Hot damn!!!

What I found in my inbox this morning:

Crystal,
Congratulations!
Your book ONE ENCHANTED EVENING is the NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER at Whiskey Creek Press for May, 2008!
This is your second #1 at WCP, following your bestselling book PERFECT TIMING, and you also have two #1s at WCPT, WHAT HE WANTS and PROGRAMMED FOR PLEASURE, an outstanding achievement!
ONE ENCHANTED EVENING will be featured at the WCP Home Page as our bestseller all month, and be permanently "red lettered" too. It will also be featured as the bestseller in the WCP newsletter and in WCP advertising.
You may want to let the Ethernet universe know you're Number One, and congratulations from all of us at Whiskey Creek Press!
*********************************
Grins*

Who sent you?

And a lovely Thank You to all the passersby who found me by way of:
Crystal Playboy Cowgirl
Pompeii Whorehouse
Photos of Chickens
Whorehouse Crystal (One of my personal favorites)
lmao
Grins*

Monday, Monday

Left work yesterday at one o'clock. Baby Chicken was supposed to have a recorder concert sometime during school. That, of course, was postponed, but I already asked for the time off. So I went home.
And how wonderful was it?
It was fucking grand, let me tell you.
*grins*
Settled my little laptop on my lap and went to town on Earth Goddess and WATS. Wrote around four thousand words or so. Felt accomplished. *nodding* I was home for the chickens when they arrived. Whipped up some French toast.
I had it going on.
What a difference four hours makes.
Who knew?
You simply don't realize how much you miss those hours until you get them back, however briefly. I felt wonderful yesterday. Had time to listen to the chickens. Wrote on my book. Listened to the chickens some more.
Pure.
Bliss.
So instead of beating my damn head against the wall at work and wondering what in the blue hell some people were thinking...I was kicked back in my yoga pants and tank top writing and waiting for the girls.
Finally.
A Monday I can live with.
Grins*

Tagged

Debbie left me a lovely comment and tagged me. But supposedly there are rules, which I will list, but it doesn't mean I'll abide by them. Because that's how I roll. *grins*

The rules:
a. Link to the person who tagged you.
b. Post the rules on your blog.
c. Write six random things about yourself.
d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
e. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.
f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.
Six things about myself:
1. Diet Pepsi runs in my veins.
2. I've had my heart crushed exactly once. Once was enough.
3. I paint my toenails red but leave my fingernails bare.
4. I ran a doghouse nail through the back of my right hand (near the wrist). It poked in one spot and came out an inch farther down. I calmly slid the nail out of my skin and went in search of hydrogen peroxide. I think I was twelve.
5. I wear ear plugs when I sleep. If I don't, then I won't ever get to sleep because all the little sounds of the evening won't let my overactive brain shut down.
6. I have four tattoos and want at least three more.

Grins*

The long and short of it

Thanks to LYVVIE (Ya know I LOVE YOU!!!), I've finally got my word counts up there. *grins* That's rather an eye opener.
Had a few more stories I've started that I originally anticipated when I did the mental count. And there's two more, but they're on my laptop. *snickering* Seriously.
But the ones I'm focusing on now are Earth Goddess (Can I get a collective "DUH"???) and WATS. Those are the two biggies.
I'll probably write on Sunday. And mow. *eye roll* But it's all good.
Shipped Oldest Chicken off to a friend's house for tonight and most of tomorrow. That leaves me with the other two short people. Promised them we'd get into something tomorrow.
The mind boggles.
Grins*

The writing--She is a Dominatrix with a whip and a smile

So.
The writing.

