It is so freaking cool to  be on the Harlequin display.  I can’t even tell you.  Here’s to many more!  Let’s bust out the virtual champagne!  It’s Cristal, of course.  I only imagine the very best, LOL.

Anyway, here’s a rundown of where I’ll be over the next couple of weeks, rambling about my writing, spreading joy, and dispensing goodies.  Please come visit!

September 1-Yankee Romance Reviewers

September 3-Romance Bandits

September 6-Harlequin Paranormal Romance Blog

September 9-Bitten By Books

September 13-Star-Crossed Romance

September 14-Literary Escapism

Hope you all can come hang out!  Happy Monday, everyone!  Hope it’s a good week

I can’t believe that the book is finally coming out!  Just like I can’t believe that a month from now I will have turned in the manuscript for Dark Awakening, which I’m still writing away on.  It’s turning my brain to mush.  Still, I think it’s going to turn out really well.  I’m not going to get much of a break, but that’s fine.  I do plan on vegetating for at least a week and completely ignoring the computer!

Hope you all had a good week.  My two older kids went back to school, and I think we’re all happier for it!  I’m just busy.  Busy, busy, busy, and thinking longingly of the day when it will slow down, just a little.  The month before deadline always kind of sucks.  It wouldn’t suck quite as much if I were a faster writer, but as Popeye says, I am what I am!

Sorry for the short, late post.  My brain is full of vampire cats and their allies and enemies, and there’s not room for much else right now!  Pretty sure my husband misses me being somewhat lucid.  Oh well, the brains usually come back pretty quickly   Here’s a song to send you into your weekend…I’m loving this one right now.  You’ll probably have to click through to Youtube to watch, though…freaking Vevo. *eyeroll*

Firstly, I received an email from a VERY sweet reviewer late last night who does work for Cataromance, and the review is FABULOUS. I freaking love it when my books get love. I mean, if I’m the only one who likes the story, what’s the point? Check the review here. It’s SO nice, and like I said, the reviewer being sweet is just gravy

Secondly, hot guy with a puppy (or if you prefer, Vampire Damon with a puppy):

And thirdly, and most importantly, Chewie, nine weeks old, with a hose in the driveway:

That’s all I got on Monday morning, ladies.  I’m off to infuse myself with more coffee, and then stuff my head back into the further adventures of Lily and Ty.  Bad things are afoot.  Jaden’s trying to slink out on them.  They’re in unfriendly territory.  All kinds of bad stuff is just around the corner.  First, though…more sex!

Well, hey, it works in books   Enjoy your day!

First off, I spoke to my lovely editor at Nocturne, and I’ve got the thumbs up on my proposal to do a werewolf story for my next book with them, which has a lot of potential to be spun off into a series.  More on THAT to come, but I can tell you that for sure the book currently titled UNDER A WICKED MOON (which is totally subject to change) is a go!  This is the first of what I hope will be a bunch of stories about a werewolf pack in rural Northern PA called the Blackpaw.  I can already tell I’m going to enjoy writing Mia and Jenner’s story!  He’s all big and wolfish and YUMMY.

Secondly, it somehow escaped me, but it looks like RENEGADE ANGEL pulled a 4.5 star review in Romantic Times!  YAY!  One of these days, I’ll remember to subscribe so I actually find out about these things in a timely manner.

Anyway, without further adieu, here are a few things that are keeping my brain busy and my feet tapping lately.  A couple of them you’ll have to click through to Youtube to listen to (stupid content restrictions…thanks a lot, record companies), but it’s worth it. Have a great weekend!

And last but certainly not least, I LOVE this song, even though it gets stuck in my head a lot!

