Six Sentence Sunday

And I'm back for Six-Sentence Sunday again. Yay!

In honor of finally finishing (and turning in) A Perfect Lady, today's six picks up where we left off... With Rebecca and James after their first... ahem... encounter...

Enjoy!

“McKenzie. Although I prefer James, love. And may I say, this has been the most memorable an evening I’ve had in a long time.”

As he spoke, he crept closer to slip his arms beneath her. A sharp, airy squeak rent the air as he lifted her from the floor. With very little effort, he pulled her from the darkness, into the bed, where he caught the blue ribbon of her chemise between his thumb and forefinger.

Don't forget to check out all the other terrific six at the official Six-Sentence Sunday site right here!  And if you want to join in the fun, it's easy to do! Here's how it works:

1.Sign up at the Six-Sentence Sunday blog.

2. Pick six sentences from any work you've written - it can be a WIP, an unpublished manuscript, a latest release, or a work under contract.

3. Post those six sentences on your blog by 9AM on Sunday.

That's all there is to it!

Done!

**collapses**

A Perfect Lady is finished! I have been writing like a madwoman all week (there were at least 2 days of 5k+ words written. On. A. Roll. :D) to get this book done and I am happy to announce that as of 7:15 this evening, I typed THE END. The book... she is written. Braise Jeebus.

This book has been such a labor of love to write. I've never sweated finishing a project the way I did with this. It seemed so cool to sell a book on the basis of a very skeletal synopsis, but let me say I far prefer having the book already written. So. Much. Pressure.

I'd originally set a personal deadline of May 1st to have the first draft done. Unfortunately, about 25k into the book, I decided it was going in the wrong direction and ended up scrapping all but about 500 of those words. Twenty-five thousand words, roughly a third of the finished book - tossed. Ack.

But now it's behind me and the real fun begins. Revisions. But not tonight. Tonight, I will read through it (I usually print a draft chapter by chapter and revise as I go. Not with this project. This read-through will be the first one. Keep your fingers crossed) and make a few notes. Other than that, it will get put away for a week or so, and then I'll begin the second draft. I already know a few changes I need to make (a character disappeared about halfway through the story. Need to resurrect and rewrite this character. Fortunately, I know pretty much what will happen. I simply need to get the words down.)

However, with writing like mad all week, I haven't had the chance to do or read any of the Six-Sentence posts from last week. I'm going to try to play catch up this week, but unfortunately, I'm going to miss the Six-Sunday fun this week. :( Oh well, I should be back next week.

I certainly hope so.

Rain, rain.... GO AWAY!

**sigh**


It's done nothing but rain in my little corner of the world.

Rain.

Rain.

Oh, look! Rain.

**rant alert** 

Seriously - we have not had a truly sunny day since May 12th. My backyard has inches of water standing on top of the grass. For some insane reason, our landscapers decided to try and mow the lawn. After 7 straight days of rain. WTF? Are they trying to ruin my yard??? Both my front and backyard now have stripes. I can't believe I actually have to tell the (supposed) professionals that, from now on, I do not want them anywhere near my lawn if it's rained in the last 48 hours (or nonstop for the last week.)

Of course, my plants are growing like crazy (except for my pot o'basil, which is pretty waterlogged. For some reason, the pot has no drainage. I'm hoping I can salvage some of the basil, but right now it's looking as if I'll have to plant fresh. Rats.) And the little sapling the Boy brought home from school on Earth Day? It's put out a separate branch and a bunch of leaves. Now, that may not sound like much, but this is the third sapling I've tried to grow. The first one was a little white pine that was doing very well until my landscapers (the same ones who didn't see anything wrong with trying to mow over-saturated grass) apparently can't tell the difference between a tree and a weed and cut it down. I coaxed it back to life, and on their next visit, the landscapers hacked it down again. It gave up after that.

As for the second sapling? The Boy's teacher forgot to put them in the kids' backpacks. She also forgot to keep the roots wet. I tried, but after about six weeks of it remaining a stick, I pulled it back out of the ground. Oh well.

