It’s here! Today is release day for Flawed, the sensual tale of a princess in dire need of a bit of help and the two shadow elves who fall head over heels for her.

Elves and magic and betrayal and hot, burn-up-the-sheets love – this novella has them all. This is a fantasy for adults, a love story for everyone who ever felt the weight of the world rested in the throw of a d20.

I’m giving away a copy of Flawed – this one is open to anyone who comments here or on my release day posts at Beyond The Veil and the Samhain Weblog between now and midnight, July 2nd.

I promised a bit more heat in today’s excerpt – it’s here after the cut. I hope you enjoy the story of Emilia, Rorek, and Jo’el.

continue reading "Flawed Release Day!"

Farewell, Michael Jackson. Thanks for the music.

It’s feeling like a bourbon night. I’m not sure why, but does it really need a reason?

Only 250 words today. To go with the 250 yesterday. Tomorrow I will not be checking the email box every 15 minutes, so adjust your seatbelts and plan accordingly.

This workshop will take place at the Romance Diva Forum. All are welcome. To get access to the forum you will need to register.

I may be a dork, but I still get excited about every little step of a new book. Writing the first lines. Writing the last lines. Sending it off. Getting email back. Getting a contract!

Edits, believe it or not, excite me. It means my baby is a step closer to being the best it can be – and I’m honest enough to admit I need the help of the editors to get there.

And then there’s cover art day. Seeing how someone has visualized something I’ve only put in words thrills me as much as anything else about a book.

Having someone as talented as Anne Cain do the magic? It humbles me.

So here it is, plucked right from my keyboard and brought to life by her magic hands – the cover for my June 30th release from Samhain, Flawed:

I hope you love it as much as I do!

~
More rain today, which brings us to something absurd like 5 inches in the past 3 days. It’s a good day to hunker down at the keyboard and get some work done. Which is just what I’m going to do – as soon as I can stop dancing in my seat over that beautiful cover above.

The oldest kid and I had to work a tournament by ourselves yesterday. First time we’ve done that – usually the hubby is the main man at these things, but yesterday we had 2 events 200 miles apart. The event went very smooth, with minimal problems and we wrapped up on time and with happy players. The only problem? During the splitting of the Needed Supplies, the bottle of sunscreen ended up in his box, not mine.

We pack sunscreen in the Needed Supplies box because, when we’re heading out in the dark at 5am, we don’t remember that we’re going to need sunscreen in a few hours. We’re lucky to remember to put on shoes.

So yesterday I got schooled in the “don’t let hubby pack the supplies box” department of learning.

So I was a bit hurting today, and had to spend the day cleaning house to make up for a week of heavy work and short days. I’ve already had one oversized glass of wine tonight, and I’m pretty sure the next one is going to send me off to bed with a book.

While we worked Princess got to spend 13 hours with her grandfather, then her aunt and cousin, and a large part of it was at the beach. She had even more fun than we did. Then woke up this morning with her lungs congested (”Mom, I can’t breath!”) and a cough. I’m hoping this isn’t a sign that we are in for a rough season with Red Tide, because if we do this is one beach-lovin’ child will not get to spend much time at the beach during the outbreak. She has seemed especially sensitive to it in the past.

I’m off to aloe up and try to ward off the evil peel, then crack open the eReader. And if you’re counting*, there’s only 14 more days of school until summer break is officially in progress.

(*Summer Camp registration starts at noon tomorrow. Don’t be late.)

One foot in front of the other. That’s what I’ve been doing this week, just keep putting those feet down and moving along, believing that eventually I’ll end up where I need to be. If nothing else, at least I’m not sitting still.

The Christmas novella was bettered from being read by Most Favorite Reader, and is off to Exceptional Editor. I think this was the first one that made me tear up a bit when I did the final read through, which either means that I packed some emotional punch into it or I’m a bit in love with my own specialness. Jury is still out; updates as they come.

The day before I sent it off I still didn’t know what to start writing next. I read through my “ideas” folder, and added a few more to it. Found two things that I was tempted to flesh out and dive into, but in the end I put the old ideas away and started Chapter 1 of the followup to Flawed (which comes out June 30th!). Now I’m racing the clock to get a first draft done before the kids are out of school for the summer, and my days devolve into the sucking morass that is life as “mom”.

