tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109928882024-03-23T11:17:37.882-07:00KYRA DAVISNew York Times bestselling author of the Just One Night trilogykyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.comBlogger507125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-59315633113206352422015-03-24T08:48:00.002-07:002015-03-24T08:48:53.210-07:00Moving Day<br />
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We are excited to share that Kyra has moved to a new website. Just click the link or image below to get all of the latest blog posts news,book releases, events, book recommendations and more from New York Times Bestselling author Kyra Davis.<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>Blog Pixiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10908962927706939907noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-12526699523961541822014-09-28T23:29:00.000-07:002014-09-28T23:29:13.018-07:00Literary ExhibitionismOkay, I know I haven't been very chatty lately. I've been busy doing things like writing, house-hunting and...oh yeah, <i>getting married!!! </i>I promise I'll write more about that in the near future. But what brought me back <i>today</i> is friend and fellow New York Times bestselling author (still love saying that) Alina Adams. She's launched a really interesting writing project that seems to be part exhibitionism, part performance art and part lunacy. You see she's writing a romance novel filled with drama, secrets, double-crosses, revenge, scheming, schemers and sex. So far this is<i> </i>my kind of book. Note I did not say it <i>sounds </i>like it's <i>going to be</i> my kind of book. I said so far it <i>is</i> my kind of book. I can say that definitively because I've read part of it. And no, she didn't send me the first few chapters. She didn't have to because she's writing it online, as in anyone who clicks <a href="http://www.alinaadams.com/live/">this link</a> can actually see her while she's typing this thing. We can see her typos, we can see her delete, we can see her going back and rewriting sections or taking out entire passages all together. We can even give her advice in regards to what we think she <i>should </i>be writing and what's good and bad about the sentence she's writing <i>as she's writing it</i>.<br />
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Personally I'd rather play Twister with Attila the Hun on a bed of hot coals than invite the world to judge me as I struggle through sentence after sentence. Therefore when I found out Alina was doing this I had to know what on earth was going through her head. That burning question lead to this interview. Hope you find it as interesting as I do!:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444;"><b>So I've written my fair share of exhibitionist scenes before but never anything as daring as this. What gave you the idea to write a novel live, online, for all to see?</b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Well, as with all traumas, this one began back in my childhood. When I was in high-school, I was a voracious fan of what some might call "trashy novels." Sidney Sheldon was my all-time favorite, but I also read Judith Krantz, Belva Plain, Michael Korda, Jeffrey Archer, etc.... Basically, if they made a rich, splashy, 1980s mini-series of it, I was there. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I wanted to grow up to write trashy novels that got rich, splashy, 1980s mini-series made out of them. To English teachers, this was not a worthwhile goal. Frankly, it wasn't a worthwhile goal to anyone. So I had to make it up as I went along. I wrote many, many books, and received many, many rejections letters, before I somehow stumbled into selling my first romance novel, a Regency, in 1994 to AVON (a year later, my second book shut down their line - make of that what you will). I can't help thinking, though, that the process would have been made a whole lot easier if, as an aspiring writer, I'd been allowed to hang out and watch over a professional writer's shoulder as they went about their business, seeing how they did things, learning all that stuff high-school English teachers wouldn't - let's be honest, couldn't - teach me. (That shouldn't be too annoying to said professional writer, right?) That opportunity didn't exist for me as a teen. So I decided to create it as an adult.</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Want to watch a book as it's being written live, all the typos, the mistakes, the deletions, the moving words around, the changing the same word ten times in the hopes that, this time, it'll magically work, not to mention the cutting of two entire chapters because you've come to the depressing realization that if a character is boring for you to write, he'll be even more boring to read? </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Well, then, </span><a href="http://www.alinaadams.com/live" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">www.AlinaAdams.com/live</a><span style="background-color: white;"> is the place for you! You can learn from your own mistakes, or you can learn from mine. Because, God knows, even twenty years and over a dozen published novels later, I still make tons of them!</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>When I'm writing I rarely let anyone in the same room with me but you'll literally have untold numbers of complete strangers looking over your shoulder as you type each letter. Won't that make you self-conscious and if it does, are you worried that it might impede your creative process?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I used to think that I never get writer's block. I'd just sit down in my chair and force myself to write one sentence. Then another one. Then another one. Even if they suck, just get something down on paper, you can always fix it later. (The sadly ironic part is that, when I go back and reread scenes I wrote on days when it felt like pulling teeth as well as those from days when I was in the zone and everything was flowing... there is very little difference between the two in quality.)</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">But then I hit a point where I was writing my first sex scene - live. I could see the icons that indicated people were watching. And I, who never get writer's block, totally and completely froze up. I realized they weren't exactly watching me, personally, having sex (trust me, the fictional is more interesting), but, suddenly, it sure felt that way.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">It was the first time in my life I ever actually walked away from the computer for the day. (Well, when I say walked away, I mean from this particular project. When I told my husband I'd walked away, he laughed and said, "You mean, you just worked on something else?" He knows me so well.)</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I did come back the next morning and forced myself to write it. To be honest, I do think it came out a bit more inhibited than my usual fare. However, this is only the first draft. The entire point of this experiment is so people can see how I go through and revise. Adding spice to love scenes will be part of the revision process. I promise.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>I understand that readers will be able to offer you advice and criticism while you write. Will you stop to read each comment as they come in? Will you respond to each suggestion or just the ones you're seriously considering implementing?</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">In addition to a childhood wasted amongst trashy novels, I was also a rabid soap-opera fan. Eventually, I ended up working for ABC Daytime, and Procter & Gamble Productions, where I both wrote tie-in novels for "As the World Turns" and "Guiding Light," as well as a bi-weekly serial called "Another World Today" where, at the end of every webisode, I would put a plot question up for vote and, whatever the fans picked, that's what I would write. I really enjoyed this "writing in collaboration" with readers, so I am carrying the model over to my new book. After all, in the end, the most important people to please are the readers. They might as well tell me what they like - and don't like - right off the bat. (What good does criticizing a book AFTER it's published do anyone, me or them?) So, yes, I am trying to answer each comment as it comes in. Sometimes I explain why I'm not taking a suggestion. And sometimes, I go ahead and take it! And the comments are visible to readers, as well, so you can see what others have suggested and either agree or disagree with them.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>How long does it normally take you to write a novel? </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Well, it depends. My first book, "The Fictitious Marquis," was written in four weeks of 10 hour days, because when the editor called to say she loved my proposal and wanted to see the whole manuscript, I had to say, "It's... not... polished, yet." That sounded better than, "It's not written yet." </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">My second book, "Thieves at Heart," I wrote in three months, from five to seven am every morning while working a TV production day job. But that was before I had children. I now have three. My mornings, and my 10 hour days, are spoken for. I did write my first NYT best-seller, "Oakdale Confidential" on a tight turn-around of six weeks, because the book needed to be out in time to appear on "As the World Turns." But, then I only had two children. And a full-time sitter. Those days are also gone. I will say that, if I have to, I can pound out about a thousand words a day. Though many of them will be misspelled.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Do you think aspiring writers who will now have a front row seat to the arduous process of writing a novel will be more attracting to the pursuit or repelled by it?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Well, I am very happy to report that due to some less than inspiring high-school English teachers, my oldest son has now reported, "I hate writing. It's so boring. I will never be a writer." This makes me very, very pleased. Anytime I can talk anyone out of a career that's rife with rejection, failure and pathetically little money, I feel I have done a good deed.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">That said (with tongue firmly in cheek), my goal for the live writing project is to pull back the curtain and demonstrate what it really takes to put together a book. It doesn't all come in one swoop, and the first draft is rarely the last one. There is criticism, revision, more criticism, more revision, frustration, despair, fear, loathing, a mad desire to rip everything up and start all over again, conviction that what's on paper will never sound like what you heard in your head, telling everyone you know that the book is trying to kill you, even more revisions and then publication. At which point you get to go through it again and find all the typos that were missed, no matter how many highly-skilled copy-editors took a pass at the manuscript. Plus, there is a possibility your cover may end up having a pink duck on it (see the paperback release of "Annie's Wild Ride"). If, after watching me go through it, people think they'd like to give it a try themselves, all I can say is, "Welcome to the club!"</span></span></span><br />
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So there you have it. Personally I will <i>never </i>have the nerve to practice this kind of exhibitionist but if Alina's writing project has taught me one thing it's that being a voyeur can be fun. So tiptoe on on over and join me at <a href="http://www.alinaadams.com/live">www.alinaadams.com/live</a> , catch up on a really fun story and watch the words fly!<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-61625541836094291482014-07-19T13:54:00.002-07:002014-07-19T15:47:29.776-07:00How I Found THE Dress For My Non-Traditional Wedding<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq7Lqi8p3GJiAE2oaQKs78XpDfavnvbqXOrd7Plo7ghyphenhyphenFWhg4yJKaDwCH0AQfZw4odC7qr5_wnMTerI14DEwLRWAtssVd9i-xJtOKfzdY-YyfP60pB8XDHygiD7HHaAvoBhh0TIw/s1600/DangerousAlliance_MM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq7Lqi8p3GJiAE2oaQKs78XpDfavnvbqXOrd7Plo7ghyphenhyphenFWhg4yJKaDwCH0AQfZw4odC7qr5_wnMTerI14DEwLRWAtssVd9i-xJtOKfzdY-YyfP60pB8XDHygiD7HHaAvoBhh0TIw/s1600/DangerousAlliance_MM.jpg" height="200" width="121" /></a></div>
Haven't written in a while...well, I've <i>written</i>, I just haven't blogged. I've been busy finishing up <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Alliance-Pure-Kyra-Davis-ebook/dp/B00IWTWMDY/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1H4BFTY2XDFVT8WE6FJ5">DANGEROUS ALLIANCE</a> (the sequel to<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deceptive-Innocence-Pure-Kyra-Davis-ebook/dp/B00FNVSHE2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1405802522&sr=8-3&keywords=kyra+davis"> DECEPTIVE INNOCENCE</a>) and outlining what will be a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Kyra-Davis-ebook/dp/B00EWWLKQ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405802494&sr=8-1&keywords=kyra+davis">JUST ONE NIGHT</a> tie in book (now tentatively titled <i>JUST ONE LIE</i>). Robert and Kasie will be in that one but they won't be the main characters. That said, I will be writing a Robert and Kasie short story for the spring.<br />
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I've also been planning my wedding. I use the word "planning" very loosely because we're not having a big event. We're having a very small, private ceremony with just our immediate family in attendance. Afterwards we're having a few friends over to the house to celebrate with us. So again, it's all very intimate and kick-back...<br />
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...except, for some reason, even the most casual weddings in the world aren't <i>that </i>kickback. There are still things that need to be done. The rings, the legal stuff, even finding a decent evite can be time consuming. And then there's the dress...<br />
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...and let's face it the latter item is the most important one. It probably shouldn't be, but it absolutely is. No matter how small the wedding EVERY woman wants to look her absolute best on her wedding day. Period. When we initially got engaged last year I went wedding dress shopping with my mother and my fiancé's daughter. It was totally fun. We went to Beverly Hills on my birthday and just had a full on girl's day. At the time I thought we were having a more formal wedding so I selected a lovely evening gown from Bagdley Mischka. It was very pretty and elegant and it was the best one I found that day. BTW...the slit on mine wasn't quite so high. I didn't want to feel like I was going to have to strike the Angelina-Jolie-one-leg-out pose all day.<br />
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But then both Rod and I decided that we <i>didn't </i>want a formal wedding so the Bagdley Mischka was returned and I waited until we were both sure what kind of wedding we were going to have before I shopped again. <br />
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This last weekend while in Denver with some girlfriends I found a lovely Nicole Miller dress. A bright pink wrap dress. Again, it was very pretty. As you can see from the picture, the sizes they had left were too big on me (it's supposed to be more tailored) but when I called the Nicole Miller boutique in L.A. they said they could order the dress in a smaller size and they had a tailor who could take it in if it was still too big. Plus I sort of liked the idea of finding my wedding dress while on this particular trip. I went to high school with all the women I was with...in fact we were in the same AP English class together. We currently all live in different parts of the country but periodically we find some destination and we meet up for a girl's weekend. So wedding dress shopping with them felt...well, special. So I went ahead and ordered the Nicole Miller.<br />
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But the thing is, I already had wedding-dress shopping plans with one of my closest friends in LA. So I told her that I had a "back-up" dress but still wanted to look around to see if there was something better. So I started at the Monique Ihuillier and found a pretty little cocktail dress. Very flattering, very sophisticated. It was probably a little better than the pink dress. then I went to Chloé and found...nothing. Literally nothing. Guess I'm just not a Chloé girl. And then I went to Oscar de la Renta.<br />
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I now have a big fashion-crush on Oscar. The first dress I tried on was another pink one. It was totally cute and immediately became my favorite. But the saleswoman brought me yet another dress she thought I should try. I looked at the dress and immediately thought, <i>really</i>? I mean for one thing, it was yellow. I never wear yellow. I've always thought it makes me look jaundiced. Aside from that the dress just didn't seem that special too me. Just your average, garden-party cocktail dress. But I tried it on simply because it was hanging there in my dressing room. And then...Oh. My. God.<br />
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I have never seen a dress transform itself this much once you try it on. It went from <i>eh</i> to <i><u>jaw-dropping</u></i>. And that's literally what happened. I walked out of the dressing room and the jaws of the other women shopping dropped. "That's <i>gorgeous</i>," whispered one woman as she turned to her own saleswoman in hopes of trying one on as well. But guess what? It was the last one in the store, possibly the country since it was already marked to 40% off. And now it's <i>mine!</i><br />
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It's <i><b><u>the one</u></b></i>. Which is perfect because I'm marrying <u style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">the one</u>.<br />
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Obviously I'm not posting pictures of the dress now but I certainly will after the wedding.<br />
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What's cool is that since I ended up buying three dresses (returning two) I was able to go wedding dress shopping with many of the women I wanted to go wedding dress shopping with. My mom, my groom's daughter, my high school friends and finally Kim, who is the first friend I made when I moved to LA.<br />
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And it's funny, once you have <i>The</i> Dress<i> </i>the rest of the wedding feels so <i>real</i>! Up until now I had just been excited about <i>being</i> married to this man that I love. Now I'm excited about <i>getting </i>married to him too. We've been engaged for over a year and yet it wasn't until I got the dress that I put the date down in my calendar. I emailed my party planner and we worked out a bunch of details. I now frequently find myself mooning over our engagement pictures. It's just ridiculous! And it's wonderful.<br />
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I'm getting married to a wonderful guy in a wonderful dress. And I'm happy.<br />
