Spook-tacular RITA© Winner Terri Garey Tricks, Treats & Gives a Free Book

The Spook-tacular Terri Garey

Here in Rockville, October's on the calendar and autumn's in the air! That means the Eight are gearing up for tricks and treats and Halloween. And boy, readers, do we have a treat for you!  RITA^© winner Terri Garey swings by after the graveyard shift to give us the spine-tingling skinny on her new paranormal novella in BLOOD BY MOONLIGHT. Plus, one lucky commenter will receive a free book from Terri's Nicki Styx or Devil's Bargain series. See details below.   

A Southern girl with an overactive imagination, Terri Garey grew up in Florida, always wondering why tropical prints and socks with sandals were considered a fashion statement. She survived the heat by reading in the shade, and watching cool shows like the The Twilight Zone and the classic gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows. Balancing a career with marriage and motherhood convinced her that life was too short to rely entirely on the left side of her brain, and Terri started writing her own devilishly delicious tales from the dark side. She is the RITA^© award winning author of six novels and various novellas, and despite her choice of subject matter, only hangs out in graveyards on Halloween. Visit her website at http://www.TGarey.com, friend her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TerriGarey, or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TerriGarey.

Now, take it away, Terri:

Terri's New Novella: Get It While It's Hot!

October has arrived, and with it, my favorite holiday, Halloween!  I’m not sure why, but I’ve always found the spooky side of life to be far more interesting than the every-day, so-called “normal” side.  Maybe it’s because I grew up in the South, where I discovered ghost stories at a very young age, scaring myself silly with tales of ghosts and haunted houses, witches and werewolves, spooks and spirits. I would’ve loved to have Casper the Friendly Ghost as a play pal, and Herman Munster as a dad! Halloween night itself meant candy and costumes, roaming the neighborhood long after dark, spooking the other kids by jumping out of the bushes and shouting, “Boo!”.  As an adult, I still love Halloween, which is why, when my editor at Avon approached me with an idea for a Halloween anthology, I leapt at the chance to give my readers a special treat by creating my OWN ghost story.

THE GHOUL NEXT DOOR was the result, one of three spine-tingling tales in BLOOD BY MOONLIGHT, a new e-book anthology from Avon Impulse, to be released October 23, 2012 (just in time for Halloween!)  In it, a witch and a warlock battle for possession of a haunted house, little knowing that the ghost who haunts it may have her OWN agenda!  Here’s an excerpt:

Cassie stood tall, and lifting the smoldering bundle of herbs aloft, turned her face to the moon. Ignoring James completely, she began to speak.

“Honor to thee, Nimue, keeper of the night sky. Bathe my soul with moonlight, and see that my motives are pure.”

There was nothing but silence, broken only by the faint crackle of flames. Despite himself, James couldn’t tear his eyes away from her curves, backlit as she was by the fire.

 Spreading her arms to encompass the trees, Cassie spoke to them, as well. “Honor to thee, oh spirits of these ancient oaks. Stand with me as guardians this night, sheltering me as I breach the veil between the living and the dead.”

The scent of burning sage rose in the air, drifting, enshrouding the oaks. Cassie walked slowly around the fire, purifying the air with sweet-smelling smoke, murmuring words in a language he didn’t understand.

She seemed to have forgotten he was there, and he decided not to remind her. Instead, he watched and listened, finding himself fascinated by the way the moonlight both revealed and hid her face, gliding along her jaw line, turning her eyes from pockets of shadow to glittering diamonds.

What about you?  Ever play any tricks on Halloween night, or were you just in it for the treats?  Leave me a comment for a chance to win an entirely different kind of treat – a signed copy of one of my earlier books, reader’s choice!

Whatever you do, make sure you go out and scare up a little fun this Halloween, and don’t forget to check out BLOOD BY MOONLIGHT (but do it safely, by downloading the book, not with any actual blood or anything. J)  Happy Halloween, ghoulfriends!

