Monday Mayhem- Pardon my blatant self-promotion

Happy Labo(u)r Day, my friends! I’m celebrating the holiday with a new release! Okay, it’s one of Maggie’s, but believe me, I worked harder on this story than she did. She just swoops in at the end, sticks her name on it, and prances around like she did something.

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The Last First Date was truly a labor of love. There’s nothing I love more than a messy love story, and this one takes the cake when it comes to things going wrong. It also has what The Romance Reviews said, “contains what I can only describe as THE best meeting between a couple in any book ever.”

As part of the Harlequin-E Contemporary Romance boxed set, The Last First Date was a recommended read on the USA Today Happily Ever After blog, and is now available as a single title release.

Get yours here:

Amazon

B&N

iBooks

All Romance e-Books

Harlequin

Tell your friends!

Monday Mayhem – Pardon me while I squee

BUT, ARE YOU WATCHING OUTLANDER?

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I’ve been both dreading and anticipating this for months and after three episodes, I’m happy to say I’m in love, love, love. I think they’re doing an awesome job of adapting the book and Jamie and Claire and Frank and SQUEEEEE!

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Ahem. Sorry. Now back to your regularly scheduled Monday.

Megan Mitcham’s Base Branch Series Cover Reveal

Today I want to celebrate the upcoming release of my friend, Megan Mitcham’s Base Branch series (Coming October 2014!) and show off her beautiful cover art. You ready for this?

THE BASE BRANCH SERIES BY MEGAN MITCHAM

Serve in the name of honor. Battle in the name of love.

Known by few as the Base Branch, the United Nations’ Special Operations Forces provide globe defense against any who threaten the fragile balance of peace.

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ENEMY MINE
When friends become enemies and enemies become lovers.

Born in the blood of Sierra Leone’s Civil War, enslaved, then sold to the US as an orphan, Base Branch operative, Sloan Harris is emotionally dead and driven by vengeance. With no soul to give, her body becomes the bargaining chip to infiltrate a warlord’s inner circle, the man called The Devil who killed her family and helped destroy a region.

As son of the warlord, Baine Kendrick will happily use Sloan’s body, if it expedites his father’s demise. Yet, he is wholly unprepared for the possessive and protective emotions she provokes. Maybe it’s the flashes of memory. Two forgotten children drawing in the dirt beneath the boabab tree. But he fears there is more at stake than his life.

In the Devil’s den with Baine by her side, Sloan braves certain death and discovers a spirit for living.

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JUSTICE MINE
For justice. For country. For love.

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STRANGER MINE
One takes control. One finds balance in letting go.

Megan
AUTHOR BIO

Megan was born and raised among the live oaks and shrimp boats of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where her enormous family still calls home. She attended college at the University of Southern Mississippi where she received a bachelor’s degree in curriculum, instruction, and special education. For several years Megan worked as a teacher in Mississippi. She married and moved to South Carolina and began working for an international non-profit organization as an instructor and co-director.

In 2009 Megan fell in love with books. Until then, books had been a source for research or the topic of tests. But one day she read Mercy by Julie Garwood. And Oh Mercy, she was hooked!

Megan lives in Southern Arkansas where she pens heart pounding romantic thriller novels and window steaming erotic romance.

Author links:

Monday Mayhem – Nesting edition

Now, before my beloved Jewels goes bonkers picturing me acting like some kind of winged creature, let me state for the record that my kind of nesting looks more like this:

Sierra Exif JPEG

I was quite the homebody this weekend, and though I sacrificed a writing date with the fabulous Katie Kenyhercz for a couple of alarm-free days, I feel it was the right decision. As much as I enjoy being on the go, it was time for this girl to whir and shut down for a bit.

Of course, being the obsessive compulsive I am, you know I managed to be terribly productive whilst on the nest.

The bathrooms have been scrubbed and the laundry is fairly caught up. I cooked pollo guisado patos (because I am turning into a Latina trapped in a body of Irish/German extraction) one night and meatloaf and oven roasted potatoes another. I smooched the grandbaby and spoiled the fur-babies. In my downtime, I did some banner work for my friend Maggie, read a galley proof and added another 6k to a work in progress.

