Cork art

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I love wine corks. Some are direct, and to-the-point: the winery name, maybe a phone number or a URL. But some wineries really make the effort to express themselves on their corks, treating them as an extension of the bottle art, and I love it.

Please, not rain.

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Wait, what? California’s in the midst of a prolonged, severe drought. Shouldn’t I be welcoming rain, praying for rain, maybe doing a little ran dance?

Not with a vineyard that’s nearly ready for harvest, nope.

After threatening rain for days, the skies finally opened up into a rainstorm tonight —just a week or two before I start pulling the first of the Syrah grapes off the vines. The Zinfandel looks like it will be a couple of weeks after that. And with maturing grapes on the vine, the last thing I want is rain, because moisture hitting that fruit can result in mildew and mold right before crush.

So tomorrow morning, I’ll be blow drying the vineyard… with a leaf blower.

Wine judges

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animateglee:

I’ll never know how some people can identify wine blindly like everything about them, even place a wine in a year, like, have you seen isles and isles of wine and that’s just a fraction of all the wines in the world, I couldn’t even remember that many different people.

I was a judge in a wine competition recently, and the lead judge for our panel was one of these people. “I know this wine,” he’d say, and then name a wine. We were tasting blind, of course, but at the end, we asked for the ID on a couple of the wines he called out and sure enough, he had them right. Blew us away.

interludepress:

FALL FOR INTERLUDE PRESS

Our fall titles include our first title and first episode series for Interlude’s new Consent imprint for erotic fiction, a trans-Atlantic romance and two novels that will leave you hungry (and thirsty) for more, including the first novel written exclusively for IP.

September: Load the Dice begins. A 10-episode, twice-monthly series from the Consent Imprint for erotica.

October: Sotto Voce

November: The Bones of You

December: Chef’s Table, an IP exclusive.

It’s great to have it announced!

Want a book ... and a Book?

That’s right, two books in one. To say thanks for your support, I’m throwing in a signed copy of one of the print editions of my upcoming book, along with the multi-format, DRM-free eBook we’re raffling off as part of the Interlude Press 24-hour Launch Party.

Entering the raffling is as easy as following me on Twitter, Tumblr, Goodreads or Facebook, all through one convenient link.

I’ll be announcing the winner during the Noon ET/9amPT panel on 2014 Fall titles on Interlude’s Google+ channel. I hope to see you there!

The Event Which Must Be Named Has a Name

girliesportsjunkie:

lettersfromtitan:

Upstairs at The Stonewall Inn
53 Christopher Street, NYC

Tuesday, October 7, 7pm
21+, no cover, 2 drink minimum

Featuring: Damon Suede, Kate McMurray, Racheline Maltese, Melissa Graves, Erin Finnegan, A.J. DeWall, Killian B. Brewer.

Huge thanks to @lsugaralmond and Emma who both came up with the name.  We’ll be putting together some awesome prize packages for them.  

We’re currently designing our print and digital promo materials for the event, so look for more details and pretty images in early September!

Thanks to everyone who played!

And it’s conveniently located near a favorite watering hole, with show tunes. So guess where we’re headed for the after party? If you’re anywhere near NYC in early October, come say hi!

Very grateful for the invite from avian30 to participate in this reading.

IP Launch Raffle

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You want to win my book, you say? Aaw shucks. Who am I to say no?

You can roll the dice and enter to win The Book That Is Not Yet Named (but will be, Tuesday at 9am PT/Noon ET) simply by clicking the Rafflecopter link to follow my alter ego Erin Finnegan on tumblr, Twitter, Goodreads and whatnot.

I may just throw in a little something extra to the winner. (How does a signed print copy sound?)