My Recent Comments

This is my treat for finishing my new proposal, and while I'm going to sink into paranoid mode and give it one more read before sending it to my agent, it's more or less ready to go -- only took 4 months. LOL Not for Harlequin, so this is my new mainstream attempt. We shall see, but I have been nose to grindstone...

Now, once that is sent, moving on to some new H/S proposals and finishing my Blaze... My sister is back, the family parties/visits/obligations are done, and it took all week, but we've even more or less gotten the life/house stuff done.

So... a breather.

Can't remember all the posts, but I'll just wave to Carrie, and hope all is going well with the job, and big hugs to Ellen, congrats on the new family member! We'll be expecting a new great-niece or nephew in December, we've discovered, so that's fun. My niece is having her first.

Seriously, even watching someone else be pregnant just makes me so glad I'm past all that. I know some people pine for it, but I don't. We're still throwing the adoption thing around, but at the point we actually do something about it we'll probably be 50 and have to adopt a 20 year old... LOL

As for TV, the most recent obsession is Ninja Warrior -- anyone else watch that? Fun. I don't watch Supernatural -- the one paranormal I could never get into. Have been catching up on Ghost Whisperer, and enjoy that. Survivor is done, and we're watching through the second season of BSG on DVD, and it's good, but I don't know if we'll watch past this season, mostly because it would be the only reason we'd keep netflix. Now that the strike is over, regular TV is back, looking forward to summer shows (Monk, The Closer) and I'm almost done with the Veronica Mars DVDs, so I don't know if we want to hold onto the account just for BSG, though I do like watching some of the old GW, but, dh won't watch them, so at the rate I watch them alone (when he's off on trips, etc) it would take me a year...

So...great blogs at Cigars lately, hope you guys are stopping by...

Hugs and smiles where they're needed... I'm happy with this work phase I've been in, but now that I'm back to normal stuff, maybe can allow myself the pleasure of popping in more...

Sam

But what was upsetting? I don't care about spoilers, I would rather avoid an upsetting show...

Sam 

I owe someone a book. :) My summer anthology isn't in yet, but as soon as it is, I'll send out a copy. So, whoever the winner is, just send me an email at samhunter@samanthahunter.com.

Ultimately, I think these girls needed to all acknowledge a lot of luck -- if Jonathan and James had stayed in the game, things could have ended up very differently. They really got lucky there. I had to agree with Eliza that Amanda and all the crying was ridiculous...

I think the next one looks pretty scary -- the last Africa one was tough. I couldn't do it, I don't think... I'll sign up when they do Survivor: New York, LOL.

Sam

He really is the dumbest Survivor ever -- James was hysterical...LOL

Sam

You don't see me, but I needed to try and tag Ronda... Helen Brenna tells me she's been trying to catch you for your Cigars win? Can you email me?

Hugs to all.. back to vacation and writing... all is going well...

Sam

Aiy... glad I checked back.

Anyway, Shelly, thanks! It's a thrill, for sure.

And, in case anyone didn't see my post on the old thread, I am taking a general board hiatus for a while, will be away until I get hold of life and work, but please find me at Cigars and I always enjoy emails. :)

Hugs to all,

Sam 

Kim, that's fantastic!!!! Huge hugs -- I am also midway through KTR, and loving it. Nice work! :)

Rae, you know you can trust us when you're away *G*. I mean, all we do is talk about men's...arms. But it's fun to have you back...

I am having a deer in headlights moment today -- dh is on vacation, which is great, but my routine is blown, work is piling up, and I find myself stressing out -- two books in play, two proposals, and the usual daily stuff, but suddenly I think of all the things that have to be done, both in writing and life and just find I'm freezing and not doing anything the last few days (except buying two bags of chocolate last night)-- not good.

Have to refocus, work when I can, and enjoy him being home, too, and getting things done around here, getting out for a bit, and then family coming down at the end of the week for Dad's b'day... so, the long and short is I may not be around much for a while, until I feel I have things more under control. Have to find some balance and focus, and so please don't forget me if I'm AWOL for a while -- love it when you all come by Cigars, where I have to dole out my internet time, and I'll always respond to email (always feel free to email), but may be taking a bit of a board hiatus...

So, off to it...

Sam

I didn't care much for this last episode... it seemed glued together and choppy, and I didn't really get into it -- the moment with Josef and Beth was the best one (I could be *slightly* biased, I suppose), but even then, I found the whole "you're a danger to Mick" thing overdone. And I didn't buy that Mick walking away from a car hit and run was all that suspicious - weirder things have happened. People have been in really awful car accidents, etc and walked away -- a child fell out of a three story window last week, and was fine -- it was on the news. Is she a vampire? LOL I don't know... it just felt like they were forcing all of this stuff, maybe because they do fear cancelation -- and then they previewed that Mick has a son? Nahhh... I think they might be coming off a little too panicky at the end of the season, shoving everything in there in a bid to get picked back up, but also wrapping up in case they don't...

Sorry to be the wet dishcloth, I just found the epi really disappointing...

S

Good to see you here. :)

Blaze has the extra requirement that the characters begin as people you would like, want to be or want for yourself. Spice, being a journey, means characters might start from a place you would never be.

Love this -- yes, Brenda mentioned this relatability element in her 20 Questions as well. Really like the "journey of the relationship" vs the "journey of the heroine" as well -- I think that's true, though those lines are sometimes blurred in Spice, depening on the book. For instance, in Sarah McCarty's Spice Short, "Letting Go" it's definitely a marriage story, about the relationship as much as the heroine's need to "let go" (IMO, of course). Loved that one...

Weren't we asking a little bit ago about how Desire is different from Blaze? I was just discussing that with my agent, and on a Desire ed's thread in terms of how Desire is different than Presents, and it's really interesting to see how lines/books that seem very similar really aren't...

Sam

Spice is intentionally erotic. There are fewer euphamisms and more frank language. Spice is erotica, I'm pretty sure (Spice Sirens, tell me if I'm wrong). It still has a plot and character development and everything, but the focus is more on what happens in the bed than outside of it.

I had to object on the basis that I don't think Blaze writers shy away from using frank language at all. I also think both Blaze and Spice are "intentionally erotic." If you submit a Blaze that doesn't have a sexy hook and lots of sexual tension, as well as sex, it won't sell.

In fact, Brenda, in her "Twenty Questions" says "Basically, from the time a reader opens a Blaze book, all they should be thinking is...When are they going to do it? And the characters should be fixated on the same thing."

But, she also says "people forget that Blaze is, first and foremost, a romance. A very sexy one, yes, but still a romance at heart."

So, the basic difference is that Blaze is romance, and Spice can be, but doesn't have to be.

In Spice, you can have m/m, f/f, multiple partners, and much more exploration and experimentation sexually, but this doesn't mean Spice is only focused on sex. Spice I have read have had romance, incredibly emotional stories, and a few had happy endings (again, Dirty is my favorite example). They all had resolved the story in satisfying ways, and I tend to think that Spice, like Bombshell, is the heroine's story. Even if there isn't a romantic ending, the heroine has grown or resolved some larger issue by the end that ties up the story.

Like Blaze, Spice can be light, or they can be very dark, come in a lot of different flavors. Obviously size of the book is also a huge difference -- Spice are almost twice the word count.

I really suggest reading widely in the lines/areas you are interested in to know what the pubs require.

Sam