Monday, July 13, 2015

Newsletter, I conquer you.

I'll admit it. I sometimes beat my head against a wall wondering what to put on my newsletter. I mean, I write all day. I sit in front of a screen and type what characters tell me to type. After that, I do laundry and listen to the woes of a teenage son and the imagination of a six-year old daughter. That's my life. I love it. I wouldn't trade it. But it's not very exciting for a newsletter! Yes, I can talk about upcoming books, signings, and fill my newsletter with other normal *yawn* information but I can only do that so many times before I get bored. There's always been this overwhelming urge in me to give you more and more on the newsletter but I just couldn't figure out what.

Then one day it clicked.

I'm in this business because I love to write. (If there's a stronger word for love I would use it but at the moment I'm drawing a blank). I write all the time. I write random stories that may only be 1,000 words and no one will ever see. I write scenes that happen to characters before the story told in their books. I write stuff that makes my support peeps say, "What were you thinking?" I write because I have to. On a daily basis, I switch between the major manuscript I'm working on to the other little side projects that will be the next big manuscripts I work on. If I'm not working on those two, then I'm writing little scenes that pop into my head that may or may not turn into full-fledged books. (You should see my computer files! What a mess!) The bottom line is I'm constantly writing. So instead of hitting my head against a wall, trying to figure out what to include on the next newsletter, I found out the answer is simple - do what I love. Write.

So starting in August, my newsletters will include little short stories. They may be long or short. Sweet or dark. Sexy or clean. They may be one scene or they may continue on to the next newsletter, telling a complete story. They will be uncut, unedited. unbetaed (I just made up that word), unapproved, unseen by others, and all the other un's you can think of. If you hate them, well, all I can say is that they are free, so stop complaining. They may be about Maddie, Ryder, Eva or Brody. They may touch on Walker and Sam or any of my other main characters. They may be about secondary characters also or strangers you don't know yet. They may be stuff that happen before PMD or after PML. They may be about Walker and Sam after they moved in together or...well, I don't know. I'm just going to write.

My plan is to release the newsletter and thus the free shortie (that's what I'll call it because why the he** not) once a month starting in August so if you are not a subscriber to my newsletter and want to read extra little stuff you won't find anywhere else from me, go get on my mailing list! Do it now because I'm not going to remind you again. (Sorry. That's the mother of a teenager coming out in me.) JK. Here's the link:


And thank you again for being such wonderful readers! <3

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Deletes mean a sneak peak

I'm constantly deleting paragraphs or even scenes from books I'm working on. Sometimes it adds up to a lot. I can't help it. I get delete happy. The bad thing about it is sometimes the stuff is good. Darn good. (At least I think so!) So I thought, why not share it. Post it. Just throw it out there and see if anyone reads it.

So here goes.

This is a little tidbit that I deleted from an early scene of the upcoming book, Promise Me Forever. Let your imaginations run wild... ;)

Things were different now. I had found Cash. I had found love. I wanted to live and experience this thing between us. I wanted to wake up every morning next to him and go to sleep every night in his arms. The problem was, every time I loved someone they were taking from me. Luke. Jenna. My older brother, Nathan. Their deaths were on me. It was like I was cursed or something, forever bound to lose those I loved.
So I made a decision. If I didn't love, I didn't lose. I didn't feel pain or sorrow. I didn't hurt. I didn't have to end my suffering with whiskey and bad decisions. I could walk away unscathed. Cold and heartless just like my grandmother said I was. But I broke my own rule. I fell in love. Now I was afraid he would die. The darkness that hung over my head would strike him down. Take him from me as punishment for the hell I always caused. But I was wrong. He wasn’t going to die.
I was.