I struggled for a few months at the end of last year and the beginning of 2023. I wasn’t feeling well, broke a hand. Wasn’t motivated. I missed a couple of releases. One, I’m not sure I’ll ever write. The other, Hard Knox, felt…off. I wasn’t ready to write it because it wasn’t where I needed to start my We Are Dead Horse, MT series. So, I took the hit for Hard Knox and moved on to Mica, which I loved writing. I was back with my bounty hunters in my comfort zone. Only then was I ready to tackle Cold Hard Cash, which became the first book in the new series centered around the “townies.” In Cash’s story, you see plenty of Knox and Carleen who are the stars of Hard Knox. I hope you’ll be ready for them because it’s going to be HAWT! It’s out on pre-order now! AGAIN.
Remember, I have the next bounty hunter book, Jackson, coming out in July! I’m writing that story as we speak, and you know what you get with the hunters—lots of action, humor, and sexiness!
A few days ago, I was also given back the rights to a novella that had appeared in the Men in Uniform anthology, published by Entangled a few years ago. My sister, Elle James, put together a new cover for the book, and now, it’s up for pre-order. If you love Navy SEALs, this story is for you. There’s some military complex criming going on, perpetrated by the heroine’s billionaire ex-fiancé, who’s building some high-tech armor for the battlefield—but you’ll need to read the story to see how it all goes down.
I’m getting back the rights to a story that lived inside an Entangled anthology. It’s called Along Came a Spider. My Navy SEAL hero is “Spider” to his teammates. The story has a suspense plot involving a tech billionaire making exoskeleton armor for soldiers. I plan to release the story later this month, so as soon as I have the pre-order up, I’ll let you know—if you haven’t already read it! Anyways, today’s puzzle is a futuristic soldier in full body armor in keeping with my Spider theme. Enjoy!
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, let me know if you’d like more SEAL/military hero stories from me. More Brotherhood Protectors? My own series? Any suggestions?
Well, yesterday was a complete blast. The all-girls trek to Hot Springs to the nearest movie theater to watch The Little Mermaid was about more than seeing the movie. During the hour’s drive, we listened to Disney music. The kids knew every word of every song. And they sang the songs well! We all had our teary moments watching the movie. I cried at the end of the song where Ariel wished she could be “part of that world.” Halle was lovely and her voice divine. My dd cried at “Kiss the Girl,” I think because she was so nostalgic about the original, and they did a wonderfully fun job with the song. We love the original, but based on reviews we made the mistake of reading beforehand, we weren’t prepared to love the movie quite so much—but we did! The prince was HAWT—and not in a pretty boy way. Ursula was eeeevil. The way she climbed the walls of her cavern was creepy! After the movie, we stopped for a meal, and when we came home, we swam. Perfect, perfect day. And summer hasn’t started yet. (Today’s the last day of school!)
Change of subject. I had to share this video with you. I love anyone who can make me laugh. So, I love Jack Black. His version of “Wicked Game” is pretty good, too! Now, try to unsee this!
School ends tomorrow, but we’re letting the kids play hooky today. We planned on taking them to see The Little Mermaidon Saturday, but the matinee today has it in 3D, sooooo… We’re going today!
It’s an all-girls outing, and I’m not sure who’s more excited. Our age ranges: 9, 14, 18, 38, and 64. Yes, we’ll all likely be singing along.
I thought it would be fun to make today’s word search about Disney movies we love. Here are some of mine. (My absolute favorite is MOANA!)
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me your favorite Disney “princess” movie—plus, tell me which you’d love to see as a live-action movie that isn’t already! (I can’t wait for MOANA!)
Here’s my end-of-month reckoning. It keeps me honest about my accomplishments and tells you what I should be working on (to shame me into doing the work)!
May
Work-related:
I completed my short story for Silver Soldiers and finished editing the entire book. It was published on May 9th!
I, along with the other Silver Soldiersauthors, finished posting “Getting to Know” blogs on the Collections website to get readers ready for the release of the book. Then we posted fun “In One Picture” posts to celebrate and “hook” readers to get their copies of the book that released on May 9th!
I finished writing Cold Hard Cash and published it on May 23rd! Woot!
I completed only 3 editing projects for other authors in May.
Health-related:
I blew the diet—all month long. May was about LaLa’s graduation, and we had small celebrations, visitors from out of town, etc. I am afraid to step on the scale!
The pool finally got just warm enough that I began swimming a week ago. What are few goosebumps when you can do your favorite exercise activity?!
Happiness-related:
Again, the month was about LaLa’s graduation, which occurred on the 20th. After that, it was about the other kid’s award ceremonies, etc.
I am still participating in the #the100dayproject online art challenge. As of today, I’m on Day 96. Here are a few of my May pieces…
June
For work-related, I plan:
To revise and publish a story I published through Harlequin many moons ago…Warrior’s Touch.
To publish a collection of first of series books in one volume.
To begin writing Jackson, the next in my Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT series which releases on July 11th!
To complete 4 editing projects in May!
For health related, I plan:
To resume counting those points for my Weight Watchers diet and hopefully shed at least 5 pounds, remembering, as always: Slow is good!
To continue to reduce salt, processed food, and incorporate foods good for blood pressure (spinach, broccoli, bananas, red wine).
To swim at least once a day!
To begin walking and counting my steps.
I’ll make myself do more housework, too, because my art room is a disaster (although it’s getting better slowly). And cleaning is exercise, ahem.
For happiness-related, I plan:
To spend quality time with the family—movie nights, swim-time, making fun meals together!
To complete #the100dayproject, and then work on “finishing” the art I produced (varnish, fixative, wrapping or framing).
To re-open my Etsy store! I now have enough art to do so!
Contest
Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier. Tell me what you plan to read in June… Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!
The past month, since the release of the latest Boys Behaving Badly collection, has been a whirlwind of activities! Today, I posted the last in the series of “In One Picture” blogs, so if you want to see inside the authors’ minds and want a chance to win prizes, head on over to the Delilah’s Collections website to check them out!
But back to today’s challenge. I have to start thinking about what I want to do next. Plus, I want to know what readers want to read and what authors would love to do next. So…
Below are the covers for the seven BBB anthologies we’ve already published. All are nice sized volumes of multiple sexy short stories, offered for only $0.99 each (for the eBook versions, anyway) and written by some authors you know and some you get to read for the first time. You can see we’ve already had a variety of themes from naughty rogues, blue collar hotties, pirates, heroes coming to the rescue, first responders, cowboys, and silver fox ex-military types. What would you like to see us do next?
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what you’d love to read or write!This will start me thinking, and later I’ll do a poll to try to narrow down the options. For now, throw out some ideas!
It’s Memorial Day, and while the kids are gleeful they don’t have to go to school, we’re planning a feast, and the pool is almost comfortable for more than a 10-minute dip before my skin welts up from the cold, it’s not a “happy” holiday. So, today, give a thought or two to the men and women this day is meant to remember—those who fell in service to this county.
And if you didn’t already know it, I have a book centered around a Memorial Day—but only pick up a copy if you’re ready for a good cry.
