Summer's Here! (Save Me)

Well, the weasels are all done with school, so now I'm anticipating the usual whining of "I'm bored" will start any time now. The weather up here has been just the pits, and I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever get a real summer, but my fingers are crossed.

Dear friends of ours are getting hitched tomorrow, and hubby's the best man, so I'm looking forward to seeing him in his tux (yum!). After the long weekend we'll be footloose and fancy free, with nothing but swimming lessons, bike camp and a couple road trips on the schedule.

Just got word this morning that my first release as Callie Croix (Deacon's Touch) will be at the end of August, and another novella will be out at the end of November (No Holds Barred). I'm actually just finishing up another Callie novella right now, and since she's been hogging all my writing time, I'm beginning to wonder if Kaylea will ever get another release! I'll try to see if I can fix that over the summer.

What's everyone else got planned for the summer? I know my pal Katie Reus will be busy, since she's having a baby in the next week or two (I'm so excited!). I can't remember if I mentioned it here before, but not only does Katie have a shifter trilogy coming out next year with NAL, she just sold two novellas to Harlequin's Nocturne Bites as well. The woman's on fire!

A Rose By Any Other Name

Writing has been...challenging lately, to say the least. I've had my confidence shaken a few times in the past couple weeks, but I'm determined to keep plugging away anyhow. I've been thinking a lot about how my writing career started, back when the goal was simply to GET published. As it turns out, getting a contract is still as tough as it ever was. Sometimes it feels even tougher.

If you've been reading my blog at all, by now you know that I'm a gardener. This picture to the left has a place of honor in my little slice of paradise. Out of Her League was the first book I ever published, and it was under the Crimson Rose imprint of The Wild Rose Press. In honor of receiving the contract, I went out and shopped around for a red rose tree, something special to commemorate my first sale. This rose is called Black Cherry, and its blooms were described as "deep crimson red". And darned if the first blooms didn't appear the week that Out of Her League released, in August of 2008. *cue Twilight music*

Right now I'm plugging away on another short novella requested by one of my Carina Press editors for my other pen name. And when I take a break to recharge my muse throughout the summer, you can be sure I'm going to stop and smell the roses

Cynthia Eden: Never Cry Wolf Giveaway

The awesome Cynthia Eden is over at Writers Gone Wild today, and she's giving away a copy of her new paranormal romance, Never Cry Wolf, to a commenter. Click HERE to drop by and enter the contest.

Fingers Crossed...

Yesterday was one of those rare days when everything went right. I sent off edits to my Carina Press editor in the morning, and got an e-mail just over an hour later saying that not only had she read and approved all my changes, but she was going to send it straight to copy editing. In the publishing world, that's light speed fast. I'm kind of proud that we didn't need to do a second round of edits.

Later on I came home after running errands to find two more e-mails from my editors, both asking for new stories from me. That tickled me immensely. I even received the preliminary cover for Deadly Descent yesterday. It's very hot, and I'll show it to you as soon as it's approved.

Last but certainly not least, I found a message on my answering machine from the coordinator of the Kiss of Death RWA chapter's Daphne du Maurier Award contest. This is pretty cool, because she was actually my cabin mate last year at the Wild Rose Press's retreat in Texas.

Anyway, she'd personally called me to say that Cover of Darkness was a finalist! The winner will be announced at RWA Nationals in NYC later this month, just like the National Readers Choice Award winner will be. Had I known I would final in these prestigious contests, I would for sure have attended Nationals! I'm so bummed. To think I could have sat with Roxanne St. Claire and Brenda Novak--twice--and schmoozed with NY Times bestselling authors.

I'm thrilled by this, and sales have been going very well for my little series this past month (truly, ever since Osama bin Laden was killed), especially Cover of Darkness. I assume it's because my hero is a SEAL, but maybe word of mouth has spread from readers who judged my entries for the Daphne? Not really sure, but I'm loving it!