Monday Mayhem – Sprinting

It’s going to be a bust week!

First off…did you see this?

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Pretty, huh? Mark your calendars for April 4, 2017 or pre-order now at your favorite e-tailer!

Secondly, FLIP THIS LOVE is on sale for $.99 this month!

Nothing draws a magnate like a steel magnolia...

Third – I’m giving away this adorable journal to one of my newsletter subscribers. If you aren’t on my list, enter your email address in the space on the sidebar >>>>>

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FOURTH!!! I’m sprinting to hit deadlines this week. I’m polishing up RANSOMED HEART (Silver Foxes #2, 2018) and scrambling to complete a novella for submission. Wish me luck!

And fifth – If I’m not downing a fifth of something boozy by the end of the week, it’ll be a miracle.

How about you? What’s happening in your corner of the world?

 

Cover reveal!

It struck like A BOLT FROM THE BLUE! Here’s your first peek at the awesome cover art for my next Worth the Wait Romance coming in April 2017!

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True love, like lightning, never strikes twice—or does it?

As a free-spirited young woman, Hope Elliot was desperate to escape her snobbish high society family. So she ran off to Paris, where she lived for twenty-five years. Now widowed, she’s come home to settle her family’s massive lakefront estate. But before she can put her mother’s house on the market, it needs a major renovation. Enter master electrician Mick McInnes, a traditional guy who’s about to turn her life upside down . . .

Aside from the fact that Mick is hopelessly attracted to his latest client, Hope represents everything he doesn’t want in a woman. She’s ridiculously rich and adventurous, yet she doesn’t seem to know much about the real world. Besides, his policy is to never get involved with clients. But he can’t seem to resist the Chicago heiress’s sizzling advances—and soon enough finds himself in her bed, feeling like a teenager once again. And like teenagers, the two of them will just have to convince their families that opposites can not only attract, but they can also make the perfect match . . .

A Bolt From the Blue – April 4, 2017, Kensington/Lyrical Press

Monday Mayhem – Back in the desk chair again

So…I swam with stingrays and survived. No, really. Check this out:

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This is Frankie. She was very friendly. For a stingray.

Now we’re home and getting back into the groove. I’m deep in revisions on RANSOMED HEART (Silver Foxes #2, 2018). Before we went South, I approved the galley proof on A BOLT FROM THE BLUE (Worth the Wait #3, April 2017).

One of the best things about spending time on the Gulf Coast was stepping back into the Coastal Heat world. It got me all excited about the release of LOVE & ROCKETS in November.

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Speaking of Coastal Heat, GOING DEEP is still on sale for $.99 and FLIP THIS LOVE will be on sale next month. If you haven’t read them yet, shop now!

Going Deep sale

For now, I’m revising and polishing my completed manuscripts, sorting out my goals for my 2017 business plan, and gearing up for NaNoWriMo in November.

So, yeah, I’m back in the desk chair again, but I’m still dreaming about the beach. How about you? What was the last trip you took?

 

Monday Mayhem – Labor of Love Letter

Happy Labo(u)r Day to my American and Canadian friends!

First, you should know that I do plan to labor today, just not at the day job. I am within striking distance of typing The End on a novella and hope to hit it if I can.

Second, I’ve deemed September my month for evaluation, education, and planning the continuance of my quest for world domination into 2017. To aid in this, I’ve been taking part in This awesome Free to Focus seminar on productivity.

So, yeah, more work. But that’s okay, I’m a writer, I’m used to it.

Some people mistakenly think that writing is a purely creative process. It’s not. It’s labor-intensive work, and every day writers struggle with the biggest obstacles to getting that writing work done. Today, I want to take a moment to salute my fellow writers.

A lot of of us earn a living outside of writing. That means the majority of our hours are not our own. We are parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends, and as such have things we not only must do to fulfill those roles, but want to do. Most of the time, it beats sitting in front of a computer. I don’t believe in Muses, but I do have faith in inspiration.

I also know there are other forces at work each and every time we open a new document.

The  inner demons. The ones that start whispering in your ear at about chapter five. They tell you that this story isn’t making any sense. They claim your characters are no better than cardboard cutouts, and that no reader will ever fall in love with them. They make a writer wonder why they are even bothering wasting what few free hours they have trying to craft a story, when the voices in their heads already know that they story is crap.

But we write it anyway.

Even the most successful writers must endure the pain of rejection. Ask J.K. Rowling about it. And the rejections don’t stop once you get a book published. In some ways, they become a little more personal.

Sometimes, our books release to great fanfare. More often, they creep quietly into the world, and try to carve out a little niche for themselves. We spend countless hours thinking about promotion (because we’re really on our own for that), searching for new audiences for our work (because we know they are out there), and sending up silent prayers that someone, anyone likes it enough to tell someone, anyone else about it.

So here’s to you, my fellow word-putting-into-sentence-doers. Without you, my to-be-read list would be far more manageable. And for a reader who is also a writer, there’s no worse fate.

xoxo
Mags