annajevans

DEMON MARKED is out now!

2011-01-06T09:24:00.000-08:00

Fresh Fiction calls DEMON MARKED "Well written and a damned fine read."

Desire burns in the second powerful Demon Bound novel-from the author of Shadow Marked.

Emma Quinn satisfies her demonic cravings by feeding on human life force, and keeps her conscience clean by preying only upon those who deserve it. But when Emma overindulges one night, she's in trouble with her victim's gang-or she will be...if they find his body. She turns to mob lawyer Andre Conti, an arrogant womanizer-a man who doesn't believe in her powers, but who will awaken sensual cravings Emma wasn't sure she possessed...

DEMON MARKED has received 4 and 1/2 stars from Romantic Times magazine, is a TOP PICK! over at Night Owl Reviews, and there's still time to enter to win a FREE copy of the book over at the Among the Muses blog: http://www.amongthemuses.com/2011/01/happy-release-day-interview-w-anna-j.html

Among the Muses went to a lot of trouble to do a great interview, so I hope you'll head over there if you get the chance. And if you'd like to learn more about DEMON MARKED, you can check it out online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or in person wherever books are sold. (Psst. Amazon has it on sale half price so get over there and snag your copy before the sale is over!)

Happy reading in 2011!

Anna J. Evans

New Print Anthology: Perfectly Wicked!

2010-06-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to share that all my Perfectly Wicked novellas--naughty re-imaginings of the stories of wicked women of fairy tale fame--are now all available in one print anthology. These are some of my first erotic stories and have a special place in my heart. I remember dashing out of the house when my now 6-year-old was still crawling and writing my heart out for two hours at Panera Bread Company every Saturday. It was a ritual I looked forward to all week, my time to work toward the goal of being published. My head nearly exploded when I found out "Main Attraction", the first in the series, had sold to Ellora's Cave.

Five years later, I am still thrilled to be working with EC, and feeling very lucky to have made that dream of publication a reality. Sniff!

Here's a little more about the stories in this book!

Main Attraction

Book One in the Perfectly Wicked series.

Edna Emily Argent Rella runs the Wicked Stepmother and her Stepsisters S&M parlor in Kingdom City, but she has a secret… She's not so terribly wicked. A dominatrix by necessity, rather than calling, she does her best to capitalize on her naughty reputation. After the smear campaign waged by her stepdaughter Cynthia, there aren't many other employment options.

Frank, the Captain of the Queen's Guard, has been sent to protect Edna from the stalker threatening her life. Posing as a client, this dominant male soon realizes he's in for more trouble than he bargained for.

Because Edna is a born submissive. And Frank can't resist the urge to show her what she's been missing while on the Mistress side of the fence.

Sinfully Sweet

Book 2 in the Perfectly Wicked series.

Bella's a candy maker who's been framed for a horrible crime. Being accused of trying to boil children in a vat of peanut brittle has been bad for business, and even worse for her heart. Desperately trying to save her company, Bella's afraid the secret she's sworn to keep may force her to abandon her legacy as a beloved confectioner to the Kingdom.

Heath Miller makes toys — kinky sex toys. And he has a sweet tooth that's out of control. He'll do anything to convince Bella to create magnificent flavors for his edible underwear and flavored condoms…absolutely anything. But a simple seduction goes awry when Heath begins to lose his heart, and a hot and sticky encounter shows both lovers how quickly sweet can cross the line into sinful.

Bad Apple

Book 3 in the Perfectly Wicked series.

Some women are misunderstood, others are a misdemeanor waiting to happen…

Katarina was a very bad girl, but she spent five years in the dungeon paying for her crimes and made a vow to leave her wicked ways behind her. She's praying a makeover and a stint on Kingdom City's newest reality show, Real-Life Ways to Catch a King, will help her get back on her feet. Unfortunately the show's producer, notorious bad boy Serge, is making it hard for her to resist giving in to her naughtier nature…

Serge is looking to turn his life around. He wants a wife and a family and a place in respectable society. Taking up with a former wicked queen with a penchant for poison apples isn't on his agenda. But Kat quickly proves to be irresistible, and when a mutual affection for public passion turns into something more, he has to make a decision. Break the heart of the only woman he's ever loved or risk forever being known as a "bad apple".

Beauty Sleep

Part of the Perfectly Wicked series.

After accidentally cursing a princess to a hundred years of sleep, fairy Calliope La Fae couldn't get hired to enchant horse dung, let alone work as a court fairy to a royal family. The only way she made it to the castle was by way of the dungeon, and the only way she made it out with her life was by risking the use of her fractured magic for the first time in years.

And so a spell is cast, and two lovers enchanted…

King Aaron should be concentrating on saving his brother from Calliope's enchanted castle, but he can't seem to keep his mind on anything but the fairy herself. Whether it's in the castle bath, by the side of the road or tied to a tree — he'll take Calliope any way he can get her, again and again. Even when the spell is broken, he can't get the woman out of his mind. There's no way he'll let her end up the next victim of her own magic, no matter what he has to risk to save her from her own century of beauty sleep.

Thanks for reading!

Anna J. Evans

Shadow Marked out May 4th! And a must read rec.

2010-04-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

Oh, man, ya'll. This book is out in less than two weeks! I really have done a poor job of getting the word out. But time, I can not haz.

So anyway...here's the word: "Shadow Marked" by me, out on May 4th. It's getting some good reviews, so I'm really hoping my readers will enjoy it.

Here the blurb:

Samantha Quinn has been in the dark since age six, when her parents sacrificed her sight in a Satanic ritual. She is trying to get over her demonic past, but horrific visions haunt her. Her intuition gets stronger after an adrenaline-fueled sexual encounter with Jace, her brother's childhood friend. Now Samantha is more tormented than ever by what she can "see"-and by what she felt in that forbidden encounter...

Her dark curse reveals that Jace will be the next victim, and it is crystal clear that she must destroy the demon to protect her love.

(This is a different blurb than is on the book, btw. I've never seen this blurb before, but it's pretty good. I think it gets the point across ;)).

You can learn more--and pre-order--here.

And don't forget that my critique partner and friend Stacia Kane has two amazing books coming out this month. Her Unholy Ghosts series is scarily, awesomely good. You will not regret snagging a copy of that, I assure you. (And if my assurance isn't enough, it's also a Romantic Times Top Pick for June and endorsed by people like Charlaine Harris.)

Learn more Here.

Have an excellent rest of your April, and thanks for reading,

Anna J. Evans

"Kessa's Pride" by Kama Spice

2010-04-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Stopping by to share a new release from a talented friend, Kama Spice, a new writer for Ellora's Cave.

The buy link: http://www.jasminejade.com/p-8291-kessas-pride.aspx

Website: http://www.kamaspiceromance.com

Trailer link: http://animoto.com/play/9d8GBifc0Gd5dGsivQwIQQ

Blurb:

Valren grew up hearing stories of Kessa Lyah of the Silver lineage—one of the most powerful females in over a hundred years. As Leader King, he knew he would have to bring her back. She has risked the safety of the pride by living among humans. Besides, he was in heat and needed a powerful mate. What he hadn’t bargained for was how easily Kessa would drive him to the brink of madness, blinding him with savage desire.

Kessa Lyah has managed to subdue her animal urges while living among humans. But after the death of her human mate, a Leader King finds her and promises to bring her back to everything she’s left behind. When he sends two males and a female to remind her of what a real cat in heat is like, she is powerless to resist. The familiar scent of Lith’hah sex sends her into a frenzy. If this is how her body responds to ordinary pride members, resisting the lust of an alpha male will be almost impossible.

Wow...I don't know about ya'll, but that sounds like a damned fine read. I love me some shapeshifters, and am so excited to welcome a new author to the Ellora's Cave family. So go check out Kama's story and report back!

I'll return soon with more Shadow Marked news as the release date grows nigh!

Good vibes and happy reading,

Anna J. Evans

4 and 1/2 Stars for Shadow Marked

2010-03-31T19:44:00.000-07:00

4 and 1/2 Stars from Romantic Times Magazine:

"Evans has surrounded [Samantha's] passionate relationship with a deadly game of demons versus humans that will have readers wondering who will make it and who won't, not to mention who should." -Lauren Becker for RT

Dudes...can I express how thrilled I am to get this review? I can't, obviously. Or there would be more words here. But yeah, thrilled! Thrilled!

Whoo-hoo, only a little over a month until SHADOW MARKED hits the shelves!

In other news, I'm so sorry to neglect ya'll here at the blog. I'm going to blame my 12-13 year old fans of the other pen name Who Shall Not Be Named on this site. They are really chatty, and I love them for it, but yeah...answering the YA pen name's email eats up a lot of time.

Just know that I love you...passionately. Just as Sam and Jace from SHADOW MARKED passionately love. (And they do. For realz. You should pre-order them HERE.

Merry end of March!

Anna J. Evans

Claiming it All gets some love!

2010-03-10T19:04:00.000-08:00

4 and 1/2 Stars from The Romance Studio!

"Ms. Evans has penned a wickedly delightful tale that simmers with sensuality even as it pulls on the reader's heartstrings...Don't miss this well crafted novel!"

Read the entire review here.

A very well-written review from Joyfully Reviewed:

"Lust is easy; it’s love that makes things hard. Anna J. Evans does a remarkable job at not only turning up the heat, but mixing in the tensions and complications that arise from embarking on an “unusual” relationship. For three people from a small, traditional town, it takes strength of character to come out and declare their love for not one, but two people...This triad melted my heart even as they set fire to the page, which is why Claiming it All was such an enthralling read for me.

I adore Ms. Evans’s work, but Claiming it All might just be my favorite story she’s written yet."

Read the entire review here.

Learn More about the book at the Ellora's Cave website.

Have a wonderful week, everyone, thanks for reading,

Anna J. Evans

The Night's Rose Series-an update

2010-02-18T05:52:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

As I suspected, the new template has driven me back to the blog. I'm hoping to post at least once a week, but we'll see how that goes. I am dealing with some intense deadlines from now until July 1st and there are days when--between work and kids--I barely have time to shower.

Actually...sometimes I don't shower. I'll confess I've been wearing the same clothes for over 24 hours come 8 o'clock this morning. Gross, right? Aren't you glad this blog doesn't have a scratch and sniff feature? (That's a joke. I don't smell! I swear I don't. I didn't run a marathon in these clothes, I stayed in a chilly apartment taking care of a baby with a leaky, sick eye and cleaning and helping with homework. The usual fun stuff.)

And contrary to the usual over-sharing, the above over-sharing is over-shared with a purpose. I hope it will help people understand why it might take me a few months to complete the "Night's Rose" novella I've promised several readers.

The "Night's Rose" series--NIGHT'S ROSE, and THE PRINCE OF FROGS--both available now, has garnered me more reader email than anything I've written to date. (As Anna or Annaliese, anyway.) A lot of you LOVE this series (and some of you HATE it and the word, "cunt", but I can't be blamed for my hero's word choice. He was making a point and I believe in free speech for the characters chattering in my head).

Because of your love, I honestly did my best to get a pitch together to sell Book 3, the final installment of this series. Unfortunately--or fortunately if you look at it from my point of view, the point of view of having to feed and clothe my family--I signed a nice deal with Pocket for another series before the third Night's Rose book sold. Now, because of my option clause, I am not allowed to write paranormal romance/urban fantasy for anyone except Pocket and books in the Demon Bound series for New American Library.

So my agent can't try to sell that third book for a couple of years. It's just not legal. I do hope to finish the story in a big, meaty fashion, but there's just no way I can do that as speedily as most of you would like. Therefore, I'm working on a 30,000 word novella that picks up where THE PRINCE OF FROGS left off, continuing Rose, Gareth, and Ambrose's adventures as they travel down to Italy to fight The Mother and find out just what kind of CRAZY family secrets Rose has lurking in her past. I'll be giving the novella away on my website for free, as a gesture of appreciation to my readers.

I'd originally hoped to have that novella finished by early summer, but now it looks like a late summer/early fall delivery is much more realistic. My young adult persona sold another book--a wonderful story I'm so excited to write--and that is where most of my energy will be directed through July 1st, 2010. (Once I finish that other 100k book I'm working on.)

But know that I'm thinking of you, dear Night's Rose lovers. And thanks to everyone who has lingered near this blog in my shameful absence the past year or so.

Merry Thursday,

Anna J. Evans

Glorious New Template

2010-02-17T15:31:00.000-08:00

I'm in love with my new blog template. I'm hoping this will lead to an increase in blog activity.

What think you people of this?

Anna J. Evans

Website updated, book 2 turned in!

2010-01-29T15:17:00.001-08:00

The website is updated!

But there's still no fun stuff. Lol! Sorry. I'm not sure I know what "fun stuff" is...

I'll do some investigating and get that fun stuff up there in Spring 2010. In the meantime, you can check out the new books page and find an excerpt from SHADOW MARKED here:

http://annajevans.com/shadow_marked.html

And in other exciting news, the second in the Demon Bound series, DEMON MARKED, was just turned in to my editor today. I am REALLY excited about this book. The story of Emma, Sam's younger sister, was so much fun to write and Andre, the hero, may be one of my favorite heroes ever. I can't wait to share this book with ya'll in 2011.

Have a lovely weekend and stay warm with a hot read,

Anna J. Evans

A few changes

2010-01-11T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hey ya'll,

Obviously I'm too overwhelmed to blog here regularly, but I promise I will keep the blog and the website updated with all the latest pertinent information and Anna J. Evans and Annaliese Evans news. In the print publishing world, however, those updates don't come as often as they used to. It can take a year or longer for a book to go from draft to bookshelf and in that time there isn't as much new news to share.

So in the name of cutting down my workload and hopefully gaining some more time to blog here, there, and elsewhere, I'll be closing down both of my yahoo-groups. If you are a member of the groups, I wanted to assure you that I'm not going anywhere, just realizing I'm one woman and have a limited amount of time and energy, lol!

Stay tuned. I've got a fun Mrs. Giggles review to share this week. (That woman is a doll, I don't care what all those other guys say ;).)

Best to all of you in 2010!

