I’m housesitting on Lake Catherine for my friend Cyndi. I arrived yesterday afternoon, and Cyndi and the hubs took me for a ride on their pontoon boat. The sky was overcast, which kept the heat bearable and the wind kicking up. Lovely for boating. We headed to Fisherman’s Wharf and tied off on the dock before entering the restaurant for a meal. That’s the first time I’ve arrived at a restaurant by boat. How cool is that?!

They left early AM and I’ve had the house and dogs to myself. I can’t believe how much I accomplished without a telephone and with limited access to my email account. I finished first round edits on Stone’s Embrace (tentatively scheduled for release July 14) and shipped the story to my editor.

I worked on the synopsis for a new futuristic, set off-world, for Samhain. Something a friend and I are writing together. We are going to try writing this in tandem, alternating chapters, and following two separate plot threads. We will probably kill each other before it’s over, but it sure is fun right now.

I finally set up my iPod and hit the iTunes store. I have tons of metal CDs (like NIN, Disturbed, GNR, Audioslave, and Aerosmith), Pretenders, The Cure, U2 and Green Day to upload when I get home, but I downloaded some easy listening tunes: Jason Mraz, Plain White T’s, Kings of Leon, Black Crowes, Train, Kelly Clarkson and Jeff Buckley. Not anything I’d want a full CD of, but tunes that are nice to fall asleep to. If you have any suggestions for music I should check out, let me know. I think I have a new obsession.
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Progress on new cowboy novella

I’ve been lazy about posting to my blog. Must be because summer is sneaking up on me. We’ve had so much rain lately it’s been a little hard to tell. I finally got fed up yesterday and took the 4-year-old out to the pool to swim in the rain.

She threw a fit because she didn’t want to get her hair wet. Did I mention she’s blonde too?

Then of course, she had to walk all around the pool with me to check for critters. Every leaf was a toad or a snake. Guess I shouldn’t have rhapsodized about the baby cottonmouth or the worm snake I fished from the water this past week.

But she’s home with mom today, so I entered the pool in peace and quiet. Yeah, it was sprinkling again before I got out, but the water (78 degrees) was warmer than the outside air (73 degrees), so I didn’t care.

Fished out a dead shrew—I should have put it in a bucket to horrify the little monster the next time she stays over.

Starting new untitled cowboy story!

The craziness is past. I shipped the paranormal proposal off to my agent. We’ll see what happens. Cross your fingers!! In the meantime, I can’t sit and wait. My “writer muscles” would atrophy. It’s tough when you take a break. You come back to a blank page and second guess yourself to death. So instead, I dive right into the the next thing. And the cowboy stories are so dang easy to slide into! 😀

Cleaned the pool this morning and pulled two dead tree frogs from the traps and fished a baby snake from the water. I didn’t want to check the type of snake it was, because if it was poisonous I’d have had to kill it. It was way too cute to demolish. Went for a swim afterward, then dressed in a dry suit and shorts so I can hop in whenever I get stuck in the story.

Bummer about Adam Lambert. But fantastic he won’t be married to that godawful “No Boundaries” single. Can’t wait to see what he does next. I wish Kris luck. I know he’ll do well too, but really, Idol was all about Adam this year. I bought an iPod yesterday. Guess whose performances I’ll be downloading?!

Well, I’m off to join friends for some timed writing sprints. Later!

I’m blogging today at Access Romance about my upcoming release LOCKDOWN. Join me, if you can!

You can catch me today, blogging at the After Midnight Fantasies blog. If you’ve never been there before, we have a slate of brilliant authors from Shiloh Walker, Anya Bast, Shayla Black, Patrice Michelle, Lorie O’Clare, Madeleine Oh, Lauren Dane, Ashleigh Raine, Sylvia Day, Mary Wine, Rosemary Laurey, Melani Blazer, Beth Williamson…whew!

Need I say more?

Admittedly, my posting on the other blog is very, very different. But you’ll get a real insight into how my strange mind works.
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Progress on Memphis paranormal—enhanced proposal complete!

Registration for Lora’s annual Reader Appreciation Weekend, running September 25-27, will end on May 31st! So if you’re interested or just curious, click on the icon and take a look at her webpage. This will be my second year in attendance!

RAW is a fun-filled weekend where readers and authors rub shoulders, talk about books, and raise a little hell.

In addition to the fabulous Lora Leigh, Jaci Burton, Maya Banks, Stephanie Tyler, C.L. Wilson, Sylvia Day, Shelley Bradley/Shayla Black, Shiloh Walker, Beth Williamson, Jasmine Haynes/J.B. Skully, Erin McCarthy, Lucy Monroe, Lorie O’Clare and many more will be there!

Today, I’ll be blogging at the Novelists, Inc. blog and telling a funny true story about false pride and comeuppance. Join me if you can!