Alison Kent

UPDATE #5: Houston’s Mayor Rocks! The Astrodome has been filled to capacity. He’s opened the Reliant Center saying:

“We want this exhibition hall open right now,” the mayor said. “If it entails someone suing us, then OK.,” the mayor said. “Then (they can) explain to the American public why.”

Also: Anyone who thinks they may have a friend or loved one sheltered at the Astrodome should address letters by name, with the address General Delivery, Houston, TX 77230.

UPDATE #4: Thank you all for your overwhelming response to the call for items for the upcoming auction to benefit Larissa! As of Thursday night, we’ve closed the donations. You can view the lists of authors /editors /agents /web designers /readers who are donating critiques, books, and other items here. A more detailed list will follow once the auction goes live. Anticipated date is Friday, September 9th. We will continue to accept donations through PayPal by emailing paypaldonations AT alisonkent.com and/or cash/gift cards via the Access Romance Mailbox (Access Romance /Larissa Ione /1795 N. Fry Rd. #263 /Katy, TX 77449-3347) at this time. Again, Larissa and her family are grateful for the generous response, and send their thanks. And we’re equally grateful on their behalf for your timely and enthusiastic response and support.

UPDATE #3 : Harlequin send out a nice email today expressing concern for all it’s affected authors and to let us know they donated to the American Red Cross.

UPDATE #2: A note from Larissa!

UPDATE: Check out ROMAID for a partial list of items to be auctioned! And check out the comments on the last post at Larissa’s blog for heartfelt thank-yous from her mom and mom-in-law. Brought tears to my eyes this morning!

As many of you know, our critique partner / good friend / fellow-blogger, Larissa Ione lives in the area of Gulfport, MS. She is a former Air Force meteorologist, and she knows storms. She left with the kid, the laptop, the cat, the mice, and clothes for two days when Katrina was still a category two storm. Katrina grew, and now Larissa has no home to return to. Her hurricane insurance will not cover all of the loss because the largest part of the destruction was caused by the storm surge. Her son will be moving to Washington state to live with his grandparents so he can start grade school again. She will be handling all the repair / recovery on her own because her husband is required elsewhere. He is Coast Guard, and was stationed in Gulfport. He is now assigned to hurricane search and rescue.

Larissa’s critique partners, me, Emma and Steph, and the blogging group at WriteMinded (Sharon Long, Amy Knupp, and Jan Kenny) are organizing an auction to help out her family in their loss. We anticipate launching the auction on Friday, September 9th and we’re asking for your help.

For authors interested in donating critiques (5 page synopsis - 30 pages manuscript) and / or autographed books, please email either Sharon Long (smlong AT gt.rr.com) or Amy Knupp (aknupp AT sunflower.com) - they’re working together, so don’t worry about duplicates - to have your name listed in this fundraising auction.

If you’re interested in donating anything else for auction, please email stephanie AT stephanietyler.com. For general questions, please email: stephanie AT stephanietyler.com

Other ways to help:
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UPDATE: If you would like to PayPal money for Larissa, you can send to this email: paypaldonations AT alisonkent.com and all funds will be used to purchase cash cards for her.

Stephanie spoke with Larissa again today. It looks like they lost everything. Her area in Mississippi (Gulfport) took a direct hit. She’s just devastated and overwhelmed, hearing reports that her house is totally submerged.

As Larissa’s crit group, Emma, Steph and I have been batting around a few ideas as to what we can do to help her and her family, and we’d like to get things started right away.

For the next two - four weeks she and her family will be in flux, split between states so her son can start school with his grandparents while she salvages what she can once she can get back in, and her husband will be doing hurricane search and rescue (he’s Coast Guard, for those of you who aren’t familiar with Larissa and her family).

She’s not going to be in any one particular physical place to store things, and won’t be for a while. We’re thinking that what she needs right now is immediate help in the way of necessities until any emergency money or insurance kicks in.

