Dallas DNA
April 24, 2009 by Melissa · Leave a Comment
I really like shows like this one. And, after living in the general area of N Texas a big part of my life, this interests me. I am moving to watching more of these shows as a few suspense ideas percolate. It starts next Tuesday and I am either catching it or recording it:)
WINNER!!!
April 23, 2009 by Melissa · Leave a Comment
Sorry I am a little late, folks. Demon Seed the First, otherwise known as DSF, called me from school sick. So, I get both kids at home, so we are having our own little bring your kids to work day. <G> And, their schools are out tomorrow. I am ready to kill someone, mainly the other person who was there at their conception.
Anyway, have a winner!!!! Heather! Email me at MelissaATmelissaschroederDOTnet and tell me what book and format you need(ie pdf, html…).
Thanks everyone and I think we will do a download a week if I can keep people interested. If I have people participate, I love to give things away.
RIP PUFF
April 23, 2009 by Melissa · Leave a Comment
Stephanie Miller’s dog Puff died last night /early this morning(I swiped the pic off the website, but there are more). Whether you like Steph or not(I love me some MAMA), one thing I think we can all agree is that she is a true lover of pets. She has always supported shelters and their causes, esp the ASPCA. While she is not on the air today, they have asked that, if you can afford it, to become an ASPCA Guardian. There is also a link for a one time pledge.
We got both of our dogs from shelters. It is sort of a tradition with my family. Shelby, who we lost in 2007, was from an ASPCA and they do such good work. Belle, who we adopted last year, is from the Humane Society. Please consider giving either money, time or supplies to your local shelter.
Oh, and this one by Ben Stein(see love of pets and saving animals transcends everything), I love it. Granted, if you cannot afford to fed the dog, please don’t, but he is right. Pets don’t care if you have a 2009 BMW or an old Pinto.
Earth Day Ebook Giveaway
April 22, 2009 by Melissa · 6 Comments
I bet there are a lot of authors doing this, but hey, I am always for giving ebooks away to readers…and that includes authors here. I want to have a discussion on the CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE.
Smart Bitches and Dear Author have been talking about this for months and have even started a Save the Contemporary site. As an author, I think contemporary is my strongest voice. Snarky humor, with or without dead bodies, lots of fun sex…I really thing that is my best stuff. But, as I work on my never ending Blaze proposal, I am also looking forward, to something else to send my agent. I really want to do a romantic comedy…Older woman, younger man, dead ex husband floating in the lake. But, NY doesn’t want romantic comedy. My Grace Under Pressure sales beg to differ.
While I have to take the comment, “We have so much contemp paranormal” for the reason to turn down The Cursed Clan, I have to ask myself, “What does a girl have to do?” Won’t take a paranormal, they are “eh” on romantic comedies…but the first reviews of Her Mother’s Killer, along with the comments from readers in anticipation, have me thinking that maybe I should do some suspense. Not sure it will stay positive, ie reaction to the book, but hey, I do like writing murder and mayhem.
So, as readers, and authors, you are readers too, as are editors, reviewers, etc, let me know what you want in your contemporary romance. I want to know if you like it straight, just strictly a romance with normal every day life screwing up your chances of HEA, or would you like suspense, dead bodies, etc? Or, does it matter, you just want a straight contemporary with no paranormal in it whatsoever? Now, if you like paranormal,and I do, it doesn’t mean I am asking do you hate paranormal, just what you would like to see more in contemps:)
I will run the contest until NOON eastern tomorrow, the 23rd. You will have your pick of ANY BOOK IN PRINT as a download. PLEASE, if you win, don’t email me that you want A Little Harmless Obsession, or The Spy Who Loved Her or Conquering India…you get the drift. If you don’t mind waiting a couple weeks, I can give you Her Mother’s Killer, as I do not have my copies yet. Just comment, your name goes in:)
FIVE STARS FROM JERR
April 19, 2009 by Melissa · 1 Comment
Hmm, well, I wasn’t sure if I was good at erotic romantic suspense, but apparently, at least reviewers things so! Five Stars and an O from JERR.
Here is a snippet:
Nobody writes erotic romantic suspense like Ms. Schroeder. Her Mother’s Killer is ‘all that’ and then some. With a smorgasbord of juicy intricate details, the plot is a feast for the reader’s soul and a marvel the storyline could come together so seamlessly with no loose ends, no stones left unturned, no slow spots and no insulting solutions. The fearful tension begins with the first sentence and only steps aside for the intensity of the sexual tension.