I'm currently working on Earth Goddess, WATS, and another Paranormal Romance. There's also this persistent little short story I may finish and send off to Amazon Shorts. We shall see, shan't we?
But it's all coming along. More smoothly now. Not so much in fits and starts. Which, quite frankly, was about to drive me to the liquor store. *eye roll*

We're gearing up for rain. Again. *tapping screen* Hear that, Tori? *grins*
The day job is the same ol' same ol. *shrug* Not much changing there. Had a lot of compliments on my newspaper article. Which is cool.
Except for the fact that I realize I must give up a bit of privacy. That's rather hard for me but something I'm sure I'll adjust to.
Wait! What's that I hear?
Ah, yes.
The lovely sound of an Oklahoma monsoon. *grins*
Have a good one,
Crystal*

The things you do for your kids

I admit it. The Mama Guilt sometimes gets to me. I'm not doing enough. I'm not doing it quickly enough. I'm lacking SOMEWHERE.
But then I think...whoa! Wait up. What about all the times I twisted myself into knots to make the short people happy?
And so, here are a few (and I'm stressing this word--FEW) of my maternal sacrifices I've made:
I watched an hour and a half of Gumby. (I'll really never be right again.)
I used to watch Barney six times a day. I even took the short people to see him at the Fairgrounds. (THAT'S love. lmao)
I've stayed up all night chewing gum and figuring out which gum is the most "viscous" for a Science Fair Project due the next day. (My jaws STILL hurt.)
I've left work to go pick up the chickens and then come right back. (This is about an hour drive. At THESE gas prices. See what I'm saying?)
I let them drink my Diet Pepsi when they run out of soda.
I've given up sides of my bed when it storms and scares the bejeezus out of all of us.
I've bought underwear for the chickens when I could have used some new unmentionables.
I've run back and forth to a child's friend house because they wanted to spend the night. But they didn't. But they changed their mind again. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I killed the spider, cricket, flying bug. (Even though I loathe these creatures and don't want to get near them.)
I've come home from working eight hours after a long day and whipped up a hot dinner.
I've watched Reality Television with the short people.
I've left the house at the 11th hour to pick up whatever emergency supplies the chickens needed.
Do I regret it? Never.
Do I hope my chickens get a taste of this?
You betcha.
Grins*

Pictures of the chickens

Caught this double rainbow after another gully washer. *grins* Okie slang for heavy rains.

Thought I'd share.

Middle Chicken-Reluctant, yet smiling

Baby chicken-posing. Of course. *laughing*

*******************

Oldest Chicken-Queen of the Rock

Oldest, Middle, and Baby Chicken at the lake.

*******************

It was a lovely weekend.

Grins*

Romantic Times

Ok. I'm trying to be cool here.
*biting fingernails*

I didn't go to the Romantic Times Convention. Hope those of you that did HAD FUN!
But today was the day they announced the winners of the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award. And I haven't heard ANYTHING!!!
ACK!

So. Um.
You hear anything...drop me a line.
Ok?
Thanks!
Grins*

Insomnia

And no. Not the kind where I see little men in white coats with sharp scalpels cutting people's life strings. (Obscure Stephen King reference, and one of my favorite books of his)
I've been getting to sleep well after midnight and waking up at six.
This is unnatural. I don't give a shit who you are.
And it certainly doesn't work for me.
I'm on my porch last night smoking at twelve-thirty. Insanity, I tell ya.

FINISHED WIND GODDESS!!!
Holy shit. I swear to God. I will never, ever, do that "write a book in a weekend" shit again.
O
M
G
I'll be working on WATS this weekend. It's around 35,000 in. I need to find a way to get those neat little bar things that show my progress up on my blog. Um...somehow.
Also, starting on Earth Goddess. And considering Eden (the Earth Goddess, herself) keeps popping into my head, I'd say she's impatient for me to tell her story.
Sheesh. Goddesses. *eye roll*
Let's see. What's happend around here?
Hmmmmm
Have had a particularly shitty week at work. Short-handed. Busier than hell. Issues with friends and their problems. And I've had a bit of shocker. It's not my news to tell, but suffice it to say, it's taken me off of my equilibrium. If, in fact, I was ever there to begin with.
ppppfffttttttttttt
Oh!
And Middle Chicken got kicked off the bus for poking holes in a school bus seat. She wouldn't roll on her friend, so apparently I'm paying for BOTH seats. Just shows you how fucked up the Admin is at my childrens' school. It always amazes me that they don't want to deal with parents unless they want something.
Yeah
*snort*
It's great.
Downloaded some music from iTunes. So I'm jamming to Leona Lewis, Toby Keith, Finger Eleven, Webbie, and Miley Cyrus.
Yeah. You heard me. MILEY CYRUS.
Can I tell you how absolutely horrified I am that I LIKE one of her songs? But, um, this stuff happens. *scuffing toe*
If my kids can like Eddie Money, by God, I can like Miley Cyrus.
It's windier than I-don't-know-what here. Oldest Chicken said she could toss a cat into the air, and it would fly. *snickering*
Hell of a visual, eh?
Grins*

Who's News??? Me!!!

