This was a sad, sad week. I didn’t accomplish one darn thing. And it’s not going to get better until the middle of this week. I came home Friday, played catchup with email and bills, and now, I’m getting ready to head back to babysit.

One thing I did get done yesterday was book my flight for my cruise trip in December. If I didn’t mention it before, I’m heading to the Caribbean with Sasha White in December. I spent last night going through my closet to see what I might pack. I don’t know how warm it will be. I remember grilling steaks in my shorts in December when I lived in South Florida, so I’m wondering if I should pack shorts, capris, and t-shirts or slacks and sweaters. Does anybody out there know?

I’ve already applied for my passport. Couldn’t find my old one, although I know it has expired. I should have it in about three weeks. I’m calling my doctor on Monday. I need a checkup but I want to see about vaccinations too—whether I need any, that is.

I’m very excited about the trip. This will be the first non-conference vacation I’ve taken in years. Not that the trip won’t be all about writing. We’re bringing our laptops and journals and planning to interview crew members. I do have a self-imposed deadline for a story I want to complete while I’m on the ship. Sasha’s not a morning person, so I’ll steal away and write until she moves out of bed.

Hey! Stick around for the derby pictures, but today’s my report card. Let me get business out of the way first. You know why I do this, right? If I don’t hold myself accountable in a public way for my progress, I might just decide to take a vacation. 🙄

I realize I’ve been absent a lot lately. I’m not deliberately dodging connections, but I’ve had a very hectic couple of months. This last week was another crazy, crazy week. Not a lot of new pages, but progress nonetheless.

I mentioned to you earlier this week that I spent several days at my daughter’s, babysitting and walking dogs. I managed to work in the mornings after getting the 5-year-old on the school bus and after getting her and the 8-month-old into bed at night. All the hours in between were a bust. As well, I stayed up until the red-headed hellion came home from work after 12:30 AM every night and we talked until 3-ish before heading to bed. I’ll be going back there tonight for the week. I’m hoping I’ll be better prepared this time and will actually sleep when I get the chance so I can be creative. She’s on dial-up and it’s a chore to get online and twitter or post, so I won’t be doing much of that.

Work-wise this past week, I completed a short story entitled The Weekend and submitted it for consideration. I worked on blurbs and cover requests for the two cowboy stories for Samhain. And I completed galley edits for the upcoming print anthology Captive Souls.

Yesterday was especially jam-packed. I attended the monthly Diamond State Romance Authors meeting, and honchoed it because our president was a no-show. Afterwards, I went to lunch and watched the Razorback game with friends while brainstorming story ideas. And then last night, I went to a roller derby match in Little Rock with Cyndi D’Alba and Shayla Kersten. I had a blast. See for yourself!

My flash didn’t work, and without light, the camera couldn’t catch the action very well, but I like this one anyway.

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I saw this on one of my loops where an author was talking about overcoming the doubt critics can cause, whatever your job or calling. I love it!

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt (Paris Sorbonne,1910)

Now, if I could just convince my inner critic to embrace that sentiment.

Most days, I’m scarily focused. The past week, again because I’ve had too much time on my hands to think, I’ve dithered. I’m not a ditherer. I’m a doer. I do…things. (Can you tell how much Grey’s Anatomy I’ve watched lately? I sound like Meridith!)

So just what did I get done this past week?

I played with opening scenes to two new stories. Just slapping down dialogue, trying to figure out who the characters are. Nothing’s solid yet. Very vaporous in fact. I have to keep working them to “gel” stage. But I’m thinking one will be about two men teaching the woman playing with both their passions a lesson. Yeah, I love it when guys turn the table on a woman, take charge, and rewrite “The Rules”.

I revised and shipped MIK-7 and Raw Silk to my new editor at Ellora’s Cave.

I completed a proposal for a new novel and sent it off to my agent. Hopefully, he will find it as much fun as I did and get behind it. Send up a message to whatever deity you worship that he finds it has legs. I love it.

That was all I accomplished writing-wise this week. I have to get motivated to plow deeply into something this next week.

Lastly, a BFF and I booked tickets for a cruise in December. As soon as we paid, I remembered I hadn’t seen my passport in a while. I tore apart my office and couldn’t find it, so yesterday I headed to the post office to apply for a new one. Have to start a countdown list of things to do and purchase before the trip. So if any of you have gone on cruises before, I’d love some advice. This will be my first. She knows someone who works aboard the ship we’ll be sailing on, and he will be our port guide. We plan to get up to plently of mischief aboard. Can you imagine the questions we will ask the crew? We’re both writers, so we’ll be looking for good places to stash a body or have a quick tryst. Murder and mayhem on the high seas!

It’s been a couple of weeks, so I should have tons more to report, but a trip and family obligations have interfered with my focus. Not something I generally allow to happen, but I decided to relax and go with the flow.

I had some good news this past week. I have a new editor at Ellora’s Cave, one I’ve wanted for a long, long time, and already I can tell she’s going to be “the one”. The two books that were languishing there are now contracted, and I have tentative release dates in November and December for Knight of My Dreams (yes, the next MIK book!) and Raw Silk (a contemporary m/m/f/f story).

More good news: The cover for my next cowboy ménage, coming November 24th from Samhain Publishing, is just about perfect!

The past couple of weeks, I’ve purchased books about Norse runes, which I’ve been pouring over for a scene in one of the books I’m working on. I also ordered two spy books, one on gadgets and the other featuring stories about real-life spies, for something I want to begin plotting. So, while I’ve barely written three pages, I have been thinking about what I want to write.

