Good Morning,
I love when a new book is about to come out. It’s exciting and scary all at the same time. I have to say this is my favorite out of all the Nerakian books. I hope everyone enjoys it. Here’s the back cover blurb:

Set Phasers To Sizzle…

Special agent Roan Hendrix is a straight shooter with weapons and women, so he doesn’t appreciate it when his boss throws him a curve. But what a curve. A half-human, half-Nerakian who needs a one-on-one crash course in how best to channel her powers. And while Roan’s usually a master at separating business from pleasure, one glance into Lyraka’s green eyes is enough to spark scorching fantasies of seriously close encounters with the tall, tanned temptress…

Lyraka’s trying not to mind the way Mister Macho Special Agent keeps barking orders, but it’s impossible to ignore Roan’s rough-and-ready appeal. The sensitive ponytail guys Lyraka grew up with didn’t have a clue how to handle her outsized sex drive, but Roan looks like he’d be up to the task in every way. Better still, he never got the memo that Lyraka’s human side makes her—ahem—”special talents” even greater than the average Nerakian’s….

I have a new video up at my website and a sneak peek www.authorkarenkelley.com . I’ll be having a really cool Christmas Giveaway this year for my newsletter group if you’re interested in signing up while you’re there. Plus, you can keep up with all my latest news. I also give away a book every month. Now, how cool is that

Okay, make a comment so I’ll know who you are and you’ll be entered in a drawing for a chance to win a copy of Dating Outside Your DNA. You must be at least 18 and the contest will end tonight at 10pm central time. I’ll e-mail the winner and you’ll have 2 weeks to contact me back with your snail mail.

Y’all have a great day!!!
Karen Kelley

Suck.

Okay, maybe not as much for writers. I did get Karl off to work this morning—at the ungodly hour of 6am, which means we were up at 5am. No one should have to get up that early. It’s unheard of. And, he won’t be home until 7:30 tomorrow morning. (the life of a paramedic) If there’s a bad storm or something then I’ll only have Sukie here. She’s a Pekinese. She’ll actually be hiding under the bed.

Karl bought me this wonderful coffee pot for my birthday. It’s a Keurig. I can go to the kitchen, put in a single brand coffee thingy, close the lid, hit tall cup, and have a fresh cup of coffee in about 15 seconds—Hazelnut flavored at that. In fact, I just did. Fast, isn’t it. I bet y’all didn’t even notice I was gone. But I was, and now I have this nice hot cup of coffee.

Okay, I’ve sooooo got to do an incredible amount of work done today so y’all be sort of good.
Hugs,
Karen

Our internet was off all day yesterday. It was scary. Karl and I walked around the house bumping into each other and mumbling incoherently. I found him a couple of times sitting in front of the computer sniffling.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad. I think if we didn’t have the internet I’d probably get a lot more work done. Yesterday felt kind of like a vacation. I wonder what would happen if everyone took one day off a week where they didn’t get on the computer at all.

When Karl the company said it wouldn’t be up until Tuesday. Now, I admit that was a little scary since my Brava Blog was due today, and which is why it’s late.

So, what are your thoughts? Could you take a day off from the computer without getting the shakes? Make a comment (so I know who you are and I’ll put your name into a drawing for a free book of whatever I have in stock. I’ll pick one winner around 10pm central time tonight (14th of Sept). You have to be 18 or older. You can check out my books at www.authorkarenkelley.com

Best Wishes,
Karen Kelley

Wow, Karl and I will be married 40 years this month! Aug 23, to be exact. Do you know what that means to me? Well, I’ll tell you……

PARTAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

We’re going to New Orleans and stroll the French Quarter, go down Bourbon street, eat beignets at Cafe Do Monde. We’re going to absorb all the flavors this wonderful city has to offer. We might even have a hurricane at Pat O’Brian’s.

What does it mean to be married for 40 years? It means he can actually pick up his dirty clothes and put them in the hamper, he can fill a dishwasher and unload it, he’ll wipe his feet before he comes into the house, and he actually stopped and asked for directions once.

What does it mean for him? He still has to put gas in my car because it stays on empty, he still has to get the oil changed. He still has to open the jar lids, he still has to put up with wild mood swings and tears over a sappy movie.

Life is good

May your husband always be your very best friend, your knight in shining armour………and trainable
Karen Kelley

And I’m not lying this time. LOL Someone told me they heard on the news a couple days ago that Wichita Falls, Texas was the hottest place in the nation. I believe it. Want to fry an egg? Drop it on the sidewalk. I don’t even want to think about August.

