Slowly Writing

I'm not very talkative lately, am I?

I hit one major milestone this week--I finished a complete draft of my biggest work-in-progress, a full-length romantic suspense.  Right now, the story is fermenting (aka, I am not opening it for a few weeks to allow my brain a chance to read it objectively and not just fall back into the love-hate pattern I had while writing the end).

I don't have any firm release plans yet.  I haven't even read the thing start-to-finish, let alone decided on my approaches for editing and all that.  I can self-pub it, self-edit or pay an editor, I could shop it around to a variety of e-presses, I could shop it to agents in the hopes of snagging a print press. I could stuff it under my bed and pretend I didn't spend a year and a half on the dumb thing. (wait, did I call it dumb? By "dumb" I meant "brilliant", "engaging", "evocative"....ahem...) .  I do have a potential cover photo picked out and paid for that I bought as an incentive to finish the story.  So if I do self-pub, I've got step 1 (of like 50) checked off.

Next up is a re-write/edit job on a short story called The Christmas Affair that is a tie-in to The Paris Affair. No specific release plans there either, except to say that I'll try to have it available by some method or other around Christmas. This is another sexy story, similar heat level to The Paris Affair, featuring a minor character from that first novel.  My initial draft of it, according to my critique partners, lacked conflict.  Oops.  This is why you have critique partners. (Also, The Paris Affair has a new price over at Amazon--$2.99 for the Kindle edition. If you are looking for a steamy beach read, go download a copy).

Call the Rain has been enjoying a slow but decent little career. I've got a few good reviews here and there. I'd love more, but that's not up to me, really. Short of whining and begging, there's not much else I can do except to remind folks that if you read it and liked it, then give it a few stars (and maybe a few kind words) :)

And lastly, I have a new laptop. Not that it's really writing news, except setting it up did suck several days of my time by the time I installed Office, Adobe CS4, Visual Studio, Eclipse, etc. The old one was making a disturbing clicking noise and occasionally refused to wake up from hibernation. It also was barely powerful enough to run Word on Windows 7--Skype continually complained that that the video wasn't fast enough, and the built-in wifi adapter would drop connections from all but the oldest routers.  I never could install Photoshop on it because it simply couldn't handle the pressure. Also, you can now buy micro SD cards with more storage space than it's harddrive (all of 60 gig...which was huge when I bought it).  The old laptop and I have been through a lot together--8 years and 4+ manuscripts.  It's not dead yet, but shall enjoy a slow slide into retirement with a much lighter workload.

Free Book for Mother's Day Weekend

Call the Rain will be free on May 11th and 12th!  Download! Read! (Maybe even rate it!).

Free on Kindle May 11 and 12, 2013

What's next after Call the Rain

A downside of my shameless genre hopping is that, so far, I haven't really written two books in a row that are similar to each other. It's not that I can't write a follow-up, but over several years of shopping manuscripts, I was afraid to spend too much time working on a follow-up to something that might never sell.  Throwing good money after bad (or, really, throwing good time after bad).

So, if you've read either of my published books (or even if you haven't), you might be wondering what I'll publish next.  People like series, and if anyone happened to like what they read, they might want more of the same. The good news is that everything I have written will (eventually) have related follow-ups. The bad news is that I have yet to write most of those follow-ups.

Here's the plan (chronologically):

Near-Term:

Accomplice. Fall 2013  A sexy romantic suspense. Novel-length (around 65000 words). I'm a handful of scenes from the end, plus I have the post-draft work to do (lots of edits, formatting, cover art, etc).

Holiday 2013 I will be release a short (about 7500 words, or about 50 pages) tie-in called The Christmas Affair, featuring a character who only had a brief moment of screen time (Harriet, the disgruntled engineer). I have a draft of this done, but edits remain.

Longer Term:

Follow up to Call the Rain. Alas, I have not #2 in this series. And this will be a series made up of more novellas and some novel-length works.  I have two competing ideas for the next installment.  One is Quarie's story, the sister of the heroine from Call the Rain.  The second is a different part of the same overall world, but all new characters. Quarie may appeal to readers of Call the Rain, but the second idea has been floating around my brain longer. I also have the beginning 1/4 of a longer, also-related work set in the same overall world.  (Did I mention that this is Epic Fantasy with a ginormous world in which I shall slowly begin unveiling a rather large problem that affects every one of these disparate peoples that I'm going to be writing about...)

The Vegas Affair. This will be a novel-length direct sequel to The Paris Affair.  It is the story of Kelsie, Helmut's sister.  I am aiming for a 2014 release, but no promises because all I have written now is a short synopsis and some character notes.

Sci-Fi Romance series.  I  have been sitting on Leap for a couple of years (title is subject to change), but it is really book two of a series. I have the opening chapters to Take Me Down, book 1. But an opening does not a whole novel make. I have a whole series name and follow-ups planned.

The Wild Card:

And last, but not least, I have yet another contemporary (with series potential). I've been sitting on Hold on to the Knight for several years now. It's a sweet contemporary--another PG-type rated story. I didn't want to release it back-to-back with uber-sexy Paris Affair.

Release Day!

Pssst...did I mention I released another book?

This one is traditional fantasy with a (sweet) romance.  It's novella length, clocking in just over 30,000 words. So about a third of a full-length print book.

Yes, yes, I know. A little different than The Paris Affair.  If you've been around this blog a while, you're probably not surprised in the least. I'm a shameless genre hopper.*

Anywho, here's the cover, the blurb, and the link to buy on Kindle (hint: Prime members can borrow it for free!). 

Blurb:

The water beckons…

Illista and her sister fled their homeland when invaders killed their parents and tried to enslave the girls’ innate water magic. Now disguised as servile Waki, Illista serves the Segra people on the dusty high plains, far from the warm oceans of her childhood.

One night, lured by the siren song of the Segra’s sacred lake waters, Illista sheds her Waki disguise for a swim and becomes witness to a murder attempt on the Segra chief’s only son and heir.

War looms…

Joral’s marriage to the daughter of another tribe will seal the peace between the warring nations and strengthen both halves of the Segra people against invaders from the West. When he is poisoned and nearly drowned on the night of his betrothal, a mysterious sprite of a woman saves his life.
Was the attempt on his life the workings of a rival, or was it tied to the sudden arrival of Western mercenaries who seek the missing water witches?

A secret revealed…

When Joral discovers Illista’s secret, will he sacrifice her to secure peace for his people? Or will he follow his heart for the sake of a water sprite who may be the Segra’s only hope for restoring the rains to the drought-ridden land?

*FYI, I do have a follow-up or two to The Paris Affair in the works, including a holiday-themed short that is in work, and a sequel on the drafting board.  Did I mention genre-hopping? Because in the middle of the Paris sequels, I'm planning a little romantic suspense and maybe some sci fi.  And I have a sequel or three to Call the Rain also on the drafting board. It's a big board, ok?