Today and the next couple of days, I’ll be working on some slight revisions of the two newly contracted EC books, then digging deep to get back into the writing groove. I’ll have the house to myself and no obligations pulling me away—so no excuses not to write!

Lastly, I know I have pictures to post. I’ll get to them shortly. Promise. Stay tuned, and I’ll also shares some sneak peeks at those upcoming releases!

First, I know I said I wouldn’t share any more pictures of my obsession, but with all the rain we’ve had in recent days, these beauties popped up. They sat at the base of the huge oak tree in my backyard. Love the colors against the dark moss and bright green ivy. And don’t they look like cinnamon rolls? They’re just about as big. Oh, and they’re mushrooms if you hadn’t already guessed.

It’s out of my system. Now onto the progress report.

Good news—the releases of Frannie ‘n’ the Private Dick on Monday, then Altered States on Wednesday.

Not much accomplished on the writing front, I’m afraid. I finished a chapter and half on one project. Mostly, I researched castles, Medieval clothing and maps.

I’ve been looking at my plans and trying to figure out where my effort would be best spent. It’s a tough time in the publishing business and contracts are harder to come by. Trying to figure out what will hit next is like reading a cloudy crystal ball—so I ordered a new set of Tarot cards.
🙄

It’s odd that the whole time I was away (nine freaking-awesome days) I kept to my usual schedule despite the time zone change. Which was pretty cool. I rose at 5-ish and had the lake house to myself until the others began to stir.

Yet, when I returned home, my body clock went haywire. Every night since I’ve been back, I’m up past three in the morning, sleeping far too late to get the kind of start this morning girl enjoys. So ever since Wednesday, I’m fighting fatigue. Translation=terrible productivity.

However, since this is my first report card since I returned, I’m going to claim the work I accomplished on the trip! This is my blog, hear me roar.

Gah! How much coffee did I put into this pot? No amount of creamer will turn it the right shade of mud.

Anyway…the day before I left for Seattle, my new editor at Samhain accepted two new cowboy stories—Unbridled and Unforgiven. I completed the contracts and cover art sheets while I was on the lake. The first will be out in November, the second in January.

On the 5th I wrapped up MIK-7, retitled Knight of My Dreams. Ellora’s Cave has already accepted it. Now, I just have to wait for the editor to edit and to get a date for publication that I can share. Readers will be happy to know that Quentin and Darcy are back together, but of course, they have a new set of problems to contend with. I know, I’m mean that way.

I did some brainstorming with the amazing brain trust at the cottage on a story that has been giving me fits for months. It’s a Medieval fantasy and I have about thirty pages written on it, but I couldn’t get to the center of the story. Now I have a new direction and should be able to pull it out of the toilet.

I started another short story at the cottage and am about halfway through it. I added pages to a historical I’m determined to finish this year. It’s a Medieval and has Normans and Saxons and Vikings, a siege and a battle, and assorted swiving. Gots to have sex, ya know.

So lots accomplished; lots planned. I did some sightseeing with Sasha, my cousin and his partner. So plenty of fodder for new books.

In the next few days, I’m going to dive into research since I’m a little burned on writing. I ordered three books from Amazon on castles and castle-building. Was in Books-A-Million yesterday and bought a huge illustrated volume on mythology and can’t wait to dig into those stories.

Until next week… Sure hope I have progress to report!

You’ve suffered long enough. Following are the names of the winners (selected by a random number generator) of my “Flashback” novels. The winner of All Knight Long…is Jeanette Juan! The winner of Sanctuary is…Brandy!

Tomorrow’s the day. At the butt-crack of dawn, I’ll be on the road to the airport in North Little Rock. Then many hours later, I’ll be stepping off the plane in Seattle, where hopefully, I’ll be met by my writer buddies who will have arranged a rental vehicle to get us to our retreat cottage.

And even though I’m the Queen of Focus, this past week has been a bust so far as writing is concerned. I can’t keep from thinking about what to pack, what I want to take to work on—and the many ways I can think of to dodge cooking duty. That’s not something I ever mastered. I burn Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup.

Let me reflect on what I have managed to accomplish, and my setbacks, for the month. Then I’ll give into the urge to turn giddy with excitement about my working vacation.

On August 1st, my “Brief” Eye of the Storm was released by Harlequin Spice.

The first was also the day I received acceptance on The Out-of-Towner for an upcoming Cleis Press anthology, entitled Girl Crush.

From August 9 – 15, my sister and I conducted the annual Write 50 Books a Year free workshop at Rose’s Colored Glasses.

This month I wrote a short story entitled The Obedient Wife and submitted it on August 14th for the Cleis Press anthology Fairytale Lust.

On August 18th, I received a “reject, but would like to see revisions or something new” from an editor I’m targeting. After spending a day wallowing in disappointment, I brushed myself off, enlisted help from a friend, talked to my agent, and came up with a new plan of attack.

This month I wrote chapters 2-9 of my neverending story about two firemen and two best girlfriends. I submitted the story, tentatively titled Juicy, on August 21st.

The rest of this month, I finished a chapter on a futuristic, worked on revisions of a paranormal proposal and dabbled with new projects plotting, but nothing else is finished.

So, yes, an eventful month and a productive one, but I did come in two chapters shy of my goal for the last project. Which if I factor in the two EXTRA chapters I wrote on Juicy kinda evens out. So I could claim success, right?

Now that I’ve bored you to tears with my report card, I’ll sign off. I have clothes to iron, shampoo and conditioner to pour into travel bottles, and undies to find.

I’ve preposted blogs for the entire time I’ll be gone, along with several chances for you to win stuff, so be sure to stop by. I’ll be “live” again on September 10th.

Love ya! Adios!! ~DD