What a difference a YEAR makes!

Yes, it has officially been a year since I started my blog. Technically, that was yesterday. Flag Day! How did I miss that before? I don't know. It was motivated by the premiere of Man of Steel, not celebrating flags of any sort, so there you have it. You can read my first blog post here, and that will tell you about the whole Superman thing.

One year and 80 posts later, and a lot has changed. Now, my blog isn't just about me. I've been writing reviews, participating in blog tours, doing cover reveals (for me and others), having contests and giveaways and still occasionally posting about random ramblings or about my work.

As of the start of the blog, I hadn't gone back to social media yet. Now, I have not one, but TWO Facebook pages. I'd reconnected with many old friends and found that my 'author' page was becoming too personal, so, I created an actual Author Patti Korbet page. There, I share the posts of this blog, talk about my work, and help promote other authors, blogs and pages I support. Did I mention that I launched it on October 29, 2013? On February 28, two weeks before I published my third novel, Right Here Waiting, I had 48 LIKES. Today, I have 1,312. You read that right. I gained over 1,250 people paying attention to my author page in 3.5 months. Not that I haven't worked hard for that - on the contrary, I've worked my tushy off promoting others and offering contests or giveaways - but I am humbled by the very idea.

I'm on Twitter, too - @PKorbetAuthor. I don't go there as often as I did in the beginning - when I have big news to share, I post over there. Or, if I've been away a while and want to post a quick update, I sometimes, do that. I read my whole feed all the time in the early days. Now, I don't have the time because I follow too many people! That hasn't grown as steadily as Facebook, but it's all good. I mostly do it for fun and cross-promotion. I'll share the blog there or post the occasional teaser images. Today, I changed my background to the cover for my next book, This Year's Love, and I updated my top segment with a banner that shows all of my Ward Sisters covers.

Ah, covers, another thing that has changed a lot in a year. I hadn't even found the right image for book 1, Back to December, when I started the blog. The one I eventually chose is still the cover image, but I've tweaked it several times - adding taglines, changing fonts, changing text embellishments. I did the same thing with book 2, Only One. Part of why the cover changed so much was that I've learned how to really take advantage of the freeware program GIMP, which is the image manipulating software on my computer. Between talking with my friend, the amazing Rene Folsom at Phycel Designs, and trial and error, my skills have improved dramatically. I've finished all the covers for Ward Sisters, and I can't wait to move on to my other series.

Speaking of other series, did I mention that? Yep, it's another big change. While completing Right Here Waiting, I realized that I wanted to write for a couple of the story's secondary characters, but I didn't want them to be in the main series. Thus, a spinoff was born called Vega Brothers. As of now, I have 4 stories already planned, plotted (to some degree) and in some cases, partially written. Likewise, I was inspired to write for more of the soldiers who appear in Ward Sisters. It wasn't a stretch to combine that idea with a spinoff involving Deacon Security, the company which protects Deac Roberts in Back to December and is owned by his brother, Rick. That series has 4 books currently planned, plotted and also partially written. I'm intending it to have the possibility of being ongoing and tapping into the suspense category. I'll post about that soon.

Also soon? My second Blog Takeover. I did one a couple weeks ago and it was fun (and pushed me over the 1k mark). This next time, I'll have two whole hours and it'll be all about promo for the next book. I'm also hoping to organize a blog tour, but we'll see if that can come to fruition this time or if I should just wait for the next round. In August, we'll be at the 1-year mark for Back to December - my 1-Year Pubiversary - and I might save the major blog tour until then.

Either way, the next big thing is the publication of This Year's Love, Ward Sisters Series Book #4. With any luck, after months of struggling to assemble and massage and tweak and smooth, it will be published next weekend. I'll keep you posted, but either way, the next blog entry will be the synopsis and maybe some new teasers from the book. Look for that much later in the day.

In fact, I'm all savvy now, so I'm going to set this baby to post in daylight hours, and I'll do my sharing later. It has been a wild ride, but I've loved it! Maybe not every minute - there have been moments when I wanted to scream - but in an overview, it has been fantastic.

Here's to another year!

Final Covers for Ward Sisters Series!

That's right! You did read that correctly - this post will have all the official covers for all the books. I've been chatting with my friend and fellow author, Rene Folsom, who is also a very talented graphic designer. Check out her work at Phycel Designs. I asked her a design question one day, and that got us on a roll about little things I could do to tweak my covers and improve them. Well, I'm one of those people who likes to learn new things and loves to get better and better at them. Of course I had to go back and futz with the previous covers, as Rene had suggested, but I also felt a need to keep going. I have NINE books in the Ward Sisters Series, after all!

So, without further ado, here they are...you'll notice that Book 5, which used to be called Buying the Cow, is now called Time to Begin. I know. SO much better!

GIVEAWAY for the launch of Clarissa Wild's FLAME!

I'm part of another giveaway, this time with Clarissa Wild for the launch of her next book, Flame (Fierce, #2). Lovely pic of the cover included, with the Rafflecopter at the bottom. Along with a bunch of other prizes available, I'm giving away a copy of Right Here Waiting (Ward Sisters Series, #3)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meghan Miles' Mother's Day GIVEAWAY!

It's finally here! I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but I'm doing a rafflecopter giveaway with Bellissimi Ornamenti for Mother's Day. The Grand Prize is the gorgeous necklace in the promo image that I created (below). The quote is from Right Here Waiting. Yes, this necklace was created to mimic the pendant that Neil gives Meg in the book. I can't believe how beautiful it is!

