My favorite time of year is nearly upon us! Next week, I have a birthday and Thanksgiving, which is pretty cool on its own, but I also have a week of vacation!
Throw in Nano and a book release in about 4 and a half weeks, and I will either emerge from the holidays as a testimony to fortitude, or a weeping, bitter wreck.
(Place your money on B, kids)
Oh! GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI had a really nice review in the Romantic Times Magazine that just released. They gave it 4 stars and said: Myles brings a great new voice to urban fantasy. Her first-person voice is funny and engaging, with clever, crisp dialogue.
(Pretty cool, huh? It’s shelved in romance because it’s a light tone and there is some hot sexxors, but the plot could easily be urban fantasy, so I’m oddly pleased to see them label it so. If you want a comparison, the closest thing I can think of is Katie Macalister’s Aisling Grey series.)
Also, if you subscribe, I have been told there is a big full page ad on page 98 of the magazine (woot) and an author spotlight on me on the webpage (but you have to have access to the bonus content to see it). Good stuff!
/promotional neeping
I have sorely neglected my Nano this week – I think I’m still only at 21k. Luckily I have the next 8 or so days off, so it will not be ludicrous to think about getting 3k a day, which will almost bring me up to speed. It can happen! No one dissuade me!
But because of the holidays and time off, I cannot guarantee that I will blog like regular for the next week, because my writing cojones will be saving themselves for the book itself. Or something.
And if you don’t check the Odd Shots blog, have you seen my pretty book trailer yet? So pretty, so pretty. My husband drew it and I love it. Because the books are kind of light and fun, I asked for something equally light and fun for the book trailer, and this is what my husband came up with. Best Birthday Present Ever!
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
I bet you thought I did! But I am sad to report that I am far behind. See, here’s my Nano bar:
Yeah. I am mostly a weekend writer, and between hurting my arm and being lazy all week, I’m barely scraping by for Nano. If this continues, I’ll only hit something like 40k. Which, you know, is not shabby, but it’s also not Nano. And I’m crazily competitive. So even though I’m not doing this all official-like…I WANT THAT 50K.
I hit 2k and some change today. Only 1k yesterday. And I admit that once Left 4 Dead 2 comes out, I’m going to be a big loser and play it for hours on end. But I’m still determined to beat Nano. I have Thanksgiving week off of work like usual, so I’m hoping to crank out some INSANE (at least for me) word counts on that week. Husband thinks we’ll be doing housecleaning, but I think he does not know me very well…
Other than that, not much going on. I read a book the other day that was stunningly awesome, and it’s ruined me for other reads at the moment. I’m even trying to read another book by the same author and it’s paling in comparison. Oh well. Such is life.
Hope everyone else is having a great weekend and getting lots of word count!
(And did you notice? Only 45 days or so until my first book comes out! whee!)
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
So I bought a box of plastic forks at the store the other day, because I’ve been bringing my lunch lately and what’s the thing I never have? Forks. Planning ahead, that’s me. Except I cracked the box open yesterday, and noticed on the back…there’s an expiration date. Of last month.
Plastic forks…expire? Um. Okay. Kind of shows you what sort of week I’ve had though. 
I went on a Nano frenzy last weekend and ended up writing like 9k in about 24 hours. Which was really awesome but then I messed up my arm. Sad. I have what I like to refer to as ‘mousing arm’. Where you use the mouse to scroll so much that you end up aggravating a nerve.
It sounds really stupid, but there you go. So I’m wearing a dorky wrist-brace and generally trying to be careful. Which is harder than it sounds – you don’t realize how much you’re on the internet!
At any rate, my Nano project is up to 15k, but I plan on catching up again this weekend – with my arm at a more pleasant angle and using my alpha smart (thus taking mousing out of the scenario).
And…um…that’s about it for me lately. Been going to bed early because if I can’t type, WHAT GOOD AM I??? And things like that. I keep thinking of things I need to blog about, but when I sit down to blog, they fly out of my head.
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
First, let’s start with the obvious. Have you read this yet?
No? Because I did and it was pretty darn awesome, let me tell you. If you’re a SF/UF reader, you might have heard of Ann Aguirre, but if you read only romance (like I seem to do lately) this might have slipped past your notice. I read it a few months ago (thanks Ann!) and it was really awesome. Very fast paced, with a hard-edged, tough heroine and a sexy, roguish hero. She’s a con man and he’s an assassin, and no one gets watered down throughout the story, which was pretty awesome, IMO. Seriously – if you like a different kind of story, and if you like romantic suspense type books with just a dash of paranormal, check this out. I really do think you’ll like it.