Anna J. Evans

Cover LOVE! Shadow Marked

2009-11-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

"Shadow Marked"
A Demon Bound Novel
March 2010 from Signet Eclipse

So. Pretty. So pretty!! And now, the blurbage:

The Devil and Miss Quinn

Samantha Quinn has been in the dark since age six, when her parents sacrificed her sight in a satanic ritual. She is trying to get over her demonic past, but horrific lifelike visions haunt her. Her intuition gets stronger and clearer with a wild, adrenaline-fueled sexual encounter with Jace, her brother’s childhood friend. And now Samantha is more tormented than ever by what she can “see”—and by what she felt in that forbidden encounter...

Samantha must now prevent the deaths she sees in her premonitions and protect her body from the same demon from her twisted childhood. Her dark curse reveals that Jace will be the next victim, and it is crystal clear that she must destroy the demon to protect her love.

Happy Monday,

Anna J. Evans

"Claiming It All" on sale! & Booksigning

2009-11-13T06:33:00.000-08:00

BLURB:

For ten years, Tiffany has made a living making other people’s sexiest dreams come true as an employee of Fantasies Unlimited. Now it’s her turn. She’s headed to surprise the only men she ever loved and hopefully convince them to recapture the threesome-that-got-away.

Oil man Aaron and sexy rancher Travis have a surprise of their own for their high school sweetheart. They’ve been secret lovers for years and know exactly how to give Tiffany—and each other—a night they’ll never forget.

But when sex turns into something more, will these three long-lost lovers have the courage to seize their unconventional happy ever after? Or will they shy away from taking it all?

BUY LINK:

http://www.jasminejade.com/p-7808-claiming-it-all.aspx

BOOK SIGNING INFO:

Things Are Heating Up at Barnes & Noble

Author Event
Baby, it's cold outside. Warm up with romance authors Delilah Devlin, Sandra Jones, Shayla Kersten, Shada Royce, Myla Jackson and Anna J. Evans (aka Annaliese Evans). Authors will be available to sign books.

Saturday November 14, 2009 6:00-8:00 PM

Little Rock
11500 Financial Ctr Pkwy, Little Rock, AR 72211, 501-954-7646

Hope to see some of you this weekend! Would type more, but the baby refuses to be put down this morning. Not the easiest typing I've ever done!

Have a great Friday,

Anna J. Evans

New Menage Release this Friday!!!

2009-11-09T18:25:00.000-08:00

UPDATED TO ADD: Hey guys, checking in to let you know the title for this release has been changed from "Taking it All" to "Claiming it All" due to a last minute title conflict. Be back on Friday with the buy link!

Oooo....hot menage goodness! Two guys who love lovin' on each other and a sexy female minx added into the mix.

I can't believe it, but this baby is releasing on Friday! This Friday! The release goddesses over at Ellora's Cave are smiling on me and I'm so very grateful. It's great to be able to share this sexy story of three high school sweethearts reunited sooner rather than later. Here's some blurbage:

BLURB:

For ten years, Tiffany Brandon has made a living making other people's sexiest dreams come true as a employee of Fantasies Unlimited. Now, it's her turn. She headed for Texas to surprise the only men she ever loved and hopefully convince them to recapture the threesome-that-got-away.

Oil man, Aaron, and sexy, rancher, Travis have a surprise of their own for their high school sweetheart. They've been secret lovers for years and know exactly how to give Tiffany--and each other--a night they'll never forget.

But when sex turns to something more, will these three long lost lovers have the courage to seize their unconventional happy ever after? Or will they shy away from taking it all?

Sound yummy? I hope so! I'll post a buy link on Friday.

Off to finish other assorted business, be back soon...maybe for a man meat Wednesday since Monday obviously got away from me!

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday: For the Love of Sports Edition

2009-10-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

Sven loved baseball...

Sven REALLY loved baseball (especially the bats)...

Sven loved football...

Sven loved soccer...

But Sven loved his jock strap most of all...

Sven REALLY loved his jock strap...even if he didn't quite understand how to use it properly...

Oh, sweet strap...it's just you and me...for now...for always.

Happy Day People! Don't take any crap from Monday and I'll see you back here soon,

Anna J. Evans

Men and Men and Women and Men, oh my!

2009-10-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

And now, as promised, what those pesky slashes used to describe erotic romances really mean:

M/F/M--male/female/male

This means that there will be three people getting some loving in the same bed (or other erotic venue of the writer's choice). Both men will be making love to the woman, but they will not be making love with each other. In this scenario, the men in question are both straight (and sometimes brothers, a popular erotic romance convention that honestly skeeves me a little bit. I don't want to think about family in bed together, but that's just me.).

I have actually never written a pure m/f/m, though I've written several menage stories. I find it rather difficult to believe two men are going to be comfortable enough to be naked in bed together, both having sex with the same woman, and not also be comfortable touching each other. I guess I feel if you're open minded enough to share...you would probably also be open minded enough to think of making love as making love, regardless of what parts you're touching/employing to do so.

But that's just me. I realize erotic romance is largely escapist reading, so whatever floats your boat!

M/M/F-male/male/female

This means that the two men and one woman will all be loving on each other--most likely. This could also occasionally mean that one man will be loving on one man (who's gay) and one woman, but usually it means everyone is touching and feeling and lusting freely.

F/M/F-female/male/female

Two straight women loving on one man. Never written this or read it. I like more men than women in my menage and mores. Again, just my personal preference.

F/F/M-female/female/male

Two gay women (or one gay and one straight) who also have a taste for man flesh.

Hopefully that helps! Would write more, but must run! Busy Saturday.

Have a great weekend and see you Monday,

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday: Feeeellings Edition

2009-10-19T01:25:00.000-07:00

The Many Moods of Sven.

Angry!

Sad...

Itchy...

Happy!

Ah! Never underestimate the power of accessories. Go forth, Sven, and spread thy cheerful scarf-loving grin amongst the multitudes.

And...end manmeat!

Later in the week, I'll be sharing the meanings of those pesky--"m/m/f" or "m/f/m"--labels for those of us new to the "who's kissing and touchin' on who?" menage action in erotic romance. I may also do a personal update-y sort of post though, really, I think I can sum up life in a few bullet points:

1. Hubs and baby and number one son are precious and wonderful. Stepdaughters are also well and precious (though teen-aged).

2. Stupid house still hasn't sold.

3. I'm working too hard and feel vaguely twitchy (same old, same old), but also very grateful for wonderful family and precious offspring and great hubs.

The end. On with your Monday!

Anna J. Evans

For Future Smut Writers of America

2009-10-16T04:57:00.000-07:00

Hey People!

In the past few weeks I've had several requests from people just starting out on their erotic romance writing journey asking me the difference between erotic romance, erotica, and porn, and feeling nervous that they won't know which they're writing until they are done with the manuscript. I hastened to assure them this was absolutely not true. There are very clear differences between each of those genres. One is not the other or really easily confused with the others.

So, here they are, for the future Smut Writers of America--and I say smut with the deepest fondness. I love reading and writing good, sexy, romantic smut--my humble attempt at definitions. (These are pulled from all the much smarter people I've heard speak about the genre in the past several years as erotic romance has really come into its own.)

erotic romance--any super sexy story that focuses primarily on the monogamous relationship between the hero and heroine and has a happy ever after ending (even if that HEA is between several partners as in menage)

erotica--a super sexy story that focuses on the erotic journey of sexual self-discovery of the heroine. She does not have to be monogamous with one man in these types of stories and they do not necessarily have to have a happy ending, though many do.

porn--a story that lacks romance or much of a story, period, in which many people are eff-ing for eff-ing's sake.

Now, of course, we could go much deeper in defining each category, but I feel these defs cover the basics. As for the genre of my books--in case you are not a reader of Anna J. Evans' books, which, you should of course remedy right away ;)--I'd say my stories are all erotic romance, even the one Exotica I have available over at Ellora's Cave. I love my happy ever after and seeing my heroine settle down with a good man or two.

Any questions? Corrections? Thoughts?

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you all Monday!

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday: Manmeat does the Alphabet!

2009-10-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

Maybe I've been watching too much Sesame Street and just have alphabet on the brain, but tell me the Man Meat isn't getting busy with their letters today.

The letter M:

The letter R:

The letter L:
(If you rotate the image 90 degrees and invert it. I could have done that on photoshop for you guys, but I'm lazy. And also you're smart! You can imagine how this would look flipped and flopped, right?)

The letter O:

The preceding Man Meat has been brought to you by the letters "M", "R", "L", and "O", and by the number "4".

See you soon,

Anna J. Evans

Return of the Man Meat: When Animals Attack Edition

2009-10-08T06:17:00.001-07:00

First up,

I'm not going to make apologies for being such a horrendous blogger the past year, because that's lame. I'm just going to promise that I'm back and going to post at least once a week. I'm Committing, with a capital C. Heck, I'm COMMITTING, all caps. I've missed blogging over here (I can't cuss over at my YA blog. Well, I can, I guess, but I mostly don't...mostly ;)). I've also missed reading your blogs. I can't wait to start trolling about and get caught up. (If you leave a comment here, I'll make it a priority to stop by your blog and leave comment love in return.)

So stay tuned to the blog for LOL Man Meat (though perhaps not always on Mondays), and more. And now, a return to a blog favorite.

MAN MEAT: When Animals Attack Edition

Poor Fritz thought the tigers were part of the petting zoo and ended up with a shredded leather jumpsuit. Then Fritz was sad.

Michel was similarly saddened when a crow died on his hat. His friends urged him to take the hat off, but Michel refused, insisting it was better to wear a hat with a dead bird on it than no hat at all. (He had no such qualms about going shirtless.)

Frederick made the mistake many Man Meat have made in the past and grew unnaturally close to his pet bunny. At first, it was just kisses and snuggles:

But then it grew sick and twisted. As bunny love so often does:

Is that a gourd he's carved to use as an offering for his bunny god? God, that's just...sick. Almost as sick as wearing red stockings and nothing else. Not a good look for you, Frederick...not good at all.

MAN MEAT finis.

Take care all and have a wonderful Thursday! I'll be seeing you soon,

Anna J. Evans

New Look

2009-09-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

Ooooo...pretty new blog. And the website it getting beautified too. Check it out:

http://annajevans.com

It's not finished yet, but well on the way.

Thoughts?

Anna

Two New Reviews

2009-08-05T05:29:00.000-07:00

5 ANGELS from FALLEN ANGEL REVIEWS for "TAMING THE MADAM"

"Taming the Madam is Book Three in the Dark Pantheon series...The western setting gives Taming the Madam a unique twist. Amelia and Jacob sizzle, the passion between them palpable. The sex is steamy with light bondage, restraints and spanking. Taming the Madam is a hot paranormal set in the Wild West." -Kimber for Fallen Angel Reviews

link to full review: http://fallenangelreviews.com/2009/July/kimber-tamingthemadam.htm
link to buy: http://www.jasminejade.com/pm-5111-230-taming-the-madam.aspx

5 CUPS from COFFEE TIME ROMANCE for "SKIN DEEP"

"A wonderful read full of sexual heat and a potent tale. I can guarantee that by the end of this book you will be hoping for a happy ever after." -Danielle for Coffee time Romance

link to full review: http://coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/skindeepByAnnaEvans.html
link to buy: http://www.amazon.com/Skin-Deep-Anna-J-Evans/dp/0451226976/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245503633&sr=1-1

Have a great Wednesday!

Anna J. Evans

The Prince of Frogs-A Forgiveness Issue?

2009-08-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

*Warning, could contain possible spoilers of the mild sort.

Early reviews of "The Prince of Frogs" (Tor, September 2009) are out and, much like the reviews for "Night's Rose", the reviewers either love it or they hate it. Romantic Times gave it 4 stars and hailed it as being "a lot more interesting and fast-paced than its predecessor...a lovely blend of romance and mystery."

Then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, I just received a review in which the reviewer swore they wanted to slap all my characters in the face and read a livejournal post where a reader questioned my apparent "coolness" and "niceness" because she did not enjoy this book. (Just for the record, I endeavor to be both cool and nice and whether or not I wrote a book that isn't for you does not in any way affect those things. My books and I are separate entities. My characters and I are separate entities. And my characters from one book are separate and different from my characters in another. So if you don't like this heroine, it doesn't necessarily mean you won't like another. Or that you wouldn't like me if we met in person. You know what I'm saying? So hugs, weep not dear reader, we're still cool in my book.)

All of this has made me think--about why people have such strong reactions to Rose, my heroine in this series, and why certain people are really not caring for the plot line of book two. I've decided part of it can be summed up in one word: forgiveness.

What is forgivable? What is unforgivable? Some people have which is which very clearly defined in their minds. Others don't.

For me, the plot of this book was heavily influenced by the time issue. The character who has wronged my heroine and my heroine have been friends for one hundred years. That is a long, long time. I tried to think about how much people I know have changed since we were all in our early twenties and multiply that times ten. People change, they grow, they are betrayed and wronged, and they do things that wrong others. They learn that the capacity to fail spectacularly is within all of us and learn to forgive others so that they will be able to forgive themselves and find some sort of peace.

I imagine this would be especially true if you suspected you were going to live forever. I can hold a grudge for fifty to sixty years, no problem. But if I thought I had to hold it for one-hundred, two-hundred years, or more? I'd have to let go and choose forgiveness. Especially if the person I was forgiving was someone I cared about and who had done many wonderful things for me in addition to the one awful/unforgivable thing.

So there are some of my thoughts. Look forward to hearing more from readers and reviewers as the build-up to the September release begins. Positive or negative, your feedback is always appreciated.

Best,

Anna/Annaliese

Miami Herald reviews "Night's Rose"

2009-07-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Nights-Rose/Annaliese-Evans/e/9780765361660/?itm=1

"Night's Rose" got a fabulous review from the Miami Herald (circulation 1.1 million people weekly!). And it's from a man! Who loves fantasy! And who is urging his fellow fantasy fans to reach across the aisle to the romance section! Could I use more exclamation points? Yes! I can!!

Thanks for reading, ya'll, this was great news to wake up to on Tuesday:

"Night's Rose picks up some 80 years after Rose was awakened by something about as far removed from true love's first kiss as one could possibly conceive. This isn't your daughter's Sleeping Beauty. Rather it's a dizzyingly twisted tale of pacts and prophecies, fairies, vampires, ogres, trolls, unrequited love and barely controlled lust. Don't let the publisher's designation (''Paranormal Romance'') fool you. There's a love triangle, and there are a few steamy scenes, but when the heroine is wiping green ichor off her sword blade within the first 10 pages, any fantasy fan with an even halfway open mind needs to take notice. This is good stuff.

