Welcome to my pity party: I did NOT win the $640 million Mega Millions Lotto.

If you hold the lucky ticket, you can now consider me your new bestest pal in the whole wide world, so, yeah for sure, give me a call!

And hey, don’t worry: I won’t ask for a loan.

I won’t turn down a weekly stipend, either. I mean, what are friends for?

Another kind of lottery took place this week, and no, I didn’t win that one, either. E.L. James, author  of the best-selling originally self-published erotica book, 50 Shades of Grey, just signed a multi-million-dollar film deal for the book franchise (the series will be a trilogy) after being wooed by ten movie studios.

I tip my hat to the author on her successes, which also include a seven-figure book deal with Vintage.

I’m glad to hear (from Karin Tabke, one of the severest critics I know) that the book merits its raves, so I’ll take her word for it. (If not, I’d be afraid that she’d take a cat-o-nine-tails to me. I swear, ’cause that gal knows what hurts–on the page, anyway.)

In the profession of writing, where authors encounter many valleys and a just a few peaks, I’d say Ms. James has reached quite a pinnacle. Like J.K. Rowling, Jackie Collins, Stephen King, Danielle Steel, John Le Carre, Ken Follett, Nora Roberts, Lisa Gardner, and Kristin Hannah (to name few), she will soon be among the 1% of novelists who not only have made the New York Times Bestsellers list, but have also seen their works translated into film.

Indubitably you’ll find great sex in Ms. Collins’ steamy glam lit, as well as Ms. Steel’s socialites-behaving-badly tomes and Ms. Roberts’ unforgettable romances. But none of these can be classified as “erotica,” let alone “erotic romance.” So kudos to Ms. James for moving the genre of erotica out of bedroom and into the boardroom.

I use the term “boardroom” because I’ve no doubt that erotica be the new publishing gold rush–and that’s okay by me. Hey, anything that takes any and all women’s fiction out of publishing’s pink ghetto of  small advances/throw-it-on-the-shelf/get it no bookseller co-op or promotion is fine by me.

In a survey of 1,371 romance readers released this year by the Romance Writers of America–the trade organization which nurtures the profession of romance writing–erotic romance was a popular choice of 20% of all romance readers. If RWA does the same survey in two years, my guess is that this subgenre’s popularity among respondents will have doubled.

Today, if you put in the term “erotic romance” in Amazon.com’s search bar, you’ll see that the site is selling 4,963 paperback books under that genre, another 337 in hard cover, and a whopping 10,964 as- digital eBooks.

As for the search term “erotica,” 19,081 paperbacks pop up (pardon my pun), along with 2,216 hard cover books, and almost 50,000 hot and spicy digital eBooks.

Sounds like a helluva lot of hanky-panky, doesn’t it?

I’m guessing these numbers will grow by double digits as well.

I have many friends who write erotica. This isn’t just a high-five for E.L. James, but a thumbs-up for them as well.  Why? Because in the eyes of readers and booksellers, the publicity surrounding the book will reignite this subgenre of romance.

The published books they’ve written may now get a second look from readers who were turned on (literally) by Ms. James’ book. And no doubt they and their agents will be fielding calls from editors who never before acquired erotica (let alone erotic romance) but have fallen in love with their backlist, and want to publish their next hot-and-bothered books.

And yes, I’d be the first to applaud them, if that happens. As a professional writer, I can’t afford to be jealous of others’ successes. It’s a waste of my time and energy–which is better spent writing my own stories.

Besides, it’s just bad karma –

Which, in this case, is doe-eyed heroine: naked, submissive, and wearing four-inch stilettos.

Color me blush pink,

– Josie

Do you read erotica? If so, what is your favorite erotica book? Do you think it would translate into film? I wanna know, so comment below!

Hey, and since it turns out that K-Tab didn’t win the Mega Millions either, if you do comment I’ll enter you for a chance to win a copy of my dollface gal pal Karin Tabke’s soon-to-be-released novel, BLOODRIGHT, Book #2 of the BLOOD MOON Trilogy! (I’ve linked to her red hot excerpt, so enjoy!)

5 BONUS POINTS for reading this excerpt from my novel, THE HOUSEWIFE ASSASSIN’S HANDBOOK, and emailing me at MailFromJosie@gmail.com, with the answer to this question:

What does the skinhead take as a trophy?

[contest below]

Man, I am a ball of sloth. I got back from the two back-to-back conferences and I could barely string fifteen coherent words together. I think they were “feed me” and “please please let me go to sleep right now here at the restaurant.”

I know, sad.

I have this love/hate thing with conferences. I always sort of dread the whole ordeal of getting there, getting checked in. Usually, I’m so exhausted by that point, and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people and size of the conference, I want to hide in my room. This year, I was a little under-the-weather for RWA, on top of travel fatigue, so I didn’t do as much as I had planned (and if I missed meeting you, I am bummed about that). But I did get to feeling better and did more, especially the second week. And can I just give a shout-out to my fabulous roommate? Allison kept me sane, schlepped over to Duane Read a dozen times when I ran out of diet cokes and/or snacks, and helped me handle the crowds / meeting people when I wasn’t feeling at my best. Or just feeling terminally shy. (Allison rocks, but you all knew that already.)

Since so many people have covered the conferences themselves all over the internet, and since I spent my time wandering around, when not meeting people, I am going to keep this short and sweet and post a few photos of the city. But first, I want to ask you… are you one of those people who come back refreshed? ready to tackle the world? If so, what are your secrets? Are you a travel sloth, too, worn out by travel? And if you could choose anywhere in the world to go and stay, worry-free, for two weeks, where would it be? 

All commenters are eligible to be entered to win one $50 gift card to an online bookstore of your choice. Contest ends midnight, CST, Friday, July 15.

