Stud now available for Kindle

Stud by Rolinda Hay is now available for Kindle.

Christiana Kern is already overworked as the top customer service representative at Wett, Inc., the country’s largest printer of special interest magazines, when her boss assigns her a new title. She isn’t eager to accept the additional responsibility...until she meets Bobby Ray Cartwright, the sexy rancher publishing the start-up magazine. It isn’t long before business and pleasure mix and Christiana learns that STUD isn’t just the title of Bobby Ray’s new publication. Soon Christiana is having the best sex ever and is facing life-altering decisions in and out of the bedroom.

Order your copy here.

37, 38, 39

I received three acceptances in today's mail, my 37th, 38th, and 39th acceptances of the year. All were for confessions.

Published

My hardboiled erotic crime story "Payback" appears in the August Hustler Fantasies. I like the tag line the editor gave it: "This story has everything: Sex, guns, money, the mob, more sex..."

36

I received my 36th acceptance of the year earlier today, this time for a confession submitted earlier this month.

ApolloCon

I'll be on five panels at ApolloCon in Houston this weekend. If any of y'all write science fiction/fantasy/horror and happen to be there, say howdy.

Thirty

I wrote and submitted my thirtieth short story of the year this evening. This time it's a 2,000-word bit of erotic crime fiction.

I had three anthology calls for submissions with deadlines of June 30 or July 1 and, after completing my previous story, I reread the guidelines for these three anthologies.

This afternoon I had an idea for an opening paragraph that could have led to a story for either of two of the anthologies. As I added a few more sentences, I realized it fit one anthology better than the other and then went full bore into writing the story.

According to the time stamp on my Word file, I started writing this at 5:54 p.m. and finished at 11:04 p.m., or about five hours from first word to last. That's a pathetic 400 words-per-hour, but if they're the right words and the editor buys the story I won't complain too much.

And, besides, I did other things, too, such as walking the dogs several times.

Twenty-nine

I just finished and submitted my twenty-ninth short story of the year. This one's a 1,400-word story involving magic.

I've had an anthology's open call for submissions in my binder for several months but had not had any appropriate story ideas for it. (I put anthology guidelines in my binder by deadline date, writing and submitting stories in deadline order or discarding guidelines if I don't make the deadlines.)

This anthology's guidelines reached the front of the binder earlier this week and I read them repeatedly, trying to force myself to have an idea. Nothing happened. Until yesterday.

Last evening, on my way home from spending Father's Day with Plot Monkey, the story title, story structure, and primary characters came to me. I couldn't get home fast enough, and I immediately keyed everything into a Word file.

But making notes isn't writing and the words didn't come right then.

I woke up this morning and the first two pages flowed out. Around mid-morning, after an interruption to work on other tasks, the next two pages flowed out. This evening, though the words didn't flow as easily as earlier in the day, I wrote the rest of the story, proofread it, and sent it off.

Published

My erotic caper "Seven-Inch Stretch" appears in In Plain View (Bold Strokes Books), an anthology scheduled for release in August.

Dash

There's a discussion thread on the Kindleboards about the use of hyphens, en-dashes, and em-dashes, and several of the people who posted clearly do not understand punctuation and typography. Here's what I posted (or attempted to post; it hasn't shown up yet):

The comments in this thread are indicative of why self-publishing gets a bad rap.

Failing to properly use the tools of the trade (in this case hyphens, en-dashes, and em-dashes) announces to a knowledgeable reader that the author/publisher lacks the ability to do a professional job.

It's like calling a plumber to unstop your toilet. Instead of bringing a plunger and a pipe wrench, he shows up with a table saw and a tire swing. He might still get the job done, but you'll know he's not a professional.

Although there are several style books available, the two most commonly used are The Chicago Manual of Style (primarily used by book publishers) and The Associated Press Stylebook (primarily used by newspaper and magazine publishers). Buy them. Read them. Keep them next to your computer and reference them often.

The 15th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, which I believe is the most current edition, spends five pages explaining the difference between the hyphen, the en-dash, and the em-dash. The Associated Press Stylebook offers a much shorter explanation of the use of the dash, but the two agree about what constitutes proper usage.

