Happy Wednesday All, We're almost done with August, in fact, September starts tomorrow. Writers have until September 23rd to register for the Northwest Houston RWA Lone Star Writer's Conference . All writers, of all genres are welcome. We open up the conference to all writers of all genres, so take advantage of that. Morning Speaker will be NY Times Bestseller, Kerrelyn Sparks. The afternoon speaker is going to be Sandra Beckwith from Buildbookbuzz.com. We'll have raffle baskets to raffle off, there will be pitch sessions going on, and more.  Some writers have said they couldn't make this year. Very well, if you, a writer, can't make it this year, then put us down for next year. Generally we have the Conference the first Saturday in October. That's the date it's been ever since I started going to the conference back in 2009. So see, the time of year hasn't changed, just when the first Saturday of October is changes (some years it's not the 1st ...

Happy Monday All, I know I haven't been good about keeping up with the blog. Currently I have a full plate. I'm working on a project my publisher has requested, plus something I did on my own, and a couple of stories I'm hoping to finish writing. On top of that, I've got the mommy/wife gigs going on, and the audiobook. However, I do want to make all writers aware that the time has come to get your registration for the Northwest Houston chapter of Romance Writers of America Lone Star Writer's Conference in! The deadline to register is September 15 , and we're about halfway through August already. Me with editor, Debby Gilbert at the 2014 Lone Star Writer's Conference I have been attending this conference since 2009. Every year is different, but consistently it's been fun, informative, and worth every penny. I'm excited that this year Kerrelyn Sparks is speaking. Me, author Kerrelyn Sparks, and author Christie Craig Kerrelyn is a fel...

Happy Monday All, I hope everyone is having a wonderful Summer. Down here in the Lone Star State we are melting, but that's not unusual. Heat + Humidity = Texas Summers. I'm surprised we're not in the triple digits (the week forecast looks like we're going to get close). It makes me very grateful for central air condition and car air conditioning. This week is the week of RWA Nationals. RWA is Romance Writers of America. Nationals are the conference they host every year--generally in a different location each year. The Conference is open to members (and I believe non-members) alike. A huge number of industry professionals, as well as writers, attend Nationals every year. Although, I'm in the latter group--the group that doesn't attend. You have to budget for Nationals because typically it does cost more than the local ones. Given my family demands and my financial situation, it's not something I can do at this point. Maybe in the future. I would like to ...

Happy Thursday All, Wow! It feels like an eternity since I updated my blog. I have been super-busy with family obligations (in fact, still am...motherhood is a demanding job, as many of you know). But I am getting back into writing and working on getting back into everything else. It's happening veeerrrryyyyy sllllloooowwwwllly...but it's HAPPENING! Yay. :-) I'm having issues with my regular browser, so I'm using an interim one until I can sit down with my awesome IT guy, Jeff (if you're interested in consulting with him, email me , and I'll check his availability. He's been a big help to me). To keep up with me, watch Twitter and Facebook mostly. I update Facebook often, and try to get to Twitter at least once a day. (The interim browser I'm using is slow, so I'll just provide a link to my website, which I think has links to my Twitter and Facebook pages). So what's going on in my world aside from motherhood? I'm working on the firs...

Happy Wednesday All, Also, a very happy October to everybody! October is one of my favorite months. Okay, I'm going to come across as biased, but my birthday is in October and I've always loved my birthday--yeah, I'm over 30, but who cares? It's my special day and I get to celebrate it...even though this year it's on a Wednesday (not today, a different Wednesday). But never mind! I will be celebrating! Currently I'm gearing up for the NWHRWA Lone Star Writer's Conference , which is featuring keynote  speaker Bob Mayer , and special guest, Jen Talty . I always look forward to the NWHRWA conference. It's an opportunity to hang out with all my writing pals and meet new ones. Also, this year, my publisher is coming down, so it'll be a new (and I'm thinking fun) experience to see my publisher as one of their authors rather than someone who they didn't know. Another way I'm celebrating is by being a guest on author Anne B. Cole...

Happy Monday All, Mark your calendars those of you who will be in Houston on Saturday June 21, 2014, because I will be joining fellow author, Dana Wright , and some others for an event at a Barnes & Noble. You can read about the details here . I plan to bring All's Fair In Love & Lion  bookmarks, so if you want a signed bookmark, and to meet me and some other authors--ask questions and such, come on out. (I don't know about Immortal Dreams Trilogy bookmarks, that's something I'm working on some details, so I can't be sure if I will or not). Saturday I went to my chapter's monthly meeting. Author Will Graham talked about Jack the Ripper. He really did a great job. For anyone who doesn't know, Will is a very talented author, and I've been lucky enough to be able to chat with him about writing, publishing, and different things like that. He's been supportive of my career over the years. I'm very grateful for it. My critique pa...

