Saturday, December 29, 2012

2012 Recap


January: I kept up with my blogging and plowed full steam ahead into Book 2 of my Regency Paranormal romance series. My critique partners, Bonnie R. Paulson and Shelley Martin are too be thanked for providing crucial feedback and motivation.

February: This month has been difficult for me since my mom passed away on Valentine's day of '09. However, I think I handled February of 2012 pretty well. I kept writing, kept blogging, and didn't overdo it on the drinking. I slept through the actual day and went back to writing.

March: As winter began to abate, life got easier as usual. I got to go to the movies for the first time in for-e-ver. Naturally, we went to see the HUNGER GAMES. LOVED IT! I got further on book 2 and began getting acquainted with my fellow Sourcebooks Casablanca authors. Awesome ladies!

April: I wore my fingers to the bone going for the final stretch in my novel...and I got to do the best thing ever for my writing productivity. I ditched my family to stay in a hotel room. I drank red bull and hard cider and chain smoked while writing non-stop for hours. I took a few breaks to swim in the 24 hour pool before returning to the world of my characters. I think some of the best scenes were accomplished that night.


May: W000t! I finished the rough draft of book 2, then I finished revising the first book in my urban fantasy series, THEN I started a new rock star romance novella. I also made the decision to go back to college and get my English degree because I was tired of being a janitor. In many ways it was a dream job. The solitude and ability to listen to music all shift was glorious. However, the low pay and other annoyances eventually wore on me. I also got to enjoy a good season of fishing and morel mushroom picking.


June: Ahh, sweet, glorious summer! I eased off a little on my workaholic frenzy and allowed myself to socialize and catch up on fishing.


July: This was a fun month. We kicked off with an awesome 4th of July BBQ. Our neighbor fell in the pond.



We also picked several gallons of huckleberries and I finished the rough draft of a rock star romance novella.
Best of all, I got to work on the developmental edits with the awesome Deb Werksman. She is wonderful to work with!

August: My husband went out of town for two weeks and I celebrated my 30th birthday. My party was awesome. I had live music!


While the husband was away, we were supposed to quit smoking. I wanted to kill everything....especially when my beloved cat, Isis, died--- on my birthday. Some good things were that the anger from quitting smoking totally killed my appetite so I lost like 15 pounds.



Also I got the cover for BITE ME, YOUR GRACE! And I was able to work a deal with a friend so I could use his house as office space two nights a week. I got my copyedits done in a week.

September: I started college as well as the third book in my regency paranormal romance series. OMG, I had no idea that I'd be so slammed. If it weren't for my weekly writing nights I wouldn't have made it. I quickly learned that "self defense" was not the best choice for a P.E. credit. I pulled my groin muscle the second week and had to use a cane for a few days. By the end of the month, I gave up on quitting smoking.

October: So slammed with school I practically missed Halloween. But I got a new cat. He belonged to the neighbors until they got a new puppy. Then he adopted me.



November: Still slammed with school....and page proofs.

December: I made it through the semester with 4 As a B and a C+. It was a joy to go on vacation and focus on my writing. Almost at the halfway mark in Book 3. I got my ARCs in and almost died from joy.



Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas, all!

The view from Grandma's house


Merry Christmas, everyone! It's an extremely busy time for me. First we go to my paternal grandmother's tree farm on Christmas eve for dinner and celebrating. Then we go home and drink eggnog and watch A CHRISTMAS STORY. Once the kids are settled down and in bed we get ready for Santa.

On Christmas morning, we get up waaaaay earlier than I'd prefer and open presents. The kids make a huge mess and it's like pulling teeth to get them to clean up the wrapping paper and get ready for Christmas breakfast at my husband's parent's house. Then I put the turkey in the oven and we head out. My mother in law makes hashbrowns special for me. It's awesome. After breakfast we exchange gifts and then we head back home to get ready to go to my other grandma's house.

At grandma's house we get spoiled rotten with baked treats, pie, and my turkey. The recipe is here.

After all that's over, we go home and I collapse on the couch with some hard cider and refuse to do anything for the next 24 hrs.

It's exhausting, but so wonderful to spend time with my enormous family.

What's your Christmas tradition?

Saturday, December 22, 2012

WINNER of the ARC Giveaway!

The winner is...... LIZZIE ASHTON!

...and when I drew the name I realized something fun: The hero's last name is Ashton! Whoa.


Anyway, a huge congrats to Lizzie! Send me your postal info and I'll send you the book!

For the rest of you, thanks so much for entering and for your support. And be sure to stick around because there's going to be lots more chances to win once my blog tour kicks off.

Have a great Saturday! 

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

End of Semester Celebration... and ARC Giveaway!


Holy crap, my last blog post was in November? I knew was slammed with schoolwork, but damn. Anyway, I'll give you all a recap of my experiences and lessons from the semester later but now we have something more exciting. 

::deep breath::..........

MY ARCS are HERE!!!!!





After much celebrating and showing them off to friends and family, I had to figure out what to do with them....aside from staring in dazed shock. I only got 5. The rest are with reviewers....which has me excited and terrified.

My mother-in-law took one, husband insisted on another, and two went to dear, supportive friends.

The last will go to one winner who comments on this post before Friday at midnight. 

Big hugs to all of you!