The article about me was in yesterday's paper here in town. So I'm going to copy and paste (minus the picture, God forbid) right here in my very own blog. I will note that I made the FRONT PAGE!!! *DANCING*
So, without further ado, me:

Crystal Inman is not afraid to tell people that she hears voices in her head.
That's because the voices come in the form of character dialogue, witty repartee and steamy scenes. The end result is a dozen books that have endeared her to the romance-reading world.
Inman isn't a traditional romance author, however. Her books line the love-story shelves, but their genres come with a twist: paranormal romance, time travel romance, fantasy romance and more.
"Box? What box? There are no sidelines for me," Inman said with a laugh.

Crystal Inman of Shawnee talks about her romance novels about a dozen so far that include twists ranging from paranormal to time travel.
Inman is a Shawnee native who is a full-time writer, a full-time librarian and a full-time mom. And then there's the joy of writing 50,000 to 75,000 words' worth of sheer adventuresome joy.
"It's absolutely amazing to create a world inside your head and transfer it to paper and share it with others," Inman said. "Sometimes at night, I can't go to sleep because of the voices in my head, so I get up and write it down. It can be all-consuming."
Inman said she's been preoccupied with words the reading and the writing of them since she was young. As a child, she discovered her grandmother's old Harlequin romances and began reading them, and she also fell in love with fairy tales and the concept of "happily ever after." Romantic themes, strong heroines and good endings are always part of her books, simply because that's what she believes in, she said. She sometimes includes an Oklahoma flair or heroines in her books.
"I see Oklahoma women as very strong individuals," Inman said. "All my heroines are intelligent and in control. I don't have any stupid or inept heroines. It goes against my grain. Part of my wanting to make my heroines so strong is for my three girls. I want them give my girls a good base so they don't feel unempowered or diminished in any way."
Inman's first book was "Virtually Yours," a contemporary virtual reality romance published in October 2005. It follows a school secretary who meets a handsome "virtual" man while taking part in a virtual reality study. Inman wrote the book before such "cyber-dating" applications were playing out in real life.
Her most recent book is "One Enchanted Evening," a fantasy romance that indulges her love of fairy tales. Its heroine receives an anonymous invitation to an enchanted evening, and the envelope contains gold dust, which takes her to a fairytale kingdom. The tag line for the book is "Ivy Daniels used to believe in fairy tales. Now they believe in her."
One of Inman's books, "The Portrait," a paranormal love story, has been nominated for a top romance novel honor: a Reviewer's Choice Award from the magazine Romantic Times, considered the romance writer and reader's "bible." The winner will be announced later this month.
Inman also writes erotic romances her three daughters prefer to call them "spicy," though they're not allowed to read all the content under the pen name C'Ann Inman. The hottest-selling romances in the market right now are erotic and inspirational, she said.
"These are different from the old Harlequin romances," she said. "Love doesn't stop when you shut the bedroom door."
Inman publishes her books through Whiskey Creek Press, which provides both traditional books and electronic books. Working with an e-publisher also allows her more control over the book cover artwork, which often showcases the beautifully strong women in her stories.
She's under contract to write several more books for Whiskey Creek Press, including two more paranormal romances. At any given time, she has three manuscripts open on her computer and more ideas for the future percolating in her head, she said. It's all work toward her goal of making a romance reader happy.
"I want them to take away a good feeling that not everything ends badly, that there is a happily ever after. That it's not hopeless," she said. "If people are having a bad day, I want to give them escapism to lift their spirits or give them a respite or make them laugh. I absolutely love doing this."
For more information about Crystal Inman's books and for a link to her blog, go to chryswriter.tripod.com.
******************************************************************
By the way, I wrote over 8000 words yesterday.
Grins*

Hellbent and overbooked

Two chickens are home today sick. And, of course, it's storming like a mother here. *eye roll*
Never fails.

