Off to Tennessee!!

So I am extremely excited to be off to Lebanon, TN for the Indie Romance Writer’s Conference!!

I’m geeking out a bit because some of my favorite indieauthors are going to be there, so I’m trying to get my “I’m totally cool and nonchalant about everything” face down so I don’t seem like a dweeb.  The whole thing is thrilling to me because I’m going to get to meet with other authors who are trying to do or are succeeding at exactly what I’m working on: being a self-supported author who is in on the ground floor of indie publishing. 

As much as I would love to get a fantastic book contract and have movies made of my books and all (which, let’s be honest, everyone would love), I am so privileged to be able to make my mark now on the indie publishing world. I have no doubt that in the next 10 years, indie publishing is going to be dominant in the industry, which is great; so many new and exciting authors with innovative ideas are getting out there when they might not have because their stories didn’t fit the market or weren’t trendy enough. No matter what, having your book read by the public is a wonderful thing, but there’s something really appealing in the purity of the author directly reaching out to readers the way indies have to do.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll learn all sorts of new and exciting things to post on my blog and website at the conference. In the meantime, I’ve just announced that my new book Woman of Silk and Stone is available for pre-order on Amazon. The release date is set for October 31, so check it out please! I’ve included the blurb below. Check out my website for a samplechapter!

Some days you should just stay in bed...

Honeydew Morning-Sun Sullivan is having a bad day. Apart from having absentee hippie parents, a job in crisis management that she hates, and an apartment she can’t afford, Honey is about to learn there are some mornings you should just call in sick.

First, she gets fired. Then, while wandering the streets of D.C. in a jobless stupor, she accidentally enters a deserted neighborhood that happens to be a portal to another dimension.

Whoops.

When Honey wakes up in a world with blue grass that feels like the finest strands of silk and a sky the color of amethysts, she knows something weird is going on. But it’s when the enormous warriors who look uncannily like living Easter Island statues riding leopard-spotted Clydesdales show up that she really starts to panic.

Trapped in a world that seems like a cross between Aladdin and Victorian England, with a resentful populace, a shaky monarchy, and a villain who looks like Jafar’s evil cousin, Honey is thrust in the middle of a struggle for the crown even as a hidden enemy tries to take her out of the equation.

Developing abilities she never dreamed of back home and friendships she can’t live without, Honey must use her wits and her questionable PR skills to maneuver a treacherous royal court, several assassination attempts, an unexpected mating with an immortal fire creature who really likes using the word “MINE,” and to help a young, orphaned king unite a fragile realm.

Can't a girl catch a break?

Check me out on Smashwords!

I've just posted Instinct on Smashwords, and although I want to apologize for any formatting issues (I'm currently working on that, but having a little difficulty with the transition), I want to thank everyone who has downloaded it so far and has given me such great feedback! 

A little bit about it...

I was driving home from work one day and glanced up at a billboard with a giant picture of very earnest looking people in suits standing in front of a bookcase and I could have sworn it read: “Worst lawyers in the state!”

I blinked and looked again and then read what was really there: the name of the firm and some throwaway phrase about “working for you!” It struck me as funny and got me thinking about mistaken impressions and Freudian slips, those moments when you’re sure someone said something really naughty even though they’re looking at you like you’re crazy. From there I started imagining what it would be like if that happened all the time, if a first impression could always be right, could give a person a glimpse of truth rather than a carefully crafted façade.

And Derry came to life.

My heroine came first, her strange abilities and her personality, long before I ever came up with a story. I was actually working on something else at the time, but Derry and her honest impressions just kept popping up in my head, stealing away my attention, and finally I sat down and let her tell her story. I was living near Harpers Ferry, WV at the time, had always thought it would make a perfect setting for a murder mystery, and so Derry had a home.

The rest of the story came to me pretty organically; I just started writing scenes from Derry’s point of view and all these other characters turned up and their stories began emerging until I had a pretty solid plot.  I’m a teacher, and too many times I see students who are caught up in destructive relationships that would be categorized as domestic abuse if they were adults, and I wanted to bring a bit of that to light; Derry gave me a clear outlet since she wouldn’t be fooled by a smooth-talker or manipulation. The rest of the book flowed from there.

I wish I could say I had some great plan in mind when I sat down to write, but really the whole thing just came from me misreading a billboard. There’s a bit of honesty for you.