FAREWELL, MY DEAR FRIENDS AT RB4U!

This isn’t a permanent good-bye, but a fond adieu, a farewell to the highly-esteemed fellow authors, the Gold Twenty, and everyone else I’ve had the pleasure of meeting here over the years! I’ve been a member for over three years and they have been some of the best conversations and informative information I’ve been part of. So, thank you one and all. I’ll make this short and sweet because I hate long good-byes.

The decision to leave wasn’t easy and has weighed heavy on my mind for several months. Changes have been abound, both personally and professionally. Working on my writing career, keeping house, and trying to get sleep in sometime, I ended up in the hospital last fall/winter. I knew something had to give when I was editing a final galley while in the hospital bed and in-between tests. On top of dealing with that, my husband and I decided to go Indie with our books after attending several conferences the last two months where other authors encouraged us to go out on our own. Since, Mike has received back his rights to almost all his books and I’ve been working more for him than me. I also write under two different names, so I have contract commitments to those titles and I feel like I’m losing focus.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining, but I needed to make cuts somewhere. Again, my sleep and health are more important. I can’t write when I’m laid up sick. With sadness, RB4U was on my cut list. I’m still here, just not in the same capacity. This group has given me so much and though I won’t have a monthly post on RB4U, I will still be around, stopping in to comment. I’ve met wonderfully talented artists, interviewed other authors (recently Kerrelyn Sparks and Lisa Renee Jones), participated in fun contests, and as I said at the beginning, some of the most knowledgeable and highly-esteemed authors I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. Thank you—Marianne Stephens, Rose Anderson, Paris Brandon, Molly Daniels, Tina Donahue, Desiree Holt, Gemma Juliana, Melissa Keir, Fran Lee, Sandra K. Marshall, Cara Marsi, Polly McCrillis, Nicole Morgan, Cindy Spencer Pape, Suzanne Rock, Janice Seagraves, R. Ann Siracusa, Jean Hart Stewart, Bobbye Terry, Renee Vincent.

Hugs and Kisses to everyone! I’ll miss being part of this great team.

Cynthia Arsuaga
Erotic Romance Author

http://cynthiaarsuaga.weebly.com
http://romanticwordsbycynthia.blogspot.com

IT’S HUMP DAY!!! AND APRIL!!! AND SPRING!!!

Hello and Happy April Everyone! 

The month is the time to refresh, reclaim, refine. A third into the year, and I’m ready for Spring, and Easter, baseball season, paying taxes well maybe not paying taxes, and cleaning the house by airing it out. I’m ready to put the cold Winter behind me and look forward to the coming year. Since I just returned from Atlanta for a book signing along with about 125+ other authors, I met new authors, readers and reacquainted with fellow authors, I felt it was time to experience a personal cleaning out renewal. What about you?

For 2014, I’m planning on doing a lot of cleaning out and not necessarily my house. I mean cleaning up everything when it comes to writing. My laptop needs to clean those files out I’ve been collecting over the past couple of years. I have so many works in progress that I’m not sure if I’ll ever get them finished. I have a few edits coming up soon, a few more book signings to prepare for and two more books to write in a series. Spring is a time for renewal and I think I’ll look at this time as a way to renew my vision, my mission, for my writing career. A time to reassess my goals and look at my writing as a business and not a hobby, like something I do to occupy my time if the Internal Revenue man thinks of it that way.

I’ve taken classes, I’ve read a lot of blogs and articles by those successful in the business, and I’ve talked with other authors who have been where I am now. I have all the tools, but I haven’t instituted many of them. I think the problem is just doing it. Collecting is a good thing, for art and jewelry, but I have to do more. This industry seems to be on a fast-track of change. It’s evolving almost on a daily basis and it takes a lot of effort to keep up with all these changes. I hope I’m up for the challenge because I’m really getting too old for too many fast shifts.

Like what’s up with social networking lately? Has anyone else noticed the lack of participation on Yahoo Groups, or Facebook and forget Twitter. I’ve tried to do that and pretty much gave up. Is there a new social networking channel and I didn’t get the memo yet? Not sure if I’m techie enough to keep up. Maybe I’ll solicit for a personal assistant someday. Hmm.

Okay, enough for this month. I’d be interested to hear what everyone does for during this time of year. Do you reassess, renew and clean out?

