Next!

Well, I turned in my manuscript on time for my next Harlequin Nocturne, as I'd hoped last week.  Again, it's a paranormal romance about Alpha Force, my covert military unit of shapeshifters. 

At first after sending it in I felt like I had too much time available--and then I began to revamp the proposal in the miniseries for Harlequin Romantic Suspense featuring dogs that I've been researching.  It's still not official, but it's close, so I'm going to continue writing the first book.

Meantime another idea has been bumping me in the head--a potential new mystery series that isn't a cozy series.  My mind never stops coming up with ideas!  Not that I follow through with all of them.  Some don't work out, and others I'm not sure anyone else would want to read.  This one, though... Well, we'll see.  And guess what.  It features dogs!  What a surprise.

Hard to believe that we've reached the last day of August.  This year is certainly going fast.  Happy September, everyone!

Work After a Busy Weekend

I've been busily at work on my next paranormal romance for Harlequin Nocturne about Alpha Force, my covert military unit of shapeshifters.  My deadline is September 1 and I think I'll make it!   I wasn't sure since a medical issue took some time, but I kept going as best I could and it all worked out.  At the moment I'm going over some notes a helpful friend made on my draft manuscript and hope to be able to send a polished version off before the deadline.

 

Life issues other kinds of delays, too.  I've posted here about my research about K9s for another miniseries I hope to write, and I had to fit that in despite not always having a lot to say about timing.

And I mentioned last week that I'd be on a panel with other writers at Book Carnival last Saturday as well as signing my new Harlequin Romantic Suspense novel, COVERT ALLIANCE.  Then, on Sunday, was the Los Angeles Romance Authors meeting.  These days the chapter meets in my neighborhood and I attempt to attend as often as possible to get together with other writers and learn anything new that I can.  Therefore, I had stuff going on during last weekend that also took time. 

But now my calendar is relatively clear till the end of the month.  As far as I'm aware now, I can keep on editing and hopefully get my manuscript in on time. 

And, as always, that feels good!

Back to Romance

Last weekend, I was busy with romance.  Not personal romance, although I did spend some quality time with my husband.  But mostly it was with Romance Writers of America.  The two local chapters I belong to both held meetings, and I attended them.

And that's a good thing, since my writing is more on the romantic side than mystery at the moment.

My next release will be a Harlequin Romantic Suspense novel called COVERT ALLIANCE.  It will be published in August.

 

And the next book for which I'm under deadline is a Harlequin Nocturne, the eighth in my Alpha Force paranormal romance miniseries about a covert military unit of shapeshifters.  In fact, I finished some edits I was working on for my next Barkery & Biscuits Mystery, UNLUCKY CHARMS, and immediately had to change my mindset to start writing my paranormal romance which for now, at least, is called HERO WOLF.

That's some change, since although I wrote a proposal for that book a few months ago, it's a shift to get back to writing romance after keeping my mind mostly in mystery gear for a while.  Definitely fun, though.  And I've also written a proposal for another miniseries, this time for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, that looks very promising... hopefully, more to come about that soon.  My mind is used to doing that kind of shift, although I have to tell it to get busy!

And as you know, if you read my posts here, I'm into attending writing conferences--and the next two I've got coming up are romance oriented: the Romance Writers of America National Conference in San Diego next month, and I just signed up for next year's California Dreamin' conference, given by the four Southern California chapters of RWA every other year. 

So romance is sort of at the top of my list at the moment.  But as I've said often, all my romances contain some element of mystery or suspense, and all my mysteries contain some romance,

Guess I'd better think some more romantic thoughts for now, though.

And It Continues...

What continues? 

Everything! 

As usual, I'm swamped.  I returned on Monday from Left Coast Crime, where I had a great time.  My panel about Four Legged Companions went very well, and I've even ordered the CD.  And one of the highlights of the conference?  A very nice lady was there recruiting people to sign up for next year's LCC in Hawaii--and she had her service Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with her! 

Then I've had to play lawyer again--for myself.  I received a contract to review for two more books in my Barkery & Biscuits Mystery Series.  Fun--but, yes, time-consuming. 