Evans'...Rose is fiery and formidable but flawed enough to be sympathetic and so in over her head that the reader is sure that the next page will be Rose's last. Romance fans practically demand the happy-ever-after ending, but Evans stays true to her creation and leaves enough drama in Rose's life for another story or two."

John Wililford for "The Miami Herald"

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/story/1149354.html

More good news to come, have a great rest of your week!

Anna J. Evans

Skin Deep is out this week!

2009-07-06T04:13:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow in fact! I'll be trolling bookstores to sign stock, so if you live in the Little Rock area keep an eye out for autographed stickers. (I know Barnes and Noble in West Little Rock and Books-a-Million in North Little Rock both have 6-7 copies on order.)

You more far-flung people can snag a copy at your local bookstore or get this bad boy online at:

amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Skin-Deep-Anna-J-Evans/dp/0451226976/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245503633&sr=1-1

or barnes and noble:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Skin-Deep/Anna-J-Evans/e/9780451226976/?itm=2

Or wherever you like to be buying those fine books. And now, your blurb and excerpt:

BLURB:

There’s a fine line between pleasure and pain…

When she’s kidnapped from the bar where she works, Nicky has to admit that she’s strangely aroused. She always knew her possessive ex-lover Jackson Bledsoe, a notoriously famous tattoo artist, had a kinky side. But even for him, this was wild.

Jackson has his reasons. He and Nicky both share the same tattoo—a fallen angel that became even more than just part of their skin. Now, there is only one way for Jackson to rid himself of his obsession with her. Put her back under the needle, and get rid of the piece of art that made them one.

It’s bringing out the submissive in Nicky—the chance to give her body over to a dominant male and pierce the boundary between pleasure and pain. Under Jackson’s artful control, Nicky must confront her darkest desires and most sensual fears. As she and Jackson feed each other’s addictive hungers, the game begins. It’s only a matter of time before it goes too far…

EXCERPT: (unedited, c. Anna J. Evans 2009)

She was nearly naked again, wearing nothing but tiny black panties, and his hands were everywhere but where she needed them to be. Calloused fingertips traced the column of her spine down to the small of her back, deliberately avoiding the aching place between her legs as he gripped her thighs and pulled them apart.

Wider. Wider. Strong hands moving to grip her ankles with a careless ownership that made a soft moan escape her lips.

“See there, Nicky. Aren’t you glad I caught you in time?” His voice was as rough as the rope he used to secure first one ankle and then the other to the bedpost behind her. As he worked, Nicky could feel her mind softening, sinking into a pool of cool, clear water even as her entire body caught fire.

Descending into sub space, into that place in her mind where nothing mattered but one man and what he would command her to do, had always reminded Nicky of floating. Drifting into a delicious dream where pleasure and pain fused together, where mind and body finally made peace with one another, where her consciousness focused to a knifepoint and she finally felt completely alive.

Subbing was a better high than any drug and three times as addictive. It was like flying without any fear of the fall.

At least not any fear until it was all over…and it was too late to take back those parts of herself she’d given away.

“Tell me, Nicky.” He’d finished with her ankles and was now hovering above her prone form, braced on the hands he’d placed at either side of her shoulders, close enough she could feel his heat but not the comforting weight of his body. His breath was warm against the back of her neck, his lips brushing lightly against the sensitive skin as he spoke. “Tell me what you want.”

Nicky shivered, but not because of the cold. She’d grown accustomed to the chill in the cabin. Too bad she couldn’t grow accustomed to what this man did to her, couldn’t seem to control her body’s instinctive response to the Dominant he’d become.

Of course, even if he hadn’t grown into just the kind of man her twisted libido craved like a fat man craves cake, just the fact that he was Jack would have probably been enough. The familiar smell of his skin made her wetter than she’d been in years, the feel of his large hands moving to her wrists had her nipples drawn into tight, aching points, and the way he said “want” was nearly enough to make her come. Right then, without as much as a fingertip between her legs.

And he knew exactly what he was doing to her. The bastard.

“Fuck you,” she whispered, the defiant words kicking her arousal into over drive. Unfortunately for her, the only thing more arousing than being a good girl was being a bad one. That’s why she didn’t fight him as he rechecked the cuffs securing her to the headboard. Fighting only fueled the fire.

“I don’t think so. No more distractions. We’re going to finish this,” he said, the surety in his voice underscored by the buzzing of the tattoo machine beside the bed.
Her pulse pounded unhealthily in her ears and a cold sweat broke out between her shoulder blades as she realized a needle could be only a few inches away from her skin. “Tell me what you want, Nicky. This is your last chance.”

But she didn’t say a word, only pressed her face into the cool quilt and waited for the familiar sting. Waited for Jack to mark her flesh the way he’d already marked her heart.

Have a wonderful week all, and let me know if you spot "Skin Deep" on the shelves. I'd love to get an idea of who is stocking it where :)

Anna J. Evans

And the winner is...

2009-06-26T04:38:00.001-07:00

Ann Marie!! Just send me an email with your snail mail to anna.j.evans.lolsexy at gmail dot com and I'll get your copy of "Skin Deep" out next week.

Thanks so everyone who is still reading and congrats Ann Marie. I'll see you all next week with a Man Meat Monday ;).

Best, and happy weekend,

Anna J. Evans

"Skin Deep" Giveaway and 5 Lip Review

2009-06-20T06:07:00.000-07:00

Have you been wanting a copy of "Skin Deep", but haven't yet pre-ordered your copy here?:

http://www.amazon.com/Skin-Deep-Anna-J-Evans/dp/0451226976/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245503633&sr=1-1

Do you live in the continental United States or Canada? Then leave a comment here on the blog in the next five days. On Wednesday, I'll put all the names in the hat and pull out a winner. Easy as that! (Just checking to see if anyone is reading this blog anymore, or if I should just humanly put it down, lol.)

And in other news! Victoria over at TwoLips Reviews gave "Skin Deep" a 5 Lip review! Here's a little of what she had to say:

"Get ready for some sultry D/S scenes between these two as Nicky finds her “true” self, submitting under the demanding, yet romantically tender, Jackson’s domination. Anna J. Evans demonstrates in Skin Deep that BDSM is not only a physical but an emotional journey. Bravo, Ms. Evans!"

Thanks so much, Victoria! And good luck to anyone out there reading. Leave a comment, you could be a big winnah.

Anna J. Evans

"Captured" is a FAR Recommended Read

2009-06-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

"Wow! This is an incredible read, captivating from the first page to the last...The gentle humor, authentic voice and period details bring this story vividly to life. The love scenes are superb, especially with the additional frisson of the camera's voyuerism. I loved Captured and will be looking for more books by Anna J. Evans - this one's a keeper and a Recommended Read."

Reviewed by: Maija for Fallen Angel Reviews

You can read the full review here:

http://fallenangelreviews.com/2009/May/maija-captured.htm

Thanks for reading!

Anna J. Evans

4 and 1/2 Stars from Romantic Times for "Skin Deep"

2009-06-01T07:17:00.001-07:00

"Evans pens a tale that is hot, scary and sweet all at the same time. The protagonists and their dominant/submissive sex scenes will keep you turning the pages long into the night, and the happy ending is emotional enough to please any romance fan...This book will definitely please bearers of body art and those who love them."

4 and 1/2 Stars from Romantic Times Magazine

Yeay!!! I am so excited. I mean, I think this is one of my best, but it's great to get the RT review to back it up.

Remember, you can be pre-ordering this bad boy here:

http://www.amazon.com/Skin-Deep-Anna-J-Evans/dp/0451226976/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243866016&sr=8-1

Sorry the blogging has been spotty. I've been BUSY.

Anna J. Evans

"Devil Take Me" out in print today!

2009-05-20T05:35:00.000-07:00

http://samhainpublishing.com/print/devil-take-me-print

BLURB:

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Or is that wicked seductions?

Annie Theophilus is used to life not going her way, but now the future is looking bright. She’s engaged and finally getting her happily-ever-after—until she catches her fiancé cheating. The garage seems to be the safest place for a well-deserved crying jag. Instead, it proves to be a portal from hell, out of which a sexy denizen of the underworld has just emerged.

Namtar, one-time death-bringer to mortals, has come through an Earth portal for one thing—power. If he can convince a human to willingly sacrifice mortality for eternity in the Underworld, he will gain the power he needs to get the queen off her throne and secure a future for his people.

But Annie’s seduction doesn’t go as smoothly as planned. Somehow she steals a piece of his heart, and he finds himself struggling with a depth of feeling he’s never known. Now, thanks to his own hesitation, they’re on the run from a murderous ex-fiancé and a few enraged demons.

How can he ask her to give him her soul—when all he can offer her is pain?

BUY IT ONLINE AT:
My Bookstore and More
http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/p-devil-take-me
Powells
http://www.powells.com/biblio/1605042811?&PID=32902
Books-a-Million
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?AID=42121&PID=2950338&isbn=1605042811

This is the one Mrs. Giggles gave an 84 and a "devil take me indeed!" ya'll, so go check it out if yo get the chance.

Best,

Anna J. Evans

Monday Man Meat

2009-05-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

"Look, Ma! I found a sea anemone!!"

Hope all of you mom's out there had a great mother's day.

Best,

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday-Trial by Toilet

2009-05-04T06:32:00.001-07:00

Damn you, you filthy toilet. How did you get so...filthy?

I'm taking you down vile tank! Curse you and your smear stains! I shall vanquish your foul stench!!

Dear god, the ring around the bowl...it's nearly too much. My heart...my....heart...

Another dirty nasty naughty toilet taught who's it's daddy. Who's your daddy? That's right, toilet...that's right.

I'm back with the man meat. Let's see how long this lasts since I am the worst blogger ever!! (But I'm totally going to get better. I swear<---this is a lie, do not believe my lies.)

Happy Monday!!

Anna J. Evans

The Romantic Times Convention 2009

2009-05-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hey people!

So...I'm back...I've actually been back for awhile but I've been sick and the baby has been sick (and is still sick, god, who knew a tiny little person could create so much snot?)...and I've been...distracted...

And I'm still distracted and a little confused, so it's a GREAT time to write a blog about the RT Convention 2009. Because that's how I spent most of the convention. I was getting sick when I got there and it only got worse as the days progressed. I have asthma and I had bronchitis and between the mold in the rooms and mad cigarette smoking at the outdoor restaurant (one of the few places to get something to eat or check your goddamns internetz), I struggled to breathe for most of my time there.

ASIDE: Cigarette smokers, please take the freakin' smoking somewhere where people aren't trying to eat and breathe. It sucks, but your bad habit can have a SEVERE NEGATIVE impact on the people around you--whereas my rampant drinking hurts no one but myself so long as I don't drive or get up on the tables and dance around naked and show you my stretch mark scarred boobs. So yeah. You people who blew smoke in my face for five days, I think you kind of suck. And we can throw down about that any time you want. I'm almost better now and I've got my super powered inhaler so bring it! END OF ASIDE

I think RT would have distracted me just about anytime, however. I found many many many maannnnyyy things about the convention completely surreal. I felt like I'd been transported to some strange land that was kind of a mix between Spring Break Panama City 1996 and Romancing the Stone with a side of Rocky Horror. There was romance, there was ridiculousness, there were almost naked men, there were hardcore vampires and faeries, and there was beer. Lots of beer. It was kind of weird and...I wasn't sure I liked it.... I thought I might at times, but then I'd change my mind and decide I needed to hide out in my room.

But at other times, I found RT to be a wonderful oasis of book lovers and more importantly, romance book lovers. It was so great to chat with readers and other writers and the book sale on Saturday was off the hook. I have NEVER sold so many books at a signing and I'd like to give a big shout out to everyone who bought a book or brought one from home for me to sign. You guys made my year. Or at least my half-year. Really, I can't tell you how awesome it was to meet my readers, people who really love my books. I think I cried about it at one point, lol.

Other highlights of the trip included FINALLY meeting my writing partner, Stacia Kane aka December Quinn (who is just an adorable little imp of a person) and many many cool authors, including a group of Canadians who I just adored. I'm now more determined than ever to become Canadian when I grow up.

So hugs to everyone who made the trip so worthwhile. Don't know if I'll be back to an RT anytime soon, but it was definitely an experience I'll remember for a long, long time.

Later people,

Anna J. Evans

On the way to Romantic Times!!

2009-04-21T04:29:00.000-07:00

And that picture is...mostly unrelated. I hope. Though I've heard some strange things go on at RT.

Anyway, I've been crazy busy and had sick kids (again!! never-ending plague BE GONE from my house!) and now I think I'm getting sick, but I will not go quietly into that great snot pit. I'm going to RT to get all the rest of you party people sick as dogs! Ha! Muwahahaha!

Just kidding, I'll sneeze into my elbow and dispose of my tissues properly and all that.

Look forward to seeing you all there and if I get my act together I might even have some pictures to share here on the blog. (Pictures of RT, not of cats with their head in a pinata's ass.)

Safe travels all!

Anna J. Evans

Win an 80.00 Gift Card! From me and Bitten by Books!

2009-04-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah. It was supposed to be an Amazon gift card...the irony is thick. I think I'll talk to the contest coordinator about changing the prize to a Barnes and Noble gift card instead.

BUT ANYWAY!

Go read this to find out how to win! BIG CONTEST! BIG! And you have five days to enter!!!

More exclamation points!!!!

http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=6019

Check it out!!

Anna J. Evans/Annaliese Evans

Amazon amazon ranked my books!

2009-04-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

Amazon Rank

Check it out. Amazon has gone and amazon ranked all my Ellora's Cave books as well as my Magnum Smut-pus "Skin Deep". They've removed the sales rankings from all of my titles and rendered them nearly impossible to find unless you are searching by my author name.

Amazon Sucks huge hairy diseased censorship balls.

Go check out more on this over at Smart Bitches Trashy Books (link on the sidebar).

Anna J. Evans

Scads of Good Reviews! Yeay!