Lyvvie, my love, where have I been? *grins*
I've been pulling my hair out over Wind Goddess. Dealing with difficulties at the job and personally, and generally wondering where in the hell the year has gone. And you?
LOL

I'm working on Wind Goddess this evening. Have a late night at work. Short staffed as far as that goes. Usually four of us. Tonight=two. Could be very good. Could be very bad.

Once again, the stories are all atwist in my head. I, so very badly, want to work on a manuscript that I can submit to an agent. But that's just not meant to be right now. I believe I have enough on my plate.
Okay, my platter.
So it's Wind Goddess. Fitting the pieces seamlessly together and thanking God that my next release isn't going to be out until October. A little breathing room there.

I've actually DENIED myself the pleasure of reading. This is akin to sticking bamboo shoots under my fingernails. It's just too damn painful. The latest J.D. Robb and The Wire in the Blood (Yes, TORI!!! It's a book that I suppose the BBC series is based on. *rubbing hands together*)sit on my desk. Beckoning me with pure literary escapism. Whispering my name. Promising endless hours of wonderful fiction. *sigh*
And I'm denying myself because I'm under so much freaking pressure to finish this book.
I hate pressure.
Takes all the damn fun out of the project. Because it's "gotta gotta gotta" instead of "I want to."
Which royally sucks.
Love the story. LOVE the cover.
But screw it all, the son of a bitch won't write itself.
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Chicken update

I've already stated that Middle Chicken will be the death of me. Right? RIGHT???
*deep breath*
Okay, then.

Middle Chicken doesn't seem to understand a lot of her work while in class. However, she is more than willing to bring it home, procrastinate, and then have me reeducate her after I've worked a long eight hour shift.
Sadistic, isn't she?
The other night, she had math homework. Fractions. *collective groan* Yeah. Really. All about improper fractions and proper fractions and multiplying and yada yada yada.
She didn't "get" it in class. So I'm trying to explain how you can take the diagonal numbers and make them smaller. She was doing it the HARD way. You know...coming up with huge numbers like 240 over 16. *eye twitch*
So I tell her to bring me a piece of scratch paper, and I'll show her the EASY way. And finally, miraculously, she does it. And smiles the rest of the evening. Because let me tell you, there were tears before that.
That must have been a turning point.
Because last night, the girl had her stuff together. She was ALL OVER her homework. Me=very proud. (And wondering how long this will last.) But we don't think about that, really. We simply embrace the good stuff now. Store up the feeling. So we can eke it out slowly to get through the rest of this school year without coloring our hair AGAIN. *sigh*
Oldest Chicken and Baby Chicken made the honor roll again. WOO!!! Yay!!! Love that.
Only about seven more weeks of school. Baby Chicken has it counted down to the day. *eye roll* I pretend I don't hear the number. It's somehow better that way. pfffffttttttt

And me?
Writing.
For the love of God. I LOVE the cover of Wind Goddess, but it's giving me fits. I dragged my ass home yesterday because I simply could find no other way to get it there. And there are the other stories. I'm thinking about sporadically posting free short stories on my sites. Some way to relieve the creative pressure without giving myself a literary aneurysm.
Grins*

Isn't it gorgeous?!?!?!

********************************************************************************

Wind Goddess Available May 15, 2008 from Whiskey Creek Press:

Sylvia Masters lives her life by numbers. She’s a wedding planner with an ambitious eye and a will to succeed. When Tristan Calhoun hires her to put together his sister’s wedding, sparks fly. He’s a man accustomed to giving orders and being blindly obeyed. Sylvia assures him that she’ll be the one giving orders and blindly obeying isn’t in the plan, either.
Tempest, the Wind Goddess, must guide Sylvia to a happy future to ascend to a higher level. But it’s a tall order when the Wind Goddess finds herself trying to help a woman who is as stubborn as she is.
Three powerful people. A couple who don’t know whether they want to kiss or kill each other. And a massive wedding to plan. It’s going to take a goddess.

****************************************************************************

Crystal*