But this one is doing well (I've got it staked so no one mistakes it for a weed.) My mint is growing like crazy. The parsley and sage are doing well. The rosemary is finally taking the hint an starting to poke up through the soil. My vincas are doing well, but the heavy rain (occasionally accompanied by end-of-the-world type winds) have decapitated the blooms. Fortunately, it looks like they're putting out new flowers, so all is not lost. And the entire woods behind my house is a stunning array of very vivid greens.

**end rant**

Now, in the spirit of trying desperately to remain glass-half-full, the sore muscle that's kept me from running (and walking like a normal person) for the last ten days? It's finally starting to feel better. I've missed running (I started in March, could barely do a quarter of a mile. Before I got hurt, I was up to two miles. Yay!), so I'm looking forward to getting back. For now, I do the same two miles on the elliptical machine, so hopefully I won't lose my endurance. I'm down almost 15 pounds (yay!) with ten more to go. I've actually had to go and buy new jeans because the old ones don't fit any more (yay!)

A Perfect Lady is chugging along. I'm still ticked with the characters, but payback is here and it's going to be fun to torture the daylights out of them . And I'll be here for Six-Sentence Sunday with another six from Rebecca and James. Want to know if she found her chemise? Want to know if she's caught with him and ruined forever? Well, tune in this Sunday...

Happy Birthday, A Few Thoughts (And Some News, Too!)

Okay, it's a little silly, but today, A Few Thoughts turns five. I looked back at the very first post, which is amazingly boring. Some six months after I posted it, someone commented. I remember being shocked - shocked, I tells ya - that someone actually --yanno - read my blog. I clicked on it (I was moderating comments at the time) and....

It was spam for a porn site.

Ouch.

Okay, so the blog's come a long way since then - now my comments are usually from real people (I still get the occasional spam link) and I love reading them! I don't blog as much as I used to - although I keep telling myself I will get back to it. And I will. Promise. :-)

And now for the news...

I recently sold A Perfect Lady to Aspen Mountain Press/Aurora Regency Historicals and it's set to be released in October to coincide with Aurora Regency Historicals first anniversary. It's the first book I've sold based on only a rough outline, so now I'm under the gun to get the book written. It's almost halfway finished right now and it's what's keeping me from a lot of other things. I've never worked under these circumstances - my books are usually completed by the time I sell them - so this is new (and stressful) for me.

A Perfect Lady is a McKenzie book, a prequel to Playing with Fire and The Pursuit. It's James and Rebecca McKenzie's story, which starts with one night of unbridled passion (if you're going to have passion, it might as well be unbridled, right?) and ends with... well... you'll just have to read the book when it comes out, right?

So, in order to celebrate both this sale and A Few Thoughts' birthday, I think I'll hold a bit of a contest. From now until May 15th, just leave a comment here to enter for your chance to win digital copies of Playing with Fire and The Pursuit.

Happy reading!

Something Old, Something New...

I haven't written many new words this year. At the end of last year, after finishing edits on the last of five books, I decided to take a break from writing and concentrate on the projects I had in various stages of revision. Now that I'm subbing again, it's time to begin something new. Yay!

So, for the last week, I've been working on the next McKenzie book. It was a bit of a struggle at first, because this is James and Rebecca's story, so I had characters I already knew, but I didn't have a plot. If you've read The Pursuit or Playing with Fire (and if you haven't, why not?? Go and get them now. Go on. I'll wait. :D)

ahem

If you've read either of those books, you know who James and Rebecca are. I know them, sort of. They were minor characters in both books, but played very important roles, considering they are Garrett and Drew's parents. So, I know who they are by the time they are 30+ years into their relationship. The later years were the easy part.

The trouble was, I didn't know who they were, when they were just beginning their life together. It took a bit of brainstorming with my Aspen Mountain editor, and BAM! All of the sudden, I knew exactly how they met, and what they had to do in order to be with each other. And that's what I've been doing for the least week -- writing like a lunatic. It's been good though, I hadn't realized how much I've missed it until now.

Playing with Fire is Out!

Okay, I'm a bit slow this weekend, I confess. Playing with Fire came out on Friday and I didn't say a word about it.