Speaking of awesome, have you seen Ilona Andrews’s post today? No? Go read it. She says some wonderful, brilliant things that hit very close to home for me. If you’ve read my journal for any length of time, you know that I’m a little sensitive/easily irritated when people romance bash, and they romance bash all the time. It’s saddest when it comes from other authors, because for the most part? Romance writers might be terribly critical of other romance writers, but as a whole no one really denigrates other genres simply for existing. Not the case with other genres and romance. Anyhoo, I love Ilona for posting this, and I’m happy she spoke up and said what I was thinking (though in a less cuss-filled, more polite sort of way).
Oh, and it’s my day at Odd Shots and I’ve added a quiz – are you Psy? Are you Changeling? And did you buy the newest Nalini Singh release? Hop to it!
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
Ignore the um, lack of Nano updates at the moment! I’m still doing it, just regrouping for a new attack plan.
BUT! I have cover art to share! Pretty, pretty cover art. Wanna see?
So sweaty under that jacket. So yummy.
For those of you playing along at home, the first book features Noah, my fallen angel. This book features Zane, my dark n’ sexy vampire. Love it. I can’t decide which one I like more!
And if you’re wanting to pick up book two, the release date has been moved up a week. Woot! So look for it on January 19th instead of January 26th. Exciting, isn’t it?
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
Woot! It’s a big deal for any author to be reviewed in Publisher’s Weekly, and they liked my book…mostly!
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/C
They said:
The cosmology of this battle between good and evil approaches Saturday morning cartoon levels of unsophistication; the mystery could be solved by Scooby-Doo; and the big-breasted bombshells and hunky men are cookie-cutter romance standard, but Myles’s debut somehow sustains an extraordinary, confectionery appeal. After suffering a vampire bite and enjoying passionate sex with a fallen angel, mousy museum curator Jackie Brighton is transformed into a gorgeous, sexually ravenous succubus. Guided by porn star succubus Remy Summore, Jackie is drawn into the search for a magical halo and a love triangle with fallen angel Noah and vampire bouncer Zane. Myles manages to be cleverly hilarious while making all her jokes work for the plot. These particular characters may not be deep enough to hold up through the planned sequel, but Myles’s sexy, wacky humor is definitely something to watch. (Jan.)
Emphasis is mine. 
I’m pretty darn thrilled.
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
I love November, don’t you? Not only is it awesome because the weather is turning, the holidays are coming, but it’s also my birthday month. Oh, and a little thing we like to call Nanowrimo.
I’ll be honest – I’m a Nano fan. Sometimes I’m just not feeling it, but when you have a book to write and are lacking motivation? Nothing can get your ass moving faster than seeing the word counts that your friends are posting. I’m competitive, too, so I like to try and keep up. I don’t mind if I’m not first, but I at least want to stay in the game.
Now here’s the thing about Nano. You’re going to see a lot of people groaning about Nano, especially people in publishing. But your Nano powers can be used for good, too! Not just evil.
Good = Getting motivated. Writing awesome word count. Plotting on a deadline. Writing 50k in one month on a solid project. FIRST DRAFTING.
Bad = Flinging shit on the page just to make wordcount. Working on a completely lame project. Not realizing that you are writing a first draft and then just querying it to everyone that has an email address.
And okay. I have done the ‘write shit just to make wordcount’ thing. And you know what? It is a really really bad habit to break if you are trying to improve your craft. It really is. So don’t do it. So you write 3k less a day than your buddy. It’s a good 3k instead of 3k of “He went to the cabinet. He got some Cheerios. Mmm, Cheerios. He liked Cheerios. They reminded him of Uncle Bob who used to go boating at Lake Tawakoni as a child. Mmm Cheerios.” Don’t bloat your novel. Seriously. You’re not going to be happy with the results.
Also? Pick a project you’re passionate about and one that *has* a solid plot. Because that 10k wall comes up a lot sooner than you’d anticipate, and then you’re left holding a story that’s disintegrating in your hands. And there’s nothing worse than having to start over in week 2.
(And I’ve been there, done that on both)
Anyhoo, here’s my word meter.
