Much Overdue Update!

My poor, poor neglected blog. I know, I know. I kept promising to set up a regular schedule for this and then time just slipped through my fingertips and before I knew it, months had passed. Shameful, I know. I debated giving up, but I'm a horrible quitter and I've been blogging for so long I hated to throw in the towel even though so much of the media world is now focused on the quick hits like Facebook statuses and Twitter quips.

I have both, but I still like my blog. Call me old school.

For a quick update - I'm toiling away at the second book in the BRIDES OF FATAL BLUFF series. THE OUTLAW BRIDE is out in the big, bad world and appears to have been welcomed warmly. A big thanks to all of you who have left such lovely feedback for my debut effort. Next up will be THE WIDOW BRIDE. This will focus on one of the other brides that took the train ride to Fatal Bluff with Kate in THE OUTLAW BRIDE. Faith meets up with Nate Thompson, who was also introduced in Book 1. This meet up throws Faith's world into a bit of a tailspin, but I won't say why just yet. Wouldn't want to ruin the fun!

After THE WIDOW BRIDE, we'll find out what happens to the last mail order bride on the train, Elizabeth. She has a backstory that was loads of fun to write and was rivaled only by her intended groom's, Tanner. I'm really looking forward to sinking my teeth into this one!

And for those of you who have asked me about Ed Devers and Garrett Bentley, not to worry! I have a book planned for each of them as well. As for those of you who have inquired upon the fate of the real Hannah Stockdale from THE OUTLAW BRIDE? I have something up my sleeve...

Meanwhile, I'm have another western historical I'm waiting to hear from a publisher on, so fingers crossed on that one. There is also a regency historical series that I am debating whether to shop around, or jump into the self-publishing pool. Decisions, decisions...and never enough hours in the day!

And in case anyone is interested, you can find me on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/kellyboyce1/  where I have a board for each of the series I'm working on filled with character pictures, settings, etc.

Enjoy!

I've been a bad, bad blogger

The waste of life occasioned by trying to do too many things at once is appalling. ~ Orison Marden

But I can explain. Really. I've spent the past few months with my nose to the grindstone, grinding away at revisions on An Invitation to Scandal.  Now, it is finally done and has been sent out to the editor and agent that requested it, and I am onto something new! Woo hoo!!! I've spent so much of the past 2.5 years doing revisions on previously written material I almost forget what it's like to write a brand new book. Even the new manuscripts I've written in the past few years have been NaNoWriMo books, which meant spewing it out in 30 days or less. To actually take my time (okay, 3 months as opposed to 1) will be a nice luxury.

The book that is up next is book 2 in the Brides of Fatal Bluff series, The Widow Bride, and a follow up to The Outlaw Bride. I'm looking forward to returning to the town of Fatal Bluff and see what is going on with the other two brides who were on the same train with Kate.

To help with my plotting and note taking, I'm using Microsoft Office's OneNote. I had been hearing about it from a few different people but hadn't had time to look at it. Then at our RWA Chapter meeting yesterday, Michelle Helliwell did a presentation, part of which was extolling the virtues of OneNote. After getting started with it this morning I can officially say I love it!  All my notes in one tidy little spot. Character pixs, plots, subfolders. It's enough to make a girl lose her mind. I'm big on organization, and I really haven't been keeping up my usual standard of late, so this will help big time.

In other news, I have become totally addicted to Pinterest. I expect I'm a few short weeks away from needing a 12-step program. On the plus side, I'm finding the visuals incredibly inspiring for writing and I'm creating little collage like boards for my books that have been a lot of fun. If you haven't tried Pinterest, I highly recommend. I've found plenty of character, setting and atmosphere type pictures. I've also found hoards of different recipes and workouts and humorous sayings. I've even built my own dream closet (that periodically makes me weep because it isn't my real closet).

