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I'm an Author. I love to write, I love to read and I just love books in general.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Answers, books, and the holidays!

Hello everyone. I hope that you’re all having a fantastic weekend. I’ve been catching up on some sleep. I’m an insomniac and after a while of living off 4 hours of sleep...my body isn’t as young as it used to be...and I start sleeping 10-12 hour stretches a day for about a week just to ‘catch up’. I’m currently in that cycle. I’m also getting some writing done!



I get asked a LOT of questions via emails. First off, I answer my own emails. This surprises a lot of people for some reason. I also update and run my own website. Back when I started out, I had a $40 budget. Period. I had to figure out how to put a website together, had to buy stock photos, and figure out how to make banners from them. I’m a techno idiot. Honestly. My kids program my iphone 4 for me. Yet...necessity made me learn how to open a website and play with pictures. It’s been awesome. I update my website often. I’m a reader as well as an author. I honestly...get irritated going to visit an author’s website and discover it hasn’t been updated in a while. I have NO CLUE what recent books they released, what books are coming out, and yeah...kind of drives me nuts. I never want to do that to other people. LOL! I even date the front page when it was last updated so you know if there's anything new on there since your last visit. It was updated 2 days ago. I added links to find Justice at various sites and added to the coming soon page. I even have a WIP (works in progress) page.



I cracked up recently when I was asked if I’m really a ‘writing team of authors’. Wow, that was funny. It’s just me. Hello, my name is Laurann and I’m a writeaholic. Seriously, I am. I spend at least 8 hours a day, sometimes up to 16 hours, at my desk - EVERY DAY. I love to write. It’s not that I write fast...I just put a lot of hours into it. My normal work week is at least 60 hours minimum. I never suffer from writer’s block because I usually work on anywhere from 3-5 books at the same time. If I get hung up on one story, I work on another. It would be really cool if I could clone myself and assign ‘five of me’ to write five different books. But...it’s just me.



The New Species books are coming out so close together because I had written them some years ago before I was published. I spend parts of my day editing and fixing my old writing mistakes. I have to update them to modern times, rewrite parts that need it, but it’s faster to do that than writing brand new books. Of course writing new books is less frustrating. I’m not dealing with a much younger me who made a ton of writing errors. I write new books during part of my day as well. I just...put a lot of time and heart into writing. I’m able to get them out faster because of the serious commitment I’ve made to writing by the amount of hours I put into it. Plus, to be honest, if I were part of a writing team...I highly doubt I would have been chosen to be the ‘face’ of that team. LOL. I’m a 41 year old wife, mother of 4, with a grandchild. Plus, I’d be thinner, prettier, and not have this wild hair - it's naturally frizzy. It’s just me, for real, and the pictures you see of me...that’s the one I face in the mirror every day.



Some people ask me if I’m going to write certain books. So...here’s my current ‘to write’ list.


Zorn - Vhon, Coto, and Vinlotti.


Raine - I’m writing all of the brothers including Trip and Adam.


Mating Heat - the brothers, cousin Brand, and probably Alpha Elroy’s story.
Cyborgs - Sky, Deviant, Gene, Onyx, Blackie, and I just added Mavo.



I may add more names to those but that’s my ‘to write’ list right now.



New Species... I haven’t released the names of book #8 or #9. Here’s why (I get asked this). Some of the names of the books/characters have already been changed. Here’s the ones that are set.


#5 - Brawn
#6 - Wrath


#7 - Tiger

I do have a story for Brass, council member Bestial, and another species you haven’t met yet. I had mostly finished writing their books before I had a medical issue and had to take time from writing while I got better. I plan to write Breeze’s story, 927, and a bunch of other books including at least one gift female one since...I found a partial already written for one of them that I LOVE and want to finish. I was going through old hard drives of my older computers and found partials of other Species books. Some of them I’d totally forgotten about. LOL. Jaded (council member) was one of them. Moon. Flame. Some you haven’t heard of. I even found an entire mostly written book that is a prequel of the Species series that I’d forgotten I’d even written. It’s like two chapters shy of being finished and I had outlined a few books to go with it. I don’t know if I’ll ever try to get it published. I have enough on my plate right now but maybe in the future. I want to catch up on my ‘to write’ list before I rescue any of my older books. It’s time consuming. In my 20’s and 30’s...my writing was rough. The storylines are awesome but yeah...rough writing style. Plus...If I rescue that prequel book...I’d have to write the ones that should go with it. There would be at least two more books that would have to be written. Big project and I just don’t have the time right now.