As a heads up, I’ll be interviewing Lisa Renee Jones on April 7! Please make a point of stopping by. Oh and in May, I have Kerrelyn Sparks. Can I say, BIG fan girl here? So excited!!! Okay, I’m off to write into the wee hours.

Until next month,

Cynthia Arsuaga

Erotic Romance Author

http://romanticwordsbycynthia.blogspot.com

AM I A FOOL?

“To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself.” ~ Anne Rice

Yep, I'm in the back on the left. Ms. Rice in the front.

I’ve had the honor and pleasure of meeting Ms. Rice a few months ago, sat down and spoke with her and those words are rather appropriate for me. We spoke during the long weekend event several times. So very cool! Made the entire trip worthwhile. Oh, and met her son Christopher (also an author) as well.

Perhaps others who read this post today will feel the same way about what she said about writing.

As writers, we encounter a varying amount of praise to criticism, great reviews to comments bordering on bullying, or success to failure with sales. I don’t know about other authors, but my stories are my babies for the time I’m writing them. A while back, I had to learn to let them go and move on to the next one and not get too attached to them. But darn! There are some characters I’ll defend and love to the end, and have a hard time letting them go. If I have to make a fool out of myself keeping them around, so be it.

I think any creative hobby or profession is always a risk. Heck! Life is a risk every day, but add to the equation putting something out for public consumption is scary stuff. Take making a sale out of the picture for this discussion, and you’re still left with anyone like what I’ve written? How about the plot? Is it original? Do the characters pop off the page—have depth and are they likeable? Or do we just say screw it, I’m writing for what I like and if I never sell a single copy, and I’m okay with that?

I’ve been a published author for three years and in this time I’ve not only evolved in my writing but I’ve also noticed an evolution in the romance genre. I’m mean look at what Ms. Rice did back in the 70’s with her writing. Vampires have evolved from her Lestat. And look at E.L. James. Despite what anyone thinks of the famous, insanely popular trilogy, she did bring the idea of the BDSM lifestyle more into mainstream. She’d been bashed for writing the story as fan fiction and she still persevered and probably felt like a fool for dealing with the criticism along the way, but she’s smiling now. All the way to the bank.

I plan to keep making a fool of myself.

Here’s a snippet from my latest foolish attempt at writing, The Misadventures of Dick Grewcock. Enjoy and I’ll see you next month.

BUY LINK

Dick never realized becoming a vampire would be such a depressing let down. Before making the choice, he read all the books concerning the transformation process, what happened before, during, and after. He watched movies, some of the worst and best. The decision came easy. The difficult part required finding the perfect sire. From everything he’d learned on the subject, for optimum results of an undead after-life, one had to select an experienced and ancient vampire. Their blood was evidently purer. The biggest problem he faced had been where the hell did he find one?

The Internet? Word of mouth? No. An old, dark castle? Forget that one. Florida is fresh out of dank and dreary medieval manors. Surprisingly, he did locate a bona fide vampire. At least the advertisement suggested the existence of one. Andreaus Vladimirescu, the owner of Vamps ‘R Us, Dick later learned, believed in branding his company. Even the VRU emblem plastered on the wall entering the lobby was used on all marketing materials. Dick assumed discretion was the moniker for the vamp community, but how wrong his presumption turned out. Of all places to look, Dick found the elder vamp through the Yellow Pages six months ago. At first he thought the ad nothing more than a possible Goth cult-like nonsensical scam, but soon learned otherwise after he met Master Vlad. So began the journey to the dark side. After exhaustive weeks of preparation, the deed was done and led him to tonight’s visit.

The walk down the long hallway brought back memories of the first visit to meet Master Vlad. Dick remembered the high anxiety he experienced, the anticipation of finally getting what he coveted—becoming a sexy, young-looking thirty-two year old, virile and immortal vampire. With the trip tonight, the euphoric mood faded and in its place, anger.

With a deep breath to calm his nerves before crossing the threshold of the private office, Dick’s heart sped up, thumping hard against his ribs. Thank goodness he ate before arriving, or his legs would have given out. The tall, female assistant closed the door behind him.

“Mister Grewcock, how are you this evening?” The six foot plus, pasty male vampire asked. Vlad stood in front of the mini-bar, holding a decanter. “Care for some? It’s fresh.” He grinned and poured a glass of blood.

“No, thanks. We need to talk.” Dick’s voice sounded edgy to his own ears. Actually, irritation with a bit of anger described his tone. He had to keep composure or else he knew the older vampire could vanquish him as easily as he had turned him. Dick wanted his old life back, not have his existence wiped off the face of the Earth.

