Happy Monday Everybody! We're down to eleven (11) days until Christmas, if you can believe it! I can hardly believe how fast this Advent has gone--at least, it's been fast for me. I'm not finished Christmas shopping, which is strange because I'm normally done near this time, but, we're all blaming 2020 on things being not the norm (whatever the norm is for each person) so, that's what I think I'll do. I did plan, however, to do the cover reveal for Divine Love , 2nd Edition, so that's what I'm doing today on here! My contract expired with the publisher (and it was decided that it wouldn't be renewed), and so I've chosen to do a quick run-through of some editing and reissue it myself. (It's hard to get an agent or publisher interested in something that's already been previously published). It's the same story, just did some little editing here and there, and decided t...

  Happy Monday All, I'm once again playing with the theme of my blog, trying to find something that works best for me. For now, this new one seems like a good fit. The banner I made in Canva, which is a really cool site that helps you make graphics for different posts and things. I'm still working on the same WIP (Work In Progress) that I've been working on for a while. The good news is, it's almost ALL written! Then I can (FINALLY) start the editing process. I'm looking forward to getting this all cleaned up and querying. The Author Encounter continues to do well, and there are SEVERAL events coming up next year in 2021. I'm excited! BIG NEWS:  Next week (the week of December 14th) I'm going to do the cover reveal for Divine Love , the 2nd edition! To be clear, I'm not changing the plot or the characters. My contract was up with my publisher and it wasn't renewed (long story, no details I can share, sorry) so I'm reissuing it myself and it's...

  Happy Thursday Darling Readers! It's been a while since I last updated and there are plenty of things to mention. I'm still trying to figure out the new template I'm using on this blog. The template came with some options I don't even use, so ignore them (I'm talking about the link options that don't go anywhere). My website is still being worked on and figured out--lots of things have gotten in the way of getting that completely up and running, but it is on my mind.  I've been writing! Yes, yes, I have! For months now I've been working on a new story (no connection to my Immortal Dreams series or the out-of-print, All's Fair In Love & Lion ). I can't tell you where I am with the story because I keep pretty mum about the process until I have specific news. But I am writing and I am editing and I am working on query stuff. The Author Encounter has been taking quite a bit of my time (but yes, I have been working on all the stuff I mentioned ...

  Happy Monday Everybody! Just two more weeks until me and my narrator, Chris J. Hudson, present our webinar, Done By Christmas: The Making of An Audiobook . I can scarcely believe we've got another opportunity to present this workshop again. It's been two years. We're very excited and I owe it all to the company I co-founded, The Author Encounter . While I'm still writing, (and my writing is important to me, of course) The Author Encounter means a lot to me because it's giving opportunities to showcase authors in all different stages of their careers. Readers will get a chance to interact with authors in a more "intimate" way than some author events. And the events are more than a book signing. They're meant to be unique experiences. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, we had to put our inaugural in-person encounter on hold (Books & Beauty). We've got most everything for the event, but we're keeping it for whenever we can do an in-person event...

Happy Monday All, While we're all trying to navigate our lives amid a pandemic, I'm eagerly awaiting the next collaboration I have coming up... The last time audiobook narrator and musician, Chris J. Hudson, and I teamed up was in 2017. We did a talk on putting together an audiobook for BrazCon. Well, we're baaaccckkk!  This time our workshop, Done By Christmas: The Making of An Audiobook  has been expanded into a more in-depth workshop!  We'll be hopping online from our respective states (Chris is California and I'm in Texas) to bring you the workshop, except longer, more in-depth, and online. This webinar will be available on September 4, 2020 at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central / 6pm Mountain / and 5pm Pacific. The Author Encounter will be sponsoring us in this event.  The Author Encounter is geared towards helping authors' visibility whether they're newly published, or superstars. Some people who read a genre that an author is in might not have discovered a part...

Happy Wednesday Everyone! I've been trying to update this blog at least once a month--sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I don't have a consistent schedule set up, so I guess at the end of every month, come check-in and see if I've put up a new post. So, now for my news updates: The Author Encounter website has been up and running for a while now. Authors, readers, agents, editors, vendors, etc. can join. If you're interested, but want more information than what's on the website, you can contact the company via email . We're on the LAST day of the Kindle giveaway. You can join by going to The Author Encounter giveaway page and entering. No purchase necessary. The audiobook narrator of Divine Love , Chris J. Hudson, and I will be running an online workshop on September 4th for members (so there...

