What I have to be thankful for this year…

Is that we’re in the process of moving, so no one was sitting on the couch watching TV last night when a truck slammed into the house, taking out the window and part of the wall the couch used to be up against.

Illusions and N.O.R. awards

I got some very cool news yesterday–So I Married A Vampire has been nominated for a fall 2007 Night Owl Romance N.O.R. award. 🙂 To vote for SIMAV and all the other great books that have been nominated, click here. Readers can vote once a day until October 31st.

Illusions has been released from Total-E-Bound. Visit this page to read an excerpt or to purchase the book. Here’s a blurb about the story:

A work related errand turns into so much more when Alexis Moran meets up with her childhood friend Jeremy and things get out of control. She’s always had a secret crush on the man, but had never worked up the nerve to tell him the truth. Now she’s finally gotten the courage to take the first step…but things aren’t what they seem.

Jeremy Talbot has a secret of his own, one he can’t tell anyone except his family. He’s an energy vampire who feeds off the energy and emotions of humans. He keeps to himself most of the time, trying to avoid human contact unless necessary, but then Alexis walks back into his life.

At first, he tries to frighten her away, but then he realises he’d rather keep her close. He’s been in love with her all his life, and he can no longer hide what he feels, even if he has to hide what he is.

Ugh

Sorry I’ve been absent lately. I started a part time job and have been in training. I haven’t worked outside the house in almost eleven years, and I’d forgotten how tiring it is to be on one’s feet all day. 😆 Tomorrow, I’ll be going out to buy a pair or two of very good shoes. Any suggestions on comfortable brands?

Two new releases today!

I wanted to post this earlier, but the day (actually, the past week) hasn’t exactly cooperated with me. 😀 In the next couple of days, I’ll be updating my website with the new releases, as well as posting some excerpts and a few other fun things here. My newsletter will also be going out by the end of next week, with some more excerpts and info on the new releases. But for now, here’s a little bit about them:

Damage Control

available from Samhain Publishing

Can their friendship survive the best sex of their lives?

Andrea’s got her life all mapped out. She’s set on making partner before she’s thirty. Love, marriage, children-they’ll just have to wait. But a girl can only go so long with just a vibrator.

One night of no-strings sex with her co-worker and best friend, Brian, can’t hurt-can it?

As far as Brian’s concerned, Andrea has always been one of the guys. Intelligent, hard working, reliable-but not sexy. Then, one wine-fueled night, she turns into a temptress. And he realizes what he’s been missing all this time.

Their company has a strict no-dating policy, and Andrea’s not going to risk her career for anything. Not even for her best friend. Not even for the toe-curling sex.

Trouble is, she’s starting to fall for him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Whose Afterlife Is This, Anyway?

available from Loose Id

When her sister’s soon-to-be ex-husband turns up missing, librarian (and wannabe P.I.) Carrie Holiday is on the case. Then she uncovers her brother-in-law’s business dealings with Luke, her sexy-in-a-creepy-way neighbor. Hoping to get a little closer to Mr.Hot-n-Spooky, Carrie recruits him to help solve the mystery behind the disappearance. Maybe she’s finally found a way to get the guy to notice she’s alive.

What Carrie doesn’t realize is that Luke isn’t. Alive, that is. The two-hundred-year-old vampire has been content lusting after Carrie from afar, but now that she’s working with him night after night, he can’t keep his hands to himself. Luke figures he has it made—as long as Carrie doesn’t find out the truth about him.

It’s too bad about those bags of blood in his refrigerator…

Thursday Thirteen #10

Thirteen DVDs I’ve watched recently 1. Stir of Echoes 2. Point Pleasant complete series 3. Quinceañera 4. Family Man 5. Premonition 6. Come Early Morning 7. Hollywood Homicide 8. Wicker Park 9. Bully 10. Running with Scissors 11. Sherrybaby 12. The Fountain 13. Blood and Chocolate Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Still Sweating

70 Days of Sweat update:

I’m only up to 13,500 words now, combined on a few different projects. I slacked off toward the end of the weekend–or really, a little before that–and never really managed to catch up. 😆 The kids were in Maine with my parents and grandparents from Sunday morning until yesterday afternoon, and for some reason, I have a hard time working when they’re not here. Yeah, I know, makes no sense, right? 😀 That should be prime writing time for me.

How’s everyone else doing in the challenge so far? Making a lot of progress?

Today’s Post

Is at Romance Worth Killing For. I’m talking about favorite writing tips today, and the best and worst writing advice you’ve ever received. If you have a favorite tip, come on over and share. 🙂

Seventy Days of Sweat update #1

As of Tuesday night, I was at 10250 words. The challenge is really working for me, since summertime when the kids are home it’s hard for me to find the time to get on the computer. Having a daily goal to work toward has forced me to find other ways to write, and I’ve been sitting on the couch with a notebook every morning for a few hours, while I watch the news.

I finished a short story on Tuesday night and submitted it…and Total-E-Bound has offered me a contract. 🙂 This is a story I was originally writing as a Halloween story, but I waffled on it for too long and missed the submissions deadline at two different publishers. 😆 The challenge gave me the push to finish it, and I’m glad I did.

For anyone doing the challenge, how is it going for you? Are you meeting your personal goals?

