Interview with a Hot Biker

I am so excited to share my interview with the smokin' hot bicyclist extraordinaire, Tom Geiger. Tom is the hero in Ride with Me, an original romance by the incomparable Ruthie Knox, about a cross-country bike adventure that takes a detour into unexplored passion. As readers will discover, Ride with Me is NOT about the bike!

I hope you enjoy this sneak peek at Tom's amazing abs personality. 

**Make sure you read all the way to the end to find out how you can win your very own copy of Ride with Me.**

GLM:  Tom, thank you so much for taking the time to join us here at Passions on Paper. I know you're busy with your new bike tour business up in Oregon, and I'm sure things are crazier than usual with all the publicity your story is getting due to Ruthie's book coming out next month.

TG:     Thanks, Gina. Yeah, it's been intense. I never really expected the book to be that, ah, lewd. Probably wouldn't have agreed to it if Ruthie had told me what she had in mind. I figured she was just doing a piece for some bike magazine.

GLM:  Believe me, we're all extremely glad for your ignorance. RIDE WITH ME is as hot as they come! I should know. I've read it several times already, and I'm sure those won't be the last. There's just something about all that hot tent sex...[fans face & clears throat] But I'm getting ahead of myself. In the beginning, your relationship with Lexie didn't start out with much heat, did it?

TG:      No, and that was my fault. I was pretty much a dick to her. She didn't talk to me for three days. [Tom smiles.] Stubborn woman. She came around, though. I just had to apply some heat.

GLM:  Speaking of heat, my favorite scene in the whole book is the hot sauce contest, which Lexie instigates in an attempt to win the days-long silent treatment war. What was going through your head when you figured out what she was doing?

Wee-Bit Wednesday: Eye Orgasm Edition

Last week's Calendar Guy Edition showed us Ava's first impression on our surly mechanic, Gabriel. This next bit is after Ava agrees to sweep the shop floor in exchange for Gabriel's services (not those kinds of services, get your minds out of the gutter!).  I hope you enjoy this brief look at Ava's personality. I have so much fun with her; she's an absolute blast to watch as she drive's Gabriel nuts. (P.S. This is perhaps a bit more than a "wee-bit," but I couldn't bring myself to cut off Ava's mini-interrogation. Sorry!)

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Ava grabbed a seat on the cushioned stool in front of the tool chest near Gabriel and took advantage of his distracted state to study him. He must be out here alone, she thought. It had taken her probably an hour to sweep the entire shop and no one had come around that entire time to see if he was thirsty or hungry or just to say hey. Unless he did have someone, like a girlfriend or wife, who worked in a nearby town somewhere. She canted her head to the side and tried to picture what the girl might be like, but came up with nothing. He just didn’t seem the type to be open with anyone enough to be in a relationship. Of any kind. Standoffish was probably his middle name. She chuckled aloud at that one. Gabriel Standoffish…

“What’s your last name?” she yelled over the music. He didn’t even flinch in acknowledgement. Ava rolled her eyes and hopped off the stool. She loved Metallica—their collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra on their S&M album was nothing short of genius—but listening to it at twenty decibels wasn’t conducive for conversation. And Ava was a conversationalist by nature.
Reaching the stereo on the back wall, she turned the dial sharply to the left, instantly taking the metal band down to the same volume level as elevator music before making her way back to her stool.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to touch a man’s stereo?” he grumbled as he worked to tighten a hose.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s impolite not to answer a lady when she asks you a question?”

At that, Gabriel turned only his head to give her a slow once-over before returning to his current task. “When I find a lady, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

He meant it to sound rude, but Ava heard the slight tilt of a grin framing his words, so it didn’t have the affect he was going for. “I asked you what your last name is.”

“No last name.”

“Who are you, Cher? Of course you have a last name.”

Authors Gone Wild! (wherein they act like boobs instead of flashing them)

By now I'm sure most of you have seen at least a few examples of Authors Behaving Badly in regards to reviews they've found to be less than favorable. No? Well, here's the worst example I've seen. And if that isn't enough for you, simply Google "authors behaving badly" and you can spend days getting lost in the muckety-muck.

