Twitter for the Social Media Challenged

Every day I hear about new social media sites I should join and I tells ya, keeping up with it wears me out. lol. If you're like me, you want to reach your audience the best way possible. I'm still learning, but so far I've found that by tweaking my Twitter, and combining it with my Facebook, it helps me stay focused. Adding my blog to the mix creates another layer of information readers may like to know and best of all—circles back to my Facebook and Twitter. The neat part is that it now only takes a few minutes to do each day, puts my info out there to interested readers, and allows me to do what I really want —write my books.

I came across a very neat how-to article about Twitter and thought others might find the information useful. It's worth a read, especially if you're a new author or an aspiring one. I know it helped me better understand how to use Twitter more effectively. http://gigaom.com/collaboration/tweeting-101-a-twitter-cheat-sheet/

Hope to see you Tweeting soon!

~Cass

Did Earth Scientists Find Shimryn?

Based on the news article HERE, it would strangely seem so. In my short story Shimmer, southern belle Dixie Ames attends her sister's tropical wedding and discovers a strange crystalline ball of light that shoots out of the ocean and into the sky. The pulsing light (USO or unidentified submersible object) follows her until she throws her shoe at it, and she runs into the ball room where her sister's reception is being held.

The light is actually a very handsome alien named Rey who comes from a planet called Shimryn, which is a large carbon/diamond (I call it adamas) based planet with a breathable surface thanks to a layer of oxygen. The planet lies within the Milky Way Galaxy and is inhabited by carbon and silicon based life forms that are crystals radiating pure energy and light, but can transform into other forms so they can fit in with the native species of any planet.

The sequel to Shimmer, Shimmer II: The Heart of Dixie is tentatively slated for a January 2012 release date.

From the Writing Cave

Haven't posted on my blog for a while since I am still stuck in the writing cave working on edits. I basically gutted my wip, shifted a few salvageable chapters around, added new chapters, changed some of the backstory to better fit the plot and theme, and added just a small touch of snark (I promise it's not full blown snark, or I would have had to shoot myself), but it's just enough to make the work funnier and a miniscule amount edgier. I also reduced the 'facetime' of one character since he was hogging the story, and I added another love scene.

When this sucker is finally done, I am so going to break open a bottle of the bubbly and celebrate! Whew-wee! To anyone out there contemplating being an author, are you of sound mind and body? Seriously wish someone had asked me that seven years ago when I decided to resurrect my teenage dream of being a published author. It takes a certain amount of dedication mixed with insanity. Lucky for me I'm stubborn and eccentric enough to qualify for nuts. :p

This weekend is my critique writing partner's birthday and was glad to know her box o' fun arrived in time yesterday. Maybe one day I'll get to shock her and deliver the present in person. lol. That would be a hoot.

In my upcoming novella, Naughty Little Secrets, the heroine loses her red story binder and panics. In real life, my binder is black and just as naughty, except everyone knows what I'm up to when I'm nose deep scribbling in it, and tries taking a peek. ::smack:: ::smack:: lol

Once the ebook comes out, I have several fun events and contests planned, so stay tuned for more.

Until next time...

~Cass

Gettin' Squiddy With It

In honor of our future anthology collaboration (basically when we can get to it and coordinate our busy schedules), I bought the both of us Squidilydoo tentacles from Panda Express (via SL Marketplace).



The neat thing about these tentacles is they can color change to match your outfit and they come with slime! lol

Aquarian Moon

Yesterday's full Aquarius Moon strengthened the intuitive powers of all Aquarians. You may not have noticed, but I bet if you look back at all your conversations and encounters, all your feelings and emotions from yesterday, you'll see a pattern emerged. Each person is different, but I would hazard a guess that you were more *in-tune* with your surroundings and the people in your life, picking up on all their hidden signals and expanding your emotional horizons.

You can still use that energy today, by listening to the people in your life and paying close attention to what they have to say. I bet insights will flow so fast, you may have trouble keeping up with all the revelations! :-)

Yesterday was also a wonderful opportunity for tarot and other means of divination, whether you're an Aquarius sun sign or another favor of the zodiac. This is also true for those with Aquarian moons.

Hope your weekend brings everything you desire,
In light and love,
Cass

In Dreams Begin contest winner is...

::drumroll please::

Meredith!

Congratulations, Meredith! Please email me at cass [at] cassandracurtis [dot] com with your full name and mailing address so I can send your prize. Happy reading! :-)

Erotic Romance Collection 1 Now Available!

Very happy to announce that my paranormal erotic romance anthology, When Midnight Comes: Erotic Romance Short Stories Collection 1, is now *live* and available for the Kindle direct from Amazon.com!

Paranormal erotic romance anthology from author Cassandra Curtis includes the stories The Ghost of Goodacre Hall, Mummy Dearest, and Stroke It. Previously published separately and now combined into a single volume for the Kindle, When Midnight Comes: Erotic Romance Short Stories Collection 1 offers three sizzling tales, with three levels of heat!

~Hot~

The Ghost of Goodacre Hall
Matthew Lambert tried to run from his past, but when he decides to renovate an old house, he is forced to resurrect more than ghosts. Intrigued by the paranormal, Cadence Martin always loved Goodacre Hall. When she gets an invitation to attend the Victorian house's grand opening, she decides to see if the new owners are aware they just inherited the resident ghost, her great-aunt Miriam.

~Hotter~

Mummy Dearest
Gwen Patterson expected an adventure when she signed up to work an archeological dig in Egypt, but she didn't expect to uncover a sinister plot involving a mummy and a mysterious golden scarab. Cursed to sleep for thousands of years, Kemnebi is awakened by Gwen's accidental blood sacrifice. Now freed, he must regain his power and defeat an old foe, or risk losing Gwen forever.

~Hottest~

Stroke It
Exhausted after a coast to coast book tour, Laris needs serious R and R. The luxury resort along the Baja coast provides their guests with everything they could desire, including their own personal masseur. Former special ops agent Alejandro Maranta loves his job as an on-call masseur for the resort hotel. Using his unique gift for easing tension, he gives Laris a massage she'll never forget.

Contest Fun!

“Close your eyes tightly—tightly—and keep them closed . . .”

From a Victorian Ireland of magic, poetry and rebellion, Ida Jameson, an amateur occultist, reaches out for power, but captures Laura Armstrong, a modern-day graphic artist instead. Now, for the man or demon she loves, each woman must span a bridge through Hell and across history . . . or destroy it.

“Every passionate man is linked with another age,
historical or imaginary,
where alone he finds images
that rouse his energy.” W. B. Yeats

Anchored in fact on both sides of history, Laura and Ida, modern rationalist and fin de siècle occultist, are linked from the moment Ida channels Laura into the body of celebrated beauty and Irish freedom-fighter Maud Gonne. When Laura falls—from an ocean and a hundred years away—passionately, Victorianly in love with the young poet W. B. Yeats, their love affair entwines with Irish history and weaves through Yeats’s poetry until Ida discovers something she wants more than magic in the subterranean spaces in between.

With her Irish past threatening her orderly present and the man she loves in it, Laura and Yeats—the practical materialist and the poet magus—must find a way to make love last over time, in changing bodies, through modern damnation, and into the mythic past to link their pilgrim souls . . . or lose them forever.

::Contest Time::

How would you like to win a copy of In Dreams Begin by Skylar White? All you have to do is leave a comment here on my blog. Easy peasy. :-) Contest ends midnight, Sunday, August 7, 2011. Winner will be announced next week. Good luck!