I’m heading to Dallas today to take the 4-year-old to her daddy, so I won’t get a chance to read your comments until tomorrow. You’ve got loads of time to be creative!!

If you could have any object or place in the world completely to yourself for one day, what would you choose?

I’ll let you know my choice tomorrow! ~DD

…at Romance Junkies. Although you won’t know it unless they edit the post and add my name. The darn thing published before I had a chance to add the final two paragraphs and my signature block.

Join me if you can, and someone please say my name so everyone knows who they’re talking to!

Progress on Dark Realm-4

Progress on tentatively titled Snow Bound

I’ve had my head tucked like a turtle’s while I’ve been working this week. I haven’t read my email, have barely answered my phone. My progress listed above isn’t impressive wordcount-wise, but I’ve been doing some revisions.

Yesterday, I shipped off the copyedited manuscript for DARKNESS BURNING, the third book in the Dark Realm series. That cut into writing time too. Also, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what’s next for me and what sort of proposals I want to get out to publishers. I’m wondering if I need to switch some things up and maybe even jump genres. Not entirely, but just to experiment. Writing isn’t a linear kind of career. You can reinvent yourself again and again.

Is there anything in particular you’d like to see me doing?

And in case you haven’t already seen it, here’s the cover for DARKNESS BURNING.

This book’s been out a for a few months, but I don’t remember ever sharing an excerpt from my story in the anthology. So, I thought I’d correct that oversight today. The story is called “Viper’s Bite” and features a character from the My Immortal Knight series. Viper appeared in All Hallows Heartbreaker as a very bad dude, and then we saw an inkling of what was really going on with him in Navarro. I hope you enjoy! ~DD

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“You know, they have a dress code here,” she murmured, eyeing his black leather jacket and T-shirt, and then letting her glance slide quickly down his legs before rising again. A faint blush tinged her pale cheeks.

Viper’s eyelids dipped. “I’m not planning on going inside. I was waiting…for someone.”

“Lucky girl,” she said softly, then shook her head again. “It’s not like I have reservations or anything, and I’m not dressed for it either. I’m not really sure why I stopped…”

His glance panned the line of people waiting patiently for their numbers to be called by the restaurant hostess who roamed outside, taking names on a clipboard. “Would you like to go somewhere else?” he said, quickly, not wanting to let her go just yet, needing to work the moment in order to build her trust.

Time stretched between them. Her gaze flitted down the row of well-lit shops, still open with people walking leisurely along the covered walkway. A soft evening mist muted the glare of the streetlamps and the sounds of the people passing them by as they stood at the bottom of the steps leading into the trendy restaurant.

“I promise I don’t bite,” he said, fighting the urgency building in his body to keep his words light and casual. “We can just take a walk. Find a cup of coffee, if you like.”

He wanted her to say yes, without any extra “persuasion” from him. Wanted her to choose him of her own free will.

A long indrawn breath lifted her chest, and she gave him a small, tentative smile. “There’s a Starbucks at the end of the strip.”

Warmth seeped into his chest. And although he knew tomorrow he’d pay a heavy price, he needed to spend tonight…with her.
Read the rest of this entry »

…over at the After Midnight Fantasies blog! I’d really love the company! *smooches* ~DD

Progress on Dark Realm-4

Slow, but steady progress on the Avon book, but I’m not worried about my unimpressive word count. I’ve reached that saggy old middle of the book. When I write the long ones, it can take a little time past that exciting opening to figure out what comes next. I have a hazy picture, but I guess this time I may want to actually jot down some plot points so I don’t meander. I have a lot of characters in this fourth book, several from the previous stories, and new interesting ones I’ve just introduced. Still have to figure out who they are and what they want.

Progress on Snow Bound

While I’m ruminating like a cow on a cud (okay, maybe not the best analogy, but I’m dieting so that’s where my head is), I’m building a new story. Something simple and sexy—two cowboys and a heroine in need of rescue—maybe for Ellora’s Cave. We’ll see. I’m tentatively calling it “Snow Bound” but I want a sexier title. Maybe you could offer me some suggestions?

Okay, I’m not asking you to change the world or anything, just give us a hint about your unique personality!

If you were completely deaf but were somehow able to hear for one hour each month, what would you most often want to hear in that hour?

For me, it would be the four-year-old’s recantation of what had happened to her in pre-school that day. Just hearing what she got “time out” for and the way she tries to spin it so it wasn’t her fault makes me smile. That child is a natural storyteller. Your turn!