Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Hello friends! I hope you are having a happy holiday, or if you don't celebrate one at the moment, then a deliciously relaxing vacation full of people you love and good food and good reads.



Above: a not very impressive picture of our tree! Mr. Crane and I have had an unusual holiday - a quiet and romantic Christmas. Almost every year we visit Wisconsin, home of the extended Crane family with my awesome mom and sisters and BILs and kids, but this year we stayed home for a change. We've both been frazzled.



Lots of ornaments from each of our childhoods came out of boxes. Several had to be immediately repaired, including a number of these diorama ornaments my sisters and mom and I made years ago out of cookie cutters and tiny figurines. They are my favorite ornaments. The one above was Heidi with a deer. There were some other very falling apart ornaments - glass and bits of metal -  that couldn't be repaired, but Mr. Crane has very strong feelings about Christmas: he feels all ornaments must be put on the tree, because if not now, when? Or else thrown out. So there are a few very questionable ornaments on the tree.


It's fun to have a tree and pull out those old ornaments, though holidays tend to make me miss my dad, who passed away three and a half years ago. And seeing those old ornaments!! I think many of you know how that can be around the holidays. I am with you, sisters and brothers!




I wanted to put a cat up on top of the tree, as that would more accurately symbolize the hierarchy here at the Crane home, but that didn't happen...only because there wasn't one to put there. And of course, as I mentioned in a previous post, there was the coating of the lower branches with tabasco to discourage cats eating the tree. I ran this picture before, but it's one of my favorite Mr. Crane pictures, because he is so annoyed. 



We had the kind of self-indulgent Christmas only two writers and their cats can have, giving each other books and notebooks and things like that, and then sitting with the cats and reading with candlelight and the tree. And eating coconut soup and chocolate. Here is one of the gifts I got from Mr. Crane: a pre-order of Lothaire! I love this cover Mr. Crane drew. I think it pretty much sums up what he thinks the book will be about!




Oh, I have to put this up, too: something a facebook friend found. It's a magnet. I may have to grab one for a prize at some point. Thanks RT!!

Anyway, happy holidays, friends! I appreciate you from the bottom of my heart.  I hope you feel happy today.  ♡

Friday, December 23, 2011

Even the Omega deserves holiday cheer...not!

Oh, my goodness gracious!

Gumby and Pokey, who make a brief appearance in my trilogy, are at Katiebabs spreading holiday cheer to the Black Dagger Brothers, Lothaire, and even the Omega and Dragos!

I don't know what really more to say about this post...except I may have been on Christmas burn-out at the time.

And Katiebabs has added some insanity of her own! lol Come say hi!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Talking Fight Scenes at WLP + there's a new Xmas tradition at Casa Crane

An annoyed Mr. Crane carries out our new holiday
tradition: the coating of the tree with tabasco sauce.
Hey all! First off, don't fall off your chair, but I'm guest posting somewhere where I actually talk about writing. At the fabulous Wicked Little Pixie!!

Actually, I'm talking about fight scenes, my approach to them, and a shocking UFC fight that inspired an important fight scene in Head Rush. And there's a video clip!

Do stop by!! You could even win Head Rush!

It's all part of the mondo celebration, 13 Wicked Days of Xmas at Wicked Pixie, a time of year full of author visits, prizes and snark and mayhem - don't miss a day! Yesterday was Thea Harrison!

In other news...
We got our Christmas tree yesterday! We were so excited to decorate it. We haven't had a Christmas tree in years, because we're always traveling to Wisconsin to see the family. Anyway, the minute we got it in the door, our super naughty cat Oblio started chowing on it.

I immediately went to the computer to see if pine was toxic to cats, and guess what? It totally is.

What naughty boy chewed on
the new Christmas tree? 
So, to the upper right  you see Mr. Crane, pictured carrying out our new Xmas tradition: coating the entire bottom area of the tree with habenero Tabasco sauce, which is what we must use to coat power cords here, too.

