Happy Mother’s Day, everyone! Whether you have a mother, are a mother, or know a mother, I hope you celebrated today.

Now that the festivities are over (at my house, anyway) it’s time to buckle down and think about the upcoming week.

Last Week’s Accomplishments:

• Signed a new contract with Loose Id for SCANDAL FEVER. (Yeah!) Look for this M/M contemporary romantic suspense to hit the virtual shelves in late summer or early fall. I’ll keep you posted as soon as I have more details.
• Wrote 13,000 and finished a new short novella.
• Attended 2 bootcamp sessions (Monday and Thursday). I didn’t get in any workouts on my own, though.

This Week’s Goals:

• Revise and polish the short novella I finished last week, and submit it to my editor.
• Dive into edits for SCANDAL FEVER.
• Do the Couch-to-5K training program on the treadmill on at least least 3 days. (I’m on vacation from bootcamp this week.)
• Read at least 1 novel.

I’ve also got a doctor’s appointment to fit into my schedule this week, but that’s not exactly a goal. More like a “must do.” What’s on your agenda this week?

Another week flew by! We woke up to 6 inches of snow on the ground Monday morning, but thankfully it melted by Tuesday. Of course, that didn’t prevent the neighbor’s kids from making a snowman. Snow in late April… it doesn’t get much worse than that.

Still, the cold weather and dreary skies meant all I wanted to do was stay indoors, so I was quite productive!

Last Week’s Accomplishments:

• Finished revising and polishing SCANDAL FEVER.
• Submitted SCANDAL FEVER to my editor. (Let the nail-biting commence!)
• Re-read WAR OF THE FLOWERS, by Tad Williams. (One of my all-time fantasy novels. Loved it just as much the second time around!)
• Attended 1 bootcamp session (Thursday) and did a Couch-to-5K training program on my treadmill on 2 other days (Tuesday and Wednesday).

This Week’s Goals:

• Draft an entire story (about 12k – is that a long short story, or a short novella?).
• Read at least 1 novel.
• Attend 2 bootcamp workout sessions (Monday and Thursday), and do the Couch-to-5K training program on the treadmill at least 3 other days.

That’s what I’ve got planned. You?

Last week went by in a whirlwind. I was recovering from the Romantic Times Convention, and when I say recovering, what I really mean is “trying to catch up on as much sleep as possible.” Romantic Times is fun, social, and energizing, but I always come home feeling like I need to sleep for an entire week to feel normal again, and sometimes I have to do just that.

But I wouldn’t want you to think that’s all I did last week. Oh, no. I was quite productive as well!

Last Week’s Accomplishments:

• Revised 25,453 words of my WIP (a M/M contemporary romance tentatively titled SCANDAL FEVER).
• Got hit upside the head with an idea so strong I had to stop what I was doing and write it down. I ended up with a synopsis for a full length women’s fiction novel that I tucked away for a time when I can actually pursue such a project.
• Learned I, NEFERTITI went into print, and did a bit of promo work and website updates around that.
• Found out that SIGHT UNSEEN has been selected by Audible to be turned into an audiobook for their collection, and mostly did a lot of squealing and muppet-flailing to celebrate.
• Set up an advertising campaign for MIRROR, MIRROR on Goodreads.
• Attended 1 bootcamp session (Monday) and did a Couch-to-5K training program on my treadmill on 3 other days (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).

This Week’s Goals:

• Finish revising SCANDAL FEVER, do one final read-through, and submit it to my editor.
• Read at least 1 novel.
• Attend 1 bootcamp workout session (Thursday), and do the Couch-to-5K training program on the treadmill at least 3 other days.

That’s what I’ve got going on. You?

I have a new book coming out from Ellora’s Cave in early April, and I couldn’t be more excited. I took a lot of risks when writing this book. It features a heroine who is a breast cancer survivor, and balancing the emotional intensity with the overwhelming heat took a ton of careful planning. I’m very pleased with the end result, but you better believe I’ll be biting my fingernails to the quick when this story releases!

I’ve got a couple of weeks to fret. In the meantime, I can show off my fabulous new cover! Isn’t it gorgeous?

To read a blurb and an excerpt, click here.

I had a lovely surprise waiting in my mailbox last week when a features editor from Romantic Times Magazine contacted me out of the blue. She let me know that one of the RT reviewers was inspired by reading A STRANGER’S TOUCH and wanted to write an entire piece about erotic art installations.

I was more than happy to answer a few interview questions, and the resulting article is up today. Check it out here if you’re interested!

My mother’s birthday was yesterday, so we had a little family gathering celebration for her this weekend. I love getting together with my family, because even though we live in the same town, we’re all so busy that we rarely see each other. So special occasions are even more special, because it means we have an excuse to be together.

Okay, so with that sappy update, on to the report card.

