It’s Been A While

Wow, sorry, where does time fly? In January I promised to get back to blogging. Ha… that didn’t happen. But life did. Busy, busy. Trying to write, my daughter is in full swing toddler stage, and I’m pregnant (and with that comes my abnormally aggressive morning sickness, bleh). Yay to the pregnancy!  Baby Harber coming fall 2013.

So, I’m back, trying to blog again. We’ll see how it goes. It might not be as formal as it used to be with regular topic posts on certain days, but we’ll see. Baby steps. Maybe thoughts here and there. I’m stoked to see where it goes.

GARRISON’S CREED: Marlene Contest Finalist

And here’s the announcement from the Washington Romance Writers:

Congratulations to all the finalists for the Washington Romance Writers’ 2013 Marlene Awards! The winners will be announced at the Washington Romance Writers Retreat in April.

Single Title
Alana Albertson, LOVE WALTZES IN
Rebecca J. Clark, LOVE OR THE GAME
Cristin Harber*, GARRISON’S CREED

Historical
Frances Fowlkes, THE DUKE’S OBSESSION
Wendy LaCapra writing as Rebecca Lamb*, A DANGEROUS DESIRE
Suzanne Turner, THE LOST CHORD

Paranormal
Carmen Fox, DIVIDE AND CONQUER
Christine Leo, THE SYNC
Heather Leonard, SPELLBOUND
Tracie Stewart, BOUND BY FIRE

Romantic Elements
Lauren Blake, CHASING SYMMETRY
Carrie Christie, UNFORGETTABLE
Arlene McFarlane, MURDERS, CURLERS, AND CANES

Young Adult
Pintip Dunn*, FIT TO DIE
Gigi Orlowski, THE ABOLITIONIST’S DAUGHTER
Darcy Woods, SUMMER OF SUPERNOVA

*Denotes a Washington Romance Writers member.

Book Review - Fighting for Flight (The Fighting Series Book #1) - J.B Salsbury

Reblogged from Jessy's Book Club:

Sigh...what a beautiful story!

Sexy sexy Jonah Slade is a UFL fighter and a local celebrity. His celeb status is not only because of his success in the UFL, he's also widely known in Vegas as a playboy. He lives his life from one girl to the next. As fast as he acquires them, he disposes them.

Raven Morretti is the unfortunate by-product of a prostitute and her pimp.

Read more… 399 more words

Here's Jamie (JB Salsbury) on Jessys Book Club. OMG, what did I tell you about her debut novel. I know, my New Years resolution was to get back to blogging and I haven't done that so well. Maybe my next post will be What Jamie Did Right. Cause Fighting for Flight is CLIMBING up the charts. #60 on Amazon Top Paid books right now. Get it Girl! And check out this review!

Six Sentence Sunday: GARRISON’S CREED

I haven’t done a #SixSentence Sunday in a long time! Here’s the opening of a manuscript I recently finished. GARRISON’S CREED is the second romantic suspense novel in the Titan Series. It’s about a sniper and CIA agent reigniting their impossible love.

The target was sighted in his crosshairs. Cash Garrison accounted for all variables after his spotter confirmed what he already knew. Wind speed and direction. Distance and range. Now the world would be free of one more bloodthirsty warlord in less time than it would take for the dead man walking to finish his high flutin’ champagne toast.

Hours had passed since Cash nestled into place, his high-powered rifle held like a baby to his chest.

Hope you enjoyed it!

2013 TBR Pile

First, I have to thank my bloggie buddy CC, who delivered a gentle kick in the pants last week. She reminded me of my new year’s resolution to blog more. Thanks, girl. Hope your latest and greatest is doing well on Amazon.

My to-be-read list is long. I have a great friend who recommends wonderful indie romance writers. My favorite authors have new releases that I have posted on my calendar. I’ve also discovered great finds on e-publishers that I’m really getting into.

This isn’t in order, but I do have a few with serious squee factors. What’s a squee? The high pitched, excited noise that you can’t control. The one you make when bouncing up and down. That’s a squee.

JR Ward. Major squee. First, let me just say that The Warden changed my perspective on paranormal romances. ‘I’m a fan’ is putting it lightly. I blazed through each book and waiting, obsessing, over the next book in the series. LOVER AT LAST. And no kidding on the at last thing. I cannot wait to read Quinn and Blaylock’s story. It has been such a long time coming. And it’s going to be hot. HOT. March 26, 2013.

JB Salsbury. Major Squee. This debut author is on fire with her UFC fighter series. Jonah and Raven’s story FIGHTING FOR FLIGHT is sweet and hot all at the same time. I’ve read the advanced copy, and I can’t wait to see this playboy athlete fall in love with a sweet, innocent girl with a dangerous family history. Whoa my God, does this story up the stakes. And the other UFC fighters are all headed toward HEA in this Fighting Series. Release anticipated: March 2013. BTW, since she’s a debut author, like and fan her on Facebook andGoodreads.