Visa/Amex cash cards would be the best, along with gas or WalMart / Target cards. Those would cover groceries and clothes and school supplies and pet food. Home Depot and the like would help in the future with uncovered repair costs. And because she won’t have more than limited internet access, physical rather than e-certificates, would be more practical.

Anything you can do to help would be appreciated. You can use the address below, and we’ll forward anything that comes in to her as a next-day / priority kind of thing, so we make sure nothing gets lost in transit.

Access Romance
Larissa Ione
1795 N. Fry Rd. #263
Katy, TX 77449-3347

The Girlfriends Cyber Circuit presents: CARPE DEMON: ADVENTURES OF A DEMON-HUNTING SOCCER MOM

“This book, as crammed with events as any suburban mom’s calendar, shows you what would happen if Buffy got married and kept her past a secret. It’s a hoot.” — Charlaine Harris, USA Today bestselling author of DEAD TO THE WORLD

Julie Kenner’s Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom is delighting readers this summer! A combination of mommy lit and fantasy, the book has been receiving praise since even before its release when Booksense honored it by selecting CARPE DEMON as one of its Top Ten Summer Paperback Picks for 2005. The book was also selected as a Target “Breakout Book” and has held the Number One slot on Barnes & Noble’s SF/Fantasy trade overall bestseller list for seven weeks (and counting!). CARPE DEMON has also been optioned for film, and is currently in development at Warner Brothers, with 1492 Pictures (Chris Columbus, Harry Potter) producing.

Carpools. Crabgrass. Creatures from the depths of hell. Suburbia has its problems too…

Lots of women put their careers aside once the kids come along. Kate Connor, for instance, hasn’t hunted a demon in ages…

That must be why she missed the one wandering through the pet food aisle of the San Diablo Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, he managed to catch her attention an hour later-when he crashed into the Connor house, intent on killing her.

Now Kate has to clean up the mess in her kitchen, dispose of a dead demon, and pull together a dinner party that will get her husband elected to County Attorney-all without arousing her family’s suspicion. Worse yet, it seems the dead demon didn’t come alone. He was accompanied by a High Demon named Goramesh who, for some unknown reason, intends to kill off the entire population of San Diablo.

It’s time for Kate Connor to go back to work.

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From Stephanie Tyler:

I just spoke with Larissa - she’s safe - had to evacuate farther than she’d anticipated, but she and her son avoided the worst of it. Her husband’s okay too, but he’s on the boat and not with them right now.

Her house? Not so much. She’s heard from neighbors that it’s pretty much underwater right now. Her area’s going to take a very long time to get on its feet again. She won’t even be able to make it back there to assess the damage for another few weeks since most of the highways are flooded and not safe for travel. She’s not sure when she’ll actually be living at home again.

I feel so bad for her. She’s keeping it together, making plans, but as her crit group, Alison, Emma, and I will be planning something to help her and her family out. I’ll let you know when we’ve got more details.

I got up early this morning to write, earlier than usual. The FVT was getting ready for BACK TO SCHOOL - which for her means leaving home at 6:30 a.m. and arriving home at 7:30 p.m. At least on Mondays. She splits work into two shifts and has classes between. (The rest of the week is just as bad; she warned me she’ll be inhuman for the next 2 1/2 years till done.) It’s back to school for the son as well, coming off a summer of algebra and accounting and going into small business and technical math. The middle daughter returns, too, tho I have no idea what she finally registered for. She has one semester left on her AS degree.

Anyhow, I was letting the dog out and I whacked into his water bowl and spilled it everywhere. It’s been raining here, so when he comes back in he tracks muddy prints in the mess I’m cleaning. And I get so frustrated that my day has started out having to muck and mop. And then I stop and think of Larissa, one of my CP’s who lives in Mississippi on the Gulf. And I clean up the mess without another mental word about the aggravation, without another mental grumbling about the dirt the dog has tracked in. Instead, I offer up another prayer for her safety and I get back to work.

