Back from Colorado

hooray!

Have new books coming out next month, and a reprint that I adore

waves

Fridays for the self-employed

Fridays are a big day for most weekly 9-5 folks

For those of us who are self-employed, it's a little less woo and hoo, but it's still exciting to see my friends' plans for the weekend. I'm going to breakfast with BA and our godbaby and her parents tomorrow, but today looks more like this"

do blog and other social media (there's so many places to post, so little time!)
work on publishing work (I have about 10 hours worth today)
write 1000 words
walk dogs
work out before you gain all that weight back
clean out emails
walk dogs
fall into bed

Lest you think I am not grateful that I get to work from home, I just want to say I can do all this in my pajamas. That rocks enough to make up for the lack of Friday anticipation...

So, happy Friday, y'all

What are you up to?

Under the Moon released today!

Hey y'all!

You may have seen me guest blogging over at BA Tortuga's blog today. http://batortuga.blogspot.com/2011/07/guest-blogger-julia-talbot.html

my new release is out today. It's a m/m Single Shot from Torquere Press called Under the Moon!

Jamie doesn't run with a pack, he doesn't date other werewolves, and he doesn't play role-playing games. So when Ty shows up and is hotter than any man Jamie has ever met, and is a werewolf, too, Jamie doesn't know what to do. Especially since Ty is at Jamie's apartment to game with Jamie's roommate. Can they find some common ground before disaster strikes under the full moon?


Here's a wee bit to get the dice rolling!

Jamie stopped at a little park table, the kind with the attached benches. "I have a few minutes if you want to talk."
Talk. Lord. "Sure." They sat, and Ty was pleased that the table was small enough to really be close, even sitting across the way. He was a big guy.
"Cool. So, why wolves?"
"I feel a kinship." Man, he couldn't believe that Jamie hadn't caught on yet. "Why Anton?"
"As a roommate you mean?" At his nod, Jamie shrugged. "He answered my ad first. It's a good location. I didn't know he was a werewolf fan until we moved in together. That might have been a deal breaker otherwise."
"I bet." Anton would make Ty want to kick his ass out in about three hours. "What do you do for fun?"
"Coffee. Movies. I read." Jamie gave him a wry grin. "I'm dull. What about you?"
"I like to have sex."
Jamie choked on his coffee, and Ty bit back a bark of laughter. God, he loved to get a rise out of people. Those sharp cheeks went a dull red. "Do you dance naked under the moon, too?"
"Occasionally. I gotta admit, though, that I don't do the whole Gaia and the wyrm thing. I don't get it."
"Good." Jamie eyed him, chewing that lovely little lower lip for a moment. "Do you have sex with men?"
"I do. That's my very favorite thing." It was, too. Better than bacon, even.
"Is that why you're stalking me?"
"Not to put too fine a point on it, yes." Might as well be up front. There was something about Jamie, about the way he moved, the way he smelled, that made Ty want to rut with him. Made him want to climb on top of that lean body and spread Jamie's legs and just hump.

***

Check it out, y'all!

Hats and Julia

It came up recently on an ask the author day on Torquere Social at Yahoo. Do I actually collect hats?

Well, most of my vintage hats have moved on to other homes since I left Colorado, but this is Texas, so I have hats. Cowboy hats, gimme caps, weird beach hats.

Here are a few examples:

Sun hats, little mini hats, my hat with the bullet holes, my high school beret

The hat rack in the front entry.

Joint collection of gimme caps that BA and I share. Bullrider signed.

Sunday work

I do a lot of catch up work on Sundays.

I edit, I do data entry, I file

That's the thing about being self-employed. You work all the time.

What I like best, though, is writing. On Sundays, I often get to write and that makes me happy

I also get to look at these

typing

Typing is hard.

Oh, I know for most of y'all it's not. I'm not from the Stone Age, but I was the last class in my high school who didn't have mandatory computer classes, though, and I never took a formal typing class.

So, while I type I average 45 wpm, which is above average, I typo a lot. A lot a lot. I have to be able to see the keys once in awhile to make sure I'm doing the right thing. Sometimes this is a huge handicap for me.

Grins. Then I think how it used to be before the computer, when I was a tween and young teen. Even with the electronic typewriter, which would do a line at a time and spell-check, it was a nightmare.

So maybe I'm glad I'm typing now instead of back in the day of the manual typewriter...

New Sip released!

Hey y'all!

My new Sip is out!

Picking Daisies is a Colorado smokejumpers story. While it's not a Jed and Eli story, it is in the same part of the world, and it makes me smile. You can find it here!

I'll post an excerpt this week, I promise!

tired and ready to go home

I love to travel, but this trip has been mostly driving (mostly BA driving) and that makes me tired. I met some amazing dogs, though, and got to see some lovely country. Arkansas is pretty, but you can't get espresso in most of it (Texarkana has one Starbucks o.O) and you can't get gluten free food.

I'm in east Texas now and go home tomorrow

I miss my bassets ;)

no offense to arkansas

but I am so so glad to be back in Texas, where I can get an espresso

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Celebrate Independence Day with the press that started the m/m explosion 8 years ago! (What, shameless self-promotion is a uniquely American trait)

Torquere Press has a 15% off sale right now. July42011 is the code at www.torquerebooks.com

Also, I have a new Sip coming out Saturday the 9th. It's called Picking Daisies, it's m/m, and it's about a smokejumping firefighter! So excited. Look for a preview this week.

