Chicks-n-Scratching

Archive for the ‘KATE’ Category

Why, when I have so many projects I need to work on, does my muse decide it’s time to bus da’ move? You’d think she sat around for ages storing up ideas and threw them at me all at once. That would be a lie. Actually, I think my muse might be a trickster male that delights in watching me multi-task. Guys just seem to fall back in awe as they watch the female persuasion juggle apples and spin plates. I don’t know why that is. Anyhoo – I’ve had a slew of new ideas hit me lately. The bounty of my fertile imagination is overflowing.

That doesn’t mean I’m changing the order I’m going to write things in for the next few months, just that I have more ideas to pool from now. As if I needed that, right?

I just wish I could stay awake for any length of time on my days off. It’s horrible. I seem to want to sleep the entire day away. Not productive.

I’m thinking I must be very far behind by now on my work. However, I’m looking for a netbook to take to work with me so I can write on my breaks. I find writing in spiral notebooks not so helpful anymore for some reason. Though I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because I tend to go so far afield when I finally do put the scenes into the computer I figure what good does it do to pre-write them?

Aww, but then I digress as I so often do.

-Kate

Lacksadaisical. That’s one of the words best used to describe me when it comes to blogging. It’s not that I mean to be, but it just kinda happens during my daily juggle of the hydra-esque ”To Be Written” folder. I don’t think I’ve added onto my personal blog since probably 2008. Yes, I’m just that behind. But honestly, why keep it up to date if no one reads it anyhow? I really don’t have much traffic there. It might have started out good, but it had gotten less and less as time wore on. 

Anyhoo, that’s not the thrust of my post today. As a matter of fact, I really don’t have any one thrust. I just wanted to make some small post to let Inez and Neith know that I have not abandon them to Blogland and that the Sisterhood of the Traveling Muse is still strong in me. (Much like the force in young Skywalker.)

I’ve been working on many projects lately. My head is full and spinning with ideas and characters and things I need to accomplish. I’m working hard on several projects that have completion dates for the next month and a half, so I’m feeling the pressure. However, it’s a good kind of pressure. I’m pretty much going to stick to my guns and stay on-track to submit between one and two subs a month. Hopefully finish off a long one and then sub a short one as well. So, a novel and a novella a month. (believe me, I have enough in various states of almost-done to make that work for me for the first quarter of the year anyhow.)

Updates on Submissions – Nothing to report thus far. There is no news from Kensington or Silhouette Nocturne. I’ve heard nothing but silence from Harlequin on my partial requested at Nationals. I am reported to be in the queue at LSB with Private Negotiations, and Loose-ID wants to see the full on Bad Religion. So, not a totally bad news situation. And as the old saw goes – no news is good news.

Current Projects – I’m finishing up on Water Mark, my sequel to High Octane. Trans-dimensional travel meets, military action, meets hot romances.

I’m writing something for the EC art submission call. Vermillion is set in a fantasy world based on Western Europe during the Spanish Inquistion. It’s a very dark tale that is rather emotionally draining to write. I only hope I do the plot justice. That the one I see in my head is going onto the page.

Also in the sequel column is the second book in my Ruins and Relics series. Carved in Stone revolves around ancient carved stones found in Florida during a ground breaking for a hospital build. Is the this a case of a miraculous discovery or a very clever hoax? Only the Section knows for sure.

It seems I have a bad case of sequel fever. I really want to start on the next book in the world I created in the Private Negotiations world. The second book, Intimate Weapons, returns to the country of Vanden and features nanites and wormholes. Just say, Yes! to erotic sci-fi romances with cool gadgets.

That’s really it for this first installment of “What’s Kate up to?” Thanks for tuning in. See you next week.