As an outsider to NYC, you don’t often think of “green spaces” when you think of the city, but NYC has parks all over the place, and lots of trees planted along streets and boulevards as well. This is Bryant Park (which, if you’ve ever seen Project Runway, has been featured there a few times). Allison and I walked through this park a couple of different times.

This is Bryant Park Grill, just behind where I’m standing at the first photo; we ate here and it was really lovely.

In the foreground on the bottom left is the entrance to Grand Central, where most of the subways meet. The greenish-glassed building just beside that is the Grand Central Hyatt, where we stayed for ThrillerFest. And, obviously, a few blocks away in the background is the Empire State Building.

I kept seeing these little old buildings (center) sandwiched in between the slick glass-fronted sky-scrapers and I loved the juxtaposition–it’s almost like looking backward through time, noting the different architectural styles.

I plan to go back–the next book will be set in NYC, and I have a few ideas of which areas. I need to do a lot more research and then go back for photos. Oh, darn.

See the contest above — looking forward to your entries and I think (fingers crossed) I’ll actually be here all day where I can really respond! Thanks so much for stopping by.

We’re having an amazing time here in the city that never sleeps.

A Transformer in Times Square

In case you missed Toni’s post yesterday, a huge group of authors has descended on New York for the Romance Writers of America conference. We’re in Times Square, where the sidewalks are packed, the traffic is honking 24/7, and there are a gazillion things to do just footsteps from the hotel… such as catching a live promotion for the new Transformers movie. (Here’s a pic I took with my phone, like a complete tourist!)

The MSW ladies had a fabulous time at the Algonquin Hotel the other night, where we hosted a cocktail party. Here’s a pic of Sylvia and Rocki heading back from the bar to keep the party going at the conference hotel.

Rocki and Sylvia take Manhattan

Despite all the hustle and bustle, I’ve actually had a chance to sit down and catch up with some dear friends who I only see once I year. I’ve had lunch with my editor and agent and even gotten a chance to do some writing in the quiet, chore-free zone of my hotel room between events.

One of the highlights of the trip so far was an evening stroll with a friend down the city’s new elevated park, The High Line, which occupies a converted elevated train platform. Great views of the city…

The city's new High Line Park

The conference festivities culminate tonight with the awards banquet, where our very own Allison Brennan and Roxanne St. Claire are up for RITA Awards. Good luck to you both!

And that’s it for the travel log because I’m off to more appointments…

Do you have a favorite big city? What is a site you like to visit there? Leave a comment for a chance to win a signed copy of my latest release, UNFORGIVABLE.

And have a great weekend!

[Contest below.]

Several of us MSWers are in NYC for the RWA conference (and Allison and I will be staying over next week for the ThrillerFest con a well). It’s been a whirlwind (it always is) and I haven’t even seen half of the people I mean to see and hope to see before it’s over.

Here’s the view from our room:

It’s really terrible, isn’t it? Poor us. We’re just suffering over here, let me tell you.

And you know, there’s just hardly anything to do. Sad, really. We did trundle over to the Algonquin hotel last night to have a wonderful MSW cocktail party with the winner of our Brenda Novak auction package (us, cocktails, food, yammering for hours, lots of laughter)… Caroline Godin and her friends, Madeleine, Anita, and author Olivia Gates. We had a blast in a wonderfully luxurious corner of sofas and chairs. Although the waiter seemed absolutely determined to pour something on Olivia, since he dropped one drink *and* a plate on her head. We also realized we were sitting next to Algonquin royalty: Mathilda

Apparently, this is the new Mathilda as the previous Mathilda had been quite beloved there for 17 years.

The lobby/bar area there is so beautiful and comfortable, I can see why famous writers would have wanted to hang out there. It’s lush, yet warm and welcoming, and I could imagine that being a favorite haunt, were I to live around here.

What’s your favorite place to hang out? Whether at home or on vacation, tell me about one of your favorite spots and why you love it! All commenters will be eligible to win a $25 gift certificate to an online bookstore of your choice. (Contest ends Friday, midnight, CST – winner announced this weekend.)

Our summer started with a bang. Followed by a rattle and a cough and a last noisy shake as our air conditioning unit took its final breath.

I spent the week guzzling water at my desk and greeting repairmen at the door, the whole time in a state of disbelief that it is summer already. How did that happen? I swear I just put away Christmas decorations.

But summer is here and despite the 100-plus temperatures, I am really looking forward to this season. I have some work to get done, but I also plan to spend some quality (I hope!) time with my family.

One event on our calendar is something we’ve been meaning to do for years: see Yellowstone together. I love our national parks, but this one is especially impressive. Yellowstone Falls, Artist Paint Pots Trail, Old Faithful. I’m looking forward to seeing some animals and hopefully getting caught in a bear jam as people pull over to look at grizzlies.

Another activity I’m just as excited about–even though we do it every year–is tubing. At least once a summer, we take a day off work during the week (too many crowds on the weekends), pile into the car, and head down to New Braunfels to spend a day on the river. We float down the sparkly green Guadalupe with our cooler in tow and stop to climb on the rocks and splash around. After hauling our tubes out of the river, we like to stop at a greasy burger joint for lunch.

And what summer would be complete without RWA? My family won’t be at the conference, but I’ll get a chance to catch up with some wonderful friends I don’t see during the year. There is always so much to do, but I’m hoping to sneak away from the conference for at least a few hours and do some sightseeing in the Big Apple.

What are your plans this summer? Any fun family trips or forays into the great outdoors? Leave a comment for a chance to win a signed copy of UNFORGIVABLE. I was thrilled to hear this week that the book is nominated for a 2011 Daphne du Maurier Award. Yay!