Really and truly happy.<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-80542991712494247262014-06-06T17:50:00.003-07:002014-06-06T18:06:19.152-07:00YA & Romance Have True Value<script type="text/javascript">
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
"<i>One thing you who had a secure or happy childhood should understand about those of us who did not, we who control our feelings, who avoid conflicts at all costs or seem to seek them, who are hypersensitive, self-critical, compulsive, workaholic, and above all survivors, we're not that way from perversity. And we cannot just relax and let it go. We've learned to cope in ways you never had to.</i>"</div>
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"<i>People talk-they sneer at escapism. Well, there are those of us who need it.</i>"</div>
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--Piers Anthony, sci-fi and fantasy author</div>
</blockquote>
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Recently Ruth Graham wrote an article (<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/06/against_ya_adults_should_be_embarrassed_to_read_children_s_books.2.html">featured in Slate magazine</a>) that was titled: <i>AGAINST YA</i>. It's subtitled: <i>Adults should read what they want. But you should feel embarrassed if what you're reading was written for children</i>. Not long before that William Giraldi <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117814/50-shades-grey-academic-study-feminist-point-view">took on romance novels in the New Republic </a>chastising women for reading them. Specifically he took on <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780345803481"><i>FIFTY SHADES OF GREY</i></a>, but out of apparent concern that readers might be tempted to mistake his article as legitimate criticism of one book, he clarifies his position by stating that, "romance novels, like racists, tend to be the same wherever you turn."</div>
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In a smartly written rebuttal featured in the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2014/05/20/men-stop-lecturing-women-about-reading-romance-novels/">Washington Post</a>, Alyssa Rosenberg points out that this demonstrates Giraldi's, "stunning lack of familiarity with both racists and romance novels." I agree, but I find his unfamiliarity to be both understandable and expected. After all, it's unlikely that Giraldi, who is both white and a man, would have had a lot of exposure to the different kinds of racism in the world and the books he feels the need to lambast were most definitely not written for people who have penises. </div>
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<div>
And that brings me to the point of this post. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2014/06/06/no-you-do-not-have-to-be-ashamed-of-reading-young-adult-fiction/">As Rosenberg notes,</a> it is easy to pick apart Graham's and Giraldi's arguments point by point. Graham's insistence that YA doesn't explore the complicated subjects that adult fiction explores can be disproven by anyone who has read Julie Gardner Berry's <i><u><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780670786152">THE TRUTH THAT IS ME</a></u>, </i>Walter Dean Myer's <i><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780064407311">MONSTER</a> </i>or Markus Zusak's <i><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780375842207">THE BOOK THIEF</a>. </i>It's just as easy to point out that while <i><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780147513731">THE FAULT IN OUR STARS</a> </i>is a romance novel at heart, it is very different from Kresley Cole's <i><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781476762319">THE PROFESSIONAL</a> </i>or that <i>FIFTY SHADES </i>has little in common with Nicholas Spark's <i><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/notebook-nicholas-sparks/1100298896?ean=9781455582884">THE NOTEBOOK</a></i>. But the thing that I've begun to notice about all these supposed conscientious-objectors-of-genre-fiction is that <i>they</i> are the ones who seem to have a certain amount of commonality (Graham and Giraldi are just the latest of a long list of romance/chick-lit naysayers). For instance, more often than not they are college educated white men and women from upper-middle class backgrounds. I have <i>nothing </i>against this particular demographic of people and I truly believe in the value of a college education. I'm just saying that these are not individuals who were raised on food-stamps. They were not teenage mothers and while I'm sure they've suffered their fair share of heartache and disappointment there's little to suggest that they had to deal with emotional or physical abuse or feelings of intense isolation. Their husbands and wives were not sent off to Afghanistan to fight in a brutal and sometimes forgotten war. They're not working two minimum wage jobs just to pay their family's rent. I do not believe that the most vocal of these critics have lost a child to cancer or a brother in a shooting or a father to prison. I think it is unlikely that their high school peers suggested that they should die because they were gay or fat or deemed some other kind of misfit.</div>
<div>
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<div>
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think these are people who have had to learn to cope with the challenges, dangers and loneliness that Piers Anthony is describing in the quote I posted at the top of the page.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I started reading and writing escapist fiction when I was going through a particularly painful, scary and financially devastating divorce. When I was afraid I was going to lose my home, when my happy little world became a more dangerous and frightening place, I discovered the books of Janet Evanovich. They made me laugh. They made me happy. That has value. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And for those who call the writers of this kind of fiction hacks...well, if you don't think that it takes talent, work and skill to elicit a laugh from someone who is feeling lost, scared or depressed (not a knowing chuckle or a sardonic smile, but an honest to God, cheerful, infectious laugh) then you have never been truly lost, scared or depressed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Obviously not everyone who reads escapist fiction is in emotional pain nor is everyone who reads literary fiction happy. But I have yet to meet a romance reader who has lived a cushy, privileged life and I wouldn't recommend Sartre's <i><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/no-exit-jean-paul-sarte/1107762317?ean=9780573613050">No Exit </a></i>to someone who is feeling trapped. Just as boys who are bullied like to bury themselves in graphic novels and sci-fi, girls who feel alone or picked on immerse themselves in romance and fantasy. Just as men who have had a hard week like to live vicariously through the athletes they cheer, women who have been exhausted by work and child rearing like to live vicariously through the characters they read.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I think it's wonderful that Graham and Giraldi are reading J.M. Ledgard, Adam Bede, Charles Dickens and Catullus. With the exception of Ledgard (whom I plan on reading) I too have read the works of all these authors/poets and I encourage others to do so. Furthermore I encourage you to read Donna Tartt and Maya Angelou, Brian Greene and Fredrick Douglass. And perhaps I'm an unlikely defender of escapism since so many have noted that my romance titles feature themes and subject matters that are a little darker and edgier than what is typical for the genre. But I still love my light-hearted and purely escapist Sophie books and I hope to write more of them. As with my reading, I like to explore different tones and genres in my writing. Yes, I am often in in the mood for edgy, gut-wrenching and dark themes and characters with complicated story lines and heavy doses of moral ambiguity. But there have also been times when I desperately needed to escape an edgy, dark reality, not further immerse myself in it. Like my readers, I see the real value in the books these critics think should be beneath us. These are novels that can give us a sense of hope when we need it most. They make us smile after we've spent the day crying. They relax us when anxiety threatens to rob us of our sanity. And yes, they do frequently make us think by slipping in words of wisdom and unique perspectives without beating us over the head with tragedy, injustice and pain.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you need to read a book in order to appreciate the hardship and the uncertainty of life, to get in the heads of unstable and morally reprehensible people then I can only encourage you to do so. But please keep in mind, there are some of us who, at least at times, need to read a book to appreciate the joy that life can offer and to be reminded that we can still strive for a happy ending. </div>
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--Kyra</div>
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kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-63432495327658779502014-03-03T19:55:00.000-08:002014-03-31T15:25:57.747-07:00The Structure Of EroticaIn 2012, an editor at Simon &Schuster asked if I was interested in writing erotic fiction and in response I wrote up a proposal/synopsis for a full length book about what happens to one woman when she breaks all the rules she's been a slave to for one alluring and irresistibly mysterious man she meets in Vegas. Of course that one woman is Kasie, her mystery man is Mr. Dade and the book is <u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Kyra-Davis-ebook/dp/B00EWWLKQ0/ref=la_B001ILKC3A_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393904707&sr=1-1">JUST ONE NIGHT</a></u>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOECnu9pJFLfbEdNJpVeD6l2xqv5FkdmYhTDBiM2hIKzLc_8UWMi9cpMMYoHXQQvf9sub0iix92ISZz6ooUJA_4YgsVRkOf3yYtykYGfBYRBNT1_St3sUTZExlHAqUcEaTaDZxg/s1600/Just+One+Night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOECnu9pJFLfbEdNJpVeD6l2xqv5FkdmYhTDBiM2hIKzLc_8UWMi9cpMMYoHXQQvf9sub0iix92ISZz6ooUJA_4YgsVRkOf3yYtykYGfBYRBNT1_St3sUTZExlHAqUcEaTaDZxg/s1600/Just+One+Night.jpg" height="200" width="121" /></a></div>
That proposal marked the beginning of what would end up being a rather long negotiation process. By the time all was said and done I had won terms that I felt were fair in exchange for agreeing to split <u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Kyra-Davis-ebook/dp/B00EWWLKQ0/ref=la_B001ILKC3A_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393904707&sr=1-1">JUST ONE NIGHT</a></u> into three novellas (the first two with cliff-hanger endings) that would be released as ebooks. At the time I was completely unfamiliar with the ebook-novella-series format that was rising in popularity. But when I looked at my synopsis I realized that my story lent itself to being broken up that way. In some ways segmenting the story helped me get a better handle on the very specific emotional transitions Kasie experiences. Plus by being pushed to come up with two cliff-hanger endings I had to really think about and fully develop the events that led to those transitions and eventually to Kasie and Mr. Dade's personal growth.<br />
<br />
But mostly the formatting worked because it allowed readers to taste-and-try my writing for the low price of $1.99 before they decided to commit to spending an additional $3.98 for the rest of the story.<br />
<br />
In the end the 3 novella structuring worked on all fronts. The $1.99 price point was enticing enough to get readers to give the JUST ONE NIGHT series a shot and many of those readers found that I had created a story that really resonated with them. All three novellas made the New York Times bestsellers list and the book (which now has been combined into one full length novel sold as both a paperback and an ebook) is still enjoying strong sales around the globe.<br />
<br />
Then the time came for me to write a proposal for yet another series. This time I <i>thought </i>I was ahead of the game by writing a synopsis for three novellas (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deceptive-Innocence-Part-One-Pure-ebook/dp/B00DA98SXE/ref=la_B001ILKC3A_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393904802&sr=1-19">DECEPTIVE INNOCENCE</a>, DANGEROUS ALLIANCE and DELICATE VENGEANCE) which told the story of a woman hell bent on revenge (Bell) and a man who can derail her with a touch (Lander). This would be the Pure Sin series. But when I gave the proposal to my agent she felt the synopses for the novellas were so well developed we should shop them as three full length books. Now keep in mind that I had written synopses for three 150 page portions of one story. Now I was being asked to double the length of each portion. But in the end all that meant was that I had the space for strong character development and the time to really dig deep into Bell's psyche. So I agreed and we brought the proposal to Simon & Schuster.<br />
<br />
...And then Simon & Schuster threw me yet another curve ball. They wanted me to break up DECEPTIVE INNOCENCE into three parts and then follow <i>that</i> up with a full length novel that would finish Bell and Lander's story. In other words, what I had originally intended to be a 150 page novella was now going to be a 450 page book broken up into three 100-180 page novellas and <i>that </i>would be followed by a 300+ page book that would complete the series (which means that the 300+ page book would essentially be what I had initially outlined to be part two and part three of Bell and Lander's story...confused yet?). This structure was <i>totally </i>new to me and I initially found it daunting. Part of me really didn't want to do it. It felt unnatural. But then, three part novella series were once foreign to me too and look what happened when I embraced <i>that</i>.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjioR9cne9jNn4602N6brjQEw3a4iGdr7SYlkAeEj9t13WKznFRoEutXjsnvvJjgid4_pcIu3L7fIKPqHJoS-8x0J0jqfSRY5Ulinfc1G372gLrtXc6RlFYKeHBUyI94uB-cfa3RA/s1600/DeceptiveInnocence_series+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjioR9cne9jNn4602N6brjQEw3a4iGdr7SYlkAeEj9t13WKznFRoEutXjsnvvJjgid4_pcIu3L7fIKPqHJoS-8x0J0jqfSRY5Ulinfc1G372gLrtXc6RlFYKeHBUyI94uB-cfa3RA/s1600/DeceptiveInnocence_series+(1).jpg" height="174" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DECEPTIVE INNOCENCE broken into 3 parts</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I think it's still an open question as to whether or not this structure will work for readers. But I can tell you that it worked for me as an author. Initially I didn't think there was enough story in part one of Pure Sin to extend it to three novellas but once again being pushed to stretch the story out helped me dig deeper into my characters' minds. It also gave me time to develop Lander and Bell's relationship at a more realistic pace. Readers now get to really see the progression from lust to genuine affection. We see the slow deterioration of Bell's anger and we come to understand why that deterioration is so terrifying for her. Now, because of this more detailed examination of Bell and Lander's beginnings the next book (DANGEROUS ALLIANCE) will be supported by the strong foundation of their shared history.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deceptive-Innocence-Part-Three-Pure-ebook/dp/B00DPM7QIE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1393958891&sr=8-5&keywords=kyra+davis">The third and last part of DECEPTIVE INNOCENCE</a> comes out on March 17th and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I can see now that if I hadn't taken the advice of my agent and publisher <u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deceptive-Innocence-Part-One-Pure-ebook/dp/B00DA98SXE/ref=la_B001ILKC3A_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393904802&sr=1-19">DECEPTIVE INNOCENCE</a></u> PART <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deceptive-Innocence-Part-One-Pure-ebook/dp/B00DA98SXE/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0EBD6V03QAE10G7Y5M9R">ONE</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deceptive-Innocence-Part-Two-Pure-ebook/dp/B00DPM7QQG/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1NCYR2XM2N1WX6JV99AR">TWO</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deceptive-Innocence-Part-Three-Pure-ebook/dp/B00DPM7QIE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1393958891&sr=8-5&keywords=kyra+davis">THREE</a> might have felt rushed. Worse yet, it might have rung false. Too often writers refuse to adapt their original "vision" in order to incorporate the wise advice of others. I'm so glad I didn't make that mistake with this series.<br />
<br />
I hope you enjoy the roll out of Bell and Lander's story and that you tune in when DANGEROUS ALLIANCE is available. In that book the passion, the affection, the anger and the revenge will all be raised to a whole new level.<br />
<br />
In DANGEROUS ALLIANCE both Bell and Lander will learn what I learned: sometimes being open to new possibilities and challenges is what it takes to win. And if there's one thing we know about these strange bedfellows, they are <i>all </i>about the win.<br />
<br />
Happy Reading!<br />
<br />
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<br />kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-28478160675797347072014-02-05T12:35:00.000-08:002014-02-06T15:27:55.369-08:00What Is...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Google Play has a<a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/collection/promotion_1000b74_love_in_the_air"> Love Is In The Air promotion</a> going on in which different romance authors share their favorite romantic movies, books and apps with you. I participated and even recorded a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv6NAQix6Ow">Dear [Me] video</a> for them in which I talked about my first kiss and another video in which I chatted with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOdhgRvsMpo">HELL ON WHEELS star, Anson Mount</a> about my latest romantic (and erotic) suspense novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deceptive-Innocence-Part-One-Pure-ebook/dp/B00DA98SXE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391628174&sr=8-1&keywords=kyra+davis">DECEPTIVE INNOCENCE</a><br />
<br />
All of this has got me thinking a lot about romance. I mean, what exactly <i>is </i>romance? Not just its trappings, but what is it at its core? <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM-8Q6B8xX93CdMicdxK37_pwJ5TnKPlz5Ot8ioZ-AYeXsoNn-hvI0w_B-aFTT-91HgcnnQdUvaMFbDu1YO9p2tGBtmNtuwcLKfqzddzrIVG2bL6WX63hfTZLcXoXDB3tk4ihKOw/s1600/url.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM-8Q6B8xX93CdMicdxK37_pwJ5TnKPlz5Ot8ioZ-AYeXsoNn-hvI0w_B-aFTT-91HgcnnQdUvaMFbDu1YO9p2tGBtmNtuwcLKfqzddzrIVG2bL6WX63hfTZLcXoXDB3tk4ihKOw/s1600/url.jpg" /></a></div>
Admittedly, the movies and music that touch my heart are a little offbeat. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/">LOVE ACTUALLY</a> is a sweet film but I have a special place in my heart for <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067185/">HAROLD AND MAUDE</a>, a 70s flick about a young man morbidly fascinated with death (to the point of frequently staging his own suicide) who ends up falling in love with a 79 year old woman who spends each day celebrating life. It's a dark comedy and more than a little far fetched, and yet it really stayed with me. Until recently I never stopped to think about why.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgWBGi4kfmS8cpk30Mh_jPLrdIZrMLhjv0ifiDGOYEz0IBIttsPmJjfawPzUkV74kLlwv8ZTvG4Y26cOrJgad_FyCN7dxAf1Ypie0aUsKNiM3mxfz1zacWhlXJyW46k-CM4M1oEQ/s1600/158236a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgWBGi4kfmS8cpk30Mh_jPLrdIZrMLhjv0ifiDGOYEz0IBIttsPmJjfawPzUkV74kLlwv8ZTvG4Y26cOrJgad_FyCN7dxAf1Ypie0aUsKNiM3mxfz1zacWhlXJyW46k-CM4M1oEQ/s1600/158236a.jpg" height="147" width="200" /></a></div>
What<i> is</i> clear to me is that my fiancé, Rod, is unfailingly romantic. He's always surprising me with gifts and gestures. He knows that I have fond memories of listening to Paul Simon and Sting when I was a kid so he made a point of getting tickets for us to see them when it was announced that they'd be touring together. Or take this Saturday when I admired a coat while window shopping with him; later that day I opened the closet and voila, there was that very coat, hanging there, waiting for me. I too find myself moved to do things for him, whether it's taking him to see <a href="http://www.benharper.com/">Ben Harper</a> one month or making him a playlist filled with the songs that reminds me of us (and that I think he'll like) the next.<br />
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And yet these presents are not the essence of romance. What moves me is what's <i>behind</i> the gifts. Rod knows I have an emotional connection to the music of Simon and Sting so he got us <i>those </i>tickets. The coat I had admired in the store? He had seen it earlier in the day, recognized that it was my style and then found a way to subtly lead me passed it later that same afternoon hoping I would try it on "just for fun" as I often do. Rod knows me. And I know him. Our connection is so strong and solid it feels almost tangible. Sometimes I can actually visualize an energy force connecting the two of us.<br />
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It's not that we think alike or that we're "one" because we often have very different perspectives on things and we're two distinct individuals. But we compliment each other. The other day we were watching <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1757800/">MITT</a>, a documentary on Mitt Romney. In it Romney explains that when he gets upset or agitated over certain events or setbacks Ann Romney calms him and helps him put things in perspective. She helps him see that whatever problems he's dealing with are manageable. At that point in the film Rod turned to me and said, "Oh, I'm your Ann Romney!" And when I thought about it I realized he was right. Rod does center me. He does keep me calm when I'm overwhelmed. Rod then went on to speculate that perhaps I'm his Hillary Clinton in that I collaborate with him, challenge him and help him improve on whatever project he's working on. To a degree that's true but then he facilitates <i>my </i>improvement too, both professionally and personally. Like I said, we compliment each other.<br />
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I guess that's why I like HAROLD AND MAUDE, a story about two people who have radically different perspectives and life experience and yet compliment each other so well. Harold and Maude are incredibly flawed characters but they make each other better. Of course in the movie they take things to bizarre extremes and it has a very bittersweet ending. Like I said, it's a dark comedy and it's certainly not a story that I would ever want to live.<br />
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But to be fair, the only love story I want to live is the one I'm living. My connection to Rod and the fact that we make such a great team...well, that makes every day romantic. Whether we're going to a concert, shopping, listening to music or walking the dog; as far as I'm concerned, it's all hearts and flowers.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0TZYzdRFMIalZEIrvs75R7ZwNw-CpUYACgkYBkcgS_ZuGNKsAF7_-umtd7TSBBMvxPmmyWMvWYbPhq_8dE6MYsEK9sTwrBkdkAp2V3-vaCkATQbVqIaY1Ltu1GkMEHKX88wv9uQ/s1600/romance-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0TZYzdRFMIalZEIrvs75R7ZwNw-CpUYACgkYBkcgS_ZuGNKsAF7_-umtd7TSBBMvxPmmyWMvWYbPhq_8dE6MYsEK9sTwrBkdkAp2V3-vaCkATQbVqIaY1Ltu1GkMEHKX88wv9uQ/s1600/romance-01.jpg" height="136" width="200" /></a></div>
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<i>That's </i>romance.<br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we approach Valentine's Day I'd love to know how you define romance. What romantic qualities do you most value? What are your favorite romantic movies, songs, apps and books? What kinds of things touch your heart? Leave a comment with your answer. On Valentine's Day I'll throw the names of everyone who commented into a hat and randomly draw two winners, the first will win an autographed copy of </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Kyra-Davis-ebook/dp/B00EWWLKQ0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1391632267&sr=8-3&keywords=kyra+davis" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">JUST ONE NIGHT</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the second will win a free </span><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/deceptive-innocence-part-one-kyra-davis/1117497581?ean=9781476756288" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DECEPTIVE INNOCENCE </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ebook.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-674c6041-0839-99fa-2d07-ba3a4032888a"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span>
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<br />
And I really couldn't be happier. When I decided to invite some people over for a New Year's Eve "Spirited Potluck" (everyone was asked to bring an alcohol themed dish...bourbon balls, salad with champagne vinaigrette, I made pasta with vodka sauce and chicken with a white wine sauce, you get the idea) I figured that most of my friends would have big plans on New Years or be out of town and that if I invited thirty of them ten might show up.<br />
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I was totally wrong. I ended up inviting 35 people and thirty showed up. But although I had a brief moment of concern when the last-minute "Yes"-RSVPs starting rolling in (do we have enough plates? Glasses? Chairs?) I am so glad so many were able to come. For me, their presence made my party everything I hoped it could be: the best party of the year.<br />
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That's not to say I haven't been to some great parties this year. My engagement party was probably the best party of my <i>life </i>(but that was such an "event" that I sort of rank it in its own stratosphere). Aside from that, it's not uncommon for Rod (my fiancé) to take me to parties that surround movie openings and or award ceremonies and I always really enjoy them but there is a tiny part of me that feels like I'm playing dress up. I play the part of the sophisticated fiancée of the movie director and I'm cognizant of the fact that for Rod, these are in fact "office parties." Fun, but not the place to let it all hang out. So, as I'm introduced to the movers and shakers of Hollywood I am always polite and I demure when Rod tells them of my accomplishments and I try to ask the right questions and compliment rather than fawn (by the way, what <i>is</i> the "right" thing to say when you shake Mick Jagger's hand. I'd love to know because I completely missed the boat on that one...I think I said "gah"). Anyway, those parties are a trip and like I said, they're fun...but my New Year's party? Not an office party.<br />
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My guests were all people who I don't need to charm, people who know all my weaknesses and flaws and love me anyway. These people are, in one way or another, family. I don't demure when I talk to them about my accomplishments because they know how hard I worked for them. They know the dues I paid. These are people whom I can serve good wine to in plastic cups and it won't be a problem at all! "It proves that we are in a pretension-free-zone," one friend proclaimed as I handed her a glass of Duckhorn Vinyards Merlot in a red party cup. <br />
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My friends appreciate that I can get all ghetto-fabulous like that.<br />
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And my son and his teenage friends had a great time too, gathered around our fire pit in the backyard, making smores, catching up and laughing about things they'll certainly never share with me. It was pretty close to perfect. There are others who I wish could have come (people who live out of town or were vacationing out of town and whatnot), but in one way or another they'll be part of my 2014 too. I'll make sure of it.<br />
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When I first hit the New York Times list this last March...well, I can't tell you how many of these same friends jokingly asked something along the lines of "You won't forget us little people when you're rich and famous, will you?"<br />
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I'm still a far cry from being rich or famous but there's one thing I know. These people, the people who complimented my red cups and showed up with their homemade pecan-bourbon-pie (OMG, THANK YOU FOR THAT, SHOSHANNA, YOUR PIE CHANGED MY LIFE!) these people will never be "little people." In my book they will always be bigger than Mick Jagger.<br />
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PS: If there are typos/ errors in here, forgive me. I am, after all, still recovering from the party of the year.kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-6716759904005242642013-12-08T13:18:00.001-08:002013-12-10T12:40:02.363-08:00A Big Year Deserves A Big ContestWhenever I want to be reminded of how much my life has changed in 2013 all I need to do is walk into my bank. The people at my bank have always been nice to me, but this is the first time they've ever tried to sell me things. They call me now, ask if I'm happy with their service and if I might be interested in opening this or that kind of account, or maybe they can help me plan for retirement? Does my son have a college fund? Do I need a line of credit? and so on. Now it's not like I have a fortune in the bank right now, far from it. From a financial point of view I'm a definitively middle class girl. It's possible that my bank is just trying to expand in certain areas and that's why I'm hearing these new sales pitches. But they wouldn't have tried to sell anything to me before, not when I was one car problem away from being overdrawn. Now, well I'm not rich but I am comfortable and <i>comfortable </i>= sales-pitch worthy. <i>Comfortable</i> means I might be a safe bet for a line of credit.<br />
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Most importantly, <i>comfortable</i> means I can finally exhale.<br />
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It wasn't that way in January. Eleven months ago I was, in pretty much every way, very <i>uncomfortable. </i> In January I was a single mom who was obsessively filling out financial aide applications so my son could stay in the private school that has helped him so much. I was considering giving up on writing as a profession. Yes, I had a few ebooks coming out with Simon &Schuster but when you consider my advance....well, I might as well have been working for one of those fast food restaurants all the hourly employees are railing against these days. My car was on its last legs but I couldn't afford to replace it. My son and I wanted a dog but I could barely cover the adoption fee let alone the dog food and vet bills, plus we didn't have a yard. Oh, and I had just broken up with a man who I loved but I couldn't seem to make it work with. <br />
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That was January. Now it's December. Those little ebooks were the JUST ONE NIGHT books and all three of them made the New York Times list, in fact I was on the New York Times list for about 7 weeks this year and on the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/best-selling/search/author/Kyra%20davis/">USA Today list for 10 weeks</a>. The books have sold upwards of half a million copies. Publisher's Weekly gave JUST ONE NIGHT a starred review and RT gave it 4 1/2 stars. It was optioned by a major Hollywood production company.<br />
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Paying my son's tuition isn't so hard anymore. I have a new car.<br />
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And that guy who I broke up with? Well we worked out our issues and now we're engaged.<br />
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I no longer spend my days filling out financial aide applications. Instead I spend my days writing. In 2013 I published four works: the three <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html">JUST ONE NIGHT</a> novellas (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-Stranger-ebook/dp/B009K5LL5Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1386537020&sr=1-1&keywords=just+one+night">THE STRANGER</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-Exposed-ebook/dp/B008J4RQVK/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1">EXPOSED</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-Agreement-ebook/dp/B008J4L2XI/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1">BINDING AGREEMENT</a>) and the newly released Sophie holiday short story, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Swans-Shooting-Christmas-Short-ebook/dp/B00FRLSC7A/ref=la_B001ILKC3A_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386537150&sr=1-12">SEVEN SWANS A' SHOOTING</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDG6daT3Vek3_n47Psz3kEo6P9FpnKYBbC3Phxfqw19fVkoQ0OPPB2qvzOVMTrAW6eG8fudzpczWmei-f_BbSlqc9aIwxE93hwP4LwJl29OPfGQjGDs70gC-m3gG5HtAHlT2xemA/s1600/imgres.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDG6daT3Vek3_n47Psz3kEo6P9FpnKYBbC3Phxfqw19fVkoQ0OPPB2qvzOVMTrAW6eG8fudzpczWmei-f_BbSlqc9aIwxE93hwP4LwJl29OPfGQjGDs70gC-m3gG5HtAHlT2xemA/s200/imgres.jpg" width="128" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUrFrdpjOjUb_F6KHcGn1O31Jc0KPqg04F4gN0f9aCXRIBJQsXzKbfOrksvo4BvDpUcONm8lqxYiyLSW0P-ge72LVsayF8a7zkTNIWo9Dsi2m9X8k7SvFyymHy0jJ3yG035epSw/s1600/imgres.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUrFrdpjOjUb_F6KHcGn1O31Jc0KPqg04F4gN0f9aCXRIBJQsXzKbfOrksvo4BvDpUcONm8lqxYiyLSW0P-ge72LVsayF8a7zkTNIWo9Dsi2m9X8k7SvFyymHy0jJ3yG035epSw/s200/imgres.jpeg" width="128" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_wrpD7jo-8QPdjmB7pCyqWVldFhH81dRTQQgNoJsiyeJaLW77tNKbvlvZUuvKEorwzZ58AHh13C6BzmAqIcqJbYWidPo4bPcuuuAb2Yae9BKJZjlVgpSA1ID4UwN4MbGC0mhykg/s1600/7+swans+a+swimin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_wrpD7jo-8QPdjmB7pCyqWVldFhH81dRTQQgNoJsiyeJaLW77tNKbvlvZUuvKEorwzZ58AHh13C6BzmAqIcqJbYWidPo4bPcuuuAb2Yae9BKJZjlVgpSA1ID4UwN4MbGC0mhykg/s200/7+swans+a+swimin.png" width="135" /></a> </div>
<br />
And in 2013 I <i>wrote</i> 5 manuscripts, including the upcoming DECEPTIVE INNOCENCE series which will be released on January 14th.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTJcIEqJRPbs5S082FrU6Rn5WjaXpHblBJQzr7qqiFi0U5LLMmfPIoBFNrtYg7ex8oX1kregpox2o-qiarAc5n8jPl0IPqts2ujBrrR3i8c69nNkslPFm8mQCAbauQs86WnROgQ/s1600/deceptiveinnocence_series.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTJcIEqJRPbs5S082FrU6Rn5WjaXpHblBJQzr7qqiFi0U5LLMmfPIoBFNrtYg7ex8oX1kregpox2o-qiarAc5n8jPl0IPqts2ujBrrR3i8c69nNkslPFm8mQCAbauQs86WnROgQ/s400/deceptiveinnocence_series.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So maybe I shouldn't have to walk into a bank to remind myself of how much has changed. Maybe I should just look out my window and watch my son play with our new rescue dog in our yard.<br />
<br />
2013 really has been a big year and as it draws to a close I feel the need to celebrate. And I want to celebrate with the people who made it all happen for me: My readers.<br />
<br />
So this is what we're going to do: On Tuesday, December 31st JUST ONE NIGHT will be released in paperback. At noon on every Tuesday leading up to that date I'm going to give away an autographed copy of JUST ONE NIGHT and then on December 31st I'm going to give away three $100 Visa giftcards, which will feature the cover of one of the books I published this year or one that I will be publishing next month. That way we can start 2014 off on the right foot, together.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj02Cwfsa5Q1e6CiLZb_93DJ65bgmpB7_9ABlwIUNZ2qPTvzFNuIME-JMBCRi_HvnJEd2xLUDGdBSgeaC083dGDO0zfNPo2iW98Na1i9kM1co-LBGFZR7gFiHxuDDuy7F6ItPlX4w/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-12-06+at+6.23.41+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj02Cwfsa5Q1e6CiLZb_93DJ65bgmpB7_9ABlwIUNZ2qPTvzFNuIME-JMBCRi_HvnJEd2xLUDGdBSgeaC083dGDO0zfNPo2iW98Na1i9kM1co-LBGFZR7gFiHxuDDuy7F6ItPlX4w/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-12-06+at+6.23.41+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Here's how to enter:<br />
Facebook or Tweet a quote from one of the four stories I published this year with the hashtag #SophieK for the Sophie story or #JON for any of the JUST ONE NIGHT books and tag me in the post. You can enter once a day, every day until December 31st.<br />
<br />
That's it. It's that easy. Quote a book, win a book...and maybe more. I owe you guys a lot so I really hope you join me in this little end-of-the-year celebration.<br />
<br />
Together, we've come a long way.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-9659983801372943662013-12-04T12:00:00.000-08:002013-12-04T12:00:02.515-08:00good news, Good News & MORE GOOD NEWS!!!I have so much good news it's a little hard to know where to begin! I guess I'll start with the most immediate information:<br />
<br />
Today Amazon is releasing a new <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Swans-Shooting-Christmas-Short-ebook/dp/B00FRLSC7A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386140731&sr=8-1&keywords=kyra+davis+seven">Holiday Sophie short story</a>! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROUQp5RUbOvrPTtrMmZU3nnqBUe_O0yAPyBPZAhyphenhyphenTCuyjOnC0F3VoBCuuGvnlkcbwxY-eZj4Q61VcLZZFf1eeMfL8HEYmCQhhuZ9R38Q6GWsXBZQqqsqILkzoYjyLOImUg7vC_Q/s1600/7+swans+a+swimin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROUQp5RUbOvrPTtrMmZU3nnqBUe_O0yAPyBPZAhyphenhyphenTCuyjOnC0F3VoBCuuGvnlkcbwxY-eZj4Q61VcLZZFf1eeMfL8HEYmCQhhuZ9R38Q6GWsXBZQqqsqILkzoYjyLOImUg7vC_Q/s320/7+swans+a+swimin.png" width="217" /></a></div>
<br />