I've got further edits to do on my upcoming Harlequin Romantic Suspense novel COVERT ALLIANCE.   

Then there are the couple of proposals I need to write for some ideas I have that received some nibbles of interest.  And, yes, I'm under contract for another manuscript that I need to work on. 

On top of it all, we're now in the midst of another family visit.  Wonderful, yes--but time-consuming. 

But I'll manage to juggle it all... somehow.  Busy is a good thing, after all.

Happy New Year Again!

 I wished you all a happy new year last week, and I'm doing so again since this is my first Killer Hobbies blog post of 2016! 

As I mentioned before, I'm still celebrating the holidays.  More family members, including my grandsons, arrive today.  It'll be wonderful to have them around.

And last week I mentioned it might be too late to see Christmas lights, but I was wrong.  We visited the same amazing display we saw last year--and learned there that it had won a national televised award for being the best competing Christmas display in the country, the Great Christmas Light Fight!  I could certainly see why. 

I sent the manuscript for COVERT ALLIANCE, my next Harlequin Romantic Suspense, to my editor first thing this week.  And I'm still writing my third Barkery & Biscuits Mystery, although with family around my writing time has already been sparse and will probably remain that way. 

And some good news since my last post:  My first Barkery & Biscuits Mystery BITE THE BISCUIT is a finalist for the Dog Writers Association of America's annual Maxwell Award in the fiction category!  For a dogaholic and writing lover like me, that's especially exciting! 

I hope your 2016 has started off well and only gets better.

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know I'm slightly early, but this is my last Killer Hobbies blog post of 2015!   

Life's fun right now but really different from my norm.  Oh, yes, I've started writing my third Barkery & Biscuits Mystery, and I'll be reading my manuscript for COVERT ALLIANCE, my next Harlequin Romantic Suspense, this weekend before emailing it to my editor.  I'm doing some additional plotting, too.  That part's all usual for me. 

But meantime I'm still working around all kind of holiday and family stuff.   

Last week we went to see Frozen, Disney on Ice.  Wow!  Those skaters were amazing!  We also went to see the new Star Wars movie at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, where they presented a sci-fi light show first.  Another fun outing. 

We've family staying with us and visiting us, and more to come.  We've yet to take a drive around the major Christmas light shows this year and are probably out of time.  Yesterday we had our carpets cleaned, partly in anticipation of the arrival of our young grandsons next week.  The dogs had to stay in my office with me with all the excitement going on, but they wanted to go help and kept barking. 

This afternoon we'll head to Pasadena to watch people put the last touches on the parade floats--including our younger son!  Then there's New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, and more that's not conducive to spending my usual amount of time writing.  But oh well.  The celebrations and seeing family don't happen often, so I plan to enjoy them now, and write whenever I can find a few spare minutes. 

So... Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope you all have a wonderful and prosperous 2016.

Penultimate Week of the Year

  

There's one more week of 2015 after this one, which makes this the penultimate week of the year.  Wow, has it gone fast! 

I've been busy, as usual.  I finished the manuscript that I'm under deadline for next--COVERT ALLIANCE, my next Harlequin Romantic Suspense--and will be able to send it off a month before it's due.  I was asked to do that since it is now scheduled as an August release, but I'll get a chance to read it one more time before submitting it since my editor is taking a holiday vacation right now. 

I've already started plotting the next book I'm under deadline for, the third Barkery & Biscuits Mystery.  I'm working on some ideas for new stuff as well.

Plus, my time travel romance THE BALLAD OF JACK O'DAIR is nearly ready for release as an e-book, which will happen on January 25--but it is available for preorder now on Amazon. 

Family starts arriving later this week, and with visiting, entertaining, cooking, and going out to shows and touristy sites, my writing time will be cut short--probably for weeks, but I'll work some in when I can.

It has been raining in L.A., but nothing like what they keep predicting for El Nino.  I admit to wearing a sweatshirt as I write this, although usually I'm pretty warm-blooded and resist dressing up, at least indoors, for chilly weather.  My dogs don't understand the rain, though.  Fortunately, my resourceful husband has installed a tarp over our dog run, so although the pups don't always get to run in our large backyard, they do get their paws but not much else wet when they have to go outside. 

Anyway, it's hard to believe this year is nearly over, but I'm looking forward to 2016.  Hope you are, too!

Romantic Suspense Preview

Yikes!  It's the last month of the year already. 

As always, I'm still writing away.  My next deadline is February 1, and I now have lots more information about the book I'm currently working on, which I talked about in my blog a couple of weeks ago.  Then, I bemoaned the fact that it doesn't have dogs in it.  Well, it still has no canines, but I'm still having fun with it.  And some of the information I related then has changed or solidified. 

It's a Harlequin Romantic Suspense novel, the second in my miniseries about the Identity Division--a fictional part of the U.S. Marshals Service that provides new identities for people who are endangered but can't provide evidence to convict the people who are after them and injured others, preventing them from getting into actual witness protection.  The ID Division also sends someone undercover to wherever the non-witness came from to collect that missing evidence.

 

The first in the series was COVERT ATTRACTION, a December 2013 release.  I've just recently learned that the title of the one I'm working on now will be COVERT ALLIANCE, one of the titles I proposed for it but not the working title I had mentioned before.  In addition, I now know that its publication date will be August 2016. 

That's not very far off in the publication world, and I've been told that if I can send my manuscript earlier that would be appreciated.  I'm far enough along that doing so is a possibility.  In addition, I've already completed the Art Fact Sheet for the story that Harlequin requires be filled out online to help give them information needed for cover art, blurbs, and foreign sales. 

I'm far enough along in the process to anticipate soon the send-off of the manuscript--and my ability to jump into the next book for which I'm under deadline, the third Barkery & Biscuits Mystery. 

And... well, I'm a writer.  My mind keeps calling to me, insisting that I plot another mystery series idea.  I'll at least get a proposal together for it.  Don't know if it'll sell, or, if it doesn't, if I'll be so committed to it that I'll write it anyway and then self-publish it.  

 

But, hey, you won't be surprised to hear that it involves dogs!

Book Store Closing

I posted earlier this week on Facebook about my Monday visit to the Pasadena, California, Barnes and Noble.

 

I'd been to a couple of bookstores the week before, after December began, but my December Harlequin Romantic Suspense COVERT ATTRACTION wasn't yet on the shelves.  It was there, though, at the Pasadena B&N, three copies that I got to sign.  Also on the shelves were several copies of my Pet Rescue Mysteries.  I was thrilled. 

 

 

I was also sad.  This Barnes and Noble is closing as of December 31. 

I enjoy going to Pasadena for different reasons, including its bookstores.  Vroman's is always fun.  So is Book 'Em Mysteries, which I visit before each of the Sisters in Crime Los Angeles meetings since the South Pasadena library--venue for the SinCLA meetings--and Book 'Em are within close walking distance of one another.  As far as I know, both of those stores are doing okay. 

But not that B&N.   

I admit that, although I have a Kindle and enjoy using it, I'm still hooked on physical books.  That means I'm also hooked on brick-and-mortar bookstores, although I have been known to order books online, too.   

It's sad to realize that my next book, TEACUP TURBULENCE, the fifth Pet Rescue Mystery, won't ever see the inside of that particular B&N since it's a January 2014 release.  I won't get to sign copies there.  I won't get to buy other books there unless I hurry back before the end of this year.

 

Sigh.

 

There are other B&Ns around, and some are closer to me.  I won't have to totally wean myself from Barnes and Nobles, just that one.  But that still makes me sad. 

So how about you--how are bookstores in your area doing?  And what's your opinion of them?

eHarlequin Holiday Party

This Friday, December 14, I’ll be at the eHarlequin Holiday Party.  I intend to participate in chats with Harlequin Nocturne writers and readers.   And one thing I’m definitely doing is joining in the Harlequin Romantic Suspense group to provide a joint romantic suspense story, complete with clues and prizes!