I’m totally trying to get through the holidays stress free. Easier said than done. Mr. Laurann and I decided to stay home this Thanksgiving rather than visit family. A stress-free day of us sharing a kitchen is something I look forward to and that’s awesome because we cook well together. I’m mostly stressed about Christmas. Kids are easy to buy for. Adults...NOT so much! It used to be buying gift cards was the easiest thing to do but what do you give people who can afford anything? Yeah. That’s my stress question of the month. LOL. I’m trying to think up personal and touching gifts. My brain hurts! LOL!



My other stress question...where to put the darn Christmas tree next month. The area it usually goes...now sports my new treadmill. Our home is tiny, 5 people, 3 cats, 1,200 square feet. We’re crammed in. I’m thinking of putting the darn tree on top of my cedar chest in the living room. Not sure how that’s going to work out but yeah, it’s got to go somewhere. I also stole 1/3rd of the living room for my ‘office’ which now has a huge L-shaped desk so we’re wall to wall furniture in the living room/dining room area. I also found some killer sales on toys and totally overbought. Yeah. You should see the explosion of wrapped toys already taking up part of my living room before the tree is even up. NO WAY are those going to fit under a tree. Next year after we move...it’s going to be great. We’ll have too much room but this year is going to be tricky. LOL! I don’t even want to discuss what my living room looks like. It’s...bad. Gifts are shoved everywhere. Yeah...I totally blame those toy sales. Buy one on sale, get one half off. 75 percent off. Who could resist??? Not me! I got entire seasons of their favorite shows for like $10. They are usually $40-$50. Yeah. It’s totally NOT my fault! LOL! And the email sales just keep popping up in my inbox. Damn you, irresistible sales! I’m going to stop opening them and reading the darn things. I only have one kid left to buy for. She’s 12 and past the toy stage, unfortunately. LOL!



I turned in Brawn’s story from New Species. I don’t have a release date yet. I’m hoping for December. Also...good news. It looks like the first book in the Something Wicked This Way Comes Anthology will come out in December. I’m really excited about being a part of them. I wrote stories for all four. None of the stories I wrote for the anthology books are related to any of my series books. I wanted to write something new and fresh, something that could stand on their own, and it won’t matter if you’ve read any of my other books. Here’s the blurb for the first story in the first volume. (subject to change but I think this is the official blurb)


Captain of Nara’s Heart


Laurann Dohner




Nara knew she was taking a risk with illegal trading. Sure enough, she’s been arrested, caged—and will be auctioned as a sex slave. One look at the scary alien buyers and she frantically makes a deal, agreeing to be sold to Captain Vellar, who turns out to be large, sexy and seriously in heat. Offering her body to the captain is a given…but Nara didn’t expect to lose her heart in the process.

You can click on the cover or here's the LINK

26 comments:

  1. Thank you Laurann for the peak into your life. Also thank you for being so accessible to your readers. I follow you here at your site, on fb and Amazon Discussions. Am anticipating Brawn and now your Something Wicked antho hopefully in Dec. Keep writing and I'm sure I and all your fans will continue to wait impatiently for your next jem.

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  2. Thank you, Sheri. My life is kind of hectic but I love it. LOL. I'm very blessed. I just can't wait until Christmas is OVER and my living room doesn't look like...a toy factory exploded in wrapped gifts.

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  3. Hi Laurann~ I enjoyed your blog post today. And boy do I know how crazy Christmas can be! Your story in Something Wicked sounds great.

    You are such a prolific writer!

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  4. I also struggle to find gifts for those unbuyable people! One trick I will use is to purchase hand made ornaments. They look beautiful and unique but are often not that expensive even though they may look it! Thank god for being able to shop on the internet!

    I can't wait for more species books! And Zorn! Something to be said for getting to play Fay Wray w/ a big hunky man!

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  5. You'll LOVE it when you move Laurann,
    it's the best thing I ever did too =))
    So stoked to be sharing a book with you - I'd give it a 16 out of 10 lol!!!!
    And did I mention your book output WOW!!!! Oh yes, I think I've mentioned that a few dozen times lol!!!!!

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  6. Love you blog:-) It's nice to know that we are all in the same boat for the holidays! As far as yor tween goes, it only gets more expensive from here....lol! Just finished the Holiday shopping today.... My goal was to get it done by black Friday.....Working retail....I will be lucky to remember my name by Christmas.Want to let you know that every new book that is released by you is a wonderful small relaxing vacation from the real world no matter how temporary. A new book by the holidays would be the perfect gift... Hint, hint! As far as your gifting issues for people who can afford anything..... Still love the gift card idea ( which is what I give ) but, you sais both you and your husband were good in the kitchen..... What about baking something special.... Like Christmas cookies and placing a gift card inside:-)

    Looking forward to the anthologies coming out!!! Have a wonderful Holiday season,

    Carla V.