Speaking of hot, Earth Guys Are Easy came out this month. (Great lead in, huh?) It took first place in the Lories, then out of all the first place winners it took second! Woo-hoo!!! And, it’s out for the very first time in mass market. You can read excerpts, watch videos, read back cover blurbs at my website: www.authorkarenkelley.com While you’re there, you can join my newsletter group where I give away one of the books from my backlist to one lucky winner each month. I also have fun contests a few times a year with bigger prizes. You can also keep up on all the latest news.

Karl and I have been coming up with all kinds of cool stuff to do with veggies. We planted a garden and really thought only half the plants would survive. Nope, they all made it, and are producing enough veggies for us and the neighbors.

Anyway, we worked on hot sauce this morning because all these wonderful tomatoes are getting ripe, and we have all these pretty peppers. We have discovered the longer you leave something in the refrigerator, the hotter it becomes. We also discovered that the bladder can hold up to a gallon of water at a time.

Do you ever long for “the good old days” of homemade bread, home-grown veggies, and cooking everything from scratch? Make a comment and I’ll put your name in the hat and if your name is drawn I’ll mail you a copy of Earth Guys Are Easy. One winner, one book. Must be 18 or over, contest ends midnight on 7/13/09 at midnight. The winner will be announced the morning of the 14th. You’ll have seven days to send me your snail address or contest is void.

Have a great day!
Karen Kelley

Morning Everyone,
I’m stuck in Yahell today. The black hole of bouncing e-mails. I can send to my loops but not receive. Very frustrating.

Karl and I visited our daughter and then popped down to the coast for a few days and it was so nice….well, except when my laptop hard drive fried. I didn’t have much on it because I usually only write my stories, and I had all that saved. Well, except for losing one day of work. It’s up and running now after paying some Geeks a small fortune. Still, I thank them.

I’m counting down the days until How To Seduce A Texan and the mass market reissue of Close Encounters With The Sexy Kind comes out. Only a few more weeks. Woo-hoo! If you haven’t seen my new videos of the books pop over to www.authorkarenkelley.com and check them out. Let me know what you think about them. Karl and I did them ourselves. Okay, mostly him. I’m so not tech-enabled.

I’ll be running some contests pretty soon for my newsletter group so while you’re there, sign up. It’s free and I give away a book each month.

The current book that I’m working on is due in 5 short weeks so back to work. Have a fantastic day!
Karen

How To Write Comedy

People are always asking me how I write comedy. I just peck C..O..M..E..D..Y out on the keyboard. It’s really easy. Nope, I haven’t had coffee yet.

Writing comedy is difficult for me if I’m trying to write it. I can’t force comedy. That’s kind of like me telling a joke. I tell a joke and people stare at me waiting for the punch line. It’s the same when I get up in front of a crowd to do a workshop. I am not a stand-up comedienne. Although if Karl is with me he does tell me I look pretty funny standing at the front of the room twisting my fingers until they look kind of gnarled.

I think you need the right storyline. Say for instance, a serial killer plot probably wouldn’t cut it if you want to write comedy. Now, if say the serial killer is going around to Wal*Marts stealing boxes of Cocoa Puffs, then stabbing the box and spilling poor Cocoa’s puffs all over the street, well, then you might have an easier time writing a cereal killer as a comedy.

In How To Seduce A Texan, my June release, I used a fish out of water plot. I took a city girl and put her in the country. I grew up on a farm so it was easy to write, and there’s even a ghost. Yes, I do believe in ghosts. I think the best comedy comes from one’s own experiences, then sort of blow them out of proportion.

I’ve never actually met an alien, though. But what if one came to earth looking for a man because there are no men on her planet. Can you imagine what she would think about Earth? Our customs? The men? And speaking of my Planet Nerak books, Cosmic Sex took First Place in the Paranormal category of The Lories Best Published Contest!!! Woo-hoo!!! I just found out Friday so I’m still riding the high

Okay, gotta run, but remember, laughter is contagious and it’s fun to spread it around.
Karen Kelley

She needs a place to hide
He needs a ghost exterminator
What could possibly go wrong?
MY FAVORITE PHANTOM
JANUARY 2009
www.authorkarenkelley.com

I love writing. I love creating stories and characters. I love going out to my office on a beautiful day and just writing, connecting with the story.

Did I tell you about my office? It used to be a dark, dreary shop with icky tools and saws and dust covered surfaces. We’ve lived in this house for over 20 years so you can imagine the kind of stuff it (meaning Karl) had collected over the years. Stuff that he “might” use one day. It was scary. We could’ve filmed a horror flick in his shop.

