The week passed in a whirlwind. Maybe it’s because I kept so busy writing, or maybe it’s because I’ll be leaving for Seattle in little over a week and I’m beginning to get very excited! Woot!

I completed chapters six through nine of a contemporary m/m/f/f—or is it m/f/m/f? Does it really matter? Tons of sex any way you bend it. 😈

After a day of feeling sorry for myself after a rejection “but will reconsider it after revisions” response to a recent proposal, I’m back on track and more determined than ever.

I shopped for some casual outfits for the upcoming trip—the most harrowing part of the week. I HATE shopping with passion. Always feels like a huge waste of time and I come away exhausted and wondering how anyone enjoys it. Is it something in our DNA that makes some of us more predisposed to enjoy that sort of self-torture? At least with casual clothing there’s actually a chance I’ll wear the things I bought.

This week I have a day of doctor appointments—including seeing a neuro-opthamologist. Christ is that what he is? (I know I must have butchered the spelling!) But maybe he can tell me whether the blind area in my vision is likely to expand. Wouldn’t have known I had a problem at all if not for the many near-misses in traffic. Pfft. And there I was blaming my car’s manufacturer for poor mirror placement.

Will also have to plan what to do with this blog while I’m gone. I made myself a promise to blog daily. But there’s no WiFi at the lakehouse where I’ll be staying, so no Internet, no email, no TWITTER! I think I’ll pre-write posts for every day I’m gone. Maybe I’ll do an excerpt a day with a chance to win the book kind of contest or something. If you have suggestions, don’t be shy about letting me know!

Have a great week!

I’ll get back to the rock. Promise.

This past week I pounded out two chapters on the sexy, as yet unnamed, ménage and wrote a 13-page fairytale called The Obedient Wife, which I submitted for a call for submission. I’ll let you know how that goes. I spent two 14-hour days in front of the computer Thursday and Friday because I didn’t want to slide on either of my goals. And I’m feeling it today—I woke up with back and neck aches and my right hand feels like someone stomped on it. I know, cry me a river.

Friday night was my monthly FAR Live Chat. Thanks to everyone who came. And congrats to Amy and Cathie on their prize wins!

Yesterday, I attended the Diamond State Romance Authors monthly meeting in Little Rock. We’ve got a slate of officers for 2010, and I’m nominated again to be Program Chair. If anyone has ideas for a dynamic topic I can add to the schedule for next year’s meetings, I’d appreciate it, because the well done dried up.

Sis came down for the meeting and followed me home for the night. We spent an hour and a half in the pool where she regaled me with her favorite Jeff Dunham routines. Had to finally get out of the water because one more joke and I would have had to add more chlorine.

This next week, it’s more writing, and I really do need to do a little shopping for the trip I’m taking September 1st. I’ll be heading to Seattle to a retreat on a lake with six writer buddies. Squee! And the 5-year-old starts kindergarden. God, I hope the teacher doesn’t have to send home a note with her on the first day. She told her mother the day before yesterday that when Mom died she’d bring daisies to put on her headstone, but that Mom would have to stick her hand out of the dirt to grab them. Think she might be a “Mini-Me” in the making?

Back to that rock…

I went outside the meeting yesterday (yes, to have a cigarette!) and strolled past the vacant lot next to the library. This bright red rock lay on the flat dirt and gravel and I couldn’t resist hefting it back to the meeting. (Who does that?!) It’s big, my empty coffee cup is pretty large. I don’t know what I want to do with it, but it matches my bedspread.

I’ll recap the last week.

As you can see from the progress bar to the right, I finished Unbroken, then wrote a quick short story for Cleis’s upcoming Girl Crush anthology (which got accepted yesterday—woot!). Unbroken is a very sexy cowboy story about a couple having to get past infidelity. The Cleis thing was a short challenge for myself—just 3000 words about a lesbian affair. And don’t forget about my new release, Eye of the Storm. It’s my 11th for the year!

We had so much rain this past week that the pool cooled from 90 to 80 degrees and I had to drain off the excess water three times. The ground is so saturated, a large apple tree fell and knocked out a portion of the back fence. The deer gorged on the leaves of the tree—so there’s your silver lining.

My daughter and I threw around ideas for a Young Adult novel, and I think I have the opening scene for something really spooky. Will have to do a lot of plotting for this one because there will be a larger cast than I normally deal with and a spookfest I have to nail.

Then I went on a reading binge of intrigue books. At the end, plots started swirling in my head, and I came up with one that I’d love to start writing, but will require research of its own.