I’m on Nano as ‘irysangel’ (the same as my Livejournal) so you can buddy me if you like. Or not, cause that’s cool too (and Nano’s site is horrible for tracking any number of buddies over eight). And in case you’re wondering what I’m working on?
I’M CHEATING!
That’s right. I’m totally cheating. But my deadline for book 3 is coming up ASAP and I’m going to get a head start on it. I already have 10k written in the book, and I need to write another 75k before March 1st. And I have two books coming out between now and then, so yeah. I’m totally cheating. Feel free to laugh and point, but I’m going at it unofficial-like, and I just won’t validate at the end of the month. For me, the goal is to get 50k of usable words, and if that means swimming with the Nano fishes, I’m happy to do so.
Anyhoo, for Day 1, I’m happy with my wordcount. How about you guys? How is your wordcount coming? Share!
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
1) Remember way back when I experimented with the Jalapeno Cheese Cup O Noodles? Today, I had Instant Potato Leek Cup of Soup. You know the type – add water and pray. Luckily, it did not turn out vile! I have high hopes for tomorrow – Spicy Thai Noodle in a Cup.
2) I am going through a re-read phase. Currently re-reading DEMON MOON by mah boo Meljean Brook. Will probably bust out my Kresley Cole series next. I have the Larissa Ione trilogy, but I’m not sure I’m ready to make the leap into uncharted territory!
3) I bought a cowl-turtleneck sweater last week. In black. I don’t really wear colors other than black. Ask anyone. So yeah. I take it home and hang it up…right next to the exact same cowl-turtleneck from last year. In black.
Clearly I shall have to stagger my wardrobe a bit more.
4) I took down my zombie & bookmarks post. Here’s the thing. I kind of hate those “OMG LOOK HOW AWESOME I AM” sorts of posts, and that felt like one. So I deleted it. If you want bookmarks, just, you know, drop me an email. I really don’t bite, though I might bitch about the price of stamps.
5) I am still editing the YA. Expect boring nonsense on this blog until then. But really, all the cool publishing stuff is over with for now, at least until I get author copies! Then expect all kinds of crazy babbling again.
6) Has anyone thought about Christmas yet? It is depressing and yet RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER. Sigh.
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
After what seems like the longest week known to mankind, it is finally Friday! Not that I have big plans, mind you. My plans involve:
1) Read more (For those wondering, I am reading DEMON ANGEL by Meljean Brook. AGAIN. It made me cry in the dentist’s office, and not because of needles or tooth pain. I just love Meljean’s works to the point that I probably embarrass her. Too bad for her!)
2) Write more (I am currently editing my spec project. STILL. Again. But that is okay, because I am a writer and that’s what we do. We bitch about the current novel.)
3) Outline more (I’ve had an idea in my head for oh, days now. And it needs to come out on paper soon.)
4) Sleep more (This requires little to no explanation)
5) Watch a zombie movie. Because it is Halloween, though zombies are really good year round. Last weekend? Resident Evil 3 (an old favorite). This weekend? I am plugging for either Shaun of the Dead (love Shaun!) or 28 Days Later. Yes, I’ve seen them both. Husband’s pick for this weekend is Flight of the Living Dead.
6) Avoid the internet more (We’ll see how this works out. It is the cheapest of my vows. The first one I make and the one that is broken the easiest.)
7) Visit my parents. And mom, I will bring you books aplenty!
Anyone doing anything exciting this weekend? Or simply enjoying the weekend like me?
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
We’re getting close to pub day! Only 70 days to go or so!
Still so far away, but given that I’ve been waiting since early 2007, it feels so very close. Cover art is all done. Galleys are done. Whoever is going to order my book for their retailers has probably already ordered by now. Promo is being planned. ARCs are out in the world. The final pieces are sliding in to place.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek.
To distract myself, I’m working on edits (again) for my spec project. And I possibly might have come up with an awesome scene for Succubus #3 last night when I was drifting off to bed. And now can’t wait to write it. Which is fun. I love it when writing is fun, don’t you?
Speaking of writing, Nano is still on my radar, but I’m probably going to be going at it unofficial-style. Haven’t decided. We’ll see what the schedule looks like in 11 days.
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
So I think my website is *mostly* updated. For now. I’m a little cross-eyed from looking at it, and really there’s no ZOMG AMAZING parts that show my 8+ hours of work on it today.
