierra will be blogging.
4/15 -- We will be having another story/poem.
4/16 -- Sarah will be blogging.
4/17 -- We will be having a guest blogger today.
4/18 -- Gracen will be blogging.
4/19 -- We will be having our second contest. The answer will be found in Sarah's blog from the 16th.
4/20 -- The winner will be announced from the contest, and the current events will be posted.

The Deadly Vixens Upcoming Events

Hi everyone! Here are our upcoming events, so be sure to come visit us during them!

4/7/08 -- Sarah Mäkelä will be Guest Blogging at Michelle Pillow's blog. http://www.michellepillow.com/blog

4/8/08 -- Gracen Miller will be Guest Blogging at Sarah Mäkelä's blog. http://blog.sarahmakela.com

4/10/08 -- Gracen Miller will be Guest Blogging at Simply Romance Reviews. http://simplyromancereviews.blogspot.com/

4/13/08 -- Sarah Mäkelä will be having a Launch Party chat at Coffee Time Romance. http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Chat.html

Introduction from Deadly Vixen Gracen

My turn to bite! I am Gracen Miller the last of the Vixens’ trio. Welcome, welcome, I am glad you came to read my rambling thoughts and bio.

I’ll begin by giving you a taste of my insanely neurotic life. I have three boys (the third being my husband of 16 years—truly, he’s nothing more than an adult-sized kid), all of which are involved in TaeKwonDo. For those of you unfamiliar with karate, it can consume your life. We have made some really great friends along the way, however. And honestly, I spend more time with the karate family than I do other members of my own blood relatives. Aside from karate, my boys participate throughout the year in soccer and football.

Next to my husband, writing is my passion. I have been spinning tales since I was in sixth grade, when my English teacher forced us to write a play. Yes, I said “forced” because that’s what it initially felt like when she gave us the dreaded assignment. I mean seriously what could she have been thinking to ask us to write? Write! Use our imaginations! Oh, the horror of it! I quickly discovered, however, that writing was powerfully inspiring and rather drugging in its deistic type-creation. There was no horror in writing, except for the horror elements I wove into the plot lines. For that particular project, I wrote about Atlantis rising from the sea with its evil citizens having supernatural powers. I laugh about it when I think of it now. It was horrific stuff, but that one project gave me the love of writing to last a lifetime. Now, I jokingly say the “voices in my head” won’t allow me a moments peace unless I give breath to their lives by writing about them.

I live in Alabama with my very active family. I have a cat and a dog that jointly own me and spend hours together doing nothing more energetic than lounging in my lap. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Troy University and an Associates degree in Paralegal Studies from Huntingdon College. Presently, I work from home as a full-time shuttle-bus for my two sports inclined boys.

We would love for you to come join our Deadly Vixens Yahoo! Group. Come tell us about yourself, your family, do you write (and if so, what do you write), who is your favorite author, and anything else you can think of. Start some topics and hopefully make some friends.

Firedrakes Weyr Publishing has taken a chance on me and published my first book, The Devil’s Den, on April 1, 2008. It is a paranormal romance set in the present day. The hero, Six, is a 3,000 year old vampire and one of those characters that you will love to hate.

Don’t forget to join Sarah Mäkelä and me today (Friday, April 4, 2008) for a Love Romances Cafe Yahoo! chat from 12pm - 7pm EST.

Introduction from Deadly Vixen Sarah

Hi everyone! Welcome to the Deadly Vixens authors blog! I'll start off with a little about myself.

My name is Sarah Mäkelä, and I live on the Gulf Coast of Florida with my husband and three snuggly cats. I'm a member of Romance Writers of America and its local chapter, Tampa Area Romance Authors, as well as the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal chapter. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, listening to music, drawing, playing XBOX360 and computer games with my husband, and traveling the world.

I'm really excited about my debut novel, Melody of Love. It is a sweet contemporary romance, which isn't my usual genre of writing, but it was a great experience writing nonetheless. I usually write none other than Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy, which is what we Vixens are all about.

At the Deadly Vixens Yahoo! Group right now, our topic of discussion is "What is your favorite paranormal creature?" I would have to say that my favorite HAS to be werewolves. I've had a strong love of wolves for a very long time, ever since I was a child. The possibility of a person being able to change into a wolf fascinates me. I imagine werewolves not as the ugly creatures depicted in some movies, but more wolflike. They can have a half-man/half-wolf form, but I'd like to think of the wolfman or woman as still being attractive in that form as well. Large and very muscular, but not necessarily gruesome. I've had a love of them since I began reading paranormal romance and urban fantasy. One of my favorite authors who I think writes excellent werewolves is Laurell K. Hamilton. For me, she really sums up how I picture them.

What is your favorite paranormal creature? And who are some of your favorite authors that you feel sum up that creature?

Join me and Gracen Miller tomorrow for a Love Romances Cafe Yahoo! chat from 12pm - 7pm EST. I will also be guest blogging at Romance Reader at Heart. Come by each event for your chance to win prizes!

Come join Sarah Chatting NOW

Come join Sarah chatting tonight (4/2/08), right now 8:30 p.m. CST, at Romance at Heart. http://chat.romanceatheart.com/#chatr

Click on Romance at Heart Community Chat and login with your screen name!!!