Totally Psyched with Totally Entwined Group

I have had a wonderful journey getting Jewel of Ramstone ready for publication with Totally Entwined Group (Totally Bound)

Click here! Excerpt, Link, and so much more.

Pre-order: February 16th
Early download: March 1st
General release: March 29th

Here's a little teaser:

Something for Saturday~ What's better than a book?

  Seriously, what's better than a book? You open the cover and words take you to a place you've never been.

That's what I love about writing as well. I create characters, settings, and places for a reader to escape to--if for but a while. (I escape too. Just saying.)

My main genre is historical fiction. Especially medieval. I haven't a clue as to why I've always been fascinated with that time period. I even had a reoccurring dream that I was a medieval maiden running from an enemy knight--well, I guess that's more of a nightmare, but that's another story. (If I remember right, I posted about that nightmare a couple of years back. It actually inspired a scene in Jewel of Ramstone.) Maybe I'll re-post that later this week.

Anyway...where was I? Oh yeah, medieval times. I researched the era to assure the clothing, food, weaponry and such are accurate in my stories, be it The Medieval Quest series with book one JEWEL OF RAMSTONE. or my Magic Stone Series.

Fantasy is fantasy, but I used what I gleaned from medieval research in the Magic Stone Trilogy as well. Obviously I didn't research the time-travel element in that series. (I really wish I had a Tardis...or Dr. Who.) Luckily, someone or something blessed me with storytelling ability, and I wrote the first book, For All Time. Cade travels from medieval times to modern day where he meets Sage. And her dog, Tex. I didn't intend to have my very own dog in the story, but he nudged his way in, and nearly stole the story with his typical mischief. 

The second book, Timeless Valentine, is filled with the wonderment a medieval sorcerer can bring to a teller at a bank. Kerry, the teller, and Wren, work magic of their own. Enough said?

The third book, Stolen Time, was kind of a surprise to me. I didn't even know the first book would start a series. Though I am the author, my characters tend to take over my writing. There's a secondary character, Margery, from book one, For All Time. When I wrote the word END, I thought that was the end of her. However, Margery refused to give up her fight. She nagged me, and refused to quit until I gave her a chance to snag the man she loved. Little did Margery realize I was going to tear her away from everything familiar...

Well, heck. I guess I've rambled enough. 

Woman reading a book by stockphoto at freedigitalphoto.net   
The dog photo...TEX--is mine. 

Awkward

Say awkward out loud. Doesn't that word sound awkward? Yesterday, I discovered if I said the word  awkward enough times, it didn't resemble a word at all! It just reminded me of a deranged crow. Giggling at the thought, I kept repeating it. Then...

my neighbor peeked over my privacy fence.

I laughed so hard I nearly wet my pants. It was in those precarious moments of near-dampness that I realized I AM AWKWARD. Other than the fact I act like an idiot in public, here's proof of that deduction:

I am clumsy...

...and clumsy on top of clumsy.

I do weird stuff for no reason....

...and find joy in doing so.

I blurt stuff like: 

 Libraries remind me of explosions from a fairy's imagination.

Yeah, that sounded better in my head.

That's all I'm divulging...for now. People have a challenge understanding me as it is.

Can you relate? If so, what are some of your awkward traits?

Blog comments welcome...

...even awk-awk-awkward ones.

Thoughts After Submission

Get your mind outta the gutter. I don't mean it that way. 

I'm talking about submitting a manuscript. 

Stealing a Moment to Happy Dance

Stolen Time is ready! Are you?

You're a WHAT?

Let's talk about magic today.

A hot guy named Wren catches Kerry's...er...fancy.

Then after he makes everything whoa-tingle-whoop with a kiss, he makes her feel beautiful for the first time in ages. More than anything, he makes her care.

Then tells her he's a sorcerer.

From another time. 

You. Are. Frickin'. Insane.

And he won't shut the hell up about a stupid rock. 

Okay, okay. A magic stone. Whatever.

Knights, and wizards and whores, oh my!

Did the title of the post get your attention?

Wait. What?

A fellow author took my (questionable) sense of humor and created some pretty cool stuff.

I mean really. What happens when you put these three characters together? Sage sure found out.

But I'm a Princess!

My husband is Italian. Well, he says half Italian and half Sicilian, but I still say that's 100% Italian. (Now that I've over-used the word Italian, let me do it some more.) 

Though hubby is the Italian, I'm the one traveling to Italy in the near future. Go figure.