(For those of you that are wondering, most of my work on said webpage involves changing a font, refreshing to see the changes, and then changing it back again.)
I updated my FAQ and added a Succubus Diaries FAQ, and a little wee bit of a FAQ for Midnight Liaisons. Because FAQs are so fascinating, right?
I’ll probably add links or a blogroll at some point, but I’m feeling lazy at the moment, so too bad about that. I will say that Meljean Brook and Ilona Andrews are awesome for helping me with all my whiny Wordpress questions. How brutal was it to help me out? Here’s a recap of a conversation I had with Ilona last night.
Me: My tab has no title at the top!
Ilona: Go to this page and look at this thing here.
Me: HELP ME I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING SWEET JESUS
Ilona: Did you go look at that page?
Me: Yes. It looks okay.
Ilona: Hm. And there’s no title?
Me: No title! I just refreshed. OMG I HATE WORDPRESS.
Ilona: Weird. What’s the name of the tab? In the title bar?
Me: Oh, I deleted that earlier.
Ilona: …
Me: …oh…wait!
You see? They masquerade as authors, but we know what they really are: WORDPRESS SAINTS.
PS – You guys know that this blog is mirrored to my Livejournal website, right? So if you’d rather comment there, here’s the linky.
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
YAY! Finally I can show the cover for GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI:
I absolutely freaking love it. So sexy! What do you think?
Want a bit more?
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
So this popped up on PM late yesterday:
Author of GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI Jill Myles’s next book in the Succubus Diaries series, as well as the first book in a new paranormal romance series set at a paranormal dating agency, to Micki Nuding at Pocket, by Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency (world).
Pause. HOORAY!!!!!!! Pause.
I am so terribly excited to be doing two more books with Pocket! I love my publisher and my editor is fabulous, so I’ve been pretty much on cloud nine since RWA, when we discussed the new books.
What this deal contains:
Book 3 of the Succubus Diaries, which I am calling MY FAIR SUCCUBI. It picks up where book 2 left off, in the ongoing series of my characters that starred in both book 1 and book 2. Things will be wrapped up. Other things will be called into question. Sex will be had. It will be glorious. And fun.
(For those of you that have asked me if the books are a typical romance…yes and no. YES in that the relationships drive the entire story. NO in that it’s not all wrapped up in a bow and happily ever after at the end of Book 1. I’ve compared it to the Katie Macalister Aisling Grey series – which are totally hilarious, btw – multiple books about the same romantic couple. They’ll get their happily ever after, naturally, but we’re going to play with the relationship for a bit longer. In evil, evil ways. Fun ways, but mostly evil. I do have a definite end in mind, though.)
MY FAIR SUCCUBI (title subject to change) comes out in February 2011. Kind of a ways away – a full year out from book 2. But I’ll be posting short stories set in the same world and teasers to my website along the way, so hopefully it will not feel so long.
The book deal ALSO includes a new book, which is tentatively called HEAT. This book *is* a more traditional romance. It’s a very loose series that will be based on different sets of characters that work for – or interact with – a dating agency that caters exclusively to paranormal clients. At the agency, clients don’t like to date vampires because they’re not into corpses. Werewolves don’t date outside their kind. Were-cougars and were-foxes might mix it up with a were-bear, but never a were-deer. And pretty much no one wants to date the harpy. Naturally, this makes matchmaking a little bit tricky.
The first book stars Bathsheba Ward, the office manager of Midnight Liaisons (the dating agency). Humans are forbidden to date members of the Paranormal Alliance, but she’s been blackmailed into going out with a male were-cougar who is in desperate need of a date (even a yucky human one).
I’m really excited about this one, because it was a ton of fun to write and I can’t wait to see what everyone else thinks about it. I’m noodling with a loose sequel, and I can’t wait to tell more stories in this setting. This one is scheduled for August 2011.
I’ll be updating my webpage with more info on the new series soon enough. But right now, I’m just super excited to have more books with Pocket Books.
Hooray!
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
Because I’m totally guilty of this too.
How many times have aspiring authors said to ourselves “I really want to publish 3 or 4 books a year because I can totally handle it!” and then get frustrated when this whole publishing thing takes a wee bit longer than we imagine?
*raises hand* Guilty as charged. Yes, I can write fast. Yes, I’ve said this before. Do I have the same perception of how much I can output a year as I did when I was querying?
As Whitney would say, HELL TO THE NO.
