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Life has been going a million miles an hour lately, which is my only excuse for not being better about blogging.

But since it’s my day to post, I figured I’d at least post something useful.

I found a website that has some Inspirational Quotes for Authors, that you all might enjoy.

And one that Kate Douglas shared with me yesterday, that I instantly fell in love with:

“Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.”  — Moliere 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Cassie/Tina

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It’s been a long while since I posted a hero of the month, but I’ve been watching the news lately and with cyclones, earth quakes and general, every day violent crime, I thought it was too long since my last hero.

After all, I write romance, and the hero is paramount in my stories, but hero’s are far more important in our day to day lives.

I decided to pick someone that has been stabbed, shot at and been generally overlooked in the public eye. After all what can a dog do, right?

Well, it seems a lot. Especially if you’re a police dog named Anya. Without her bravery, her dog handler, officer Neil Sampson, might very well be dead. Sampson tried to fight off a frenzied attack from a knife-welding assailant. With four knife wounds to his legs and long cuts to his face and head, he would have been a lot worse if Anay hadn’t fought off his assailant despite being stabbed in the chest herself.

Anay and Neil Sampson have made a full recovery.

“Anya’s a very motivated, fast dog,” says Sampson. “She’s like a jack-in-the-box on Red Bull. “She’s full on, but, my God, I’m happy she’s mine.”

Thank you Anya and all the dog handlers out there who train these remarkable dogs.

Lynne Logan

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New Concepts Publishing is in breach of their contract with me. As per their contract they are supposed to send me accumulated statements twice a year whether I have sales or not. They failed to give me statement information for a period of three months last year. I notified them that I was missing this information and requested that they send it to me. The company replied that they would but I never received the missing information. I contacted them numerous times and still the missing information never appeared. The term, per their contract, to cure the breach is sixty days from being notified. That time past at the end of last year.

I have sent them a cease and desist letter notifying them they no longer have the legal right to sell my work. I demanded my work be removed from the NCP website and any affiliated websites immediately. Since I sent in my cease and desist, the management and I have been going back and forth in emails regarding the issue. They refuse to acknowledge the breach. Reason does not seem to be working with them. I thought at this point it’s getting so ridiculous that its time to share some of the things that NCP is capable of. This is not a case of me going to them hat in hand and asking for my rights back. Legally, as per their own contract, they are in breach and no longer have the right to publish this work. New Concepts has made a lot of noise about authors honoring their contracts, yet they refuse to.

Here is an example of their latest attempt to tell me that they are not acknowledging the breach. My responses to their latest email are indented and in red.

“Ms. Brown,
We are in no way in breach and are not going to take your books down. Your books will remain on the page until they are out of contract. I know that we’ve emailed back and forth on this issue. This is not in any way holding anything hostage as some angry authors have suggested. No one forced you to sign the contract. Both parties agreed to it. It is legal and binding. We are both honor bound to it just as you are.”

This is correct. As you have pointed out, both parties are bound by the contract. I have notified you that you have not honored the terms of our contract and requested a cure to this breach. You have not only not cured the breach, you are now refusing to honor your contract.

“We only expect you to uphold your end for a little longer until each book’s contract has expired. Our end of the contract does not even require us to sell the book. If we sell your book, then we are required to pay you, which we have. Procuring statements in a timely manner is only curteous, not part of the contract and not a breach of contract if neglected.”

The contract does in fact require that NCP provide a statement. I will quote it here directly:

“(m) Publisher agrees to provide Author with a statement of Account and to pay Author twice yearly for sales accumulated by Author’s Work during the pay period. Money collected to be paid out first of the year and mid-year. Statement shall be provided to Author regardless of whether any money is due or not.”

According to this clause, you are in clear breach. It is also clear that you do not properly understand your own contract.

“I know that it may not seem to be, but NCP is a small company . . . small. We have thousands of customers and hundreds of authors and very few employees that work long, hard hours tyring to placate customers, bookstores, authors, and the like. This brings many to suggest hiring more help. We do. Constantly. Unfortunately, flame wars and other agitants have scared away many employees in our small town and many other employees that worked from their homes via the computer. “

The best system for avoiding “flame wars and other agitants” is to deal with the public in a businesslike manner. The authors and customers who have voiced problems have had many valid concerns. Dealing with those problems in a businesslike manner would have derailed any public outcry. Your reply here provides another example of excuses and blame rather than concrete solutions. It is this type of response that has damaged your reputation to the point that no one wants to be associated with this company.