So now that I have lifted my head up from revisions, I'm hoping life gets a little bit back to normal. Regular postings here. The website updated with new material. Back to regular workouts at the gym and training for the 10K race in May. I may even finally get my honeymoon pictures to Prague uploaded onto Facebook one of these days...

When Chocolate Goes Bad

Time is what prevents everything from happening at once. ~ John Archibald
Wheeler, The American Journal of Physics, 1978

I would totally disagree with Mr. Wheeler on that point. I'm pretty sure everything has been happening at once around here because I've spent the last month scrambling like a madwoman trying to get it all done. Don't ask me how I'm doing on that...

One thing I have been successful at, however, is eating about 10 lbs of chocolate a day. I'd like to blame it on Halloween, but I actually started the process about a week previous...okay, maybe two. Either way, by the time the kids showed up at the door trick or treating, I was in a full blown milk chocolate addictive meltdown. By the way, did you know chocolate can irritate the bejesus out of heartburn. I do. Now.

Needless to say, I am on a no chocolate hiatus. Just to add insult to injury, I'm also cutting out my one cup of coffee a day and adding 7 days of workouts to my schedule. Some days are just walking, which the dog will appreciate, but there's about 3 days of strength-training and 3 days of internal training and another 3 days of 30 min moderate/high cardio. Which, for those of you who are good at the whole math thing, equals more days than there are in a week, but I'm doubling up. And hoping to do a spin class and yoga class on top of that. I've noticed a softness creeping up where muscle used to be. Then I heard on the radio a week after my wedding that marriage makes people gain weight. I considered an annulment, but I kinda like this guy I married so figured maybe working out was a better option.

On top of that, I need to develop a solid marketing plan for my writing to boost my profile, sales, etc, as well as a workable writing plan for maximum output of manuscripts over the next 18 months.

All on no coffee and minimal amounts of chocolate.

Please have the rubber room standing by...

This is me exploring the gardens on Petrin Hill in Prague. I'm still trying to get my pixs up on Facebook.

Which reminds me...stay tuned on Facebook. Next week I'm looking at doing a book giveaway and visit to a blog where they're asking me lots of fun questions.

I'm Back...Again!!

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads
which sew people together through the years. ~ Simone Signoret

What can I say...it was a really busy fall season.

In my defense, I got married, went on a honeymoon, did a writers retreat, finished a manuscript requested by Harlequin and...um...probably some other stuff. Right. Anyway - that is all behind me now and I am determined to get back to weekly blog posts.

What am I doing now? So glad you asked (You did ask, didn't you? Let's imagine you did.) Writing-wise, I am revising An Invitation to Scandal to send off to Random House and re-plotting (for the 4th and FINAL time) the follow up novel to The Outlaw Bride, which is tentatively titled The Widow Bride. That one was hard. Every plot I tried to work up kept falling apart on me. Finally, at the annual RWAC Writers Retreat this past weekend, everything fell into place.

I'm also checking out some some different writing software. I have the Snowflake plotting software, WriteWay Pro and Scrivener, which one of my RWAC buddies suggested. It's in beta format right now for Windows, but so far I'm liking the look of it. I was having a little trouble with WriteWay Pro (my own fault since I didn't read the manual yet).

I'm hoping to update my website soon once I find a free minute and I also need to start working on knitting up some Christmas gifts now that I'm down to about two months to get stuff done.

Meanwhile, here is a picture from my honeymoon to Prague. It's an incredibly beautiful city and I'll write a bit more about the trip later, but I have to say this is a beautiful city and if you love history and/or architecture, a definite must see!

So Many Books...So Little Time...

“An ordinary man can... surround himself with two thousand books... and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy.” ~ Augustine Birrell

I am back from conference in New York City and wow – what a whirlwind. I’m still exhausted. Conference was, as usual, a fascinating and awesome experience. The keynote speeches were inspiring, the Literacy for Life book signing jam-packed (What does that mean, anyway – jam-packed? Who packs jam in things?), the workshops endlessly helpful, and my editor and agent appointments successful.