Maya Banks- Major squee. I love Maya Banks, and I love her KGI series. That said, I couldn’t wait until PJ and Cole had their story. SHADES OF GRAY. It came out the first of January. Needless to say, this is more of an already read. But it was tops and first on my 2013 TBR list. RUSH is the first of her next erotic trilogy. I’m intrigued. It’s been called hot and intense, and I could always use a well written BDSM erotic read on my list.

Sabrina Garie- My bloggie buddy and paranormal romance writer. FIRES OF JUSTICE releases October 17 from Ellora’s Cave. The Warden got me hooked on paranormals, and the A to Z Challenge had me hooked with Sabrina’s kickass heroines. I’m excited to read her erotic novel.

Jaci Burton- THROWN BY A CURVE (March 5) and ONE SWEET RIDE (June 4). Major squee. Let’s touch on one of the best things about Jaci Burton’s Play-By-Play series. The covers. They are always heart-stopping, book-buying awesomeness. And as hot as the covers are, her athletes are even hotter. The romances are molten, like singe your fingers on the page.

Jaci Burton AND Lora Leigh- NAUTIER AND WILDER (April 2)When these two package their novellas together, it’s explosive. Lora’s Nauti Boys and Jaci’s Wild Riders bring some of my favorites: super alphas, bikers, suspense. Cannot wait.

Okay, this was actually only a snippet of my must read list. What’s on yours?

New Year’s Resolutions

Writing related resolutions, not necessarily in an order of importance. Here we go!

Number One: Get back to blogging. This has been a hell of a great year. Two books finished. First child learned to eat, crawl, walk, and now run. I survived all that, while still trying to be a good wife and writer. There’s only so much time in the day, so I need to find a way to blog that works for me.

Number Two: Find literary representation. I’m close. I *can* feel it. Giggle, that made me laugh. There’s a lot of great things happening for me right now, and I’m a big believer in positive energy. The potential is there, my writing has improved (thanks in large part to RWA and my crit partners), as has my knowledge of the industry. I’m ready for my next step forward and will continue to work on it.

Number Three: Sign a book deal for my Titan boys. Colby Winters and Cash Garrison make my heart swell with pride (and make me a little hot and bothered). Jared Westin (who already has a small fan club) and I are battling out some plot lines, but they’re coming together. These guys are incredible characters. I can’t wait to share their hard falls into HEA.

Number Four: Exercise. Self-explanatory.  I do much better in the summer because I get the stroller out, grab my kindle, the kid, and the dog, and don’t stop walking until Britta the Bulldog is dragging. I love the sun and love to read, so until I’m forced to stop read-walking, I don’t. The cold winter months…well, I need to exercise.

Well, it’s a list in progress. Any writing resolutions you’d like to share?

On-line vs Next Door--Which community do you live in?

Reblogged from Sabrina Garie:

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On the metro, my head stuck in my crit partner's chapter, a woman slipped into the empty seat next to me and asked if we knew each other.  A touch irritated from being pulled from a great story and behind in my promised delivery of the critique I grudgingly looked up and lo and behold, we were...acquaintances. Our kids used to be on the same sports team although hers were older, so no friendships among the children had ever developed.

Read more… 510 more words

The drive to write isn't understood by many my 'the real world'. It's appreciated, but not really comprehended. (My neighbor: Oh, you wrote a book, you should email it to a publisher, get that thing on shelves! Me: Nice tip. thanks.) And writing romance and super alphas? It takes a special kind of person who can talk intricacies of in the bedroom (or up against-the-wall) scenes. I'm more than lucky to have my online circle of writers/critiquers. They're the type of people who understand my scandalous, blush-worthy Google browser history. I so feel Sabrina in her post Online or Next Door.

A snippet of word play

Reblogged from Victoria Van Tiem:

Still deep in rewrites for The Chick Flick List. But, I've passed the halfway mark!  Thought I'd share this little bit of word play from the novel. The story won't make sense out of context, of course, but I find it fun and thought you'd enjoy!

Excerpt from The Chick Flick List...

In the grand scheme of things, this is not that bad.

Read more… 234 more words

I need more time in the day to read Victoria's rewrite. This stuff is chick lit gold. #critpartnersrule

Romance Authors Define the Perfect Hero

Romance Authors Define the Perfect Hero. Here’s a great list of authors answering what qualities should a romance hero possess.

I’m a mix. I love dark and brooding, but a man that can have a good laugh is worth his hulking, badass weight in gold. He must have a strong sense of morals, even if those morals wouldn’t be ‘standard’. He can, and I may even argue should, walk the jagged edge of the honorable line, but he knows it.

Physically memorable. Yeah, Brad-Pitt-hot is pretty memorable. But memorably hot and physically scarred is J.R. Ward’s Zsadist.

Hmm, what else? They’re faithful, committed, intelligent, and have big feet.

What are some other good qualities in a hero?

Safe and Soaked

We are safe and soaked. I’ll give a better update and a couple pictures later. Prayers and dry thoughts for those not as lucky.