I did leave the Ethridge Estate on occasion. You know, the usual errands – Diet Coke stockpiling, grocery procurement (read: we were out of chips), and the mailing of newly signed publishing contracts.

*waits a beat*

*proceeds to chair dance*

Nope, it never gets old. Of course, the contract was for one of Maggie’s stories, but never fear, boring old Margaret got a little action this week as well. It’s official! Turquoise Morning Press will be releasing a new edition of Spring Chickens! Whoo hoo! New life for Lynne and Bram!

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. How about you? What’s new and exciting in your life?

Monday Mayhem – Revisited

Lately I’ve been working on rewrites for an old favorite. Remember Spring Chickens? Well, it’s going to have new life! Hopefully one that includes cover art that doesn’t make the author cringe each time she looks at it.

Here’s a little taste of the story to refresh your memory:

“Good morning,” she said, lounging against the doorframe. She raised the pot. “Coffee?”

Bram scraped his palms against his jeans. His eyes locked on hers. “Are you an angel?”

Her smile widened. “Maybe.” She gave the storm door a nudge with her foot. “Come on in.”

She didn’t peek to see if he followed. The heavy footfalls of his boots gave him away. She added a smidgen of sway to her hips and a blush heated her cheeks when she heard him pick up the pace. The pot and mugs barely landed on the table before she turned and ran into a solid wall of man.

“Good morning,” he whispered and brushed his lips over hers.

“Mmm.”

She blinked drowsily. Her hands slid to his shoulders. Muscle bunched beneath her fingers. Heat that came from more than early morning sunshine seeped into her fingertips. He pulled her closer, every inch of his long, lean body pressing flush against hers.

“I thought about doing that all night,” he murmured, stealing another soft peck.

Her fingers tangled in the short curls at the nape of his neck. “Hmm. Thought about doing what all night?”

A breathy chuckle rumbled from his chest. “Aw, now, no angel would say a thing like that to a guy.”

She laughed, and he swooped in, swallowing her gasp of surprise. He cradled the back of her head in the palm of his hand. His fingers sank into her hair, loosening the clip.

Oh, cheater.

Sugar and cream sweetened his tongue. He had coffee. So not fair. She lapped him up, knocking his ragged ball cap to the floor. The coffee mugs clanked when she stumbled into the table. He braced her back, his fingers splayed wide and sliding temptingly lower. She flailed, attempting to plant her hand on the tabletop to gain leverage. Instead, her knuckles grazed the steaming glass coffee pot.

“Aghhh,” she yelped.

“What? Did I hurt you?” he panted.

Lifting her hand to her mouth she shook her head as she sucked on her knuckle. “No. I’m okay.” He tried to pull back, but she reached for him again.

“Coffee. Hot. Bad coffee.”

She laced her fingers at the base of his skull, sliding her hips along the edge of the table and pulling him along with her. “You had coffee. Gimme more of yours,” she whispered and yanked his head down again.

He chuckled against her mouth, his lips molding to hers—tasting, testing, tempting. “Like that?”

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “No. Yes. More.”

He stroked the skin of her throat, his breath stirring her hair. “Awfully bossy in the mornin’, Miz Prescott.”

“Haven’t had enough coffee. I’m not awake.”

“Oh. Well, then, maybe I can help.”

He kissed her thoroughly, sharing the dregs of his morning elixir. Her fingers clenched, pulling him closer by fistfuls of woven cotton. His hand slipped under the hem of her shirt, warm fingers grazed the small of her back. Lynne moaned and pulled harder, leaning back on the table.

The mugs skittered across the table. Hot coffee sloshed from the pot, splattering the hand he used to brace his weight. She arched against him, catching his groan and rewarding him with a triumphant laugh when they broke for air.

His lips brushed her cheek. He drew the tender flesh below her ear into his mouth, his warm tongue laving her skin. This time she moaned, and he answered with a chuckle. He ducked his head and nuzzled her neck.

“I am never going get the damn porch done,” he said in a husky whisper.

****

Hope you enjoyed this blast from the past. Happy Monday!

 

Monday Mayhem – As high as an elephant’s eye

Well, in truth I’m fairly crashed out. We just had the best dinner and I am stuffed to the gills.