I am shamed.

Anyway, here it is now - happy dance time!

The last place Heather Morgan thought she’d find herself was in a house of Eros. There she waited to be sold to the highest bidder as a way to pay off her father’s mountain of debt to the proprietor of the gaming house holding the auction.

Drew McKenzie had no intention of buying a mistress. But something about the delicate beauty with chestnut hair and gold-flecked dark eyes stirs something inside him. He's been hurt before and isn’t willing to risk his heart a second time.

But when Heather's  scandalous past is exposed, Drew must choose  between his love for Heather, or his family’s honor.  Caught between the two, Drew realizes what it means to be playing with fire.

Want to read an excerpt? (Of course you do!) Check it out right here.

Want to buy it? (Of course you do!) Well, just pop over to Aspen Mountain Press and pick up a copy!

And when you finish reading, come and have a happy dance with me! :D

Popping In...

Because yes, I am still alive. I think.

Final edits on Playing with Fire are done and turned in. It'll be out next Friday so look for it. Buy it early and buy it often! :)

Ahem...

I'm most of the way through final line edits for Tiger Eyes, so yay! I'm thisclose to being completely caught up on everything. Five books in less than six months is madness and I'll be glad when December rolls around. I'm taking the month off.

I'm also thisclose to finishing my NaNo project. It was supposed to be a western historical, but I scrapped that idea partway into the first week and decided to finish writing Aidrian's story. It's coming along nicely and I should finish it up sometime in the next two or three days. Yay!

Hopefully then I'll get around to regular (or at least semi-regular) blogging.

Hopefully.

Taking a Break

From my NaNoWriMo project. I have to be honest, I hate the story. I hate the characters. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I don't want to write. I have to force myself to sit down and hit my word count each day.

I think it's partly because I didn't have time to do much more than a few paragraphs of a synopsis. Now, I'm not really a plotter. Never have been, though I've been leaning more and more toward it. But, I usually have a bit more of a skeleton, and I know the time period I'm writing about. But this year, I was editing two books during September and October, which meant I had no time to do even the most preliminary of research. As a result, my NaNo story, which is supposed to be an historical set in the Old West, reads like it could take place in any time, which is Not Good when writing an historical. Not Good at all. Yeesh.

But mainly, I think I'm tired. By the end of January, I'll have four books out (The Pursuit - July, Playing with Fire - November, Tiger Eyes - December, and After the Storm, January) with a fifth one coming as soon as I get a release date. Playing with Fire and Devil in Disguise (release date TBA) were the books I was working on in the run-up to NaNo (I also did first round edits on Tiger Eyes in there somewhere.) I finished The King's Bride. I started two other books in addition to everything else. It's been a busy few months, and that's without adding in everything that's been going on with my mom as well. Which all adds up to one tired writer.

So I'm looking forward to December. I'll take the month off from most of my writing (I'll have final edits on Tiger Eyes and that should be it for deadlines.) I'll work here and there on The King's Bride because I plan to start subbing that in the new year. I'll work a little here and there on my current WIPs, and I'll blog, but that's about it until sometime next year. I need a rest. I don't want my writing to suffer and I'm thinking that it's starting to do just that. And when the time comes that I have to force myself to work on a story? Yep, that's a hint.

So, I'm looking forward to my little vacation. I think I've earned it.

I'm BACK! didja miss me?

I've been running like a freak for the last two weeks. Way back, when contracts first crossed my desk, having several books coming out over a few months seemed like a good idea. Sure, get out there with new stuff, since it's been two years since my last release. Why not?

Seemed like a good idea at the time.


or so I thought.

Deadlines have overlapped. Major rewrites have come in all at once (eek!). But on the plus side - I kan haz kool kovers?

Check these out -

Playing With Fire ~ will be released by Aspen Mountain Press/Aurora Regency Historicals on Novemvber 26. And here is the smokin' cover...

And following that is Tiger Eyes, which is coming from Samhain Publishing on December 21, 2010. W00t!

Yowza...


