It’s midnight again, and it’s the first time I’ve sat at my desk all day! I swear these days I meet myself coming and going!

To make things simple, I’ll let yesterday’s contest continue to run, but will select TWO winners. So be sure to post a comment on both yesterday’s and today’s blog for two chances to win.

Keeping things simple. That seems to be a theme today. My sister is visiting from the north—North Arkansas, that is. We’re both complaining about burnout, because we’ve both been spinning on that hamster wheel for a while. We’d love a break. Love to have time to think and make sure we are doing the right things for our work, our families, and our future lives.

So, today’s question is this…

Do you have any suggestions for how we slow our lives down? No, we don’t want to stop writing. That’s not it at all, but there’s so much involved with the writing life that you may not be aware of that just eats our lunch. Any suggestions, large or small would be appreciated!

Good luck in the drawings!

Just stopping in to wave a quick hello!

I’ve been hard at work. Nothing new there. Tons of projects in the works and new releases ready for you to read. With so much happening on the home front—It’s summer! Kids are underfoot!—my To Do list is paramount! If it’s not on the list, it doesn’t happen.

Let me tell you about a couple of things—nothing to bore you too much, promise—and then we’ll move on to a fun question!

First, are you signed up to receive my newsletter? If not, why not? I will be issuing my next one very shortly, and I’m giving away a nice little bracelet with semi-precious stones. If you want a chance to win it, you have to be among my subscribers. So before you forget to do so, scroll down this page and look at the left column. See where it says “Newsletter?” Put your email address in that block and you’re good to go! I’ll be doing a contest a month with fun things—jewelry I make, “fuggly ring” contests, or maybe something I’ve drawn/painted and had framed—you have to be a subscriber to be in the know!

Next, I have new releases out and more on the way. This week, I published my latest Adventure Girl, Inc. novella, It Takes a SEAL. Next week, I’ll have a short story that will go up for $.99 that’s a nice little sci-fi romance set on Mars—Red Dawn. I know. What does one have to do with the other? NOT A THING except that’s the way my mind likes to work, hopping from one genre to the next because I’d get bored. I hope you’re the same way too. Keep watching my Facebook or Twitter chatter to know when it’s ready for you to download.

In July, my next Samhain story releases. It’s Once in a Blue Moon. The first of my Beaux Reve Coven stories — yes! A paranormal with witches and demons and lots of smexiness goin’ on. I had a blast writing it, so I kind of think you’ll have a blast reading it. More about that later. I have to update my Coming Soon page this weekend. As soon as I do, you’ll be able to read a nice long excerpt to see if it’s something you’re going to love!

And then in September, my next BDSM erotica novel, His Every Fantasy releases. A full-length story filled with intrigue and hotness and a hero named Sergei. Yum!

I’m writing this at midnight, so I’m typing really fast and rambling. And I thought this would be short. 😯

Post a comment and you could win a signed copy of Cowboy Heat, Lost Souls or Crescent Moon. Winner’s choice!

The question?

What are your plans for the summer? Work as usual? A family vacation? Time at the lake or the beach?

I attended a conservative Christian church for most of my youth. When I think back to my formative years and my religion it’s that church that comes to mind. It wasn’t an overly positive experience but there was this one thing. It may seem insignificant to most. But it really stuck with me. Through all these years and all the twists and turns my faith and religion have taken. As silly as it sounds, it was a song. A simple children’s song I learned there. Some of you probably know it. This little light of mine.

For those of you who have never heard it, the song is about the light inside you and how you can’t let anyone or anything blow it out. It’s such a simple message but so true that I’ve often found it profound. Everybody has a light inside them and you can’t let anyone blow it out. Life is hard. It’s not fair. Bad things, stressful things happen but you can’t let that steal your light.

In my upcoming release, Covert Desires, my heroine has mastered the art of protecting her light. We first meet Rowe in Subservience. She’s Harlow’s best friend. And she’s also a prophet. Life isn’t as easy for a prophet as one might think, however. The possibilities are endless. And navigating the correct path takes a strong faith. Faith in that little voice inside her. Faith in her light. I hope you’ll consider picking up Covert Desires when it’s out. It’s the six and final book in the Universal Defiance series, which follows a man as he does everything he can to fix a universe on the brink of self-destruction.

If you’d like to get caught up in the mean time, here’s the link to the rest of the series:

https://www.ellorascave.com/series/universal-defiance.html

And be sure to follow me on

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chandra.ryan

Or on Twitter: @ChandraRyan

To keep up to date and find out Covert Desire’s release date.