Karen Haas, Five Stars, O rating Just Erotic Romance Reviews
She says all kinds of other good things too:) Just a few more weeks and it comes out:) May 1st!
Nope…didn’t fall off the face of the Earth
April 19, 2009 by Melissa · 5 Comments
Just been trying to keep up. With PT, Demon Seed the First in Softball, and just the normal running around, I have barely had time to think. But, I have been doing some tweeting from my tweet deck, and if you are on twitter, let me know at twitter.com/melschro…I am pretty boring, but it is fun.
Other thing is I am working on Sexy Devil, the Blaze proposal I am sending to my agent. It is slow going but with help from Shelley Bradley, I think I figured out the bump I was in and it seems to be moving along right now. I am really enjoying it because it is sexy romantic comedy, and I LOVE writing those.
But, I decided to join a gym this weekend. Military bases usually have great facilities, but I am so far away from one, there is no way I would drive there every day. So we joined one close to home, got the whole family involved. Did my first thirty min on the treadmill and OMG, so sad. I used to walk 3 miles in 45 min when my sister and I used to walk together. Of course, that was close to 20 years ago. Anyway, I have made the commitment to be up there at least five days a week. I will probably get a trainer to work on the weights with me because I am so lacking in the department. And, I am thinking of doing Yoga, but not sure yet:)
Anyway, I was thinking, what better way to keep myself going than getting others involved. Is anyone interested? I am not thinking of a weight in thing, but more like a positive thing I did for myself this week? It can be taking 30 minutes to get a massage, meditate, just relax. It can be getting off your rear for 10,20, 30 min…whatever. Hell, it can be eating 5 cookies instead of 10. But, I was thinking of doing that each Sunday, checking in, and you have to have at least one thing you did to move in a positive, more well-balanced direction. If I have some people interested we could make a contest out of it, maybe your name goes in the hat for each positive thing. It will mostly be download stuff, like books from me, maybe GC’s from digital download places….all kinds of things. It can be your reward for doing good things for yourself.
SO, let me know in the comments if you are interested. We probably won’t start until the week of the 4th because I will be in Denver that weekend. Won’t be able to check in. So, let me know, we will set it up, and get it going if you all are interested. I will be checking in with my workout and weightloss progress:)
Physical Therapy today…but I don’t really have a diagnosis
April 14, 2009 by Melissa · 1 Comment
Yeah, I found out that tidbit last week. No real diagnosis, just they think, so I have to become the ball-busting bitch and fight to get it in my records. Now, for those of you who work for military contractors, you might want to turn away because I am about to rant. My father worked for them after he got out of the military and worked for them until he retired. But…well…having them handle healthcare for the military, THEY SUCK.
Never in my life have I heard people in a military clinic hem and haw about freaking tests. There are good things and bad things about military care…the scandal of Walter Reed VA being one of the worst. But one of the the good things was that while at a military facility, I never heard anyone worry about the cost of a test. And not really a test, an XRAY. Granted, I will probably have to fight for an MRI, which I really don’t want but know that is what I need. But, why on earth would you outline a PT regimine for someone based on something that is undiagnosed? It is odd. Granted, what I am doing is something I need. I am working on my upper back muscles and my lower abs, both things in sorry states. But, if this gets worse, I will have to go through another round of ER visits, tic tac toe doctor visits, and who knows how much else. I worry that eventually, I will have to have the disc removed, but I do not want to fight with doctors telling me I wasn’t really diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease, and therefore they aren’t going to do it.
So, in a couple of weeks, I am going to have another appt with my regular doctor, yeah, I had to wait almost a month to get an appt, and I am going to insist it gets put in my files. So, this isn’t Fox TV, and there is no House. Hell, I don’t have something strange, just regular old DDD that millions of people have, but it is as if they don’t want to make sure that is really the problem. Or, find out the degree of damage there is. I am only 40 and to be having muscle spasms and this kind of pain is not normal.
It is the same kind of crap they put us through when E, my youngest, was diagnosed with pneumonia for the second time in under a year. She was still coughing three weeks later and they could have cared less. Why did I get to see a pediatric pulmonologist? I let the doctor know I would be back again and again until we did. And, she realized I would make her life a living hell.
It is just a pain in the ass I didn’t need. I want to work to live as free off drugs as I can. I do not want to spend the rest of my life on drugs.
