Home Alone

My sister is galavanting around the country on a well deserved ten-day vacation to sunny California. I'd be envious, but I have things to do. Writers don't retire, and I have a deadline looming.

I need to set up a routine again, which has been sorely lacking from my life these last few months. First, it was the hip, then the potential move, then bronchitis, and the constant search for a new home that meets all our criteria.

Mary and I are easing into this new normal gradually. Some thunderstorms interrupted us yesterday, since Mary gets very frightened and needs to be cuddled. I can break my routine to cuddle any day of the week.

And, under the guise of going out to lunch, I took myself to the movies yesterday and munched on nachos while I stared at an aging Robert Redford. He's still handsome, but not the steal-your-breath kind of gorgeousness of his youth.

Then, there's the water therapy schedule staring me in the face. Maybe next week.

My goal while Sis is gone is to find the groove again, and get back to writing at least 1000 words a day. So far, three days in, three thousand words. So, I'm on track. Now, to keep it there, until my last book in the Cotillion Ball Series is finished. I think I can, I think I can...

And, if you haven't already done so, I still need two votes for The Duplicitous Debutante to make it to the finals of The Romance Reviews' Readers Choice Awards. Please take a moment and cast your vote here: http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=14894

Getting Ready For Nationals

I’m three days away from leaving Ohio and heading for sunny California. Mentally, at least, I’m packed and ready to go. I’ve gotten my WIP to the point I wanted it to be before I left—the flash first draft is finished. Now comes the editing part, and layering in more detail while I put sentences in their proper order rather than the way they came spilling out of my head. But I can work on that once I return home.

I just got word, though, that the agent I was to pitch to had to cancel out, due to a family emergency, which leaves me in a bit of a bind. Do I troll the pitch room for hours on Friday and Saturday, waiting for someone to get cold feet so I can jump in and take her place? Or do I instead go to the many great lectures that are available—so many remarkable ones that I wish I could clone myself so I could go to more than one at a time. I guess that’s what the recordings are for.

I’ve divided the summer in my head into two parts—before Nationals and after. My book was released July 2, so I’ve been scrambling around all month, posting blogs on other sites, getting interviewed by the local paper, seizing one opportunity after another to get a book review done. All the stuff that an author in today’s market must do. As I’ve said before, it’s been a steep learning curve. And seeing the results from my various efforts translated into sales and website hits has been even more remarkable. Now, though, I get some time off to soak up the creative juices of my fellow Crimson authors, as well as those of some highly esteemed romance authors like Nora Roberts, Julia Quinn, Jayne Anne Krentz and Susan Elizabeth Phillips, to name just a few. I also get the added bonus of being able to spend time with my brother, pictured above, who happens to live in Anaheim.

Once I return from the trip, though, it’s right back into the fray. My second book is to be released sometime in December, so edits will hit my desk along about October. I’m waiting to hear on another book that I have out for consideration. They promised me they’d get back by mid-August, so, if all goes well, that one will be in production soon too. And there’s that pesky little problem of finding an agent, which I had hoped to get resolved at RWA.

When I was working in the corporate world every day, my life wasn’t this hectic. And this is way more fun. I’m finally following my dad’s advice about employment—find something you like to do and it’ll never be a job for you.