-Kate

I have a new pet peeve – well, maybe not new, but one that’s been steadily building for the last few weeks. I’m really starting to get pissy with the constant back biting and rudeness I’m finding in every facet of daily life. From stories people are telling me at work about things that happened to them in the course of their day, to things I’ve read online. (Posts between each other on forums and groups.) Does anyone know how to speak nicely to each other anymore? Now, I’m not talking about giving a friend a good-natured hard time because you can and you know you’d both go to the mat for each other in a heartbeat, no questions asked. I’m talking about mean spirited stabs and barbed comments meant to correct, verbally hand slap, or forcefully impose their opinions on others.

Can’t we all just get along.

First of all, I’m an adult. I’ve lived nearly 44 years without having someone give me input I’ve never asked for, and I’ve done reasonably well. I’m an intelligent individual who has formed her own opinions based on experiences. And just to ensure I don’t start doing this to others, I’m going to start prefacing everything I say with….it’s been my experience. God save me from being that which I’ve come to peeve.

I was on the phone the other day with my mother. She had the audacity to tell me I didn’t know anything about politics and history. Me? The History Channel junkie. The one who watches Fox News and regularly discusses such with her husband. – Mom and I just so happened to be talking politics, which was probably not a good thing since she and I don’t agree on anything having to do with government. But it is my honest belief that she doesn’t care to know the other side, or even listen to any commentary that might be negitive, even if it’s the God’s honest truth. Nope, that old woman has to tow the party line, even if it’s been dragged through a cesspool and garbage. But I digress.

If my own mother has no gumption about trampling on my opinion (to which my response was – you better stop this conversation right here, or you’ll lose this debate) what’s to say others will shy away. They won’t. And I’m not talking about politics specifically, it’s just the example I used for the conversation with dear old mom. It’s just the fact of living any more.

The other day a colleague of mine asked my opinion on something that happened to her and what she should do because I have been a shift charge person and still fill in when the occasion warrants it. Well, it seems my colleague had a run-in with someone who works in our ER yelling at her over the phone, telling her she better learn policy and our entire department better figure out what we’re doing. Um, she quoted them chapter and verse from the policy and procedure  manual and they still yelled at her. Unbelievable. My response. Write it up. We have firm policies in place at work which considers verbal abuse a terminable offense. And yet….I hear of people crossing the lines with their co-workers all the time. Yes, we work in a high stress job and sometimes you just have to let that frustration out (which is why most people just let it go and don’t write up verbal offenses). But I think if more people did, you’d see a decrease in the escalation of word wars going on there. It’s not a very happy environment to work in.

I was told the other day of a CT Scan tech yelling at an Attending Physician. Ballsy. That’s what that was. Pure ballsy. And I happen to know the physician involved and he’s a very sweet man and just let it roll off his back. He’d never think of turning someone in for that. It made me wonder if the CT tech even knew the guy was a doctor. You’d never hear of him abusing the trauma surgeons in such a manner. It just wouldn’t happen. So, why give a neonatalogist grief?

I don’t know. Maybe the world has been like this for a while and I’ve just really noticed it more since my ear is shot and it really pains me to actually talk, and am listening more. Or reading and not responding if it has to do with a forum. I’d rather not get involved anymore. Or maybe I’m finally worn down from a fight. Whatever the reason, I just want to have one day where everyone actually plays nice with everyone else. And please, no bitching behind someones back I won’t be able to pretend I don’t hear it forever.

-Kate

Ear update: I have an emergency appt. to see the ENT tomorrow. It seems having serrous fluid pouring out of your ruptured eardrum isn’t a good thing.

I have to say since the accident that stole my hearing in my right ear last week, I’ve been a little depressed. No, scratch that…a lot depressed. Though the ENT assures me I should enjoy a full recovery to my eardrum and my hearing, I’m not so sure. Well, I trust him…but I’m scared. Not that I can’t hear anything from that ear, because I can hear some. But the damn fishbowl effect is driving me crazy. Everyday I wake with the hope that I’ll notice something different, something better. So far, nada. I’m still living with Charlie Tuna under the sea.

The worst part? Nothing tastes right.