The local grocery has a butcher who makes these fabulous chopped sirloin steaks edged in garlic and coarse pepper. When I was cruising the produce section to pick up Tim’s leaf lettuce (why else would I go there?), I spotted some fresh sweet corn on sale 3 ears for a buck. I had a bag of Yukon gold potatoes in the pantry and an envelope of Lipton onion soup mix in the cabinet.

The steaks were juicy and flavorful, the potatoes crisp, and the corn the sweetest I have tasted in a long time. In other words, it was the perfect storm of a meal.

So in addition to the better-than-George-Clooney-in-a-yellow-raincoat meal, here are four other highlights from a lovely holiday weekend:

  • On July 4th, someone who sounds a lot like me, but has a different name received their first recommended read on the USA Today Happily Ever After blog!
  • The clingy monkey boy wanted his Moogie when the big, mean fireworks scared him. Nothing beats having the little man you love choose you.
  • I had my annual July 4th viewing of The Music Man. Yes, I sang. No, Jewels, I didn’t record it. As for the rest of you, you’re welcome.
  • I wrote over 5k this weekend. And I have a crazy impulse to start an entirely different story tonight. Somebody stop me!

How about you? What were the highlights of your weekend?

 

Monday Mayhem – Reclaiming my routine

This week I’m going to focus on getting back into my pre-2014 routine. What does this mean? I need to figure out how to manage my time in this brave new world I’ve entered. Since I’m working toward feeling better physically, my first order of business will be to figure out how to fit gym time into my day. Next, I’ll tackle reestablishing the daily word count.

So I thought I’d start here with the good old fast five. Ready? Here we go!

What I’ve been working on: I’m about halfway through the battle of the sexes story I’ve been working on, but need to narrow the focus a bit. I’ve spent the least week reading, editing, and rewriting what I have so far in hopes of getting it on track to finish.

What’s running around in the back of my mind: A plot bunny inspired by an old Frank Sinatra song. Can you guess which one?

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What I’ve accomplished: I worked all weekend, but I did get this post done. Does that count?

What new goal I’m chasing: Reclaiming my writing routine.

What I saw: Park Hill Collection showroom at the Dallas Market Center.

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So, to get things back on track, let’s do something fun…Comment below and take a guess at which Sinatra song is making me itch to write a story and I’ll draw one winner from the correct answers for a choice of any book from my (or Maggie’s) digital backlist – one copy for you, and one for a friend!

 

Monday Mayhem – Remember me?

I know I’ve been MIA lately. I’m sorry. My life as been in sort of a state of flux lately. I’ve left the company where I’ve worked for the last twelve years and started a new job. I’ve also been battling strep, staph, and a good, old-fashioned sinus headache. So yeah, I’ve been kind of a mess.

But I’m better now.

The decision to change jobs took a huge weight of my shoulders. And even though I’m having to deal with the inherent awkwardness of being the new girl who knows nothing, I’m a much happier person.

So far, 2014 has been all about cutting myself some slack and making necessary changes. To be honest, I’ve been doing a good bit of this:

hammock

Other than the release of boxed sets, I don’t really have anything new coming on the writing front. That’s something I hope to remedy in the coming months. Spring Chickens is all mine again. I plan to revamp it a bit and re-release it later in the year. Then, I think I want to make another run at Containment.

Of course, Miss Maggie is seeing all sorts of action – the tramp. It’s all about striking when the iron is hot in this business, and the steamy stuff is hotter than ever right now. There’s a new release from Harlequin just last week (The Last First Date), an upcoming boxed set from TMP (including Seducing Steve!), and a smoking hot story for the born before 1970 crowd (Three Little Words) coming from Kensington/Lyrical.

Sooooo, that’s what’s new with me. Thanks for your support and patience. I hope you know how much I appreciate you!

Tell me, what are the haps by you?

Monday Mayhem – Marvelous

You guys, I have to tell you that I had the nicest weekend. It was a hectic week, starting out with a case of strep throat and continuing through to Friday, which has become back-to-back meeting day for me at the day job. I kicked the weekend off by doing one of the funnest of all fun things…having an eye exam.

glasses

Okay, maybe not such a blast, but it was a relief to have it done. I had an appointment back in February, but had to cancel due to an ice storm. Then, I was on the road most of March. I have no idea what happened to April, but I have been running on my last pair of contact lenses. It had to be done.