“I hope that this letter may help you to understand that our resources are limited. We are not trying to be hateful, spiteful, mean, vindictive or anything of the sort. This is business and as such should be treated professionally and without emotion. “

If this is viewed as pure business situation, without emotion attached, then you are mishandling this badly. The money made from the contracts in question has been small for both of us. The cost of the bad press generated by this kind of public disagreement far outweighs any possible profit. This does not set a precedent for letting other authors out of their contracts, as that is not what I am asking. I merely want you to honor your entire contract, not just those clauses that benefit you. To do anything else is hateful, spiteful, mean, vindictive, or something of the sort.

“You are now a professional author, and we are kindly maintaining that you keep to your contract.”

You are now a professional publisher, and I am kindly maintaining that you keep to your contract.

“I have already contacted distributors to let them know that your contracts are ending and that they should take down your books before contracts end so that we can swiftly revert your rights back to you at the end of the agreement. Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

Megan, NCP”

You no longer have a right to publish this work under the terms of our contract, and I am all out of patience and understanding in this matter.
Samantha Storm Aka Cat Brown Aka Chaoscat

(Chaos - It’s not just a lifestyle, it’s a state of mind)
Owner/Operator Romance Junkies
http://www.romancejunkies.com
***
writing as Samantha Storm - http://www.samanthastorm.com/
7 Free reads available now @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SamanthaStorm/***

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=532401128
*.¸¸.•´¨`*.¸¸.•´¨`*.¸¸.•´¨`*.¸¸.•´¨`*

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Here I sit at Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix waiting for breakfast—thankfully they serve a real live breakfast in the bar here.  And no smart-alec assumptions :)  I’m drinking water.  Not even my stomach can handle alcohol this early in the morning unless I’ve not been to bed yet – and the last time I tried that out was quite a few years ago…lol!

You can probably tell I’m not totally awake yet, but I wanted to do a quick blog so everyone didn’t think I disappeared off the planet for a few days.  This week has been very hectic, both getting ready for this trip, taking care of a sick hubby, getting kiddo ready for end of year stuff, not to mention working on my deadline and a thousand other things.  But I’m thankful to be so busy—it’s much better than being bored!

So, back to the point—can you tell I haven’t had my Starbucks yet this morning?  Anyway, I’m headed to Denver to speak at the Heart of Denver Romance Writer’s chapter.  I’m speaking on “The Life of a Writer:  Is It All Really Glamour & Bon Bons?”  And if you don’t know the answer to that—maybe you need to hear this talk as well :)  I’m staying with my friend Lizzie T Leaf while I’m there and she told me we are having some party time tonight, so look out Denver!

I’m only there for today, I speak tomorrow and then head home tomorrow night.  A quick trip.  So I figured, no problem – a change of clothes, my toiletries bag, a few of my books for giveaways, handouts for the workshop (and a freaking coat! after I found out it’s only going to get up to 60 degrees or so there!) and some promo items.  One of those tiny suitcases you can pull behind you—my laptop bag and I’m all set, right?

I checked in at one of those little kiosks in a record six minutes from start to finish and then as I was standing in the security line craving a Chai Tea Latte, I realized that my toiletries bag was NOT going to fit into one of those little quart bags to make it though security.

Crap!

So, back I went downstairs to admit I had a space moment, and check my tiny suitcase.  Lucky for me, the people in front of me had done much stupider things (namely wanted to carry on their bowie knives and were protesting that they couldn’t carry them on the plane.)  So by the time I got up to the desk—the harried counter clerk was very happy to have a friendly person with an easy request!!

Luckily I was also nice to the lady up at the security line, who recognized me from my second attempt and allowed me to jump into the employees security line so I didn’t have to start all over.  See!  It pays to be nice! 

Anyway, that brings me back to here in the bar where Linda and Charlotte have served me some very good eggs, bacon and toast, and keep refilling my water before it even dips below half full.  It probably didn’t hurt that I let them chat me up about my pink Mac laptop, gave them bookmarks and “Got Seduction” buttons from my Seduction series and answered their questions about what it’s like to be a romance writer.

I really do love readers—their enthusiasm always makes it easier for me to sit down and push through a really hard scene—which I will doing on the plane if I have enough elbow room in coach to put the laptop on the little fold down table.  So wish me luck!

I’m not sure I’ll be able to get back online until I’m sitting in the airport tomorrow night in Denver waiting to come back, but I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Cassie/Tina

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I just wanted to take a moment to wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day. Here’s to brand new moms, to old moms, and all the moms in between. I could list thousands of reasons why each and every one of us is special and unique, but I won’t. Instead I’d like to share my mother’s day weekend with you.

My daughter went camping this weekend so on Friday before she left I found a single daisy on my desk and a note. The note was covered with different ways to say ‘Mother’. Short, sweet and to the point.

My son, who chose not to go on this camping trip took me out to dinner last night. We then came home and watched movies together. Again, nothing fancy - short and sweet.

How have you…or will you be spending your mother’s day?

Take care,

Kayla

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