I also have a futuristic novella due to release in spring of 2011 from Carina Press.  It’s called Spice ‘n’ Solace, and I had a blast writing it.  Quick and dirty?  It’s a case of mistaken identity where a high profile negotiator assumes a brothel owner is his escort for the night.  Hijinks ensue.  Okay, not actual hijinks, but the phrase amuses me.  There’s a blurb for it on my Books page also.

In the past three weeks, I’ve also completed the first round of edits for both, so I’m sure you can understand why I’ve been so busy!  I’ve been pretty lucky, in that all of my books so far are keeping the titles I gave them.  Several author friends have bemoaned the necessity for changing titles.  I anticipate joining them with my next submission.  The name in my head for my current WIP is probably not viable from an editor’s perspective.  But we’ll see… that’s assuming an editor likes the story… *wink*.

How important are titles, anyway?  Do words or titles using other languages create a barrier to book purchases?  Or do they create an allure, a mystique, that entices readers?  I know I’ve bought books based on cover art, and I’ve bought books where I’ve only read the first sentence of the back cover blurb, but I don’t recall if I’ve bought/dismissed books based solely on the title. Will using non-English words in a title lead people to assume the book isn’t written in English?  I’m guessing you can see where I’m going with this.  The title I have in mind is a non-English art term.  I believe it’s a relatively well known term (I don’t care to share yet… I have weird hang-ups about titles) and I’m hoping to have some ammunition when I submit.  Alas, I know I am not the final arbiter of titles — will having to change the title change the way I perceive my book?  Probably.   I’ll keep you posted!

In the future, there are at least two planets whose social structure and culture are based on the Regency period from Earth. One is traditional and the other, Regelence, is patriarchal to the extent that the ruling classes are genetically chosen to be male and to be interested in same sex pairings. Nate was born on Englor, the traditional one, but flees to the Intergalactic Navy when his relationship with another man is the root cause of a scandal.

Several years later, when he’s asked to investigate a theft of weapons, he ends up on Regelence, a planet with customs that are familiar and yet vastly different. He meets Prince Aiden, and finds he needs to decide if he’s willing to give up his life as a navy captain for an innocent, untried man who is so obsessed with his art he often fails to see to his own safety. The problem is that Aiden is more alluring than Nate would ever expect a virgin to be, especially since giving in to the temptation would require him to marry the prince. Aiden is equally fascinated with Nate, and they fall in love. However, the thief could spoil their happily ever after when Aiden gets in his way.

This book was so much fun. It combines the rules and tradition of a typical Regency romance with a spicy futuristic twist. Nate and Aiden are very different from each other, but they’re both compelling characters who you can’t help but cheer on, hoping they get what they want. The sex was hot and the love story was beautiful (I could probably say this for all of J.L.’s books, actually). I highly recommend this book, not the least of which because the sequel, featuring one of Aiden’s brothers, is an awesome follow-up.

Anyway, I thought I try to find some slang to add some colour to the flashbacks.  Apparently I’m failing at Google 101.  I can find tons of slang related to riding the rails and the politics of the time, but my hero wasn’t riding the rails.  What I REALLY want to know… did men of that era refer to the bits & bobs & verbs associated with sex in the same delightfully coarse way I do in my writing?  I’ve been able to ferret out that gay may have been used – ambiguously & rarely – to refer to homosexual men, but I’ve found other terms that were more common.  So that’s a start, I suppose.  Over the years, I’ve managed to build up a wee lexicon of various sexually related euphemisms for several eras, such as Victorian, Regency, Edwardian, and Medieval.  But early 20^th century?  Not a clue.

So, I clambered back into some naughty books I own were written in the Victorian era.  There are references to the same terminology I use, although they’re interspersed with many other, more delicate terms (ones that may carry the stigma of purple prose today).  Maybe I’ll borrow a few of those, but if our current four letter words were good enough for the Victorians, they’ll do for my Depression era hero.  Although, as I write this post, I’m thinking I might be able to use “riding the rails” in a much naughtier way than originally intended.

Perhaps I should try to bring back priapus.  I would have thought with the advent of ED drugs and their potentially unfortunate side effects, priapus and other related terms might have become more common.  Good thing I didn’t place any bets on it!

If you were hoping for some Canadianisms, I haven’t got any.  As far as I know, Canucks call sex & the dangly bits the same things they’re called in the States.  Although my husband has occasionally written ‘junk’ as ‘junque’ for the amusement factor.  (For those of you who might not know, certain types of checks are spelled cheques back home.)

My conclusion?  The hero born in the early 1900’s will use slightly less coarse terminology.  Seems as though it will fit, even if it’s not nearly as much fun.    Whether it would have been true or not, I don’t know.  I hadn’t intended to spend that much time on research – I even set the thing in Toronto so I could reduce the amount of research I’d need to do.  Although, I’ve come across some interesting tangents, unrelated to vocabulary.  We’ll see if they make it into the novella.

I’m not a conference virgin, exactly, although my previous conferences were much smaller – in the realm of 300 participants.  This was 2100.  Lots of standing in line, although not for the restrooms.  The majority of the men’s rooms were turned into women’s by hotel management – the few men in attendance had quite a hike every time nature called!

There wasn’t enough time to do everything, whether from conflicting commitments or from the absolute, undeniable need for a nap.  And even though I’d decided I wasn’t going to kill myself trying to make it to all the workshops, I was still overwhelmed.

Writing is a solitary endeavor and although conferences are a fantastic way to connect with other writers – ease the solitude a bit – many of us have the same trait.  We’re happiest inside our own heads, which can make it difficult or stressful to socialize, especially with 2000 strangers!  I’m shy and get a little freaked out by crowds.  However, I was able to avoid cowering behind planters, for the most part.  And I’m looking forward to attending next year’s conference in New York City.

One really awesome thing?  I was (mostly) forthright about what genre I write in.  I didn’t get the stink eye from anyone.  When I was at a smaller conference last year, I not only got the stink eye, but the ‘cut direct’ I do believe it’s called, by two women at dinner one night.  Of course, that was before I had my contract with Loose Id, so I was unable to justify sticking out my tongue and giving them a raspberry.  Probably I should have anyway, but I do occasionally make attempts at decorum.  Everyone I met at RWA was, if not truly accepting, then at least they hid it extremely well.

During Nationals there are several awards ceremonies held by various chapters related to writing contests, but the biggest one is the national contest – the Golden Hearts for unpublished writers and the RITAs for published writers.  As a large organization that’s been around for thirty years, RWA has made great strides in getting romance recognition as a valid genre.  But its size and longevity also means it’s not going to be as agile as everyone might hope to changes in the publishing world, specifically the explosion of ebooks.  I mean, neither contest has a category for erotic romances and I would be unlikely to enter a GLBT book at this time anyway.  But the acceptance I found from other writers at the conference gives me hope for the future… Is it wrong for me to covet one of the RITAs for myself?

I learned a lot while I was there – definitely things about craft and what publishers might be looking for – but here’s some practical advice from a now-expert Nationals attendee:  Bring comfortable shoes & a spare suitcase for books.

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.

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…

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…