needs more tea

Manicure Monday: April Medley

I keep meaning to make a new post here, and failing on finding either the time or the energy. In honor of Manicure Monday, though, I figured I’d post a few of my recent ones.

Butter London Two-Fingered Salute. I love this pale jade with a strong copper fleck.

This week’s manicure, a greige ombre. I love all the putty nail polishes, and sometimes the only answer is to wear them all at once!

Bondi Teal Magnolia tips over Butter London Fishwife. I loved this so much I didn’t want to take it off, but alas, it chipped.

Writing updates soon to come, when I can muster the time! In the meantime, I had an eleventh-hour inspiration for a submission call, so I’ll be working on that until I get the first draft wrapped.

Have a great week, all! What’s on your nails? Or if you’re a guy, same goes for you! What would you wear on your nails – or what looks good on your partner?

The Way to Your Heart: Food!

It will be no surprise to anyone who’s followed me for any length of time that food, in particular, is one of my delights and passions.

My entries for “The Way to Your Heart” Blog Hop continue with today’s topic: food!

Tip – don’t forget to check out Less Than Three Press‘s entry, because they have some smashing things to give away!

I love to cook, to eat, and to watch many shows about cooking! I’m always looking for new recipes to try, from the Living section of the newspaper to the blogs that I frequent, or even recipes reblogged on Tumblr.

Today, I ate a clam and asparagus risotto that I made for lunch, and watched Top Chef season 9 while finishing up edits on The Competitive Edge. After work, I made a beef ribeye roast with a merlot-mushroom reduction sauce, broccoli, and oven-roasted potatoes for dinner (and watched more Top Chef).

And tomorrow, we’re going to La Capitale for lunch before I get quite the haircut.

Food was a big part of my life growing up, and it’s become even bigger now that I’m an adult. Sometimes I wonder, if things had been a little different, whether I might have become a chef! I think I have a lot of the qualities that I see in those competitive chefs that I so admire.

My relationship with food has … not exactly changed, but shifted a lot since I joined up with Weight Watchers four years ago. I like to think I’ve entered a permanently healthier relationship with food, and it’s definitely paid off – I’ve lost 55 pounds and counting. I’m still as actively interested in finding new recipes and cooking delicious food. Now, though, it’s important to find a balance within the quantity of food I’m eating in any given day, and making sure to abide by good health guidelines.

The purpose of this entry isn’t to proselytize for any lifestyle or eating habit changes – I’m also a big believer that you have to want to make a change, and be individually responsible for it yourself. Sharing this background is more meant to express how important the shift in my relationship to food has been for me personally.

To sum it up, food is definitely and incontrovertibly one of the ways to my heart!

To celebrate my love for food, I’m offering an ebook copy of my book, A Cut Above the Rest, or your choice of a book from my back catalogue if you already have that, in the format of your choice – html, pdf, mobi, or epub.

And to sign up, all you have to do this time is comment! With a valid email address, please, so that I can contact you. And let me know what you thought about the entry, if you would! Giveaway closes next Friday, April 12th. Good luck, and may your meals be ever tasty and piping hot!

Buy books, save money!

In honor of Sasha’s birthday:

Save 30% on any of your purchases from the Less Than Three Press book market, today only! I’m picking up some I’ve meant to read, there’s been so many exciting releases lately. And don’t forget, you can pick up Appetite: A Cut Above the Rest at a discount if you missed the pre-order price!

Don’t forget, there’s three days left to sign up for Casey K. Cox’s Finding King giveaway.

And if you need some gorgeous reading this week, I’ve read some of the Tea for Two stories and they are, simply put, amazing. You cannot get quality fiction such as this for free anywhere else! Enjoy the stories and leave the ladies some love.

So, what are your plans for the weekend? Partaking of any traditionally Easter activities? Over here, there’s a whole lot of editing going on. I’ve got to get The Competitive Edge edits incorporated and back to the editor, because I’m expecting the hard edit for The More Plausible Evil back any day now. Today, lamb burgers and oven fries; tomorrow, lamb roast and garlic potatoes with green side veg to be determined.

Will you be reading? Spring cleaning? Relaxing? Enjoy it, whatever you do!

Update to this morning’s post

My mistake: I was regrettably on my way out the door when I hurled this morning’s post at my blog in passing, at top speed, and missed a crucial detail.

There is a giveaway for Finding King – comment here and don’t miss your chance to win a copy of this brand-new release!

What can I say? We like to bring you all the swag.

Hope everyone’s having a great week. I’m in the middle of planning a Chicago foodie tour with a friend, we’re going in May and we’re already penning in all the amazing lunches and dinners we’re going to have.

Don’t forget to check out Tea for Two, as well. My choice tonight is Daunt’s “Forest Lovers” blend by Adagio Teas.

Tea for Two makes its debut

Today the Special #8 volume of Shousetsu Bang Bang dropped:

Tea for Two!

How do you take your tea? There’s a fabulous variety to choose from, and that goes for the ladies as well.

Free, quality original fiction is yours for the reading, along with a bonus incentive. My story is among the edition’s tea samplers, under a pen name of course, and the first person to guess my story wins a “cookie” to go with your tea.

That “cookie” is a free original short story, written to your prompt. I retain the right to veto subject matter if it makes me uncomfortable. Drop your comment here or any of my entries when you think you have me spotted.

