NYC Midnight 2014 Short Story Challenge, Round 1

I don't usually enter writing contests, other than the annual NaNoWriMo challenge. A short story challenge was brought to my attention about a month ago and I was intrigued. There are multiple rounds and with each one the word count and time-frame to write the story gets smaller. The writer is given a genre, topic, and character for the story. My first heat was: romance, fire, reporter.

I was absolutely thrilled to get romance as my first genre. However, when I wrote the initial story I didn't put enough of the topic in there. Fire was supposed to be integral to the story. My first try, Heating Things Up, can be found here. 

I won't know until March 24th if I made it past the first round. My final submission to the contest, Hearts on Fire, can be found here. Feel free to let me know what you think.

What's Coming in 2014

Last year was awesome in terms of my writing. I'm hoping to make this year amazing. Here's a short list of what I've already got in the works, but I hope to add more to it:

New Releases for 2014

From Samhain Publishing:

Born of Stone 

Release Date: May                                         This book is about gargoyles and is set in a fantasy world with a medieval flare.                                     

From Ellora's Cave Publishing:

Erotic Influence

Release Date: TBA

This is the sequel to Erotic Images with related cahracters, but it can be read alone.

From Entanlged Publishing:

Zerachiel: Archangels Book I (working title)

Release Date: TBA

This is the first in a series about archangels who live among humans.

I still have a ton of WIPs as well, including the sequels to They Call Me Death and Day Shift. I'm hoping to have both of those contracted sometime this year. As for appearances, I will be attending the Romantic Times Readers Convention in New Orleans in May, and will be signing at the large book signing event on Saturday. Also, if I have any print releases this year, I will organize a small book tour to promote that as well.

Stay tuned for more!

Obligatory New Year's Post

Happy New Year! I hope everyone's New Year's Eve celebrations were fun and safe. Mine ended just after midnight. Then I came home and stayed up until 4am finishing a book. Reading not writing, but that's on the agenda for this weekend. I have edits to start my 2014 off right.

Every year, like many authors, I write a resolution post. I'm not doing that this year since I pretty much never keep to them, like most people. Instead, I just want to wish everyone a wonderful 2014. I hope many positive things brighten your year, so this time next year you can wake up with a smile on your face.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Humpday! Whatever you may be celebrating today, I hope it is joyful and fun. I hope you're with someone you love, or at least like a whole lot, and I wish you peace and goodwill.

My Christmas morning began at 5:01 am (the girls said let me sleep in an extra minute) and ended about 7:30 am for a quick nap. I'm awake again now and will be crawling back into the editing cave for a bit. If I don't check in again before next week, then I wish everyone a Happy New Year's too!

Final NaNoWriMo update of 2013

Today is December 1st, which means NaNoWriMo has officially ended. Final word count: 35,016. So, no I didn't win again this year. But here is why I'm okay with that.

It's all about choices. I realized about a week ago that I still had a chance at winning NaNo if I really buckled down and got to writing. But what did that mean exactly? It meant doing almost nothing over my Thanksgiving Holiday break from work but writing. I'm a married mother of four. There's no such thing as doing nothing but writing in my life except in small hard-earned sprints. Sure, I could've been a real bitch and made it happen. I could've told my husband he had to make Thanksgiving dinner, and told my daughters there would be no shopping done until next weekend. There were plenty of opportunities for me to shove everyone who is important to me away and lock the door to my room so I could make the 50,000 word count by 11:59 pm last night. But no. That's not who I am.

Now, don't get me wrong. I wholeheartedly respect every single writer who made it. I could've been a lot better earlier in the month and not needed the crunch at the end. But honestly, that's just not how I write. I write when the mood strikes me at the same time I have a free moment. Yeah, that miracle combination doesn't always happen. So, I'll try again next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. Who knows. One year it could happen. For now I'll take my 35, 016 word manuscript and keep adding to it until I'm satisfied it's a finished product. I'll also have fond memories of Thanksgiving week from Black Friday Shopping, Christmas tree hunting, cooking Thanksgiving dinner, and overall spending time with my family.