Take a Trip to the Dark Side with Terri's Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Series

I DON’T GET NO RESPECT By Susan Donovan

The Rockville 8 is proud to welcome NYT bestselling author Susan Donovan. She writes contemporary romance with a trenchant wit and a melted-chocolate heart. But even with these two sterling qualities (among the many), she’s learned that the life of a romance writer is not all bons-bons and slavish devotion. And what’s up with that?

Susan Donovan

I remember the exact moment I realized I’d become “A NOVELIST” – an honest-to-goodness professional writer with an agent and a publisher and an option for my next book. It hit me while attending my first RWA National Convention in 2002. Upon my return home, I sat everyone down at the kitchen table and explained that things had changed. Mommy had a new career. This was serious business, I told them. Someday I would be a New York Times bestseller. I would earn a good salary. I would make a major contribution to our family’s future.

I asked my husband and children to respect this new reality. I told them that when my office door was closed they were to give me privacy to write. I told them I’d display a sign on my office door so there’d be no mistake. The sign would say, Mommy’s Writing.

“Does everyone understand what I’m saying?” I asked.

Two sets of little eyeballs blinked into the overhead kitchen light. My
husband cocked his head curiously. Crickets. . . I got nothing but crickets.

That next day, I taped my sign on the office door and attacked my WIP with a renewed sense of determination. Not five minutes had passed when I heard snickering out in the hallway, which was followed by scratching sounds and more snickering. I got up and opened the door. My kids were rolling around in the hallway holding their sides in hilarity. They’d defaced my sign. The word “writing” had been scratched out and replaced with “farting” – Mommy’s Farting.

Thus began my career as a romance author.

Of course, that stuff happened more than eight years ago. Those little snickering cuties are now a senior and sophomore in high school, respectively. My husband is now my ex-husband. I’ve hit the New York Times extended list three times. I’ve sold twelve novels and four novellas. I’m earning a good salary. Is this where you’re expecting me to say everything has changed? Sorry to disappoint.

I ran into an acquaintance at the post office the other day, someone I used to socialize with on a regular basis. She asked me if I was still writing or if I’d found a job. A relative asked me last week if I were still doing “those sex books.” During the legal proceedings that ended my marriage, my spouse said via his attorney that he’d prefer that I sought employment but that he’d allow me to pursue my writing “hobby” out of the goodness of his heart. (This was after I’d become a USA Today bestselling author and got a RITA nomination.)

And only late last week – oh yes, she really did – Danielle Steele told the world that she was not a romance writer. To an interviewer she explained, “I write about the situations we all deal with. Loss and war and illness and jobs and careers, and good things, bad things, crimes, whatever. And I really write more about the human condition.”

At times like these, a girl needs something greater than herself to turn to. I turned to Rodney Dangerfield. I imagined him in an old black-and-white TV clip, nervously tugging at his skinny necktie, sweat on his brow, his head twitching and his eyes bugging out as he shared his mantra with the world: “I tell ya – I don’t get no respect.” It helped to calm my temper and remind me that I can’t take myself too seriously. The truth is, all any of us can do is love what we do, do it to the best of our ability, and let it go.


Once I recovered from Danielle’s knife in the back, I tugged at my necktie and went back to work. And – is this a coincidence, or what? – the romance novel I’m working on right now happens to be about situations we all deal with, good things, bad things, crimes, whatever. It’s about the human condition.

How about you? What have been your most egregious "Just call me Rodney Dangerfield" moments since you began writing?

Don't forget to mark Susan's upcoming release schedule on your calendars:

NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL, December 2010, St. Martin's Press
"Gail's Gone Wild!" -- part of the HQN Spring Break-themed anthology THE GUY NEXT DOOR, with Lori Foster and Victoria Dahl, March 2011
THE COURTESAN'S GUIDE TO GETTING YOUR MAN, with Celeste Bradley, June 2011, St. Martin's Press

Courtney Milan Spends the Day with the Eight... and You

The Rockville Eight is pleased to host 2010 RWA® RITA® Finalist Courtney Milan as our guest blogger for March's Last Monday of the Month.

