For those of you who mutter about the fact that all my stories have sex in them, I’m delighted to report that you can now order Retro Spec: Tales of Fantasy and Nostalgia, which contains my fantasy (not erotica, fantasy) story “The Devil Went Down to the Sunset Strip.”

It’s funny. It’s about hair metal bands. What’s not to love?

There are times in your writing career when you feel unworthy. You’ve been plodding along, things are slowly moving forward, and then someone includes in you in a list of “legendary erotica heavy-hitters” and you look around wondering who behind you they’re pointing at.

I’m having another one of those moments.

I’ve been invited to be an instructor on a writing cruise!

(That sentence really needs about a bazillion exclamation points!)

It took me about zero point two seconds to say yes. After I picked my jaw up off the ground.

So, in October 2011, I’ll be hopping on a cruise ship to Mexico and teaching writing (I’m doing a two-hour session on romance and erotica and whatever else folks want to hear me ramble about) along with Kris and Dean (the Kris & Dean Show is worth the price of admission!) and Chris and Steve York (not sure what they’ll be teaching yet) and Michael Bellomo (nonfiction).

The details I already have are below, in case you might be interested. Seriously, the cost is less than RWA (yes, it’s shorter than RWA and has fewer classes, but you’ll be on a cruise ship!)—if I weren’t teaching, I might be tempted to go just because it’s such an amazing deal!

Hmm…time to start working out so I can look hot in a bikini!

<><><><><><>

Scribes at Sea

Cruise: Long Beach, CA, to Ensenada, Mexico

Dates: October 28–31*, 2011

Cost–Cruise: starts at $327 per person (includes port fees, tax, food, lodging, shows), based on double occupancy. At least one person per cabin must be signed up for the workshops. (So bring your spouse! Or not your spouse! Heehee.)

Cost–Workshops: $400 for four workshops

Ship: The Carnival Paradise (That’s right, Styx fans: I’m cruising on the Paradise—because that isn’t deliciously ironic, is it?!)

Cruise Booking: Contact Loreene Orgoralini, Can I Go Too? Travel, loreene@canigotoo.com. Reference “Scribes at Sea.” $100 per person deposit is due at booking; the rest isn’t due until June 2011.

Workshop Booking: Contact Dottie Papin, dpapin9421@gmail.com. $50 due at registration. Payment plans available with final payment due June 2011.

More info as I get it!

—
*It is also not lost on me that the last day is Halloween. I may have to bring my pirate costume.

Alison’s Wonderland, containing my story “The Broken Fiddle,” received 4 stars from Romantic Times!

I hope this is the first of many of my stories to appear in Harlequin Spice anthologies!

There’s some strange link between writers and cats. Oh, some writers have dogs, but many more of us have cats. Are they our muses? Or is there job to nudge us when we’ve been sitting in front of the computer so long, cobwebs are growing on us?

Check out Circlet Press’s blog for some pictures and stories about some writerly cats, including my own!

…especially when I didn’t even know about the contest!

My short story “Some Old Lover’s Ghost,” which appeared in the anthology Haunted Hearts and Sapphic Shades, is up for the Romance Erotica Connection Awards in the F/F Romance short story category!

If anyone’s a member of REC and liked my story, please vote for it! (Or if you’re not a member and you liked my story, you can join their Yahoo group and vote in the Polls section.)

I’m in amazing company, and even if I don’t win, I’m incredibly chuffed to just be on the list!