The Dynamic Trio - Blog

All sorts of flotsam today! Firstly I hit nearly 68K in Relentless last night! Wheeee! And I cried pretty much the whole time as I wrote. Big, emotional stuff, even the sex scene made me cry. I’m really pleased with this transition.

Secondly, I know there are some problems with Making Chase and folks trying to order it - apparently there was a problem in the system and they corrected it. It *should* be showing up soon and I’m told by tomorrow, end of day it’ll be available. So thanks to everyone who’s e-mailed me to ask about it. If you get impatient, you can always pop over to My Bookstore and more and order it directly from there.

Thirdly, the fantastic Samantha Hunter is guest blogging at Maverick Authors today! There’s a contest too. Go over and say hey.

FIRST - TODAY IS RELEASE DAY FOR MAKING CHASE!!!! Wheeee! Those of you who’ve been waiting for the paperback release can now finish the series with Tate and Matt and their HEA.

You can get Making Chase at Amazon (although it’s saying it’s temporarily not available but I think it’s a glitch), and My Bookstore and More as well as your local Borders and Barnes and Noble.

And secondly - I’m going to be chatting at Jacquelyn Frank’s place this coming Saturday from 2 - eastern/11- 12 pacific. There will be huge prizes given out all day by all her guests as well as from Jackie herself so come by and say hello. I’ll be giving away a Vegas themed bag with a copy of What Happens In Vegas. A list of all the authors attending is here.

44,517 / 90,000 (49.5%)

Relentless - I’m at the halfway point.

I spent most of yesterday, from about 3 am on, dealing with a puking three year old. Man was she miserable and I hate when they’re so sick and you can’t help them other than to wipe faces and rub backs. Poor sweetie pie. She’s better now, thank goodness. On Wednesday my middle kiddo woke up at 4 am with this same thing. He was so sick he missed the kindergarten field trip to the zoo.

I’m still exhausted from next to no sleep. You know I got like tiny bits of mother sleep, not quite deep enough because I was attuned to her every sound. We had the barf bucket in bed with us even. So glamorous.

All I know is I’m hella relieved I’m not sick and it seems to have bypassed my oldest but my husband got his share, only he’s away from home so it’s worse for him.

I missed Battlestar Galactica last night. I’ll have to catch it on the web at Sci Fi. I actually have a good excuse, I was writing.

I’ve been over at Novelspot this week talking about my personal journey from two lines in the window until right now.  It’s funny, writing it all out over the week, bit by bit only makes me feel luckier about where I am and what I do.

If you’re interested it starts with:

Two Lines in the Window
Building My House Brick By Brick
With a Little Bit of Fairy Dust
But Sometimes Your Bag of Fairy Dust Gets Low
Patience Perseverance and Planning
Okay The House Is Built, what’s Next

Tomorrow I’ll finish up with a little primer on navigating the authorial waters but these entries above are my journey from there to here.

I’m totally dancing on air right now (look out below!) - remember the contemporary older woman/younger man story I told you about? It was my first contemporary and I was feeling a bit insecure about it. It’s the first time I’ve written a book without the paranormal element and boy did it feel weird not to have vamps, shifters, weres and spirit guides running around trying to take over the story.

I submitted said story to both my pubs. One didn’t like it at all, the other loved it! So with a few tweaks to the plot, a bit more suspense and some (u-hem) grammar correction, I can now announce that the book, CARAMEL KISSES, has been sold to Ellora’s Cave! YAY!!!!

Contracts are in the mail and I’ll be putting a blurb and excerpt up on my website soon on the Sneak Peek page.

Oh goodness, I almost forgot to tell you what the story is about - it’s the story of a woman named Sydni Cannes. She’s an executive, high rolling, six-figure babe who’s worked her butt off not only to make it in life, but to put her younger sister through school. Well, Syd has had less than stellar luck in the ‘guy’ department and has simply buried herself in work and responsibilities instead. She isn’t a man hater, but simply doesn’t want to deal with Mr. Right, Mr. Right Now or Mr. Warm Pulse. A life without the drama is simply fine with her. Well, that and her trusty B.O.B.