Of course, I also get massage therapy today too, so that is a wonderous thing that should help with the spasms I am having this morning. Hope everyone has a good day today:) I am finishing up my edits for Turning Paige, FINALLY(been in limbo thanks to my month of ER Hell), and getting started back on SEXY DEVIL.
Time for a Google Bomb
April 12, 2009 by Melissa · 2 Comments
I said, I believe it, and I am irritated again. They removed A Little Harmless Sex from their rankings because of the word SEX. Granted, right now all my other books are still ranked, but they felt the word SEX was not allowed. I went through this when ALHS was with LI and Fictionwise pulled all the “adult” books off their rankings too. At the time, I had the number one book on the site.
So, I am helping Smart Bitches with their google bomb. AMAZON RANK! Hopefully I did that right and I encourage everyone to do it. Romance in particular is the one genre that is gaining ground in a bad economy, meaning we are keeping the dollars flowing. The idea that they are pulling vast numbers of us off their rankings is idiotic but even YA authors are being pulled off.
I encourage everyone with a blog, readers and writers, to bring this out in the open. I am getting freaking sick and tired of making money for companies that treat me like trash because I have “adult” content.
If you want to read how to help Smart Bitches with their google bomb, go to their discussion and read the instructions and then do it. Also, Maya Banks explains it isn’t just about rank, but about visibility.
UPDATE: Amazon Rank is now number one on the google search. The LA Times has weighed in, as has America Blog. Oh, and now the CS Reps are being told to say that it is because of customer complaints. So, hey, people are complaining against books with sex in them, but not against the dog fighting books. Sure, right.
I am in the process of removing my links to amazon for all the books except the ones that can only be bought there, I believe my LSB books. And, I am so happy I decided to buy the SONY reader and not the Kindle.
Thirty Years Ago Today
April 10, 2009 by Melissa · 5 Comments
Terrible Tuesday. That’s the nane it was given and that is definitely how I remember it. It was my first spring in Texas, having relocated there July of the previous year from Germany. We lived on Titan Street on Sheppard AFB and I was walking out the door with my father when I heard the sirens off base. We went back into the house and into our designated safe place and waited. I think we had done this a few times earlier and so while I was scared, it was becoming a little normal for spring in North Texas. At ten, I probably was not have been ready for the devastation. But then, I probably would not have been ready for it even at forty.
It is known as the Red River Outbreak, everyone was getting hit that day, again normal for N Texas and S Oklahoma at the time. So when we were hit it was no surprise.
But, things sort of went crazy when these three tornadoes combined into this:
Fifty-four people died that day, 42 of them in Wichita Falls where I lived. Many of them died fleeing the storm in their cars, thinking they were safer there than in a building. 1700 people were injured. I remember picking up the phone and hearing people saying hello, but there was no way for us to call out. I am not sure how long we were without power as we had a gas stove and cooked on that. I know that my grandparents found out about it seperately, my mom’s parents, and didn’t tell the other one for awhile not wanting to worry each other. The mall was devasted, a Jr High destroyed, thankfully hitting it with no one inside.
It is the second most expensive tornado outbreak in history(400 million in damage then that would be close to 900 million now), second only to the Oklahoma tornadoes of 1999. My father spent a lot of time as a volunteer from the base cleaning up the mess, as did a whole group of military folk. See, while we were suffering the inconveniences, and I am sure there was a lot of wind damage, we were spared on the north side of town.
It makes an impression on a ten yr old whose most violent storm in her memory was a thunderstorm in Germany. I cannot stand Spring when I am in Texas. Any time there are warnings or watches, I am on edge, although I try not to show it because of the kids. The tornado that hit Wichita Falls was an F4 and more devastating than your normal f4 because it was so damned wide. Here’s a report from a Dallas station KZAS. At about the 1:10 mark they start showing pics of WF.
Years later, you could still see the devastation. In fact, a concrete slab where a house had once stood was still there, bare, when I was in college in the 90’s.
One good thing did come of the tornadoes that day. Through studying it safety warnings are more precise thanks to Charles F Harper.
New stuff
April 9, 2009 by Melissa · 2 Comments
Hey, finally have an excerpt up for Her Mother’s Killer so check it out. There is a page for Conquering India but not much else. And, my new publisher has a reader group. It is just starting out and it will be a bit slow at first of course, but I understand they are going to be running some great specials when they open for business so it probably wouldn’t hurt to join!