2009-04-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

And now, for some Anna Reviews:

"Ms. Evans is an author I can count on to deliver a sinfully good story, and Taming the Madam is no exception...I finished this story impatient for the next Dark Pantheon tale and even more eager to read more of the talented Ms. Evans’s work. (Says Shayna of Joyfully Reviewed)

"Anna J. Evans has created an awesome new world for the reader to discover in the Wicked Witch of the West Village...Wicked Witch of the West Village grabs the readers at the beginning and doesn't let go until the end. I cannot wait to see what she will come up with next." (4 Angels from Sonya of Fallen Angel Reviews)

"Okay, so I’ve never read an Ellora’s Cave Quickie before - and boy was I surprised. This quickie was awesome! I want more of this world that Anna J. Evan’s created. In fact, I want more of C.J. and Gabe, in particular. It takes a talented author to pack a story into thirty-six pages...I’m going to head on over to Anna’s website and see what other books she has out, and I recommend you do the same - right after you read “Wicked Delicious”. (4 and 1/2 Tombstones from Brianna for Bitten by Books.)

"This is a fast moving story that you will be unable to put down. Summer and Aiden are an appealing couple with a few surprises for the reader. The descriptions of their evening are both erotic and inventive. The biker couple provides more than a few tense moments in the story, and there is a nice twist at the end."(4 cups from CoffeeTime Romance from Maura Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More)

And there are more, but my child refuses to nap!

Happy Weekend! Is it the weekend yet?

Anna J. Evans

Great New Night's Review

2009-04-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

Night's Rose Earns a Very Respectable B over at Babbling About Books!

"Night’s Rose is a dark and sexual fairy tale...Annaliese Evans has written a magical tale that both fantasy and romance readers alike will enjoy. The love scenes between Rose and Gareth are passionate and will leave you panting for more. Night’s Rose is a world of mystical creatures and legends that will have you enthralled till the very last page. Tor has a very good thing indeed with Annaliese Evans. (Tor)" -Katie At Babbling About Books

I'm super excited about this review (and about the fact that my italics button is stuck again...damn you blogger!!!).

You can check out all this Katie-licious review here:

http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.com/2009/04/nights-rose-book-review-annaliese-evans.html

Have a wonderful week!

Annaliese Evans (again today...Anna has some reviews to share in a day or two :)).

"Night's Rose" is out!

2009-03-31T13:39:00.000-07:00

For nearly one hundred years, Rosemarie Edenberg has worked tirelessly to wipe the dreaded ogre tribe from the earth. Now the tribe has gathered in London to work a spell that will destroy the scourge of their kind, the one they call the Briar Rose.

Two magnetic men will unite to aid Rose--her mysterious fey advisor, Ambrose, and the vampire Lord Shenley, an earl of scandalous reputation and even more scandalous appetites. One will save her, one will betray her, and both will challenge her to face the past that haunts her.

Once upon a time, she was ensnared in the mists of enchantment, cursed to sleep one hundred years. But this beauty wasn't awakened with a kiss and has never known happily ever after. But with the help of her handsome allies, Rose may find it yet.

Go forth my pretties and purchase your copy where fine books about cursed princesses are sold. (Or you can try Amazon because our Barnes and Noble only had two copies so I'm sure it will be all kinds of sold out in the real world very soon. Lol. But for real...um...if you want to check amazon, this is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0765361663/ref=nosim/?tag=priceg-books-20&creative=380333&creativeASIN=0765361663&linkCode=asn

(No, I can't make the italics stop...blogger is evil...so very evil...)

Annaliese Evans (today anyway ;))

Back from Break

2009-03-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

And I already want to go back. Hubs and I are already plotting our next trip and Baby L was a doll. Look at him in his hotel crib. Happy as a little piggy in poo and awfully cute too, if I do say so myself. (He looks just like the hubs so it's not like I'm blowing my own cute horn or anything like that....cute horn..what the f am I talking about? I'm so tired, and yet, so bummed to be home resting. Blergh. Hope everyone is having a great spring.)

Anna J. Evans

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2009-03-17T06:42:00.000-07:00

May you urinate in public with your sweetie this St. Patrick's Day. We'll be home with the baby (that's me in the picture snuggling the Lo and the dazed man with porkchop whiskers...is that what those are called?....no, not porkchops, lambchops!! Anyway, that's the hubs.)

The end. Don't drink and drive.

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday

2009-03-16T04:22:00.000-07:00

And....I.....Can't think of anything silly to say about this pic! The guy is too perfect and bronzy muscley and glows like a cat toy I am unable to resist. Oooo....shiny....*bats with paws*....

Sorry it's been so long folks. End of winter, big kids sick, baby still not sleeping through the night, on deadline for a book, the Roo fell and split open his eyebrow at school, people who are supposed to occasionally pick up children for a day or two haven't been picking them up so not much of a break, been working out five hours a week to try to shed the last of the baby weight, and then there were some edits, and a couple of first pass pages prooffs, and yada yada yada...god! Is it time for RT yet? Lol.

Have a great week!

Anna J. Evans

Magnum Smut-pus

2009-03-02T19:44:00.000-08:00

Sorry, no man meat today. I've just been overwhelmed with work coming at me from all sides, including a final copy edit of "Skin Deep", my NAL Heat book that's coming out this July. And after reading half of this book...I just wonder if I haven't reached the end of my smut journey.

I mean, I can safely say this book is a DAMN fine piece of smut. I am on the edge of my seat during this erotic journey and I wrote it. This has never happened to me before. I'm proud of a lot of my books, but they have never transported me upon rereading.

So this is it. My smut magnum opus. Put it on your pre-order list over at Amazon because this might be my final work of Anna J. Evans ero-rom. (Anna has another book coming out with Eclipse in 2011, but it's not smut. Just sex-ay paranormal romance.) Quit while you're on top man...which really means something coming from a writer of erotic romance ;).

http://www.amazon.com/Skin-Deep-Anna-J-Evans/dp/0451226976/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236052359&sr=8-1

Chow bellas, until next time I am up late contemplating deep magnum smut-pus type things,

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday

2009-02-22T18:29:00.001-08:00

Due to the saving grace of his tattoos, Sven was not kicked out of the manly olympics for his fuzzy hat. It was close however...very close...

Busy busy busy. Today I've got both the little ones at home and I'm trying this whole "cutting down on media and electronics" thing that forces me to actually entertain the kidlets. Or suggest they go use their imaginations until they break under the boredom and actually go play with the ridiculous amount of toys in their room.

I also have work! Argh, work on this book that I can't tell if it is coming together or falling completely apart. The chance to sit down with the thing for more than ten minutes at a time woudl be nice, but doesn't look like that's going to happen this week....maybe next weekend.

Happy Monday,

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday-half-assed edition

2009-02-16T06:26:00.000-08:00

Man feet...killing the mood since the dawn of human evolution.

Ew, man feet. I just hate them. I don't think I've ever mentioned a man's feet in a sex scene and I do my best to avoid them in real life as well. There's just nothing sexy about a man foot. Especially feet that have spent nearly twenty years in combat boots. (Sorry hubs.)

I mean, I love my man more than just about anything in the world and would lick his feet if aliens came down and threatened to wipe out the human race if I didn't, but otherwise I'm glad they stay down there near the ground where I usually am not and are often covered by socks or shoes or other things that keep their man-feetness from being too overt.

In other news, Roo has been running 102-103 degree fever for going on three days and I'm losing my mind with worry that the baby is going to catch his cooties. So send good anti-sick-baby vibes our way please!!

Until next Monday (because who am I kidding, I can barely manage to blog once a week at this point, if I show up between now and next Monday it will be a minor miracle)

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday, getting back to the boobs edition

2009-02-09T04:27:00.000-08:00

Raphael was so proud of the underpants he chose for "wear your panties to work" day at the steel mill...but sadly, the skunk stripe down the front of his briefs led to much teasing about the stankiness of his manliness by the other men at the mill.

Even when he later changed into white briefs with a black stripe, it was too late to cease the merciless taunting....poor Raphael.

This morning I realized that it's been WAY too long since I've discussed the girls so I thought it was time for a State of the Boobage Address.

Yep, we're still breastfeeding. 13 weeks today! I'm so proud of the boobs and the hard work they've been doing to keep adding fat rolls to Baby L's thighs. I've made it more than double my goal of six weeks, and I think I'm actually starting to get the swing of things. I'm managing to incorporate the nursing and pumping into normal life without too much hassle and my four year old is completely at ease with Mama's Tummy Milk (as he calls it), though he was a little suspicious at first. (He only remembers being bottle fed and was sure he had been deprived in some way, lol.)

So there you go. Just in case you were concerned by the lack of boob talk.

Speaking of the girls, I think I hear a baby waking. Have a great week!

Anna J. Evans

Coming OUT of the Closet at Romantic Times!!!

2009-02-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

No, no not THAT closet. I am about as straight as they come despite attending theatre school for four years, lol. But I will be coming out of the closet at the Romantic Times Convention in Orlando this spring.

After much debate, I've decided to sign as all three of my "selves" at Saturday's book signing. That means my young adult persona, my historical urban fantasy persona, and my smut persona will all be perched upon the same table. I wasn't quite sure I wanted to go there, but since it will be primarily (if not all) adults at the convention I decided to go for it. After all, I'm not embarrassed of anything I write. I just don't want it to be easy for underage readers to start reading my YA self and find their way over to "Anna" or "Annaliese" with a few easy mouse clicks or a google or two.

So, while I'll continue to keep my YA name and grown up names separate online, I will be "coming out" in person this April. See you there :).

Anna

ps. This is cool right...or am I cookin' up something in the mistake kitchen?

Man Meat Monday, Groundhog Day Edition

2009-02-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

Sweet Jesus...the Superbowl is over...what do I have to live for now? It is like all the light has gone out of my man cave for an entire year. Why superbowl...why? Why must you come only once every 365 days?

366 if it's a leap year...like last year. Sigh...I too feel bitter and disillusioned that the superbowl is over. If the groundhog sees his shadow, I may have to hit the gym twice today in order to kill the pain.

And in non-manly news, I'm all for winter lasting six more weeks. I gorged like a furry rodent yesterday (or at least like a post-baby woman who hadn't allowed herself near chips for 12 weeks and was suddenly reintroduced to the glory that is ruffles with french onion dip. Yummm...french onion dip. So frenchy. So oniony.).

The good news is that I am a junior size seven according to Target!! (With a muffin top hanging over the top of the jeans, but I don't care. My muffin top brings all the boys to the yard, and they're like, it's better than yours. Damn right, it's better than yours. I could teach you, but I'd have to charge....for the sprinkles...that are good to put on muffin tops...whatever, you get the song joke and now it is dead.)

The bad news, is that I still can't fit into any of my pre-preggers cute clothes. The ginormous breastfeeding boobs, the muffin top, the extra tummy skin, and the under butt pudge have made it impossible to even look at most of my clothes. (The pain is too intense. I miss my dress with the crazy fluorescent rabbits and the big black bow in the back. I want to wear it and have people look at me funny again. Sigh.)

The bestest news of all, however, is that Baby L is starting to sleep from 9-3, regularly! The end is in sight!! Soon he will sleep, I can just feel it. (Knock on wood.)

Headed to bed, so I guess this is really Man Meat Sunday, but whatev. Don't try to fence me in.

Have a great week!

Anna J. Evans

The return of Man Meat Monday-Chinese New Year Edition

2009-01-26T03:58:00.000-08:00

Well...I think that's pretty self explanatory. No caption needed.

"My chest hair is strange. I know it's strange. I INTENTIONALLY shaved it in a strange pattern, okay? So leave me and my mid-rift baring hair shirt be. Geez..."

After many gentle reminders and email requests, I've resumed Man Meat Monday. It seems you freaky perverts out there love your LolManMeat. And who am I to fault you? Do I not also enjoy the Man Meat with silly captioning?

The answer is yes. Yes I do.

So the hubs is just going to have to roll his eyes and get over it because Man Meat Monday is here to stay. (He's getting ready for work and shook his head in silent confusion as he saw the picture I was uploading. But we understand. Thank you all for being my people.)

May your Chinese New Year abound with finest yak penis,

Anna J. Evans

Still here!

2009-01-21T08:33:00.001-08:00

But the YA persona is having her first big book release this week, so I'm busy busy busy. No time for Anna to blog, only to talk briefly about herself in third and say see you soon,

Be back next week!

Anna

Happy Baby

2009-01-11T17:14:00.000-08:00

As promised, the baby when he is happy. This isn't the best smiley pic, but it's the best I could get.

Right now, all my kids are in the living room arguing over the Wii. I'd consider ripping it out of the wall if I wasn't way into Wii Fit. But I am...so I guess it may end up in my room. :)

Taking the baby to get shots tomorrow. Three of them. Ack. He won't be happy then.

Happy Monday,

Anna J. Evans

Girl crushes

2009-01-08T04:26:00.000-08:00

I've always respected Tina Fey's work (for writing Mean Girls, which rocked, and Baby Mama, which also rocked), but as soon as the hubs and I started catching up on old 30 Rock episodes last week, that respect morphed into a full on girl crush. She is so brilliant and funny and fabulous. I would totally want to be her BFF except that she's way too cool for me and would probably find me boring. (Unless I'd been drinking mimosas. I swear, I'm really funny when I drink mimosas. Buy me some at RT and find out!)

Now, I've just heard that Salma Hayek will be joining the 30 Rock cast soon, or next season or something. (I have Netflix and watch reruns online so I'm not totally up on what's happening when.) She's also a big girl crush for shattering the "breastfeeding makes you skinny" myth when she appeared on Opera. She said something like "the only people who get skinny when they breastfeed are the women who don't eat anything and that's bad for the baby". Amen sistah!! I can't get below the 149 mark at the moment. No matter what I eat or don't eat. My body wants to stay that weight in order to keep enough fat around to make milk.

Of course, I am finally fitting into some of my largest pants, so that's good. I won't be naked at my book signings at the end of the month. And I'm sure my boobs weigh at least 4 pounds each so...

HA! See, it got back around to my boobs!! You thought it was going to be a post about something other than my boobs, but I tricked you. Oh, I am so tricksy and....stuff.

Yawn, gotta go make lunches. The baby is sleeping on the hub's chest because he got three surprise paternity leave days off! Thank you, Congress, for giving men in the military 10 days paternity leave. It was a move that was long overdue. (Now if only you'd passed this law a few days early so we would have been a little closer to 60 days of the birth and could have snagged all that leave. But hey, I'm not going to complain.)