One of the best parts of writing is playing the ‘what if’ game. For my Annwyn series this meant weaving fairy history with our own. What if all the big plagues were caused by problems in Annwyn?

What if changelings were the offspring of a human and fairy but born in our world instead of Annwyn? What if people with psychic abilities were actually changelings?

While once those kinds of talents would’ve been marveled at they would’ve also become feared or considered the work of the devil with the rise of Christianity. At the same time people would’ve stopped believing in the old gods, or fairies.

Of course fairies still came to our world, they still got together with humans and changelings would’ve still been born; only now most of them have no idea what they are.

This is the predicament the hero of The Changeling Soldier finds himself in. Isaac knows he doesn’t fit in. He sees things (fairies) that no one else does and he gets visions of the future. And they are visions he can’t change so they aren’t particularly useful. Worse he has been dreaming of a battle fought with swords in a snow covered filed all of his life. And the dream is becoming more frequent.

It doesn’t scare him though, not the way it should as he’s begun to see it as his destiny. He can’t change it anyway so why fight it? However leaving the only world he’s ever known to live, and fight, in Annwyn is not a small decision, or one to be made alone.

Here’s a little bit of Isaac’s dream.

Isaac was never ready for the biting cold or the exhaustion of this dream, even though he must have experienced it hundreds of time. Snow was falling, dusting his clothes, and the battleground was silent. Battles weren’t silent. They were noisy and confusing as hell.

He drew in a breath, the cold cutting his lungs, and took a moment to orientate himself. His palm rested on the snow where he was kneeling. His other hand was wrapped around the hilt of a sword; the blade was coated in blue, sticky gore. That he was holding a sword didn’t bother him now, but it still felt wrong in his hand. He was used to guns. There were no guns here.

The blue was more concerning. Blood? It smeared skin and leaked from the wounds of the other fighters. It had to be blood even though people didn’t bleed blue. It wasn’t human blood, though. It was fairy blood.

The sword grew heavy in his hand, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold on to it for much longer. Exhaustion and cold seeped through his body. As he exhaled, his breath clouded. He glanced around looking for a change in the dream, but everything stayed as it always was. He knew this place and had fought this battle all his life, yet things were clearer, sharper now. When he’d been a child, the death had been hidden from him.

He squinted against the glare of the sun on the snow. The battle was over. Around him were the bodies of the fallen. Their pretty faces would never smile again. They looked so young, too young for this. Everywhere he looked, bright blue stained the snow.

Usually he’d wake up now. He waited for the jolt, but it didn’t come.

The Changeling Soldier is book 2.5 in the Annwyn series. Book 1, The Outcast Prince explores another aspect of being a changeling as the hero, Caspian, has the gift of psychometry and has always known what he is…however that hasn’t made his life any easier. Book 2, Lord of the Hunt, takes you to Annwyn and book 3, To Love a King, will be out in October

Her time in the mortal world is running out…

After fleeing Annwyn three centuries ago, Ella built a life in the mortal world making gowns for European royalty and playing in mortal intrigues. Now those Courts are long gone, and she dresses Hollywood starlets. Mortals come and go, but Ella always ends up alone. She longs for the home she left behind.

He’s been dreaming of the coming battle all his life…

Isaac Norton is a returned soldier. Now home, he’s restless and his recurring dream is becoming more frequent: he’s fighting on a snow-covered field stained with blue blood. When he sees Ella, he knows she isn’t human. And she knows what he is, a changeling.

Ella can give Isaac the answers he needs, but there will be a price to pay: his soul.

Buy links:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-changeling-soldier/id867308013?mt=11
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/the-changeling-soldier-1
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thechangelingsoldier-1490614-143.html
https://www.amazon.com/Changeling-Soldier-Annwyn-Shona-Husk/dp/0992423929/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1119556060?ean=9780992423919

Just so you know, the latest, greatest super-boxed set is out! Occupational Hazard is chock full of sexy goodness–and the ULTIMATE workplace romance box set. Okay, so that was clearly bragging, but I think you get the idea. It’s hot. There are ten juicy stories by ten of the hottest writers around (okay, so does that sound like bragging again?). Follow the link and buy your copy. You won’t want to miss a chance to find out whether I’m all hot air! (I’m not.)

In my non-writing life, I’m a lunch lady. No, I’m THE lunch lady at a parochial school. One of the benefits to this occupation is that I have a good part of the summer off (after a state convention and planning for the new school year that starts in August…August?!). But I have the rest of the time for myself, and that means writing.