Now, why is this? I understand why you can’t taste when you have a head cold and your nose isn’t working. Part of taste is also the sense of smell, the aroma of the food exciting the taste buds into a Pavlovian frenzy. But hearing? How exactly have I ruined my taste receptors by putting my eardrum out? My hubby insists it’s because my auditory canal is swollen and achy and not acting right and “everything is connected in there.”

I know this. I’m the one who took A & P and works in healthcare for her regular job. But I guess I didn’t expect such a dramatic change. And I’m not liking it.

I also didn’t enjoy the pain that shot through my ear when I tried to pull myself up out of the bathtub last night. What was that all about?

I am not enjoying this in the least. I’m not even sick enough to take medical leave from work as I suffer no dizziness…only annoyance.

And with that, it’s my cue to go get ready for the nightly grind.

-Kate

Into every writer’s life a little galley must fall. It is as inevitable as death and taxes, and just about as much fun. Now, if you are really lucky, you’ll get more than one shot at fixing all those boo-boos that were missed during the editing process, or formatting mistakes that happened during those pesky file conversions. It really is a very necessary part of the writing to production process. But that doesn’t mean we have to like it.

Think abou it.

You’ve gone over the same manuscript at least three or four times before you ever sent it off in a submission. Then you read it over again a couple of times during the editing and line-editing process. By the time the book gets to you in galley format, you really don’t give two-shits what happens to your own characters.

And then there are the other times…

Like when you start reading a galley to a book you’ve already started the sequel to, but had put it away to work on something else. Suddenly, you want nothing more than to take that sequel out of the “My Documents” mothballs and dust it off and start working on it again.

This happened to me this past weekend.

I was reading over the second galley of one of my books and started chomping at the bit to start working again on book two. I already have so many projects on deck that the thought of adding just one more is kind of daunting- even if I’m already well into the meat of the narrative. Visions of a hero, thwarted in love in book one, is dancing in my head. I want to see him get his happy ending. He’s a nice guy. And a hunk to boot. The heroine has been the focus of his unrequited love for years. Finally, it seems as if it is time for them to finally fall in love – but of course the nasty forces of novel conflict have conspired against them. Too bad they will just all have to wait until I clear my wip plate.

Oh, who am I kidding? I’m probably going to start working on it as soon as I can get my next book out the door.

-Kate

Hey All! I’m squeezing in here today to share a little buff yumminess in the way of my new erotic-paranormal story Hotter Than Hell available now from TWRP-Scarlet Rose. Here’s some blurbage for your reading pleasure.

Fallen angels never have it easy. So it is with Damon Serif, who’s just landed the most difficult assignment possible—protecting his sexy neighbor, Ivy Hawthorne, from a hoard of water demons bent on making her their queen. Though keeping the smoking-hot costume designer out of evil’s clutches is something he’s trained centuries for, Damon knows the real challenge is having her close without tasting her charms and indulging in her rather unique perspectives.

Ivy’s luck is finally changing. After years of designing costumes for off-Broadway plays, she’s finally got a shot at the brass ring. But now, her sizzling neighbor is following her around the city, insisting she’s the target of a demonic conspiracy. What’s more, his mere touch causes her body to climax with an intensity of which she’d only dreamed.

When Damon and Ivy connect, even the demons feel the heat, because together they are…Hotter Than Hell.

******* how about a little sample?*******

Excerpt:

Damon gave her a lazy smile then sat down beside her. “I got the message.”

What message was that? How badly she wanted to undress him and then slather him in cream cheese and eat him like her morning bagel?

“Yes. Well, sorry. I’m not normally so rude.” Or so orgasmic. Should she apologize for that, too? No, better to write that off as an anomaly.

Damon flashed perfect white teeth at her. “It’s all right. I took you off guard.”

Not nearly as much as with the full court nipple-press he’d put on her.

She took another sip of the wine. This one more of a gulp. At the rate she drank, she’d need him to walk her back to her door.

Time to bring the conversation back around to its original point. “What answers do you need from me?”

He set his wineglass on the end table, then turned to fully face her. He rested his arm on the back of the sofa, brushing the ends of her hair with his fingers. “Do you normally hang out in bars infected with darkness?”