So, if you want a chance to win that gorgeous necklace, enter the rafflecopter! The Grand Prize is the necklace and an e-book copy of my three Ward Sisters Series books (Back to December, Only One and Right Here Waiting). First prize is e-books from some great Indie authors - Bethany Averie (All's Fair in Love and Lion), S. L. Dearing (The Gathering), Rene Folsom (Shuttered Affections), Magen McMinimy (Immortal Craving) and Clarissa Wild (Fierce) - plus a gift certificate from Bellissimi Ornamenti and a copy of the first two Ward Sisters Series books. And the second prize is the first two Ward Sisters Series books and a Bellissimi Ornamenti gift certificate. So go! Enter! You have many chances available, plus, there will be extra entries each day if you pay attention to the Bellissimi Ornamenti page and my Author Patti Korbet page on Facebook. Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Right Here Waiting - Epilogue WARNING! SPOILERS!

In case you missed it by the title, this post WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS below! I'll give you some space, so you can back away safely... (edited to add an image to take up some space and for eye candy...)

Okay, you've been warned! I had two different epilogue endings for Right Here Waiting. The very first epilogue I chose to cut early in the process for a couple reasons. For one, when I first wrote it, the passage illustrated Meg and Emily's full reconciliation, and once I'd added the scene between Em and Meg after Neil's vivid dream, it was redundant for that purpose. The other reason was because it took place a year after Neil woke up. That was a lot of ground to make up in a story that had already lengthened considerably when Neil's POV was added. Since it brought no new character development to the story and the plot development wasn't crucial to THIS story, it went away.

Then, I moved Meg and Neil's wedding chapter to the epilogue. I thought, up until just before I sent Right Here Waiting out for beta review, that I would keep it. But I decided that I didn't like how much it spoiled stories that came later (namely, Nina's), so I chose to cut it. I still don't want to spoil that story too much, so what I'm going to do is start this segment at the wedding itself. For reference, this takes place in December, a year from when Emily met Rob and about four months after the end of Right Here Waiting. More of the wedding will be shown in Nina's story, so stay tuned for that!

Right Here Waiting - Epilogue

The ceremony was short, despite a couple of readings and a sermon by her pastor on how love could help a couple endure all the trials of life, but that it would always be a bigger challenge than necessary unless we put ourselves in God's hands. Meg had spent every Sunday since the first one after she met Neil's parents going to church to pray. She had told no one but Neil and her future in-laws about her new found relationship to God, so it seemed more than appropriate for Neil's mother to say something at their wedding.

Siobhan stood at the podium. Meg had told her that she could say whatever she felt. Over the last year, she had come to rely on Neil's mother to have just the right words to make everything okay so many times that she'd lost track.

“This is one of what we all know as Murphy's Laws:

Nothing is as easy as it looks.

Everything takes longer than you expect.

And if anything can go wrong,

It will at the worst possible moment.

We were so very blessed this last year to have Meghan in our lives to help us through Neil's deployment. It seemed that Neil was livin' up to his name by finally getting' the girl o' his dreams just when he was bein' put in harms way. But Meghan stood by him, even when the worst happened. I know it nearly killed her to sit and wait for Neil to regain his memory. It was torture for Aidan and me, too, because we knew just how deep their love ran. The doctors said that it was important to let Neil come back to his memories on his own. In part, because there was a lot that happened durin' wartime that might be jogged and be detrimental. How Meghan sat by and waited for it to happen, I don't know. Some might say it's due to her bein' a therapist. I can only say that I think it was her faith in God, that he wouldn't have given her Neil only to take him away. And her faith paid off, because now we're here, today, to celebrate the love they have for one another. A love that strong will be able to weather the harshest of circumstances. Ye shouldn't have to start out with things so hard. But at least now ye know ye can make it through the rest. Everythin' else should be smooth sailin' by comparison. I love ye both. Very much. Meghan, ye have become the daughter I never had and I feel particularly blessed to know ye'll be the one to take care o' my baby. And Neil, if ye ever do that to yer wife again, ye'll have yer ma to answer to, got it?”

Her expression was mock stern as everyone laughed. She returned to her seat.

Meg looked at Neil, who smiled at her with so much love she thought she might collapse from the weight of it. Fortunately, her love for him was as strong as his own and she knew she wasn't the marshmallow anymore, the one with the vague appearance of being able to bounce back. The weight of the last year or so had been carried by more than just Meg because she let it be for once in her life. First, of course, was God, whom she had leaned on more than she ever could have imagined before she met Neil. But there was also the Murphys; Nina; Owen; Charlie and Dan; and of course, at the end, Em.

As they said their vows and exchanged rings, Meg started to cry tears of joy. They didn't need the vows or the rings to tell each other how much they meant, how much love was there between them. This was more for their friends and family and to make a promise in front of God. But the truth was, that after this last year or so, Meg knew nothing could really shake them. Not now. Not when they'd endured the worst already.

For the rest of her life, she would lean on Neil and he on her. And nothing ever felt so right.

Right Here Waiting is finally LIVE!!

Right Here Waiting is finally LIVE on Amazon! I'd planned to talk about it on publication day, which was Monday, but it took forever for it to show as cleared on my KDP dashboard. From clicking publish to it being 100% live, it took 15 or so hours. That's the longest I'd seen KDP take to publish a manuscript. Oh well, it's up now! Here's the link at Amazon, where you can snag a copy for yourself.