Cirque Caprice 3

The latest in the Cirque Caprice series is in to my editor at Changeling Press

This one is Vance's story (brother of Victor from Book 1) and it's a m/m/f menage. I'm so tickled! It comes out in August, so I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, check out books one and two.

Been working on the layout of the blog

the changes are subtle, but I like it!

How about something fun for a Thursday?

(grins)

It's so hot here that I thought I would post a pic from Niagara Falls in March. It was bitter cold, and BA Tortuga is a Texas girl, through and through. She was a little offended by the cold.

Almost done with 2 new stories

eeee

I love the end of a story. Now, don't get me wrong, the last thousand words is the hardest for me, but damn. I love the sense of accomplishment when I do finish one. Makes me happy as hell.

working hard today

BA and I take Thursdays and Saturdays off. Sundays are catching up on the to-do days, and so far I have cleaned out emails, gone through a story edit, done 500 words on an impending doom deadline and worked on some bill paying

I would much rather be here:



Ah. Colorado *and* rodeo...

Started a new story

which is both good and bad, as I have 3 deadlines and this is not the one that's urgent...

Still, it's good to be writing smokejumpers again

tired and hot

but accomplished. I haven't canned since my mom died. BA Tortuga and I did 10 quarts of tomatoes and 5 pints of strawberry jam. We're doing blackberry next week

I don't talk about it much as Julia, but in my real life I've lost from a size 28/30 US to a 16/18, and half my body weight is gone. We do WW now, but we started just by no longer eating fast food or drinking soda

Now BA I are gluten free (she's violently allergic to wheat) and we do our best to eat local and seasonal. We cook together a lot; it's a family thing, now.

I just had to share about the canning. My mom would be so proud

Happy Birthday to me!

I have the best job in the world, a new Ipad, and BA Tortuga got me a slide scanner so I can access all my childhood pics and a corn dog maker so I can make decent Gluten Free corn dogs

all in all, it's a good day, Tater

good day

I love days where I get to concentrate on writing. I do. I don't always get a lot of word count in, but those are my favorite days. When I get a little blocked I play a game or two of pool with BA Tortuga, and chat about what werewolf would do what to which vampire, or which one of her cowboys would do what to which redneck.

It's always a great give and take, talking characters with another writer. It makes me smile.

So do basset hounds.

night all

Party of Two Excerpt and buy link

as promised. Late, but still
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Lalala

Here's where you can buy my Sip, Party of Two

And here's a wee bit to get you going!

     Liam knew he ought to get his ass down the mountain.
     He'd been at Matthew's cabin for two weeks, the first spent recovering, the second helping to pay his way by repairing snowshoes and chopping wood. They'd had another tremendous snow two days ago, and Liam used that as his excuse for not moving on.
     Really, he was hanging around to watch Matthew move. The man went shirtless inside a lot, wearing just a pair of soft sweats, his cock and balls clearly outlined.
     It was a little crazy-making, especially since he'd decided that Matthew wasn't going to go all Donner party and eat him, or go all cabin fever on him and whack him with an axe. They got along really well, in fact.
     Really well.
     God, he needed to go home, just to save him from making a fool of himself. The only problem was he wasn't sure where home was; the storage building where he'd stowed all his stuff before Denali probably didn't allow live-ins. Matthew made it hard to leave, too. The man was bright, funny, oddly companionable for someone so quiet, and his job didn't require a lot of time. In fact, all Liam had seen him do was record a bunch of data after his daily hike, and then call someone on a satellite phone twice a week to relate it.
     That left a lot of time for them to spend together.
     Liam had managed to cobble together a decent wardrobe from Matthew's clothes and what had been in his pack, but he'd taken to wearing nothing but sweats inside, as well. When in Rome, right? Matthew seemed to like his creature comforts, so the place was always pretty warm.
     "So, let me get this straight." Matthew's voice startled him, coming out of nowhere. They'd stopped talking a few hours back, when Liam had gotten surly discussing his ex. "He dumped you because the weather was bad on Denali and you couldn't climb?"
     "Well, it was more that we missed our window of good weather because I had bronchitis. Then we had to wait, and the storms set in a thousand feet above base camp."
     Matthew looked up from the rabbit snare he was working on. "Do you have emphysema?"
     "No."
     "Are you a smoker?"
     Liam shook his head, his cheeks heating. "No."
     "Did you set out with a cold? Deliberately compromise your lung capacity?"
     "No." Liam could see how silly it sounded now, to let Dave convince him he was a failure. He couldn't be sorry, though, as it had led him to meet Matthew, and that was a good thing.
     Matthew set aside the snare and stood, stretching before walking over to put one hand on Liam's cheek. "I know a little about being the odd man out. Don't let him make you feel like you don't deserve to be alive."
     Without another word, just as Liam was reaching for Matthew's hips, the man turned and grabbed a parka, heading out into the snow.

New Sip out tomorrow

Hey y'all! I have a new Sip out tomorrow from Torquere Press.

It's called Party of Two, and it's about mountain climber Liam and what happens when he almost freezes to death. Matthew wonders if Liam has a death wish when he drags the shivering man to his cabin, but he has secrets of his own...


Look for an excerpt and buy link tomorrow!