Sophie gets into the Holiday spirit....well, I guess it's more like she's dragged into the Holiday spirit by her sister Leah but still, she gets there and as soon as she does people start dying. And then Sophie starts putting herself in harms way because, well, she's Sophie. In fact, all the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KillerFictionWriters">Killer Fiction</a> authors have written a holiday short story which means you get a full <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_396512942_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1001916331&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=1GRS77VPQX3YW4NT17WD&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1684449122&pf_rd_i=7853494011">12 DAYS OF KILLER CHRISTMAS</a> (or 12 stories to treat yourself to on the last night of Chanukah). <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_396512942_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1001916331&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=1GRS77VPQX3YW4NT17WD&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1684449122&pf_rd_i=7853494011">Check them all out on Amazon</a>!! I know a lot of you have been asking for a full length Sophie book and if this does well then chances are you'll get it pretty soon. And for those of you who have never met Sophie before, this is a good (and inexpensive) introduction for the low-low price of $1.99 (less than 1/2 the price of a light Venti eggnog Frappucino with an add shot and extra whipped cream...Sophie's current drink of choice).<br />
<br />
And then there's THIS:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdwea1NQjLUb6jaFpZdKcM02ILj4kg6AZ0yZlFpDugD9YC0LKOQjqDb-roF-Mj95ra9wbjOO2hSOAX0McXZ3mQit4kwOOybH58lF7RcelTIvYbM45l0msGmAGy4lwHf0SJ61I2w/s1600/Just+One+Night+Books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdwea1NQjLUb6jaFpZdKcM02ILj4kg6AZ0yZlFpDugD9YC0LKOQjqDb-roF-Mj95ra9wbjOO2hSOAX0McXZ3mQit4kwOOybH58lF7RcelTIvYbM45l0msGmAGy4lwHf0SJ61I2w/s320/Just+One+Night+Books.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>
The paperback of<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Kyra-Davis/dp/1476730601/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1386124102&sr=1-6"> JUST ONE NIGHT</a> will be released on December 31st just in time for 2014! And it is already getting a truly impressive reception!! It will be carried by all your major bookstores, Target, Walmart and many of your local grocery stores. In other words, it will be EVERYWHERE! And the reviews that are coming in are SPECTACULAR!! Publisher's Weekly gave it a starred review!! To my knowledge, PW has never given a starred review to a book of this genre. They often don't even bother to review novels in this genre at all, but they LOVED <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Kyra-Davis/dp/1476762732/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1386124102&sr=1-6">JUST ONE NIGHT</a>! They said, and I'm quoting:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"Frequent explicit erotic encounters and fantasies keep this page-turner crackling with intensity. Davis (the Sophie Katz series) skillfully creates an uplifting story in which sex is presented both as freedom and as a metaphor for power, and where raw chemistry is the clear winner over bland complacency."</i></b></blockquote>
I swear to God, if I had paid someone to write this it couldn't have been better. Ever since I started writing I've been longing for a starred review from Publisher's Weekly!!! And then, as if that wasn't enough, Romantic Times gave <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Kyra-Davis-ebook/dp/B00EWWLKQ0/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-6&qid=1386124102">JUST ONE NIGHT</a> 4 1/2 stars!!! They said (and I'll quote again):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"Davis's prose is beautiful and her sex scenes both creative and hot."</i></b></blockquote>
That's the best review I've EVER gotten from RT! Yes, I've gotten a 4 star before but they take their 4 1/2 stars seriously (they don't give 5 stars anymore). So this is HUGE!!!<br />
<br />
And then there's THIS!:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoQZQul5EcFfFyqivLL0dt79rbbzYtDdl0nngYCuyRugHs1o4q00u_VV3J_eiKk0iZvPXdueR_OSBP_2bkmUY7TNhzvihAepEuix_NalbKFqfRfw5jFbwAFC7-mRhyQ5bEP5FTQ/s1600/DeceptiveInnocence_series+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoQZQul5EcFfFyqivLL0dt79rbbzYtDdl0nngYCuyRugHs1o4q00u_VV3J_eiKk0iZvPXdueR_OSBP_2bkmUY7TNhzvihAepEuix_NalbKFqfRfw5jFbwAFC7-mRhyQ5bEP5FTQ/s320/DeceptiveInnocence_series+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I have a trilogy of new novellas coming out starting January 13th! <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deceptive-Innocence-Part-One-Pure-ebook/dp/B00DA98SXE/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386124102&sr=1-5&keywords=kyra+davis">DECEPTIVE INNOCENCE</a>!! Three short books to start out this new series. And the covers are AMAZING! Can't tell you how much I love S&S for coming up with this! And it was even in the <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/just-one-night-author-kyra-658677">Hollywood Reporter</a>!!<br />
<br />
So yeah, life is great. I hope you stick with me for all these new adventures. Your support over the years is what got me here. I'll never forget that. Not. Ever. So now is <i>our </i>time. Let's celebrate together!<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-63926517853252817882013-11-19T10:53:00.000-08:002013-11-19T12:20:09.377-08:00Quote EnvyWe all suffer from it. It's a jealousy we can't let go of. It's not something that can be given or sold. If Freud was around he'd have a name for the condition. But since he's not I'll have to step up to the plate and name it myself:<br />
<br />
All writers have Quote Envy.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ofQ5gRNr3nksQyhAO8sgGfk6QZdrymhCOXcDGSZMxoKHCLLgq3f8iPpiZH8GwQ_ITNu_Abv8WnIxMLNxCQa2vp6D2-rQzbcLVhOwy8l1KW_U_63GskET9J_Y5-9KsyZfZxMIug/s1600/quote-envy-is-everywhere-who-is-without-envy-and-most-people-are-unaware-or-unashamed-of-being-envious-t-s-eliot-314781.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ofQ5gRNr3nksQyhAO8sgGfk6QZdrymhCOXcDGSZMxoKHCLLgq3f8iPpiZH8GwQ_ITNu_Abv8WnIxMLNxCQa2vp6D2-rQzbcLVhOwy8l1KW_U_63GskET9J_Y5-9KsyZfZxMIug/s400/quote-envy-is-everywhere-who-is-without-envy-and-most-people-are-unaware-or-unashamed-of-being-envious-t-s-eliot-314781.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
It happens all the time. We'll be reading a book, the newspaper, watching TV or a movie and then suddenly someone says something so perfect that we fall back in our seat, shocked. Our first reaction is not, "Wow, that was beautifully stated." (which is undoubtedly the immediate reaction of non-writers). Oh no, our first thought is: "Damn it! I wish I had written that!" As the years go by we may occasionally be reminded of that quote and our reaction will <i>never </i>change.<br />
<br />
It happens to me all the time. Like when I was watching an episode of <a href="http://www.hbo.com/veep">Veep</a> over a year ago. One of the characters (Reid) had been trying to get White House liaison, Jonah, to spill the President's secrets to him so he could feed them to the VP. The VP acted on the information only to discover that the information was completely wrong. Reid apologized for mistakenly misleading her, explaining, "I was trying to use Jonah for intelligence!"<br />
<br />
And she responded:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>"You were trying to use <i>Jonah </i>for intelligence? That's like using a croissant as a dildo. It doesn't get the job done and <i>it makes a big mess</i>!!"</b></blockquote>
<br />
Anyone who has read my <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/sophie-katz-mysteries.html">Sophie books</a> knows, that line was <i>designed </i>for my character Dena. And now every time I write a Sophie book I will always bitterly think about how much I'd <i>love </i>to plagiarize that line! Why couldn't I have thought of it first?<br />
<br />
Then there was that time when I turned on the radio only to discover that <a href="http://www.joefrank.com/">Joe Frank</a> was reading from his story, <i>A Life Well Lived </i>on <a href="http://www.kcrw.com/">KCRW</a>. This particular piece was about a failed relationship and at some point in the story the woman tells her former lover:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>"I made my home inside of you, and now that our relationship has ended, I feel homeless."</b></blockquote>
<br />
I mean, Oh. My. GOD! What an amazing line! I guarantee you that if I had written those words into a romance novel it would be the #1 highlighted quote on everybody's Kindle. But alas, it's not to be. Instead it's part of a story that's filled with so many perfect sentences this one barely feels special.<br />
<br />
Or sometimes I find myself envious of authors who make wise and cutting observations. Take this quote from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Teeth-A-Novel-P-S/dp/B002WTC9UQ">Toby Barlow's Sharp Teeth</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>"Yes, liquor is the thin white coat of paint<br />you wash over the cracks in your foundation.<br />Makes any rotten house livable for a few hours"</b> </blockquote>
<br />
In two sentences Barlow described why people turn to drink more effectively than any full length article I've ever read. And like Frank's story, Barlow's novel is filled with amazing lines that I wish I could snag from him.<br />
<br />
In the end, these little statements plugged into scripts and manuscripts are little flashes of genius. They represent their authors' potential and reflect their ability to see connections between things that, on the surface, appear to be unrelated. And when people read or hear the lines they think, "Why yes, of course!" Hiding the cracks in a rotten house = drinking away depression. Heartbreak = homelessness. Trying to use stupid people for intelligence = using a croissant as a dildo. Now that they say it, it all seems so obvious!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg17FKQQGsOtEqFZVQdbzdwz7an3601Jzj1TgdY5ye6XqujDKQAH7baibyeA2yd-0fUcSNfCv3d9nCRFrNejLmzQ4QZ41jsjqBwDVvrJH7KfYUb3A_-UySNmQQcAnJc8ruuuTlJA/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg17FKQQGsOtEqFZVQdbzdwz7an3601Jzj1TgdY5ye6XqujDKQAH7baibyeA2yd-0fUcSNfCv3d9nCRFrNejLmzQ4QZ41jsjqBwDVvrJH7KfYUb3A_-UySNmQQcAnJc8ruuuTlJA/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
But as envious as I am, I would be devastated if I thought that I would never again come across a sentence I wanted to steal. These quotations inspire me and perhaps more importantly, they challenge me. It makes me want to come up with lines that are so good it will make other authors fantasize about plagiarism. Every once in a while I surprise myself with a great line and then I'll lean back and say, "Yep, that's getting highlighted on readers' Kindles. <i>That's </i>a line that will inspire Quote Envy."<br />
<br />
In the end, inspiring Quote Envy in other writers = living the dream. <br />
<br />
So now I turn the question to you: What quotes have haunted you over the years? Inspire me.<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-73526225625278503762013-11-11T13:00:00.000-08:002013-11-11T13:00:05.434-08:00So Many Changes!You may have noticed that I haven't written in a while. Part of that is because I've just been swamped and crazed with deadlines. To quote J.D. Salinger, "I'm up to my ears in unwritten words." <br />
<br />
The other is that I'm just not sure what to blog about. In the past I've written about my parenting experiences, my dating life and my struggles as a writer. All three of those areas of my life have changed so dramatically I am no longer sure of how best to approach them here.<br />
<br />
When you're the parent of a young child all of your kid's experiences are your experiences too. Your child is so connected to your every move you frequently have to remind yourself that yes, the doctor really did cut the umbilical cord. I know there are people who are very reticent about writing about their children at any stage of their life but in the past I didn't have too big of a problem with it. I was recounting events and recording a shared history that my son wouldn't even remember if I didn't tell him about it.<br />
<br />
But as your child gets older your connection to him, while still strong, is a little more distant. At a certain age your children start to do things without you. They get to know people you don't know. Their experiences become increasingly theirs and decreasingly yours. My son's fourteen now and I no longer feel like I have the right to write about him in the way I used to. It would simply be inappropriate and it would be an intrusion. I suppose I could write about how I feel about this new phase but even there I have to be more careful. I don't think this is the right place to delve into how I feel about his shaving anymore than a mother of a girl should blog about how she feels about her daughter's menstruation. It's just not cool. I know that there's a way to approach this that <i>is </i>"cool" and it involves getting my son's permission before posting anything and whatnot but I'm still trying to work out how all that works.<br />
<br />
As for my dating life...well, I'm not dating, I'm engaged. Rod posted a blog here about two and a half months ago detailing various aspects of how we found our way back to each other and why we're so well suited. With such public declarations from him you'd think that I'd be writing about my relationship nonstop. But oddly enough my instinct is to become more private about my love life rather than less so. This is a relationship that I'm going to have for my entire life and I want to hold it close and sort of, protect it from over-exposure. Besides, hearts and flowers are wonderful but relationships are a little like people, what makes them interesting is their little imperfections or, as Kasie would call them, <i>silks. </i>You know, those little variants in the ruby that make it different from all the other rubies. Those silks are the reason we fall in love with all literary super couples, from Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester to Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy. It's the quirks in both the individual characters and the relationships that make them romantic and interesting. It's why we root for them. I know what quirks Rod and I have that make us unique and I can tell you that we definitely know how to keep one another on our toes. But this isn't fiction and it feels wrong to spill the details of our love story, silks and all, onto a webpage for the consumption of strangers. I could leave out the silks and just give you the hearts and flowers, but then that's boring.<br />
<br />
Lastly I could tell you about my struggles as a writer. I definitely still have them. I've had four deadlines to meet since August 1st and I was late on meeting half of them. I continue to work on Hollywood projects in addition to working on all my book projects and that can be both an exciting and frustrating process. But let's face it, my struggles just aren't what they used to be. The question is no longer how can I get another book published. It's what publishing project do I have the time and inclination to take on. Complaining about that feels arrogant. And to muse about concerns I may have about my financial future while I'm living in my fiancé's multistoried house in one of the more esteemed areas of Los Angeles...well, that just feels down right obnoxious and insensitive. I'm sure I'll write future posts about what it's like being a middle class girl in an upper class world (and for the record, no matter what happens to my financial circumstance I will <i>always </i>be a middle class girl) but I have to get a better handle on it before I can clearly write about it.<br />
<br />
So going forward I'm REALLY going to try to write more often and I'll definitely have another blog up by next week. But when I disappear for a while or avoid subjects I used to embrace just know that I'm sorting through the vast number of changes in my life and trying to find new ways to stay connected to all of my readers. Because while my relationships with my family and partner are essential to who I am my relationship with all of you has also been extraordinarily important to me. So many of you have been with me since Sophie was first introduced on the world stage. That was back in 2004 so now we're practically family.<br />
<br />
So try to bear with me. Just because I'm not writing here doesn't mean I'm not thinking about all of you. You're my readers and as such, you complete me.<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-3946519713720527232013-09-17T11:59:00.001-07:002013-09-17T14:15:29.834-07:00Stormy with a 100% chance of HappinessYes, I know, long time no talk. As usual I've been crazy with deadlines plus I'm trying to plan a wedding (note that I said<i> trying</i> because I don't know that I've been very successful at it so far). Then there's the work involved in melding two families together and my fiancé is selling his house (which we're all currently living in) and we're looking for a new one. And I'm trying to help my son adjust to high school and <i>I'm</i> trying to adjust to having a teenager...so yeah, there's just a lot of stuff happening all at once.<br />
<br />
But despite all the craziness, these are fantastic problems to have. I have deadlines because I have work. Lots and lots of work, and it's work that I love. I'm planning a wedding because the man I love proposed. There are two families to meld because we both have wonderful children whom we love. We're looking for a new house because we're making a home together. I'm helping my son adjust to high school because he made it into a really great academic school.<br />
<br />
As for adjusting to having a teenager? Well, anyone who has raised a truly rambunctious boy knows that just having them <i>make</i> <i>it</i> to their teenage years feels like a huge accomplishment.<br />
<br />
When you feel like the world is pulling you in 12 different directions it's sometimes hard to remember how lucky you are. Sometimes you forget that the reason demands are being placed on you is that you are truly <i>in demand. </i>On both a personal and professional level I am wanted and loved.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi62VgFvjb93ot9mrYv00Fd8GZkd0CwMcq9MsNvE8zRfgfIDeBclud32Mu4n5z3ZFQDmlWIUT2qSmS4Kx0qJwgn8Q60ltekvo1YyB1mn626INp7BLfgKO6zMIaD-36Sf9CthjePwA/s1600/stress-at-work.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi62VgFvjb93ot9mrYv00Fd8GZkd0CwMcq9MsNvE8zRfgfIDeBclud32Mu4n5z3ZFQDmlWIUT2qSmS4Kx0qJwgn8Q60ltekvo1YyB1mn626INp7BLfgKO6zMIaD-36Sf9CthjePwA/s200/stress-at-work.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
But when I'm on several insanely tight deadline handed down to me by a few different editors and my son pulls me away from my computer because he needs help with his English homework and then twenty minutes later we all have to clear out because the realtor has arrived and she's showing the house and then my fiancé wants me to rush over to another open house because he thinks I'll like the place and I'm getting emails from wedding venues that I know I don't have time to answer and the school is sending me notes reminding me that every parent needs to volunteer X amount of hours toward the school's improvement...well, in those moments it's hard to remember that all this is <i>good. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