“Of course, Mister Grewcock. Please have a seat and make yourself comfortable.”

Dick sat in a chair positioned askew at the corner of the massive, cherry wood desk. Upon sinking down, way down, quite a bit lower than the piece of furniture in front of him. The position put him a couple inches off the floor. The Shaq couldn’t tower over Vlad sitting in this chair. Perhaps his imagination played tricks on him again. Lately his senses acted out of whack, misfiring at the oddest moments, another reason for his visit to Master Vlad, as the ancient vamp preferred to be addressed.

Sucking in a deep breath before speaking, Dick’s voice squeaked. “I want my money back along with my life, the old human one.” He stumbled over a few of his words while keeping his eyes lowered. Speaking this way was so out of his comfort zone. He peeked up sheepishly and caught the ancient one staring.

Cynthia Arsuaga

  Erotic Romance Author

http://romanticwordsbycynthia.blogspot.com

HAPPY GROUND HOG DAY and SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

OMG! It’s Ground Hog Day! Since I’m writing this blog the day before, I’m not sure if the little bugger will see his shadow or not. All I want is for this cold winter to be over as soon as possible. The weather around the entire country has been crazy. I’m in Florida, and we’ve been freezing for a few days to a week then back to 80’s then back again to cold. I’ll be surprised if my family gets through this season without being very sick. I moved to Florida to escape the long winters and cold ten years ago, and I can’t imagine what everyone else is going through.

Now all the hoopla about this day will be lost with today also being Super Bowl Sunday! Those poor teams having to play in the freezing cold makes me shiver thinking about them. Burrrr! I guess that’s why they get paid the big bucks. Shhh! Don’t tell my husband, but I only watch for the commercials. I’ll fix the appropriate football watching goodies like chili with cornbread, a vegetable tray, cheese and crackers, and onion dip with chips. Oh and bring on the beer! Yep, I’ll be cuddled on the sofa watching those players freeze their b—

Okay, I’ll keep it clean. Anyway, I’ll keep this short today because I’m sure everyone is more interested in watching the game than reading my post.

For anyone who is reading this, I’ll leave a little snippet from my silly little vampire story about The Misadventures of Dick Grewcock.

 

click cover

EXCERPT:

“Now, now, Dick, bear up. We’re still friends, right? If you are uncomfortable, call me Vlad or Andreaus. I’d even be okay with Andy. Sounds more modern. I can accept any of those salutations. Depends on my mood. Actually, I think Master Vlad still reflects the real me—more in control, dominant, a manly vampire’s name.” Vlad’s voice deepened the more he spoke.

“Oh whatever. I’ll call you Vlad.” Dick softly harrumphed and slumped in the chair. “My complaint. Can we discuss me now?”

“Yes, of course.” The Master rustled through a few pieces of paper. “Let’s see, the paperwork states you transitioned on Halloween night. Everything proceeded without a hitch.” He glanced up from the papers, then continued, “A glorious night All Hallows Eve. I love the holiday. A majority of humans assume the identities of creatures of the night. At least they think they are.” He chuckled, flicking his hands in the air a few times. “Such revelry and debauchery. Yes, I believe Halloween is my favorite time of the year.”

“Excuse me, but we’re a little off subject again. Can we talk about my problems, please?”

“Oh yes, sorry. I get carried away sometimes. Where was I? Oh yes, tell me what aspects of your new life are you having difficulties with, Dick.”

“How ‘bout I start with this?” Dick closed his eyes, tensed his body, opened his mouth, and fangs dropped down. They were over an inch in length, and he stretched his lips wide to accommodate the size. The tips barely punctured his lower lip, drawing a small amount of blood. “Ouch.”

“Oh my, what big teeth we have, grandma.”

“That’s not thunny. I canth talk wight. These dan teets get in the way. I sound like a horon. I has to oken eye outh so wide each tine, eye jaw hurts like health. I ite eye ottom lis erery tine.”

“Hmm, I understand, sort of.” Master Vlad waved his hand in the air and said, “I can have this little problem fixed in no time. Really, this is not a big deal. I’ll set you up with the corporate dentist, and he can repair the minor inconvenience you’re having.” He jotted something down on paper and returned attention back to Dick. “Why don’t you retract your teeth so I can understand you better? With the dental problem resolved, what else is bothering you, Dick?”