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  7. I laughed when I read about all the presents in your living room. So it looks like the house has vomited presents? Now about the tree placement problem you're having. One yr my mom had this so bad she had to just stack a few presents in a triangle shape and call that the tree. There's also some who just hang the tree upside down from the ceiling. Yup it might look strange but it was a must. How about decorating a tree outside?

    On the book front, I really like the fact you keep your site updated, answer your email, and that your such a prolific writer. Thank you so much!!!

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  8. Yay! I cannot wait for Brawn's book. And all of your other books you are in the process of writing. And your future unwritten books of characters we have not even met yet.

    So where did you get entire tv seasons for $10? What store? Was it online? Please share where you found those deals.

    And for people who are difficult to buy gifts for, in my family we buy tickets to a show. Like Blue Man Group or a music concert coming to town, or Medieval Times, or the zoo, or a hockey game, or minor league sports team which is fun but cheap, or a boat cruise, or a tour of a beer brewery or winery, you get the idea.

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  9. Kaye - Thanks! I'm excited about that anthology story.

    Julie - Great idea! Some years ago when we were SUPER poor I used to make ornaments for gifts since we didn't have money to buy for anyone but our kids. I wish I had the time to do that but nope. I'll go hunting at Hallmark. I know they carry cute stuff. Thanks.

    Mel - LOL! This is soooo awesome to share a book!!!!

    Carla - I know. My oldest is 20 and I always knock on wood that we survived her teen years before she moved out, got married, and became a mother. LOL! I've got 3 more to get through those teen years. I think I'll buy a wig...for when I tear out ALL of my hair! LOL!!! Oh...good luck working retail. I've been there and done that...and chin up! You'll survive! Cooking is a good idea too. Thank you.

    Cheryle F7 - LOL! Upside down tree, huh? That's funny. My kids are SET on a tree. I even asked if we could buy a smaller one, fit it on top of the dining room table...and use under the table to stack the presents. No such luck. Where I live, I wouldn't put anything outside. It would be stolen (hence - why we're moving next year...LOL). I'll make it work...somehow. LOL!

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  10. Hi Laurann, Thanks for the update. You are one busy woman! Thanks for all the great stories. I get a kick out of seeing all your New Species on the Amazon/Kindle top 100 Best Sellers in Romance. So happy for you.
    Debra G.

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  11. Anon - amazon.com has a lot of shows for $10 or around that much. I got (my kids don't read my blog) The Flintstones seasons 1 and 2 for like $10.50 each. The Jetsons - season 1 is $10.53. I got yogi the bear (price went up to I think $14 but I got it for $9.99 Toys r us has tons of buy one, get one free and buy one, get one 50 percent off in their ads I signed up for. Amazon has a lot of toys on sale too. Toys r us has a few Monster High dolls for like $8 today too. I always sign up for the ads and that's how I find the deals.

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  12. Debra G - Thank you. I get a kick out of seeing them there too! LOL! : )

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  13. Oh dear, I suppose I should admit I squealed when I read your ‘to write’ list. If I liked a writer I used to buy most (or all) of a series before reading them because I hated waiting FOREVER between books and then not remembering important bits in the pervious books. But I was burned a few to many times with series that started out good then went blah so I started getting them as each came out. Since then you’re the only writer that has made me wish I still waited until the whole series was out. I’m always so happy to see a new book is each and every one of your series but I’m also a bit sad cause I know the book will be over long before I’m ready for it to be. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re a fast writer! Keep up the great work.

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  14. I also have to comment on the fact that you are a fast writer. I keep waiting for something to not be as long or well thought out and it hasn't happened yet. I've been posting your name everywhere as my favorite author. I read a ton of books. I know no other person that reads as much as I do and ebooks are only a small part of what I enjoy. Your Zorn and Cyborg Series had me hooked. *I've read them all several times* I wasn't sure if I'd like the Mating Heat or the New Species, but once again, you hooked me. I'm definitely a fan for life. Enjoy the holidays and I look forward to your next release.

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  15. I totally love the New Species books and am waiting patiently? for any new ones.I've read your Zorn series, too. I think you write as fast as I read, which is wonderful. I am amazed at all you do and can empathize since I am a working Mom,too!

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  16. lol! There needs to be an "auto ship" for your books Laurann! lol!