But here’s the thing about conference – there are books everywhere! There are books to buy at the Literacy for Life signing, free books in the goody bag you get at registration, books given away at the keynote speech luncheons, books to buy at the Book Fair, books given at the publishing housing book signings, and there are often free books at the Publishing Spotlights. At least there was at Sourcebooks which was the only one I made it to and was very glad I did.

Now to any writer and avid reader, the idea of all these books is enough to send you into a blithering state of euphoria. The only problem with this is, I only brought one suitcase and one carry-on and neither had a whole lot of room to spare, and shipping the books home was too expensive an option. So I told myself, “Self, you will not go hog-wild. You will take home only the books you truly, truly want.”

Wise advice. The only problem with this is, I often truly, truly want every book I see, because each book holds the potential of an awesome story I have not yet read and what if I leave one behind that the one I leave behind is THE one that could ultimately move me, change me, alter the entire course of my life?! I mean, my God! The ramifications!

You see my dilemma. Needless to say, I ended up wearing several layers of clothing for the trip home in order to fit my books into my suitcases. And even then, I managed to control myself somewhat. I bought 3 craft books: one on characterization, writing a first draft in 30 days (after my editor/agent appts this will be essential), and revisions (where most of my writing time is spent). I picked up a couple of books at the Sourcebook spotlight. I kept the books from one keynote speech and bargained with my roommate to borrow the other ones from her. I went to only two publisher book signings and picked up only 3 books (one being Jennifer Crusie’s new book which I feel was more than justified!). I purchased 4 at the Literacy for Life signing (hey – it’s for a good cause!).

So now my TBR pile has grown yet again. Which is a bit of a problem because my reading time has shrunk somewhat to give more time to my writing because after said editor/agent appointments I have much to prepare. Plus I need to do revisions for Harlequin and I need to get the second book that follows The Outlaw Bride off to Carina.

Ack! I need to find more hours in the day and more days in the week!

Book Giveaway!

To cap off my one week release anniversary, I am giving away a copy of The Outlaw Bride. Just pop over to my Facebook page (link on sidebar) and leave a comment to enter yourself in the draw. The draw will take place tomorrow morning.

Cloning

Normally, I'm opposed to the idea of cloning. The idea that you can take someone's DNA and somehow recreate them never sat right with me. Maybe physically you could have a life-like replica, but I'm still not convinced you can recreate someone's inside, their soul or their imagination or whatever it is that makes them who they are.

That being said, if someone could clone me, just for the rest of this month, I'd really appreciate it. Because for some crazy, insanity-inducing reason, I thought it would be fun to do a book release and complete another manuscript to send off to HQ and plan the company AGM during work's busiest month, all in one shot.

I know I like a challenge, but the next time I try to challenge myself like this, someone give me a good, hard shake until my sense is restored.

Meanwhile, here's a list of The Outlaw Bride Blog Train for promo week. There will be a book giveaway at Petticoat & Pistols on April 23rd, so hopefully you can all mosey on by and check it out.

And congratulations to Lina Gardiner who won the book giveaway on my Facebook Page.

I'd also like to give a huge thanks to all the reviewers who have been singing The Outlaw Bride's praises. It is hugely appreciated to know your enjoying the read as much as I enjoyed the write.

The Outlaw Bride Blog Train Tour:
April 17: A Piece of My Mind
April 18 : The PopCultureDivas
April 18: Manic Readers
April 20: Carina Press Blog and Carina Press Facebook Page and Carina Press Twitter
April 23: Petticoats and Pistols - BOOK GIVEAWAY
April 25: Back here for another BOOK GIVEAWAY.