And yet it really, really is. And to help remind myself of that I've tried to find little ways to give back. I've given a few dollars away to various nonprofits that I believe in. I've helped a couple of friend's with their Kickstarter campaigns, I take the time to call friends when they have successes or set-backs in their lives (although admittedly there are times when I could be better about that). I make my fiancé coffee every morning and bring it to him while he's going through his fifty-million emails. I find (read "create") time to occasionally take my son to a museum and yes, every once in a while I make everybody dinner.<br />
<br />
Obviously those are all little things and they cost me a little time (which I don't have much of) and sometimes a little money (which I have enough of...but not enough to feel really secure). But these are the things that help sooth me. It's in these little details that I'm reminded of how good everything is. I'm reminded that even though I'm in the middle of a...well sort of a storm, it's a summer storm. It's crazy but it's also exciting and spectacularly beautiful.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinqldjeDdk0Htjrv23rYRR30rbCVYRai_yCbyAlB0y4pwTTCGeJa3xrjmL3b12ox2vt3k2odNWmbHFbLiwhE2Fr0F_bN5u9om1dF2sPVG5P5edn6YFapNbqCW6HW7hx9C3z3EO8Q/s1600/grand+canyon.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinqldjeDdk0Htjrv23rYRR30rbCVYRai_yCbyAlB0y4pwTTCGeJa3xrjmL3b12ox2vt3k2odNWmbHFbLiwhE2Fr0F_bN5u9om1dF2sPVG5P5edn6YFapNbqCW6HW7hx9C3z3EO8Q/s1600/grand+canyon.jpeg" /></a></div>
<br />
So yeah, I'm seriously busy right now and I'm definitely stressed. There are times when I want the world to just stop and let me catch up.<br />
<br />
But I'm also genuinely happy. Of all the storms I've weathered in my life this one is my absolute favorite.<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-88756470288165404012013-08-22T11:30:00.002-07:002013-08-22T17:26:53.080-07:00I Am The Man Who Is Going To Marry Kyra Davis<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is what you call a hijacking.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I have taken over this blog for today. Kyra can use the break. Trust me. She
has been tucked away, fingers flying over her keyboard, pounding out her next
book (which is one of the most riveting reads I have had in years, by the way)
– meeting deadlines the way James Bond diffuses nuclear weapons at the end of
his movies. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
And today is her birthday – and so this is my gift to
her. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Who am I?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I am the man who is going to marry Kyra Davis. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You have read about me in this blog before – although my
name was never used (Rod Lurie, by the way). I am the guy who had the on again-off-again-on again-off again
-on again-off again- on again- off again- and then finally <i>on again </i>whirlwind with her.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You have also heard about some of the other men who she
dated during the “off again” times – but, I am the one, in the end, who now wakes
up with her and will do so for the rest of my life.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I am a filmmaker. She’s a novelist. And that’s a big advantage. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
We are both creative people and we both need creative
people in our lives. Our
relationship has been filled with great romance, that is for sure – but few
things make us feel closer than when we are both writing at the same time, when
we advise one another, when we get excited by the perfect sentences and perfect
scenes we see in one another’s work.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Kyra tells me that she knew she could fall in love with
me when she saw one of my films. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
And I knew that I could fall for Kyra when I first read
one of her novels.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
On our first date (not really a date – it was our first
meeting off of Match.com which is more like a job interview) she brought me one of her Sophie Katz
books <i>Vows, Vendettas and a Little Black
Dress</i>. Now, this is not the
kind of book I normally would be reading. But that night I nonetheless began it
.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I was in
love. But it wasn’t with Kyra. Not yet. I fell in love with Sophie Katz. She made me laugh, Sophie did, and she turned me on and she
was beautiful, or at least so I imagined.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to create a
character that other people can fall in love with? Do you know how much <i>talent</i> that takes?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Without even having kissed her I decided that I wanted
Kyra in my life. Her talent moved
me that much. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Kyra is a
gorgeous woman. So that
helped. I admit it. I am a man,
after all. But I have dated and directed some of the most beautiful women in
the world. So, that certainly wasn’t everything.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Here I had found a person who has the beauty of, say, a
young Elizabeth Taylor – elegant and sexy- but also an ability to write like
some of my favorite authors – Philip Roth, Larry McMurtry, Nora Ephron . I had become impossibly infatuated with
Kyra’s talent.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Talent is sexy.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Talent is an aphrodisiac.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Talent attracts talent</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Last January Kyra and I broke up. I put that on myself. There were many issues swirling in my
life that made me think I didn’t have the wherewithal to be there for her son –
who is remarkable and brilliant and a delight (I have two kids myself).</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I pretty much knew I had made a mistake the minute I left
her at her apartment having told
her that she was the love of my life.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
“For your
sake I hope that isn’t true.” That’s what she said to me.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A little while later I went to Atlanta to shoot a pilot
for CBS. I wasn’t dating and
didn’t want to date – Kyra was too tough an act to follow.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It was in
Atlanta that I found out that JUST ONE NIGHT had done so well that it had made
the New York Times best seller list. It was a categorical triumph. The reviews
from readers were gushingly heartfelt.
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I had been with her as she wrote the first two of the JUST ONE NIGHT trilogy. They could have been a standard issue erotica, but instead
it became a great study of human behavior- with characters organically and
beautifully evolving and arcing (and there <i>are</i>
great great sex scenes). I have had some critical success myself, but I am
nowhere near the writer she is. To see the pages flow from her, to see her mind
racing (literally <i>see</i> it racing. I
can tell when she is thinking creatively by her eye movement), was exhilarating
and inspiring.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You have to understand how demanding her deadlines
were. If you comprehended how much
time pressure she was under (and is under) and then considered the quality of
the writing, you’d have to come to the conclusion that Kyra Davis is a kind of
genius. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You also have to understand that for all her success,
Kyra, like most authors, was struggling.
The truth is that every book she wrote was a triumph of sort, but they
were also a Sisyphusian
exercise. She lived in a tiny
apartment, drove a clunker (sorry, babe, truth is truth) , and put almost every
dime she made into her son’s private school.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
And now, success.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Here I was
in Atlanta and not with Kyra. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I wasn’t
there to celebrate her triumph. I
wasn’t there to celebrate something that I felt very invested in. I wasn’t
there to celebrate her talent<i> – the very
talent I had so fallen in love with.
<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
At this point, Kyra was dating another man. So, I
couldn’t even call her, really. (I sent her an email of congratulations). </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It was difficult not to talk to her. You can’t imagine how proud I was.
Not being able to express that
pride sort of diminished me. It hurt.
And, you know, what I most wanted to tell her was “I told you so”. I always knew that talent like this eventually brings great
rewards – especially when it is compounded by perseverance.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I needed her back. It was selfish, but I did. I needed
her beauty back. I needed her kindness back. I needed her <i>talent</i> back in my life.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A few weeks after I got back from Atlanta. The relationship she was in ebbed out.
She wasn’t ready to come back to me. Not right away. She had to know that this time it was for real.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Well, she is living with me now. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So is her son. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
She has a ring. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
We have a wedding date. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
And I am writing scripts at the same time she is writing
her next book for all of you.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Her talent is all around me.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It’s for real.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><script type="text/javascript">
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kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-90061458197026357312013-08-05T16:27:00.001-07:002013-08-05T16:27:25.177-07:00Paying Paul Without Robbing Peter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-G0BcVBSjc_y6CoMVz-elIM1hHApPwRXJPVFt6TLAwc7lMsUgjg7erjIe_0Hw2rXpPU8xd3BQ8wHvMapo6B0kIDRFVpAXPPZAmqOQ-G4ILXgjHViPijNm6o7FA8Y8_FAmdYwejQ/s1600/new-car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-G0BcVBSjc_y6CoMVz-elIM1hHApPwRXJPVFt6TLAwc7lMsUgjg7erjIe_0Hw2rXpPU8xd3BQ8wHvMapo6B0kIDRFVpAXPPZAmqOQ-G4ILXgjHViPijNm6o7FA8Y8_FAmdYwejQ/s1600/new-car.jpg" /></a></div>
So yesterday I leased a new car.<br />
<br />
Maybe that doesn't sound shocking to you but for me it's rather monumental. I have never had a new car, EVER. I have always bought used cars, frequently from family members or friends, occasionally from strangers and once from a VERY small, independent used car dealer (I think there were a total of ten cars on the lot). I've never walked into a new car dealership and said, "I want a new car."<br />
<br />
When I got my divorce over a decade ago I didn't think I would EVER be able to do that. Trying to financially rebuild from the ruin of my first marriage was daunting...at times it seemed impossible.<br />
<br />
And the truth is, until recently I didn't have much income coming in. There were some years that were significantly better than others but not so much better that they compensated for the tougher times. My economic challenges were somewhat compounded by the fact that my son has never been the kind of kid who's well served by the public school system (and trust me, we tried it more than once).* But paying private school tuition, even with financial aide, was insanely difficult. I did it but it came very close to breaking me.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwHEE3qN6MSVpmKp-iGleJU3Tz25QOEivlpXP0MEAoarm-DTYz27YMfIqAlFgpUcRv6OQVLZjwSHKN6wi7kKiN_i6NyKyu-TQ3bLKKgSU2cQTsYnswvY9Y2SDTFguZcLnoU5V79w/s1600/imgres.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwHEE3qN6MSVpmKp-iGleJU3Tz25QOEivlpXP0MEAoarm-DTYz27YMfIqAlFgpUcRv6OQVLZjwSHKN6wi7kKiN_i6NyKyu-TQ3bLKKgSU2cQTsYnswvY9Y2SDTFguZcLnoU5V79w/s200/imgres.jpeg" width="128" /></a></div>
And then things just...changed. Most of that change is due to <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html">JUST ONE NIGHT</a>. The phenomenal success of those novellas has turned my life upside down...in a good way. My finances are now officially in order. So when I walked into the Toyota dealership and said, "I think I'd like to lease a Prius." They checked out my income and all the rest of it and said, "Okay."<br />
<br />
"Okay." NEVER thought a car dealership would say "Okay," to me, just like that. I was totally ready to bring a co-signer on board. But I didn't have to. Not at all.<br />
<br />
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not rich. I'm nowhere near the threshold I'd have to cross to be part of the infamous-but-coveted-Top-Two-Percent. But I'm not struggling either...and for me that's completely new. Every time I'm presented with evidence that I can now live a comfortable, middle class lifestyle, complete with a reliable car and yearly vacation, I am literally sent into a state of shock for about ten minutes. Frequently it's the little things that get me. Like when my laptop started to crash with increasing regularity I bought a brand new Macbook. Just like that. I didn't have to charge it and pay it off over months and months. Nope. I just bought it outright. And not the cheapest one but the one I actually wanted. Or how 'bout the fact that I can now donate a little something to my favorite nonprofit. Or that I can <i>lease a new car!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
But the thing is, I actually <i>needed</i> a new car. My old car is 11 years old and has well over 200,000 miles on it. I'm practically on a first name basis with all the folks over at AAA. So this wasn't a luxury purchase. And note that I didn't get a Tesla, I got a Prius.<br />
<br />
And I shop at Trader Joe's rather than the notoriously expensive Whole Foods. And when I saw that ADORABLE Marc Jacobs handbag on sale at a local boutique I didn't buy it (that one was a little painful). I'm incredibly grateful that I'm no longer on the brink of bankruptcy and I'm so THRILLED that I'm no longer robbing Peter to pay Paul (in this case Paul would be a nickname for my son's private school). But my success is so new it still feels a little tenuous. I just know too many authors who went out and bought Mercedes after the runaway success of a book only to have that Mercedes repossessed three years later. Hopefully my financial good fortune will last for a while but no matter what I need to be careful and I need to ease into this new reality.<br />
<br />
In a weird way, I don't fully know how <i>not </i>to struggle.<br />
<br />
But I gotta tell ya, even while being careful, I'm having a lot of fun figuring it out. My Prius <i>rocks</i>.<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
* <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Before I start getting angry emails, this is not a slight against public schools, I'm just saying that it doesn't fit every kid's emotional and cognitive needs. So everybody chill ;-)</i></span>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-75365870639161898402013-07-02T12:07:00.000-07:002013-07-02T12:59:19.762-07:00So I've Been A Little Busy...<script type="text/javascript">
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I know, I know, I've been MIA for years...well, maybe not years but definitely weeks. I do have a good excuse though:<br />
<br />
Deadlines. Deadlines in both my professional and personal life.<br />
<br />
On
the personal side I've been in the process of moving. As of yesterday I
have officially moved out of my old apartment that I've been in for six
years. It was definitely time but a lot of memories collect
in six years...in fact a lot of <i>stuff </i>collects in six years. You wouldn't think I could have so many things in such a small place...and yet.<br />
<br />
So now that I've packed everything up I just have to...unpack it. I'm getting there, really I am, but it's a process.<br />
<br />
On
the professional level....well gosh, where do I begin? I am going to be
writing more books in the same vein as the<a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html"> Just One Night trilogy</a> for
Simon & Schuster. The first novella is due to them on August
1st, the second one is due September 1st, the third one is due October
15th and then I'll have 6 months to write the next full length book
(this one will be 350-400 pages, so not a novella).<br />
<br />
But
wait! There's more. I'm going to be plotting out more Sophie! Both a
full length Sophie book and a short holiday Sophie story <i>this month</i>. The short story, which will be published by Amazon as part of a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/FictionKiller">Killer Fiction</a> Holiday Collection, is due to them on October 1st. Not sure about when I'll have the book out.<br />
<br />
And there's some Hollywood stuff that I'm working on too. I'll tell you more about that later.<br />
<br />
So yeah, I've been kinda busy.<br />
<br />
Which is NOT to say that it's been all work and no play. Only a
few weeks ago I was at the <a href="http://www.criticschoice.com/television-awards/">Critic's Choice Television Awards</a>. I walked
the red carpet...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5iv4Q1UkqSIWgBJMdyLmGljPykltK8xQxAPeRmLOJQSSx7CcW1UMFUr2zjCItA4MjwL9-_K5qUChgG2tZs5Mdq2jBufAlYctKvaO4N-okCIIlV6rL36UEXZE8_SXVKz0XQkmk1w/s612/red+carpet+critic%27s+choice+awards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5iv4Q1UkqSIWgBJMdyLmGljPykltK8xQxAPeRmLOJQSSx7CcW1UMFUr2zjCItA4MjwL9-_K5qUChgG2tZs5Mdq2jBufAlYctKvaO4N-okCIIlV6rL36UEXZE8_SXVKz0XQkmk1w/s320/red+carpet+critic%27s+choice+awards.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
where I met Angela Bassett (who is <i>incredibly </i>cool)...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYiFqbTrpkQuMNU-xEAk-zUjMWpxJC-Efh0Mv_XvDUjkozsLmtfNpNSyr30rOYlMkWId74ERxGAVijqCYOY-NqfUb0amM88L2iZfY2Bxf4r0KKSR2CTW1qlpDqrNXFSVKH_ZKNNg/s612/Angela+Bassett+and+me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYiFqbTrpkQuMNU-xEAk-zUjMWpxJC-Efh0Mv_XvDUjkozsLmtfNpNSyr30rOYlMkWId74ERxGAVijqCYOY-NqfUb0amM88L2iZfY2Bxf4r0KKSR2CTW1qlpDqrNXFSVKH_ZKNNg/s320/Angela+Bassett+and+me.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
And then there was that very cool birthday party thrown for/by a friend in Malibu where I met <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0609845/">Anson Mount</a> who was in full <a href="http://www.amctv.com/shows/hell-on-wheels">HELL ON WHEELS</a> old-West-scruffiness...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxrUBKkEnHkT9ABXxonUOCH91dkPwBb5_b1HIlBZoW6PfM-SWqPKtf6zloTWKvK1pwtzPS_6UEpNBLnKxOEGXR8FvYOtr2swfR0kN25t-QITRiChTyvqVuBDZ7LPq0v0DuX6gZHw/s1600/Anson+Mount+%2526+me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxrUBKkEnHkT9ABXxonUOCH91dkPwBb5_b1HIlBZoW6PfM-SWqPKtf6zloTWKvK1pwtzPS_6UEpNBLnKxOEGXR8FvYOtr2swfR0kN25t-QITRiChTyvqVuBDZ7LPq0v0DuX6gZHw/s320/Anson+Mount+%2526+me.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
But
as fun as those events were the party that I loved the most, the one
that will always live on in my memory, was my son's 14th birthday party.
