Progress

The worst thing about going back to the gym after a long absence is how frickin' sore you get the next day. I went back last Friday, and egads, it was Monday before I could move without any pain. But now, here we are, ache-free (for the most part. I have bad knees, so they always hurt.) And I'm already down two pounds. Woo hoo!

I've belonged to my gym since 1998. A lot of the staff has changed over since then (not too long ago, I saw a former kickboxing instructor in the ER, where she's now a nurse,) and a lot of the clientele has as well. But it's always funny when I see someone I remember from way back when I first joined. I don't know them by name, or really to do much more then smile and say hello to, but I remember their faces.

It's a women only gym, which I love. Way back in the Stone Age, I belonged to a Bally's (it was Jack LaLanne when I first joined and then morphed) and I hated going there. It was always crowded and not one session would go by where some musclehead didn't try to hit on me. Ugh.) I far prefer not having any guys around while I'm sweating my ass off on the elliptical or stumbling my way through a mile run on the treadmill, thankyouverymuch. In my gym, no one bothers you and that's how I like it. I like putting on my iPod and tuning out the rest of the world for two hours. It's me time. Really-good-for-me me time.

I'm also making progress on Dance with the Devil, which is good because I'm sick of looking at it and I want to get it out the door. Spring Break is coming up soon and I want it finished before the kidlets are home for that week, because I know nothing will get done. :D

Day to Day

So I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogging (and catching up on the ones I read as well. I'm always looking for new ones to read as well, so throw out any suggestions!) But coming up with topics isn't always that easy for me. I've tried creating lists of topics I think might be interesting, but I'm more of a pantser than a plotter, so I've looked over my list and thought, "meh" to most of the stuff on it.

And since I'm trying to swing this blog away from being strictly writing focused (which can be boring and I'm no expert, so I'm not the least bit qualified to give out much advice), to a little more personal, hopefully that will open up a whole new world of topics. Keep your fingers crossed.

Now that the holidays are behind us, and the kids are back in school, it's time to get back into a routine. Vacations are great, since I get to sleep in and we aren't tied to any schedule in particular, but at the same time, having the kidlets home (the Girl is twelve and the Boy is now seven) means a lot less free time for me.

But now they're back in school and since the Boy is in first grade, (here, kindergarten is half-day sessions. This is the first year he's gone all day) I now have almost the entire day free. You'd think that I'd have thrown myself into writing like a fiend, wouldn't you?

Shame on me. I haven't. Well, not yet. I'm so undisciplined. I've always worked well under pressure (which is why I was able to write Windemere in a matter of weeks) but that can be exhausting. In some ways it's easier, because I'm not gluing myself into my chair for 8 hours a day/5 days a week, but at the same time, it's also easier to let things slide. One of my goals for 2013 is to become a little more disciplined. I have a project I'm revising to get ready to send to my Musa editor, and once that's done, I'm finally going to get back to the Western I've been dying to write. It started out as my NaNo book, but when I was looking it over in the beginning of December, a new direction for that story began to take shape. And then of course, the Newtown shootings happened, and as I said in my previous two posts, it really hit me hard. Add the holidays, and a little more personal stress, and BANG! Story got shelved.

But now, once I get Dance with the Devil out the door - which should only be a few days from now - I think I'm ready to get back to my Old West bounty hunter. And that will be the test for me and my one New Year's resolution (which I seldom make and seldom keep.) Oh, I think I just hit upon a topic for tomorrow. Goals for 2013.

Hmmm... this may be a little easier than I expected. Maybe I should be scared. :D

Well Hello There...

Good Lord, is it really almost October? Yikes. Bad blogger is bad and then some. I'm so far behind on reading blogs, never mind posting in my own.

So to catch up...

You might have noticed my Aspen Mountain Press books are no longer here, or on my website. Or anywhere else, for that matter. I no longer write for them. There are some serious issues with that publisher with non-payment of royalties (mine included), books being sold after the contracts on them expire, the owner dodging rights-reversion requests and basically vanishing from view. It's been a mess, really, and I feel for AMP authors who are still being held hostage over there. What the owner is doing is terrible and childish and frustrating and I hope those authors can get themselves freed as soon as possible. Check out the thread over at Absolute Write, especially the last few pages.

But I'm one of the fortunate ones. Musa Publishing bought out (and promptly released) the contracts of Aurora Regency and Aurora Regency Historicals imprints (Well, they bought the imprints themselves, as well.)

Have no fear, though. The Pursuit and Playing with Fire are back under contract with Musa and will be released in the near future under their Clio imprint.

Remember A Perfect Lady? Well, I'm thrilled to announce that it will be released in October from Musa, which is kicking off their launch next week. I'm so excited about working with this publisher, it isn't funny, and I should have shiny new cover art to show sometime this week.

I've also finished the first draft of Midnight Angel, and the (hopefully) final draft of To Dance with the Devil. That one will be going out later this week, or so I hope.

So that's it for now. I will be posting with a little more frequency as the clock ticks down to Musa's launch. I may even give away some books. I'll never tell. Well, okay, I will tell, but not yet. :D

Done!

First edits for Devil in Disguise, that is. Yay! It took me a while, as they arrived just as my mom was beginning radiation therapy, and then she ended up being hospitalized twice in the last two weeks. Fortunately, my Wild Rose Press editor, Christine, is an infinitely patient person and very understanding.

So that's done with, and now I'm back to work revising Dance with the Devil. This one is almost finished, so this should be the last go round before it goes out the door. Then, I think I'm going to plot out the next Montgomery book. This will be Daniel's story (he's mentioned, but not seen in both After the Storm and Devil in Disguise.) After that, I plan to re-write Elyse's story (she originally appeared as Kendra in Shelter From the Storm - which has since gone out of print) and that will most likely be the last book in the Montgomery series. It's been a great series to write, but all good things must end.

So that's my weekly update in a nutshell. I'm busy. Very. Busy. And that's a good thing. Work has been especially therapeutic during this time and I'm thankful for the distraction right now.

Waiting

I have two subs out, which means the waiting game has begun. It's not a fun game to play, but it's a biggie in this field. Waiting. Patience. Resisting the urge to check the email every fifteen seconds or so.

In the case of Submission #1 - the wait will last another few weeks. In the case of sub #2, it shouldn't be quite as long. Either way, if I still bit my nails (a habit long since broken), I'd have chewed them into nubs by now. I'm not a patient person by nature, and this only makes it worse.

While I'm waiting, I'm working on the outline for the book I mentioned a couple of posts back - the Western. I've got a basic skeleton of an outline from beginning to end. It isn't anything terribly detailed, just notes like: Hero and heroine meet. Or, heroine has a secret that will be revealed in later chapter (followed later by, heroine reveals secret) and I'm not really sure what that secret is yet, but it will impact the story, for better or for worse.

I tend to think of it as a basic pencil sketch - and as I revise it, I'll add the details in as I learn them. Right now, I don't know much about the hero and heroine, so as I get to know them, those details will come to light. It's been a while since I've written something where I didn't know the h/h already (After the Storm, Devil in Disguise, Dance with the Devil, and Tiger Eyes are follow ups to other novels, so even though they focus on what had been secondary characters, I still knew something about them when I began each book.) And it's a change I've really needed, as I've grown a bit weary of dealing with the same families (Montgomery, Montgomery, Radcliffe, Sebastiano - in that order) over and over.

So I'll be putting my waiting time to good use. I hope.

And now, it's time to see if I have any mail. You never know...