The Blog World Blitz

I've been busy writing up a storm, preparing for the looming book release of THE OUTLAW BRIDE on April 18th (ack! only a few days away!). A lot of the prep has been writing up blurbage for a blog tour. So while I will only be popping into Dark & Stormy for one day next week, here's where I'll be the rest of the week:

April 17: A Piece of My Mind

April 18 : The PopCultureDivas

April 18: Manic Readers

April 20: Carina Press Blog and Carina Press Facebook Page and Carina Press Twitter

April 23: Petticoats and Pistols - BOOK GIVEAWAY

April 25: Back home to Dark & Stormy for another - BOOK GIVEAWAY

I am also hosting a book giveaway on my Facebook Page . The draw will be done on April 18th to celebrate my official release of THE OUTLAW BRIDE. You just have to click the "Like" button and your name will be entered in the draw.

And that's it. For now anyway.

Then it's back to work on SALVATION FALLS to finish the clean up and fire that off to Harlequin Historicals who requested the full.

The fun never ends!

The Week in Review

"The idle man does not know what it is to enjoy rest, for he has not earned it." ~ John Lubbock

It’s difficult to come up with a scintillating blog entry when you’ve only slept a few hours, so I’m going to forgo the linguistic gymnastics and just give a brief update on what’s been going on.

The past week has been a busy one prepping for the upcoming release of The Outlaw Bride scheduled for April 18th. (Like that little plug? That’s as subtle as I get while sleep deprived.) But here’s what I’ve been up to. I ordered my bookmarks and ad design from Croco Designs and just received word from GotPrint that they are on the way. I also ordered business cards from VistaPrint and they too are en-route. I sent in my first sale information to the RWR and that will show up in May’s edition, and then I reserved space in the June issue of RWR for my ad.

I have a few blogs I’ll be appearing on (in?) the week of April as well and received a list of review sites my book will be available to through Net Galley.

Then, in the midst of all this, my author’s copy of the book came in (which I had totally forgot about!) and I loaded that onto my kobo, ooh’d and ahh’d over it for a few minutes and then realized I needed to come up with some contest ideas for book giveaways.

There’s a lot of stuff that comes along with releasing a book. It’s true what they say about the real work starting after you sign the contract.

I’m also putting the finishing touches on Salvation Falls, cleaning up a few things, before doing the final revision on Invitation to Scandal in time for conference. I’m hoping to get a little time before conference to work on The Widow Bride as well, but we’ll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, I’ve decided to take 2 hours each Sunday to hunker down at the local Starbucks and write whatever I want. Yesterday was my first stab at this. I just sat down and wrote whatever came to mind and I realized halfway through the first page, what I was writing was the opening scene to a contemporary fiction story, Talking to Winston, that I’ve been kicking around.

Training for the 10K is coming along. My friend, Christine, took me hill training the other day and after 6.2K and a hill that I swore was never going to end, I crawled back to the office and questioned my sanity. Then I went out on Saturday and ran another 3K.

I’ve also been trying to squeeze in some knitting time to replenish items on my Etsy shop, At Knit’s End. I sold 3 items in the past week and a half and now I need to restock.

I’ve come to the conclusion, there are just not enough hours in the day, and not enough days in the week.

All Kinds of New Things

"For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work." ~Doug Larson

I had the best of intentions of blogging every week when 2011 started, I really did. But oddly, I discovered that time, like money, does not grow on trees. And the free time I used to have through the day at the old day job no longer existed with the new one. And while I’m enjoying the new job at CCS (Canadian Cancer Society) it is a hundred times busier than life at ING. Hence no time to squeeze out a quick blog post through the day. I’m lucky if I find time to break for lunch. My, how things have changed…

And given how the commute has eaten a half hour out of my writing time, there is little time in the morning to squeeze a blog post in after writing.

But I am determined to still manage a weekly post and get out and visit all my blog pals who I have sorely neglected this past month. I’m going to carve time out each week ahead of time to do just that.

So here I am, squeezing! And there is news to report. Last night, Romance Writers’ of Atlantic Canada were hosted by Charlie Mac Productions/Media Inc, EnviroWeb Consulting, and Bconnected Progressive Networking Organization for a great evening of networking and promotion. The event was held at Argyle Fine Art Gallery’s new location. Despite a brief snow squall shortly before the event started, we had a good sized crowd and a good time was had by all. It was my first opportunity to get out there and promote THE OUTLAW BRIDE. Here’s a pic of me holding the cover. I received the file a couple days before and managed to whip off photos of it to take to the event.

