New Anthology Release!

It's release day! And for the first time I get to share it with three other authors. I'm in a new anthology out today from Just Ink Press called Into the Darkness. This is something kind of different from my other work, a short story that is more paranormal than anything else. There isn't exactly a romantic thread and definitely no hot sex in this one, but I hope y'all like it anyway. ;-)

Here's the blurb:

Ignorance is Bliss by Missy Jane

Discovering your boyfriend has been unfaithful is never easy, but for Natalie it’s a complete shocker. As if his confession of infidelity isn't bad enough, suddenly everyone she meets is telling her their deep, dark secrets. She soon realizes the trinket she bought at the flea market is more than a harmless lump of metal. Now she has to decide if always knowing the truth is worth the heartache or if ignorance is truly bliss.

There are also three other stories by three fabulous authors: Shannon Mayer, R.C. Murphy, and N. L. Gervasio.

So, what are you waiting for? Go forth and get your copy here!

A Child Died Today...

...he wasn't my child. I'll bet he didn't even consider himself a "child". But I considered him one of the many I interact with on a daily basis. I'm a server in the cafeteria line at a high school and today one of our students was killed. He was stabbed by another student who also stabbed three more. Now everyone wants to know WHY? Does it matter? I want to know HOW? How can this child have so little regard for human life, including his own? How can he reach his teens without learning all life is precious? How can he have not known or cared about the consequences for everyone involved? How can this keep happening in our schools, with our children?

The only thing that kept me sane through the entire ordeal was knowing none of my children were on that campus. They all attend other schools and I was the only one of us there. I was in the kitchen, in the back preparing lunch when it happened as breakfast was ending. Today will be a day I never forget no matter how hard I try. Many parents' knee-jerk reaction is to want to pull their kids from this school, but where would they go? Where is safe? Past incidents up north have proven even the smallest, quietest, most affluent communities can be attacked by a person intent on killing innocents. It sickens and infuriates me in equal measure.

So I'll hug my girls more tightly tonight. I've already reminded them to always run the other way when they see or sense a confrontation. I've warned them not to stop to take photos or videos. Their life isn't worth a damn twitter pic. There's no school the rest of the week but we'll be back to it on Monday and the memories will last my lifetime.

It's September!

September has arrived and with it almost nothing on my writing calendar. I don't have any signings, releases, guest posts, etc, scheduled so far this month. But that's probably a good thing since I'm still trying to get used to my new work schedule. I do plan to attend Kerrelyn Sparks' signing at Murder by the Book at the end of the month. I also will be preparing for the JDRF Walk for  Cure. So don't worry, I'm not going to be completely silent this month.

If you'd like to meet me, make plans to attend Readers n' Ritas in Allen, TX in November. I'm hoping to have a new book out by then but I don't have a release date for what's in edits right now yet. I'm working on some hot stuff for Ellora's Cave and just finished edits for my part of an anthology from Just Ink Press. The first release in my gargoyle trilogy is also in edits with Entangled. 

What do you have cooking in September?

And Yet Another Direction

From time to time I might talk about my personal schedule. The fact is I'm a mother of four, I work part-time, and I write as often as I'm able. Back when I first started writing seriously I was working full-time. I would write only on my one hour lunch breaks, and I was able to complete a few novellas that way. Now my schedule is about to change again. I got a new job.

It's nothing glamorous but will take up a good chunk of my day. I'll be working in the morning until early afternoon Monday through Friday. I'm still keeping my part-time job too since that one is only every other weekend. So, what does this mean for my writing? Well, it doesn't mean I'm going to stop. That's for certain. However, I'm going to have to get creative on when I get to write. I'll have the weekends I don't work and I should have late afternoons and evenings. The good thing is my husband works nights. The bad thing is I still have to make dinner for the kids every night.

Overall there shouldn't be a serious decline in how much novel writing I get done. I just have to rearrange my schedule. However, it might affect my online presence a bit. Evenings are when I'm usually playing on Twitter and Facebook. Though I probably still will while writing, I'll have to keep it to a minimum to get any real writing done. We shall see. I just wanted to warn y'all that I might seem to disappear for a few days at a time. Especially when I first start next week.

Sex Scene Championships

It's August! And with the new month comes a fun endeavor I'll be participating in for the first time: Scorching Book Reviews' Sex Scene Championships.

Basically two authors will be facing off in each round with one sex scene she picked from one of her books. This was pretty hard for me, not only because I had more than one book to choose from but also because the competition is so fierce! On top of that, we had to only choose an excerpt of about 600 words. I hadn't realized how long my sex scene run. Almost all of them are well over that 600 limit.

So, I'm in round 11, up against Cari Quinn. She's a fabulous author so I'm a little worried. As soon as the link is live for voting in my round I'll have it posted everywhere. For now, be sure to check out the first few rounds. Every time you vote you're entered to win some fabulous prizes!