Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Finally Home


Coming June 2007 from Whiskey Creek Press
Despite their rocky past, Torie Barron and Alex Carmichael’s identical goals drive them into a headlong collision over a horse farm they both covet until a family tragedy puts and end to Torie’s dreams. As her life is swept down an unexpected and difficult path, she turns to the man who has been so infuriating yet intriguing. The same man who stomped her heart into the ground when they were teens. Will Alex be her savior or the one who stands in the way of all she’s ever wanted?

Monday, February 19, 2007

Sweet Forever


Coming in late April 2007 from Samhain Publishing
When Hayden Merrick travels to meet her grand mother for the first time, she doesn’t expect to find the father she believes abandoned her or a man who could prove to be the love of her life.

For Ben Winslow there hadn’t been much time for romance in his life, or the right woman to interest him until Hayden arrived at his neighbor’s home. As soon as he meets her, Ben believes that Hayden could be the woman he’s always hoped for, but he has to convince her that life could be just as sweet on the prairie than the coast.

Hayden’s plans to return to her home are put on hold as she struggles with a difficult decision. Pursue a life on the South Dakota prairie or return to the one she’s loved at the edge of the ocean? Ben hopes that he can give her the best of both worlds.

Not Much of a Vacation

Last week when I finished my editing and emailed it off to my editor I came right here and posted a nice long blog entry. And it was immediately sucked into the vast coldness of cyber space. I just didn’t have the heart or energy to repost. So I took the week off. Sort of.

My week has been full of sick kids, running around and our first major snow storm in over a year. Okay, so we only got under a foot and a half, but it was plenty to satisfy me. Now it can go away and let spring in. Well, maybe not until after my daughter’s Special O winter games. They kinda need the snow for that.

Yes, the first go-round of editing is done. There was a lot to be done and I hope that my editor will be satisfied with it. I haven’t heard back from her, but I’m sure she’s a busy lady and I’m not top of her list. That’s okay. I’ve been using this week to recover (take care of sick kids) and think through some other story ideas. I haven’t written a word though. But I have thought of the wip that I did during Nano and came up with some ideas for it. Well, basically all I’d be doing would be to use the title and the setting. Everything else would be different.

I’ve decided to stay home today. I’ve been up with my son since about 3:30am, and I’m beat. And I have some house cleaning to do. My husband and I have decided to spend a huge part of our tax return on a new bed. We’re hoping to have it by Friday, but I have to do some straightening up so we can get the old one out and the new one in.
So, off I go to get the first bunch of kids on the bus.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Red.... oh, so much red!!

I'm still deep within edits and I swear I see more red words than black words. I'll have a completely different story when I'm through with this, I think. Wouldn't that be funny!

I ask myself, as I make the changes needed "how did I miss this the gajillion other times I went through the edits??" Just crazy!

I'm thinking of taking an American Idol break. But theres oh so much more to do and time is drawing to an end. I want to have it sent in by Sunday.

Wish me luck.

And sanity!

Monday, February 05, 2007

Deleting Words

I've been busy with edits on Sweet Forever for the past 2 days now. The first thing I've started doing is deleting "garbage" words. Boy, I think I must have deleted 200 'just's from this story, and maybe about 100 'so's and many many 'that' 'then' and 'really's.

But in doing so I've come to realize that for everyone that I can delete with no regret at all, there are two that I just can't bare to part with. I mean, these words were created for a reason, weren't they? Don't they have ANY place within our manuscripts? I find that I just can't part with all of them. I hope my editor will be kind with me when she sees them laced throughout the story.

I have so much more to go, but its getting late and my concentration and common sense went to bed about 15 minutes ago. I guess I'll just finish going through my "could"s and call it a night.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Reality Check

Okay, first of all, I know I only managed to post twice this week. I shouldn't make promises to do something when I don't have one evening where I'm completely at home. Last week was filled with kids activities and laundry. So this is actually the first time I've had a chance to sneak into my blog and post. It's nearly 930pm and I'm baking cookies. And I've been up since 5am and all I want to do is hit the sofa.

Now for the reality check.... maybe I should say sur -reality check. First of all, Sweet Forever has made it to the Coming Soon pages of Samhain Publishing complete with cover. Just needs the blurb and my author information page. But its there and thats a step. Then I found the email that I was dreading and looking forward to. The email from my editor with the copy of SF so I can do the first round of editing. I have 9 days to get it done. Yeh, I'm nervous! What the heck is a hard tab and how do I know if my document has them? What is reveal formatting? These are the little things I need to know. And tracking changes? I hope I'm doing that right.

By the time I'm done with this I'm sure I'll be an expert and the next two manuscripts won't be as scary.

Well, lets hope anyway.

And thanks to all the ladies with their hair color recommendations. I'm thinking of getting my hair cut first, then color it. I'm going to wash that gray right out of my hair....... Oh, I'm dating myself, aren't I?

Rest tonite, editing tomorrow.