And coming in January, 2011, from The Wild Rose Press:

And with a release date to be determined (but edits mercifully thisclose to done) is Devil in Disguise from the Wild Rose Press...

So this seemed like a great idea, like great exposure - and it was. But there was a lot of work and a lot of craziness on top of all the RL craziness going on in my word.

But now everything is thisclose to being finished. WHew.

Now I can begin working on my NaNo project. And then I'll tackle The King's Bride. Mary, my most awesome beta reader, gave me a lot to think about and made some great suggestions. So when those changes are made, The King's Bride will leave home to go out on submission.

Then I'll take a vacation. Maybe. :)

NaNoWriMo and Other Stuffs

It's hard to believe we're pretty much halfway through October already. I love October. It's my favoritest month. The days are warm (for the most part), the nights are chilly (perfect!), and the colors - OMG.

One of the best things about living where I do is the autumn. The leaves become the most beautiful shades of red, orange, and gold. We have one tree in our backyard (a black tupelo, if Wikipedia can be trusted) that becomes the most gorgeous colors when the leaves turn. It's just starting to turn now, and I'll try to get pictures of it. I love it. It's my favoritest tree ('Mom,'  the Girl says, 'don't you mean favorite, since favoritest isn't really a word?' Gotta love her.)


And during this month, I begin thinking about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those who have never heard of the challenge of writing 50k words in 30 days or less.) This year, I'd planned on finishing Midnight Angel. But when I finished my edits for Tiger Eyes and turned them in, I got hit with the urge to write. In the last two days, I've added almost 3k words and the way I'm going, I'll finish the rough draft before November 1st.

So, I think I'll work on the western I've wanted to write. We'll see. I've got eighteen days to mull it over. Or, I can do as I've done in years past - finish one book and start another. That's how I ended up with Tiger Eyes and Devil in Disguise. One was begun, the other ended, during NaNo 2008. That's the beauty of NaNo. And, even better, I've sold every one of my NaNo projects, and they usually inspire more books as well. Writing's funny that way, work breeds inspiration. :D

Now, Playing with Fire is set to be released on November 26th, so I'll be knee-deep in edits for that as well. And there is still at least two more rounds of edits on Tiger Eyes - so I'm going to be busier than a one-armed paper hanger for the next few weeks. And, I should have cover art for Tiger Eyes and final cover art for Playing with Fire very soon.

I'm in for a couple of very busy weeks, but it should be fun. Surely I'm not the only loon signed up for NaNo - anyone else out there doing it?

Because I Just Don't Have Enough to Do...

I've finished up the first batch of edits on Playing with Fire (did I ever announce that Aspen Mountain Press/Aurora Regency Historicals offered a contract on the second McKenzie book? Well, if not, here it is - yay! Look for it on November 26, 2010!) Now, this wasn't the first edits in total. My editor sends them to me in chunks of five to ten chapters each. All told, I'm about halfway through the first edits for the entire book.

I've also begun edits for Tiger Eyes. But these are not nearly as bad - at least, not yet. Yay!

I'm plotting out what I want to work on for NaNoWriMo (oh, you know I'm already signed up for that.) I think I'm going to finish Aidrian's story. I think. That's always subject to change. NaNo has been good for me. Devil in Disguise was my 2008 NaNo project, Tiger Eyes was 2009. I love NaNo, because it's a good exercise in just writing. It doesn't matter if it's great prose or not, as long as the story gets written. My inner muse usually pounds my inner editor into submission for those thirty days. :)

And, since (as the title of this post suggests) I don't have quite enough to do, I took on yet another project.

We've been in our house almost three years (our move-in anniversary is October 20th.) and I'm still kind of making it my house. Every fall, I get on a cleaning-rearranging furniture-making my house look nice kind of tear. The nesting instinct at it's finest.

My kids share a bathroom. And it's a boring bathroom. Just plain. White. Walls.

It needed something.

The only spot of color in the room is their shower curtain - which is bright blue, with tropical (I think they're tropical. I don't know much about fish, really.) fish on it.

So, I was in there last week, trying to decide what this room needed. Then it came to me. Stencils of  (wait for it...)

FISH!