Happy Thursday and have a great weekend. I'll be back on Monday with video of my baby smiling on his changing mat! Big gooey toothless smile, man. Don't miss it.

Anna J. Evans

Some blog help for 2009?

2009-01-05T06:45:00.000-08:00

Things need to change around here in 2009...I know it's true. I've got my first NY print release coming in July 2009--

(Which is now available for preorder! Omg, just headed over to Amazon and found this:
http://www.amazon.com/Skin-Deep-Anna-J-Evans/dp/0451226976/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231166823&sr=8-1 Holy cow. Time is sneaking up on me!)

--I've got two Annaliese Evans releases (in late March and sometime the fall) and Annaliese doesn't have her own blog so I guess anyone interested will find their way over here if they're just dying for blog-like author interaction. (I don't make the connection between me and Annaliese too obvious right now, but readers could certainly figure it out without a whole lot of thinking.)

So I need to get more professional. Start talking about writer and book things more and my boobs less. I need to figure out ways to make this a fun place for readers instead of a catch all blog filled with family pictures I've taken in my spare time. Right? I mean, it just has to happen if I hope to sell enough books to score my next contract and keep feeding the family I like to take pictures of.

But...I don't wanna.

Mature right? But...I just don't wanna. I like blogging about my family. About being a mom and a writer at the same time. I honestly don't care if my readers find their way over here or not. If they do, that's great, I'm glad to have them, but if they'd rather pretend I'm a romantic figure who writes sexy scenes from my feather bed in between lurve-making sessions with my hottie hubbie, that's fine too.

So how to reconcile what I want and what I need? I want to keep the mom-writer flavor, but I also need to boost the excitement level of the content in order to make this blog a marketing tool and thusly, not a waste of my time. (Which is more precious now than ever. I've got maybe 15 minutes a few times a week to devote to blogging and it's a race against the clock every time.)

So what should I do? Man meat Monday seemed to be a hit, but I'm starting to have issues with getting appropriate pics. Anything "funny" usually gets more hits than the other stuff, but its hard to be funny (insert whining sound) and neither Anna nor Annaliese's books are particularly hilarious. Moments of humor, yes, but on the whole they both write darker things.

So...help! Please, you bloggers out there. Any advice would be appreciated. I started three paragraphs with the word "so" for god's sake! I need help! Hmm....maybe there's an idea. Maybe I could run a New Year's blog worshop on how to be a successful writer-blogger! Oooo....and I could get my CP to blog. She's a brilliant blogger.

Okay, so there's my idea. Ya'll got any? Come one, spill 'em!

Anna J. Evans

Going to sleep through the night, bitches!!

2009-01-02T05:14:00.000-08:00

Not really calling anyone around here a bitch. The blog title just sounded more bad ass with the "bitches" on the end.

So yeah, I'm going to sleep through the night tonight!! My mom is coming over to watch Baby L for her first sleepover stay and the hubs and I are going to go to a hotel. We're pathetically excited about taking Tylenol PM and sleeping in until maybe 8 or 9 without getting up two to three times in the night to attend to the snapping turtle. (Speaking of the snapping turtle, however, he slept from 10 to 3:30 last night! I woke up and saw the time on the clock and got so excited I couldn't go back to sleep, lol. I mean...I had to pump anyway, but you know what I mean.)

Speaking of the pumping, I'll have to get up and do that once in the night, but I can handle that, especially knowing no diapers need to be changed or babies lulled to sleep afterwards. Still, that's part of the reason we're going to table the breastfeeding after the end of cold and flu season (end of February/beg of March). That, and the fact that I don't think I'm going to be able to lose the weight until I retire as the milk factory. My body wants to hang on to those extra pounds as long as we're feeding a baby. Which is fine, I guess, but so few of my clothes fit and I'm tired of trying to dig out shirts that will cover my ENORMOUS chest. (I didn't even know there was such thing as an "E" when talking about bra size. Scary, very scary.)

Okay, I should be writing, but instead I'm blogging about my boobs. Again. I feel sorry for the poor people who come over to the blog looking for the hot details of my erotic-romance writing life. Lol. They are surely sorely disappointed.

Have a great weekend all! See you Monday, probably totally refreshed and blog-brilliant from my one night of good sleep (a girl can dream).

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday-my boys

2008-12-29T06:52:00.000-08:00

My boys...

I took their portrait yesterday...

And they were the sweetest models ever. Sigh. Now, however, it's back to work. Trying to make my 1000 words for the day before the little snapping turtle wakes up. Hope everyone is having a great day so far.

Anna J. Evans

And then we did this thing...

2008-12-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

...where we got family pictures taken a few days before Christmas. And after spending seven hours getting six people dressed and gorgeous, I had to drink for several days and rest and cry and then have a pretty nice Christmas and edit 400 pages and then take down the Christmas tree today and breathe a sigh of relief that it's all over. It's over for another year, and next year, I'm thinking the whole seasonal cheer thing will be a whole lot easier. Six weeks post partem, it just wasn't the holliest, jolliest Christmas.

But how was yours?

Hugs, and a happy new year in advance,

Stacey

The big brain drain

2008-12-19T04:33:00.000-08:00

I really can't remember anything. I will say "oh yeah, I need to add that to the Target list" while I'm nursing and five minutes later I go to add the "whatever it is" to the list and I can't remember what the hell I was talking about. Really. Can't. Remember.

Like, banging my head against the wall, desperately searching my memory, but can't pull it out.

Or I'll be checking my email and think "oh shit! I have this work to do, or this piece of emaily business to attend to" and SECONDS later I will have forgotten whatever it was. So...if I owe you email, um...I'm sorry. I just don't have any brain left. It's drained out my boobies into my baby's mouth. Hopefully the process is at least making him smarter.

Anna

Pics

2008-12-12T08:13:00.000-08:00

Baby Logan, eyes still blue! Hoping they stay that way as those eyes and the hint of red in his hair are the only proof that I contributed any genes to his making. Otherwise, he's a complete remake of his Daddy. Especially his little lips. Exact replica.

Proof that I can get me and the baby both dressed in semi-nice clothes! Taken before we went to the Roo's Christmas program at his school last week. I think this was the only time I was out of pajamas or sweat pants in the past two weeks. And yes, those are my maternity jeans. I didn't feel bad spending 100.00 bucks on them in July because I knew I would be wearing them well through the New Year.

Have a great weekend all! My husband is home this weekend so I might actually get a little work done! I'm aiming for a three act breakdown of my next contracted book, an urban fantasy erotic romance for NAL's Eclipse line. I adore my editor over there, and I want to make sure I get something fabulous outlined before I start in. I don't have time for false starts anymore...not that I really have for the past year but....yeah.

Hugs to all of you!

Anna

Update from one month out

2008-12-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

My house is relatively clean.

My new baby is excellently and often fed via the lactation factories on my chest (which produce enough milk for a small village).

My older children are all to school on time and are forced to bathe at least every other day and to eat well and do their homework.

I cry at least twice a day--but not necessarily because I'm sad. I'm usually not sad. Just...overwhelmed by the whole motherhood thing in a way I wasn't the first time. I can get a batch of tears going just smelling Logan's head and thinking about how much I love him and how I can't imagine him being out of my sight for more than a few minutes.

I'm not sure this degree of attachment is healthy, and I'm totally blaming the breastfeeding for the crazy terror that something bad might happen to the baby if I let down my guard...or even if I don't let down my guard. Not to mention the fact that I'm starting to get nausea every time I feed and I can't get anything done with the boy who wants to suckle boob every hour and a half during his waking hours. I would quit the business and move to formula...but the terror insists that I keep breastfeeding because my immunity filled teets might be the only thing standing between Baby L and certain death via some disease brought into my house by my disease bearing older children. So I'm stuck, for now. Come spring we may have to reevaluate.

But no work is getting done. Very little emailing or blogging is getting done. Just...not much of anything is getting done. I've now set January 2nd for my "get it back in gear" start date, but I'm also terrified that I've forgotten how to work. That I will never make words again because my brain has flowed out of my nips along with my immunities.

Just sharing, mostly for the few, very sweet people who have emailed saying they can't believe I'm doing all this. Just thought they should know...I'm not. At least not yet. This four kid work at home mom thing is most assuredly a work in progress at the moment. A very teary, emotional work in progress, but also a wonderful one. I can't believe how much I love this boy. It's completely overwhelming and fabulous and exhausting. I guess it was meant to be this hard. If not, you'd never want those sweet little lumps of fabulous smelling babyness grow up. And I guess that's why my four year old is being a holy terror. It would be too tragic to see the last of his baby fat fade away if he wasn't also telling me he "doesn't need my help" and "doesn't miss me when he goes to visit dada".

Kids. The best and the worst of life I think. Or maybe just the best and the most...exhausting. Have I mentioned exhaustion? Or that we've not had a full night's sleep in over a month now? When do they start sleeping through the night? The normal ones? The Roo didn't sleep until 6 months, which just about drove me insane. I felt like a POW, but on the upside I lost my pregnancy weight really quickly.

Okay. Um, guess I'm done here. What a coherent, well thought out blog that was.

Anna (going to search out coffee...no, really, Baby L loves coffee in his tummy milk--that's what Roo calls it, "mama's tummy milk", lol.)

Man Meat Monday...a day late

2008-12-02T07:07:00.000-08:00

Bored by a lack of manly stimulation, Konrad was forced to make out with his own kneecap.

Hey! I'm still alive! How about you? This baby with three other kids stuff is a lot harder than I thought it would be and man am I a total WENCH these days. I think my other three children wish I would lose my power of speech, but alas for them, the nagging will go on. I just find I have a lot less patience for a four and a half year old who refuses to wipe his own bottom and a ten year old too lazy to flush her damn toilet these days. Ya know what I'm saying?

But in other news, I've stopped getting stressed out about things that would have bothered me before. You've got detention for throwing trash on the ground? Meh, no big deal. I'll pick you up at five instead of four. You're hair looks like it hasn't been washed in a few days or you've stopped reading the "shampoo" and "conditioner" labels again because oh god, reading is so hard and annoying why bother when I can look at the pictures? I couldn't care less, go to school with grease head.

I do, however, have to get out to the store to buy these other children groceries and then people keep PAWING at my baby. It pisses me off, but I usually forgive them as long as they go on and on about how tiny he is and they can't believe I just had a baby three weeks ago because I am also so tiny oh-my-god. (I'm not tiny at all. I still have 25-30 pounds to lose, but whatever. I don't feel that big either. Losing thirty pounds of baby weight and water has me feeling positively light as a feather these days. If I can lose just fifteen more pounds I'll be ready for swimsuit weather man. I'm all about lowering my standards and pie. Lots of pie.)

Hugs all, miss you. Sorry for the ramble, just trying to use my ten minutes of internet time to actually get a blog up before baby wakes. You can't imagine how many times I've started something here and not been able to finish it.

Anna J. Evans

14 days old

2008-11-24T06:14:00.000-08:00

This is from his 8th day on earth. I just love the look on his face. Already sick of mom taking his picture. Classic. This was the day before we had him circumcised. God, that was traumatic. Roo had his done in the hospital and it seemed to hurt him a whole lot less. Poor baby L was in a lot of pain last week, which contributed to my complete absence from the blog. That, and his insistence on feeding every hour and a half during the day.

Really, it's insane how much this kid eats. He's already up to 3 and 1/2 ounces at a time when he's really hungry (first thing in the morning, in the afternoon after his longer nap, and the middle of the night). At this rate, he's going to be a porker, which totally rocks. I love me some fat babies and dimpled baby thighs. Nom nom, just want to eat them up.

All right. I'll quit pretending I have anything to say or am capable of stringing together too many sentences in a row. The lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me and I actually have some work to get done this week. Gasp! I know...I'm breaking my "no work until December 1st" vow. What a shocker coming from the workaholic. But then, I'm a little afraid I'll forget how to write if I take too much time off, lol. Cause I like to worry about things like that.

Hope all of you are well and anticipating a great Thanksgiving.

Anna J. Evans

He's here

2008-11-16T04:13:00.000-08:00

And such an amazing, sweet boy. Am deep in baby love and learning to type while holding baby again. Having a bit of a rough recovery, but going to be fine. Most important thing is baby L is doing very well.

Hugs to all

Anna

My anniversary is in 4 days!

2008-11-07T03:06:00.000-08:00

So it looks like I'll be having a baby the day before my anniversary (going in for a c-section on Monday if Baby L doesn't get his butt out here this weekend.). Since I knew I wouldn't be able to walk around unassisted, let alone do something romantic for my wonderful husband, I went yesterday and bought sappy cards and a little giftie for him and hid it in my overnight bag for the hospital.

Of course, buying cards involved walking far into Target and then crying over the anniversary cards and then getting dizzy and having to sit down in the middle of the aisle. (My mom was with me, driving since I have a hard time reaching the pedals because the belleh is so low and forces me to sit in a constant spread eagle so people didn't offer to call the hospital for me. Which was good. It's never fun to tell strangers that you're not in labor, just too fat and hormonal to wander too far from places where you can leverage your bulk into a chair and rest for a few minutes.)

And...there was a point to this post. I think I was going to ask people what sort of things they've done to celebrate their lurve. Or write something really smushy about how much I love my husband...but now I've forgotten and my fingers are so swollen it's hard to type so...guess I'll just leave this as the most random post ever.

Can you tell the hormones are eating holes in my brain? This is my brain...this is my brain on pregnacy...

Anna "only three more days and the doc will hack this overdue fetus out of me" Evans

(Who did meet her hubs online, but who does not feel our lurve is tainted by this fact.)

Pre-order it now!! And release date change...

2008-11-05T06:38:00.000-08:00

You can pre-order here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0765361663/ref=nosim/?tag=priceg-books-20&creative=380333&creativeASIN=0765361663&linkCode=asn

And learn more about the book and its sequel, "The Prince of Frogs" here:
http://www.annalieseevans.com/books.php

I totally revamped the Annaliese website two days ago and added the cover and excerpts and several other goodies. So check it out, yo. I'm going to work on the Cafe Press store today.

In other news, the release date for "Night's Rose" has been changed to March 31st, 2009. It was originally supposed to land in February, but nearly April will actually work out much better for me personally. I've got to pimp the YA book in early winter and this will give me time to get my pimp together for Annaliese as well.

And...I'm still pregnant and want to die. That is all.

