Sylvia Day

Yay!! :cheers: That's so cool! :bounce: I really wanted one of those buttons!! And to get one of your books too? Well, I'm beyond thrilled. :D/ Too fun! Everyone, you can read my second place entry here!

You're not kidding, Linda! :roll: For me, this has been due to the feverish pace I've been keeping trying to get one of my manuscripts edited. :smt024 I'm five pages away from finishing. :cheers: Once I'm done, I have two critiques to do, one for each of my critique partners and then I'll be able to take a deep breath! LOL I can't wait. I have a couple of books that I started and would like to finish. Plus more coming in the mail from Barnes & Noble. :study: What have you been up to? Read any good books lately? Sidonie started a great thread today about historical novels. If you read them, perhaps you'll weigh in your opinion?

You're not kidding! I've had my moments :partyman: , but never, ever have I sung aloud in public and certainly never would I put my voice to a microphone. I can see it clearly, the patrons trampling each other in their haste to leave the room, the screams of horror... *shudder*

Oh, Peter!!! I have the same problem. In a gathering, I hear the name and forget it instantly. #-o Or sometimes, I remember the name, but I'm afraid to say it aloud in case I mixed it up with someone else's. :oops:

I'm in wholehearted agreement with that!!! :protest:

Well, I started thinking about this thread this morning. I mailed my "Golden Opportunity" entry back at the end of May, before I started this thread. I feel like one of those "always a bridesmaid, never a bride", because I always did so well in contests, but never finaled. But this morning I started thinking about the reasons why I became disillusioned with contests, the reasons I started this thread. I found a reason to submit to a contest--comparing mss. I'm surprised that one version finaled and the other one didn't. The mss are almost identical, with a couple of minor tweaks to change it from a story of new lovers to a story of lovers reunited. The agent (mentioned in the link above) felt that I should add "More justification for the instant attraction the hero felt for the heroine." My solution was to give them a past and really, I liked it with the new twist. It added angst for the hero and a poignancy to their moments together. I felt it was a better mss for the change. But the response was so lukewarm. And then contest entries for the original version started to come in and the judges' comments were so encouraging!! :-k Entering both mss was a way for me (at the time, I was without cps) to get some feedback, I never expected to final. I still believe contests are subjective. I still think it's half luck and half talent if you win (I think that's why editors don't put too much stock behind them.) I still think the feedback is not what it should be (but that doesn't go for all judges, I've had a couple who obviously spent hours on my ms and gave it a full critique with notes in the margins and doodles on the page, because they liked the story. They always hear thanks from me for donating their time like that!!!) So, going back to my original post... Am I "done" with contests? I guess I have to retract that. :oops: Not because I finaled in one, but because the contest was in fact very helpful in assissting me with a problem that I had.

I just received word that Almost Too Much is a finalist in the Indiana Romance Writers "Golden Opportunity" Contest!!!! Wish me luck!!! I wrote more details here.

You sing :?: That's awesome!! It's a talent I've always admired. I can't sing a note. Not a one. In fact, I'm absolutely dreadful!! :?

LMAO!!! :)

Ellen, your entire entry was great, but this part of your entry had me ROFLMAO: Great stuff!! I'm dying to see how Alyssa teaches Jude a thing or two.

I recently started a new historical that I'm attempting to add a bit of humor to. The hero, Hugh, Lord Montrose, was a secondary character in Lucien's Gamble and he was kinda funny in that one. So when I made him a hero I had to keep his personality. He's rather a curmudgeon, for all that he's young and hot!! I've been so busy finishing Sapphire's Worth that I've had very little time to work on it, but once I get the first chapter done, I'll send it to my cp's and see if I succeeded. :thumright:

Me first, I guess. :?

Okay. Let's have fun and get to know each other better! I'll post a few questions!! (And we'll all have fun reading them!!) Feel free to add a question to your answers, the more the merrier. Here we go (I picked 7 because that's my favorite number!): 1.) You're a TV or Movie character. Who are you and why? 2.) Favorite Villian. 3.) Trapped with your favorite hottie. Who is he or she? (We've got guys on here too! ) 4.) Favorite All-Time Book and why. 5.) What is your favorite school subject and your least favorite? 6.) What embarasses you the most? 7.) Do you have any nicknames and what are they?