I haven't gotten too wrapped up in this whole blowup, but it seems like it's turned into an Interwebz Civil War...only without any civility whatsoever. Authors and Reviewers are choosing sides, sometimes pitting friend against friend, as everyone weighs in--rather heavily--on the subject of authors and reviewers mixing it up.

Everyone has the right to speak their piece. That's a given. In an ideal world, people would take others' feelings into consideration and refrain from being total jagdishes. Unfortunately, our precious world is far from ideal and there are a lot of assholes out there who couldn't give a damn about anyone's feelings. Such is life.

My author friend, Jessa Slade, wrote a post about this whole debacle and used a great analogy, comparing authors and reviewers to unwed parents. I like that analogy, especially since authors are wont to view their stories as their "precious babies."

So, following that line of thinking, I believe the parents in Jessa's analogy should stay far away from one another. You know, all that "and never the twain shall meet" kind of thing. Authors should view it as having a restraining order against them once someone has reviewed their book. At most, a polite nod from across the street to acknowledge the reviewer's presence would be appropriate. And that's even if the review is wonderful! Just like you don't want to hurt your image by bashing the reviewer if they found your book to be less than cookie-dough-wonderful, I think it would seem just as unprofessional to publicly gush your appreciation for a glowing review.

This recent 'splosion of shite is a perfect example of a few bad apples spoiling the whole bunch (here's a Goodreads shelf listing a whole bushel of those bad apples). But with the internet's permanency and lightning-quick ability to make anything viral in a matter of minutes, the spoilage spreads faster and farther than ever before.

The best we can do as authors is write a book to the best of our ability. But once we hand it off to the masses, we can't control how they'll receive it. Hopefully they'll love it, but not everyone will. It's an absolute and unequivocal certainty.

Authors, do yourself a favor, and stop the review-stalking madness. If you must say anything at all, please leave it at, "Thank you for your time," and then go write another book.

Ciao, bellas!

Wee-Bit Wednesday: Calendar Guy Edition

Hooray for my first Wee-Bit Wednesday of 2012! Now that I'm working on the third book in the Prophecy of Souls trilogy, SOUL SEDUCTION, all of my WBWs for the next couple of months will be from this one. (BTW, yes, I realize I haven't written the second one yet, but #2 isn't being nearly as cooperative as #3 so I have to go with the flow.)

In the first WBW I did for SS (if you didn't see it, you can find it here) we're introduced to the hero, Gabriel, and his German shepherd, Czar, as they watch a woman walk toward them on the lonely stretch of desert road.

In this edition we switch to said woman's point of view as she gets her first good look at the handsome, if not a little surly, shop mechanic who's agreed to help her.

For those who love a good visual, Ava is modeled physically after the Latin pop-star, Shakira.

Playing our calendar boy in this clip is, Gabriel, also known in real life as model Marco Dapper. (Go HERE for more pics and stats of Gabriel...you can thank me later)

Aaaaaaaaand, ACTION!

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He grabbed a gallon of antifreeze from his meager stock and repeated, “Name’s Gabriel. Not Gabe.”

Ava smirked at his back and decided to ignore his surly attitude. As he walked over to the counter in the back corner, she followed and took another moment to admire him. His black hair was a few months overdue for a cut, the ends brushing his eyebrows that arched perfectly over the most killer aqua eyes she’d ever seen. A white cigarette peeked from behind his right ear, but oddly enough, she couldn’t smell the stale stench of smoked tobacco, nor had she noticed any butts lying around. He had to be almost six-and-a-half feet tall with the body of a Navy SEAL in his prime. Wearing nothing but biker boots, faded jeans, a leather cuff on his right wrist, and a grease-smudged wife-beater, the man was calendar material from head to toe. All he needed was a bucket of soapy water to pour over his body, which her vivid imagination happily supplied.

“That’ll be thirty-five dollars.”

The mention of money killed her calendar fantasy and breathed new life into the reality of her situation. “I don’t mean to look a gift mechanic in the mouth, Gabe, but how in the hell do you get off selling a gallon of antifreeze for thirty-five bucks?”

“Antifreeze is fifteen. The ride to your truck is twenty.”

“What?” she cried. “That’s outrageous!”

He shrugged one large shoulder. “That’s business.”