Ah yes, nothing like the smell of pine slathered in Tabasco sauce to get a girl in the Xmas spirit!

But really, isn't it a nice tree?

Monday, December 12, 2011

Black Friday Celebration at Literary Escapism


 Just a quick note: I'm over at Literary Escapism today as part of the big BLACK FRIDAY celebration, with a wee script of Justine and Shelby shopping at a mall on Black Friday.

Oh, the fun they have. The holiday cheer!

This is part of a fun feature with tons of authors stopping by and lots of prizes - it runs all month, with different posts each day.



Come say hi!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Complaints about Carolyn Crane: The characters speak out!

Today at Buckeye Girl reads: after years of silence, the characters of the Disillusionists trilogy air their grievances about me!  Nooooo!

What could my characters possibly have to be upset about? Haven't I treated them well?

Find out at a Buckeye Girl Reads. 


PS: don't forget about the awesome giveaway at The Qwillery, where you can pick up a supernatural sidekick and even win both books from my backlist!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

7 Supernatural sidekicks for readers & bloggers + giveaway

Don't you hate when you are reading a
fave blog or twitter and you stumble onto a
massive spoiler for a book you're reading?
Magical spoiler howling dog would not let
that happen! More at Qwillery... 

Today I'm over at Qwillery continuing my series of supernatural sidekicks with some especially for bloggers and readers, because they need sidekicks, too!

It's all part of my wacky ebook release celebration.

Also, Qwill is throwing in PRIZES! - you could win Mind Games AND Double Cross - just in time for the holiday season!

Come by and say hi and enter!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Supernatural Sidekicks for authors...and hot Gumby action!

This supernatural sidekick
pecks the author on the head when
she spends too much time on twitter.
More at Vampire Book Club...
Release week has turned especially wacky today. First, please allow me to draw your attention to the wonderful Vampire Book Club, where I am discussing a very important topic: Supernatural Sidekicks that authors could maybe use.  The post could also be entitled Supernatural Sidekicks that I could maybe use.

Come by and say hi at Vampire Book Club! 

Also, Katibabs has written a very moving post on her great passion for Gumby, where she blames me for her Gumby fetish (!!) shows the rare Gumby jazz hands, and is giving away a copy of Head Rush!!

Visit Katiebabs & Gumby and enter to win! 

Also, I want to thank everyone for the kind words and well wishes and all the interest in the Head Rush, and for making my release week so wonderful.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Head rush ebook release day!

Head Rush comes out in ebook today! Yippee! It is finally available in two formats: Audio and now ebook, and print hits later in 2012.  I'm really excited and happy.

Now I'm dithering, not sure what to say. I get so excited on release day, I am sort of useless. There is Brie cheese in the refrigerator that I bought for a holiday party this weekend, and crackers in the cupboard to go with it, as well as chocolate in a drawer. Do you think these favorite food items of mine will last the day?

Oh! Here is a page on my site that has links to where you can find Head Rush, as well as links to directions on how to read ebooks without an ereader.

My top secret schedule for today:
I'm at the awesome Paranormal Haven today where I reveal my top secret release day activities! Which mainly includes being to excited to do much of anything..come say hi!

Monday, December 5, 2011

X-mas replay: The 13 gifts you should NOT get for werewolves this holiday + a visit with Smexy

Important warnings at the League
Hey friends!
Two things are happening today - this morning, I'm over at the League of Reluctant Adults reprising an important werewolf gift alert...an oldie post from Christmas past, with a few updates. Come say hi!

***

This afternoon, I'll be at Smexy's rocking blog answering a very important question:


If you could pick one of your characters to go to New Orleans with you, who would you pick and what would you do?


There will be other activities, too. It's part of the Authors After Dark spotlight - the convention is in New Orleans this summer! Yippee! Come say hi! (Also, this isn't connected with my visit, but Smexy and Fiction Vixen are giving away a Kindle Fire.)