That’s about it here…yes, boring as hell, I know!  I’m busy wishing I was at RWA National in Orlando with Marie and the Cat Master, though I wouldn’t be getting any work done.  It sounds so FUN!  But it’s in NYC next year, and I WILL be there.  Cheryl even managed to find a cute guy to take a picture of!  Not that I had any doubts she’d manage it  

I’ve been listening to a lot of music this week, so I’ll leave you for the weekend with some stuff that’s been getting my mental wheels turning as I write my way through a vampire club called Mabon, where all manner of debauchery is the norm and my poor heroine is trying really, REALLY hard not to stare (and failing, naturally).  As usual, I’ve managed to write a conflicted secondary character who I’m already a little bit in love with.  Guess he’ll need his own book one day!  Enjoy the tunes, and your weekend.

I will admit to kind of loving Jared Leto.  So pretty.  So attractive in guyliner.  He really ought to consider being a vampire

I feel like I’m finally starting to get my feet back under me after last week.  For anyone out there who doesn’t follow me on facebook, which is a place where I contentedly fritter away valuable writing time on a regular basis, I lost my oldest Pekingese, Fizgig, last Wednesday.  Didn’t feel like blogging about it on Friday, and still can’t look at his picture without crying like a baby, so I’m not going to say much about it except that I’m still in the process of mourning him.  He had lived a good life for 13 years, and he was beautiful, and I miss him.  And that, as Forrest Gump might say, “is all I got to say about that.”  But to those of you who’ve expressed your condolences, please know that I’ve really appreciated them.

Now, on to lighter things!  I have finally managed to find my instructions for getting my mug, plus the cover of Renegade Angel, up on the very cool Nocturne Authors website.  Click HERE to check it all out…in another month I get to be front page material!  September might wind up  being pretty cool if I can stay sane.  I’ll be doing a bit of guest blogging, running some contests, and generally promoting the tale of my sexy fallen angel, Raum, and the half-human woman of his dreams (or is it nightmares?) Ember.  Fun stuff!  Except that I also have that incredibly frightening September 15 deadline I need to hit for my cat-shifting vampire story, and while I am SO loving discovering this story as I’m writing it, WOW is it gonna be tight!  I can do it.  I’m on track.  But I see some pain in my future, because my best-laid plans tend to get blown all to hell on a regular basis.

And then, of course, there is the impending arrival of Chewie.  In less than three weeks.  Do you see the potential for chaos here?  Hmm…methinks that behind this sweet face may be some devilment.

   Hope you all had a good weekend!

They’re already starting work on a cover for the book that is currently called Dark Awakening.  Is that not AWESOME?!  I’m amazed.  And terrified.  I must finish this book!!  They did ask what my hero looked like, in detail.  In reply, I sent this picture…MsM, you’ll appreciate this

That’s my Tynan. *happy sigh*

Hope you all have a Monday that’s full of inspiration!

So those of you who visit me on facebook know that the puppy we’ve had for a month, Casper, had to go back to the rescue.  We tried REALLY hard, and despite the fact that he was absolutely nothing like a Great Pyrenees in temperment (being high energy and high maintenance 24-7 are NOT hallmarks of that breed, who even as puppies tend to be a bit easier going), we were willing to work through his behavior issues and deal with the fact that he was more of an arctic mix, with very different needs.  We even had a trainer lined up to come to the house this weekend.  The big problem, the insurmountable problem, was that Casper’s bad behavior with my big baby kitty, Bruno, was escalating.  It was clear to everyone, vet included, that Casper was half Husky, and his personality and instincts are classic Husky.  Sadly, one thing Huskies are noted for is having one of the highest prey drives of any breed, and of being utterly untrustworthy with small animals, cats in particular.  This is not to say that there aren’t Huskies out there who live peacefully with cats, but it would be more the exception than the rule, and there are many cases of Huskies who have seemed to live fine with a particular cat for several years before getting a wild hair one day and shredding them while the owner is gone.  It’s just in them.  Rescue Huskies are almost never placed with cat families.  And our sweet Casper, who is a joyful, happy puppy in other ways, has an incredibly strong hunting instinct.  The last couple of days, he’d gotten so he’d not only stare intensely and stalk the cat, but grab him roughly by the neck with his mouth.  No amount of hissing or swatting by Bruno had ever done anything but further excite the dog, and I guess I should have seen this coming the very first time he cornered the cat and made him cry a few weeks ago.  I just thought we could fix it.  I would never forgive myself if anything happened to Bruno that I could have prevented.  Anyway, end of story, the rescue coordinator completely agreed that it was unworkable, he is back in temp boarding until they can find him a foster and/or a good home, and we are puppy-less once more.  Lots of tears here.  He’s a good boy, and will make someone a wonderful pet as long as they go in understanding what he is and what he needs.  They’re going to keep me in the loop on him finding a new home.  I want to know he’s okay.  Hopefully, as a beautiful 5-month-old baby, he’ll find his forever home quickly.  They’re using some pictures I took of him, and this time, he is being advertised as a Husky mix, no cats, no small kids.  The breed write-up is just totally different than that of a Pyr.  But I guess we’ve helped in some small way…the next people will want him for what he is. 