In a blur, the fangs retracted into his gums. He reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out the VRU pamphlet. “Okay, it says here, ‘becoming a vampire is an opportunity to develop into a better you in every way. You stop aging and gain enhanced looks.” He winked. “You become one of the Beautiful People.” Dick glanced up from the pamphlet and stared at his sire. “Hello? Look at me. What the hell are these red circles around my eyes? And what’s up with the pasty-white color over my entire body? I resemble one of those Kabuki actors on his last leg. I’m fairly certain no kimono or red lipstick will help.”

“Oh, Dick, don’t be silly. You’re a good-looking vampire, and you should try Blood Red by Maybelline. The long-lasting blend which lasts all night is what I find works best. Doesn’t smudge or rub off when you bite hard. I have the same shade on tonight.” He smacked his lips. “By the way, speaking of actors, can you sing and dance? If so, I got a memo today from one of my clients looking to hire at both Disney World and Universal Studios, a great opportunity.” He leaned over the wooden desk and lowered his voice. “You know when you work for either company, you get discounts. Oh, such fun. I’m a little kid all over again when I visit the parks. I especially enjoy the fireworks display during special events or the electric parade. Have you been to their night shows yet?”

Dick rolled his eyes. “Uh, no. Can we get back on subject here?”

“Oh sorry, I get excited about amusement parks. Okay, where were we? Oh yes, your pasty-colored skin. Are you feeding enough on whole blood, and not the synthetic shit blood pushers sell on the corner streets?”

“Yeah, I followed the protocol, exactly as you said in the manual and even have a couple bottles of the blood soda to supplement, but I still look like death warmed over. I’m not the virile, good-looking stud the literature promises. This guy here in the company’s pamphlet is handsome and built. Do I look anything resembling him? No!” Dick held up the brochure and pointed to a picture on the cover.

“Seriously, Dick? Xavier is a professional actor for all our promotional ads. Yes, he’s a vampire, but he was a top model before he turned. Of course, he’s going to remain the handsome, gorgeous man he was in human form. Considering your interest in being a lawyer, I’m surprised you didn’t read the small print. Dick, Dick, Dick, the first rule of contractual law—Read the small print.” Vlad’s voice raised an octave.

“What? You’re lecturing me. What is this caveat emptor lessons? False advertising, that’s what this is, and no amount of buyer beware posting flushes in my toilet. How many other suckers did you rip off? I should report you to the Better Business Bureau.”

“Suckers? Oh real funny. Good one.” The Master leaned back in his chair and held his stomach, laughing almost hysterically. He stopped and took on a serious expression. “Seriously. Now calm down. There’s no need for threats. Xavier is the exception to the rule for handsome vampires, and you on the other hand, well, shall we say, had a few imperfections. Turning vamp doesn’t change your features entirely. They’re enhanced perhaps, but not altered to be any way you want or what you assumed they’d be after you turned. Now, let’s see if we can come up with an acceptable remedy. What do you think?”

“Possible, I guess.” He sheepishly lowered his head. The meeting quickly shifted from his favor. Woo hoo. Score one for Master Vlad.

“I can’t believe you are so displeased, Dick. You are the first man to ever complain about being vampire. I’m sorry. Not true, there was a teensy, weensy village in Romania a few hundred years ago. Men and women complained, but the incident happened a long time ago. They eventually got over their melodramatic moods. I—”

“Vlad, my situation, please?”

“Fine. You don’t have to be so huffy. I wanted to explain you aren’t the first to file a complaint. I changed my company policy after the slight medieval uprising. I guarantee all my transformations now. I’m of the Old World and am an honorable man. To make you happy, I will put you in contact with Doctor Aaron Bowman, our cosmetic surgeon on retainer. He can do a nip here and a tuck there, and you’ll be a new man. Will you be delighted with our services then?”

“I’m supposed to trust a vampire physician to cut on me while I’m unconscious? Are you serious? No, I don’t think surgery is for me.”

“Hmm, let me suggest an alternative medicine then. Perhaps the natural herbs and elixirs you can add to your blood supply will help enhance certain features. I’ll give you the address of the store. It’s at the corner of Mills and Colonial. Not hard to find.”

Until next month,

Cynthia Arsuaga

http://cynthiaarsuaga.weebly.com
http://romanticwordsbycynthia.blogspot.com
Erotic Romance Author