His entire 8th grade class came and it meant SO much to
him to have all of them there.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtnE2k6VDYLdP4Dbot_qjzYdhwY1CytV5BrHllwK8SX5ZlbogJ_abbTETkthnfXWYoZ-bCfFeUYsqHQVNz20OYWCEcL8LyWMNGGZF69AMFn2hA2rxl7RuqCnVZRRzS-htZcB4Ow/s760/Isaac%2527s+party.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtnE2k6VDYLdP4Dbot_qjzYdhwY1CytV5BrHllwK8SX5ZlbogJ_abbTETkthnfXWYoZ-bCfFeUYsqHQVNz20OYWCEcL8LyWMNGGZF69AMFn2hA2rxl7RuqCnVZRRzS-htZcB4Ow/s320/Isaac%2527s+party.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
And how cool is it that the place I'm at
now has a fire-pit! The party was able to go well into the evening and
everybody had a spectacular time. My son was incredibly appreciative
and a little overwhelmed by how awesome the whole thing was. I don't
think he realized how well liked he is by all of his peers. It was truly
fabulous.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOROVHngXcJTm0_btwA1HJB4wmETgGsK11Mv-GXO_3tImYFPE960zuPlUsWZBezwP-ztJLjmo6jaHq4lQY8M5fj7wAl3fiK1EA8WaLFawtZ6RlRkJC2Uyyr_0fHeiZ5KWNJP3Hsw/s1600/Isaac%2527s+14th+B-Day+party+firepit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOROVHngXcJTm0_btwA1HJB4wmETgGsK11Mv-GXO_3tImYFPE960zuPlUsWZBezwP-ztJLjmo6jaHq4lQY8M5fj7wAl3fiK1EA8WaLFawtZ6RlRkJC2Uyyr_0fHeiZ5KWNJP3Hsw/s320/Isaac%2527s+14th+B-Day+party+firepit.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So that's it, that's what I was up to during the month of June. I promise to try to be better about writing here...but
in-between blogs send me lots of good writing vibes. I have a <i>lot </i>to get done!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-75629230450366350182013-06-06T00:00:00.000-07:002013-06-06T10:36:13.388-07:00A Celebration and a Contest!<script type="text/javascript">
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<br />
Today is a rather special day, a landmark really. Today, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B009K5LL5Y/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1370498791&sr=1-4&keywords=kyra+davis">JUST ONE NIGHT: THE STRANGER</a> has been in Amazon's top 100 for 100 days. I don't think I've ever even fantasized about that happening!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhNmfSeFDOpv0NVNts1EOtEUkvwvOmoKf1ylZwUMGYxStJgXJXXuC_emgWG5wtsy36hwHqW4rSQ7d9wy85SMTLwcJ34nAUVFQv6pcEGYvWepPWPXJLOVN3W_Tydrt4TuXpKOwnQ/s1600/top+100+days.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhNmfSeFDOpv0NVNts1EOtEUkvwvOmoKf1ylZwUMGYxStJgXJXXuC_emgWG5wtsy36hwHqW4rSQ7d9wy85SMTLwcJ34nAUVFQv6pcEGYvWepPWPXJLOVN3W_Tydrt4TuXpKOwnQ/s1600/top+100+days.jpg" /></a></div>
How many times did I see one of my books hit the Amazon's top 1500 and jump up and down with glee? But to reach Amazon's top 100, and <i>stay there?? </i>Are you kidding me? And just yesterday the <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_3?asin=B00CZDR01W&qid=1370498838&sr=1-3">JUST ONE NIGHT</a> audiobook was released!<br />
<br />
This is something that needs to be celebrated, and it needs to be celebrated with the people who made it happen. You.<br />
<br />
So here's the deal, today, and today only, <a href="http://twitter.com/_KyraDavis">Tweet</a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/KyraDavisAuthor%E2%80%8E">Facebook</a> a favorite quote from any of the <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html">JUST ONE NIGHT</a> books. Tag me in the post. Every time you do it I'll enter your name into a hat and tomorrow (June 7th 2013) at noon I'll draw a name at random and that person will win a $100 Amazon gift card.<br />
<br />
That's it. That's all you gotta do. Quote me, tag me, love me...well you don't have to love me, you can use me for my Amazon gift card, If you leave me after tonight I'll be hurt but in my heart I'll know...we'll always have Amazon.<br />
<br />
Contest ends at 11:59 pm June 6th 2013(in case you were unclear) and unfortunately I can only make this contest open to US residents. I promise to try to come up with something fun for my international readers soon.<br />
<br />
So are you ready? Set?<br />
<br />
Quote!<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-73377543225832295902013-05-29T15:21:00.000-07:002013-05-29T15:22:46.381-07:00The Fun Of Listening To A Book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAwqVLvaXmbYZcYEiNLNV_siQLhJlcMZxIaI06KgHt4xagzr8Lkrc6_p-iH-1ObjRRPwuEkAX3ztytT9oWDxEE11vcEi2SqSozatCE9PkkhD-QThNOqYdviu1gswzdaYmEn5v5sw/s1600/sex-murder-latte2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAwqVLvaXmbYZcYEiNLNV_siQLhJlcMZxIaI06KgHt4xagzr8Lkrc6_p-iH-1ObjRRPwuEkAX3ztytT9oWDxEE11vcEi2SqSozatCE9PkkhD-QThNOqYdviu1gswzdaYmEn5v5sw/s320/sex-murder-latte2.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
By the time I first found out that my <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/sophie-katz-mysteries.html">Sophie books</a> were going to be available as audiobooks the audio version of <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_2?asin=B002VAA3CM&qid=1369862994&sr=1-2">SEX, MURDER AND A DOUBLE LATTE</a> was already selling on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Murder-Double-Latte/dp/B000E21HKG/ref=sr_1_1_title_2_audd?ie=UTF8&qid=1369862956&sr=8-1&keywords=kyra+davis+sex%2C+murder+and+a+double+latte">Amazon</a>. My old publisher was kinda like that, they did lots of good things for me but sometimes they'd forget to tell me they were doing them. It was odd listening to my words being read by <a href="http://www.gabrazackman.com/">Gabra Zackman</a>, a woman I had never met before and knew nothing about. At first I was resistant to it. After all I already knew how my characters were supposed to sound and anyone else's interpretation of them seemed somehow wrong to me. But the more you listen to the book the easier it becomes to understand the appeal of this particular medium (especially if you have a narrator as fabulous as Gabra). She gently but firmly draws you into the whirlwind that is Sophie's life and immerses you in it. For many of my readers Gabra <b>IS</b> Sophie.<br />
<br />
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I didn't have any direct dealings with Gabra until I published <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_4?asin=B002V5J34G&qid=1369863576&sr=1-4">LUST, LOATHING AND A LITTLE LIP GLOSS</a>. She contacted me to let me know how happy she was that I had continued the Sophie series. For her, recording that book was like getting back together with old friends. I loved that because that is exactly what Gabra, through her voice and Sophie's words, has become to so many of my readers; a friend. A friend they can take with them on road trips, plane rides, to the gym or into their homes; a friend who will keep them company and tell them a story while their hands and eyes are occupied with other things<br />
<br />
When it came time to self-produce my latest Sophie audiobook I knew that Gabra had to be the reader. If I didn't have her on board I didn't even want to do it. Sophie fans needed the continuity of her voice. And so together, we produced the <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=pd_rsp_tl_6?asin=B00991NCME">VANITY, VENGEANCE & A WEEKEND IN VEGAS</a> audiobook. It was the first time either one of us had ever done something like this from scratch. She found us a studio in New York (where she's located) Audible.com helped get things set up and we went to work. The result was outstanding, as have been <a href="http://www.audible.com/listener/A1UC8XUEOBJI8W/Vanity-Vengeance-and-a-Weekend-In-Vegas/ref=pd_seeReview?asin=B00991NCME">the reviews</a>.<br />
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Once again, Gabra knocked it out of the park. I honestly can't wait to work with her again.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtqjHYKooeRhEUpGDBe6Y77ucczT_Krm2p_D5oV-pz12nzt-ZhMJUQvwbyC1Tevd0psd3JI7ltN7WR5A88KQJPrKsi8UvGYbLDekZib4c7USoIVrlZfC4qAhjafCjgGt7ImGNHew/s1600/Just+One+Night-+The+Stranger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtqjHYKooeRhEUpGDBe6Y77ucczT_Krm2p_D5oV-pz12nzt-ZhMJUQvwbyC1Tevd0psd3JI7ltN7WR5A88KQJPrKsi8UvGYbLDekZib4c7USoIVrlZfC4qAhjafCjgGt7ImGNHew/s200/Just+One+Night-+The+Stranger.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
And now I have <a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Just-One-Night/Kyra-Davis/9781442367173">JUST ONE NIGHT the audiobook</a> coming out on June 4th. It's <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html">all three novellas</a> together in one recording. Simon & Schuster recommended narrator <a href="http://www.audible.com/search/ref=sr_1_1_nsrch?searchNarrator=Grace+Grant&qid=1369864339&sr=1-1">Grace Grant</a> to tell Kasie's story. I look forward to introducing my readers to this new voice through my latest book and am truly interested in your thoughts about the recording itself. <a href="http://www.audible.com/">Audible</a> has been incredibly supportive of my work and I plan on producing with them again, certainly for Sophie and possibly for other books as well. Therefore your feedback is critical.<br />
<br />
In the days to come I'm going to have samples of my Sophie audiobooks up on my page and hopefully a sample of The JUST ONE NIGHT book as well. Next month (which is officially Audiobook Month) I'll have a contest that is connected to my audiobooks, so stay tuned for that.<br />
<br />
In the interim I want to thank all of my book listeners. Your enthusiasm and support have lifted every single one of my audiobooks to bestseller status. You've continued to recommend them to any one who will listen and you've made a friend of my characters and the women who read them. Thank you for that and I hope to continue to produce and help create work that makes those times when you're stuck in traffic a little more bearable.<br />
<br />
Because, at the risk of sounding cliché, that's what friends are for.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-6607969907935996502013-05-22T12:23:00.003-07:002013-05-22T12:23:41.568-07:00Binding Agreement: Once Again, I love the quotes you love!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglUFBPkGtkFcx2qhBhbD1J3tsLXwRXJ7BW0qz4ga-Fz8oQlsZfpFbtBROxSZIkIvG04p7cxP9vGTGY2Z_z1lXCXcDldLWzIKrasXAF_LXtFQ3so2OEADxhhsH1xBa_3RpMTmq7oQ/s1600/BINGING+AGREEMENT+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglUFBPkGtkFcx2qhBhbD1J3tsLXwRXJ7BW0qz4ga-Fz8oQlsZfpFbtBROxSZIkIvG04p7cxP9vGTGY2Z_z1lXCXcDldLWzIKrasXAF_LXtFQ3so2OEADxhhsH1xBa_3RpMTmq7oQ/s320/BINGING+AGREEMENT+3.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
The final installment of the <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html">JUST ONE NIGHT trilogy</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B008J4L2XI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top">BINDING AGREEMENT</a> has been out for two days now and the feedback I've been getting is spectacular! From the <a href="http://jessysbookclub.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/book-review-just-one-night-part-3-binding-agreement-kyra-davis/">blogger's reviews</a> to the<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/592334700"> readers reviews</a> to the emails and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/KyraDavisAuthor%E2%80%8E">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/_KyraDavis">Twitter</a> posts from fans of the trilogy...it's just been overwhelming in a really, really good way! And of course the BINDING AGREEMENT Facebook launch party was an absolute blast! If you didn't have a chance to attend you can still <a href="http://www.facebook.com/events/163705033805875/">go over and check out the posts</a>, from book quotes to stories of my own personal romance to photos of extraordinarily hot men...it's all there and it's not to be missed (particularly the photos of the men...trust me on this, you want to see these)!<br />
<br />
And speaking of book quotes, I am once again THRILLED by the book quotes people are highlighting on their Kindles. Knowing which words move my readers connects me to them in a way that wouldn't be possible otherwise. Currently the most highlighted quote is:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zones. We have to break the rules. And we have to discover the sensuality of fear. We need to face it, challenge it, dance with it."</i></blockquote>
To me this quote says so much about Robert, it speaks to both his dangerous nature and his seductive powers. Robert pulls Kasie out of her comfort zone in rather alarming ways but anyone who highlighted this quote understands why she allows him to do so. The way this man frames the issues, the way he defines his life and the life he would create...it may be wrong, but it's delectable.<br />
<br />
Another quote that's getting a lot of attention is this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Because disobedience was scary. It's always safer to do what you're told rather than blaze your own path. People find it comforting to follow other people's rules; they'll choose certain destruction over a risk that might lead to possible salvation. They cling to this idea that it could be worse and they're more terrified of that than they are attracted to the idea that it might be better."</i></blockquote>
This is another one from Robert and again, it speaks to why Kasie allows him to lead her on a dangerous path. Because the thing is, quite often, Robert Dade is <i>right</i>. Everything he says here is absolutely true. People do follow others into destruction rather than take risks that might lead to salvation. For many people, branching out on their own is the most terrifying thing they can think of so they stay in abusive relationships, horrible jobs and follow rules they know are immoral; all because they're more afraid of the possible horror of the unknown than they are of the certain horror of their current reality. Ironically if Kasie really understood the essence of what Robert was saying she'd know that, by his reasoning, she shouldn't be following his lead either. But it's confusing for students when a wise and beloved teacher points them toward the wrong path.<br />
<br />
And then there's this quote from Simone:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"All men are rabbits," she retorts, her eyes flying open. "They sniff around, fuck whatever's available and then they run off. Fucking rabbits. And we're Elmer Fudd, inadvertently blowing up our own lives while obsessively trying to hunt one down."</i></blockquote>
Okay, I LOVE that you're highlighting this because it means you share my humor. It's cliché to say it, but the best jokes are the ones that have some truth to them. Simone may be adventurous and enjoy sexual fantasies (and occasionally living them out) but she doesn't see the world through rose-colored glasses. She's a let's-call-a-spade-a-spade kinda girl.<br />
<br />
The last two most highlighted quotes just make me happy. One being the following:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Perhaps he's the moon and I'm the ocean, my tides being pulled to new heights by the force of his presence."</i></blockquote>
This represents the main motif of the book. Kasie comes to think of Robert as her moon, a man who can rise her tides, move her one way or another whether she wants him to or not...but while the ocean can't help but be directed by the moon it's the ocean that has the power. Native islanders may worship the moon but they fear and respect the ocean. Which leads us to one more frequently highlighted quote:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"A woman can have anything if she knows how to use what God gave her."</i></blockquote>
And that's the quintessence of the whole story. Kasie has the power now. The fact that so much of that power is a gift from Robert is less important than how Kasie eventually decides to wield it.<br />
<br />
I do hope you'll read the JUST ONE NIGHT trilogy to find out! <br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-84312059124833088962013-05-20T00:30:00.000-07:002013-05-20T00:30:04.057-07:00My Cup Runneth Over<script type="text/javascript">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigzMj4nBVzRO-nkcf4TAFJ25l8pK0uQMhWhC1uwvZI1RLzUyIh1rXa4wYEq15M6E504hM-tQjUqv-vtcBRewJ0RAAsV7m-qgJBZ0iHcCEDuWamE5xXaIPdKwlxZZLJS1efjaIJgQ/s1600/BINDING+AGREEMENT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigzMj4nBVzRO-nkcf4TAFJ25l8pK0uQMhWhC1uwvZI1RLzUyIh1rXa4wYEq15M6E504hM-tQjUqv-vtcBRewJ0RAAsV7m-qgJBZ0iHcCEDuWamE5xXaIPdKwlxZZLJS1efjaIJgQ/s400/BINDING+AGREEMENT.jpg" width="256" /></a>There are so many great things to celebrate right now I'm beginning to lose count of them! For one thing, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B008J4L2XI/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2">BINDING AGREEMENT</a> comes out on Today!! And <a href="http://sinfullysexybooks.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/~Erotic%20Romance~?zx=e5b45f687f3d7db6">the early reviews</a> have been amazing!<br />
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To celebrate the release of this final book in the <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html">JUST ONE NIGHT</a> trilogy I had a launch party this last Saturday and honestly, it was beyond spectacular. Friends, celebrities, family, loved ones, they were all there. Party planner <a href="http://www.jordiandco.com/praise.html">Jordi & Co </a> was hired to make the celebration everything it could be and more. When it comes to event planning Jordi is an absolute artist and she managed to make me feel insanely spoiled throughout the whole process.<br />
<br />
Then today (starting at 10 am PT and going on continuously until 9pm PT) I have a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/163705033805875/">Facebook BINDING AGREEMENT launch party</a> for my readers. If you haven't attended the other JUST ONE NIGHT Facebook launch parties you're seriously missing out . Not only is there a lot of fun girl talk about books, guys and the like there's also a plethora of posted photos of the hottest men you have ever seen or lusted after. We'll also be discussing casting ideas for who should play Mr. Dade as well as any of the other characters. Come on over and join in the fun! And don't forget, while I'll be providing you with a lot of great pictures of gorgeous men this is also a BYOB party (Bring Your Own Babe). If there's a picture of a guy you think is hot come on over and post it at the launch party, because that's what cool people do: they share.<br />