The good news about waiting to post on the blog? Well, I just clicked publish on Nook, so that should be live soon enough. My CreateSpace file is ready except for the cover. For whatever reason, I can't seem to use the cover I've been using at a high enough resolution. Makes no sense. I'm debating using the image anyway and ordering my own proof copy, then deciding if it looks okay. I haven't exactly flooded the paperback market; that's really about pleasing a few people close to me who'd like to have hard copy versions instead of e-books. So, I think it's worth going the proof route this time around. Worst case, I have a hard copy of my original concept and I have to choose a new image to create the cover for the paperback version. Best case, CreateSpace is being anal retentive and it's fine. Win-win, I guess.

Anyway, I'm so excited to share Right Here Waiting with all of you! I loved writing it and I adore these two characters. I knew when I wrote Meg into Back to December that she'd get her own story. I thought it was going to be Eddie Besson (best friend of Emily Ward's ex, Josh Ricker) who swept her off her feet, but I couldn't figure out how that would happen. And then I wrote a scene that takes place the morning after Charlie and Dan get married, and Neil wandered onto the page. After that, there was no question that Neil was the man for Meg. Eddie? Eddie who? In the midst of writing Captain Neil Murphy, I fell head over heels for him.

So, enjoy! Pick up the book - or all three, if you haven't read Back to December and Only One. If you read Right Here Waiting first, you won't be completely lost, but your enjoyment of the story will be greater if you read books 1 & 2 beforehand.

Coming next, I'll write an update post that will give you an idea of the publication schedule and what I'm planning for the future! Thanks to everyone who participated in my contest the past two weeks. I'll do more in the future, but for now, I need to promote a bit and write a lot. My muse has been busy inside my head for days! In fact, one reason I didn't post this until Thursday was because I've been writing. I'll tell you more about that in the next post. Time to get back to it!

Time for Promo Pics! Oh, and teasers...

Here are some promo pics for Right Here Waiting, all of which have quotes from the book on them! Enjoy!

Today's Right Here Waiting teaser...

I'm working on edits, and I wanted to share this funny little snippet. Here's Neil talking with his best friend, Danny. Teenage Neil is definitely a smartass with his best friend, and this bit makes me laugh when I read it.

“Why the sudden change of heart? You meet someone?”

Neil sighed. “No. Well, sort of. I talked to Meghan in the book store.”

“What? No way!”

“Way. We were looking at the Ireland display and we had a conversation.”

“Was she snotty and bitchy to you?”

“What? No. She was nice.”

“Huh. She gives off a snotty vibe at school.”

“Well, she was nice to me.”

“Probably thought you were a kid.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You still look young, Neil.”

“Thank God I don't look Neil Young.”

Countdown to publication...a Right Here Waiting teaser!

We're less than a week from publication, and I'm making final edits. I wanted to share a great segment that I know will give you a real sense of what this story is all about. Enjoy.

She glimpsed the flash drive on the coffee table, then picked up the drive, the t-shirt and the stack of letters and carried them all to her office. As she powered up her computer, she inhaled Neil's scent from the shirt and smiled. The masculine fragrance of man and a sporty deodorant – with just a little bit of a laundry soap smell underneath – evoked memories of burying her face in his neck. When she inserted the flash drive into the USB port, Meg clicked yes on the autoplay menu.

She couldn't have been prepared for what she saw and heard.

Sitting on his bed in a black knit shirt and boxers, Neil looked like he had in their Skype call, the shirt identical to the one from the box. In his hands rested an acoustic guitar, his fingers holding the cobalt blue guitar pick he had sent her. His deep voice said, “This is for you, Meghan,” and then he played and sang the entirety of All I Want Is You.

Neil's voice, beautiful, strong, clear and melodic, soothed her aching soul in a way nothing else could have. By the end of the song, her eyes had blurred with tears. He said, “I'll sing it for you in person when I get home. Give me the guitar pick then. I'll count the days until I can see you again. I love you, Meghan.” Fade to black.

She watched it at least a half-dozen more times. What a precious gift from the sweetest, most thoughtful man she'd ever met. That kind boy had grown into an even better man. He would be the ruin of her, would make her fall so deeply in love with him over these letters and messages that she could never live without him. A modern version of a traditional wartime affair over love letters, rendered in vivid hues as a multi-media maelstrom. How could she help but be swept away by it?

It hit every secretly romantic bone in her body just right.

She took out a pen and her favorite stationery, a heavy, cream paper with cobalt-blue flowering vines snaking around the outside border, and she began to write.

Right Here Waiting teaser...

We're getting close to the end! March 17 is nine days away, which means I'm feeling the crunch. I'm working on my last round of edits - the nitty-gritty stuff - before I send it along to my editor for her final comb-through. She has seen the prologue, so I'm going to call it good and let you all catch a glimpse of the story's beginning. The rest of the snippets from here out will be smaller and more vague, like the last teaser I posted. For anyone who hasn't read Only One and seen the teaser chapter there, this will be your first glimpse into Meghan Miles and Neil Murphy. I can't tell you how excited I am to bring this story to all of you. Though I loved Rob Deacon and Liam Neely (and still do), Captain Neil Murphy has been my favorite guy to write up to this point in the series. So, without further ado, here is the teaser...

Prologue

Morning of Charlie and Dan's wedding...

Neil stretched his long legs, and when his feet hit the foot board of his twin bed, he appreciated both his sunrise waking habit and his military training. The ability to function on less sleep meant his jet lag wouldn't put a damper on Danny Williams' wedding.