Courtney earned RITA's nod this year with her novella, "This Wicked Gift," featured in The Heart of Christmas. Her debut historical romance, Proof by Seduction, is in stores now. For more with Courtney, visit her website, www.courtneymilan.com.

Right now, though, she's all ours... and yours. The Heart of Christmas and Proof by Seduction can be yours, too. Courtney will pop in throughout the day to chat – and she'll select one commenter to win a copy of both books – so keep those comments coming!

And now, take it away, Courtney...

PROMOTION BEFORE YOU'RE PUBLISHED by Courtney Milan

We've all heard the horror story about the person who sells and then discovers they are so busy writing books that they don't have time to do promotion. I have to admit, the person who tells this story is usually someone who sells promotional services. But honestly, I think this is an urban legend, and I think that people can focus to much on promotion before publication. I have not met a single published author who discovered that she did not have time to do promotion, if she started taking care of things when her book sold. (Promotion can take lots of time--but the vast majority of it is not things that you can frontload prior to publication. For instance, I spent 5 hours this morning working on new bookmarks--but you can't make bookmarks until you have a book cover.)

I did worry about promotion before publication, though--I worried about it a lot. And in my mind, I spent too much time and money on it.

So, here's how I see things:

1. Do the free stuff now. Start a facebook page (but please, dear God, do not ask all your friends to be fans.) Get a blog--most are free. (And if you enjoy blogging, blogging can be good practice writing on a schedule--just make sure that it's not cutting into book-writing time!) If you want, find a place with cheap hosting and put up a wordpress site, using a free template. When you publish, you can get someone to design it--just make sure that you're on the ball about that, because good web designers have a backlog (this is the only place where people get in trouble, I think: failing to realize that good web designers have 6 month to 1 year backlogs, and so you need to get on their schedule as soon as you've accepted an offer of publication). But don't freak out about any of this. Some bestselling authors use nothing more than a free blog as their entire web presence, even after they are published. See, for instance, Kristin Cashore. Her first two books hit the NYT list in hardcover; her debut novel, now available in paperback, has been sitting on the NYT children's list for 21 weeks. Her web presence is a free blog--and she writes YA books, and young adult readers are more likely to want to interact with the author online.

2. Get cheap business cards. Vistaprint is great for unpublished authors. You'll find that you adjust your card based on the book you're writing, so 100 of them is all you need. I bought business cards in the 1000s, printing my book on the back, and paid lots of money for them. I gave out about 10 of them.

3. The only thing that I think you do have to spend money on now is this: if you know the name you will be using (for instance, because it is your own), or if you think you know the pseudonym you want, buy your own domain name. They are cheap ($9.95 a year) and it's better to have it than not--it sucks to be known on the contest circuit or by your free blog by one name, only to discover that the name is unavailable. You want to be able to get yourname.com, and it's cheap to lock it in.

4. Other than that, I believe in the cheap. Do not buy personalized stationary. You don't need it. Nobody will think less of you for using the regular old letter paper from Office Depot. It's true that you should dress for the job that you have, but authors wear yoga pants. Act professionally, and use clean paper (and don't use blinking graphics on your website) and you will be just fine.So where should you spend your money, if you are burning to spend it? Spend it on conferences--networking and meeting authors who might introduce you to agents and editors will help more than personalized stationary. You'll also get to know people who may one day provide blurbs for your debut novel, and that's always a good thing! I got some great mileage from author critiques that I won from contests, and Brenda Novak's Diabetes Auction has a huge number of author critiques available.

It is really easy to fall prey to the notion of sympathetic magic: that if you spend a lot of time or money on something, that it must help. There is so much uncertainty in the publishing world, and so little that authors can control, that we look for anything to think "if I do that, I will get published." But it is simply not true that a pretty website or personalized professionally printed stationary will help you get published. If you write a good book, and carry yourself as a professional, you're doing enough promotion.

But speaking of promotion: I have a novella that just finaled in the RITA. One commenter will get a copy of both my novella and my debut novel, PROOF BY SEDUCTION. Who wants it?