Guest blogging at Lois Winston's blog

Today I'm guest posting at Lois Winton's blog: Killer Crafts and Crafty Killers! Come check it out!!!

Do you find yourself apologizing?

Lyrical Press has published three of my books. The first, A Bitch Named Karma is a full-length romantic fiction story that was so well-received! I am so so excited for it's success!!! But my next two were what Lyrical calls "shorts". Paradise Cove released in April and Soap Dreams released just a few weeks ago.

Lyrical Press defines "shorts" as a story between 15,000 and 20,000 words. I think mine are around 50-55 pages long. It's a great length to read in an hour or so while on a flight, commuting, waiting at the doctor's office. It's a quick read that a reader can finish relatively fast. I wrote them with the intention of submitting to a romance magazine who's max was 10,000 words. When that didn't pan out, I bumped up the word count and submitted to my editor at Lyrical. She loved them. I loved them. I couldn't wait to share these little shorties with the world.

This is one thing about digital publishing that I adore...there is a place for novellas!

But they came out and I found myself apologizing. Many people asked if they could get them in paperback. To begin with, Lyrical is very selective on which titles go to print....I was lucky with A Bitch Named Karma. But regardless, the length of the shorts is just too....short. Lyrical will not consider a book for print unless it is a full-length novel with a minimum of 60,000 words. Both of my shorts fall real short.

So I end up apologizing to readers that they will not be able to get them in print. I don't know what else to say. They don't own eReaders and won't read on the computer (I don't blame them...it's not easy or fun.)

Release Day for Paradise Cove!!!!

God, I love this cover!!!

Skipping Movie Monday this week...but still doing A-Z Challenge!!!!! (See below!! My apologies for such a crazy long post today, though I did cut down the challenge part, significantly!!!! Bare with me!!)

Today is the day!!! This is the official release day for Paradise Cove, my first short novel published by Lyrical Press!!

"Short Novel" is defined, by Lyrical as a story between 15,000 and 20,000 words. It can be read in about an hour- an hour and a half, depending on your speed. I think it's the perfect length to read on a Blackberry, iPhone, or other Smartphone. Think about the time you wait at the doctor's office, or when you're waiting to pick the kids up from wherever they may be- dance, sports, etc... this is the perfect story for you!!

And at a bargain price of only $2.50, how can you go wrong?????

Paradise is nothing if you choose to enjoy it alone.

When Shelby Saunders jetted off for a relaxing week in Cancun, she never expected to fall in love with the quaint piece of Mexican heaven. Or make on offer to buy it.

The Paradise Cove, a run-down Cancun resort, is in desperate need of TLC. Shelby can easily envision the resort as it was in its heyday and sees its potential. She vows to do everything in her power to return it to its former glory.

Though the previous owners’ grandson, Gabriel, insists that she will destroy his family’s resort, and a neighboring resort owner doubts in her ability, Shelby’s resolve strengthens. But when she finds her lists of repairs and the stack of bills piling up around her, hope begins to fade. Will she swallow her pride and accept Gabriel’s love and financial help, or be forced to give up her dream of Paradise Cove?

Content Warning: Contains brief sexuality.

Click for purchasing info: Lyrical Press

But if you'd like to win a copy, all you need to do is post a comment below and I will draw a winner!!!!! make sure you include your email address!!!! Feel free to pass the link along...if I get more than 50 entrants, I'll give away a second copy!!

And here is my A-Z Blog Challenge post for today: C!

Okay...so let's see what pops into my head for C..............looking around my living room now..............................................Christmas.

I know you're wondering what I could have possibly looked at in my living room to remind me of Christmas now. Well......I kinda still have some Christmas decorations up. Okay, no "kinda" about it. There is a 3 foot faux tree on the ledge of my bow window, all lit up, with ornaments and everything. Long story short, after the daunting task of packing up my big tree after Christmas, last thing I wanted was to undecorate another tree...even a tiny one. So I left it.



It's got silk magnolias and the garland is a burgundy marabou boa. All the ornaments are from the Hallmark GWTW collection.

I may still put it away...if I think of it. Usually I forget it's there.

The reveal: Beginnings and Endings!

If you missed it on Monday, here is the original post.

Today I have decided to reveal where the lines came from!!! Maybe this will entice you to pick up my book or pique your curiosity for future and unfinished projects!!

Ending lines:

Maybe I could invent my own genre of fiction: Having-It-All-Lit.

This is the final line to A Bitch Named Karma. Wanna read the entire story?? Click here!!

She’d truly found paradise.

This is the last line to Paradise Cove, due out in March 2011 form Lyrical Press!

The happiness of mother and daughter was her top priority, and never again would she find herself anywhere other than where she wanted to be.

This is the end of Soap Dreams, also due out soon from Lyrical press, June 2011!

It was always there and would never leave them.

This is the last line from my women's fiction novel titled Spellbound. I've shopped this baby out a zillion times and nuthin'. But a few months ago I did get some really helpful feedback on the opening chapter..so I think that will help...whenever i can actually get around to working on it!

I’m flying once again.

This is the ending of a flash fiction piece I'd had published in Flash Me Magazine called Flying in Pink Satin. It was chosen as their featured story and nominated for a Pushcart Prize!

I know that if a time ever comes that we find ourselves in need of answers, we’ll find them together.

This is the last line of a piece titles A Quest for Answers and it was featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Mom Edition. Wanna read it: Click here!

It would stand for a dream, a chance to live one moment in the limelight, even if it was only in my imagination.

Love this story! This is the ending to a story called A Shea's Dream, and was included in a local anthology called Voices from the Herd. It is about our theater. Check it out here! Proceeds benefit the Just Buffalo Literary Center.

Just another layer of daughter protection, but we’ll save that story for another time.

This one is great! It's from a piece called The Evil Eye, about my dad!! It was featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Family matters Edition. Read it!


And now the opening lines:

They say you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.

This was a comical piece titled You have to Kiss A lot of Frogs. It was published in a anthology organized by a local author- Nickel City Nights: Erotic Writing in Western New York. It's sizzling! Check it out here!

I fidget with my hair, smoothing an already perfect knot atop my head.

And the first line for Flying in Pink Satin.

Many things in our lives go unexplained.

The first line for A Quest for Answers.

“Finito!” I screamed, not caring if the entire building heard me.

The opening line from A Bitch Named Karma.

“Two egg whites, scrambled, wheat toast with blackberry jam and coffee.”

This is the opening line of a piece I wrote, very rough, and still sits unfinished. It was inspired by my Father in Law. That's what he ordered every morning for breakfast...and was the last meal he ate before leaving the diner one extremely sunny morning and was hit by a truck. He'd then been in a coma for six months before he died. It doesn't actually have a name....I think the working title is Two Egg Whites, Scrambled.

The crash of ocean waves echoed in Shelby Saunder’s ears while a soft steamy breeze blew the chocolate-colored strands of hair trailing from her twisted up-do.

This is the opening for Paradise Cove!!

Robyn Miller’s hands dove knuckle-deep into a mound of raw ground beef and egg as her daughter yelled from the living room.

And lastly, the opening for Soap Dreams!!

Hope you all enjoyed these!! And maybe these lines even piqued your curiosity!!

And Please please please sign up for my blogfest and share it on your blog, Twitter, Fb, anywhere!! Thanks so much!! http://thewriterscocoon.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-first-ever-blogfest.html

My new cover art!!!!

I am so so excited to reveal the cover art for Paradise Cove!! The email came in on Sunday, which is rare. I get very few emails over the weekend. I saw the subject and instantly got butterflies in my stomach. This is such a huge thing!! I was so so excited!!! But I was very nervous too! What if I didn't like it??

But when I clicked the attachment and this amazing cover opened, I was in awe!! I remember the day I first saw my cover for A Bitch Named Karma. While it was beyond striking, I was afraid it really didn't fit the novel's genre completely. And while I thought it was quite sexy, I've caught a ton of flack for the cover model's lack of clothing.

But this new cover....there is no doubts about this one at all. It's stunning...it's perfect...it's everything I wanted!!

And without further ado....the cover for Paradise Cove:



So, what do you guys think??? Hope you love it as much as I do!

Editing and Writing at the same time???

Well...here I am in the middle of my first round of copy edits for Paradise Cove, YIPPEE!! But I've been spending so much time on Karma Kameleon...trying to get the first draft done by the end of October.

Normally, I do not mix editing and writing. I do one or the other. When edits come in...I usually put aside whatever I'm working on to devote all my time to that. But for the first time, I don't want to do that. I really had my heart set on meeting this goal by the end of October. And I am in a really good position to accomplish it! That means still keeping with my daily work count goal. Paradise Cove is a shortie...only 16,000 words, so it's not like editing an entire full-length novel. And I could put Karma Kameleon aside for a few days to work solely on edits...but I'm just too afraid that I'll get behind and not able to come back.