He'd been looking forward to this wedding for a long time. For one thing, his best friend had loved Charlie Ward forever and making it legal completed their decade-old relationship. For another, Charlie's friend, Meghan was a bridesmaid. Though it had been several years since their paths had crossed, Neil could hardly wait to get a glimpse of the gorgeous woman who had been the subject of more fantasies than he could count for thirteen years.

He ran on the trails behind his parents' house, along the route he'd taken since the age of twelve. The trees had grown in the nine years he'd been away, the path no longer daily trampled, but his father had maintained the trail. Light filtered through the summer leaves of the maples, oaks, ash and beech, a stark contrast to the more desert-like landscape that surrounded his current post, Ft. Irwin. He welcomed the shade and the cooler, damp, early-morning air, fragrant with the earthy scents of the Maine woods. Too bad his leave only lasted a week.

Slowing as he approached the house, Neil inhaled the aromas of his favorite breakfast: pancakes, bacon, eggs and coffee. He rarely had breakfast waiting when he got home, since he always ran with his roommate, Owen.

For a little while, he had Beth around. But her idea of breakfast didn't match his and she hated to cook. Neil had probably cooked more for her than she had for him. He'd caught Beth sleeping with one of the soldiers from her unit six months ago, and had promptly dumped her. Probably best, his mother soothed in her Irish accent, that Beth was stupid enough to cheat before ye got attached. No point in marryin' a girl who won't cook.

Nearly every night since he'd ditched Beth, Neil had dreamed of seeing Meghan on this day. He thought about it on the plane trip from California last night, as he drifted off to sleep, on his run, and in the shower while he jerked off this morning. Chances were good that all he'd ever do was think about Meghan Miles, because no other woman had intimidated the adult Neil Murphy the way she always had.

The last time he'd seen Meghan was at Danny's college graduation party. In high school, Meghan and her best friend, Emily – Charlie's oldest sister – were three years ahead of Neil. At the time of Danny's party, Meghan was starting her PhD program in psychology, which Neil found fascinating. He and Owen believed that combat was ninety percent psychological, nine percent physical training, and one percent shit luck. The philosophy made them good at their jobs, because they knew that winning any kind of battle started in your head.

As soon as Neil understood that concept, dating became easy. Once he knew he needed to get over himself, girls didn't scare him.

Except Meghan.

For some reason, no matter how confident he got, no matter how many girls he had dated or slept with, he couldn't find the nerve to talk to Meghan again.

Today might be his last shot, because in two weeks, his unit deployed to Afghanistan for nine months. Even when you led an elite team of soldiers with an M4, you got no guarantees from the Army that you'd come home still breathing.

**********

At the sound of the alarm, Meg groaned. Why did the Wicked Witch insist we all have breakfast so damn early? She rolled toward the alarm clock at the side of her hotel bed and let her eyes adjust to the light while she listened to Pink's Raise Your Glass. By the time the song had finished, her head bobbed to the beat.

This would be a day for change. She'd greet the day in the right frame of mind and it would make a difference. Didn't she give this advice to her clients all the time? She needed to listen to herself.

She flicked off the alarm, jumped out of bed and bounced to the shower, the song still in her mind as she stepped into the steamy spray. Charlie's wedding could be the perfect place to meet a nice rebound guy, someone to clear stupid Justin from her head. Guys loved that stuff, right? No strings hookups at weddings? Wasn't that the whole point of Wedding Crashers? Then again, Vince Vaughn fell for one of his hookups, so maybe she needed to think about this more carefully.

No. Live for today. That had been a goal of her Thai retreat nine months ago, learning to appreciate the moment and embrace what it could bring.

Don't worry about the past or the future, reside in the now.

Given her past, and the fact that Bucksport High alumni would be attending, living in the now could make or break her enjoyment of this wedding. The alternative would be to get good and drunk.

Stick with living in the moment, she thought. Safer that way.

With her new-found attitude in mind, she embraced the day.

Later that morning, as she walked down the hall from her room on the way to the Bridal suite, she almost fell over. A few doors away, a muscular guy stood, struggling with his room key, a garment bag aloft and a duffle on his shoulder. His silhouette made her breath catch.

No, she thought. Shaved head, big muscles. Military. Too much like Toby. But then, as she got closer, she caught a glimpse of his backside and a grin spread across her face. Look at that ass. It can't possibly be the guy from LAX? That would be fate.

Grabbing the garment bag to help him, he turned and looked at her. Green eyes, freckles and the same shock of recognition.

Thank you, fate. This wedding might be great after all.

Live for the moment, indeed.

Giveaway Post and bonus content...

If you follow me on Facebook, you know I'm running a contest from March 2-March 16 to promote my next book, Right Here Waiting, which will be published on March 17, 2014. The contest will require each entrant to answer a question related to one of my books, an answer which can be found among the posts in this blog or on my Facebook Author page. I'm going to make this first answer very easy to find, since it'll be in this post.

We're starting with Oscar Sunday for a special reason. If you've read Back to December, you know that Rob Deacon, aka Deac Roberts, is nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, an honor that happens quite unexpectedly.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences makes an appearance in all of the first three Ward Sisters series books, including Right Here Waiting, where it has a surprisingly pivotal role.