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Isn't he adorable, folks? Okay, well, "adorable" probably isn't the best word, but you know what I mean. Thanks for stopping by and make sure you tune in next Wednesday when Ava tries to con Gabriel and it backfires on her, big time. ;)

Ciao, bellas!

Top Ten Reasons I Suck at Blogging (Part Deux)

I realized this morning that I should probably get a post up on the ol' blog. I mean, we're already over a week into 2012 and I don't have anything ringing in the new year or saying farewell to the old one. (Although, last month I already posted my predictions for what will happen to me in 2012, which should sort of count.)

Out of sheer laziness, I started checking out my archives, seeing if there's anything in there I could re-post and give new life to. In my quest, I came upon this post wherein I state all the reasons I suck at blogging (with only a little over half of them being actually true). It was then I realized, "Man, I still suck at blogging!" However, the reasons from my first list no longer apply.

So, in the spirit of being honest, I thought I'd rattle off a quick list of CURRENT reasons I suck at blogging, avec pictures. And those reasons are...*drumroll*

10. The last several months I've been spending an inordinate amount of time cutting, revising, rewriting, and tightening my first novel, DESIRES OF THE SOUL, in preparation for my agent query campaign. But the hard work paid off because as of last week, I'm finally done with it. It's now as good as I can get it until I'm lucky enough for an agent or editor to rip it to shreds--er, I mean, gently offer new suggestions--to make it even better.

9. I've been dedicating three hours every day to training my cats, Tigger and Hooch, to do circus-type tricks for a street act as a lucrative side business on the weekends. I saw a guy do it in the Florida Keys so I know it's possible, but they don't seem to be catching on as quickly as I'd hoped. I'm sure it'll be any day now, though.

8. At the end of January my family is moving from our current location in Pittsburgh, PA to San Antonio, TX and there are a lot of details to iron out in a cross-country move, including a week-long trip to San An for fun and house hunting. This is our second big move--the first being from our home state of WI to PA two and a half years ago. This should be our last move though and I'm so excited to finally be able to put down some roots! Sadly, I think romance novels may have skewed my image of the Deep South, because no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find anyone who looked like this guy. More's the pity.




7. Poodle Painting is one of my new favorite hobbies. Obnoxious you say? Why, yes...yes, it is. 

6. After hoping and wishing for over a year, I finally got a NOOK Color for Christmas (thanks hubby!) and proceeded to download and read an obscene amount of books and novellas, forsaking all other things such as writing, blogging, tweeting, and showering.

5. Wanting to do my part in the world to help understand new species, I traveled to Australia as a part of a group who studied the new species of Kangaroo, called the Lazy Kangy. Unlike typical Kangaroos, these adorable creatures are content lazing in the sun, striking Playboy-esque poses to attract their potential mates.




4. I wasted a good two weeks stalking my inbox waiting for an email telling me how I placed in the RCRW Golden Rose contest.  I was so ecstatic when the email finally came and I learned I'd placed first in the Contemporary Series category and the agent judge requested a full from me. My first real contest was a complete success!


3. I was acting as a CP and Beta for a couple of good friends. I take that job very seriously and make sure to give them as much feedback as possible. It takes a long time, but what we both get out of the experience is worth it. Not to mention the gift of reciprocity when it's my turn who needs them.




2. I'm a HUGE Transformers fan, so when I spotted THE Bumblebee in the parking lot of the movie theater, I had to stop and schmooze with him. I acted like a total bumbling fool, but he was very sweet and grounded. He let me take this picture of him and we've been pen pals ever since. Come on, if you could be friends with an Autobot, wouldn't you?






And the number one reason I still suck at blogging is...


1. Honestly, I just don't think of it! I don't have near the audience I used to before I went off-grid for a while, so I no longer feel that sense of urgency to put up fresh content. I know, it's a crappy reason. But I just said I had ten of them, not that they were all good ones (or even real, for that matter).


So one of my goals this year is to post once a week. I think that's a reasonable expectation of myself. And because I have a different audience now than I did when I started, perhaps I'll revive an archived post once a month too. Oh, and because I'll be working on writing the sequels to DotS this year, I should have plenty of content to bring back Wee-Bit Wednesdays. Those don't take any time at all. Just a quick copy and paste of a snippet, and voila!

Feel free to berate me if I don't stick to the plan. I respond well to peer pressure. :)

Ciao, bellas!