Anna J. Evans

omg...still pregnant

2008-11-03T04:17:00.000-08:00

We let Roo paint my belly last Friday and took pics. He had a great time, and I convinced myself once those pictures were done I'd finally have this baby...no such luck. I've walked myself into the ground this weekend and all I've accomplished is wrecking my back and making my hips so sore I can barely stand to move around already and I've only been up for an hour.

I can't believe I'm "going all the way" with this baby. Roo had already been out and about for a full week and a couple days by now. Those people with their "the second one always comes earlier" are liars. Liars I tell you! *sob*

Okay, continue about your business. I may be back with a little pre-election day post later. Or I may just lay down on some railroad tracks somewhere. I swear, I just can't deal with gestation any longer. (And sorry to all of you. I know you must be as sick of preggers posting as I am. I just can't really think about anything else. I can't work, I can't sleep, and I'm barely functioning in the mom department. I keep forgetting appointments and blanking on what I'm supposed to bring where and when and who I need to return emails to. It's just...sad, lol. I need my body and brain back! Asap! Get out baby L.)

Anna J. Evans

Sex, misery, and the pursuit of an emergency c-section

2008-10-28T10:13:00.001-07:00

What happened to me today. I have two long sleeved shirts, one sweatshirt, one pair of jeans, and one pair of sweatpants that will still nearly cover my insanely large body. This is the extent of my cold weather wardrobe. I do laundry every day and pray to deliver and start the shrinking before I end up naked because I will not buy bigger clothes to make it through 13 or fewer days of pregna-hell.

What happened about two weeks ago. Just stay away from me with that thing. I am a swollen, doughy, rashy (everywhere, my skin no longer likes pregnancy), cranky whale who would rather eat my own vomit than even think about sex.

What my husband is probably thinking to himself right now. (Anna waddles over to put refried beans and tortillas on the grocery list.)

Anna's advice to her poor husband. Though instead of suicide I would recommend attacking your wife with that steak knife and making a strategically placed slice near my first c-section scar, thusly forcing my doctor to take this FULL TERM AND READY TO COME OUT baby OUT of me. Right. Now!

*Sniffles, falls to puffy knees and pleads "Baby L. Come out, please!"*

Baby L's response to mother. "Sorry suckass, but I'm staying right where I am."

I think he likes the second hand umbilical cord food and is reluctant to give up exposure to caffeine...that's my latest theory anyway.

Anna "perilously close to the edge of reason and hating pregnancy more than ever" Evans

Man Meat Monday....STILL pregnant

2008-10-27T04:16:00.001-07:00

Oh Anna! The tragedy of it all! This is my manly interpretive dance of despair for you. (The jazz hand symbolizes the unfairness of the world going on around you while you suffer in that bloated, knocked up body of yours.)

Don't despair, Anna. Look at my manliness. See me smolder. That should make you feel better.

No, it doesn't. I loathe you and your manliness. I loathe interpretive dance. I loathe...everything.

Yeah. I'm still pregnant. STILL. Isn't it ever going to end? EVER? I've just lost all patience with the process. Everything is ready in the nursery, the clothes are washed and the bags packed, and I've finished all the work I had on my plate. (Which was a crap load. I think I wrote about 400,000 words in the past eight months and edited even more, so I don't feel bad that I'm "slacking" here for a few days as I wait to actually birth. Sure, I expected I'd have a baby by now, but I'm not sleeping or feeling well, anyway, so it's a good thing I pushed to get the brain-requiring stuff done when I did.)

So where's my baby already? I'm READY! I even did the first three pages of his baby scrapbook this weekend. (And trolled through old pictures to get ready to make Riley a first year book because I never did that for him. Bad mommy. I just wasn't that organized the first time around.)

Sigh....so there. Guess I should go wake kids, and make lunches, and all that stuff. Sniff. It's just no fun anymore. All I want to do is deliver baby-L. All the rest of it is annoying me! Can't all these other children just take care of themselves for a few days? :)

Later people, have a Monday,

Anna "the crankiness don't stop" Evans

My NAL Heat cover!!

2008-10-23T05:20:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty excited about it! Think it conveys the spirit of the book pretty well. I was hoping for a tattoo or two, but that might have made it too busy. Anyway, here's the blurbage:

When she’s kidnapped from the bar where she works, Nicky has to admit that she’s strangely aroused. She always knew her possessive ex-lover Jackson Bledsoe, a notoriously famous tattoo artist, had a kinky side. But even for him, this was wild.

Jack has his reasons. He and Nicky both share the same tattoo—a fallen angel that got under their skin, a long time ago. Now, there is only one way for Jack to rid himself of his obsession with her. Put her back under the needle, and get rid of the piece of art that made them one.

It’s bringing out the submissive in Nicky—the chance to give her body over to a dominant male and pierce the boundary between pleasure and pain. Under Jackson’s artful control, Nicky must confront her darkest desires and most sensual fears. As she and Jackson feed each other’s addictive hungers, the game begins. It’s only a matter of time before it goes too far…

This one comes out July 2009, so I'll hopefully have ARCs by time for RT. It's going to be my first RT and I'm excited already.

In other news, still f-ing pregnant. Blerg!!

Anna J. Evans

Belleh....36-37 weeks

2008-10-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

Don't let the smile fool you....I am in an inescapable prison made of my own swollen and impregnated flesh!!! Argh! Can not take two and a half more weeks. Whine, whine, whine, and more whine.

Going to go waddle the Roo to karate now. We've already had school conference, Chuck E. Cheese, and bookstore today. Much too big a day for a pregnant woman. I am so tired I think I could fall asleep right here on this insanely hard chair. (Is it insanely hard, or am I just insanely large? Hmmm...don't think I'll answer that, must steal more chocolate from the Halloween stash.)

Thanks for all the labor vibes, I'm feeling them, let's hope they do the job soon!!

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday-Baby on the Brain edition

2008-10-20T05:46:00.000-07:00

Only 20 more days if I make it to the C-section...which I'm sort of hoping I do just for the "wow this is all organized and nothing scary and unexpected is happening" factor. And I'm REALLY hoping I don't because "god, baby out, now! Get it out now! Too large to live!!!!"

Ya know?

So, in honor of my all consuming fixation on giving birth, some baby on the brain man meat:

Sort of cute, but sort of creepy at the same time. I think it's because the firefighter dude is as hairless as the baby. A grown man should NOT be as hairless as a baby. But then, I've got a thing for chest hair. Not too much mind you, but at least a little. A five o'clock chest hair shadow if you will.

And a onesie sure to please the man meat in your life. They've got other cute onsies over there. Some that say "My mom's a fox", "My dad's a nerd", "Nobody puts baby in the corner", etc. So if you're in the market for such things, here's the link:

http://www.rockabyebabyobx.com/index2.php?manufacturers_id=31&osCsid=d7ac4a526366550c84eb97d0696291c6

That's all I have to say. Send labor vibes!! Before my feet swell to such proportions I have to waddle into the hospital in my stepdaughter's house slippers (I don't have any of my own so I'll have to borrow hers that are shaped like a Tigger Head. Her feet are a little bigger which is a good thing right now. Hmmm....maybe I should start stealing her other shoes too...though I'm not sure even going up two shoe sizes would compensate for the wideness factor. I think my foot is nearly as wide as it is long right now. Kind of like I'm hobbling around on little squares.)

But I digress, have a great day,

Anna J. Evans

So. Wednesday. That's tomorrow

2008-10-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

Obviously, I need a cat. Mine are still MIA.

Chaperoning pumpkin patch trip for 4's class tomorrow so there will be no time to blog in the morning. Hope you all have a great Wednesday. I'll be waddling around in the dewy grass, trying not to let my belly be mistaken for a giant, prize-winning gourd.

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday

2008-10-13T05:11:00.001-07:00

Oh manly me....it is such a joy to be both the artist and the muse....

Ohmygod! That lens makes my manly ass look big! The tragedy and sadness! I must weep into my manly knees, the despair is so intense!

Blechk. Still preggers. Still very preggers and in quite a bit of discomfort at night, but what else is new? At least I have TONS of work to keep me busy this week. And my mama is coming up to help me wrangle kids on Tuesday and Wednesday. It's such a relief to be spared the kindergarten commute for two days. By the time I get there and back, I'm in the car over an hour and a lot of the times I can't feel my feet anymore. (The swelling and super low belleh are cutting off my circulation. Lol. Oh well. Only a few more weeks now!)

Have a great Monday, send productive vibes if you've got any to spare,

Anna J. Evans

35 weeks and the skeery belleh gets skeerier

2008-10-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

Mixing it up this week with a little "from the left" shot. It's even bigger as you can see.

And here's the view of the belleh, mostly covered up...mostly...

And here we have a closer look at the shirt that caused a scandal at kindergarten this morning. Both the Roo's teacher and several kids in the hall had loud, disapproving things to say about the Halloween shirt I got from Old Navy. I assured them that I wasn't the anti-christ...at least not yet...give me a few more weeks of being pregnant, however....

(But yeah, for reals. Got in dress code situation at kid's school. And I'm a PARENT. This is why I wear my hair down so they can't see my biggest tattoo...and why Roo will be going to public school next year. I mean, I write paranormal romances and I'm going to wear skulls on my clothing and perhaps get more tattoos and I think all of these things are acceptable and proper and I don't plan on changing anytime soon. But then I also don't want Roo to be the kid with "that mom". So we'll just take his little brain and my not-so-little-money elsewhere Stuffy Old Baptist School!)

Anna J. Evans

Some HELLA funny ecards

2008-10-09T12:28:00.000-07:00

Let me entertain you with some Hella funny ecards while you await the skeery belleh picture I aim to post late tomorrow. (It's even BIGGER, if you can be believing it.)

What I wish my husband had said to me while I was moaning in pain the other night...

The opposite of what I would say.

Something I would say in high irony.

Even the ultrasound looks exactly like the hubs. I make clones of men, apparently, as neither of my biological children look anything like me. Princess and I bear more of a resemblance and we share not a drop of common blood.

What I wish I'd said to the hubs last February....

Just kidding, we actually did discuss adopting from China since we've both learned that we can love children who aren't biologically ours, but we don't qualify. Second marriage issues and just enough of an age difference that we would fall into different adoptive parent categories. Isn't that crazy? And it's hella expensive too. I'd have to sell one of the kids we have to afford the adoption costs.

Ha!! And this is just funny....because it is.

Not that bubba wasn't intentional...he just...wasn't intentional. (We tried for a year and had pretty much lost hope and started to think maybe the three kids we had were a big enough challenge, lol.)

But all kidding aside, so glad you're almost here Bubba. Hope we get to see you on the ultrasound tomorrow!!

Anna J. Evans

Still here and preggers...

2008-10-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

I just didn't get around to posting the Man Meat Monday. Forgive me, but I am very pregnant and tired and struggling to get some edits done before next week. So I may be MIA until the 13th. I will post the weekly "OMG Skeery belly" shot before Saturday, however. Maybe Friday afternoon after our 35 week appointment so I'll be able to share all the exciting news about how I'm still gaining weight and measuring big and Bubba still has an enormous head.

I wasn't worried about the fact that his skull was measuring 32 weeks at our 28 week ultrasound when I was certain I was having a C-section. But now that my OB says we're safe to try a vaginal birth as long as I go into labor before my November 10th surgery date (which is pretty much a given I'm thinking since I went two weeks earlier than that with Roo), I'm getting nervous.

Babies with huge heads...why must that be my body's specialty?

Yikes,

Anna

Come Vote for Me! Please?

2008-10-03T03:02:00.000-07:00

"Deep Cover" is up for best Science Fiction/Futuristic over at the Night Owl Romance Fall 2008 Awards. So please go vote for me and your other favorite erotic romances.

It's reader determined, so I need your support!
http://www.nightowlromance.com/nightowlromance/norawards/fall2008norawardseroticebooks.asp

Thanks!

Anna J. Evans

http://annajevans.com

Neary 34 weeks....

2008-10-01T04:26:00.000-07:00

Actually, probably a little more than 34 weeks if my hubs' calculations are correct. He thinks the due date the doctors have given us is wrong, and I'm inclined to believe him because:

1. I am huge and miserable and want this baby to come sooner.

2. The baby has been measuring about 7-9 days large since the late first trimester.

3. Men remember these things, like the exact days certain things went down. Especially men who have a miserably pregnant wife who doesn't seem to be getting her sexy back any time soon.

And now for the picture...brace yourselves...

Ahhhhh!!!! Belleh!!! Iz so skeery!!!

Ahhhh!!! Iz even skeerier in teh clohse-up!!!

Really, it's obscene. Could I get any pregnanter? (Why yes, Anna, you can, and you will. Probably for at least three to four more weeks.)

And the really scary thing is I look bigger at night, after a day of 3rd trimester feeding. I am ALWAYS hungry. Last time I remember my appetite tapering off a bit as I got this big, but not with this one. I guess Baby L needs a lot of energy to fuel his side and cervix and tailbone shattering kicks. He also likes to leverage himself against three sides and pull this jack-knife maneuver that makes it nearly impossible for me to bend forward. He did that for about 3 hours yesterday. I had to cook supper leaned over braced on the counter. It was great.

Okay! No more time to complain! Must go wake the other three and get them ready for school.

Anna "Not even pretending this is a writer blog anymore until this baby comes out" Evans

Man Meat Monday, Cover Questions

2008-09-29T04:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Javier was just too tired to stand up in the shower...he preferred to lie on his manly back, the better to clench his manly abs as the water streamed down over them...

And this is just a really well built man with a kick ass tattoo. I love how the knife appears to go through his skin and that he hasn't shaved every speck of hair off his body. Why do men who have their pictures taken in the buff do that? I mean, hair is manly!

Speaking of manly, I recently saw what I suspect is the final cover art of a bdsm erotic romance I wrote not too long ago. I really love the book and the hero--a huge Dom with two full sleeves of tattoos. He's kind of a lamb in pit bull's clothing. Sweet on the inside, but 6'3'', enormous, borderline scary on the outside.

But the cover I received has a dude that looks NOTHING like that. This guy is a blond cutie with chin fuzz who looks like he'd be most comfortable playing guitar at a little corner cafe in the Village. Precious! And really, probably looks more like a guy I would have dated when I was single, but NOT my hero. And on top of that, no tattoos anywhere on the guy :(. I was sad, because as you know, I love me some tattooed men and there are tons of great pictures out there. I've showcased a great many men here on Manmeat Monday who have both kick ass bodies and body art.