As an added bonus, today's contest answer will come, not from the book itself, but from a segment of the original epilogue, which wasn't published. Do you know what that means? Bonus content! That's right, this can only be seen here. The scene ties directly into the first day of the contest, since it takes place at the Oscars. Which Oscars? Well, you'll have to read the series to know for sure. And for anyone who wished that Emily got her chance to give Rachel a piece of her mind again, she did. Potential SPOILERS AHEAD!! Here it is:

Em waited until the next commercial break, then she headed backstage, both use the bathroom and to find Rob. It had been their ritual this awards season, for her to sneak away and find him as he answered questions after his win. She stopped at the bathroom first, glad for Christopher's genius. Her dress, a flowing, Empire-waist custom Valentino gown in the same hue as her dress for the Fluxus Gala, was both gorgeous and comfortable.

As she checked her makeup in the mirror and reapplied lipstick, Rachel walked into the ladies room.

“Oh, look who's here. If it isn't Mrs. Deac Roberts,” she said with saccharine in her voice.

“Actually, it's Mrs. Robert Deacon. I'm not married to the movie star. That's just some costume he puts on when he steps onto the film set. Not that you ever really understood that about him. How is it that you're here tonight? I thought you got divorced. And I know you didn't get nominated for anything.”

Rachel seethed. “I'm here with Ronin Edgars as his date, if you must know.”

Emily laughed. Of course she was. “Lucky Ronin.” She shook her head and the baby kicked. She flinched a little and put her hand on her belly. “I hear you, honey.”

“What did you say?” Rachel asked.

“I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to the baby.”

Rachel scoffed, “Yes, that was quite a coup for you, to get pregnant so he'd marry you.”

Emily laughed. “Oh, Rachel. Will you never learn? I don't know why I let you convince me that he wanted you back. You're pathetic, you know that? Unlike you, I was there when this baby was conceived and when he proposed. What order that happened is really none of your business. But don't think, ever again, that you'll make me doubt him. I know better, now. I wouldn't have taken you for a hockey fan.”

“Did Liam tell you about that?”

Emily shook her head. “No. Rob did. Yes, Rachel, that's right. Liam told him the minute you walked out of his life on your own. You're lucky Liam is a good person and didn't tell me before. I'd never have believed Rob would go back to you knowing what you did to his best friend and to him. So I suggest you give up on ever stealing him from me. He loves me. He has only ever really loved me. And there is no way I will ever again think he has any interest in you. Enjoy Ronin. I'm sure he'll like you at least until his star rises.”

Rachel's mouth hung open and Emily turned on her sparkly black Louboutins without a backwards glance.

Sneak Peek of Right Here Waiting!

Ever since I started this story, I've been exited to share it. I love both these characters. Right Here Waiting is the tale of 29 year-old therapist, Meg Miles and 27 year-old soldier, Lieutenant Neil Murphy. If you read Back to December, you might remember Meg - she's Emily's best friend. You know, the crazy, sexy, adventurous one. Except, is Meg who everyone thinks? Maybe not. Maybe even her very best, lifelong friend doesn't know her as well as she believes. For Neil's part, he has been best friends with Danny Williams since the age of three. You haven't met Neil before now. Dan, you might recall, is the one who marries Emily's sister, Charlie. Neil hasn't been around much in recent years because he has been stationed far away from Maine.

Now, some of you might know (and I've probably said it here), that I'm a sucker for a soldier character. Do you think that would be any less true if I wrote one? No, of course not. And I fell, hard, for Neil while I wrote him. He's a closet alpha male, so used to being the geek that he doesn't even realize he's just as much an alpha as his Army buddies. But he's also a gentle soul, a kind man as loyal as they come. He's just the type of guy a girl like Meg needs - someone who can be everything she desires and can make her heart whole at the same time.

Here's the first little sneak peek at Neil. It'll give you an idea of the man he is inside his brawny, formidable soldier physique - the shy, nerdy boy he was before his hormones caught up to his mind and the Army made him into a force of nature. Here, Neil is helping his best friend, Danny, get ready for his wedding, along with the groomsmen from the wedding party (which includes Emily's ex, Josh). An hour or so before this, Neil ran into Meg in the hallway. See, Neil has had a crush on Meghan since he was 14, which Dan well knows...

“I saw her. She helped me bring my stuff into my room,” Neil admitted.

“Ohhh!” five male voices chorused.

Neil blushed. “It wasn't like that. She just took my bag for me and brought it inside.”

There was another round of male stupidity. You'd think he would be used to this by now, living on an Army base, but Neil was still the shy kid when these things were lobbed at him. When he wasn't the victim, he usually just kept as quiet as possible.

“Yeah, okay. Make jokes. She didn't look to me like she was tramping it up or anything. She was just wearing summer clothes and no makeup.”

“Wait until you see her at the wedding. And it's not tramping it up; Meg doesn't do tramp. She does vixen. Watch out, my friend. She has you in her sights if she helped you already.”

“Oh, stop. She does not. She was just being nice.”

“She's on the prowl. There's no such thing as being nice when she's looking for someone to take her mind off her man trouble.”

Neil just shook his head. They all thought they knew her so well, but he didn't believe any of that for a second. Oh, sure, it might be true, but that didn't mean they were being accurate.

Synopsis of Right Here Waiting

I'd written a synopsis of Right Here Waiting a while ago. But over the course of the last few months, the tone of the story has changed a little, and I wanted the description - which is the first thing people see - to reflect the true nature of the story and also to recognize that we hear from both main characters. So, without further ado, here's the synopsis for Right Here Waiting. I can't wait to share this story with you all!