<br />
Oh and there's something else too...something really big happened this last week. Some of you who follow me on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/KyraDavisAuthor">Facebook</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/_KyraDavis">Twitter</a> already know what I'm talking about. Those of you who don't...well come join me at the Facebook Launch party. I'll let you in on the whole extraordinarily romantic tale. It's a story that's worthy of a Nicholas Sparks novel...except in this case, it's true.<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-49870745745527669232013-05-08T14:44:00.002-07:002013-05-17T17:53:09.378-07:00Books That Encourage "Alternative Thinking"<script type="text/javascript">
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<i>"Lucky humans, who can close your minds to the endless cold deeps of space! You have this thing you call...boredom? That is the rarest talent in the universe! We heard a song--it went "Twinkle twinkle little star..." What power! What wondrous power! You can take a billion trillion tons of flaming matter, a furnace of unimaginable strength and turn it into a little song for children! You build little worlds, little stories, little shells around your minds and that keeps infinity at bay and allows you to wake up in the morning without screaming!"</i></blockquote>
That's a quote from <a href="http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/">Terry Pratchett</a>'s YA fantasy novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hat-Full-Sky-Discworld-ebook/dp/B000R4LGMA/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1368048197&sr=8-1&keywords=hat+full+of+sky">HAT FULL OF SKY</a>. There are many reasons why I love Pratchett but perhaps the most important one is that he writes in a way that makes you look at things differently. I had never seen boredom as a talent before, never thought about how we protect ourselves from being overwhelmed by the world we live in by building "little stories, little shells around (our) minds." But of course that's completely accurate, it's what we do. It's what we have to do to get through every day.<br />
<br />
Any book that can make me look at something differently is book that I will most likely end up reading over and over again. Any author who manages to consistently frame things in unique and interesting ways will make me fall in love with them a little and will inspire my writing for life. It doesn't have to be "deep" necessarily.<br />
<br />
For instance <a href="http://www.jenniferbelle.com/">Jennifer Belle</a> gave me a whole new way to look at vasectomies.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLCDb5uHX24zziWnMTd46qcwkJeg_Rh9y3QnNwwtODDCk8TDC2iYtFXFJHQbZvHMBg76VKPYa0MMWQ8FnPIrYxDi6wZnuHrwUUkdp6xl0iVXCG7YWAho8QkEEu883YfAzUIsaHhA/s1600/images-17.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLCDb5uHX24zziWnMTd46qcwkJeg_Rh9y3QnNwwtODDCk8TDC2iYtFXFJHQbZvHMBg76VKPYa0MMWQ8FnPIrYxDi6wZnuHrwUUkdp6xl0iVXCG7YWAho8QkEEu883YfAzUIsaHhA/s200/images-17.jpeg" width="125" /></a></div>
Admittedly, it wasn't something I spent a lot of time thinking about before but when I did I never thought of getting a vasectomy as a romantic gesture...at least not until I read Belle's book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Seven-Year-Bitch-ebook/dp/B005FF4HU4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1368049104&sr=1-1&keywords=the+seven+year+bitch">THE SEVEN YEAR BITCH</a>. In that novel Izzy is having trouble with her marriage but when her husband tells her, about a year after their son, Duncan, is born, that he's thinking about getting a vasectomy she softens. Quote:<br />
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<i>"A vasectomy implied having sex with abandon. Lots of it, anytime, anywhere. But even more than that, it meant to me security for Duncan, that he was enough, and even after we divorced and Russell married a much younger woman, he would not have children with her. It was a kind of vow of fidelity stronger than the bonds of marriage or the cut of divorce."</i></blockquote>
Now <i>that's </i>a different view point. Even though the above statement doesn't hold true for everyone I love the framing of it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDRE658gNE2EDzEnaQs1decHblH4t-0BsQoLiLbpPc43wv0iIAHZHgIDhrrusaFNvjIAdQXui2m5PiRL0ELrOfnsZPVnWbMVj816G-1fk0E9ANHKVEPGBbDT3lg7nVhN3Dw3uzsw/s1600/images-18.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDRE658gNE2EDzEnaQs1decHblH4t-0BsQoLiLbpPc43wv0iIAHZHgIDhrrusaFNvjIAdQXui2m5PiRL0ELrOfnsZPVnWbMVj816G-1fk0E9ANHKVEPGBbDT3lg7nVhN3Dw3uzsw/s200/images-18.jpeg" width="123" /></a></div>
Or <a href="http://annerice.com/">Anne Rice</a>'s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Vampire-Lestat-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B004AM5R4I/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1368048279&sr=1-1&keywords=the+vampire+lestat">THE VAMPIRE LESTAT</a>. When Lestat awakes to the late 20th century he sees it with the eyes of a 18th century man and thereby brings the readers attention to things that I don't think most of us have ever considered. The first being that "...<i>something all together magical had happened to time. The old was not being replaced by the new anymore</i>." He goes on to note:<br />
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<i> "In the art and entertainment worlds all prior centuries were being "recycled." Musicians performed Mozart as well as jazz and rock music; people went to see Shakespeare one night and a new French film the next.</i><i><br /></i><i> In giant fluorescent-lighted emporiums you could buy tapes of medieval madrigals and play them on your car stereo as you drove ninety miles an hour down the freeway. In bookstores Renaissance poetry sold side by side with the novels of Dickens or Ernest Hemingway."</i></blockquote>
In a time when we all wait anxiously to replace our iPad 4 with an iPad 5 I had failed to notice that we stopped demanding that our world be exclusively modern. We do still listen to music of the past, mixing it in with today's popular singles. It's perfectly logical to me that someone who enjoys Shakespeare would also enjoy modern french cinema. And why wouldn't you listen to Mozart while driving around in a Tesla? And yet the very fact that I don't find any of these things peculiar is proof that our time in history is so peculiarly unique. I owe Anne Rice for pointing that out to me.<br />
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In a way all of these authors inspired the <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html">JUST ONE NIGHT series</a>. I thought about them as I wrote each novella, forcing myself to look at things through the eyes of Terry Pratchett's mystical creatures, Anne Rice's vampires or Jennifer Belle's quirky heroines. Little details in Kasie's internal monologue point to their influence, like in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B008J4RQVK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1368048351&sr=1-1&keywords=just+one+night+exposed">JUST ONE NIGHT Pt.2: EXPOSED</a> when she takes a new twist on the idea that love is transformative:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPyDsmA6dMuZDrRbSFAEufyv1_i43a88Rt8qo1XBb8ObISxu9zRoE6uJAstqJebTk0AKkZdc72nOwvEWgPVzSNT5sPQbczZrgO_sh30HrqNvdlAoduE2WywK4-H-XfFNd9tJ_MUA/s1600/exposed-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPyDsmA6dMuZDrRbSFAEufyv1_i43a88Rt8qo1XBb8ObISxu9zRoE6uJAstqJebTk0AKkZdc72nOwvEWgPVzSNT5sPQbczZrgO_sh30HrqNvdlAoduE2WywK4-H-XfFNd9tJ_MUA/s200/exposed-1.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
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<i>"Maybe it's the lack of love that is transformative. Maybe it's the distance between what we want and what we have that sculpts our behavior." </i></blockquote>
Or Asha's different take on how women can "use" sex in the upcoming<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B008J4L2XI/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2"> JUST ONE NIGHT pt.3: BINDING AGREEMENT</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3FzZbLhQvW95fdX5A8-jVSCC30SPpsbea9GPLdv3zmAj1HQmhlVpLfD7gNl-8wuo7HFxsJK-yRynmsE2qUcDI7aCi8fIkBLWeA0F6NAP0oZfLUrfnoh1de7oH2SWu01jCKjffWg/s1600/Binding+Agreement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3FzZbLhQvW95fdX5A8-jVSCC30SPpsbea9GPLdv3zmAj1HQmhlVpLfD7gNl-8wuo7HFxsJK-yRynmsE2qUcDI7aCi8fIkBLWeA0F6NAP0oZfLUrfnoh1de7oH2SWu01jCKjffWg/s200/Binding+Agreement.jpg" width="128" /></a><i>"When I use sex as a tool it's as a knife not a stepladder." She finally looks at me with a thin smile. "You use sex as a skeleton key. It opens doors for you. Your way appears to be amazingly effective."</i></blockquote>
There are dozens of little examples in those books that reflect my love of..well, of what I would call "alternative thinking." It's not everybody's thing. But it's mine. And I will always be grateful to the authors who taught it to me.<br />
<br />
For me, it's the books I love most that have been transformative.<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-85133879119229809282013-05-01T11:28:00.000-07:002013-05-17T17:53:25.716-07:00The Russian Way<script type="text/javascript">
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Yesterday I had coffee with one of the other mom's at my son's school. I was talking to her about the upcoming release of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B008J4L2XI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1367430462&sr=1-1&keywords=kyra+davis">JUST ONE NIGHT: BINDING AGREEMENT</a>(the last installment of the <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html">JUST ONE NIGHT trilogy</a>) . All signs point to that book being a success. Both <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B009K5LL5Y/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2">JUST ONE NIGHT (pt. 1): THE STRANGER</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B008J4RQVK/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1">JUST ONE NIGHT (pt. 2): EXPOSED</a> made the <i>New York Times</i> and <i>USA Today</i> bestsellers list and stayed there for several weeks. While people will often give up on a trilogy after the first book they rarely do after the second and I've been told that pre-orders for BINDING AGREEMENT look good.<br />
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Yet I simply Can. Not. get myself to see the success of BINDING AGREEMENT as a given. It's like, a physical impossibility for me. I <i>hope </i>it will be but I'm fretting about this release just as much as I've fretted abut all my other releases. When I explained this to my coffee-companion she simply cocked her head to the side and asked, "You said your mother's side was Jewish...are they Russian or Eastern European Jewish?"<br />
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I nodded that yes, they were.<br />
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She gave me an understanding smile. "That's my background too. And let me tell you something, you may be able to celebrate the successes you've already achieved, you can even hope for more of them, but you will never be able to <i>expect</i> them. It's simply not how we're wired."<br />
<br />
I thought about that for a moment. My mother certainly isn't an optimist. She's not cynical or anything but she's extraordinarily cautious about predicting good fortune. In fact if she does it's only because she has literally a mountain of facts to base that prediction on making it less of a prediction and more of a scientific conclusion. As for my grandmother...well, when it came to her family she was very proud of our abilities and our achievements and she was very hopeful. She hoped that we would all go on to accomplish great things. But did she predict those successes? If she did why did she always seem so surprised when things worked out the way she wanted them to? At my college graduation when it was announced that I was being awarded a special honor for my volunteer work and contributions to the community my grandmother reportedly stood up and said, "That's my granddaughter!"<br />
<br />
When I asked her about that she said, "Well I suppose I was happy but mostly I was just shocked!"<br />
<br />
That's pretty much how she reacted to all my good news. This was a woman who could appreciate good news as much as the next person but she rarely anticipated it. It would be hard to label her an optimist.<br />
<br />
In fact I can't think of <i>anyone </i>on my mother's side of the family who fits that definition. We're not negative people. Generally speaking we're goal setters and we work hard to achieve those goals. We just don't take it for granted that we'll get the things we want out of life...which in some ways makes it all the more exciting when we do.<br />
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I guess it's just the Russian in us.<br />
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So for those of you who have been reading the JUST ONE NIGHT SERIES, I really hope you continue on to the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B008J4L2XI/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2">the last novella in the trilogy</a> which will be released May 20th. I don't <i>expect </i>you to...but if you do I will celebrate your support.<br />
<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-24610690441429514002013-04-17T21:28:00.001-07:002013-05-17T17:53:38.713-07:00Why Kasie's Choices Aren't As Smart As She Is<script type="text/javascript">
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Okay, before we get into this I have a quick announcement to make. Many of you have been asking when the audiobook of the <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html">Just One Night</a> series will be available. We're currently looking at the first week of June and all three novellas will be on one audiobook. If you're going to listen to it in the car be sure your kids aren't in the backseat.</span></i></div>
<br />
Now, about those <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html">Just One Night books</a>. I know there are a handful of readers who have expressed frustration, even confusion about how Kasie, a highly educated, intelligent, accomplished woman could make so many stupid decisions in her personal life, frequently showing weakness and confusion.<br />
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When I first saw that comment I was a little surprised. Anyone who thinks individuals of high academic intelligence will automatically know how to handle themselves socially has never visited the M.I.T campus. From Cleopatra to Einstein, the list of smart people making bad personal choices is as long as recorded history.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjivuFTE7Cq5woWhrRLePzBOMZA2yGsE2bpJPVFEStYmdHPulOoUhJ3PczuZI89waDj8tNmv-JmOz1dlfflPdcrJHrLudG2WrQsXWcdCbIDY3yRBqT9DNRyyfmbiSaS-9E3draKA/s1600/images-14.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjivuFTE7Cq5woWhrRLePzBOMZA2yGsE2bpJPVFEStYmdHPulOoUhJ3PczuZI89waDj8tNmv-JmOz1dlfflPdcrJHrLudG2WrQsXWcdCbIDY3yRBqT9DNRyyfmbiSaS-9E3draKA/s200/images-14.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
But truthfully, Kasie's problems have less to do with her intelligence and more to do with her environment. Yes, watching her sister self-destruct was traumatic but what really messed her up was the way her parents turned that into a sort of sick teaching-moment. They actually used her sister's death to bring home a point, one that society tries to teach us all the time: women, <i>good </i>women, must color inside the lines. And when they don't they not only fall apart but they're not respected by those around them and eventually they're ostracized. But when you play the role you're supposed to play, marry the right guy, dress modestly, be likable without being pushy or daring, intelligent without challenging your partner, <i>then</i> you can get ahead.<br />
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And Kasie did everything right. She went to the right school, got the right job, found a respectable guy and she got ahead...but she didn't quite get the control or power she craved...especially not at her firm. She worked hard for it. She was one of the best consultants on staff, but she knew she wasn't going to be able to leapfrog over anyone to get to a position of any real authority. She would have to wait her turn. For six years she had been waiting for her turn. At work, in her relationship, Kasie had mastered the art of waiting patiently like a "good woman" should. <br />
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And then Robert shows up. This man who doesn't play by the rules at all. This man who is her lover. And he <i>hands </i>her that power she's been working for. He just snaps his fingers and she's a project manager. She gets her coveted authority...and it doesn't come from her six years of hard work, or her Ivy League education, it comes from her lover who elevates her because he enjoys their sexual chemistry. She has authority because of an illicit affair.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6nkBZzsJ30e9CocFF-ETON1boRxFmX3Ocv0AA0muLfYxrursuWSPqm9llD_y69dAKcp1V8kn7EpNSF_pFpsse25TwXANtBUWTTXfIMrutzhlt-qi7svaByWV0FNlPz0A6R9E_lQ/s1600/exposed-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6nkBZzsJ30e9CocFF-ETON1boRxFmX3Ocv0AA0muLfYxrursuWSPqm9llD_y69dAKcp1V8kn7EpNSF_pFpsse25TwXANtBUWTTXfIMrutzhlt-qi7svaByWV0FNlPz0A6R9E_lQ/s200/exposed-1.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
