Why Wavyscribe?

The other day a reader and good friend of mine asked me, "So why Wavyscribe?" referring to the screen name I use for AOL and various social sites. I've had readers mention it in passing (some were sure it was an homage to gay romance, as in not straight but "wavy"), but until my friend asked I didn't give much thought that people might actually be curious about it. I'm afraid the truth behind it isn't nearly as exciting as some of my readers seem to believe.

It's all about my hair.

Vanity, thy name is Sara. I took my screen name from my hair. Now, lest you think me a narcissistic creature who loves her hair so much she stands in front of the mirror each night, brush in hand delivering a hundred even strokes like a maiden in a castle tower, um…no. My hair and I, we have a love/hate relationship. I love the fact that I still have hair after all the crap I've done to it over the years; hate the fact that I still can't do a darned thing with it after all the coloring, taunting, taming, and teasing. But that still hasn't answered the question about my screen name, so here goes.

For the first twenty-five years of my life, my hair was straight as a stick. We're talking hair that wouldn't hold a curl if you looped it into a swirl and stapled it there. I spent years sleeping on curlers, hot-rolling it, having it permed (God save us from the spiral perms of the 90s), and using every size curling iron known to man trying to get my hair to hold some kind of wave. The perms would last about a month; the curlers about half an hour. No matter what I tried, my hair was going to be straight and that's all there was to that.

Then, about ten years ago, I noticed the texture of my hair beginning to change. At the time, I chalked it up the stress. I had a one-year-old and a three-year-old. Didn't get much more stressful than that. Soon, though, the texture wasn't all that changed. It seems like overnight (though my doctor assures me it was really a process) my hair curled up like Shirley Temple.

For years I was baffled by the phenomenon. And me being the fickle female that I am, I finally had the curls I thought I'd always wanted and now I couldn't do a thing with them. I live in Alabama--land of the 120% humidity--so no matter what I do, my hair is going to frizz like a poodle in clothes dryer. I've tried blow drying it straight, flat ironing it, and dousing it with every product Sally's Beauty Supply has in their arsenal. The minute I step outside this house it's ringlet city.

Took me some time to get to the bottom of it all, but I now know the change in my hair is a by- product of my MS. Seems no part of your system remains untouched, including your hair. I'm doing so well with the disease (in remission, thank you very much) if this is my only side effect, I'll happily deal. Of course, I still threaten to shave my head at least once a week, and I'm a big fan of the ponytail, but at least I got a fun screen name out of it.

First Ever Reed Contest

About six months ago, I decided it was time to go back to Reed, the setting of my first two books. I was ready to do the third book in the series, I told myself, and despite the time that had passed since I'd written a Reed book, I began my task with a take-no-prisoners attitude and a fire in my belly. I chose Mitch, Ben Lewis's brother from The Way You Say My Name to be my main character and off I went.

I was about four pages in when I realized I just wasn't feeling it.

It happens that way sometimes with writers. We're all gung-ho until we're glued to our chairs staring at the blank page of death. I did some soul searching, worked on some other projects, and finally figured out that while Mitch should and will eventually get a story, the reason I couldn't write for him right now is because it wasn't his time yet. When you're cooking for an ensemble cast like the folks of Reed, sometimes the stories have to simmer on the backburner before they're seasoned enough to taste.

Once I figured it out I felt better but I still had a decision to make: who should I write about next? After going round and round about it in my head, I came to the conclusion the best way to chose would be by letting my readers do the picking. After all, I've kept you all waiting five years for a Reed story. I figure you're due a say.

But readers, they can be shy creatures and some don't like to speak their minds without an incentive. That's where the idea of the first ever Reed Contest comes from. I'll be giving away two signed sets of Reed books to two different winners (a name-in-the-hat drawing kind of deal). From now until September 30th, readers can enter the contest by emailing me with the answer to the following question:

Whose story would you like to see as the next book in The Reed Series:

1) Seth Morris
2) Mitch Harding
3) Randy Nash
4) Ashton Barnes
5) Dexter Carson

Like all contests, there are a few rules. You have to be at least eighteen to enter, you can only enter once, and you have to pick only one answer for it to be a valid entry. Also, you have to live in a place where it's legal to receive spicy gay romances via the mail. Oh, and you can't be allergic to dog hair because I guarantee your books are liable to have a few stray hairs stuck in the pages (I love my dogs but it's fuzz city around this joint).

That's pretty much the gist of the contest. I've already gotten a slew of entries through my yahoo group (Seth's leading but Randy Nash is coming in a strong second). So far it's shaping up to be an interesting contest. Who knew these things were so much fun?

A Year and Seven Days Between Blog Posts? Seriously?

So, I always knew I was something of a procrastinator, but going three hundred and seventy-two days between blog posts is a new record, even for me. I thought about playing it cool, just sliding in a post (this is May, same month and all) and hoping no one would bother looking at the year but then I realized I'm not that slick. I figured a better course of action would be to fess up and tell you where I've been. I had some health and family stuff to deal with--normal, everyday, real world stuff--but I'm back with a vengeance, feeling great, and ready to blog.

So many cool things have happened I don't even know where to start. I suppose the most exciting thing is the formation of Romance Writers of America's first ever GLBT chapter, Rainbow Romance Writers. To say this is a major milestone would be like calling a tarantula a little spider. Total understatement. The best part for me is having the privilege of being in on the ground floor of it all. I'm the vice president, so I get to have both hands in the inner workings of chapter life. Our numbers are multiplying like ambitious little bunnies and I couldn't be happier.

Project wise, I've got several pots on the stove. The print version of my online novel The Way You Say My Name is in the final stages of editing and due out at PD sometime between the end of this month and the first of the next. Some of my readers have wondered what's taking so long with the release. It's probably because I don't brag on them enough that readers don't know this, but those ladies at PD take more care than any small press I've ever seen to make certain every book they publish is as close to perfect as a book can get. I get not one but two editors and two additional read-throughs before any of you ever sees the final product. For a small press, that's a really big deal (in case you couldn't tell, I'm a satisfied author).

Another press I've greatly enjoyed working with is Torquere and I have a couple of projects coming out with them this year. One is a novella in the Here Kitty, Kitty Anthology called "Beckett's Pride" and the other is a Torquere Press Arcana based on the tarot card The Five of Wands. This is my third Arcana piece, and I have to admit I knew nothing about the tarot when I started writing Arcanas. Some of the interpretations are fascinating (I may never look at a tarot card reader the same way again). I don't have a firm release date for either of those but once I do I'll post it here. One of the great things about both these pieces is I get to work with editor extraordinaire Michelle Rhode again. She's fabulous and she gets my quirky, right-brained weirdness. You gotta love that in an editor.

Beyond the contracted pieces, I'm also working on the sequel to my fantasy romance, The Devil's Fire and--I know some of you won't believe this--I'm finally, after five years, working on the third book in The Reed Series. I know. Shocked the daylights outta me, too. Like the first two books in the series, I'll be posting this one free online as a thank you to my readers. Unlike the first two, though, I won't post a word of it until it's completely finished, so you've a bit to wait yet. I'll do my darnedest to make it worth your while.

I've also discovered something I never thought I'd enjoy, and that's tweeting. I'm on Twitter
@ wavyscribe and I'd love to tweet with any of you who happen to be in a tweeting mood. I love the very sound of it. Tweeting. Makes me feel like a canary.

So that's pretty much it from my corner of the universe. What's happening in yours?