Their key point of disagreement? The Associate Press Stylebook advocates the use of a space on each side of the em-dash when used within text and The Chicago Manual of Style advocates against the use of a space on each side of the em-dash when used within text. And if you know anything about typography, you'll understand why they differ on this point.

Published

My story "In the Swim of Things" appears in the July True Story.

Twenty-eight

I finished and submitted my twenty-eighth short story of the year a few minutes ago. This one's a 1,600-word bit of erotica that I started June 9, 2010.

I only had the title and the opening paragraph when I received an email last week from an anthology editor seeking additional submissions for a project already weeks past the submission deadline. I nosed around my files, found this, realized the basic concept fit within the anthology's guidelines, and wrote the story a little at a time while wrapping up some other projects.

It's up to the editor now.

35

I received my 35th acceptance of the year this evening, this time for a 2,100-word bit of crime fiction I wrote last year.

Twenty-seven

I finished writing my twenty-seventh short story of the year, a 6,100-word confession that I started writing April 29, 2010. I'm printing the final draft now and it'll go in tomorrow's mail.

Published

My erotic ghost story "House of Seven Inches" appears in the just-published anthology The Call of the Night, edited by Miranda Forbes and published Xcite.

Twenty-six

I finished writing my 26th short story of the year this evening. It's a 3,000-word confession with a back-to-school theme that I started April 29, 2010, and it'll go in the mail tomorrow.

Spicy Confessions 3 now available for Kindle

Confessions are a unique form of women's fiction. They aren't romances, though they are often romantic. They aren't erotica, though some are quite sensual. And they aren't chick lit, though they are clearly written for and about contemporary women. What they are, are compelling stories about real women facing real problems.

The five short stories in Spicy Confessions 3--"And Miles to Do Before I Sleep," "Caribbean Surprise," "My Husband is a Big Boob," "I Slept With My Sister's Husband" and "Christmas Guest"--showcase Rolinda Hay at her spicy best, featuring five women dealing with what men see first, a sexy vacation getaway, body image, a cheating sister, and an unexpected Christmas surprise.

Order your copy here.

Kindle corrections / Smashwords

Last week I discovered a formatting error common to all of the titles I released in Kindle format. Over the weekend I corrected every title but one--Microchick, which Amazon won't let me update--and the corrected versions should now be or should soon be available.

If you purchased one of my self-published Kindle titles, please update your file so that you can read the corrected version.

Also, yesterday I uploaded Unbridled Love: A Romance with Horse Sense, which continues to be my best-selling self-published title, to Smashwords. It is now available in multiple formats through Smashwords and should soon be available for purchase from all the sites that Smashwords serves.

34

I received my 34th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this for a confession submitted in January.

Published every month for eight years

With publication of "Sparks Fly on Independence Day" in the July 2011 True Confessions, I have now had one (or more!) short stories published each month for 96 consecutive months.

Spicy Confessions 2 now available for Kindle

Confessions are a unique form of women's fiction. They aren't romances, though they are often romantic. They aren't erotica, though some are quite sensual. And they aren't chick lit, though they are clearly written for and about contemporary women. What they are, are compelling stories about real women facing real problems.

The four short stories in Spicy Confessions 2--"An Engaging New Year," "My Lover's Secret," "I Was a Topless Waitress" and "The Secret Lives of Teachers"--showcase Rolinda Hay at her spicy best, featuring four women dealing with a stranger's kiss at midnight on New Year's Eve, a new lover's sexual secret, job loss during a recession, and the sexual escapades of small-town teachers during Spring Break.

Order your copy here.

And be on the lookout for two more Rolinda Hay titles coming soon.

My path to publication

As part of the promotional efforts for Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, the editors are posting a series of brief essays titled "Paths to Publication," written by the book's contributors.

Here's mine.

More Kindle reality

A few days ago I posted my Kindle sales numbers, sharing my experience near the bottom of the market because I hadn't seen anyone else do that.

Today I discovered a topic thread on the Kindleboards where other electronic self-publishers share their sales figures, and the figures--the good, the bad, and the ugly--are enlightening.

Read the thread here.

33

Apparently, the band's still playing on the Titanic. Earlier today I received an acceptance from one of the two remaining confession magazines, this time for a rare male-narrated confession I submitted in February.

This is my 33rd acceptance of the year.