Anyhoo, go read. Agent Holly says some pretty awesome stuff.
http://waxmanagency.wordpress.com/2009/1
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
I am a huge (HUUUGE) Meljean Brook fangirl. Huge. In fact, I just spent all weekend re-reading DEMON BOUND and reading part of DEMON FORGED again.
So when Jane Litte of Dear Author invited me to do a guest review, how could I refuse? I couldn’t. And here it is:
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2009/10/0
PSST – if you are wanting to try this series, Meljean is giving away 20 copies over on the Borders True Romance blog. Go comment!
http://bordersblog.com/trueromance/2009/1
This book is so good it will make you crap your pants. Theoretical crapping, anyway.
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
As I write this, it’s dark outside. Far, far too early in the evening (7pm? wtf?) for it to be dark outside. Fall is officially here. Which is all right with me, because I LOVE FALL. Halloween? Love it. Thanksgiving? Love it. My birthday? Love that too, or I did for the first 29 years.
I also love the crisp weather, the changing of the leaves, the fact that I get to wear long sleeves, and pumpkin pie.
(Also? We are about 3 months out from my book release! But who is counting, right?)
At any rate, I finished edits for Agent Holly the other day and decided that this weekend would be THE weekend that I would be a total writing badass. 10k? No sweat. I’d haul out a half-finished project, kick its ass all over town, and then dust off my hands, cheerful at a job well done.
Yeaaaaah. Not so much with that.
Instead, I spent about 6 hours on Saturday staring at the same few pages over and over again. Normally when I pick up a ‘dropped’ project (one that I’ve had to spend a few weeks away from), I can reacclimate myself by re-reading and editing the pages I have in order to make the story a little more cohesive. My first drafts are heinous, after all, so there’s a lot to nudge into shape. Then, by the time I get to the part where I left off, it’s easier to jump back in.
Couldn’t do it. After six hours, I had 10 pages edited and was in a terrible mood. I grumped to my husband, who wanted to know why I was beating myself up over a story I don’t even have a contract for. I had no answer for him.
So I took the day off. And I re-read Meljean Brook’s DEMON BOUND (one of my favorite romances of this decade). Watched a movie. Re-read an old project that I loved (my 3rd novel ever) but is too derivative to salvage. And pulled out a different story.
This time, I like the edits. Go figure. Is it that I took a brain refresh? Or is it the project?
Who can say, right? Either way, I’m not going to peer at it too closely for fear that it will dry up once more.
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
The Nano boards just opened up again yesterday! Is anyone planning on participating? I’ll be either working on Book 3 of my series or a spec project just for me.
Anyone else planning how to spend their November?
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
I’m on to you. I know what you’re up to.
Monday through Thursday, you offered ‘Beef Tips’ as a special. I did not know what this was, so I peered closely at it. It looked like cut up beef with a few vegetables in a thick beefy stew-type-sauce.
And I avoided.
Today? They have pot pie. Now, having grown up 1) Cheap and 2) Southern, I love me some pot pie. And since I’m in the office, this sounds like the perfect thing to scald my mouth on.
Too bad my pot pie is lukewarm AND MADE FROM THE BEEF TIPS LEFTOVERS.
Sigh. Just tossing a bready ‘lid’ over a dish does not change it, dear Cafeteria.
Also? The fact that you served red curry on Wednesday and then red curry soup on Thursday? I think you know where I’m going here.
STOP IT.
No love,
Jill and her pot pie
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
Just sent off the latest round of edits to my agent. Poor thing has to read my manuscript AGAIN. Bless her heart for being so patient. Anyhoo – Fall is finally here in Texas, and I am loving the weather. What I am not loving is the fact that all my sweaters have shrank. No, not like that. I mean I ran them in the dryer too many times last year, and the hem goes from below the ass to somewhere around my midriff (but the sleeves remain crazily long). It’s bizarre. And then my clothes look stupid.
Clearly this will involve shopping.
Speaking of shopping, guess what else came out yesterday? Michelle Rowen’s first Young Adult novel:
Michelle is hilarious, and I expect the book to be as full-on funny as she is. It’s the story of a teenager who learns that not only is her dad a demon, but he’s also the demon king, and she’s his heir. And of course there are hot guys in it. This pretty much hits my check-list of awesome. Paranormal? Check. Fish out of water? Check. Hot mysterious guys? Check. Little book, you are mine!
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