Thankfully her younger sister knows Syd is missing out on enjoying the companionship she deserves. So what does she do? She talks her Syd into letting her hair down for a night. The result? Sydni lands in jail! Low and behold, her knight in shining armor come to bail her out is none other than a co-worker she’s been avoiding like the plague. Yes, Drew has come to save her from the humiliation of the county clink. Gorgeous as all get out, the man is too charismatic by half, too damned good looking, several shades too light and…eight years her junior! All wrong! Hell, if Sydni didn’t know better, she’d think it was all planned from the beginning…

Stay tuned… *tj giggling like a kid in a candy shop with a million dollars to spare!*

Over at my blog today I’m talking about pitches to agents and editors at conferences. There are hints of what and what not to do during your pitch, so check it out. If you’re heading to a conference in the future it’s knowledge you need.

I have a new release this week. Lovers at Last is now out from Ellora’s Cave.

Pearl’s master plan to catch a rich husband—results so far…A for effort, F for success.

Justin Collet wants way more than friendship from Pearl. He craves love, laughter and hot, down-and-dirty passion. A life partner. All he needs to do is convince Pearl.

A broken relationship, a few drinks and a string of pearls. Comforting Pearl takes a turn into carnal territory. Heat blossoms between them, fiery and consuming. Sweet kisses inflame and erotic whispers tempt. It’s all or nothing for Justin as he seduces Pearl into agreeing they’re lovers at last.

To read an excerpt go here. Buy your copy here.

And finally I’m participating in two different scavenger hunts this month. There’s the Rainbow Reviews scavenger hunt. (results announced 30 June) and the Sultry Summer Scavenger Hunt, which closes 30 June 2008. Good luck with your scavenger hunts!

I received awesome news in my inbox today. I’ve sold Cat Burglar, the sixth book in my Middlemarch Mates series to Ellora’s Cave. Yesterday, I finished writing the first draft of book seven. I tell you, I’ve been on a roll with my feline shifters recently.

The final days of Brenda Novak’s auction for Diabetes Research are under way. There are raffle tickets on sale for $20 each. The raffle ticket aimed at writers is particularly interesting. I have my ticket already. The Reader’s raffle is for a Kindle so hurry and get your ticket. There’s only a day left.

Today I’m also blogging over at the Danger Zone about writing adventure stories.

Because I’ve gotten used to windows movie maker through doing video blogging, I thought I’d try to make a book video for a few of my upcoming books. The problem is, like video blogging, I look up and an hour has passed without my knowing it. It’s fun to think about how to present your book through visual media instead of through words. It’s a whole new way to think about your work and as long as you use the stock photo sites and the stock music sites (hey, I know what it’s like to be pirated!), you can make something fun for around the same price as you’d spend on some cover ads at a website (aside from what a huge time suck it is, but that’s just me loving to learn something new - blame Anya Bast, she started me on this road!)

To tell the truth, I’m not overly convinced book videos make a difference in book buying patterns. Shrug. Hell, lots of things I do I’m not sure if they make a difference. And having them done professionally is far more expense than I’m personally willing to go to (although certainly after having done one now, I know the time and energy it takes!).

However, I’m never opposed to learning how to do things for myself. It appeals to the control freak living inside me, making lists and using color coded 3×5 cards and stuff. I don’t think it can *hurt* to try book videos, most certainly. And I like doing the multi media stuff even if I’m not perfect at it. It’s fun even if it’s time porn in a major way.

I’ve got several books coming out in print the remainder of this year - Making Chase, Reading Between the Lines and Undercover (and Taking Care of Business in the UK) so why not give it a whirl? So without further ado - here’s my very first book video for my summer trade paper release, Reading Between the Lines. Go easy on me, it’s my first time…