Happy Wednesday Everyone, Renovations to the blog and my website are still in line to be done but have been put on hold for a short bit because the consultant and I have joined forces to start a company geared toward authors and readers. The Author Encounter's mission statement is "Bringing authors and fans together" and that's just what we're working toward. We have an event scheduled for Saturday, August 1, 2020 called Books & Beauty. I'll be there with my amazingly talented audiobook narrator, Chris Hudson. Headlining the event is author Kerrelyn Sparks who not only did an amazing job with Paranormal Romance with her Love At Stake series, but she's got her Embraced beings in her Fantasy Romance series and a brand new one that will be showcased at Books & Beauty called How To Love Your Elf . It's going to be for people ages 21 and up because it's at a Wine bar. All the information is on The Author Encounter's website. Other tha...

Hello Darling Readers, Please pardon the "dust" and chaos here. I'm updating/revamping my blog design and website, so you'll notice some changes here. Please be patient as things get sorted out. Thank you!

Happy Thursday Folks! I know it's been a while. My head has been in a whirl over everything going on these days. I never in all my years thought I'd see a pandemic like this, and it's even eerier than the HIV/AIDS scare years and years ago (yeah, I lived through that tense times, too--although that was a different situation--it wasn't as widespread). But, I'm certain you didn't come to my blog wanting to talk about that (or did you?) Anyway, I'm no health expert, so I won't even try to say what's what about COVID-19. But I will say, I keep praying and looking for those glimmers of hope. Book 5 of Immortal Dreams is in the writing stages...as it has been for a while. It's a tough book to write and once it's released you'll know why. I have to keep my characters' balancing the act between grief and emo-ness (we do not want to go down very far on the emo-ness path, that could get too depressing for what I write). Jason, Laney, Ar...

Happy Monday Everyone, The newest news for me is that after 10 years, 2 months, I left Romance Writers of America. It wasn't an easy decision and I didn't make it lightly at all. I won't get into the reasons or any of the recent events. I made a decision I thought was the right one for me. I plan to keep the good relationships/friendships I made while a member of the organization and continue to learn and grow the best I can with the many other resources available to me. I'm grateful to the organization for the experiences that I treasure and for the connections I did make because of being a part of it. I plan to continue writing Romance, just not being a member of RWA. I'm working on several projects--some are books, and some are book-related but not writing or critiquing. I like keeping busy and I like the different ideas and things coming my way. Under my Jeannie Averie pseudonym, I've been querying agents and participating in Twitter Pitch parties. I...

Happy Monday One and All! Yikes! It's been a month since I wrote on this blog. I'm sorry! If it's any consolation, I did update the Jeannie Averie blog. This post is one that I started thinking about last week. I did some talking about this on Twitter (under both names) but I haven't actually written it all out in a more cohesive format. First and foremost: this is not a pity party. I hate throwing myself pity parties. Please, don't pity me. Don't feel sorry for me. My life has had ups and downs like everyone else's and I'm not looking for special treatment. In fact, I hate being patronized, too. The only special treatment I ever got out of this was having a laptop to take notes in high school and untimed standardized testing days. For the rest, I've worked hard. Oftentimes, swallowing my nerves and asking for help. Sometimes facing less-than-understanding teachers, but never felt entitled to anything except for the help I needed...and even the...

Happy Monday & 2020 To Everyone! When I was in high school, I couldn't even fathom 2000, much less 2020. It didn't matter how close or far any of those years were, I just found it astounding. It's another year to grow, learn, and experience life. Speaking from my experience, every year has good and bad. Some years you enjoy the good more, and other years, you've got to push through more of the bad. In any case, I like to experience each year whether it is mostly good or not. This year, I want to finish books 5 and 6 in the Immortal Dreams series. I'm pretty much ready to wrap up the Immortals, at least, for now. I've got some other ideas flashing here and there, so it would be good to see where else my imagination takes me. Now, that doesn't mean I'm not going to pay attention to those last 2 books and try to do the series justice--I am, and I will. The series is important to me, and I want to do it justice. Just hang on a bit while I work out...