The school year ended with creating my To Do list. Okay, realistically, I need about three summers to get everything done. It doesn’t help that I took a vacation right after school let out so didn’t jump immediately into a new schedule filled more with writing than cooking. Late May in Yellowstone is fantastic!

However it’s back to real life and now is the time to set the plan in place so each To DO becomes a Tah Dah! And a reason to celebrate. Even if that celebration is simply a sigh of relief as I’m scratching an item off the list. Ah, the simple things…

I’ve already blocked out a certain amount of time each week for day job work—menu planning with requirement changes takes longer, and more thought. I’m determined to start the next school year more organized and ready to go than last year. So, weekly menu planning. A bit of time each day is also set aside for decluttering. Too much stuff seems to be the bane of many folks I know—and I live with two other ‘collectors’ of numerous interests. That means a lot of clutter—which translates to distractions which, of course, means I don’t get as much writing done.

Not that my writing projects aren’t a distraction in themselves. I’m nearly through converting my originally epubbed backlist to an Indie pubbed list. At least one of those will be released this month. I’m also working on a tale that’s part of a series with a group of talented authors. And I’m going through manuscripts again with my red pen so they’ll be ready to go in whatever publishing direction I decide. So there’s a lot on my stove—as well as plenty of new ideas warming in the oven. Good thing I’m accustomed to stirring more than one pot at a time!

The first of the summer’s creations—the release later this month of Blue Keltic Moon, the first of The Children of the Keltic Triad.

Duty before love. As much as Breanna’s heart protested, Gowthaman would have to wait until she returned with the rescued Alfar-Sindhu prince.

Love before self. Following Breanna into the World Between Worlds, Gowthaman faces the pains of his past, risks his intellect, his sanity, and his life. For her.

Destiny before all. In the time of the blue Keltic moon.

Sign up for my newsletter for news of upcoming releases and events—including the grand opening of my new website. When you sign up in June, you’ll be entered in a drawing for a summer fun stretchy bracelet or an ebook download! newsfromthestarr@gmail.com

Now, off to make this summer a Grand Slam—and I don’t even like baseball!

Summer is upon us. The long, hot days are here and it’s time to let go of work and responsibilities and have some fun. For most folks that means one thing—VACATION!

The high cost of living coupled with the high cost of travel is keeping more and more people closer to home. The idea of spending thousands of dollars for a one or two week stay at an exotic location isn’t quite as appealing to families as it once was. So what are people doing on their holidays?

They’re taking a staycation and exploring the world closer to home. Maybe they’re going camping, discovering nearby museums and galleries, or taking in local music festivals. For sure they’re barbecuing, swimming at the beach or local pool and, of course, reading good books.

It’s amazing how we can live somewhere and never really explore it to the fullest. It’s fun to load the family into the car and travel around whatever state or province you live in. You can take day trips, traveling as far as you can in different directions but making sure you can get home by nightfall. Some people may even opt to spend a couple of nights on the road in a motel.

My sister and I are planning a three-day road trip this summer. It’s something we’ve never done with just the two of us. We plan to hit the road, spend a couple of nights in B & Bs, see new places, eat good food and have fun.

The idea is to try new things. You never know what you might discover.

Now, Allison Lewis isn’t on vacation, but she is trying out a new local hotspot in my latest Ellora’s Cave release Mad Loving. What she discovers is a fun bar with an Alice in Wonderland theme and an even hotter owner—Nevar Hatter. What starts out as a night of fun could turn into much more if only she has the courage to let down her guard and believe.

Allison Lewis finds herself in another world when she enters Hatter’s, a trendy New York nightclub. She’s a Midwestern girl living in the big city and has recently been through a bad breakup. But tonight she wants to put all that behind her. And she’s found just the man to tempt her to break out of her conservative mold—the sexy Nevar Hatter.

Running Hatter’s takes up most of Nevar’s time. He never comes on to patrons, but he’s more than willing to make an exception for Allison. Fiery passion leads to a one-night stand. Nevar wants more but Allison is running scared. He pulls out all the stops, including a private tea party of their own to entice Allison to trust him with not only her body, but also her heart.

Buy from Amazon | Buy from Ellora’s Cave

What are your plans for this summer?

N.J. has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit me at:

Website: https://www.njwalters.com
Blog: https://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Newsletter Group: https://groups.yahoo.com/group/awakeningdesires/
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/njwaltersauthor
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters