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  • Published on

    Coming this summer: College Rose Romances Book 4

    Writing
    First of all, this is late. I'm so sorry! My computer had a meltdown. Pretty literally really, it was overheating to the point of shutting itself down randomly. I use a chill pad and the computer was still getting burning hot to the touch. Getting a new computer means endless setup tasks. Coordinating getting MS Office on the new computer, getting Creative Suite installed, and getting my cloud drives synced. OMG. It took FOOORRREEVVEERRRRR!

    So now the exciting news. Are you ready?

    TORQUERE PRESS ACCEPTED MY MANUSCRIPT FOR BECOMING RORY!!!

    That's right, the fourth book in The College Rose Romances will be released this summer, tentatively in June. It will be the orange rose - passion and desire - and will focus on Rory, who will be a familiar character to folks who have read Andrew's Prayer.

    Official cover hasn't come yet, and the blurb may still get tweaked, but here's the draft (I'm so excited!):
    ​​​​
    ​Determined to set aside the mask of Lawrence Graeble, the newly reinvented Rory arrives on campus ready for change. But Lawrence is still discovering just who Rory is, and reinvention isn't as easy as adopting a new name. Struggling to learn the ins and outs of being a campus leader, Rory unwinds at a party, the sort Lawrence would never have been invited to, much less attended. When he ends up with an anonymous hot skater's tongue down his throat and a phone number in his pocket, Rory takes the risk Lawrence would never have dreamed.
         Meeting for breakfast is probably the most scared Rory has ever been, but his anonymous skater, Jimmy, will be worth it. Rory is sure of that from the moment they kiss outside the diner. Jimmy Smits believes in keeping things real, in a brutal honesty that speaks to every fear Lawrence would have run screaming from. But a haunted past is not enough to deter Rory, who is slowly experiencing for the first time everything the closet had stolen away. Something is holding Jimmy back, and Rory is determined to find out what it is before their fragile relationship is torn apart.
  • Published on

    Meandering through the trials of love - and a cover

    Blog Talk Cover Writing
    Image description
    One of the difficult parts about writing love stories is that you can't aim for the target. The heart goes the direction it wants, and because of that, the path characters take to get there is often a meandering one. It goes slow when as a writer you want it to go fast. It speeds by when you're begging the characters to slow down. I love that about writing, because I've learned that the characters are the ones in control. And that's splendid -- because when I let the characters loose, they thrive and grow and they live, so magnificently that they can make me cry, and they do.

    So where are they meandering and how and what do I think that means? Let's find out together. A blog is practically a requirement for authors today, but I hope I can make this one worth an occasional visit. Unlike my newsletter with its fancy formatting and strict length provisions, my thoughts here will be less guarded, more raw. Sometimes they may be angry or excited in the ways the carefully placed words of the newsletter cannot be.  In my newsletter I explore the characters you've seen or will see soon. Here you'll also get to see the characters half-formed, and the stories as they become. 

    I'm going to share a story here. I'm going to do it slowly, and if you read, patiently, you'll get the whole story. And if you're impatient, and you want it NOW... well, once I get far enough into it, I may offer an opportunity for that too. For now, as I get this beast moving, I'll be sharing twice a month for the story. And I'll post a couple more times a month about other things. Sometimes that will be a thought on current events; others it may be about a writing triumph or failure. And yes, there's sure to be a bit of promotion now and then, not just of my stuff, but of stories, beautiful stories -- the ones I love and maybe sometimes the ones I hate too, because people's taste is always different. 

    Next week ARDOR, my formal newsletter, comes out with its February issue. I'm still writing the content (furiously, because it needs to get formatted as well as written!), but you can be sure that love and dating and Valentine's Day will all be covered. And there will be a short in that issue as well, connected to something that has already been written. While the editorial content is still being finalized, I do have the cover for the issue, and I wanted to share it with you, because it inspired me. Maybe it will inspire you as well. Enjoy, and I'll talk to you all next week!*

    *Yes, I mean talk. If you comment I will always try to answer! Books are one way communication, but this doesn't have to be... it can be a dialogue, if you want it to be.