Want A Sneak Peek at The Djinn In The Mirror?

Ashmael, the hero, in my story The Djinn in the Mirror (part of the DARK SECRETS: A PARANORMAL NOIR ANTHOLOGY) looks a lot like my favorite Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan. Here check him out:

Want to read an excerpt from The Djinn In The Mirror? You're in luck! Jeffe Kennedy is hosting an excerpt on her blog!

Release Date: September 29, 2015

But we do have it on preorder:

Dark Secrets: A Paranormal Noir Anthology

Dark Secrets on KOBO

Dark Secrets on Google Play

Dark Secrets on ARe

(More links coming soon!)

Recap of My First RWA National Conference

While I have been writing for most of my life, romance since 2004, this was the first year I attended the RWA National Conference. Once I'd registered and booked my hotel, once I'd accepted the reality of my going, this was me:

(make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif)

I was like: "Yippee-yi-yay! I'm going, going, going!" 

I was finally making it to the Romance Writers of America conference, the national gathering of my people. People who wrote and read and loved books, who actually understood me and my obsession with words, and there'd be books. So many books! 

Once in San Antonio, I made this face quite often to the amusement of my more experienced peers...

I made it is every time I saw the awesome Nora Roberts. When I did speak to her (okay, I fan-girl gushed at her), she was uber gracious and posed for a picture:

Since I had a breakfast date with Nalini Singh, I was up at the crack of dawn. Fortunately by the time we met, I was able to control my fan-girling and actually have a conversation. We both gushed about Sari Sister Sonali Dev's Debut Release:

Then, Nalini showed me how to take a selfie:

I also attended part of her Writing Paranormal Romance workshop and caught this gem:

"Be logical, be consistent, and be passionate!"

Speaking of workshops, they were awesome and there were several tracks to choose from -- craft, marketing, industry, self-publishing, career, writer's life and more. I attended several and learned a lot! 

My favorite was the last workshop I attended -- Reviews: Reaching, Receiving and Reacting to Them. The presenter, Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, did a great job. 

Her straight talk made sense and put reviews into perspective. But, even better, she's freaking hilarious and made me (and others) laugh out loud over and over. By Saturday afternoon, I was in zombie mode and a good laugh was exactly what I needed. I left energized and headed to a donut party courtesy of Carolyn Jewel, one of my co-authors on the Alphas Unleashed anthology.

This next picture perfectly sums up my first RWA experience:

Yes, it was SWEET! Wildfire did me proud...

2014 Prism Award Winner for Best First Book

2014 Prism Second Place winner in Light Paranormal

2014 Published Daphne du Maurier Award finalist in the Paranormal category

Would I attend another RWA National Conference? 

Crushes: The Secret Inspiration for Romance?

I met Suleikha Snyder on twitter and instantly bonded over books, Bollywood and Bengali food...as well as random exchanges. She's got a bubbly personality that just makes you take notice & smile. She's also directed me to some excellent multicultural reads, so when her second multicultural romance, SPICE AND SECRETS, featuring passionate characters from exotic Bollywood released...well, I had to introduce you to Suleikha :) Enjoy!

Here's Suleikha!

What inspires me? What kick-starts the ol’ writerly engine in the dead of winter? This is going to sound completely cheesy, but there is nothing like a good crush — or a bad crush — to fuel my creative process. To fuel *me*, in general. I know, how Taylor Swift of me, right? But here’s the thing: Falling in love involves a ton of passionate emotion, and when there’s nowhere for it to go, I channel it all into my stories.

 

The saying goes, “write what you know,” and I might not know the “happily ever after” part (yet!), but I tap into the emotions along the way when I experience them. The first blush of infatuation, the throes of a mad passion, the devastation of heartbreak…if you look back at what I’ve written over the past two years, it’s like a Da Vinci Code-esque map of my highs and lows, all spurred on by someone that caught my eye. That someone might be Jeremy Renner or Ryan Gosling or a person in my “real life,” but whoever it is, they wind up being my unwitting research assistant in matters of the heart.

 

 

Jeremy Renner

I love — and hate — all those big emotions, and I couldn’t do what I do without them.

 

My November release from Samhain, SPICE AND SECRETS, is all about overcoming the fear of taking chances, of putting yourself out there to be hurt. Do I know how that feels? You bet. Not in the same context, not with the same kinds of people — former ingénue Priya and brash talk show hostess Sunita are drawn to archetypes that I don’t rub elbows with on a daily basis — but I’ve let that doubt run through my veins, and I’ve worn that emotional armor.

 

I know, I know. Mystery writers don’t kill people, erotic romance writers don’t have kinky threesomes but, I gotta admit, for me, there’s just something to falling in love while I’m writing love…

 

I’m giving away one electronic copy of SPICE AND SECRETS in the format of your choice to a lucky commenter, so please share your thoughts! Am I a little crazy, or is this just my spin on LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE…putting my emotions into my writing, instead of my cooking?

 

 

 
Here's more about Suleikha: 

Editor, writer, American desi and lifelong geek, Suleikha Snyder published her first romantic short in Ravenous Romance's 2011 TOUCHDOWNS anthology. 2012 brought a bevy of releases, including Suleikha's first novella from Samhain Publishing, SPICE AND SMOKE, a Wild Rose Press short story called HEART MURMURS, and a short in Cleis Press' June SUITE ENCOUNTERS anthology. Suleikha lives in New York City, finding inspiration in Bollywood films, daytime and primetime soaps, and Hell's Kitchen wine bars.