I Blood-Curdling *heart* Samhain.

Remember what I said about having hopes for Dorchester?  Well, those hopes have become my horrific dreams.  And I mean that in the terrifyingly, nicest way possible. 

Samhain has scored the amazing Don D’Auria from Dorchester to start a new horror line that will launch in October.  I did a Snoopy-dance *squeeeeeeee* when I had heard the news.  Even though I’ve done enough searching on the internet to see that the news has already hit the Horror communities, Christina Brashear will be making an official announcement on Monday. 

Not only is it good to hear that Don landed somewhere, it’s even better to know that he’s a part of Samhain.  I am beyond excited.  Writer fans of Brian Keene, Nate Kenyon, and Wraith James White start whipping your manuscripts into shape. 

BUT, I ain’t giving up my Anne Scott for nobody.  She’s da bomb. 

A huge congrats to Don.  You’re going to love it here.

ARCs Have Arrived!

Santa Samhain brought me an early gift.  Pretty shiny, huh? 

My first thought when I saw the box on my doorstep was, “Who the heck is leaving their junk on doorstep?”  I wasn’t in any hurry to open it because I thought it would be something I’d have to go out of my way to do a Return To Sender.  After packing away the groceries and opening up the junk mail, I decided to open the box. 

Low and behold my author copies!  Woohoooooooooo!   

My mom keeps looking at the cover and wondering why the heroine has such a hard-looking face.  I had to explain to her what urban fantasy was without using the words “kick” and “ass”.  She’d just think I was cursing for no reason anyway, which isn’t very attractive.  Go figure.  She’s an old-school chick.     I guess it’s a good thing she doesn’t read my books.

Anyway, it dawned on me that Stripped is being released in print on June 1st.  That’s less than two weeks away.  It also happens to be the start of my first day on my new job.  Oh, and did I mention I’m going to be guest blogging here and there?  I never thought this day would’ve rolled up so fast.  Oh happy dayyyyy.  Oh happy dayyyyy.

Now if only I can sell another book and have that “lovin’” feeling all over again. 

Sammie Awards and Editor News

It’s awards season, even for books.  That’s right.  The Sammies (first time I’ve heard of them) are open and awaiting your votes.  Click here to cast your vote.

Let me be frank.  I’m only mentioning this because I hope you’ll vote for me.  And just to make sure there isn’t any question about it, my book is called STRIPPED.  I don’t care who you vote for second and third, but doggone it, I want to be first.    There are several categories my book is listed in and it’s a LONG list.  My book won’t be released in print until June 8th, so it’s no eligible for that category.

Also, there are so many links on the left-hand side that you probably didn’t notice my newest one under Blogs – Others.  My Editor, Anne Scott, has her own blog now.  It’s mostly for advertising purposes because she’s new to the blogging thing, but I’m sure she’ll come up to speed fast and talk about other stuff.  So, if you’re interested in getting to know here, this is where to start.  She’s a cool chick.

Other than that, there’s not much news to report.  Well…I sort of. 

I had a really weird–not scary–dream last night that involved me being the manager of a body-bag maintenance plant.  For some reason I was pointing at the black bags and telling my workers to trash them with the carcasses inside.  I absolutely hated my job.  Abhorred every second of it.  In fact, it gave me the creeps.  Most of the bodies were charred and mutated beyond recognition.  Don’t ask me how I knew since I hadn’t opened any of them.  I even violated someone’s religious beliefs by ordering them to handle a bag knowing there was a corpse inside.  The guy threatened to sue the me and the company for not warning him before hand.  I don’t know what happened after that because my internal alarm clock woke me.  Go figure.

Any weird dreams you want to share?

Guest Blogging at Magical Musings Today!

I really suck when it comes to being a guest on a blog.  Usually, I like to check back and reply to commentors, but I’ve been completely oblivious lately.  As if you can’t tell based on my own.  I’m so sorry guys.  Trust me, in that I’ve read each of your beautiful, supportive comments, even if you think I haven’t. 

