The blog schedule for September

Wow, I actually have a schedule. I feel so official! :) It has been an exciting month for me meeting all sorts of new (to me) authors and September is shaping up to be even more exciting.

First, I'm starting the month off with an interview with Nara Malone, author of The Tiger's Tale and The Dungeon Gourmet from Ellora's Cave. She has a new release coming in October called Snatch Me and she'll be talking about it in the interview. Plus she has an awesome contest and giveaway! The interview will happen on Friday, September 2, 2011. It's going to be awesome!

Another nice thing about her interview is it happens on my birthday! Yay for me (even if I still don't have my new computer yet!) Anyone want to bring the cake? Or just a hand that lights up like this guy's?

Then, I'll be attending the first ever Erotic Author's Association Conference being held in Las Vegas on September 9-10 with several other authors you might know (and love): C.R. Moss, R.M. Sotera, and Shannan Albright. I'll blog all about it when I get back!

At the end of the month on September 28th, my good friend and author Cara Michaels, will be giving an interview on her upcoming October release, Gaea's Chosen: The Mayday Directive. She writes great science fiction romance and you can read the first chapter by following the link in the title. This is the first in a series and its going to be amazing (and hawt!) :) The characters wear uniforms tighter than this! :)

So thanks for tuning in and keep an eye out for the upcoming events. It's going to be a wild ride, plus there's the Six Sentence Sunday each Sunday this month and I'm looking forward to introducing you all to Jonarrion Swiftwind, Demonslayer extraordinaire! I put his photo in below so you can recognize him! ;)

I'm so excited to share all this with you and I'm having 'fangirl' moments with all of these authors! These ladies are just so cool and I haven't stopped grinning since they agreed to the interviews.

I hope your August was wonderful and that your September is even better. If you come by the blog, it will definitely be filled with awesome-sauce! Happy reading! :)

Six Sentence Sunday - The Navy's Ghost "Brickman's Boys"

 

Good morning, Sixers! It's the last Sunday in August and that means it's the last excerpt of The Navy's Ghost on Six Sentence Sunday! Don't cry, next month I'm going to introduce you to a dragon and a sassy young woman who chooses her own path rather than let those pesky males decide it for her. Stay tuned for that! In the meantime, please enjoy this last snippet and don't forget to check out the other authors' offerings for Six Sentence Sunday!

Since this is the last "gasp" so-to-speak, I thought I'd introduce you to Magic and Retro, the two men to whom Lt. Brickman has lost her heart.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Todd “Magic” Hunter lengthened his strides down the hallway of Bethesda Medical Center, searching for the nurses’ station to find out where they’d moved Ghost. His gut clenched at the thought that she may not have made it after all their efforts to save her. Dammit, if the stupid doctors lost her after he managed to clamp her artery shut, he’d tear this place apart.

Beside him, silent and deadly, Lieutenant Jim “Retro” Waters looked quiet enough, but Magic knew the bigger man was going out of his mind with worry. Waters was 6’4”, 230 pounds of bad ass SEAL with black hair and deep brown eyes. His face was chiseled and squared-jawed, like Robert Redford, complete with the cleft in his chin, and his eyes could bore a hole through concrete when he stared. He could be alternately scary or mysterious, projecting the Bad Boy image perfectly, and women melted at his feet, much to the other SEALs’ disgust.

Yes, I can count; it's seven sentences, but I wanted to finish the image for you and since it's the final fling, I thought you'd cut me a little slack. I hope you've enjoyed The Navy's Ghost. It should be out next year and tune in next month for A Dragon's Standard! Happy reading!

Happy (Birthday) News

I'm getting a new laptop for my birthday!

My husband built it for me from the best components and it should arrive around the time of my birthday! Yay!

In the meantime, I'm editing a ms that I hope to send to another publisher by the end of September and still working on the Navy's Ghost, which is August's SSS ms. Last week's six sentences didn't get posted in time (don't know why), but I hope to be back on the list this Sunday.

