Scenes from Summer …

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So I’m way behind on blogging, aren’t I? I had a really great summer, despite the crazy writing schedule that kept me writing basically every minute of every weekend. But my family kept me happy! We had a great Fourth of … Continue reading

And She Typed ‘The End’ …

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There really is no greater feeling in a writer’s life than typing those words “The End.” We get to know the characters, we wrestle with them, we talk to them, we argue with them. We rearrange scenes, we rewrite whole sections, we stay up late and get up early. We say no to events, we eat dinner at our computers, we write a gazillion notes, we review them and then rewrite more scenes. We struggle, we cry, we anguish.

And FINALLY … months later … we hit those keys and type “The End.”

It’s really glorious.

So I just finished Lavender Island Book 2 and turned it in this week! This one will follow “The Kiss on Castle Road” and will come out next July. Both of these books are about the Grant sisters, Natalie (“Kiss”) and then Paige (Book 2). I loved writing about these sisters, and I LOVED writing about Lavender Island! I can’t wait to bring these books to you, both in 2016!

So what’s next? Well, for the immediate future, I just have to get my life back in order! Racing to these deadlines means your house sort of falls apart, mail piles up, your to-do list becomes insane, your son points out that he’s grown out of all his shirts, your friends and family are all calling and texting and wanting to get together, and you sort of have to come back to the real world. So that’s what I’m doing now!

But in the next couple of weeks, I’ll be updating about “Kiss” release day fun, the review crew, and more, so stay tuned!

THE RED BIKINI Won a Literary Fiction Award!

holt-AOM-MSYay! The Red Bikini was selected by reader judges as a HOLT Award of Merit recipient for outstanding literary fiction in the Mainstream / Single Title category.

Very cool!

As a HOLT Award of Merit recipient, my name and book title will also appear in a full page ad in the September issue of RWR (Romance Writers Report).

My little book isn’t breaking any sales records, but I’m really proud of all of its great reviews and accolades!  

So What’s Up?

So what’s up with everyone? Is everyone having a good spring?

I’ve been pretty quiet since the release of Ten Good Reasons, but just busy! There was no rest for the weary in there, as my release date of Book 2 coincided with edits due for Book 3. Egads. So I was a little schizophrenic all of April I was finalizing and rewriting parts of Book 3 while trying to write guest posts for Book 2 and getting started on Book 4!

My edits were due in early May, and right after that I had to throw a bunch of stuff together to get ready for a road trip the second week of May. We packed up the car and headed to Montana for my oldest child’s graduation! Yeehaw! It was a beautiful trip, and we also got to bring my second child home for summer, and we really had a great time.

But then when I got home, I started to crash, and next thing I knew, I had the flu!

I think I’m on the road to recovery now, and ready to get back to writing.

How is everyone else’s spring going? Can you believe it’s already June?

Writer Wednesdays: Favorite Item on Your Desk…

BlogCarnMay6-01Welcome back to Writer Wednesdays. I’ve begun a romance-writer blog party where, once a month, my writer friends and I will all be blogging on the same topic on the same day — we’ll be talking about things all romance writers love to talk about: reading, writing, and romantic things.

Our first one was about our wedding day highlights.

And this one is about a favorite item on our desk.

Hmmm. … First, I’ll show you my desk in general to show how messy it always is:

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I can’t even show you the right side because it’s just toooo messy over there! I just turned in my Book 3 edits on Monday, so things look a little messier than usual. I have my Thesaurus still out and open there above my keyboard. (Probably because I had to look for words to use instead of “nodded,” which I used an embarrassing 127 times in the manuscript.) I have my to-go cup from Wahoo’s there on my right, which is where we went to eat tonight. (It also happens to be the fish-taco place Fin takes Giselle to in THE RED BIKINI, wouldn’t you know?) My mail is kind of overflowing and crazy there in the top right. My Galileo thermometer says 72 degrees, with the 68-degree bulb rising, if you’re wondering how warm it is at 6 p.m. on May 5, 2015. And on the left I still have my flyer that the library made me for my visit last Saturday.

But I’ll zero in on my FAVORITE thing on my desk right now. Can you guess what it is out of the photo above?:

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Yep, it’s the cute little sea lion! He’s sitting on top of my notes for Book 3.

He’s there for inspiration for Book 3, because it’s about a scientist who works at a sea lion rescue place on an island off the coast of California. My little sea lion has been sitting there for a year — ever since the day my husband, my teenage daughter and I went to this place in Laguna to research sea lion rescues almost exactly a year ago (weird!). My sweet hubby bought me this little sea lion toy as inspiration. (He bought my daughter one, too. They both went toward donations to the center.) My sea lion’s name is Moe, which you’ll understand more when you read Book 3!

Hanging above my sweet sea lion are my inspirational pictures for Book 3. That’s hero Elliott on the right, and the three Grant sisters on the left. Natalie Grant is Book 3’s heroine, and she’s the one in the middle. Paige Grant will be for Book 4. (And I haven’t decided yet if she’s the one on the right or the left!)

I find it so helpful to have inspirational pictures hanging when I’m writing.

In fact, I’ll try to take pictures of my desk for each book so you can see all the stuff I put around while I’m needing inspiration.

So that’s my favorite item on my desk right now!

Do you have a work desk? Do you have inspirational items on it? Do share! I love to see/hear what people surround themselves with.

Want to see what all my writer friends have on their desks? Here are the participants. All of us are Golden Heart 2012 Firebirds. You can click on their names to go to their blogs and read:

Fellow contemporary romance writers Tamra BaumannJamie WesleyKat CantrellPriscilla Kissinger | Paranormal romance writers Kay HudsonPamela Kopfler | Romantic suspense writers Carol Post Sharon Wray | Novels with romantic elements Natalie Meg Evans Jean Willett | Faith-based and sweet romance writers K.D. FlemingKristen Ethridge | Historical romance writers Kathleen Bittner-RothWendy LaCapra

Quick plug for one of the writers above:

K.D. Fleming has just come out with her third book this week! It’s a faith-based romance published by an “Inspirational” line. (Some of you probably didn’t even know there was such a thing, right?) Here are the deets:

HerHometownReporterTOBY HENDRICKS HAS THE INSIDE SCOOP ON GINA LAWSON
The reporter is looking for a story that’ll be his ticket out of his small Georgia town. With her political connections, legal assistant Gina Lawson could help Toby realize his aspirations. Their friendship is just an added bonus, but falling in love isn’t part of his five-year plan.  Gina’s devoted to her family and community, and doesn’t plan to ever leave. Though she finds her favorite reporter maddeningly irresistible, she must guard her heart. But when a betrayal of trust threatens to shatter both their dreams, will Gina and Toby learn that they share the same values after all?

Buy links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, HQN

And be sure to come back every month for our Writer Wednesdays! Here’s what’s in store:

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