Shiny Things week of February 8th

So what’s distracting me this week?

1. Conference! On Tuesday, I preserved through Romance Writers of America’s perpetually overwhelmed servers to register for the National Conference which is in NYC this year!

2. Even though it’s like my twentieth year of going to the conference, I always meet new people, and learn something new (or something I knew, but forgot.) This year, I may not be flying to conference though because we may be moving.😳

Moving should be easy at my age, but with life up in the air, I’m pretty overhwelmed.

3. Still, after a few days of panicking, I got back to work and am currently am on Chapter Twenty-Five of revsions to Her Sexy Beast (The Chimera Chronicles 6) I can’t believe I’m finishing up the sixth book in the series! I only have one more brother to go.

Here’s a snippet from today. Remember it’s a work in progress and will be edited.

<<

He glanced at Thalia. The look in her eyes told him she could also hear the intruders. Neither one of them flinched when the heavy knock came, but Thalia’s eyes flared red, revealing her tension and he felt his dragon surge again. Clearly, it gained power from his emotions. He breathed deeply, trying to stay calm.

Thalia sighed. “I’m going to drop the barriers and open the door. Can you stay human?”

He nodded, hoping it wasn’t a lie. >>

Coming May 2019 from Soul Mate Publishing!

4. Meanwhile, I looked around at everybody’s shiny, pretty FB covers and logos and decided to get to work on some of my own. Below, is my new banner. Unfortunately, when I downloaded it to my FB page it looks all dark and murky. Nothing like technology to make you feel like an idiot.

5. Puppies! It’s Basenji puppy season. That means a trip to my breeder’s house to play with the babies. Puppy breath! Little pink feet! Ears that can’t decide whether to stand up straight or flop over. Snuggles and licks and nips and hair pulling. Basenji puppies are too cute!

What shiny things are distracting you this week?

Fear and NaNoWriMo

Since it’s NaNoWriMo, I’m going to share a writing struggle.

Every one of the Chimera Chronicles was inspired by something.
1. In Like a Lion has heavy the Pretender overtones.

2. Entity Mine was inspired by an episode of Discovery channel’s old A Haunting.

3. The Lion’s Share is inspired by an episode of Supernatural called Nightshifter.

 

4. Lion’s Prey in inspired by a Supernatural episode called Jus en Bello.

5. The Dragon’s Flame is a treasure hunt book.

I’m working on book 6 now, draft title Her Sexy Beast, and as you might guess, it’s centered on a Beauty Beast theme.

Oddly, I actually find it harder to write the parts that most closely mirror the original story. This morning I separated Sofia from Roan as called for in the plot of BATB, now I have to maneuver through the rest within the confines of the Chimera Chronicles mythology. I’m procrastinating. “I have to write a FB post!” Better check in on Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter, post to my blog, etc. It’s important to me that I do this well, and I fear my best will not be good enough.

It’s not the first time I’ve mentioned my persistent self-doubt, but I think it’s important to recognize that these issues don’t just turn to ash like traditional vampires in sunlight after being faced. It can help to acknowledge the problem, but it doesn’t cure it.

Fear is often a motivator (though, I believe most steps taken as a result of fear are usually in the wrong direction). But for me it’s always been more of a roadblock.

Are you working on NaNoWriMo? Or just waiting eagerly for the fruit of us madly typing writers?

Is fear holding you back from something?

I’d love to hear! (Selfishly, it make me feel less alone)😊

Karin

Denver!

 

If you’re in Denver this weekend, stop by The RWA Literacy Autographing and say helllo to me (and hundreds of other authors)!

 

https://www.rwa.org/Literacy.org 

 

RWA National Conference requires the proper armor, pedicure, new shoes and dress.

 

Meanwhile at home…ugh, dusty…

Shiny Things 6/14/2018

Summer! The kids are off all-day school, though one is retaking a course in summer school. 🙄

Ranger is doing very well! We thought we might lose him in December, but adding enzymes to his food has restored his weight and I hope he’ll soon be totally off prednisone.

We took a family trip for our twentieth wedding anniversary and cruised to Alaska in the week before summer school started.

it was amazing! I gained ten pounds I didn’t need. We saw whales and glaciers and ate fresh caught crab. 

The first pic is Crab.

Second is Juneau from the top of the tram way.

Then we have some pix from the narrow gauge railroad in Skagway. It travels up through Canada (no customs so you can’t get off) then goes back. They have bathrooms in each car and it was fun and comfortable. My phone camera doesn’t do it justice. It is straight up mountain porn. 😜

After that are are pix from the ship of the glaciers. You can see how much they have shrunk.