I'm looking forward to the new "toy", which I can write off as a business expense (yay!) and get to work a little more steadily. It's hard to get into the writing grove when I have to change locations (my husband's desk) and tools (my husband's computer). I'm just now getting input from the muse again after the meltdown.

So I hope your week is wonderful and you get writing (and reading) done. I'm getting over a cold and two sick kids, but I'm determined to get moving again. Be well and happy reading!

Six Sentence Sunday - The Navy's Ghost "Choices"

 

Hello, Sixers! It's that exciting time of the week when I thrill you with a little snippet of The Navy's Ghost. In addition to me, there are several other authors who do the same thing each Sunday. Please check them out when you have a moment!

In this bit, Lt. Chris Brickman is thinking over her possible future and how she truly feels about her swim buddy Lt. JG Hunter and their teammate Lt. Waters. ;)

She’d had plenty of time to think, to wish, to dream about all sorts of things; and Lt. Jim “Retro” Waters and LTJG Todd “Magic” Hunter had been at the top of the list. Both men were closer to her than brothers; both men had been there when she was hit and held her hands before she blacked out. Both men made her heart ache when she saw them and her body ache when they walked around shirtless. She’d fantasized hundreds of times what it'd feel like to make love to either of them, but she’d never wanted to destroy the close friendship she shared with them by suggesting it.

There were enough warnings out in the world about having sex with best friends killing the friendship, but she knew a few women who’d fallen in love with their best friends and married them. All the ones Chris knew had strong, faithful marriages; couldn’t she have that too?

Talk about love being a battlefield! Which will she choose? Happy reading! :)

Wednesday Woes (even though it's Thursday)

I was all set to write a blog post yesterday. I was back from my vacation and raring to go. I opened up a browser window, pulled up my blog, and suddenly, colorful lines streaked the screen.

Uh, what?

I waited to see if they would clear, but they seemed to get worse. I waited a little more and they disappeared. Oh good.

Until they reappeared and then faded the picture to complete white. White, with faint vertical colored lines.

Oh no. No no no no! Crap!

My husband came over to see what was wrong - video card failure. Everything gone, or at least invisible. Apparently, the computer's video card is built into the motherboard (it's a laptop) and cannot on be replaced except by replacing the whole computer.

Waaaaahhhhhh! :(

I guess the video card went to the light. I didn't even get the blue screen of death (which only means my hard drive is intact and I haven't actually lost any data - I just can't see it). This is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Good thing: new laptop with updated video and graphics cards, faster, Quad-core (my husband insisted), standard Blu-ray/DVD writer, two PS2 and two PS3 USB ports, and thinner, wider laptop overall.

Bad thing: gotta use my husband's computer while we wait for the new one to get here and gotta spend a pretty penny to get said new laptop. Sigh.

We shopped for a new laptop yesterday and even if we order it now, it won't get here until early September. *grumble*

I will manage to get the Six Sentence Sunday post up and I'm going to try to get some writing/editing done. Ugh! See you Sunday. Happy reading!

Six Sentence Sunday - The Navy's Ghost "The Wound"

Hello, Sixers! It's time for Six Sentence Sunday again. Be sure to check out the other authors who offer little glimpses of their worlds. Mine is to follow. Just a little warning this time; this upcoming snippet is not for the faint of heart with graphic detail.

In this snippet, Lt. Chris Brickman has learned she is no longer able to return to the SEAL teams, but the Navy wants her to be an instructor of the new SEAL recruits. She's surprised and happy to learn the Master Chief requested her as a new instructor, but all happiness ends when they expose her wound for the doctor's inspection.

The officers stared in horrified silence.

            Chris’ leg looked like she’d been attacked by a shark. Jagged tears in her skin and muscle showed angry red around the central wound where the bullet had entered. Blue and purple bruises stretched all over her thigh, some in the form of hand prints where someone had grabbed her. Black blood encrusted the edges of the tears, but the doctor grunted with apparent satisfaction. No stranger to bloody wounds or torn skin, Chris still had to hold back tears and repeat her own personal mantra from her favorite science fiction novel to keep from crying out in despair.