There he went into that demon thing again. “By that I’m assuming you mean the marids and not the fact Daggers caters to the whole low lighting motif.”

“You know what I mean.” The back of his hand stroked her cheek. Intense desire curled around her heart.

“Yes. And I’m not so sure they were after me. Looked more like they were chasing you.”

He gave her a smile one would use to indulge an idiot child. “Normally humans can’t see them. That’s what makes them such a danger to you.”

“So why did we see them tonight?”

“I don’t know the answer to that yet, but I intend to find out. Until I do, promise me you’ll not venture in there.”

“I go to Daggers all the time and never have a problem. It’s where my contacts hang out and I network.”

“Even your contacts are dangerous. Believe me when I say your friend tonight had less than your best interests at heart.”

“And who are you, my guardian angel?”

“Yes.”

-Enjoy!! – Kate

A hot chick. A golden blade. Dead bodies. It’s enough to make a cop crazy.

Keely Montgomery doesn’t spend much time thinking about death. She’s too busy
working toward a Ph.D. in social work—her ticket out of a low-rent apartment in
a New Jersey urban center. Until an angelic courier delivers a scroll from the
Office of Death and Dismemberment that could take her career down a new path—as
one of Heaven’s Holy Assassins.

Her? Become a Scythe? No thanks, not interested. But she underestimates how
persistent Heaven can be.

Detective Josiah Adler has seen a lot of weird things during his time on the
force. A hot blonde wielding a golden blade, standing over a string of dead
bodies? That’s a new one. So is the fact that her grisly deeds leave no blood or
marks on the bodies.

The woman’s effect on his libido is another new development. One that leaves him
no choice but to nail her before she kills again. And before his heart no longer
stands a chance…

Buy at Samhain or visit MK Mancos’ website here.

I’m proud to announce a release date for my erotic novella Hotter Than Hell under my Kathleen Scott pseudonymn. Mark your calendars for June 5. It will be available in ebook for now – I’m still awaiting the print release date.

Here’s some blurbage:

Fallen angels never have it easy. So it is with Damon Serif, who’s just landed the most difficult assignment possible—protecting his sexy neighbor, Ivy Hawthorne, from a hoard of water demons bent on making her their queen. Though keeping the smoking-hot costume designer out of evil’s clutches is something he’s trained centuries for, Damon knows the real challenge is having her close without tasting her charms and indulging in her rather unique perspectives. Ivy’s luck is finally changing. After years of designing costumes for off-Broadway plays, she’s finally got a shot at the brass ring. But now, her sizzling neighbor is following her around the city, insisting she’s the target of a demonic conspiracy. What’s more, his mere touch causes her body to climax with an intensity of which she’d only dreamed. When Damon and Ivy connect, even the demons feel the heat, because together they are…Hotter Than Hell.

- This is the second of my fallen angels stories. The saga began with A Hot Day In Heaven – available in ebook and print from The Wild Rose Press/Wilder Rose/Scarlet Line.

Here’s the yumlicious cover. Enjoy!!

 -Kate

Before you think this is going to be a review of writing books, I’ll ease your mind – it isn’t. This is just going to be my perspective on them and why I think for the most part, a writer doesn’t even need them.

Now, when I first started writing- oh, so many years ago- I read a few…very few. There were some good tips in them, but I never had that one epiphanic moment when it all came together for me from reading “that one book.” The most useful were the ones on individual topics of the craft: dialogue, characters, viewpoint, plot, conflict, etc. Then came the “scene of the crime” type manuals that at least answered some basic questions about police procedures. These helped to some degree.