Now, I've never done stenciling before, so I did what I do - I googled it (don't you just love how the word google has become such a part of our vocab?) and found out that it's something even I can't screw up. I'm one of those people who wants to be all artsy-craftsy, and tries to be all artsy-craftsy, and usually sucks dirt at it. But I was up to the challenge.

I trekked to AC Moore, and found stencils that I liked. And paint. And brushes. I was off to a good start...

Got one of the stencils up...

And stenciled a fish!

Four hours later, I had the area over the tub finished...

I was pretty happy with how they came out, and it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be, it's just a little time consuming. Next weekend, I'll tackle the two smaller sections, and over the sink. From there, who knows... if it doesn't move, it may end up stenciled.... bwahahaha! :D

Checking In...

It's been very crazy in my neck of the woods - between the kidlets starting school, and my mother's latest go-round in the hospital, I haven't had the time or the energy to post anything. We're settling into a daily routine here, and my mom was moved from the hospital to a rehab facility, so things should calm down a little. Of course, every time I think that, something comes along and slaps me upside the head.

Anyway, I have some exciting news - Aspen Mountain Press offered me a contract for the follow up McKenzie book, Playing with Fire! It's scheduled for release on November 26, 2010, and I should have cover art very soon. When I do, I will post it. Yay!

I'm still waiting for cover art for Tiger Eyes, and when I have that, I will post it as well.

I'll also be receiving edits for Devil in Disguise, Playing with Fire, and Tiger Eyes, so things are going to get way busy in the coming days. Yay for busy. Right now, busy is good.

 Busy is very good.

Time...

Today is the first day of school - the Girl is in fourth grade, the Boy is in his last year of preschool. How the hell did that happen?

It's funny, but time seemed to move so slowly when I was a a kid. Christmas took forever to come around. Now? It seems as if I just put the Christmas decorations away, and the holidays are back.

It seems like just yesterday the Girl was born. Now, she's almost ten. Ten! Eeek! It just doesn't seem possible. Not possible at all. How can I be old enough to have a ten year old? Ugh. I don't want to think about it.

I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend. I managed to get away for the day on Sunday. I needed the break and it was very much welcomed. Now, I just have to get back into the swing of things.

And on that note, I need to go finish polishing up a manuscript to get off to a beta reader. Hopefully I'll come up with some better blog topics, and soon!

Change...

Is good for the soul, or so I hear. I have to admit, I am sooo not a big fan of change. I wish I could be one of those people who lives for change, who likes when the powers that be shake things up, who can change their hairstyle 'just cuz."

But, even I need a change from time to time. My last few books (Tiger Eyes being the only exception) have been set during the Regency, although my McKenzie books are American-set. For the last eighteen months or so, I've been mostly in the Regency and even though I love the time period, I need a break from it. While I do have two more Montgomery books planned, I don't know exactly when I'm going to write them.

Instead, I've had an idea brewing for some time for an historical set in the Old West. About bounty hunters. It's a time period I don't know a whole lot about, but I'm definitely looking forward to researching. It's also a story I'm looking very forward to writing, as well. The American Southwest is one of my favorite places (I have family in Texas and New Mexico, although I don't get to see them much) and I love the idea of the 'Wild West'. Cowboys. Bounty hunters. Runaway brides. Oh, and a smartass, six-year-old orphan named Jack. It should be fun to write, if nothing else.

And change is good for the soul. :)

Checking In

I'm still here - just running like crazy. My mom finished up her radiation therapy, but now she's back in the hospital because she's sick as anything. They don't think it's because of the radiation, but they aren't really sure why she's so sick. It doesn't make any sense to anyone. Hopefully we'll have answers real soon.

I'm going through the first edits for Devil in Disguise and my editor is a wonderfully patient woman. She knows what's going on, so at least I don't have that stress.

I may even have a title for Aidrian. Yay! As of right now, it's now titled, Midnight Angel. :D

I'm revising the cover copy and excerpt for Playing with Fire. I hate writing cover copy. It's a skill. I don't haz it. :( Fortunately, my editor does haz it. So this copy will happen. Oh yes, it will.)