Right Here Waiting

Every high school has that girl. She's the one the boys talked about in the locker room, the piece of ass they all wanted or said they'd had. The one all the other girls hated because their boyfriends had her first or because they wished they could be so free with their sexuality. Meghan Miles wore that mantle. Too bad the reputation hadn't been earned. Despite being best friends since birth with Emily Ward, the class goody two-shoes, everyone had believed Meg slept with every boy she'd dated and even some she hadn't. Well, almost everyone.

And every high school has one of those boys. When Neil Murphy saw Meghan Miles for the first time at the age of 14, his breath caught and he finally understood why real girls were such a big deal. Never mind that he would be a big, strong soldier someday, scrawny, shrimpy, nerdy Neil, a whole two years younger and three grades behind, knew he had no chance with the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. But, when the rumors flew about Megan's kinky, slutty behavior, Neil refused to believe them, instead using the manners he'd been taught in a military home, and his keen skills of observation, to conclude the high school gossip mill had gotten it wrong.

A chance encounter her senior year with the sweet, geeky boy who had admired her from afar would change Meg's life for the better and would ensure that Neil could never fully expel her from his mind. Twelve years later, when fate finally brings the two of them together again at the wedding of mutual friends, it seems destined for them to make a connection.

But as a Lieutenant in the Army, Neil has to spend the next nine months in Afghanistan. Can their fledgling relationship survive a wartime courtship? Though aided by technology to keep the feelings alive, the reality of the situation means that Neil's life is as in danger as it would have been before the age of computers. If the worst happens, and Neil doesn't make it home in one piece, will Meg find the strength to trust in destiny and do the right thing? Or will she lose everything she loves – including her best friend – along the way?

New covers for Ward Sisters Series

One of the things I didn't have time to contemplate when I first published Back to December last summer was learning a new software. Between regular life stuff and the fact that I'd been editing it for 5 months, I was ready to be done and get the story out there. So, I found an image that worked for me, created a quick and dirty cover that I liked well enough, and then called it good. When it came time to create the cover for Only One, I was in a similar predicament. I wanted to make a specific sales deadline (and was insanely busy at the time) and rather than trying to reinvent the wheel for both books, I stuck with the look I'd created for Back to December (with a new image, naturally).

So, earlier, I posted the cover I made for Right Here Waiting. Unlike the last two times, I haven't been editing this book for months and I'm not within a few days of my deadline. I changed my tactic and have learned a lot from the last two books, so this manuscript is in a much better place than the last two were at this stage. Which left me more time to play with the cover, and I took advantage. I had previously played with an earlier version of GIMP, so I downloaded some more fonts and started playing this morning.

Now, lots of people say you should use professional cover designers, and if I had an unlimited budget, I'd consider that. But for one, I don't have that kind of budget. And for another, I actually enjoy doing this stuff. I mean, really, truly enjoy it. I learn software quickly and have played with photo manipulating for years. Frankly, I'm excited about what I can do with GIMP to improve my digitally-created photo books - I've made one every year for the past three years - to give them more of a scrapbooking look. And I'm not a total novice - I've done this stuff in the past here and there for a variety of reasons (jobs, volunteer work) and I took a course in document design and presentation a few years ago. It also doesn't hurt that I have a creative person for a critique partner - she's not only a writer, but a painter and a photographer - and she can give me great feedback on my covers, too.

Anyway, long story short, I here are the new covers for the Ward Sisters Series. Yes, I posted the Right Here Waiting cover earlier, but I tweaked it a little to add the series information. Now, we have a cohesive series. :) I hope you love it as much as I do!

Right Here Waiting - official cover reveal

We have a winner! After literally months of searching for the perfect cover image for Right Here Waiting, I finally found one yesterday. Spent some time creating the official cover this morning, and here it is! Meet Lieutenant Neil Murphy.

Later today, I'll be sharing the new cover images for Back to December and Only One. Now that I've found a look that I like for this book, I'm re-branding a bit for the other two books to create a consistent image. Actually, the final, printed version will probably include the series name, too. Otherwise, it'll be exactly the same. I'm very excited about this story, so I hope you're now excited, too!

Hello, Google+ and Pinterest, but...

So, I was thinking I'd dump my blog and switch over to Google+ instead, but I'm not really ready for that yet. I'd have to move all the existing blog entries, and I don't want to take the time at the moment. I'll explore other options later. For now, the blog stays as is. However, I've officially joined the Google+ circles, so if you're on Google+ or gmail, you can probably find me - same name as Facebook, Patti Korbet.

Pinterest was a fun, new addition. Check out my new Pinterest page when you have a chance. I've set up 8 boards thus far, one for each of the full-length novels planned for the Ward Sisters Series and one for the first novella, Buying the Cow. Lots of yummy pics (for the guys, too; there are female leads in all my stories, after all!) and hopefully, it'll provide some visuals for all of you. If you'd rather imagine on your own, go for it. If not, and you want to see what I see in my head (or a close approximation thereof), the images are available for your enjoyment. All the boards are public, so you don't need a Pinterest account, or to follow me on Pinterest, to see them.

As for progress on Right Here Waiting, I'm getting there! I've tried, really hard this time, to send along work to Laurie that is a lot closer to the 3rd or 4th draft version - in other words, a lot more like a finished product - than I've ever sent before. Until I sent along the first 150 pages last night, she'd only seen it in bits and pieces, and even that was occasionally. But we're getting there! And I'm loving where it's going, so I hope you all do, too.

Between Pinterest and life stuff, today was a bit of a bust in the normal working hours segment, so we'll see what I get done tonight for edits. Wish me luck!

Update of sorts...

I've been meaning to post more to the blog, but my writing time these days has been dedicated to Right Here Waiting. Why can't I do both? Well, I've had some issues with my right shoulder that make using it difficult (long story, not worth repeating here). And while I could type if I positioned myself just right, even that was tough by the time last Friday rolled around. I went to the orthopedist on Friday, and he gave me a cortisone shot. Slowly but surely, things are improving. I'm anxious to get back to the regularly scheduled programming.

As for Right Here Waiting, I've been pleased with how the manuscript is coming along. I made some big decisions about it, including one that cuts the current epilogue. I'll post that on the blog as an extra later, but I realized it revealed more than I want to say about another story, and I think where the narrative ends in the main body is a good spot. One of the original reasons for the epilogue had been to show some character developments, and those are now addressed in other places, so the epilogue isn't necessary anymore.

This is part of the process of writing - particularly growing and maturing as a writer - learning how to recognize these sorts of things before anyone has ever seen the manuscript. Aside from the teaser at the end of Only One, no one has seen this book, not even my mentor/first reader/editor.

Since my class and the holiday rush have ended, I've been working on backstory for Meg and Neil, the leads in Right Here Waiting, which is revealing more about the characters. As a writer, that's always exciting. I'm hoping readers will really connect to this story. Now that the final product is taking better shape, I'll review my original copy (the stuff that appears as a synopsis on places like Amazon, B&N and Goodreads, as well as on the back cover) and post it soon.

Before the end of the month, I'll have migrated to Google+, so I'm not sure how exactly that will change my blog, but I'll let you know via Facebook and Twitter. I'm also planning to launch a Pinterest board with some inspiration images. I'll announce when that happens, too. Meanwhile, you can LIKE my Facebook author page, and look there and at Twitter for upcoming giveaway/contests.

Thanks for continuing to take this journey with me! As always, positive reviews and sharing my work with your friends is a huge help!

What's next...

With Only One complete and out there for the world to judge, what's next on the horizon? It's that time of year, so let's get to the goals/plans. I like putting them out there - it holds me accountable.

One of the things I had to do for my marketing class this fall was create an action items list for the first year. I went a step further and looked at the first two years. It made me think about my writing goals, my publishing goals AND my marketing plans. I won't throw it all out here right now, but I have some upcoming goals I wanted to share.

First of all, Book #3 of the Ward Sisters Series is nearly done its first draft. My plan is to publish that on St. Patrick's Day. There are a few reasons for that - for one, lead male, Neil Murphy, is Irish. For another, that's just after the Oscars telecast and I'm planning a pre-publication promotion/giveaway to coincide with the Oscars. Anyone who has read Back to December and/or Only One will know that the Oscars play a little role in the series, at least this part of it. Oscar night is a big night for several people and my giveaway will capitalize on that. The winner of the giveaway will receive, among other things, a copy of book #3, Right Here Waiting. Lastly, St. Patrick's Day is about 4 months after the publication of Only One, and I'm aiming for about 4 months between book publications. I think it's a reasonable goal; we were about 4 months between books 1 and 2.

Further ahead, I'm anticipating that the next book will be published around the end of June, to celebrate my 40th birthday. Right now, I'm expecting Reggie and Eddie's story to be book #3.5, but if, as I complete the first draft on that or on This Year's Love it looks better as book #4.5, then so be it. In which case, Josh and Annie's story, This Year's Love, will be published at the end of June, with Buying the Cow (Reggie and Eddie) coming in the fall.

I have a second series in the works. Book 1 of that series, The Piece I Don't Need, is planned for November 2014. The series will be called Warwick, Maine, and is set in a fictional town. It has a stronger social bent and I'm hoping will be well-received. I'll start promoting that this summer.

So, those are some of the upcoming things from me. I also have a Pinterest board and a Google+ profile that will be launched in January. And you'll see more contests/giveaways as the year progresses. I'm happy you're taking this journey with me!

Writing Update

I'm still writing like a fiend. I've pretty much been doing that since last fall. No joke. I said to a fellow writer on Twitter earlier today that I think my word count since last fall is probably around 1,000,000. I'm not kidding. I wrote about 280k just with my Hunger Games fanfic. Then the original, first, complete draft of Back to December was 237k (or something) - the final version was 137k, I think, and that included some bits I wrote later that didn't appear in the first draft. Then there are some of the other side projects I've written here and there. Plus, the other stories in the Ward Sisters Series. I guess this is where I'll update you on those.

I've been editing Only One (Book 2), which has included some new additions as well as some restructuring and some tweaking/cleanup stuff. It's getting there. Even without editing the story to within an inch of its life, we're still close to the same word count as the final version of Back to December, which makes me happy. I'm sure it will get cut back, but at least it doesn't have nearly so far to go as Book 1 did.

For Book 3, Right Here Waiting, I've been writing some significant sections and also have restructured the story, based on what I found with Only One (and also what I learned from editing Back to December). We're at 82k with some big chunks to go. I've been picking the brain of an amazing source (who I happen to also call family) and I've got high hopes for this particular story. Honestly, I firmly expect that Only One will be a polarizing story for several reasons. But I would be shocked if people don't adore Neil and root for a HEA with Meg, across the board.

Book 3.5 is a novella and I hadn't written too much on it before this week. It's called Why Buy The Cow? Or maybe Buying the Cow, I haven't decided yet. It's funny that the metaphor has layers I hadn't realized until I delved into the meat of the story. A scene in Only One had me asking a question in my mind and I answered it by writing a huge chunk of this story, which is always very cool. And things just go from there. In some ways, I'll write a better story for Only One because I'll have thought about some things later in the series already. That one is barely started at 16k

Book 4 is Annie and Josh's story, This Year's Love. I've been ignoring that one lately for other parts of the series, but I need to get back to it soon. I know the direction it will take, but there is a lot left to write there. That one is further along than I thought, at 61k.

Book 5, Just Realized, has been mostly done for a while. I've got a few scenes left and then I think it's done. Although, I think I may end up adding some things that will set up a later story better, things I hadn't even contemplated until that other story was significantly written. We're at 82k there.

Book 6, Think of Me, is in my head but has a long, long way to go on paper. Once book 2 is published, this story will become one of my central foci. That's around 54k right now.

Book 6.5, Tell Me What It Takes, is another novella. I haven't done much with that lately. Like book 6, it will become more prominent as the next two books are published. That's also at 16k

Book 7, Better Be Home Soon, which was barely a thought when I started this blog 3 months ago, is now nearly 96k words. I wrote some big scenes for that today. It's not done, but I'm really astonished at how quickly it came together.

For the next 13 weeks, I'm taking a marketing class and that, of course, will cut into my writing time. Or probably it will cut into my domestic engineering duties. Yeah, that's more likely. Once I have a more firm idea when Only One will be ready for publication, I'll post it here, on Twitter and on Facebook. Have a great night everyone!

Print Version of Back to December, etc!

It's official! The print version of Back to December is available on Amazon. Now, just so you know, I don't make the big bucks on the list price. Really, that's mostly the printing costs. I'm just offering it because, well, it's cool to think I might be in print somewhere (and you know I'm buying one, right? Because I want to see ME on my bookshelf!) and there are still people out there who want to feel a book in their hands. Me, if I can save $ and a tree by purchasing the Kindle version of a book, then that's what I'll do.

Anyway, to celebrate the excitement of the print release, I'm offering the Kindle version for $0.99, a price that's now good through the end of Tuesday, September 3. I wasn't sure exactly when the print edition would be live, but since it made its debut sooner than I expected, you all benefit by getting an extension of the Labor Day weekend sale. Act now! The offer only lasts through tomorrow.

In related news, I'm working on several other parts of the series at once. I'm in-progress with edits for book 2, Only One. I've made a few changes that I think make the story flow better and that should improve other, less tangible things. I had an early reader indicate that they didn't much like Jenna, the heroine. Well, we can't have that. I'm not going to change her, just show a little more of her true character, which may not have been as evident before.

I'm also making some edits to book 3, Right Here Waiting. Some of what I'm doing is structural alterations that don't really affect the plot itself but transform how the plot unfolds for the reader. I can't wait for you to finally get a chance to read those stories! In due time.

As for writing, I've been a slave to the muse of Charlie Ward's story, Better Be Home Soon. For those of you who haven't already read Back to December (who are you people? Get on it! Just kidding. Sort of), Charlie is Emily's youngest sister. She gets married at the end of that story - not a spoiler, since, well it's not Charlie's journey. What, pray tell, could we have to learn about Charlie? She's married, right? She already had her epic romance off stage, already got her happy ending! I knew when I wrote Back to December that things would never be what they seemed. They aren't in real life, are they? But until I started writing her story, I had absolutely no clue what would really happen with Charlie and her husband Dan.

This story is the end of the series arc - if you're familiar with episodic TV, you know the concept. Each show has its own plot line and with serial programs, that story somehow fits inside a bigger concept for the season, then the season fits into the bigger story arc of the show itself. The Ward Sisters Series starts with Charlie's engagement, the moment that changed everything in Emily's life. Once I realized I had a series here, I knew that it would end with Charlie. Where it took me on the journey was an interesting surprise.

And I'm still learning new, unexpected things. I've said this before, I had an 'aha' moment when I read Stephen King's On Writing and he compared authoring a work of fiction to the role of an archaeologist. The writer chips away at the story, brushing the dust from their find, until eventually, the whole thing is exposed. Sometimes, you get what you expected. Other times, you make discoveries that you couldn't have imagined in a million years. Emily's story was pretty much exactly what I had expected it to be, aside from the fact that it spawned an entire series of stories in my mind. But so far, there have been some crazy (okay, maybe not crazy - unanticipated) plot threads exposed for the other characters. And when that happens, I'm often amazed and exceedingly pleased.

We've got a while before you'll get to hear Charlie's story. After all, there are currently 6 full-length novels and two novellas in progress (often nearly complete) in this series, plus Back to December. And Charlie's story is, as I said, the final chapter. I hope when all of this is said and done, you're all just as pleased with how it turns out as I am.

For now, here's an updated list of the stories, their order and the main characters in each:

Book 1, Back to December, Emily Ward and Rob Deacon (out now!)
Book 2, Only One, Liam Neely and Jenna Ackerman (coming this fall)
Book 3, Right Here Waiting, Meghan Miles and Neil Murphy (coming late 2013/early 2014)
Book 3.5 Why Buy the Cow? (or Buying the Cow), Eddie Besson, Reggie Reynolds and Jill Daigle
Book 4, This Year's Love, Annie Ward and Josh Ricker
Book 5, Just Realized, Nina Jacobs, Owen Nichols and Noah Adams
Book 6, Think of Me, Noah Adams and Catie Neely
Book 6.5, Tell Me What It Takes, Aaron Wallace and Ally Carmichael
Book 7, Better Be Home Soon, Charlie Ward, Dan Williams and Jack Armstrong