Last Week’s Accomplishments:

• Started participating in the #1k1hr challenge on Twitter, and ended up writing 12,000 words on SCANDAL FEVER, my M/M contemporary erotic romance. The story is coming along nicely, though it promises to run longer than I originally anticipated.
• Came up with a couple of new plot bunnies that I tucked away.
• Saw a gorgeous mock cover and was so inspired I wrote a 1-page synopsis of a book that could go with it. I’m going to email my editor to see if she’s interested.
• Attended 1 bootcamp session (Thursday) and tried out Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred DVD (Tuesday).

This Week’s Goals:

• Continue participating in #1k1hr and write 15,000 words on SCANDAL FEVER, or finish the draft – whichever comes first.
• Blog at Flirty Author Bitches on Thursday, for my usual monthly commitment.
• Read at least 1 novel.
• Attend 2 bootcamp workout sessions (Monday and Thursday), and add at least one more cardio session.

That’s what I’ve got going on. You?

Wow, I’ve really been slacking with these Monday report cards, huh? I’ll try to do better from now on. Here goes:

Last Week’s Accomplishments:

• A STRANGER’S TOUCH came out from Ellora’s Cave. (Woohoo!) I did a whole lot of promo work around that.
• I finished the second and third round of edits on SIGHT UNSEEN, my upcoming Carina Press release under the Hunter Raines pen name, and now it’s on to the copyedit stage.
• I did some brainstorming about my next project, settled on something, and realized I wouldn’t be able to make it work the way I’d hoped. So I started over, and finally settled on a new project.
• Attended 2 bootcamp workout sessions (Tuesday and Thursday.)

This Week’s Goals:

• Finish brainstorming / planning my new project. It’s M/M contemporary, tentatively titled SCANDAL FEVER.
• Write 9,000 words on SCANDAL FEVER.
• Attend 2 bootcamp workout sessions (Monday and Thursday), and add at least one more cardio session.

In this month’s post, I pose the question… “Can Setting Goals Be a Bad Thing?”

Stop by and let me know what you think!

I always thought that once I had a good number of new releases under my belt — say, ten or so — release day would get easier. I’ve published over forty books now, and I can tell you without a doubt, it never gets a slight bit easier. I’m still nervous and jittery, wondering how my adventurous, quirky and daring story will do once it gets out into the world. Will people love it? Hate it? Either way, there isn’t much I can do about it now. I’ve done the best job I can with this book. My editor is brilliant, and with her input I’ve made A STRANGER’S TOUCH the best it can be. I can only hope you guys enjoy it as much as I loved writing it.

A STRANGER’S TOUCH

Shifter’s Touch, Book One

Roxana Leventis spends her evenings blindfolded and strapped into a harness. As living art, she’s appreciated with all the senses. That means being touched, fondled and caressed in the most intimate ways.

Donovan Armstrong thinks his latest assignment is just another security gig, guarding priceless paintings. Boring stuff for a wolf shifter, but he plans to return home to Canada as soon as he finds a suitable mate, the kind of shifter female who’ll stun his pack with her perfection. After four years of searching, however, his temporary stay in New York is starting to look pretty damn permanent.

Until one whiff of Roxi’s scent awakens his dormant inner wolf. Taking her as his mate is unthinkable. She’s not a shifter, and her delicate human body is much too fragile to withstand his animal urges. Still…neither man nor beast can ignore the way she stirs their blood.

Donovan’s job is simple—protect Roxi from overzealous gallery visitors. But who’s going to protect her from him?

A STRANGER’S TOUCH is now available at Ellora’s Cave. Click here to read an excerpt.

This gorgeous cover landed in my in-box this afternoon, and I couldn’t be happier! It’s exactly what I envisioned for this book.

A STRANGER’S TOUCH is the first book in my Shifter’s Touch series from Ellora’s Cave. It releases January 25th, so you don’t have long to wait!

Here’s the blurb:

Shifter’s Touch, Book One

Roxana Leventis spends her evenings blindfolded and strapped into a harness. As living art, she’s appreciated with all the senses. That means being touched, fondled and caressed in the most intimate ways.

Donovan Armstrong thinks his latest assignment is just another security gig, guarding priceless paintings. Boring stuff for a wolf shifter, but he plans to return home to Canada as soon as he finds a suitable mate, the kind of shifter female who’ll stun his pack with her perfection. After four years of searching, however, his temporary stay in New York is starting to look pretty damn permanent.

Until one whiff of Roxi’s scent awakens his dormant inner wolf. Taking her as his mate is unthinkable. She’s not a shifter, and her delicate human body is much too fragile to withstand his animal urges. Still…neither man nor beast can ignore the way she stirs their blood.

Donovan’s job is simple—protect Roxi from overzealous gallery visitors. But who’s going to protect her from him?