K.C. Burn – Erotic Romance Author

Well, it was a scramble to get this done before I left for the RWA National Conference!  In fact, I’m posting this from the hotel right now.

Anyway, for this month’s DIK Review, I chose Gobsmacked by LB Gregg (and for some reason, I keep typing that as Gobsmaked).  This is the first of the Men of Smithfield series, and it’s a great beginning to a great series.

Mark discovers his boyfriend is cheating on him and kicks him out.  He’s also feeling a little vindictive, and in the process of extracting a little revenge on Jamie, via his belongings, discovers that Jamie’s neck-deep in trouble and has dragged Mark into it with him.  Fortunately for Mark, his best friend Tony is a cop who is willing to help and protect Mark… for more reasons than just friendship.

I was hooked from the very first sentence, and the book was filled with what I’ve come to realize is LB Gregg’s signature – lots of humour, lots of love and lots of quirkiness (the sex is totally hot, too).  It’s a fun read, and although there’s a couple of times where you just want to shake Mark for being obtuse (as I’ve no doubt Tony wanted to do also), you can’t help but sympathize with him.  You want him to get his revenge on Jamie, you want him to end up with a man who loves him, and you want him to have his happily ever after.  Although it looks a couple of times like that’s not going to happen, LB delivers, and leaves us with a very satisfying conclusion.

Today’s my first day blogging at Flirty Author Bitches, and I’m blogging about Pirates vs. Ninjas (as romantic heroes).  Stop by and comment – everyone who comments is entered into a monthly drawing for prizes!

So, I love punk. I like the music, I like the look. Sometimes the attitudes are questionable, but I think that may be based more on individual personalities than the whole concept. Of course, a movement born out of class struggle and rebellion isn’t always going to be sweet and nice. How could it? But on this side of the pond, I was probably exposed to a less radical version – maybe that helped, I don’t know. Regardless, I enjoy mohawks, body piercing, tats, everything. Probably my favorite piercings are the labret and eyebrow.

That being said, what I can’t quite grasp is the new trend (and I assume it’s a new trend given the frequency of sightings over the past month) is the motorcycle helmet with the fabric mohawk on it. I don’t get it. I have friend who says it reminds her of Marvin the Martian. I personally think of a venetian blind duster, but I could also go with Roman Centurion. None of these is, I’m sure, what the wearers are going for, although Marvin does have an inexplicable coolness factor in his own right.

Is it just me? Or is this the turning point where I completely leave my youth behind and start sounding like my parents: I don’t know what’s with kids these days…

Wow.  Just about everything that’s happened with MIA Case Files: Wolfsbane has been awesome.  Getting an offer to publish it with Loose Id, being able to say I have an editor, going through edits (which I probably shouldn’t have found as pleasurable as I did), seeing my cover art, getting the final version, seeing my book on Loose Id’s home page… each and every one of those experiences has been pretty spectacular.  But I’d be lying if I said the allure of holding a physical book in my hand with my words printed on the pages had nothing to do with my desire to write for publication.   Of course, I wanted to share my vision and the characters in my head with the world at large, but holding a book in my hand feels like the culmination of that vision, and it’s an awesome feeling.  I may have… ahem… been fondling my author copies obsessively since they arrived. 
Print format available at Amazon and Books A Million.

Having a netbook has made me a lot more productive. Not having to lug about a 5 lb. laptop everywhere, with it’s limited battery life, has been a huge improvement. Considering my bag looks like I’m preparing for the Apocalypse, having a 5 lb. brick in it wasn’t doing my back any good.

I also spend time on the weekends with a couple of friends of mine in a cafe, and we all write in between chatting. With the big laptop, I felt a little bit like I was participating from behind a Dungeon Master’s screen.

So, smaller, lighter and better battery life equals more writing. Which is awesome. Now, I was still using my heavy laptop, with the netbook as a peripheral, partly because of the bigger screen, and partly because of the CD/DVD drive.

However, when the motherboard on my laptop died, I wasn’t exactly thrilled, but I wasn’t freaked out either (I had a backup of everything except my damned iTunes… but that will just be extra work, not expense because I own CDs of just about everything in my iTunes). I didn’t have to panic. I didn’t have to delay writing. I didn’t have to worry about appropriating my SO’s computer for my own nefarious ends In fact, I wondered if maybe I didn’t need to replace my laptop at all. But then, I discovered two very important things.

First, I had to work on a power point presentation for work. Using power point on a netbook is like Gulliver using a Lilliputian computer. I thought I only reserved cursing like that for driving. Incredibly frustrating. Spreadsheets kinda suck on the netbook, too.

Secondly, I discovered I HATE updating my site on the netbook. There’s just not enough screen. So, I went out this weekend to replace the laptop. Got one that seems okay, and was reasonably priced, but I couldn’t buy a three year warranty for it, only a two year warranty. Guess that means I should just start saving now for a replacement in two years, eh?

Regardless, I’ve managed to churn out about 100K words so far this year, as well as edit two manuscripts for submission, and I attribute that entirely to my netbook with its increased portability. If only I could as easily justify purchasing a smart phone…