Just chalk up my neglect to searching for a plumber who’s not a crook and will fix the leak in my first floor ceiling, multi-tasking on the day job, and trying to make sure all of my promo was in place for STRIPPED‘s release.  Of course, I had screwed that up, too, because I had forgotten to post an excerpt on the Samhain Cafe loop.  To make matters worse, my book was released on my grandmother’s birthday.  Guess what I forgot to do?  You guessed it.  I had to give grandma a call yesterday and apologize for not getting to her sooner.  Thank goodness she took it all in stride, but it would’ve been nice to remember her on her 77th birthday.  *sigh* 

Anyway, I’m blogging with the lovely ladies at Magical Musings today!  Stop by for the chance to win a free copy of STRIPPED.  This might be a second chance to win, assuming you posted over at Shapeshifter Romance, too. 

Hitting the Nail

I was going to take a break from the blogsphere so I could concentrate on my newest WIP, but this came up and I wanted to share. 

The time has come.  I’m talking about edits.  Samhain handles their edits in a way that’s new and different to me, and I like it.  But do you want to know what REALLY made me smile?  My fabulous editor called STRIPPED a “gritty urban fantasy”. 

It’s GRITTY!  Yayyyyyyyyyyyy! 

Do you have any idea how I’ve longed to hear that word?  Do you know how good it feels to have someone get you like that?  Whether it’s a crit partner, an editor, or a beta reader, nothing feels better than when they hit it on the head. 

Gritty pretty much describes my writing these days.  There are very few topics I’ll shy away from and don’t think I should.  Then again, I’ve seen so many horror movies that I’m pretty much desensitized by now.  I have no problem with putting my characters through hell and dragging them through the brimstone on their bare backs.  Let’s face it.  If I were in their shoes, I’m pretty sure the worse would happen to me.  I guess that’s why I like “glad I survived” endings.  Gotta balance out all of the doom and gloom somehow.

But getting back to the topic.  My editor gets me and I am so cool with that.  Fingers crossed that my cover artist does, too. 

Whether it’s an editor, a crit partner, or a beta reader, who “gets” you?

Books and Publishers and Genres, oh my!

It’s away!  THE HIVE has been picked over, prodded, and restitched enough.  It’s now in the hands of my fabulous editor, Jackie, at Parker Publishing.  Yayyyyyy!  Also, if I can get my head wrapped around it, I might be doing a paranormal YA for them, too.  Not sure yet because I’m still bouncing ideas around.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately.  Perhaps too much, which is always my downfall.  One thing that’s been on my mind is book three of my werecheetah series.  I found the heroine for book three and she’s an amazing shapeshifter.  But will the books stop at book three?  I don’t know.  I’ve had several people ask if Rio and Sinclair will have another book and I’m seriously thinking about making it book four, if I can come up with something good.  Of course, it won’t be a paranormal romance at that point.  More like an urban fantasy or a paranormal suspense. 

Now that Samhain has contracted STRIPPED, I’m thinking about what to do for “book two” in my half-werewolf, sniper series.  You see, Half Breed takes place four years after STRIPPED.  Which means there’s plenty of room to do things with Matt and Alexa.  Hower, it’s also limiting because Alexa and Matt don’t start talking kids until they get to Atlanta.  I have a partial synopsis written involving a pregnant Alexa, her playing bodyguard, hunting rogue wolves, and both of her overprotective wolf packs.  However, I have nothing for Alexa and Matt between STRIPPED and Half Breed.  Don’t get me wrong.  It’s easy enough to come up with something because I made sure to put in a lot of world building with infinite possibilities. 

 

So in an effort to keep readers from getting confused, my plan is to keep my urban fantasies with Samhain and my paranormal romances (and a possible YA) with Parker.  Of course, NY trumps everything.  If I write outside of any of those genres, then that means I’ll be reevaluting my plans.  That possibility always exists, especially since I LOVE sci-fi and horror.

Strangely enough, writing for more than one publisher has always been a scary prospect for me.  I just didn’t expect it to happen, even though I had set myself up for it.  Now that it’s real, I have a feeling it won’t be so bad–fingers crossed.

What do you think is your biggest fear once your dreams are realized?