Then I had an epiphany. I love that word. This is the definition: An epiphany is the sudden realization or comprehension of the (larger) essence or meaning of something. Or also known as a big moment of EUREKA! Or also: the fear on Karl’s face when Karen has an epiphany.

I had a moment of inspiration. His shop, that he rarely went inside, would make a great office. All we had to do is clean it a little. Now, Karl is more analytical than I am. But he loves me so he agreed it would make a great office.

We had to build him a smaller shop to hold his tools. It actually turned out well. Except Karl slipped on the ladder when we were putting the tin up and sliced his hand which took 23 stitches.

Then we went on 5 trips to the dump to cart off the stuff he might use someday, had one garage sale, and one trip to the fire department where we donated the rest for their auction. We insulated the shop/office, then put up sheetrock. Now, this is just me and Karl doing all this. I found sheetrock is very heavy, especially when you put it on the ceiling. By this time I’m wondering if this was a good idea or not.

Then came tape and bedding. Karl had to do that so I painted the outside of the shop/office. This is a 12×20 building. You would think it wouldn’t take that long to paint it. It did. We ended up texturing the walls after Karl taped and bedded. Mainly because Karl is good, but he isn’t a professional. Texturing hides a lot of “oops”. I painted it a pale yellow with a Venetian/old world finish while Karl added shutters he made from scratch.

Absolutely beautiful!

Until we turned the light on. As we’re standing there admiring our work we began to smell something burning. Karl had changed out the wiring on one side to add new plugs, but not the other. He ended up knocking holes in the wall to make sure nothing had caught fire, and thankfully, it hadn’t.

We fixed the walls and you can’t even tell there were holes. I just have two electrical outlets that actually work (the new wiring), but you know what. I have an office where I can go and lose myself in the story I’m writing without interruption. Epiphany: the act of Karl helping to create something wonderful and beautiful for his wife because he loves her.

Karen Kelley

She needs a place to hide
He needs a ghost exterminator
What could possibly go wrong?
MY FAVORITE PHANTOM
JANUARY 2009
www.authorkarenkelley.com

I thought y’all might enjoy an excerpt:
My Favorite Phantom

The ghost was there, right in front of Kaci. The most hideous thing she’d ever seen. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

“Go away,” she finally managed to squeak and ran to Peyton’s room, slamming the door behind her and executing a flying leap that would’ve earned her a gold medal in gymnastics. She landed with a plop on Peyton’s bed, quickly scooted beneath the covers, and threw her arms around him.

“What the…” His words slurred together from sleep.

“The ghost is out there,” she whispered. “Shhh…” She pressed closer and realized he slept nude. She was too frightened to be embarrassed…or leave the safety of his bed or the heat of his body.

“Isn’t that what you wanted? To draw the ghost out, then zap it into oblivion?” His words were thick with sleep.

She stilled.

“That is what you wanted?” he prodded, seeming to come more awake. At least, his words were getting easier to understand…unfortunately.

It was time to lie…act. “Yes, of course. I…uh…dozed off, and when the spirit showed itself, I was startled.”

“This is more than startled. You’re trembling.”

He started to move away, but she clung tighter. She couldn’t help it.

“Please, can I stay in here tonight?”

Silence.

God, she was such a wimp.

“If you stay, we won’t be sleeping.”

******
Karen Kelley has quickly become one of my favorite comedic authors. I know without a doubt that I am going to spend a lot of time laughing and occasionally snorting while reading one of her books. Laura J reviewer The Good, the Bad, and the Unread

Have a great day!
Karen Kelley

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I’m so late getting this posted. If you saw my blog on Access Romance this morning, you know I’m busy, busy, busy. I love it! I hate not having anything to do–unless it includes housework. I can do without that.

My website has been updated and I have an excerpt from My Favorite Phantom posted, which is available now–Woo-hoo! I also have the cover posted for How To Seduce A Texan, and the mass market re-issue covers of Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind and Earth Guys Are Easy. Love them, Love them, Love them!

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday! We had all the family here, and I cooked wayyyyy too much food. When Karl took the leftover chocolate to the fire department because I had to get it out of the house, they called him the demon from hell. I noticed the tins were empty that Karl brought back the next day.

I’m doing a booksigning in Plano, Texas at Legacy books on Feb 7th. There will be a lot of authors signing. I’ll get the info posted on my website ASAP. I love to see some of you.

Have a great day!
Karen Kelley

She needs a place to hide
He needs a ghost exterminator
What could possibly go wrong?
MY FAVORITE PHANTOM
JANUARY 2009
www.authorkarenkelley.com