 I’ll be there at 12:30 PM Eastern time, 9:30 AM L.A. time, at Harlequin.com’s Community Open House.  Other HRS authors will also be posting parts of the story as well as clues. 

 I hope I understand the system well enough to do this right, but here’s my clue:

HRS Holiday Party Clue #4:  Jessica grinned through the pelting rain that dampened her face, pasting her long black hair to her forehead and cheeks.  She loved to run, and this was the Marine Corps Marathon.  She’d stripped down to basic running gear and reveled in the sloshing of water along her bare legs as she dashed forward, her breathing heavy but steady.  And even better?  She wasn’t alone in the crowd.  Her handsome Marine, Nicholas, ran at her side.  All was wonderful... for now.  She could only hope it would stay that way.

Clue: The determined heroine, Jessica.

You can enter the contest to win a copy of my HRS UNDERCOVER SOLDIER by commenting on this Killer Hobbies post on Friday.  But you’ll need to visit the Harlequin party to get the rest of the clues, and only people with all the right answers will be eligible to win!

New Ideas

Sometimes I think I’m nuts. 
At the moment, I’m in the middle of writing my next Harlequin Nocturne book, the fifth in my Alpha Force miniseries about a covert military unit of shapeshifters.  As I mentioned last week, I was offered a contract for three more Harlequin novels, and this is the first of them.

I’ll also be writing at least one more Pet Rescue Mystery, and I hope there will be more in that series, too.

I’ve also turned in a proposal for another mystery series.  Nothing may come of it... but I sure hope I also get to write that one.

So what am I complaining about?  Well, my mind has dashed off in a new direction and I’m starting to work on a story that’s quite different from any of those.  Not that I’ll slack off on the stuff I’m already obligated--and definitely want--to write.  But this idea keeps gnawing at me, giving me a sentence here, a plot point there, and I’ve of course started to write them all down.

The only thing I’ll admit about it, for the moment, is that it involves dogs.  But since a good proportion of my stories do have dogs in them, that’s not giving anything away.

I may never finish writing this story.  Even if I get through an entire proposal--a synopsis and chapters--I may be completely unable to sell it.  But it’s there and nagging and potentially a lot of fun.

What do you do when your mind keeps prodding you to try new things?  I’m surely not alone in that! 

Oh, and by the way, my latest Harlequin, a Romantic Suspense titled UNDERCOVER SOLDIER, is available now.  It surprised me by showing up in a Kmart near me when I visited there last week!  Since then, I’ve visited it elsewhere, too.

Surrounded by Romance

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!  It’s so great to be celebrating the birth of our wonderful country.  I’m looking forward to seeing a myriad of fireworks displays in the San Fernando Valley tonight from my upstairs balcony. 

Are you intrigued by the title of my blog post today?  Well, let me explain.  I’m talking about romance novels.  I love ‘em, and write them along with my also beloved mysteries.

 I just turned in a manuscript revision for my next Harlequin Nocturne, UNDERCOVER WOLF--a paranormal romance in my mini-series about Alpha Force, a covert military unit of shapeshifters.  The stories are getting longer, so I expanded my manuscript accordingly. 

 This month is also the debut of my first Harlequin Romantic Suspense: UNDERCOVER SOLDIER.  As I’ve said before, I’m undercover a lot lately!

 And some good news?  I’ve been offered contracts on two more Nocturnes, plus one more Romantic Suspense! 

 So, yes, I’m surrounded by romance.  So are my Pet Rescue Mysteries.  In between all those Harlequins, I’ll also be writing another of Lauren Vancouver’s adventures, plus her next story, OODLES OF POODLES, will be a February 2013 release. 

I anticipate being nice and busy.  In fact... time for me to stop writing this blog entry and get back to the Nocturne that’s due next!

Oh, and BTW, on the romance theme?  My DH has been helping me with some technical issues in that Nocturne.  Isn’t that romantic?

Do you like reading and/or writing in multiple genres?  Which are your favorite, and why?

