Breaking the Rules at C&D...Plus a New Cover and Blurb

Today I'm over at Chicks & Dicks, where they graciously invited me to blog about worldbuilding and series, and ended up with me telling everyone what not to do. Pop over and say hi! Leave a comment for a chance to win one of my series!

Also, speaking of series, got the cover for Locke, Stock and Barrel, book three of Vampires and Mages and Weres, Oh My! (The guy in front reminds me of a young Mark Wahlberg.) This one will (finally!) be out in October at TEB. :)

Here's the blurb:

Faint heart never won fair…mage? What’s a werewolf to do when his mate runs away? Chase him, of course.

Aspen, a master mage, has loved his foster sister Brie for years, but now that she’s been forced to become an acolyte, the only way to ever win her is to find another source of the power their faction needs before the new moon. Seeking information about the were, Aspen walks into Locke’s café and finds what could be the solution to everything. He could finally have Brie…but sometimes what you think you want and what you get are two very different things.

Locke is shocked when Aspen walks into his life. He’d always been told that as an omega, he would never have a mate. But the joyous occasion is marred by his banishment from the only life he’s ever known, and even worse, Aspen has disappeared. Now, with nothing more to lose, he must track down his wayward mage. But trouble has beaten him there and unless he acts quickly, Aspen could be killed. And that’s not even the worst possible outcome…

How My Dream Came True... Plus VIP News.

I'm over at MANtastic Fiction this week, telling about how my dream came true, and how you can win a copy of the result! Just comment HERE by Thursday at midnight for a chance for an ebook copy of Unconventional At Best. :)

Also, are you a VIP member at Total-E-Bound yet? This graphic says it all. GO HERE to go sign up now!

My addition to a fun, month-long continuous story...

One of my great friends in the business, Alix Bekins, is hosting a blogwarming party, and has invited us to have loads of fun with a continuous month-long blog story, Morning Cup Of Joe, that Ariel Tachna kicked off for us on the 1st.

Fourteen twists and turns and authors later, we're halfway through Noah and Pat's story. My Part Fifteen is up over at her blog today!

Here's my post, or if you'd rather start from the beginning and catch up, here is Part One. Enjoy!

Release Day...no...Week? Whatev, I have a new story out!

Well, I drove close to 900 miles on release day Monday, so my post is a bit late, but still thrilled to announce that Unconventional At Best is now available at Total-E-Bound!

Such a great anthology about men who meet, or meet up, at conventions. My fellow authors Carol, TA, Amber, Stephani and Jambrea (see? I didn't even have to use last names, you already KNOW who they are!) all kicked in amazing stories that fan-gurl me loved on. Still can't believe my name is on the cover with the Fab Five there!

My story, Rough Awakening, is about Mario Santos (from Rough Riders), who finally got his own tale. Hope you all enjoy it!

Summer Writing and Family Fun: Finding a Balance

I know I'm not the only writer out there who is now battling the opposing demands and siren songs of both their writing career and their family time this season. Also pulling me away from the computer is a never-ending list of summertime activities that you just can't put off because, well, it's summer.

Here are my biggest challenges and time-sucks right now:

• LONG days...literally. With the sun coming up at an ungodly hour and not needing headlights until around 10 pm, the days just linger on, demanding that we fill them with activities well before and after usual quiet times.
• Kids home from school. With them around all day long, I certainly can't get into an uninterrupted headspace. Plus there are also other people's kids hanging around all day and evening now. 
• Summer camps. Basketball camp, tennis camp, volleyball camp, summer swim club for the oldest and lessons for the youngest. Dance classes. Library events. I swear I'm driving them around more now than during the school year.
• The Great Outdoors and other summery stuff. A yard that needs cared for. Ditto with the garden. Doing BBQs and going to friends'--invitations seem to come out of the woodwork in the summer. Going to the park for the day. The coast beckons, as do the mountains. So much to do...and such a short season to do it in.
• Annual trip to the Midwest. This is a minimum of 3 weeks, what with the distance being 1700 miles one way. Lots of driving days, visiting with people and tired, excited kids to wrangle.