So, this next week will be spent in geek-mode, reading through my library of occult books and surfing the net for bomb-making and Homeland Security-related articles. But I can’t spend the whole time reading, so I think I’ll start a new story, something quick and light that I can pound out in between all the hard, boring work.

According to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft, August’s moon is the Wyrt moon. WTF does that mean, you ask? Wyrt is the Old English word for plant, so Wyrt moon refers to the Plant or Herb moon. It’s time to collect your magical herbs, time to reap the harvest.

What does that mean in a metaphysical sense? This is the time to reap what you sow. So hope like hell you’ve built some great karma.

Unbroken is finished!

Yeah, another one bit the dust yesterday. Whew! At it’s core was the theme of infidelity and forgiveness. Cheating might hit someone’s hot button out there, but I like keeping it real. As well, it was a sequel to a very sexy ménage so I could hardly play it safe with a strictly m/f story.

Now I have to figure out what’s next. I have several projects in different stages, but I need to be smart about what I choose to focus on for the next little while. So, I’m going through my plans today and adjusting goals. I have a futuristic adventure that’s tons of fun to work on, but it might be smarter putting together an intrigue proposal instead. I know I have to wrap up MIK-7 sometime in August, but then I’ll feel like I have to plunge right into MIK-8, and I don’t have that story firmly in my mind yet. Decisions, decisions.

And it’s not helpful at all that I have the latest episodes of Torchwood saved. They are calling to me. I was heartbroken when Toshika and Owen died, and just have this horrible feeling that someone else is going to go. Does anyone know if they plan on any more episodes? This inquiring mind needs to know!

Last week was pretty much a bust, writing-wise. I couldn’t get my ass in gear. Might have had something to do with taking on babysitting duties for two days and letting a certain 4-year-old wangle her way into spending two nights with me. Having little ones underfoot really saps the energy.

This week, I have the same obstacles, but I’m getting into a routine and figuring out when I can write. So, I’m not giving myself a break. No excuses, I have to make progress on the Memphis paranormal, and I have a short novella to revise and get out the door.

The novella is a special project for my Arkansas RWA chapter. We challenged each other last year to write Arkansas-based stories and submit them to a publisher for consideration as a series. Some of the authors involved are published, some aren’t, so there was some extra work involved getting everyone’s ready to submit. Hopefully, we will all meet with success. My story needs some major work. Because I can’t write it as hot as I like, I feel hamstrung. Have to go back in and tinker some, and just plain get over being grumpy about it. 😆

I’m trying to catch up again. Just when I think I’m there, real life kicks me in the ass again. This time, Dad’s back in the hospital. Kidney failure. We’re hoping for the best. That it’s just a temporary glitch in his recovery from triple bypass surgery.

So, let’s see where I am today.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I finished Stone’s Embrace and shipped it to my editor (have you seen the cover?). I’m crossing my fingers that she doesn’t throw up all over my very strange little tale. If she does, I hope to be in a better place mentally to deal with it.

I’m still revising the last Dark Realm book. It’s due Wednesday, so that’s my major push for the next few days. I reach a point after I’ve written a story that I want to scream if I have to look at it one more time—and I’m there. My editor loved what she’s seen so far, but wants some tweaks. But I read through it and wonder what the hell was I thinking?

All this week I’m trying to make lists getting ready for the Romantic Times convention. I leave next Tuesday, but still have to box stuff up. I don’t know what the heck I’m going to wear, and unless I can talk Daughter into going shopping with me, I may be in blue jeans because I am sooooo not a clothes horse and would just as soon be comfy.

But I did get a hair cut. The long locks are gone. The hairdresser talked me into throwing away the straightner and letting my curls go. Ack. I don’t know me when I look in the mirror. If you wonder how I’m coping, check out the pic I took of myself: New Do

I know, I look kinda intense. 😉

Progress on Stone’s Embrace

I’m this close to being done with this book—if I can figure out how to wrap it up. I usually have an ending in mind when I reach this point, but not this time! I hope this isn’t going to be one of those days when I write a scene, scrap a scene, and then try to rewrite it again because it sucked.

The book is decidedly strange, even for me. And I don’t understand this fascination with Hell I have. I won’t give away the story, but I will say that the Hades was so much fun to write that I might have to give him his own HEA.

What’s next? I have the fourth Dark Realm story to revise. Should take me about a week. Then, finally, I can start something shiny and new. Got any suggestions what you might like to see next?

On another note, I want to say thank you to everyone who’s sent me a note regarding Saddled. I’m thrilled my debut book with Samhain was so well-recieved. I’ve gotten more letters from readers for this book than any other in a long, long time.

Guess I should write more sexy cowboys. 😀