I’m blogging today at Rosa is for Romance about Safe Sex in Erotic Romance - why it’s important to me and my characters, and how to make it more sensual.

Please stop by and let me know what you think! Thanks to Elise, we’ll be talking in both Italian and English.

Diane

I’m blogging today over at Brava Authors about why books and mushrooms somehow behave very similarly. Please stop by and share your thoughts!

Diane

I’m blogging today over at Title Magic about how totally scared I was when I had the chance to pitch the book of my heart to the only editor who might publish it. I wound up using some techniques from my day job, which combined into what my friends call “The Sure-Fire Six Step Pitch.”

Please stop by to talk about great ideas, long manuscripts, editors’ short attention spans, and how to hopefully come up with a good pitch!

Diane

At the same time, COS and I are working on a “Sound Scene” for BOND OF DARKNESS. A short scene will be read by an actor, complete with sound effects (!), then distributed as a podcast. I can hardly wait to hear the result. Members of my family used to act on radio, way back when, and this is beyond fun for all of us.

The question now is what scene should we choose for the one-and-only Sound Scene? I get to offer two scenes for COS to choose from. Hmm…

BOND OF DARKNESS is very much romantic suspense, even a thriller. (Bless its heart, there’s no historical dialogue to confuse the actor. LOL) The scene has to be short and focused, which sounds like one with very few characters - hero, heroine, maybe villain. Sounds good.

How about one really action-packed, dramatic scene? Lots of conflict, tension, shoot ‘em up, bang bang and the villain being villainous, as my mother would say? Hey, I’ve got a short scene which just fits this bill!

I need another one, something different. Maybe a romantic scene between Ethan and Steve (well, Stephanie Amanda - not that she uses the long form of her name very often). That sounds good.

But they’ve been friends for fifteen years. (Read THE HUNTER’S PREY, if you want to find out how they met.) They’re both cops, patrolling different beats, and they sleep together from time to time. Steve does so to blow off steam but Ethan’s feelings are much, much stronger. If Ethan tried to seduce her or be romantic, she’d ask him what was wrong.

Still, something that showed the depth of their emotional need for each other seems like the right scene to send.

But do I have one short enough? Which scene will COS pick for the Sound Scene?

I send them two scenes but I don’t know know yet which one will be produced.

Stay tuned.

Neil Diamond will be the coach this week on American Idol. I totally admire him as a songwriter. “LA’s fine but it ain’t home. New York’s home but it ain’t mine no more” is the most perfect definition of a transplant’s anguish I’ve ever heard. I’m a third-generation Californian living in Virginia and I love both states - but I still catch myself singing that song at least once a year.

The man just has the knack of catching my feelings and putting them into song. I’ll be fascinated to hear which songs the Idol contestants choose, especially David Cook and Syesha.

Next week is also going to be what one writer friend calls “Diane Whiteside’s Psycho Week.” I prefer to think of as the week when my 60 boxes of books come home. Yes, that’s right - we’ve bought a house and we’re about to move into it, God willing and the creek don’t rise. Of course, unpacking all those books, plus all the ones still living with me - have I mentioned those absolutely necessary for Book dot Now? - is going to take a ton of work. That’s where the need for incentives comes in.

Guess what kind of treats I went for? That’s right - music. You’re looking at the proud possessor of concert tickets. For the first time in I don’t want to think of how long, I’m going to take time off from writing and indulge myself. Of course, I’ll have to get Book dot Now finished and my books put away first.

Then I’ll get to see Neil Diamond live in concert! Yeehaw! He is a marvelous performer.

I also bought tickets for the Young Dubliners and Scythian. I do love me some Celtic rock and as for an entire evening of it? Heaven, absolute heaven.

Next step - find more musical incentives to get the books even faster. Hmm, what shall I choose?