Changing Writing Gears

It’s one of those times again--I’m in the middle of shifting my writing gears.

Earlier this week, I turned in the manuscript for my first Harlequin Romantic Suspense book, UNDERCOVER SOLDIER. Well, sort of my first in that series. I wrote a Silhouette Intimate Moments in 2004, and that series name was changed to Silhouette Romantic Suspense and, more recently, to Harlequin Romantic Suspense. In any event, what I wrote was a romantic suspense story, one that doesn’t include animals. I had fun with it, but that part felt strange!

My next deadline is for a new Pet Rescue Mystery, the fourth in my series for Berkley Prime Crime. The third, HOUNDS ABOUND, will be an April 2012 release, and that’s also when my deadline is for number four. I’m still plotting it but think I know its direction.

In the midst of all this, I came up with some ideas for possible additional Alpha Force Harlequin Nocturnes as well as another mystery series idea. Don’t know if any of them will turn into something I’ll need to write, but I hope so!

Changing genres and voices isn’t difficult for me. I’ve been doing it for a long time, and enjoy it. Each one is a challenge to my imagination. It’s what I do!

How about you--where are the most enjoyable challenges in your life?

Where Is This Year Going?

Can you believe it? September starts tomorrow!

I’ve been thinking about all I accomplished this year--and all I’ve yet to do in its final three months. Maybe that’s because I have three stories still coming out before next year begins: THE MORE THE TERRIER, my second Pet Rescue Mystery, which will be an October release, plus my last two Nocturne Bites: HAWK’S CHALLENGE, out in October, followed, in November, by COUGAR’S CHALLENGE.

As I’ve said before, I always thought that a writer just wrote, but some of the additional things I still need to accomplish involve promoting all of the above. I’m in the process of scheduling signings for THE MORE THE TERRIER. Since the Bites are novellas that are only available, initially at least, in e-format, I won’t be signing them. My first Bites, CLAWS OF THE LYNX, was also published in a print anthology, so that’s always a possibility with these two as well.

I’ve been scheduling a blog tour in addition to the fun I have posting here at Killer Hobbies. So far, I have eight lined up and more possibilities to come. If anyone reading this would like me to guest on their blog, too, just let me know. I’m ready!

I met a quick deadline yesterday, in one day--copyedits on COUGAR’S CHALLENGE.

Then there’s my next deadline--my first Harlequin Romantic Suspense story, called at least for now UNDYING LOVE.

And, yes, there’s more, too--my life outside writing also contains some obligations and deadlines that I need to factor in and get done.

What do you still need to accomplish by the end of 2011?

More Genres!

Okay, I’ve done it again. In addition to my existing genres, I’m now writing for a new line--new to me, at least. Sort of.

I just sold a book to Harlequin Romantic Suspense. Almost. The contract hasn’t been signed yet, but I’ve been writing for Harlequin long enough to know that it will be signed soon.

That means I’ll soon have more Pet Rescue Mysteries published, a Harlequin Nocturne plus a couple of Nocturne Bites, and an HRS.

How many genres have I written in--and sold? Well, I started out in time travel romance for Dorchester, and also wrote a romantic fairy tale for them. I additionally wrote a time travel romance for my current mystery publisher, Berkley. I’ve also written Harlequin Intrigues. And I of course write mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime.

Years ago, I wrote a Silhouette Intimate Moments for Harlequin--a paranormal romance for that line in between when they had the Shadows line and now the Nocturnes for which I currently write. Over time, the line and its name have changed--from Silhouette Intimate Moments to Silhouette Romantic Suspense to Harlequin Romantic Suspense. Hence, my “sort of”, above. I’ve sort of written for the line before, but before it morphed to what it is now.

And what is it now? Romantic suspense, with the emphasis on the romantic.

My story’s working title is UNDYING LOVE, although that’s subject to change. So is the currently anticipated publication date of September 2012.

Now all I have to do is write it--with the longer word length the series now requires. That’ll be fun--especially since its background is very loosely based on a mystery in my own life.

Do you like to write in, or read, multiple genres?