• Romance Divas. This website is command central for many romance writers. Founded and frequented by many published authors, Romance Divas offers free workshops, a very active forum, and a chat room in which writing challenges are the order of the day. (I confess that without this chat room and the writers there who egged me on, I might not have finished my last novel for HQN's Silhouette Nocturne line.) While a popular hangout for published authors, it's also a very welcoming place for the aspiring author and readers too. Just this month, several Romance Divas (including yours truly) offered up a virtual anthology of free stories in honor of Valentine's Day.
• Dear Author This review site can be funny enough to make you spit-take, but it also strives to be fair to the romance community. Thoughtful discussions on the future of the industry take place regularly here and the cross-section of opinions from readers and authors alike is valuable for the professional writer.
• eHarlequin.com. It may seem a little dodgy for me to recommend my own publisher's website, but in spite of the recent self-publishing debacle, eHarlequin remains one of the most active romance communities on the net. Readers not only buy books there and subscribe to category lines, but they also hang out and chat with authors. I've had more than a few readers tell me that they've picked up my books simply because I participate in the forums.What's more, there are many resources for the aspiring writer--including virtual pitch sessions with editors.
• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Sometimes the snark factor at "The Bitchery" can be a little much, but the site is a wonderful hodgepodge of all things Romance, great and small. Sometimes it's a quest to expose plagiarism, other times it's a quest to find the title of a book that a reader once read but can't remember. What's more? Nora Roberts shows up in the comments section all the time, as if she were a mere mortal.
• Romance Wiki. I didn't even know this site existed until a fan wrote to me to ask me for a list of every Silhouette Nocturne ever written. I had no idea, but Romance Wiki came to the rescue. The resource page alone is worth its weight in gold.
• Romance in the Backseat. I had the pleasure of meeting Terry Kate at RWA Nationals last year. She was the first friendly face I saw, and she carries her enthusiasm to her website where she offers interviews and promotional opportunities for authors. She even sponsors virtual writing conventions!

Last Excerpt Monday I baffled, weirded out, and possibly tantalized readers with my creepy prologue to one of my many novels-in-progress. A fantasy novel with romantic elements, this story is founded on ancient medallion magic and features a young heroine who is married to a foreign lord against her will and learns that her worst enemy may be the one man she can trust. (Or something like that. I've still not mastered the logline to this story.)

CHAPTER ONE

As the shamans chanted, Taria tried not to choke on the stench of burning flesh. The flames beckoned with a promise of warmth, but these fires offered no comfort against the cold. They were funeral pyres, so Taria shied away so the spirits of the Ticanee dead could escape to a better place. A much better place.

She watched her tribesmen sway in grief beneath the totem poles, closing their eyes against every gust of frigid wind. But Taria’s eyes remained open, her blue gaze following the pillar of soot up into the winter sky. Overhead, Republic pilots held their griffon mounts in tight military formation on the wind. From so far away, the wings of the great creatures looked tattered and frayed, and she could barely see the men that rode them. She could not imagine the courage it would take to climb upon such a beast’s back and take to the skies, especially since, in Taria’s experience, nothing good ever came from above...]]> http://stephaniedraven.com/2010/02/15/excerpt-monday-rites-of-passage-part-ii/feed/ 7 http://stephaniedraven.com/2010/02/13/valentines-day-free-read/ http://stephaniedraven.com/2010/02/13/valentines-day-free-read/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:47:12 +0000 Stephanie Draven http://stephaniedraven.com/?p=1332 THE VIRTUOUS BRIDE is my contribution to Romance Divas Fourth Annual E-Book Challenge. I hope you’ll enjoy reading the many FREE stories posted by forum members on their sites and blogs. This story is an experiment in transgressive erotic fiction, something that's altogether different than what I write for HQN's Silhouette Nocturne, and probably completely unmarketable. It makes me really uncomfortable, and that's usually a sign that I'm stretching myself as an artist. But if this is my mom reading this, this is NOT FOR YOU! (Click on the cover art to read it now! A PDF is also available upon request. If you enjoyed this story, please visit Romance Divas for MORE Free Stories!)]]> http://stephaniedraven.com/2010/02/13/valentines-day-free-read/feed/ 5 http://stephaniedraven.com/2010/01/18/excerpt-monday-rites-of-passage/ http://stephaniedraven.com/2010/01/18/excerpt-monday-rites-of-passage/#comments Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:00:43 +0000 Stephanie Draven http://stephaniedraven.com/?p=1242 Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don't have to be published to participate–just a writer with an excerpt you'd like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site! or click on the banner above.

Rites of Passage is a work in progress.