I’ll tell you what, though, this all sucked HARDCORE.  We have decided we are going to try again this fall with a new fur baby, but this time, we are going to work with a good breeder and get a purebred.  Rescue is wonderful, but considering what happened this time and how awful everyone here feels losing a puppy we were quite attached to, we feel like we need to be 100% sure of the breed and the temperment of the parents.  I do NOT want to go through this again!  So we will be doing what we had initially planned quite some time ago, and getting a Newfoundland puppy.  He will be born in a month, and ready to come home at the end of September/beginning of October.  By then, we’ll all have recovered from this mess, hopefully stopped crying intermittently, and be ready to jump in again.  This weekend we go to visit the parents, and I’m going to take some pictures, so I’ll share those then.

Ugh.  Long week.  Tell me something good, people!  Anything fun to share?  Now that the dust is settling, I’m just writing, which is going to be my primary occupation until September 15th.  And somewhere in here, I need to tweak my outline for that werewolf book I want to do for Nocturne.  My editor there is pretty awesome, has been great at teaching me what I need to do differently when writing category, and she has just a few extra things she wants me to incorporate into the storyline.  But she loves the idea and the chapters so far, so I feel pretty confident that you’ll be seeing Jenner and Mia and their adventures with his werewolf pack in the woods of Northern PA.  They may even get a whole series.  That’s part of the idea, and I’d love that   It surprised me, how much I missed werewolves!  Must be the power of Jacob’s smolder.  But damn do I need a new office chair, and soon, as this is rapidly turning into a full-time job.  Oddly enough, it had not seemed that way up until recently. But I guess that’s what happens as you actually start to have a career!

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!  I’ll be back on Monday with pictures and pithy commentary, as usual.

So it’s back to the grind for me.  I sent the fun werewolf proposal off yesterday after giving it one more read (yup, Julia became Mia, and all was well).  I could see that being a category series, if it works out.  Apparently I missed my werewolves a little bit, LOL, which I already knew.  Speaking of, if anyone out there hasn’t read any of the MacInnes Werewolves trilogy and wants to, I’ve discovered they’re out of print, so snatch up a copy if you see it.  The good thing is, they’re still available secondhand since they’re not old, and they’re also available in e-book.  That bit of info made me very glad I kept two copies of each book just for me on my shelf!

Anyway, I’ll go home, I’ll put stuff away, and I’ll get my butt in the chair and WRITE.  I’ve got a five page a day quota to meet to reach my deadline, so I’m thinking I need a better office chair.  The one I have is pretty, but it kills my back.  Any of you have any suggestions for a good, not hideously expensive desk chair? 

Hope everyone had a good Fourth.  We cooked out, pigged out, and watched fireworks on the beach, which was pretty much just how I wanted to spend it.  And now…back to reality.  Boo.  Hiss.  Have a great Monday, everyone!  And enjoy the pic of Keifer, the non-sparkly vampire.  I looooved him as the Lost Boys’ David way back when.