Which is the other big news – my cover. I’m waiting for the final file from Carina Press to post the cover, just in case they have a few last minute changes, but you can get sneak peak in the picture above.

As for the writing, it was a little slow going for the first month trying to find a balance with the new routine and limited amount of time. I’m still tweaking it to maximize my writing time, but it’s getting better. I’ve finished taking Angela James’ course on self-editing, Before You Hit Send, which was great. I’m currently using that to clean up SALVATION FALLS before I send it off to Sally Williamson (hopefully next week). Turns out Harlequin lost the partial I had originally sent, which is why I hadn’t heard anything back in so long. My writing bud, Donna Alward, checked in with Sally Williamson and discovered this for me, and Ms. Williamson suggested I resend to her direct. But after taking Angela James’s course, I want to ensure SF is in the best possible shape, so I’m taking a week to clean up before I hit send.

Then I’m on to finish INVITATION TO SCANDAL and THE WIDOW BRIDE before the conference in NYC which I am booked for, hotel room secured and flights arranged. Can’t wait! Then, after conference, I'm going to spend the second half of the year working on something new and different which I'm pretty excited about.

Oh – and the last bit of news – my website revamp is completed! Take a look: www.kellyboyce.com. And thanks to AnneInspired for the great work on the design.

Blissfully Happy Vacation

"A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in." ~ Robert Orben

I am just one day away from vacation and I can’t wait. This weekend is Thanksgiving in my neck of the woods (we Canadians celebrate the holiday in October) which would make this a long weekend for me, but I decided to stretch it out and take the whole week.

It’ll be a busy one. J and I will be heading out for a night at the Blomidon Inn where we make the annual trek for Thanksgiving, returning in time to have turkey dinner with the folks. The weather sounds great for the weekend too, so bonus!

Then on Tuesday I have my photoshoot scheduled with Heather Gionet from This is Photography. She did Lilly Cain’s photos and that’s how I got her name. I can’t wait. We’re taking the photos at Kings College to take advantage of some of the historical architecture in the city. So far the weather is looking good for that too. I’m excited about getting this done. I had tried to do it a little over a year ago but timing and finances never cooperated. But now with THE OUTLAW BRIDE coming out in April, it’s time. I’ll give you the rundown on how it went in next week’s post.

The rest of next week will be spent revising AN INVITATION TO SCANDAL, trying to get as much of the 2nd draft completed before NaNoWriMo starts. I’m tearing apart scenes and reconstructing them in a different order to try and tighten up the story. I should hear about where I placed in the Lone Star contest the weekend of Oct 16th, provided I have cell phone reception.

You see the weekend of Oct 15-17 is my RWA Chapter’s annual Writer’s Retreat at White Point Beach. I start looking forward to this event the day I return home from it. It is a highlight of my year and is always a huge blast. There are 8 of us staying at the cottage this year where food, wine and creativity abound. I’m hoping to brainstorm ideas for Book 3 in the Brides of Fatal Bluff series while I’m there.

And that is what’s in store for the upcoming week. Now, if this week would just END so I can GET THERE I’d be all set.

So Many Books...So Little Time

Choices are the hinges of destiny.
~ Attributed to both Edwin Markham and Pythagoras

I know…I know…I was yet again going to do the Writing Room revamp, but I’m not at the computer that has my photos so unfortunately it will have to wait for yet another week. Just trust me when I say that it looks fabulous. Or at least not as much of a disaster as it did originally.

This week has been busy. I finished off my revisions of THE OUTLAW BRIDE and sent them back to my editor. Then I started thinking – what next. I am so close to having AN INVITATION TO SCANDAL complete and ready to send off to agents it would be a shame to just drop it now and put it on hold while I work on THE WIDOW BRIDE (Book 2 in the Brides of Fatal Bluff series). But at the same time, I have my foot in the door at Carina Press, it seems prudent to capitalize on that.