Also. Things I don’t want to see by my front door anymore ever – snakes. Black snakes, that the fireman who lives 2 doors down thinks may be Water Moccasins (aka Cottonmouth). None of them – I’ve seen 3 different snakes so far within a few feet of the door – have opened their mouths so far for me to check the inner color, but really, if you ask me they can just slither a few hundred feet across the yard and back into the marsh where they should be living. I’m not at all happy with them where they have been hangin’. Their peeps and my peeps weren’t meant to mingle.

I’ll leave you with this uplifting little ditty that’s helping me keep on keeping on.
~Hugs and snakeless days to you

There was something yummy in my inbox today.  My first peek at the cover art for Flawed.  And it was a truly delicious looking bit of art.  Anne Cain is an amazing artist, and I am thrilled she did this cover.  Hopefully I’ll get to share it in the next few days – be sure you have a bib, or at least a napkin, ready when you see it.  Yes, it is droolworthy.

I’m not sure what happened to April, but I woke up yesterday shocked to realize it was gone.  Then I did what I’ve been doing every week day for the past few works – sat down and got to work.  And a few hours later, I wrote The End on the Christmas novella I’ve been working on for the past 10 weeks.  I‘m letting it sit a few days, then I’ll polish a few rough edges and send it off to my Favorite Reader for her words of wisdom.  Then it’s off to Amazing Editor to see what she thinks.  I did a lot more editing as I wrote on this one than I usually do – I’m loving Liquid Story Binder – so I’m feeling pretty good about it, for a first draft.  We’ll see if I still feel that way after a fresh read through though

The big breakthrough for me was staying consistently focused and sitting in that chair every day.  I think the changes I’ve made to my diet, and the schedule I set with the gym and the treadmill, are starting to pay off in more ways than just the scale.  Fingers crossed I can stay so focused when summer gets here.

That leaves me facing a blank WIP page Monday morning.  I’ve got a few things simmering in my head, but have no idea yet which one I’ll be starting in 36 hours.  I’m thinking it might be more elves though.  With five weeks of school before the kids are home for the summer, I could possibly get the first draft of the next novella in the Flawed world finished before the summer break hits.  Maybe.

It’s kind of exciting, not knowing what I’ve got in me next. 

Lotsa work today, and it’s not the fun sitting down and writing kind. Instead, I’ve spent 3 hours procrastinating.

So far I’ve :
- found a Twitter icon thingie for my main page and linked it to my Twitter page (such an urgent, important detail – my day could not start until this was done. No, really. I even let the kids sleep in an extra 5 minutes while I played with naking it different sizes.)
- taken out the garbage. Because it’s garbage day, and someone’s gotta do it.
- Started some laundry. See above.
- added a mix cd a friend burned me to iTunes and updated the iPhone and iPod. Without actually listening to the mix cd to see what is on it. I’m all about the living dangerously like that. (I see Tool on there, so I know it’ll all work out ok.)
- Scanned in pics of my daughter. These may or may not make it to Flickr later today.
- Worked out schedule with hubby for work this weekend. He only needs me a half day on Saturday – yay!

Also drove the kiddos to school, which took up half that 3 hours, so my Mom Time vs Procrastination Time is about evenly balanced.

And now, these logos aren’t going to get done by themselves. And neither are these edits.

What’s on your schedule today?

Hope you find balance in your day!

Join Angela James and Ron Hogan at RT this Wednesday from 11:45-12:45 to “Polish Your Pitch”. Angela
got left off the official RT schedule so please help spread the word!

“Samhain Executive Editor Angela James and publishing industry
commentator Ron Hogan of Beatrice.com lead an interactive workshop on
creating a great story pitch. Come prepared to tell us what your
novel’s about; we’ll take your description apart then help you rebuild
it better, stronger, faster. Don’t be afraid…we’ll be gentle.”

Ron Hogan is well known as a savvy,fair book reviewer and knowledgeable commentator on all
aspects of the publishing industry, both digital and print.

http://beatrice.com/wordpress/about-ron-hogan/

Angela James is the Executive Editor of Samhain Publishing. Her mission is to drag readers
(and authors) to the digital dark side, one reader at a time.