For Kasie that sends everything into a tailspin. She sees that she could lose the respect she craves from her co-workers and family. She feels that this isn't the right path for her. She wants to cling to the rules she's been playing by even if that game is blowing up in her face (and we can see how dramatically it blows up in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B008J4RQVK/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1">Exposed</a>). She's never been the woman who wanted to sleep her way to the top. The very thought horrifies her...except it works so much better than the method she was taught...and in a world where rule breakers are rewarded, what does it mean to be respected? How do you define that?<br />
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For Kasie these kinds of questions are crazy making. She's in a tailspin and she makes some stupid decisions. She's off balance and she keeps grasping at the wrong things for support.<br />
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Harvard Business School didn't prepare her for this. Her upbringing certainly didn't prepare her for this. This was not on the GMAT. Kasie has an extremely analytical mind and nothing about her situation can be solved by using analytical thinking.<br />
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That's how you can get a highly educated, intelligent, accomplished woman to make stupid decisions in her personal life. You just tell her that everything she's been studying and learning is beside the point...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN4EwIi-l10oHCwBew2OrwHSdemlHQzw1N_3qe7qZ0s9t_95zRKhycCOCP4pHfN3PC7FGe8dL2k5D7-CYablKTMftpv8gsIUfrbIHsHK5RMTpMVKeiO0GUWR5nwmGD92VdJi45bw/s1600/images-12.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN4EwIi-l10oHCwBew2OrwHSdemlHQzw1N_3qe7qZ0s9t_95zRKhycCOCP4pHfN3PC7FGe8dL2k5D7-CYablKTMftpv8gsIUfrbIHsHK5RMTpMVKeiO0GUWR5nwmGD92VdJi45bw/s1600/images-12.jpeg" /></a></div>
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...and then just sit back and watch her unravel.<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-78811548925931796722013-04-01T22:07:00.001-07:002013-04-02T12:34:26.965-07:00Grammy & Grampy<br />
Lately I've been thinking a lot about my maternal grandmother, AKA Grammy, AKA the namesake of the protagonist in my mystery series: Sophie.<br />
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She was raised by her immigrant parents in Nebraska. When she reached junior high she lucked out and was enrolled in a school with great teachers. She found a love of learning and she thrived, shooting to the top of her class.<br />
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And then her parents moved her to Chicago. The Chicago schools simply refused to believe that a little school in Nebraska was capable of providing an education that was on par with the education offered by a big city like Chicago. Certainly not to a little immigrant, Jewish girl like my grandmother. So despite being academically ahead the Chicago school system insisted that she be held back a year. She was devastated. And despite their metropolitan-superiority-complex the Chicago school she was in was significantly worse than the school she had just left. She stuck it out for as long as she could but when she was in her sophomore year the depression hit and she had to drop out in order to help support her family.<br />
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But while Chicago may not have had the best schools they did have some of the best museums and libraries. My grandmother would visit these places, immerse herself in art and literature and eventually she came to a decision: She would educate herself. She would create a better life for herself and her children would live a better life too; a life filled with learning and art. The hell with the system and the rules. She was in charge of her own destiny.<br />
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My grandfather had a similar upbringing and together they did exactly what they set out to do. They found a way to work their way up in the world. My grandfather started as a salesman, then they moved to Los Angeles and opened a laundromat...that they lived in the back of. And from there my grandfather started to make things, he taught himself engineering and eventually found that he could make tools and mechanical parts that other people needed. By the time World War II hit my grandfather had his own manufacturing plant and was making parts for the airplanes used by American fighter pilots. My grandmother helped him with the business end of things and managed the finances while she raised my mother. And she made sure that art was a huge part of my mother's upbringing. She exposed her to the work of the masters, she made sure she learned piano at an early age and that she was enrolled in ballet. When my mother was in jr. high she was sent to a voice coach to help her with her singing.<br />
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And the importance of the written word was stressed. For my grandmother words, whether they were written, spoken or sung, were little works of art in their own right and they were to be honored and appreciated. A psychic once told her that my mother should be a writer; that it was her calling. My grandmother cherished that prediction, shared it with my mother and hoped. But it wasn't my mother's dream. And so when I was a little girl and writing stories for my classes my grandmother would sit with me and tell me about the psychic. "I think she was a little mixed up," she would say. "It wasn't your mother she was seeing. It was you."<br />
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It was an odd thing to say because my mother and I didn't really believe in psychics. Technically speaking neither did my grandmother. But then again, we all want to believe in a little magic, especially when the magic tells us what we want to hear.<br />
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And so my grandmother and my mother made sure I had the same exposure to the arts that my mother had. My grandmother made sure I took music lessons and voice lessons and encouraged my writing. My mother brought me to art museums and taught me about Renoir while my grandmother showed me pictures of the work of Van Gogh. My mother introduced me to Hamlet when I was six and I loved it. Truly loved it. I immediately became a fan of Shakespeare and the theater.<br />
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See, the arts weren't treated as extracurricular activities in my family. In my<i> </i>family the arts had <i>value</i>. Every bit as much value as math and science...in fact math, science and art were all considered to be, in many ways, intrinsically connected.<br />
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And my grandfather made sure I had a love of learning. When I asked him a question about a subject he never just gave me an answer. Instead he'd get a gleam in his eye and he'd say, "Let's go look it up!" He'd then lead me over to this giant encyclopedia he had propped up on a stand in the living room. There, among hundreds of beautiful pictures and enticing articles on every subject imaginable we would <i>research </i>my answer. Note that I did not say we would find my answer. Oh no, we would look at my question from every angle, and we would find as much information as possible so that I would not only have an answer I would understand the full weight of it in a way I never imagined possible.<br />
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My grandparents were, in so many ways, extraordinary people. I didn't pursue writing as a career during my grandmother's lifetime and yet I'm not sure I would have done it at all if it wasn't for her influence. I so hope that wherever she is right now she sees this. I hope she knows I'm on the New York Times bestsellers list and that there was truth in her psychic's prediction (as well as my grandmother's interpretation of that prediction). I hope that she knows that the little bit of magic she insisted on believing in despite her own skepticism bore fruit. I hope both Grammy and Grampy know that I learned from their perseverance and their willingness to carve out their own unique path. I hope that my grandfather knows that I continue to have a passion for learning and that when I have a question I research my answers. And I <i>so </i>hope my grandmother knows that continue to value art and the beauty and power of words.<br />
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They set a wonderful example. I'm following it.<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-32875389572977285162013-03-19T14:49:00.000-07:002013-05-17T17:54:23.130-07:00This Summer Camp Is My Sports Car<script type="text/javascript">
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<br />
As I write this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B009K5LL5Y/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1">Just One Night</a> is the #1 bestselling <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/just-one-night-part-1-stranger/id567275330?mt=11">iBook</a> in the UK. I am the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/author-rank/Literature-Fiction/books/17/ref=ntt_dp_kar_B001ILKC3A">#3 bestselling fiction author on Amazon</a>. James Patterson is #2 (and yes I realize that there are probably around 100,000 books/week that separate the #3 spot from the #2 spot but <i>still!). </i>People are emailing me about film rights and, well things are happening.<br />
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The thing is, I've been so busy parenting, promoting, writing, editing and so on that it's only now that all this is really hitting me. For some time now I've been waiting for the inevitable decline. And while I know my rankings that I listed above won't stay this way forever the fact that they've actually continued to improve over the weeks since the book's release...well it's sorta huge.<br />
<br />
And yesterday one of my son's teachers emailed me asking if I would consider signing my boy up for one of the school's summer programs: <i>Entertainment Production </i>(can you tell we live in LA?). The teacher really feels that being able to help write and produce a web-series (which is what they'll be doing) will help him develop and fine tune his strengths (writing and creative thinking) not to mention boost his confidence among his peers.<br />
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I had actually gotten a list of the school's summer programs a few weeks ago but hadn't even looked at them. Why? Because I didn't need to look at them to know I couldn't afford them. I've sacrificed a lot to have my son in this school which is for gifted students with learning differences and I can see how great it's been for him. He's finally in a place that can help him reach his full potential, challenge him, help him feel comfortable with who his is and find his place in the world. All that's great but the school's also costing me $36,000/year. Why would I be looking at summer camps when I can barely afford groceries?<br />
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But here's the thing, in addition to everything that's going on with the Just One Night series I also produced a Sophie Katz audiobook with the truly fabulous Gabra Zackman (<a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00991NCME&qid=1363729545&sr=1-1">Vanity, Vengeance & A Weekend In Vegas</a>) a little while back, and that too has been selling very well. I just received my royalty check for that this weekend and I know that I've earned out my advance for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009K5LL5Y/ref=kar_mr_17_3">The Stranger</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B008J4RQVK/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1">Exposed</a> so in August more royalties will be coming. In other words for once I actually <i>can </i>afford to send my son to a summer program. I'm not even going to have to scrounge to do it.<br />
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You have to understand, for me this is like being told I can afford to buy a Porsche...or Mr. Dade's Alfa Romeo Spider. People are <i>always </i>telling me about things that would be great for my son and I can <i>never</i> afford them.<br />
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But now I can...or at least I can afford this particular summer program and I'm totally giddy about it! As I look around my tiny apartment it doesn't even seem possible. But it must be possible because as Kasie knows, numbers don't lie.<br />
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And in my case, numbers come from readers. I've gotten emails and messages from some of you telling me that you emailed all your friends about these latest books, others have convinced all the women in their office to buy the books as well. That's the kind of word-of-mouth publicity that's propelling Just One Night toward the top and if those books weren't on top my son wouldn't be able to help his friends produce this web-series.<br />
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I've thank you all so many times already I feel like a broken record...but I can't seem to stop myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!<br />
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Oh and one more thing, <b><i><u>THANK YOU!</u></i></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10992888.post-29693285045692393262013-03-15T16:32:00.003-07:002013-05-17T17:54:59.939-07:00Why They Met At Blackjack<script type="text/javascript">
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Okay, as many of you know, I have a contest going on via <a href="http://www.kullect.com/k/mvrbWH">Kullect</a>. I've posted several photos mapping out Kasie and Robert Dade's journey through all three books. Definitely worth checking out. Plus you can enter to win an autographed hardbound copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Murder-Double-Latte-ebook/dp/B000MAHAWO/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1363389549&sr=8-7&keywords=kyra+davis">Sex, Murder And A Double Latte</a> and a $50 Amazon giftcard by posting six photos of your own inspired by any of my ten titles (Check out the details <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/kullect-contest_12.html">here</a>).<br />
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But the reason I'm writing <i>this </i>post is because I really wanted to go over some of the photos I posted there and why I chose to reference the scenes I did. So let's start with blackjack...or as I titled the photo-post, <a href="http://klct.it/RWfTRD">How It Began</a>.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="527" nbsp="" scrolling="no" src="http://www.kullect.com/embed/p/RWfTRD" style="border: none; display: block; margin: 10px auto;" width="312"></iframe><br />
<br />
These are the hands of blackjack that Kasie and Robert (at that point only known as Mr. Dade) played, with the side bet being that Kasie would leave the table and have a drink with him if he had the better hand. In this photo I reveal the Queen of Hearts within the deck for obvious-symbolic reasons.<br />
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There was a reason I wanted these two to meet at a card table. Kasie was taking a risk (by her standards) by wearing a revealing dress and wandering around a Vegas casino. She was way out of her comfort zone. But what <i>does</i> comfort Kasie is <i>anything </i>that is clear-cut and black and white...like math, financial accounts and yes, cards. It's true that she doesn't have control over what cards she's dealt but the stakes are spelled out before hand and the game is very straight forward.<br />
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And then Robert takes her away from the table. And <i>that's </i>when the chaos begins.<br />
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That's one of the many things about this book that's a little different from the <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/sophie-katz-mysteries.html">Sophie novels</a>. Sophie is a <i>much </i>more casual girl and she lives in a more casual world. In the <a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/sophie-katz-mysteries.html">Sophie mysteries</a> a car is just a car. In <i><a href="http://www.kyradavis.com/p/just-one-night-series.html">Just One Night</a></i> a car is so much more. Obviously Robert's choice to drive an Alfa Romeo Spider says a lot about him...it speaks to his wealth, his uniqueness, his need for speed, risk and power. Dave drives a Mercedes. It's a car that is quietly prestigious and will be enough to win the approval of his country-club friends without being ostentatious. It's a calculated choice.<br />
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Over the weekend, as we wait for Monday's release of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B008J4RQVK/ref=la_B001ILKC3A_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1363390078&sr=1-9">Just One Night: Exposed</a>, check out the rest of the <a href="http://www.kullect.com/k/mvrbWH">Kullection</a>, read the quotes and see if you can figure out what the things that I photographed for my Kullection say about Kasie and Robert's mindset in The Stranger...and in Exposed because, in the photos, there are some pictures/hints of what's to come.<br />
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And when Monday hits come over and join me at my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/312148625555054/">Facebook launch party for Exposed</a>! We did it for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Night-Part-ebook/dp/B009K5LL5Y/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2">The Stranger</a> and it was SO much fun....plus I've been told I should be awarded medals for my ability to find and post pictures of amazingly hot men for these events and you certainly wouldn't want to miss out on that. I'm am, after all, a woman of many skills.<br />
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<a href="http://kyradavis.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://i46.tinypic.com/3468bjp.jpg" /></a>kyradavishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11564245025938264405noreply@blogger.com0