Today’s post

Is at Romance Worth Killing For.

Challenge…day 1

Today went okay, considering I don’t usually write on Sundays. I’ve changed the sidebar a little, bringing the page links up to the top, and I’ve also added a page for the Seventy Days of Sweat challenge so I can keep track of my daily totals. My totals will be a mish-mash of lots of different projects, though. DS is the book I committed to work on during the challenge, but I have a handful of other projects that need finishing also.

Anyone else doing the challenge?

So I Married A Vampire excerpt

Here’s the excerpt I said I’d post around the end of the week. 🙂

With a frustrated sigh, she tried to push herself out of the chair, not an easy feat given the dress and the spiked heels. Finally she made it to her feet and took off toward the dance floor where the guests were now slow dancing to an old Eric Clapton tune, eager to get as far away from Ethan as she could. Maybe she could lose him
in the throng of revelers crowded around the hors d’oeuvre table and sneak out the side door.

“Where are you going?” he asked, chasing after her.

“I need to get out of here. Away from all this. Away from you.”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. “Stop. I love you, Janey.”

She swallowed hard. Despite everything, she loved him too but that didn’t mean she had to be nice. “Don’t call me that. And having a husband doesn’t count if he isn’t human.”

Everyone in the nearby vicinity turned and stared, gaping and blinking their eyes. Had she really said that so loudly? Crap. This was so not what she needed right now. “You certainly don’t act human,” she said to cover her slip. “Being such a liar and all.”

She tried to get away but Ethan was too quick for her. He tugged her arm, pulling her away from the crowd and down a quiet hall just past the dance floor. She kicked and struggled but it was no use. He wouldn’t let go.

“Where do you think you’re taking me?” she asked, digging her heels into the carpet so hard one of them snapped off. Cheap shoes. “Damn it. Stop. My heel broke.”

In answer, he pushed her up against the wall and kissed her. Hard. His tongue snaked into her mouth, thrusting against hers in a show of possession. Jane tried to school her reaction but she couldn’t help it. Being this close to Ethan made her knees weak. Almost of their own volition her arms came up, wrapping around his neck. Her fingers tangled in his soft, thick hair. A moan welled in her throat and spilled over. Why did she want to give this up again?

Oh yeah. Calling a vampire and a vampire slayer oil and water was the understatement of the year. She couldn’t stay married to him. It would never work.

So why was she hoping with everything she had that it would?

When he broke the kiss, she opened her mouth to tell him off for being so presumptuous but he shook his head.

“I’m sorry, Jane.”

“About kissing me?” How could he regret it so soon?

He brought his hand to the side of her neck and squeezed. “No. About this.”

Those were the last words she heard before she blacked out.

Seventy Days of Sweat writing challenge

Seventy Days of Sweat

I just signed up for it. This is just the right time, too, since I’ve been needing a kick in the butt for quite a while now. 😳 I’m finally going to be working on the next book in the Dark Promises series. I’ve had the book plotted out for way too long now (one of the four books I storyboarded during my very brief failed attempt at becoming a plotter) and the Post It notes have been hanging right over my computer monitor for months. 😀

Anyone else going to do the challenge?

Read Last Month…

Two slow months in a row for me, reading wise. 😆

1. She’s No Faerie Princess — Christine Warren
2. Mary Mary — James Patterson
3. Secrets Volume 12
4. White Hot — Sandra Brown

What did you read last month?

So I Married A Vampire is now available

Yes, I know I’ve been absent for way too long…again. The kids were in Florida with their dad for the past week and a half and I found I had to keep busy. It was the first time they were away for more than a weekend, so I spent a lot of time running around trying to keep my mind off the whole thing. 😆 They’re back now, got in this morning. 🙂

So I Married A Vampire is now available from Ellora’s Cave. Around the end of the week I’ll post an eighteen-plus excerpt, but for now, check out this one.

I probably won’t get online tomorrow (family reunion to attend) so for everyone in the US, Happy Fourth!!

A new sale

New Concepts Publishing has offered me a contract for Death Becomes Me. I’m excited that this book has found a home. It’s a paranormal romance/women’s fiction/dark comedy/suspense sort of thing 😀 . As soon as I have more information on a release date and such, I’ll be sure to post it here.

Here’s a blurb:

All her life, Kendra has had one aspiration. To marry a rich man. She comes from a long line of trophy wives, and has no intention of changing that particular tradition. She even has the perfect man picked out, and he’s well on his way to proposing. But dying throws a big wrench into her plans.

Where she expected pearly gates, or even raging fires (she wasn’t exactly a model citizen all her life) she’s surprised to find herself in some weird sort of limbo. Before she has a chance to pinch herself to check if she’s really dead, she learns why she’s been brought to this strange place. She’s been recruited by an agency who keeps the world safe from evil.

But she soon learns that immortality has its downfalls. First, she’s forced to work with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Scary, a drill-sergeant-esque guy who would rather feed her to the demons than teach her how to fight them. Then there are the superpowers…which come with a huge learning curve. If she blows up one more trash can, she might just pack it in and take that long elevator ride downstairs – way downstairs. But Kendra is nothing if not tenacious. With the help of a few surprising allies –and her partner, who isn’t nearly as cold as he wants her to think, Kendra might just become a force to be reckoned with.