HelenKay, (loved the smiley!!) Ya know... You and I, we both have heroines with "melting chocolate" eyes!! How can we not do well? LOL I loved this: and this: and this: Duncan's thoughts are a riot!! Frankly, I'm eager to read the rest just to see what he's thinking!! Like Ellen, you have a talent for the humorous. I'm striving (er, struggling) for it. Good luck to all of us! Last year multiple contracts were awarded. I can only hope for the same thing this year. :)

Since this is the third book I've purchased by Loretta Chase and the third book of hers that I enjoyed immensely, I have to say that she's moved into the category of "Sylvia's Favorite Authors". I loved Lord of Scoundrels. For some reason I took the word Scoundrel and imagined Rake. Silly me. Because like all of Loretta's book, she refuses to use stereotypical protagonists. Lord Dane, the hero, is written as being ugly. Yep, ugly. Of course the heroine thinks he's to-die-for yummy and I have to say, when he starts speaking love phrases to the heroine in italian lyricism, I think he's yummy too! He's far from being a rake, in fact he's never had sex without paying for it. The heroine, Jessica, doesn't take any of his $hit. In fact, when Dane acts the complete cad and sets out to ruin her reputation, she fights back with a gun and a lawyer. Oh, yeah. I won't give any more away, but let me tell you, it's awesome!

This is supposed to be my "All the Latest" section and yet I haven't been keeping it up to date. :oops: Anyway, I found out on September 5, 2004 that my entry, Stolen Pleasures, is a Lori Foster/Kensington Brava Contest Finalist!!! I'm thrilled and terrified at the same time. Most likely, next time I post in this thread will be to say either, "I won a contract with Brava!" (Oh. My. Gosh!! I'd die!!! :cheers: ) or I'll be saying something like, "It was fun while it lasted." :cry: Wish me luck! :)

Thank you for the support, Jordan!! The stomach butterflies are a novel sensation, but I suppose after a couple of months you would get kinda used to them!! LOL

Hopefully, it won't be long!! I just found out yesterday that I am a Finalist in the Lori Foster/Brava Novella Contest :!: (In addition to the other mss that I'm impatiently waiting to hear word on from the editors!! :oops: ) You can read my finalist entry here. I saw one of the ribbon car magnets the other day and thought of you, Linda!!! :)

LOL You crack me up, Sasha!!

Thanks so much everyone, for being so excited for me!! I'm still a bit shaky. :shaking: Dumbfounded... that's what I am. :shock:

Welcome, Teresa!! If you haven't signed up for the mailing list yet, be sure to do so. Then I'll keep you posted! Yes. I grew up in Orange County, right across the street from Disneyland.

Hey, I love his Christopher Snow books. Do you happen to know if there are more than two? I've been waiting for another one for years! I want to know what's up with Orson and that funky machine with the astronaut!! :study:

Okay, I'm digging the name The Sex Diet and it got me thinking about book titles. Debbie Macomber said, "I noticed titles played an important role. The next one I did, I played on the title. I took two words that I knew were popular--playboy and widow. I named my book The Playboy and the Widow. That was the first time I made the Waldenbooks Romance Best-Seller list." There are books I purchased just because of the title and others where I finished the book and said, "What a great book! Why has it got such a blah title?" For instance, my first ever Suzanne Enoch book was London's Perfect Scoundrel. I bought it for the title and ended up finding a new favorite author. Some of my faves are A Well-Pleasured Lady, The Prince of Pleasure, The Perfect Mistress, Wicked Widow, and The Last Bachelor. I have a ton more, but you get the idea. What are your favorite romance titles :?:

Ooohhh, sounds intriguing... :study:

No, she hasn't yet been deployed. She's been in the service for two years, but both of those years were spent training in Arabic. I haven't seen the yellow ribbon magnets for cars. There are a lot of American flag stickers out here, but no ribbons. That's wonderful that they have something like that! :)