Still feeling okay? More to come soon! Happy reading! ;)

Vacation Eye-Candy

I'm on vacation this week, so this is going to be short and sweet. I'll be back at it next week and you'll get your weekly dose of Six Sentence Sunday, but until then, think happy, relaxing thoughts! :)

 Whether you're into the desert Southwest . . .

Or the rainforests of the Northwest . . .

The Grand Canyon of Arizona . . .

The Balloon Festival and Adobe houses of the high desert . . . 

Or the tropical places where the sun caresses your skin and the sand sings beneath your feet . . .

 I hope your week is relaxing and you think of your best vacations while I'm off. I'll be back next week. Until then, enjoy these two to keep your smile intact! Happy reading! :)

*Sigh* Vacation . . . .

Six Sentence Sunday - The Navy's Ghost "Awakening"

Good morning, Sixers! Welcome back to Six Sentence Sunday! This month, I'm offering you a glimpse of The Navy's Ghost, a story of the one and only female SEAL to make it through training. But don't just stop with me. There are at least a hundred other writers participating in Six Sentence Sunday. Check them out!

In this snippet, we meet Lt. Christiana Brickman for the first time, when she wakes up in the hospital.

Why was everything white? The last thing she remembered was LTJG Todd “Magic” Hunter’s blackened face looming over her, wearing the tight expression he always got when he worked on someone wounded. Hang on, was she wounded? Memory was slow in starting, but she recalled the firefight in the ratty warehouse and their contact luring her into a blind spot. She’d saved the rest of SEAL Team 4, Beta Squad a world of hurt.

It looked like she hadn’t done the same for herself.

Uh-oh! How badly was she wounded? What does this mean for her career as a SEAL? Tune in next week. Happy reading! :)

P.S. Unfortunately, the SEALs were in the news again, this time as casualties. This is my way to honor their amazing abilities, their fierce humanity, and the tragic loss when they leave us. Blessings to them and their families. SM

Wednesday Writing News

Good morning! I have a little bit of news. I got new business cards! Why is this exciting? Because they now have accurate information on them. And, you may notice, they match my blog. Woo-hoo! Cross advertising!

It was so fun to design. If you're interested in making your own business cards, I recommend Zazzle. They have a wide selection of templates or you can design your own. And they always have sales. Plus there are great gift ideas all over their site.

Also, after thinking about Six Sentence Sunday, I've decided to offer snippets from a different Work In Progress each month. You were able to read about The Bone Flute on all the Sundays in July and there's a full excerpt HERE that picks up where I left off last Sunday. For August, I'll be offering snippets of another ghost story, The Navy's Ghost, about the Navy's SEALs.

If you're interested in joining in Six Sentence Sunday, please visit my website and click on the link under the Links tab. Please read their FAQ's for all the rules on SSS and have fun! Then on Sunday, head back to the site and click on the list of authors participating in SSS. So many goodies in one place! I hope you're enjoying the snippets as much as I enjoy putting them up for you. :)

Oh, one last little thing to make you smile:

*Big sigh* Happy reading! :)

Shifting from Monday to Wednesday

Today is the day I usually write a blog post. It's a good day to do it - Monday, the beginning of the work week and a way to set the tone for the next six or seven days.

However, since I've started posting Six Sentence Sunday, doing a Monday post seems a little redundant and intrusive. Besides, the Virgo in me likes symmetry and two posts, one after the other, seems unbalanced.

What do you think? Do you read this blog each week, at the beginning of the week and expect it? Or would you prefer to have a post on Wednesday after the Sunday posts?

August is a new month and a time of new beginnings - the kids start going back to school, the weather starts to shift toward fall, and it's the last month before holidays start cropping up like sunflowers. I'm going to change up the WIP for Six Sentence Sunday, but if you've been following the SSS posts, the next scene is excerpted here to give you a bigger taste of Jozsef and Rain.

So stay tuned for some more summer sizzle on Six Sentence Sunday and I think I'll start posting on Wednesday (unless there's a huge public outcry :D). Happy reading and I'll catch you later!