    I love the worlds you create that area so completely fleshed out that you do feel immersed in the stories!

    We're in the process of fixing up an old house to move into and move out of this one. I'm not sure even what HOUSE my Xmas tree is going to be in this season! lol! Oh well!

    Hugs and Happy Thanksgiving!

    Joy

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  17. Laurann I love your new species book and Justice was just excellent.

    After reading that blurb for the new one that is coming out in Something Wicked this Way Comes Volumn 1, I am so looking forward to it.

    Keep up the wonderful work and I look forward to your next book.

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  18. PunaWild - I'm getting down that list and you will see those books in the near future. LOL! Thank you.

    April - I write stories that I love, I put my heart into them, and I really enjoy what I do.

    Shawn - thank you. I'm lucky. Mr. Laurann really helps with the home and our kids so I get plenty of time to write. LOL!

    Joy - My fingers are crossed for a pre order button in the near future. Thank you. I hope wherever you are when Christmas hits...you have a fantastic one!

    Katie - Thank you.

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  19. Just wondering with all the excitement of your books and the holidays are you going to include some holiday prep or merriment in your books? How about a short for all us greedy readers/holiday merrymakers? Or even one for valentines day? Just throwin that out there

    I'm also glad you write at my reading speed. Happy thanksgiving and craziness for black Friday

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  20. Hi Cheryl F7

    I always think about holiday ones but I'd probably have to do novellas (shorter books) and I'm not sure people would be happy about shorter holiday books. LOL. I should take a poll or something at some point. LOL! I wrote shorter stories for the anthologies. They were a lot of fun! My shortest book I wrote (besides for the Something Wicked This Way Comes stories) was Ral's Woman. It was considered a short novel...and people always complain my books are too short (even if they are over 200 pages...LOL).

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  21. Yeeeey!!!! \o/ I really hope the next Species book comes out in december. I will be my christmas gift!!

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  22. Just putting it out here, I do NOT like novellas. Unless the story involves characters we already know from a full length story. Then instead of being angry it is so short, I am happy I get to see characters I loved again.

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  23. I'm still waiting to find out if Brawn will get a December release but I'm pretty sure it will.

    Anon # 2. LOL. We're opposite. I hate novellas about my favorite characters. I think they deserve an entire book. I like novellas about new people not related to a series because then it's just a story to read that interests me when I go to the doctor's office or just want to take a reading break.

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  24. I am looking forward to ALL of your new books! I am glad you are so prolific (as a writer).

    For the cats, try a spray bottle set on stream, it works better than a squirt gun. You can also hook the trigger on the pocket of your pants and carry it with you. Be sure to HISS or make a "naughty sound" just before you squirt them, they will associate the water with the sound and eventually you can just use the sound.

    I hope you will tell us what happens to the humans, owned by cyborgs as actual slaves. Not all of them ended up with good "owners" and some were abused/sterilized and passed around as sex slaves (Iron planned to do with Mia). I loved how Zorus got his "head slapped" verbally by Cyan about forcing multiple males in a family, he and Iron need to get shown the results of their slavery idea to the poor women not lucky enough to find a mate. The Council will have to do something with them, it would serve the ones who called them "furniture trying to tell someone not to sit on it" (Darius, Blackie, etc.) right to have to face the results of their stupidity. They should have to "fix" what they did! We never did hear what Darius' punishment was for stealing Charlie, other than a "butt-whooping." I hope he got booted from his family unit.

    I know from my work with the Women's refuge that women react differently to abuse. Some become hateful (like Zorus), but most withdraw into themselves (they can literally go comatose when frightened) or end up falling apart emotionally with PTSD. Since most of the sexual slavery seemed to occur on ships, I can just imagine the counsel's reaction when they have to deal with what happened, especially those married to humans. I doubt that all cyborgs "owning" the sex slaves would want to give them up, makes me think of the "gift females" from New Species, someone will have to rescue them.

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  25. I just want to say I absolutely love your New Species series ! My husband is in awe of my fast reading when it comes to these books :) I've even gotten a few girlfriends interested in these books and they scoffed at my paranormal romances before. After reading this post, I do have one question (which being an avid fan, I'm afraid to ask)....who is Wrath? I actually just finished re-reading all the series, prior to Brawn's release, and I have no recollection of a character named 'Wrath'. Is he a new addition? Thanks for all the great reading !!!

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  26. I just read all the New Species Books myself. I'm very curious and excited to read about wrath, and i'm wondering if his names is kind of like Fury's you know? Post a release date please!!!!!!!!!! And thank you:)

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