I think the problem comes from people who take writing books and thump them like a Bible, decreeing this is how it’s done. Thou shalt not break from tradition. – To them, I give a great big raspberry. When the books started hitting the market about the hero’s journey and the archetypes, the writing community embraced them as if they were some kind of divine portal that opened directly from the writing nirvana. Nothing raised my hackles more than writers who started quoting those books. The ideas weren’t new, and they were most likely things writers were doing anyhow without realizing it. I know I did. All it took was to pick up a book on myth and folklore (any culture, your choice) and the same information is contained within. Or to read Joseph Campbell…or…eek…the man who first wrote of archetypes, Carl Jung. (We actually have him to thank for Campbell’s later research. Campbell was a student of Jungian theory.)

But I digress.

My bookshelves are stacked full of reference materials that I don’t even remember opening – writing books – the ones I open the most are those books that have nothing to do with writing but I use for expert knowledge on topic. Honestly, I think I learned more from doing and from studying other writers and how they structured their plots than any writing book in my collection. Not to mention those critique partners I paired up with over the years. Nothing takes the place of a little one-on-one instruction.

So, why do writing books continue to sell so well? Because they are selling more than just “how-to” – they’re selling hope.

To a new writer those are the keys to the kingdom. “If I just read this one book, I’ll understand it all and be able to write a best seller and make all my dreams come true.” – Oh, if it were only that easy. But while I think “how to” books can point a newbie in the right direction, I think sometimes they hinder some of the natural storytelling ability.

Case in point. About two years ago, I read a book on scene and sequel. I’d heard some writers discussing this at a conference and wanted to know what I was missing. I picked up a book on it and started reading, underlining and trying to absorb the information. About halfway through the book, I realized these were things I did naturally, just by knowing the cadence of my story and my plot and knowing my characters and their goals. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with reading such a book- I’m sure it’s helped many a writer – but for me it only confused matters. Suddenly, I worried about things I didn’t need to be worrying about. I’d stall out while writing a scene because I got hung up on what came next. I’d lost that natural ability to let the story grow organically from plot – something I’ve thankfully regained again.

Enough already! I was doing pretty well on my own without the help from Ima Writer. In this case, I have to say the book was a hinderence.

So, I think what a writer really needs to decide before purchasing a “how to” book is how much help they really need on that particular topic. Is it an area where they are really and truly lost, or do they just need a few really good examples to make it all click?

-Kate

If you can dream it...you can write it.

Duck!

Kate is on a rant.

I just took my car over to have the brakes looked at. They were making a grinding sound and vibrating really badly every time I used them. Now, take into account my car has only 9,300 miles on it. Yes, less than 10K. If my milage were a story, it would be a short one! So, I take it over to my friends at STS – the same one we’ve been going to for years, and the manager takes the wheels off and comes back inside the waiting area with a disgusted look on his face.

“Sweetheart, your rotors are rotted through and your brakes are down to the nubs on the right side. You have less than 10,000 miles on that car. You’re still under warrenty.”

Now, this manager is a doll (hot, too, I might add) and he picked up the phone, called my dealership and made the appointment for me. My rant has nothing to do with him as he’s always gone out of his way to take the best possible care of all his customers, Dave and I included – which is the reason we’ve been such loyal customers over there for the last 16 years. My rant is with the automaker.

WHY PUT SHOTTY-ASS PARTS ON A BRAND NEW CAR?

You know, it’s no surprise the automakers are in major crisis when they do asshat things like that to the consumers. This is the third Saturn I’ve owned, and Dave reminded me as we were driving back from the dealership (in our 11 year old Jeep that’s only needed brakes replaced twice in that time) that our other Saturns required rotors and brakes with a frequency that was staggering. Really? Why don’t I remember this? Sure, I remember taking it in for such repairs, but parts do wear out on cars and need replaced. It’s just the way it is. But it’s always been long past 10K when the brakes needed attention.

To me it seems counter-intutive to put shotty parts on new cars. Yeah, you might luck out and get the owner past their warrenty before things need replaced and force them to purchase new, but what does that do to consumer confidence? I’ll tell you: it sucks it down a big black hole of anger, and straight to the Yellow Book to find the nearest Toyota dealership.

The only upside of this farce is the fact I won’t have to pay for it.

End Rant -

-Kate