 It's taken a concerted effort to make any progress on anything I need to get done. Here are a few things that I've found to have made it all seem a bit easier:

• My Google calendar. I can add to and edit it from anywhere since it's a widget on my phone every time I turn it on, it's on my computer and I can share it with hub. I literally schedule everything on it, from kids' activities to exercise time to editing for the day job to writing time. It's a great visual and helps me mentally prepare for especially concurrent or consecutive activities. Plus the reminders chiming at me (particularly for exercise and editing) help motivate me to actual get them done!
• Help from hub. From fixing dinner, to arranging rides to things, to just letting him take the kids and do summery things while I get some work done, relying on his offers to do things (and then backing away and not micromanaging!) has freed up a lot of time. 
• Letting household things go. So the house doesn't get vacuumed this week. Or the bookshelves are dusty. If it's not an immediate need, I've been trying to prioritize. I'd rather watch the neighborhood kids and mine put on a puppet show than file paid bills. The papers will still be there when I can get to it, but the kids grow up fast.
• Delegating. The oldest one has long been able to feed herself, so now at times I have her feed her sister. She also mowed the lawn today and was very proud of herself. They both help with the garden. They know what they need for each activity and they're responsible for making sure they gather, wear and pack whatever's appropriate before we go. At the start of summer vacation, I told them they have two jobs this summer--keep things picked up and create their own fun. So far so good!
• Making computer time count. Less social networking, guest blogs, and keeping up with my feeds. More editing, writing...and editing and writing...and so forth...with minimal "fluff" time.

 So what are your summer challenges? Any helpful hints you've found that work to keep you on task?

Happy Independence Day! My wish to you...

Whether it's a scorching hot one where you live...or you need to cuddle up to stay warm during the fireworks tonight...

 ...may you all have a safe and memorable hump day holiday celebration!!

Preview of the fireworks here in beautiful Portland

Helloooooo Out There...

Gah! And here I thought people had just gotten busy because of summer...

I'd vaguely noticed that my inbox wasn't as busy lately, but didn't think much of it. Inbox is singular on purpose, btw...I have emails from all of my various email accounts (they seem to multiply, don't they?) forwarded into one user-friendly account.

I was still getting emails, just not as many.

So it was a surprise when Amber Kell got in touch via one of my alternate emails this weekend and told me that my work one was bouncing emails. After a bit of investigation, I realized that my inbox at work was filled to capacity with close to 7500 emails and their attachments, lol, since I had the emails forwarded elsewhere, but never actually deleted any from the main account's inbox. Lesson learned! :) I emptied it out and now should be good for another couple of years. Send out an email telling people to resend if anything bounced. Viola. Back on track. End of story...or so I thought.

THEN, I got an email from one of my publishers who said they were resending a message since they hadn't heard back from me. I got to thinking, though, that they wouldn't have used my work email, but my Devon one. So I checked the forwarding history on that one, and lo and behold, I hadn't "successfully retrieved messages" since June 21st! O.O

Evidently that one had been put "on hold" due to some mysterious something-or-other and I had to reverify and set up a new password and all that jazz. Sigh. So now that I've gone through the triple digit emails that had built up there, I'm hoping that's the end of my email issues for a while!

I mean, really. Two different, unrelated email problems at the same time? Just glad they were somewhat easily resolved.

So my apologies if anyone out there hasn't heard back from me in a timely fashion lately! I'm back on task now, promise!!

How is everyone's summer going? It's a hot one for a lot of you. We're pretty cool still here in the Pac NW, 60's and 70's most days still. I saw this on FB and it pretty much sums things up. I'm right under the 76 up in the corner...(*ducks as angry, overheated people throw things at me*).

Make mine a margarita with a frosted glass I can press to my face! What's your hot weather remedy?

GRL Anthology Announcement and New Cover Loving!!

What happens at Cons doesn’t always stay at Cons. And while these men are away from real life, they find that the best love can grow from the most unconventional beginnings...

Very excited to finally be able to share my next 'Coming Soon': The Unconventional At Best Anthology, with my five fabulous co-authors and wonderful friends, Carol Lynne, TA Chase, Jambrea Jo Jones, Amber Kell and Stephani Hecht.

Soon after the last GRL, I had a dream that I was in a powerhouse anthology with some of the great authors I had met there. Not being one to let a premonition like that go, I suggested that we actually make it happen...and we did!!

All of the stories are MM and based on men who meet (or meet up) at conventions. Unconventional At Best will release at Total-E-Bound in ebook on August 6th and then in print in September. Can't wait!!