Friday Photo: My Parents Came to Pride!

Posted on September 7, 2012 by SloanParker

Last month I attended a late summer pride event. It was such a fun day with fellow authors SJ Frost, Hank Edwards, Jax Steele, and Deanna Wadsworth (who organized everything for us). One of the best parts of the day: my parents stopped by. I was so proud of them. Not only did they come by our booth, but they also walked all around the event, looking at the various booths and collecting freebies along the way.

They love me and my partner, but they’re not PFLAG people. They don’t wear rainbow gear and march in parades (they’re quiet, introverts like me). I even had to explain to mom what Pride was. So I was elated they came. They even tried to win a free book at our booth, and my mom picked up one of my CDs. I heard her whisper to my dad as she held up the CD, “This is the only way I’ll get to read her books.” Which is funny because previously she had made it sound like she had no interest in reading the “sexy stuff.”

I’m fairly certain she doesn’t get how “sexy” we’re talking about here. Uh-oh.

I’m thinking she probably put the CD in, clicked on my short story MORE THAN JUST A GOOD BOOK, got to the rimming scene, and promptly closed the laptop lid. But hey, THEY CAME TO PRIDE!!

And looky, I even have a picture to prove it.

The Good and Bad of my Blogging Hiatus

Posted on September 3, 2012 by SloanParker

“Life can be like a roller coaster…
And just when you think you’ve had enough,
and you’re ready to get off the ride
and take the calm, easy merry-go round…
You change your mind, throw your hands in the air
and ride the roller coaster all over again.
That’s exhilaration…that’s living a bit on the edge…that’s being ALIVE.”

–Stacey Charter

Here’s some news from my recent blogging hiatus:

The Good News

Breathe was listed in RT Book Reviews magazine as a must-have from RT readers alongside some of my favorite authors and books. The mention (on page 3) was part of the very exciting feature article “It’s Raining Men: Tackling The Torrents Of Male/Male Romantic Fiction Flooding The Market.” Huge thanks to all who mentioned the book to RT!
The Happily Ever After blog at USA TODAY featured the trailer for TAKE ME HOME. Thanks to author Robin Covington for the mention!
TAKE ME HOME placed first in the Erotica category of the 2012 FTHRW Lories Best Published contest.
TAKE ME HOME also won first place in the Contemporary category of the 2012 Oklahoma RWA’s International Digital Awards.
For the first time, books from digital-first publishers won in the Romance Writers of America RITA awards.
My friend and critique partner’s first book Fairyproof is out this week (print is out now). Congrats, Constance Phillips! So proud of you!

The Bad

I lost my writing buddy in July. He held on for almost a year since his bad crash the vet thought he wouldn’t make it through. For most of that year, he did really well, so it was hard to see him lose all his strength and energy in the very end. He definitely wasn’t ready to go, and I wasn’t ready to let him. It’s not quite the same in my writing room anymore. I kept plugging away on the final edits for How to Save a Life (and it was nice to have something else to focus on), but it also made the moment bittersweet without him there.

Good-bye, my bubby. You made every day special in so many ways. Writing sure is lonelier without you.

Friday Photo: My cat playing a nun

Posted on June 15, 2012 by SloanParker

I think my sweet disaster boy (he’s a giant klutz) wants to be a nun. He got the blanket on his own head and then just sat there for the longest time.

Quote I Love: No Books?

Posted on May 28, 2012 by SloanParker

“If you go home with somebody, and they don’t have books, don’t fuck ’em!” ― John Waters

Friday Photos: Game Night

Posted on April 20, 2012 by SloanParker

Haven’t shared any game night pics in a while. Here’s what we’ve been playing…

The first one’s an oldie from my childhood. My sweetie and I are going through our games to see which ones we want to keep. Hadn’t played Life in years, so we thought we’d give it a go.

Mine’s the car with the 2 hubbies and a daughter. Rosie’s is the one with 2 wives and a son. She didn’t want the kid (I guess she thought he’d mess with her girls’ honeymoon), but the game made her take him so the poor kid had to sit all the way in the back.

The 3-D version of Blokus is tough!

The rest of the games are from my uncle’s game club. Thanks for teaching us new games, T!

Coloretto is a great little card game. Easy to learn and the version we bought has a set of rules for two players.

Vikings is one I did not expect to like, but I just loved it. You can play it with two people (we are always on the lookout for new 2-player games), but sadly we can’t buy our own copy. It’s not available for purchase anymore.

Jaipur is another card game that allows for two-person play.

For Braggart, you make up a “story” with the cards in your hand, and it can be quite humorous to see what people come up with. Or what they are forced to play. Great for a group.

This was the best hand played all night:

“While wearing nothing more than my boots and a smile…I covered myself in oil to wrestle with…a party of drunken dwarves…and I am probably a better person for it.”

Acquire is another one I did not expect to like. It was fun predicting where the board was going and which companies would hit it big. Sometimes your plans worked out. Sometimes you got screwed. Sort of like real life. There were five women playing with one adorable young guy that looked half my age. He was sweet and patient as he taught all of us newbs how to play. I didn’t tell him I was already writing a story in my head about him meeting someone special during an all-nighter at the gaming club. I could see them sitting across from each other, some very sweet touches between them under the table as they tried to flirt with serious gaming still going on all around them.