So there. I checked it off the list. Made the man get his peepers looked at too. Goose-gander, birds slain with a single stone….

Since we were already in chore mode, Fodder and I did the grocery shopping while we were out. That onerous task complete, I was able to retire to the recliner where I chatted with my girls and generally goofed off until it was time to crawl into bed.

chair

Fodder and I had talked about having some type of getaway over the weekend. It’s been a stressful few weeks months year, and we just wanted to do something a little fun. We settled on spending a few hours just about 45 minutes up the road in Conway, AR, where the Toad Suck Daze festival was in full swing.

No, I did not just make up that name. It’s a thing. Here’s the website.

Sadly, to get to the festival, we had to pass through tornado-stricken Mayflower, AR. I won’t post pics or say anything more here because I can’t do justice to the utter devastation left in the path of that storm. I will simply ask you to please continue to support your own local Red Cross and other relief organizations.

The festival was fun, the day was beautiful, and the fair food? Well, let’s just say no one left hungry. We had toasted ravioli and cannelloni, jambalaya with sausage and chicken, kettle corn, and our new fair friend: deep fried cookie dough.

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Yes, that is a hunk of frozen chocolate chip cookie dough (egg-free, we were told) deep-fried, dipped in chocolate, and rolled in pecans. Yeah…good times.

My handsome escort also won a prize for me at one of the many sucker magnets games of skill set up along the midway. Meet Colonel Corn – the latest and greatest weapon of spousal torment token of my love’s esteem and affection.

Colonel corn

I’ll leave the ensuing conversations to your imagination. Now, multiply everything you just thought by ten, and you may have an inkling of what Fodder’s ride home from Toad Suck might have been like. I haven’t laughed that much or that hard in a while.

Back on the Ethridge Estate, we proceeded to nap in anticipation of another storm blowing through our neck of the woods. This tiny tempest was thoroughly enjoyable, though, and the path of destruction he wrought much more easily set to rights.

Kayson
Who, me?

This morning, Fodder and I drove down to the Arkansas River to walk the lovely paths at Two Rivers Park.

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While we were strolling we sighted a couple of does and a yearling not 100 yards from us. The sun was sparkling on the river, the sky was blue and cloudless, and the hills fresh and green with spring growth. It was the perfect way to start the day.

Later in the afternoon, I planted impatiens in the hanging baskets and spent a little time holding paws with my puppy dogs whilst my hero grilled steaks. And now, here I am in my chair – full, happy, and more relaxed than I’ve been in a long, long time.

I think we’re all caught up on my side now. Tell me what’s been happening in your world!

Oh! And don’t forget (like I almost did) about Love Finds A Way – the new boxed set that includes Contentment! It’s available now for only $0.99! Please tell all of your friends!

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Monday Mayhem – Behind the curtain

Here’s the thing no one tells you when you start down this road: There are times when being an author is mind-bogglingly tedious. It’s true. The making up stories and writing them down is just a teensy-tiny little bit of what an author does day in and day out.

Wizard-of-Oz-behind-the-curtain

Sunday was a perfect example. Here’s a brief rundown of how I spent my day:

1) Replied to blog post comments.

2) Shared links on social media pages.

3) Wrote additional scene for story I’m revising.

4) Updated links on websites.

5) Entered author and book data for upcoming app release.

6) Adapted a manuscript to fit a house style guide.

7) Wrote this blog post.

8) Email correspondence.

And though I’ve clocked over 2,000 words today, not one of these things has resulted in fresh new story being added to my work in progress. And when one only has about 2-3 hours of author time per night…well, you get the picture.

So yeah, this is turning into a half-assed want ad for an assistant. One willing to work for peanuts. Literally. I’ve got a bag of Beer Nuts here for the lucky victim uh, volunteer. Apply in the comments below.

Oh, and I was serious about the peanuts.

So, tell me, if you could hire someone to handle any aspect of your life for you, what would it be?