Go forth and enjoy the lady-love! And don’t forget to slip a little something into the garter on your way out. 😉

Coming Monday: a secret project unveiled

I’ve submitted an original story to an online ‘zine, and it’s going to be published on Monday over at Shousetsu Bang Bang. It’s their “Ladies Special,” where the women hold sway and get it on, and this year’s theme is Tea for Two.

The fun thing about this project is that the stories are published anonymously, under pseudonyms. (I’m so tickled with the one I ended up choosing, and it made the editor laugh.) Only two people know the one I wrote under.

Because the stories are anonymous, part of the fun is guessing which author wrote what. And I’ll be offering a little prize for the first person to guess which story is mine – I’ll write them a short story to a prompt of their choosing, though I get veto rights if it’s something outside my comfort zone.

Get your guessing caps on and be prepared to curl up with Tea for Two!

The Fall Guide is greenlit!

Good news, especially for a Friday!

The Fall Guide has been accepted for publication. I’m so thrilled and happy!

Here’s the summary that accompanied my pitch to the press:

Eric Caville is an established beauty blogger seeking to parlay his expertise and online renown to put out his own line of products. When he experiences failure to launch, a chance meeting with smooth producer Devon Talbot results in help from a most unexpected source. Devon is sexy, insightful, and treats Eric better than his own boyfriend. Eric has difficult choices ahead of him in terms of going back to the drawing board with his business, his love life, and whether either will see him through to next season. Along the way, he has to tackle his pride and overcome past associations before they hold him back from reaching out for what he wants the most.

Stay tuned for release details, but I’d expect a late summer/early autumn publish date on this one. Super, super happy because, of course, it’s my most recent baby.

The other day I was thinking about the story and I actually got somewhat nostalgically teary-eyed, because I loved writing them so much, but I wrapped up the story so neatly that I know I’ll never revisit them in fiction again. I miss them already! And will, until edits come back.

Everyone have a great weekend! I may post photos of my lunch tomorrow because I know one thing in advance: it’s going to be fantastic. Then I get to shop at Whole Foods, after, which is just as much of a treat.

Next week is Appetite Week

One week left to Pre-order A Cut Above the Rest, first in the Appetite series!

In the meantime, I am recuperating from a bad cold but putting things together for next week’s Tour de Foodie in honor of the release. Things to look forward to: a giveaway for a free copy of Appetite, and daily food and Appetite-themed posts with insight into the culinary world and sneak peeks into the chefs’ backgrounds.

Tour schedule:

Monday, March 11, Maderr:
http://maderr.livejournal.com/

Tuesday, March 12, Pants Off Reviews:
http://pantsoffreviews.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, March 13, Babes in Boyland:
http://www.babesinboyland.net/

Thursday, March 14, Joyfully Jay:
http://joyfullyjay.com/

Friday, March 15, The Armchair Reader:
http://coleriann.com/

Saturday, March 16, A.F. Henley:
http://afhenley.wordpress.com

Sunday, March 17, Chaos in the Moonlight:
http://chaosinthemoonlight.blogspot.ca

Mark your calendars and get ready for my next giveaway, going live Sunday night. And make sure to pick up some tasty treats to eat so that your hunger is sated when you’re reading the story.

I need to geek out for a bit … Kristin Kish is the latest Top Chef! She’s only the second female Top Chef, and the first Asian female Top Chef, and I’ve been a fan of her since she was top of her first round, so I’m triply happy that she fought her way back into the competition and won the whole thing. Fantastic work, Chef Kish! This humble fan is extremely happy for you.

For the first time all week, I haven’t had any tea today. Hmph, I think this calls for the “needs more tea” tag.

Back to finishing up entries for the blog hop. The writing’s been going rather poorly this week, I’m sad to say. Maybe once my brain comes back, I’ll be able to catch up over the weekend. There’s a lady-love tale and a deadline to make.

Signal Boost: A History of Sexuality for Romance Writers

Writers, what kind of historical narrative do you know, what have you read or heard, regarding the history of sexuality?

E. E. Ottoman’s inquiring mind would like to know! Take a trip to her blog and lend your thoughts. She’s also looking for questions you may have, topics and points of interest that would be useful for m/m or other GLBTQA romance writers to know.

Check it out, it’s a fascinating topic! I’m going to try to leave my own comment when I can brain properly again.

For now I’m going to cuddle up in a fleece burrito with my kitty water bottle afloat an ocean of tea, because I think I’ve caught The Crud.

Free Fiction; and it’s Manicure Monday!

First order of business: do you enjoy free fiction? This is not a trick question!

Shousetsu Bang Bang vol. 41 has got a deal for you … the latest volume’s theme is hookers and blackjack, all the inventive, incendiary, high stakes fine quality m/m fiction your heart could desire, and best of all?

No cover charge.

Step over and see where you’ll place your bets and enjoy everything the house has to offer.

I’ve been reading the Shousetsu Bang Bang stories for years, and they’ve got a number of talented regular contributors. So if you’re of a mind for some great free reading, there you go! And if m/m is not your cuppa, stay tuned for the f/f special theme edition around the corner.

Manicure Monday

Today I’m wearing Zoya Blaze, one of the lacquers I got from their New Year’s promotion.

It’s a gorgeous berry-red with an almost jelly texture, suffused with holographic micro-glitter that looks like sparkling red embers. I’m hoping the sun will come out some time this week so I can see the holo in all its glory.

And now I’ve given my knee a mild sprain, so I’ll be relaxing for the rest of the evening as I dig into continued edits on Courage Wolf Never Sings the Gorram Blues. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

Talya Andor

Author of QUILTBAG fiction