I'm in the midst of getting the cover for Tiger Eyes. When I can share it, I will. Promise. :D

Okay, I think that's it - time to finish my coffee, jump into the shower, and trek on up to the hospital.

Happy Tuesday, everyone! :D

Settling Dust

Whew... when things get hectic, they really get hectic. And lately, things have been hectic.

First, I want to apologize for my random posts. My mom was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, so I've been running like a madwoman, taking her to radiation therapy, for this test and that test. Then, this past Thursday, she went in to have a lung biopsy done. There was a complication that resulted in her needing a chest tube, which led to being admitted into the hospital for three days. But, she's home now and resting, so that's all good. She'll be going for a PET scan sometime this week, to see if the cancer's spread. So, if everyone could just think good thoughts for her, that would be great. Thank you.

I've also been working to get Playing with Fire finished and out to my editor and I'm happy to say that it's done. Yay! Just in time for me to begin the first edits on Devil in Disguise. Nothing like busy on top of busy, right? Keeps me out of trouble.

But tonight, I'm taking for me. I'm working on Aidrian's story and, of course, a new story idea hit late last week, so maybe I'll get that outlined or at least roughed out.

I'll try to get back to regular blogging, but right now, everything's so up in the air, that it'll be hit or miss at best. Once we get things settled with my mom, things should calm down a little (or so I hope) and with any luck, I'll even have ideas for blog topics. We'll see.

And now, since the Boy and the Girl are peacefully watching a movie (it's raining and gray outside today, unfortunately), I'm going to try to get some new words written.

I've missed writing new words. :D

It's Here!

I should have posted this on Friday, but real life gets in the way sometimes and it did so in a huge way over the last two weeks -

The Pursuit is now available!!

Yay! You can find it here at Aspen Mountain Press, or you can find it here, at Amazon.

So come and happy dance with me, won't you?

YAY!

A Quick Reminder

Beginning tomorrow (July 23rd) Aspen Mountain Press is beginning their fourth anniversary celebration! Please stop by the AMP Community Loop and check it out. Come and meet not only AMP authors and readers, but you'll get the chance to win some great prizes! Oh, and did I mention the premier of the Aurora Regency/Aurora Historicals imprints??? That's right, tomorrow marks the release of Marguerite Butler's Compromising Prudence, Arabella Sheraton's The Dangerous Duke, and yours truly's The Pursuit!

So, pop on over and said hi! We'll be there from 10AM to at least 7PM (EDT) and hopefully, so will you!

Running

Is what I've been doing for the last week. I thought it had been a lot longer since my last post, so I'm pretty happy to see I'm not really that far behind.

I've been working like crazy trying to finish the first draft of Playing with Fire - which my AMP/Aurora Historicals editor is patiently waiting for, so that's taken up a lot of my time. I can't say much about it - yet. But when I can... look out.

Also, there's quite a lot going on for me personally. I don't want to say too much just yet, but it involves someone very close to me, and someone I'm really worrying about. So, for the next week or so, I may be blogging sporadically at best. Come Monday I'll have a firmer handle on what's what.

So anyway, I'm here. I'm alive. I'm writing. Oh, and I have a book coming out in TWO DAYS! That's right - The Pursuit goes on sale at Aspen Mountain Press on Friday! Yay! :D

Some Good Weekend Stuff

It's Saturday - yay! Of course, Saturday is pretty much like every other day to me - it's one of the benefits of being a writer. Unfortunately, one of the liabilities is that I often forget what day of the week it is. It's sad when I have to ask the Girl if it's Monday or Tuesday. Even worse, when I've already asked her half a dozen times.

But this isn't about my absentmindedness, which reaches epic proportions at times. But it's the weekend and that means rest and relaxation (or west and wewaxation, if you're Elmer Fudd.) So...

Here is an interesting blog I found this morning, compliments of the Smart Bitches. It's called Handsome Men Who are Now Dead. The title says it all. It's about handsome men. Who are dead. Kind of depressing, but oddly fascinating.

Okay, now, back to the rest and relaxation. After all, it is Saturday!