Oh the conundrum…

In the end, here is what I decided:

1) Since I am so close to finishing INVITATION, I will work on that from now until end of October with a view to completing it and getting out the agent queries, then;
2) I will use NaNoWriMo to write the first draft of WIDOW. (I’m using this week to work on an outline for it.)

My RWA Chapter have our annual Writers Retreat in mid-October and we always do brainstorming on books we are trying to develop, so I will use that to help build the outline for THE SCANDALOUS BRIDE (Book 3 of the Brides of Fatal Bluff series).

I think that is the best way to use the time I’ve got to my best advantage.

I still need to sit down and try to figure out the plan for 2011, but I have a few months left to get that done.

Revisions Have Landed

I had planned to do a post today on my writing room makeover, but my re-org hit a snag yesterday when the revision letter for THE OUTLAW BRIDE arrived from my editor (Liz Bass). The makeover has been put on hold while I deal with those.

My first thought when the revisions arrived went something like - oh my God oh my God I'm going to make a complete mess of this I don't know what I'm doing oh my God oh my God. And no, there wasn't any punctuation in my head either. It was one long, rambling mental stream of stark, unadulterated fear.

Thankfully, it lasted only five minutes before my brain took over, slapped itself upside the head and told me to smarten up. And then the dog barfed, which sort of diverted my thoughts elsewhere. Poor pooch is still dealing with some intestinal issues, and while there's improvement, he's not 100% yet. We hope the new antibiotics will help get him over the hump and back to happy, healthy puppy land. Although to look at him, he seems blissfully unaware there is anything wrong.

But I digress. Today, my plan is to read through the revision notes my editor made on the manuscript and formulate my plan. Once I have a plan everything will be right with the world. I'm almost through the manuscript now and so far, so good. There isn't anything there that jumps out and screams, 'You can't do this! You're in over your head! You should have taken up basket-weaving!'

Therefore, it will be a short post today, while I tackle my revisions. I'm hoping to get as much done this week as possible since I'm on vacation. Once I head back to Pod Land my writing time drops back to my 2-hour morning stint. Plus, I loathe leaving things to the last minute. I was always the kid in school that did projects the first day they were assigned to avoid any last minute panic.

The writing room post will happen next week (promise!), with before / during / and after pictures included. But first - revisions.

Cover me...I'm going in.

The Lowdown on the Sale

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells." ~ Dr Suess.

I promised to pop back and fill you in on the sale of The Outlaw Bride once my brain has stopped spinning at rates of speed that would make Mario Andretti suffer severe motion sickness. So here I am, but first, let's pause a moment while I resurrect an old pix of Connor Langston, TOB's hero in residence. Ah...yes...now where was I?

Wednesday afternoon, while sitting in my pod diligently working away...okay I was talking to J on the phone...my cell phone rang. Thinking it was the vet calling me back (my dog seems quite keen on picking up every parasite he can find), I hung up on J and took the call. It went something like this:

Me: Hello?
Caller: Hello is this Kelly Boyce?
Me: Yes.
Caller: This is Angela James from Carina Press.
Me: ogoafhoav blaiodr blergh

Okay, I didn't actually say that. In fact, I don't think I said anything at all. I was too busy trying to decide if I was hallucinating or not. When Ms James continued talking, telling me they had read The Outlaw Bride and wanted to offer me a contract if I was still interested (if I was still interested...hahahaha...ahem), I realized I wasn't hallucinating. Then I spent most of the remaining phone call trying not to scream my fool head off - seeing as I was still in my pod and said screaming would have sent my podmates into a panic.

I believe at one point I may have blurted out, "This was totally worth hanging up on my boyfriend for!" And yes, I may - may - have done an arm pump or two. Maybe three. And a front kick. There was also some type of dancing involved.