If you are an author, published or aspiring, does it inspire you to keep bookshelves around you filled with your keepers and your TBR pile? Does it give you a tangible goal to aim for?

Or do you find it stressful to be constantly reminded of what’s already been done, how narrow the market is, how many publishing slots are already filled with fabulous voices?

(I really do have a reason for asking!)

And, for a really FUN chance to win cool gift certificates, check out the Help Emma Contest!

Lastly, super hugs and prayers to Larissa and everyone in Katrina’s path. I know so many authors in the New Orleans area: Erica Spindler, Metsy Hingle, Sabrina Jeffries . . . more that I can’t even think of. Keep safe!

I’ll be doing one in March for, uh, an RWA chapter who sponsors them. They asked me last year, and I swear I can’t even remember who it is! Bad author! Anyhow, it’s on point of view. And since I’ll need to put it together here in a few months, I got to thinking.

If you were to sign up for writing classes, would you prefer the discussions be held on a message board (like mine) if it’s password protected and not available to the public, or held via a Yahoo Groups list?

Holly Lisle has a great post on her site about the fear of revising a certain book - in her case, Hawkspar. She says:

I’m scared shitless to work on it, because I might not be able to make it good enough.

I read what she said, then read it again. Then read it again. *g* You see, I need to go back to the beginning of DEEP BREATH and revise. And I need to revise because I’m at a point where I don’t remember some of what has come before. And if I don’t get it straightened out, I’ll end up going off on a tangent that will ruin all the work I’ve done thus far and require even MORE revisions, ack! It’s not like I don’t know what I’m doing - I do. I have the scenes in each act plotted out; that’s not the problem. The problem is repetitiveness - have I already gone over that three or four times, or is it all in my head, sigh. Repetitiveness and then thinking I’ve addressed something sufficiently when either I haven’t addressed it at all or have done a piss poor job of making it clear.

Anyhow, in my heart and in my head, this book is wonderful. It’s so good *g* I don’t think I’ll ever do it justice on the page. I guess I’ll just have to trust the muse and move on! Oh, and if I haven’t shared the back copy, here is it. Coming to a bookshelf near you in April 2006!

Hot, suspenseful action. Seriously sexy romance. Alison Kent’s extraordinary SG-5 series delivers a delirious mix of both. Now, the author of Larger Than Life is back with a story of a savvy spy, a determined woman, a mysterious artifact, and a love that breaks all the rules…

When a guy stops at a roadside diner, he expects bad chili, not a hostage situation. But that’s where SG-5 operative Harry van Zandt finds himself when an armed cartel blows through the door. They’re not after him but the woman in the next booth, and their message is clear: she’s got seventy-two hours to locate and deliver a valuable historical document or her brother dies. And if Harry wants to live, he’d better go with her.

Harry has his own undercover mission to finish, but with a trigger-happy band on their tails, it’ll have to wait. Not that he minds helping Georgia McLain. The tough treasure hunter is as smart as she is sexy. She’s also desperate. That artifact could finally clear her late father’s name. She needs Harry if she’s going to double-cross these thugs and keep it for herself, and her gratitude is the kind that could turn a guy’s head. Too bad that document is also of vital importance to the Smithson Group, and Harry’s top-secret mission is to get it before it falls into the wrong hands. Now, the beautiful, infuriating woman he’s starting to fall for could lead him right to what he needs—and what she so desperately wants.

Out on the open road with a price on their heads, two unlikely lovers are caught in a game of secrets, lies, betrayals, and desire, where trust is risky and love is no time to catch your breath…

. . . because once the ceiling was repaired and the bedroom/office ready to be put back together, the dh and I spent two days living in a box city while deciding whether or not to rearrange. I wanted to. He was more practical. I got my way because, well, he’s the best and wants me to have what I need to write. Sigh. How did I get so lucky.

So, a poll.

Does your desk face a wall or a window? Or does your desk face into a room?