Yesterday went well. I actually got a decent amount of the editing done. Earlier that day, while out to lunch with my son, he started the next scene on Karma Kameleon. I wrote in my little purse notebook while he slowly ate his food. (I don't know about your kids, but mine can sometimes take for-ev-er to eat.) So I typed that into my computer...just over 600 words. Not bad. I was going to leave it at that. Editing and getting 600 words down wasn't too bad. But I just couldn't leave it. I got back on the computer after the kids were in bed, did more editing, and also squeaked out a few hundred more words. I made my word count goal, barely, but I did it.

Got some dates for releases!!!!

I am so so excited over here!!!!!!! Back in, oh, like February, my editor at Lyrical, Piper Denna, told me she saw A Bitch Named Karma on the print release schedule for September. I was beyond ecstatic!!! But without hearing it from the owners of Lyrical Press, I tried not to get too excited. And then I did hear it from them..at The Write Stuff conference the end of March. But they said January.

Well, I found out the other day that the official release date for PRINT for A Bitch Named Karma is December 1, 2010!!!!!!

Wooo Hooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! They emailed me the book flap...OMG......it made me all tingly!!!!

And I have another release date announcement!! Found out my official release date for Paradise Cove, a short novel that is being published by Lyrical as well!! March 21, 2011!

I'm participating in a Blogfest today! So cool!!!!

This is my first Blogfest, to pardon me if I make any faux pas!

Make sure you check out this post at Fiction Groupie to view the list of participants!!!

This is a dialogue Blogfest, so here is a scene! This is a novelette I wrote- Paradise Cove. Hopefully it will find a publishing home at Lyrical Press, my publisher, who is publishing my debut, A Bitch Named Karma, next month. This scene is between Shelby, my MC and Gabriel, the Grandson of the the old couple who'd sold their Cancun resort to her. Shelby is in the middle of renovating the property and has just fallen head-first into a dumpster. Gabriel just happened to be there and pulled her out.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

“I can see you’re in pain.” His impatience came charging through. “Is it your ankle?”

Shelby sighed and continued to move forward. “Yes. I must have twisted it.”

Gabriel set the ladder down and stepped to her. “Come here.”

“I’m fine. I can do it.”

“No, you’re not fine.” He wrapped his arm under hers and supported her weight. A flock of butterflies and ice water surged through her body as his hand curled around her, every one of his fingers pressing into her side as he held her tightly.

They hobbled into the lobby and he set her down on the rattan sofa, its floral patterned cushions no longer having any fluff to them. Gabriel retrieved a first aid kit from behind the front desk.

First he surveyed the damage to her legs, riddled with cuts, scrapes and bruises. “I don’t think any of these are too bad.” He rummaged through the rusty metal box. “How is your head?”

“It’s fine.” Shelby ignored the throb at the back of her head. “Um, thank you, again. For helping me out there. And for getting all this.” She motioned to the kit.

“I didn’t even realize there was a first aid kit behind the counter.”

“Well, I’ve spent nearly my entire life at this resort,” he stated coldly. “I know everything about The Paradise Cove.”

“I hope to learn.” She took an antibiotic wipe packet from him and tore it open. He then handed her a few large bandages.

“You sure you know what you’ve gotten yourself into?” he asked while taking out a long stretchy bandage then wrapped her ankle with it.

“I think so. I’m going to put everything I’ve got into this place.”

“You better. This resort is very special to my family and I’m not happy about it being owned by an outsider.”

Shelby sat quiet as she cleaned her wounds but could feel Gabriel’s eyes on her. And she started to wonder. If this place was so special to his family, why were Mr. and Mrs. Espinoza here all alone? Surely they needed help taking care of guests and doing repairs. Where was the family when the resort was going downhill? And if this place was so special to Gabriel, why was he in San Antonio instead of Cancun?

“Well, I care about this place enough to give it the attention it deserves, even if I’m not an Espinoza.”

“Are you implying that I don’t care?”

“If you did, why weren’t you here years ago, helping your grandparents take care of the place?”

“I was making a career for myself.”

Shelby could see the smoke starting to billow out of Gabriel’s ears. Apparently she had nicked a nerve.

“If I had the sweetest grandparents on the planet, I would have dropped everything to be at their side when they needed me.”

“I was doing what I had to do. You have no idea what you’re talking about!”
He slammed the first aid kit onto the table and she watched as the sweat beads on his forehead began streaming down. The constraints of a suit, dress shirt and snugly fitted tie had to be excruciating.

“If you had minded your own business and left my grandparents alone, none of this would be happening right now. I’ll be shocked if you don’t run this place completely into the ground!” He stood up.

Shelby stood too, matching the fire in his ocean blue eyes, set off by his bronzed skin and onyx black hair. “You just wait! I’ll make your grandparents proud!”

He marched past her, got in his rental car and sped away.