So I'm bummed. Not that it's not a beautifully executed cover but...just doesn't seem to belong to my story. Which brings me to the question: How do you feel when you pick up a book and the hero as described by the author looks NOTHING like the guy on the cover? Does it bother you, or is that par for the course?

Have a great Monday!

Anna "still pregnant and swollen to the size of a blimp" Evans

Wednesday randomness, 301st post

2008-09-24T04:19:00.000-07:00

I just love this. I mean, why spare the children? They're just going to grow up to be adults who want revenge for the murder of their parents. And children really aren't all that great (says the pregnant lady), not nearly as sweet and adorable and innocent as the books and movies would have you believe... Ha! Kidding...mostly...

Though Roo was freaking hysterical and probably the cutest thing ever at his first Karate class yesterday. He was SO EXCITED to have permission to kick things and make noise and you could tell he thought his teacher was even cooler than Splinter from the Ninja Turtles. We're going back today for another class since he won't make his usual Thursday class due to a scheduled tour of the delivery floor at our hospital.

Yes! It's that time. Nearly 33 weeks, time to go tour and then cry because it's still so long until I get to go there and deliver this kid, and then go eat some ice cream and sabotage my goal of staying in my last two pairs of pregnancy jeans that fit until at least 34 weeks. (Only a week and a half to go, but they're gettin' tight. Soon a mumu or a sheet wrapped around my bulk will be the only option because I REFUSE to buy clothes that I will wear 4-6 weeks tops.)

So yeah, this is it. My 301st post. That's a lot of posting about nothing. I feel rather proud, really.

Any big Wednesday plans?

Anna "the blog seems to be getting even more boring, will try to fix that on Friday" Evans

Man Meat Monday

2008-09-22T04:27:00.000-07:00

Oh sweet rock...you are so big...and strong...and hard...so like my manly self it is impossible not to love you.

Pierce always composed his best work while sitting on his bare ass on a rocky beach. Something about the feel of sharp things poking him in his exposed scrotum made the creative juices flow like a sewer drain headed out to sea.

It's Monday again. I'm still pregnant and getting pregnanter and I won't say anything else about that because there is no need to be depressing and redundant. Right?

In other news, I have a lot of work to do. About 10k left of new words, about 250 pages of copyediting to get through in the next week, and two sets of edits headed my way very soon. And all of this I'm allegedly supposed to get through before the baby comes. (Oh, and a new YA urban fantasy proposal to write, as well.)

What I really want to do is lock myself in my room and never come out. I mean...do the kids really need to get to school? Do I really have to get dressed or play with Roo or clean this house or do the laundry or finish my work? Can't I just lay on my side in the one semi-comfortable position this baby allows me and eat ice cream until my thighs are even bigger and scarier than they are now?

Blechk....happy Monday...sigh...

Anna "slightly depressed, I'll admit it" Evans

What I just bought with my husband's credit card

2008-09-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

It's a bumper sticker for my family van...a bumper sticker I intend to affix to said van and then drive through my very conservative community. And I purchased it with my dubiously civil rights loving husband's credit card--at least women's rights, as I personally think Sarah Palin is plain anti-female and filled with about ten different brands of evil and anyone who would vote for a McCain-Palin ticket is asking for all sorts of woman hating for the next 4 years.

(She pushed a law in Alaska that made rape victims pay for their own rape kits, for god's sakes, and she's so pro-life it makes my bones ache. I've tried not to get too political on the blog, but a woman's right to choose is something I believe needs to be fiercely protected, especially in the case of rape victims or victims of incest.)

And we won't even go into this wench's record on the environment. Suffice it to say, this bumper sticker completely summed up my feelings abot a possible McCain/Palin presidency.

For reals...just the thought makes my gorge rise and a tiny piece of my soul die.

Of course, this purchase should not surprise my husband in the least. He is ON NOTICE after all (check the dead to me list on the right side bar). So I'd recommend wising up with the politics hubs, or next I just might whip out your card for a "John Stewart for President" t-shirt.

Anna J. Evans

Random Funny Kid Stuff and Great Wolf Lodge

2008-09-17T04:55:00.000-07:00

My four year old won a little purple duck in the game room at our resort this weekend. He named it Entrance, which cracked me up. (Apparently my oldest used to name everything Bacon when she was little. Wish I'd been there when she was wee. In the pictures she is absolutely the most adorable, beautiful, smiley little girl. But at least I got a couple years of grins before she turned into my-face-is-hidden-by-my-hair-you-shall-not-photograph-me-girl.)

And now, a little about Great Wolf Lodge:

It just...rocked. Way nicer than the pictures on the website. Their own promo just doesn't do this place justice. The waterpark was HUGE and so well maintained with tons of slides, a wave pool, a lazy river, and two great play areas--one for tiny kids and one for bigger kids (the tiny kid area has little slides they can actually do by themselves which is great for parents who want to sit back and relax or women too pregnant to climb the little stairs a zillion times.) And best of all, it was all inside. Yes. Inside.

So it didn't matter that Hurricane Ike was blowing through. We swam and slid and just wore the kids out and never had to leave the comfort of our hotel.

The rooms were also very nice and the rates for a two bedroom suite with a full size pull out couch more than reasonable (especially if you have military members in your family, the Hero Rate we got allowed all five of us to stay and swim for a little over $200.00 per night. That's not much more than we usually pay for a hotel room for five people and it included entertainment and rates were even better if you could go during the week instead of the weekend. And the room had a mini fridge and microwave so I could further cheapen the experience by bringing stuff for breakfast and lunch in the room.)

They also have a game room, a cub club where little kids can go color and make crafts, a teen room with Xbox games and free computer access, storytime with character appearances at night, and a MagiQuest game that the girls just LOVED.

So yeah, this joint gets a big thumbs up and we'll definitely be back again. Another bonus is that Great Wolf is a chain, so there are locations all over the United States. Check their site to see if there is one near you:

http://www.greatwolf.com/

Happy Wednesday,

Anna

Man Meat Monday

2008-09-15T06:40:00.001-07:00

My magic manly crystal disco balls says you will be helpless to resist the magnetic pull of my tighty whities...

Bruno often suffered third degree burns after mounting his chopper on an especially sunny day, but nothing could keep him from tearing up the road in the buff.

I actually found that second picture a bit disturbing. How about ya'll? The dude is just...skeevy. But what can you do? This is the manmeat, people.

In other news, I'm in a better frame of mind today. The kids had a WONDERFUL time this weekend and were mostly little angels so I felt all the effort and expense was worth it. It was great to see how excited they were by everything, even if I did spend most of the time standing around watching the fun (waterslides, also not safe for pregnancy, like everything else fun--sushi, rollercoasters, wine, soft cheese, hot baths, contact sports, and lying on your stomach.)

I have a few pretty funny kid moments to share and will post a little review of the resort we stayed at for all the families looking for some indoor waterpark fun for this fall and winter, but I'm going to wait and do that in a seperate post on Wednesday. Dude up there is too skeevy to share a post with news of my mostly innocent and sweet chillins.

Though not as skeevy as this dude....

EWWW!! I know, just...gross. The pig, the look on his face, the socks...just ew. Pictures of men in socks and nothing else should be forbidden by law. I can not even caption him, I'm too traumatized.

Happy Monday,

Anna J. Evans

Thirty-one weeks...almost

2008-09-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

Holy...god...I know...look at the freaking belly. It looks like I'm getting ready to bust out with a baby ANY. DAY. NOW.

Well, I'm not. I still have probably 6 or 7 more weeks. Maybe even 8 if I make it to my C-section date (which no one, including my doctor is expecting, but whatever, this baby is contrary so he'll probably stay in there just to spite me and my poor innards. I swear, it feels like I have a thrashing feral cat in there, not a baby. Never did Roo subject me to such abuse.)

So...god. There. I'm just so over it. I'm over my enormous legs and my super low belly that keeps me from sitting down without spreading my thighs like I'm some obese man who rides a Harley sidling up to the bar. I'm over my giant tatas and the weird bruised feeling right underneath them that I'm assuming is the result of stretching or said feral baby's kicks or...something? I'm just tired. And cranky. And I want to hit everyone in this house who isn't pregnant with a large, blunt object because they all are suckasses who don't CARE that I am miserable. And fat. And they just keep wanting me to do what I always do and I. Want. To. Rest!!!

Actually I want to be put in hyper sleep and wake up two days before the baby comes with just enough time to finish putting the nursery in order.

Whine. Sniff. Bleck.

And I'm taking these ungrateful wretches to an indoor waterpark 5 hours away this weekend. To a waterpark. When I'm 8 months pregnant. I should clearly have my head examined. Or just cut off. God, just cut it off. It is so tired of being attached to my wretched, uncomfortable body.

Anna aren't-you-glad-you-read-my-whiny-blog Evans

Squick Me Out Sharing

2008-09-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

I'm not easily squicked. I have a pretty strong stomach, a high tolerance for gross things, and a love for honest communication of the no-bullshit variety. But over-sharing of the intimate sort from perfect strangers hits a major squick button with me.

I write erotic romance. Yes. I get very graphic in my writing. Yes. I do NOT get graphic about my own personal sexual experiences, and I DO NOT want to hear about yours. That means all variety of sexual experience--solo, couple, and group varietals.

Some of the emails I, and fellow erotic romance authors I know, have received in the past few years have crossed the tasteful line in a majorly squick-worthy way. Some of them have been so graphic they have negatively impacted my ability to write love scenes. Seriously, because once you read something, you can't erase it from your mind. There is no mind-wipe acid available to cleanse your psyche of another person's gross over-sharing.

It's gotten to the point where I am hesitant to open emails from people I don't know, despite the fact that I LOVE hearing from readers. But for every wonderful, tasteful email I get about someone enjoying my books with their husband and experiencing a reawakening of interest in the bedroom (tasteful way to put something like this), I get another with someone talking about their wet panties (squicky, much less tasteful way to put something like this. Ack. Just writing that actually made me a little barfy. Call me crazy, but I can write fiction involving damp girl parts all day long, but force me to imagine a stranger's damp girl parts and I want to yack.)

So please, know that I want my writing to excite and arouse and entertain, that's it's job. I just don't really want to hear all the nitty gritty down and dirty specifics. M-kay?

I swear, I tell my son the same thing about his bowel movements. I don't want to hear all the different things your poo log resembles. Let's just flush it already. (Not that sexuality and defecation are at all similar, but you get my drift about the intimate bodily function over-sharing, right?)

Happy Wednesday,

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday

2008-09-08T04:25:00.000-07:00

Oh hai, I wuz just having a special momentz with mai flannul. Noh, noh, ur not interruptinz

Like an imaginary ball rolled from Gregor's hand, so did his manly reputation slip away as he pursued his love for dancing in his underpants.

Eh, not my best man meat Monday, I'll confess, but I'm in a bit of a rush this morning. I'm trying to get everything together so I can go straight to the gym after I drop off all the kids. If I leave the gym until later in the day, I just don't make it anymore. I get too beat from lugging my extra bulk and decide ten minutes of lying on the couch with my feet up would be a better idea. But! Not today. Today, I shall get the gym out of the way first and then come back here and attempt to make my brain function.

What about ya'll? When is your preferred time of day for hitting the gym? Morning, afternoon, night? Under normal circumstances I like morning and afternoon fairly equally, but never night. If I exercise after 6 o'clock, I have a hell of a time getting to sleep. It gets me all wired up.

Happy Monday,

Anna J. Evans

All kidding about cookies aside

2008-09-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

I have to speak out to the pregnant ladies for a minute. (So if you're not pregnant, feel free to click away and come back Monday for the man meat.)

I had my 30 week prenatal appointment this morning and--although my doctor hasn't said a WORD about my weight gain--the nurses had a few raised eyebrows to pass around. I started my pregnancy at 125 pounds and am now up to 159 (four more pounds than I weighed in the picture above, taken by my lovely husband. Smooch hubs, I'm missing you today, wish you could have been at the doc's to remind me how squeezable you still find my ass).

So, I'm already at the far end of the recommended weight gain (25-35 pounds total) and I still have 8 and 1/2 weeks to go if I make it all the way to my C-section date (which I didn't last time, only reached 37 weeks and that with pelvic rest). According to the nurses, the internet, and just about everyone else, this means I'm on the fast track to permanent weight gain or agonizing YEARS spent losing this extra weight. And maybe they're right. Maybe this time around, since I'm older and my metabolism is slower, it will take me longer to lose the weight.

But last time I was back to my pre-preggers weight 12 weeks after delivery and weighed 10 pounds less than that another 8 weeks later. After tha, I just couldn't keep my weight from continuing to fall, even with upping my calorie intake. It took about two years for my metabolism to finally even out and me to get back to my preferred size 4 weight.

No matter what the books or studies say, that's how my body behaved after pregnancy and this is how it behaves during. The same thing happened last time. I did pretty well on the weight until the third trimester when I just exploded and despite my kidding about hitting the sweets, I didn't then and don't now overdo it with the bad foods. I have dessert maybe three or four times a week and then nothing insane. The rest of the time I eat very healthfully with an eye to actually providing nutrition for my baby.

So you, nurses, internet, studies--you can all kiss my dimpled ass! I will not feel guilty or failur-esque about reaching my max recommended gain a little less than two months shy of delivery. And the rest of you preggers ladies out there shouldn't feel guilty either. We're all different and I think this "standard weight gain" without an eye to body type or health or family history or anything else is a bunch of bull-shite.

The end.

Anna

Cookies have fewer...

2008-09-04T12:03:00.001-07:00

...calories when they are eaten raw. This is a proven fact.

Yes, I ate them raw. Batter with a RAW EGG in it. While pregnant. I am living on the fucking edge people. (The eggs were far from expired and had been well refrigerated, so don't judge me.)

In other news, apparently I gave my husband a hard time when he got out of bed after I'd recently fallen asleep last night. He reports I said something along the lines of "where are you going? don't leave me here alone!" which just proves I've gotten to the pathetic, clingy stage of pregnancy where I feel like a large cumbersome animal--say, a cow--who needs the protection of her mate in order to avoid attack by predators.

