The Earl's Engagement is For Sale

Well, after much time spent with the revision notes from my lovely and wise critique partners, THE EARL'S ENGAGEMENT is finished and out there among the masses. Yay!

You can find it for Amazon here.

I've also uploaded directly to Barnes & Noble for the Nook here.

Sony, Apple, Diesal, and Kobo links are on the sidebar.

This book was an absolute pleasure to write. It gave me fits and starts for awhile but once it settled down and I decided which direction to take with it, it became like an old friend.

I was worried during the writing of it because I didn't cry. And that made me nervous. I know the book will be a success if I cry at some point. Hence, my tearing it apart from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Once I implemented all the changes and rereading it, I bawled like a baby. So yay for me.

Anyway, for all who read it, I hope you enjoy it.
And for those of you looking for the paperback version, look for that in late spring.

Almost Ready

You'll be happy to hear, THE EARL'S ENGAGEMENT is almost ready for publication. I hit a snag after I sent it off to my critique partners. You see, I wrote this book in a frenzy because it was supposed to be finished by the end of September, but I moved over the summer and didn't have a chance to even start writing it until September. I had an outline, and the first few chapters written, but never enough time to keep going with it.

I actually finished it on Thanksgiving weekend, but then had to take off the last 14 chapters because it sounded so much like THE LADY'S MASQUERADE I couldn't let it go out into the world like that. Hence, from Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve, I wrote the last third of the book all over again.

So, I polished it up a bit, sent it to my critique partners, and began to clean the house. See, that's what I do -- I write like a madwoman and neglect my house. When the book is finished, then I clean like a madwoman.

Anyway, as I was cleaning, I realized chapter 29 wasn't going to work. Well, it could have, but it didn't sound right, so I decided to do a little research. Upon further investigation, I found something that would make more sense, so over the weekend, I changed a few things around and hopefully, when you read it, you'll love it as much as I do.

It'll be back from my last critique partner at the beginning of the week, and I'm hoping to only have to do minimal revisions. And then by next weekend, I'll be publishing. Yay!

What the New Year Will Bring

I'm awaiting edits from my critique partners before THE EARL'S ENGAGEMENT is ready for publication. Not too long now. Another week or two.

I'm not one for making resolutions, but I do have some goals in mind for the new year.

The first one is to finish rewriting THE LADY'S MASQUERADE. I've changed so many things around in the published books, that MASQUERADE really doesn't make sense any more. Hence the rewrites. I'm hoping to get through with that during the next couple of months. I have to add in more of Lady Olivia's story and how this series all started so I can finish the series with all of the unanswered questions, answered at last. (I'm hoping you'll enjoy it all.)

The second thing I'm hoping to do is finish writing THE CAPTAIN'S LADY. That is the second book in the Reluctant Grooms series. I started it about 3 years ago, and after learning all I could about the slave trade, I decided the book needs a major reconstruction. I love the story and Richard is one of my favorite heroes. I've based him on this character.

Richard has been a very quiet character. He does show up in some of my other novels, but for the most part, once he gets back from America, he and Amanda live a sedate country life. However, he does make an appearance in THE EARL'S ENGAGEMENT.

Third on the list is to work on an extensive outline for THE SEDUCTION OF MR. SUMMERVILLE. I've written books without outlines, allowing the characters to take me where they want to go, but found to my detriment, that is not always the best way to write. Then again, I have written outlines, and find I never use them. However, with SEDUCTION, there is a LOT of stuff going on and I have to make sure my research, characters, and timelines are in sinc. SEDUCTION will be the final book in the series and everything needs to be completely tied up in a bright bow. However, that book will not even be started until either late fall or the beginning of 2014. I have several other projects that need to be finished in my "other" genre (contemporary women's fiction).

As for short stories -- I'm not sure where I stand with those yet. I don't have any characters knocking around in my head wanting me to tell their story. But maybe I'll be inspired at some point. 

I also have to find time to reformat everything for sale in paperback and let me tell you how much time reformatting takes. Unfortunately, I can't spend every day writing, there is also the business aspect, and marketing and promotion takes time away from my keyboard.

So, those are my goals. I hope you come along for the ride.