My sister and I have planned this twin trip for two years. And we're not even twins.

BODICE RIPPER COVERS...BEWARE?

Hey, there's nothing wrong with typical romance covers. Who doesn't like gazing at a hot guy without a shirt on?

Yummy

Now let me switch gears. I know I've talked about this before, but I really love this idea! How about an artistic/modernized romance cover? No bare-chested guy to gaze at? What the?

But I want bare-chested guys!

Book Giveaway

I often wondered about book giveaways on blogs. Do they help sales, or does one enter simply to get a free book, never to visit the blog again?

Well, I'm taking a chance on you. I'm certain once you read the first book in my Magic Stone Series, you will want to read them all. This in mind, I am offering a chance to win a copy.

Thanks to BREATHLESS PRESS and their staff of amazing editors, proofers, cover artists and more, I am thrilled with this new and improved edition, For All Time.  And there's more news! The Magic Stone series--all three books-- is accepted by Breathless Press.

Now, for book one:

"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." - Ronald E. Osborn

Will I ever master my craft? Is there a key to doing so? I don't know, but no matter how much I study, I learn something new from editors.

During edits for my book, For All Time, I learned about em dashes. That being said, I'll share that bit of knowledge with fellow writers. I mean, I'm not the only one who didn't know the correct usage of em dashes. Right? *crickets chirping* Ahem...okay I'm sharing anyway.

Magical Art

Cover Art Sneak Peek!

After I received rights back from another publisher, Breathless Press acquired my Magic Stone Series. We are currently polishing  the manuscripts, extending word counts and making this series even more enjoyable.

This is the cover to book one, For All Time. 
(Release date: May 27, 2013)

 The cover artist, Victoria Miller, gave me a choice of using models or creating a modernized-artistic cover. (I was clueless as to the latter, so she explained the difference.) As you can see, I chose the modernized-artistic cover. 

Romance, Reality and Suds

 Be it right or wrong,  I  expect the relationship with my husband to resemble a romance novel.

Reality tends to get in the way of my expectations.
Just the other day, I had this conversation:

Time to Kick the Bucket and Spill The Contents

We all have bucket lists, right? Okay, so maybe everyone doesn't have one written down, but I bet the majority of you out there at least have one nestled in your thoughts somewhere.

Why or Why Not...that is the question.

I have post-it notes all over my work space. Some have been there for years, others for a day or two, but all of them have a quote scrawled on them.  Here are a just a few of my favorites and why I decided someone else's words were important to post where I could see them everyday.

Much Ado About Something

Sometimes I write to escape—that’s called hanging out with my characters. It’s fun and healthy. Every single person needs to escape,for just a little while.

You Can Fly!

Today, someone asked me what I was up to. It might be because I had my feet in a bowl of green grapes, but ...well I’m not even going to try to explain that.

Time For Today

TIME FOR TODAY

One day...

I'm going to climb Mt.Everest.

I'm going to join a gym.

I'm going to write a novel.

One day...

Cheryl Hart, a fellow author, who also happens to be my sister, sent me an article from an advice columnist. 

Things My Dad Would Say

It’s Father’s day, and for some reason my mind started chewing on stuff he used to say when he was mad.

"What were you thinking?"  (Seriously I never thought of the outcome—I just did stupid stuff.)

"Do you enjoy being grounded?"  (What answer did he expect?)

"Do you think I’m stupid?"  (Um...I was doomed no matter what I answered in this case, so I just blinked rapidly and looked like the stupid one.)

From Conception to Release

        

 Books are like my babies. I guide, mold and offer my input through the publication process, then release them into the world. And then I miss them. Their day to day development, the late nights, and even frustrations are...gone. So, I start again. (No, I am not having any more kids. Five is plenty. I'm talking about books.)

 Funny thing is, unlike my children, I don't have complete control over the characters in my books. The main characters seem to take over while I write and I end up watching a seed of an idea grow from conception to full maturity. With some books, conception is a contest, others a request from a publisher to make a single title a series, but one is very different. Jewel of Ramstone, a medieval romance,  was inspired by a nightmare...then developed into a wonderful dream.

Sometime ideas get tucked into a "work in progress" folder, just waiting for me to infuse life giving words to the snippets of conversation I wrote down, or incomplete thoughts. They end up unfinished because I either had to tend to edits on a contracted manuscript, or because life simply got in the way. Just the same, those seeds of a story haunt me. They bounce around my mind like a sugar infused child.