Sigh...so mature.

Anyhoo...They sent the deal sheet later that day, I perused it, filled in my contact info and sent it back. Liz Bass will be my editor (I've heard nothing but good about her so very excited), release date is Spring 2011, and, at this point, no change in the title is requested.

But now that the initial shock of selling has receded somewhat, my head is spinning with all the things I need to do, so that come release time I will be ready to go. Revamping the website, setting up an FB fan page, going back to monthly blogging at PopCultureDivas, blogging here more regularly, etc. I figure the more things I can organize now; the smoother things will run down the line. On top of that, I need to finish my revisions on ITS so I can start marketing that to agents before I get caught up in the editing process with The Outlaw Bride.

I see a list in my future. Possibly even a spreadsheet. I do love a good spreadsheet....

And there you have it. The lowdown of my first foray into the world of Published Author.

I’m Not Slacking…I’m Busy

I have been a busy little beaver. Entering contests, preparing a workshop for our chapter meeting in June, getting the house ready for the BF and his boy to move in has kept me hopping. I’m looking forward to a little down time but there’s no vacation for me until the first of July.

In the meantime I decided not to waste the momentum. I sat down and made a writing plan for the next six months. By the end of the year, if I can stick with the plan, I will have 4 completed manuscripts to market in the big bad world. I will also have 2 first drafts ready for revision and I also have the outline of the remaining books in the two series I have on the go.

I have a week off the first of August to spend with the BF and his boy in a cottage on PEI. My hope is to take a stack of books with me to try and put a dent in my ever growing TBR pile. It would help if I didn’t keep adding to it, but it’s not my fault. People keep writing these great books that scream to be read! What’s a girl to do?

Speaking of great books to be read, Jennifer Haymore’s new book – A Hint of Wicked, came out on June 1st and I picked that up on Wednesday. Jennifer and I met online a few years back when we both belonged to the HisFic Critique group and we managed to meet face to face, along with another critique partner, Christine Wells, when we all converged on San Francisco for the conference. I’m so excited to see Jennifer's first book hit the shelves and it sounds like its going to be a great read! I can’t wait to dive into it.

But that will have to wait. For now, I have a To Do list the length of my arm and this afternoon I am taking off work to finish up my gardens (finally!). Then I get to start reorganizing rooms, purging and tossing and moving things to make room for the BF’s furniture.

I have a feeling the busy isn’t going to stop any time soon…

A Weekend in the Woods

This weekend I went to the family camp. Its located on Dalhousie mountain and is basically in the woods built near a brook. With no cell phone access or television I had the opportunity to work on cleaning up The Outlaw Bride and to catch up on a little reading. I took with me Julianne MacLean’s latest release, The Mistress Diaries. I had started it before I left but was having trouble finding time to finish it, which was driving me crazy. So my first night at camp I plunked myself down and opened it to where I left off.

I did not move again until I had turned the last page.

Now I had planned on putting a big dent in it that evening and finishing it off the next day, but I couldn’t. I had to know what happened. It was one of those books that you simply couldn’t put down. The Mistress Diaries is Book 2 in the Pembroke Palace series and let me tell you, it is well worth checking out. Julianne is a fabulous writer and she has really outdone herself with this series. She deserves the accolades she receives and then some. I on the other hand, deserve a super-brewed double espresso. I lost a fair bit of sleep staying up so late to finish this book. But it was well worth it. The only downside is that now I must wait until February to read Blake’s story…

By the way, if any of you haven’t seen it, check out the trailers for Julianne’s books on her website. They’re some of the best ones I’ve seen out there. Irreverent and fresh, I think they've set a new standard.

Now, don’t think I spent my whole time at the camp reading. I did manage to get a good chunk of work done on The Outlaw Bride. I made one major plot change which took a bit more work than I had intended, but it makes the book much better I think.

And no, I have no idea why I didn’t see this obvious plot change when I revised the book umpteen times over a year ago...