Happy Thursday & Friday All (Since I'm going to leave this post up for both days), Saturday is the NWHRWA Lone Star Writer's Conference . I've been really looking forward to it. Donald Maass is the keynote speaker and I believe it's going to be another great conference. This is my 5th year going. I can hardly believe it's been that long already, but I'm excited. This Fall marks 6 years as a member of the NWHRWA . The group is just awesome. So many talented authors. Many of them have become friends of mine, and I'm very grateful to them and the entire group, for their support and encouragement over the years. I'm telling you, they are really warm and caring. If you're a writer and ever get a chance to come down for one of our conferences and/or meetings, please do. Today I'm thinking about the lessons we can learn from fairy-tales. I know, usually they're kind of "fluffy" or "cheesy", but I've been thinking a...

Happy Wednesday Everybody, Don't forget to plan to attend this year's NWHRWA Lone Star Writers' Conference on Oct. 5, 2013:

Happy Thursday All,   I've been rather remiss about posting (FYI--if y'all are hoping this is a post about my cover art...sorry, that's not finalized yet, but I've seen a draft and it's gorgeous, dahlings! But keep reading, this is a behind-the-scenes look)   Over the weekend I hurried up after discovering I wasn't quite as far along on the edits as I had originally thought. Fortunately, I did get the edits turned in, so hurray!   My best friend, Sarah, (the one who died in February) made this for me years ago. I'm posting it in this blog post since she played a role in my journey. RIP Sarah. Love you! Lately I've gotten a little nostalgic thinking about my journey from first starting All's Fair In Love & Lion , to where it is now...with a draft cover, edits turned in, a July release (not sure of actual release date, but still) and in general, on its way to being available to the public.   I never thought I'd get...

Happy Wednesday Everybody, Sorry it's taken me forever to update (December is half gone already!) I promise you, I haven't been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I've actually been really busy. Yesterday I finally finished my Christmas shopping. I even made a To-Do list yesterday and put "Make To-Do List" as one of the items--partially because I've been meaning to make one, and partially to have something to cross off right away. As you can see, we finally got the tree decorated. It's so pretty! Offspring got excited about putting the tinsel on. It's always fun to get out the Christmas stuff and see things we haven't seen in a year. Unfortunately, my computer refuses to upload this picture the right way. I had flipped it so that it was vertical, but then Blogger wouldn't upload it.*Sigh*. Anyway, I promise, in real life it's NOT sideways. There's two particular ornaments on the tree that have a special meaning to me. One i...

Happy Monday Everybody, It's December, if you can believe it! I hope everyone had a great weekend. On Saturday I Christmas partied with my NWHRWA Chapter mates. Whomever did the decorations knows how to make things bright, merry, and cheerful.  Look behind the love gift bag, you'll see the very top of the present I got to keep.  We have a gift game that we do--the "white elephant" one. We didn't have too many joke presents...although someone did find a cookbook that was the source of much merriment. I ended up with a chalkboard type thing that says "The Writing On The Wall" and a box of chalk--it's really cool. I'm going to get husband to put it up on the wall...great place to jot down ideas real quick.  from L to R:  me, Christie Craig, William Simon  My chapter mates are extremely talented, encouraging, and wonderful people, and I count myself lucky and blessed to be among them. The two chapter mates / publishe...

Happy Friday All, To quote Mater from Cars and Cars 2 movies, "Dadgum!" It's been a long time since I've updated. I'm so sorry! It's been crazy around here and I've been saving my writing inspiration for my WIP. Bear with me...there's a TON of updates... One of my WIPs is almost done. I'm about two-thirds of the way through with it and hoping to very soon start editing it and sending it to my Illustrious and Awesome critique partner, Tess St. John. My awesome chapter mates have been busily releasing books, too. Carla Rossi released onto Amazon Kindle , Dr. Noah And The Sugar Plum Fairy , an Inspirational Romance that looks cute and fun. I don't have a Kindle, so hopefully it gets released in other formats, soon. Terri Molina has been offering a freebie on her House Of Cards , available on Amazon Kindle . I believe, today is the LAST day to get it! I'll find out if she's going to extend it, but as far as I know today is...