I enjoyed  every moment! Fresh, hot pizza made in front of your face. Afternoon tea. Fine dining, talented entertainers. The jet-lag when we came back was hard (at one point it’s four hours ahead). It was cold (surprise! 🤓) and the wrong time of year for the Northern lights, but so gorgeous.

I’ve also been busy finishing up the work of my male/Male romance author alter ego Gage Lively. 

If you’re wondering who Kosei Press is, it’s me. This is my Indie project. Not many people read across genres, but this will be out in a few weeks (it’s at the formatters), so if you enjoy M/M romance please keep a look out!

Any M/M romance readers or Yaoi Manga lovers out there?

As for Chimera Book 6 draft title Her Sexy Beast (yes, it’s a loose take-off on Beauty and the Beast) I’m several thousand words in and climbing.

It seems increadible that I’m in the penultimate book of the series.

I wish I were a faster writer! I’m eager for the whole series to be out in the world. I may cry though, when I finish (full disclosure, I cried in the theater after the last installment of Harry Potter.)

(I’m not crying—you’re crying!) LOL Anybody else shed tears at the end of their favorite movie or book series?

Hope you’re having a stellar week!

 

Karin

 

Shiny Things April 8th – 14th

Shiny Things April 8th – 14th

The things, good and bad, distracting me this week are:

Wanna review? Dragon’s Flame (Chimera Chronicles 5) e ARC’s available now!

For her crime there can be no forgiveness…

Billionaire chimera-shifter, Kyle Mara’s hold on his humanity is slipping away. Fortunately, his mate has at last been revealed. Unfortunately, she’s the wicked witch who almost killed one of his brothers.

Backed into a corner by her father, CJ Bansbach had one job to do—bring back chimera genetic material for cloning and kill the donor. Her failure resulted in a year of imprisonment and torture. Being broken out by a chimera on the verge of going feral, even if he kills her or turns her over to the Ethereal council for judgement, seems like a change for the better. Until he tells her she’s his mate.

Plunged into a treasure hunt to break the bond, they must race to find the pieces of a mythical sword while pursued by CJ’s former employers and fighting the pure sexual heat that sparks every time they touch, because forgiveness isn’t Kyle’s to grant and his family’s happiness is everything to him.

(Trailer has no sound)

Dragon’s Flame is a  80,000 word Paranormal Romance that works as a stand-alone and can be in your inbox. Just drop me an email karin@shahs.com subject ARC or comment with your email address. All I ask is that you post an honest review on Amazon and goodreads. If you love it, spread the word. If you don’t, tell other readers why it’s not your cup of tea, that’s it!

Dragon’s Flame goes up for pre-order on Amazon in the next several hours. Please help me share my good news! Sharing is caring.

https://www.amazon.com/Karin-Shah/e/B009K80F08

 

Thanks!

Karin

 

Shiny things 1/02/14

Things interesting me this week.
1. Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s 2014! I actually made a resolution this year (normally I don’t since I figure I’ll only break it anyway).
Not being one to deny myself, this year I’m focusing not on taking things away, but adding things. I’d like to lose weight, but concentrating on that has never worked for me, so I’ve decided to add more fruits and vegetables and that’s it. I walk while I write and I do TaeKwonDo, so I hope eating better is the missing part of the puzzle. Besides, I read a study that said 20,000 new cases of cancer could be prevented if people ate just two more servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Better safe than sorry.:-)
2. We don’t take the tree down until after the girl child’s birthday party, so I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite ornaments before it goes down. Some I think are just pretty, others remind me of people I love.

Well, my internet speed is in the toilet today, so I just posted one.:-( It’s at the bottom.

3. Www.thefussylibrarian.com I subscribed to this site as a reader and submitted as an author.  They send you emails with recommendations of books you might like. You choose the categories, even down to level of violence, sex and profanity, then they send you matches.

4. Ninja 2 Those who follow my twitter know all about my Martial Arts crush on Scott Adkins. I’ve been waiting for this release for a while and was delighted to see it on Netflix. It’s pure action. Centered on a revenge plot, there’s lots of pure fighting sans CGI. I loved it. It goes up there with  Assassination Games as my favorite of his. He fluidly switches between Japanese and a credible American accent (he’s British), all while fighting his way through bad guys galore.

What’s shiny in your life this week? Streaming anything new? Taking down the tree? New adventures on the horizon?

A new one from 2012. We all went to the store and picked one special one. It reminds me of something we did together.