I told him it could have been worse, I could have said, "get back in bed, bitch!!"

That's what I'm planning to say next time. Then I will sit on him and force him to stay with me. I am bigger than he is now and could totally manage it.

Ugh, am I almost done yet?

Anna, the-whining-will-not-stop-until-the-fetus-is-delivered, Evans

And yet again, it is Wednesday

2008-09-03T04:26:00.000-07:00

This sums up how I feel with Princess a LOT of the time. The whole learning disability thing can be so overwhelming. I just sit there and try to help her with homework and feel like we're both sinking into this pit we might not be able to climb out of. I just can't believe how slow the progress is and, in the meantime, I keep discovering more holes in her basic skills every time we sit down and the retention level is very low and...sigh...

But we're trying to stay positive. I do my best to hide my worries about what her future holds and stay in the moment and keep chugging along. We're making progress, although it may be slow and she's a hard worker, that's for sure. She's also a sweet girl and a very ladylike scrapper so I think she's going to teach life a thing or two, despite the rather rough hand she's been dealt.

In other news, is it just me or has this blog sunk to the depths of boring-ness? If so, I apologize. The dear little fetus is sucking my will to blog or do much of anything really. But I'm still making words and forcing myself to go to the gym this morning since I finally slept the night through without coughing my head off and my sweet husband noted my black sleepy pants are much tighter due to the extra "junk in my trunk" last night. I didn't know whether to cry or hit him with my ice cream bowl. But since either one would have interfered with stuffing my face with ice creamy goodness, I just ignored him. We pregnant women have our priorities.

Happy hump day,

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday-Labor Day edition

2008-09-01T07:56:00.001-07:00

Oh dear...it's happened again...I've gotten lost in your eye. "I get lost...in your eye...and I feeeeelll my manliness rise, and soar like the wind. Is this love? That I am in..."

And I'm just manly and tattooed.

Labor Day edition means I'm keeping it short and sweet. Be back on Wednesday, when hopefully the Roo and I will have recovered from bronchitis. Only thing more fun than being sick and on antibiotics AGAIN, is having a kid sick and on many, many drugs at the same time.

Whee-hee

Anna

LOL rebuttal to Man Meat Monday

2008-08-27T04:24:00.000-07:00

Obviously a far superior way to achieve the RHA.

See you Friday when I WILL be well and no longer swamped with school stuff. This whole mom to school age kids gig...I don't remember my mom working this hard. At least not with the having her ass up at the school all the time trying to get me edu-ma-cated. But then I didn't have learning disabilities....just the occasional behavioral malfunction. Really, I was a good girl I was...except when I was bad :).

Wednesday. I hope you enjoy it.

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday-And the snot floweth like wine

2008-08-25T04:05:00.000-07:00

There is only one thing on my manly body bigger than my manly socks...I will give you two guesses what that is...and the first two don't count.

Here, Pedro sports the latest in manly fashion, a red speedo, paired with a fur coat and vintage 1970's glasses stolen from his mother's closet.

Carlos knew that his Ken Doll bits were approaching a definition that was frightening to behold, but he didn't care. Proudly he bared them, causing manly men beach wide to gouge out their own eyes in shame rather than be forced to look into the mirror at their own, inferior, Ken Doll bits.

Ten has issues with the word "snot", but I vastly prefer it to mucous. Mucous really makes it sound like you've got something serious. But whatever you call it, I've got it. I just spent a miserable night waking up every fifteen minutes to blow my nose or to fumble desperately for a drink of water. (You know, when you have to sleep with your mouth open because you can't breathe, and then you have dreams about how freaking thirsty you are? HATE that. Really hate it.)

I was actually relieved when the hub's alarm went off at five whatever so that I could get up and make some coffee and end the farce that was my night's sleep. I'm just going to try to look at it like training for when the bump emerges. (He was kicking the crap out of me all night too. It doesn't please him when I get a coughing fit and he makes it known with alien type rolling and abuse of my innards.)

Got a big few days over here. Hopefully I can hold on to enough brain to finish zombie YA two and get it in by deadline on Wednesday.

Happy Monday all,

Anna J. Evans

My First Tor Cover--"Night's Rose"

2008-08-22T05:33:00.000-07:00

Those of you who were at RWA Nationals probably already saw this little beauty, but I had to post it for those who didn't get a peek. It's just so gorgeous and I love love LOVE it! I don't even care that her dress is more medieval than 1750. Why go there? To that "logical" place? It's still gorgeous and I love her sword.

In other news I had some nude belly pics taken last night by a photographer friend I haven't seen in forever. It was so good to see her and to have some non-kid and non-work time that I didn't even stress about the nekkid part. I swear, I haven't laughed that much in months. It reminded me that this pregnancy thing will pass and I will eventually return to my old, non-exhausted self.

Of course, this morning I'm feeling my wild night. I just can't stay up until 11:30 anymore and not feel like crap the next morning, lol. The fact that Roo woke up with a nightmare at 4 in the morning didn't help things any. But then I guess he's just doing his part to get Daddy M and I prepared for the new arrival.

Have a great weekend all!

Anna J. Evans

My adorable 3d fetus

2008-08-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

Omg...I know I'm probably biased, but isn't he the most precious 3D fetus ever? I mean, even with the cord across his face making him look like he has a mustache, I'm just...in love. I want to squeeze his little cheeks, and I swear he looks like he's smiling in the first picture up there.

Here, he's giving us the more serious, contemplative side of baby brudder, as Roo calls him. And also, adorably, has his arms up over his head while he's sleeping, just like his dad.

Oooooo!!!! Preshush!!!!!! And really, he does look like his dad. Exactly. Except for that squid tentacle looking thingie....I'm thinkiing he probably got that from me ;).

So there you go. 3d baby deliciousness. AND we think we've finally decided on a name. Not going to flat out fess up, but it starts with an "L". (We find it amusing to give children names staritng with Ls and Rs, which they probably won't be able to say correctly until they're five.)

Oh, and my posts have been full of spelling errors lately. Sorry bout that, but when you've got about 5 minutes to blog before you have to get back to work, there is no time for spelling! Spelling can bite my blogger butt! (But you can trust most of the words in my books are spelled correctly...mostly :)).

Anna J. Evans

Man Meat Monday

2008-08-18T04:23:00.000-07:00

"Antonio was frightened...but determined to climb the magical rope to Manly Land, where all the manliest of beach man meat went to frolic after they had finished splishing and splashing in the surf."

"Meanwhile, Frederick was testing the softness and durability of his new carpet, by sliding along it on his ass. Unfortunately, when he got to the kitchen, he realized carpeting in such a high traffic, food-dropping-upon-the-floor area was a very bad and unmanly idea. Now...he must find the manly strength to pick up that phone and call Lowe's to come replace the carpet with some manly tile. Perhaps in a nice sage green to go with his seventies-esque cabinetry. Come on Frederick...you can do it."

Today's the day! Kids are going back to school and I've officially become my mother. It's been coming for awhile now, but last night just confirmed it. As I rushed around, doing last minute laundry so that the first day of school clothes wouldn't be wrinkled, forcing the children to organize their new backpacks and school supplies, being anal about all the forms they had to turn in to their homeroom teacher, and generally inspiring eye rolling of epic proportions, I realized that day had finally come in earnest.

No longer am I even the moderately cool young stepmom who knows a thing or two about a thing or two. As I usher in my third "first day of school" with my girls, I've finally just become that woman who is taken for granted and rather annoying, but who I could tell they were glad was there making it all happen. Which is the way it should be. Still, I can't believe it's been three years. I can't believe Big'un is in her last year of junior high and Princess is ten and so tall and has feet nearly as big as mine (they go through that ski-sized foot stage right before they shoot up I've noticed, pretty funny stuff). And my Roo all smug because he's already done kindergarten for a week and is so much more experienced than his girls.

I would be getting a little sappy if I'd slept last night and wasn't pysched for the chance to take a nap if I finish my work quickly. Or if I didn't have this little bun in the oven. (Whose face I saw in a 3D ultrasound the other day! OMG, he's the most preshush little thing ever. Looks just like his dad. I will have to scan pictures later this week.)

Happy Monday all! And a big man meat Monday booyah to the moms sending kiddos back to school,

Anna J. Evans

The Terror of the Third Trimester

2008-08-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Mommy post with possible TMI

I'm officially in my third trimester starting this Sunday and....I'm terrified. I'm getting to that point where I'm soooooo fat and my belly is sooooo low that it cuts off my circulation between my torso and my legs if I sit up straight for too long. So I have to kind of lean back on the couch or bed and then the baby starts to crush my internal organs and my kidneys ache and my spine hurts and so I have to sit up straight again and then the entire fun cycle begins again as I start to lose feeling in my toes and my ankles and calves swell into hideous canklishness.

(I'm blaming Roo for trying to come at 34 weeks, then hanging around in his "dropped" position for nearly three weeks after. Now my poor uterus is just "dropped"...it's just down there and it's not in the mood to float up into my torso or whatever the hell it's supposed to do. I kept waiting and waiting, but at this point I might as well give it up.)

Meanwhile, my ass has begun to sprout its own baby bump, swelling into such large, mounded bootiliciousness that I have started to waddle. And itch. I think it must be a circulation thing, but my legs itch like fire everytime I try to go for a walk. I took the new stroller out for a test drive with Roo yesterday and was practically crying and clawing madly at my legs by the time I waddled the half mile to the library. It felt like there were spiders skittering around under my skin. I swear I know have mad sympathy for addicts coping with withdrawel. That shit was miserable--and happened last time when I got really large with Roo.

And to top this all off, I JUST started the third trimester. I could conceivably have 12 more weeks of this if I make it to my C-section date. I'm betting I probably won't since I delivered early last time and my doctor seems to think there's more of a chance of early delivery the second time around...but still...12 weeks!! Or more likely 10!!! That's like, FOREVER to be this fat and uncirculatory and miserable.

But then....12 weeks, or 10, or maybe even only 9. That's not enough time!! How am I going to get all my words done before then?! How am I going to get this house clean enough and those last two closets organized when my nesting instinct has up and abandoned me and all I want to do is sleep?! How am I going to manage getting two older kids to school one place, a 4 year old to kindergarten, and a baby taken care of all by myself once my 3 weeks of maternity helpers in house is over and I go back to my real life?! And do it on probably little to no sleep!? What was I thinking?!

And so...the terror. It's here. I knew it would come....

Good thing I'm too busy to dwell on this much longer. Right? (Hysterical laughter ensues as Anna gets back to work.)

Man Meat Monday....the return

2008-08-11T05:10:00.000-07:00

"When headin' out to your tractor, it's important to shave your manly pecs thoroughly aforehand and to make sure your belt buckle is big...but not too big. Don't want to compete with the other machinery if you know what I'm sayin'"

Okay, I'm rusty, but the journey back into man meat greatness begins with tiny baby manly steps. I figured it was time to ressurect Man Meat Monday and put myself on the road to recovery from blog evasion. Still busy here, but with an end in sight. The littlest starts kindergarten tomorrow!! Four year old kindergarten, but still...kindergarten.

Now I just have to get the older ones to school next week and I'll be free! Free I tell you!!! Free to work and work and work without having to entertain anyone for five straight hours a day. Until the baby comes of course.

Eep! Not much longer now!

Anna J. Evans

I'm back, but not really!

2008-08-07T06:07:00.000-07:00

Hey!! I'm back...but not really.
I survived conference all knocked up and exhausted, but the work hasn't stopped since I've been home. There's so much to do to get the kids ready for school and catch up on the writing and promo work I skimped on while I was gone. So I'm still going to be out of pocket for a bit, but only a couple more weeks! And then the kiddos are back in school and I'll be back on at least a bi-weekly basis.

In the meantime, thought I'd share this little banner I made to promo the Deliciously Naughty Writers new series. These are some steamy stories and we're psyched to have the next two in the series releasing in September and October.

Happy end of summer!

Anna J. Evans

More Good News

2008-07-25T04:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the rest of the amnio also came back just fine. I am SOOOOO relieved.

Thanks to everyone for their good energy and thoughts. I'll try to post some fun man meat before I leave for RWA Nationals on Monday. (The hubs and I are going a little early to get in some sight seeing. Hope it's not too terribly cold, however, since my preggers wardrobe is rather limited. I have a few long sleeved things from when Roo was born, but I'm not quite as big as I was last time...at least not yet...so they're still rather spacious.)

Sorry again for the bad blogging. Really, the amount of words I need to get done before baby comes leaves little room for extra typing activities. But the good news, I'm kicking A on my work in progress. Looking to have it done by early September!

Happy Friday,

Anna J. Evans

Good news!

2008-07-17T04:32:00.000-07:00

The early test that looked for Downs and Trisomy 18 and 13 came back negative. I cried when I heard the news and I'm pretty sure the nurse thought I was insane, but I was just so relieved. I'm a cry after it's over type of person anyway. I usually wait to have my come apart about missing the Roo (above) until after he's home and try to keep the stiff upper lip thing going the rest of the time.

We still have to wait for the complete results next week, but the two big bads are out of the way and according to the nurse, anything else we find at this point should be survivable. So I'm not going to let myself worry anymore (until next week anyway). I'm just going to celebrate the fact that I'll soon have two adorable boys by hitting the Gymboree sale.

Ahhh...the Gymboree sale. It's like mommy crack. Srsly.

Big hugs and thank yous to everyone who sent the good vibes, I am very very thankful,

Anna J. Evans

On a Personal Note

2008-07-14T05:55:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

I've been trying to keep the personal to a minimum here on the blog and stick to more writing related posts, but the stuff going down this week is significant enough that I feel the need to spill a little personal info.

During our ultrasound last week, the hubs and I learned we were having a boy. We also learned that he might have some problems. He has cysts on his brain and some possible heart defects--alone these are not horrible news, but together they could spell trouble. So our doctor recommended an amnio, which we had, and now we're just waiting for the results. We should have the quick test--telling us whether baby has something severe like Downs or Trisomy 18 or 13--by Wednesday or Thursday. Then we'll get the full report in two weeks.

I've been asking my RWA chapter mates and all the lovely readers over at Club Naughty to send good vibes and I appreciate everyone who has responded SO very much. I'm really doing my best to stay positive and hopeful, and you are helping more than you know.

I'll be sure to post the news as soon as I have it.

Anna J. Evans