Another Milestone on the Horizon

Just under two weeks ago, I hit a big milestone. A year ago, I was chewing my nails and editing frantically, trying to make the goal of getting Back to December out to the world on August 5th. I say that I was birthing my third child (not to be confused with the large, Alpha man who lives with me), my self-publishing career. The metaphor, it turns out, extends beyond just the birthing stage. Much like having a human baby, a writing career goes through changes. Just as it was with my children, the last year brought so many things into my life, some of which I could not have expected. I took a marketing class last fall that helped me focus on my goals. Now that we're at the 1-year mark, it will be interesting to see how my goals compared to reality.

I've made new writer friends, many of whom have been instrumental in growing my brand and helping me improve as a writer. This happened in a variety of ways. Some, like Marie Hall, Brenda Rothert and Minx Malone, I friended on Facebook and followed on Twitter just because I loved their work. They have all given me great advice and in turn, I've done my best to help spread the word about their talent.

Others, like Bethany Averie (who has become a great friend) and Danael McGuire, I actually met through Marie's Facebook page. Danael, in turn, brought me on board a group that connects authors and reviewers. Through that I met some really wonderful people: Ella Medler, who gave me the best review I've ever had (I swear, I will get to your books!); Rene Folsom, who has taught me so much about graphic design (she's an extremely talented graphic artist as well as a great writer!); and up-and-coming author, Avery Hale, who impressed me with her debut novel and has a similar work ethic to my own. Rene introduced me to amazing writer SL Dearing, who is also a fantastic maker of book swag. I found Clarissa Wild via one of the first book blogs I followed on Facebook, and we've been helping each other grow ever since.

I also met my superfan, Mandy through Marie's page, and I met another new fan, Connie, through the reviewers group. And just like that, networking expands, the brand grows, fans are found and they help spread the word. One day, you have a personal Facebook page and you realize you need a professional page instead. The ten followers who are family turn to fifty and before you know it, you've got 1,425 people who have liked your page. I've expanded this blog to encompass blog tours and reviews, cover reveals and promotion - all for other people. I've done blog takeovers on Facebook and held many giveaways on my page as well as in conjunction with others. And I now have a fan page - Christopher's Minions - where I'm rewarding the big fans with all the latest info first. Guerrilla marketing at its finest.

So, where are we at? My Ward Sisters series now has four books complete, and by the end of the month, I will be publishing a boxed set with all four of those books as well as some bonus content in the form of deleted scenes from each novel. I'll also include a teaser from my next book, Time to Begin - and not the one that appears in the back of This Year's Love.  Here's the cover for the boxed set - the 3D image with the 2D cover on the front.

In 2014, I'm hoping to get both Time to Begin (Ward Sisters, #5, launch date of September 15, 2014) and Just Realized (Ward Sisters, #6, tentatively Christmas 2014) published. When those are done, I'll launch my first spinoff series, Vega Brothers, probably next spring. Then, the pre-quel book in my other spinoff, Deacon Security, will come in the form of Ward Sisters, #7, Think of Me. That should take us through just about this time next year - I'm aiming for a book out every 3-4 months. My personal situation has changed, so we'll see how that impacts my writing - it may be that things move faster, it may mean they move slower. But, now you know my plans. If things change, I'll be sure to post an update.

The last bit I wanted to share is that I'm splitting the final book in Ward Sisters into two separate volumes. No, they will not be half as long. The decision has been made because I think that it best serves the story I was ultimately telling to break it into two pieces, as each segment is capable of sustaining a full-length novel by itself. I've said before that I didn't envision writing a his/hers story and telling the same tale in two separate books. This won't really be that, because the story of Dan Williams and Charlie Ward Williams is not one of just two people. Yes, I'll give you a major spoiler, this story will follow Dan and Charlie as their marriage hits a crater and that story will involve two other people you will have met earlier in the series. Currently, I plan to write the two stories together - I have been all along and will actually separate the parts that are Dan's point-of-view like a conjoined twin surgery. I'll publish them back-to-back and might offer them as a two-book set, at least initially.

Once I've launched Time to Begin, I'll have new cover material to show for the final two books, which will now be #9 and #10. The changes in how the story is being told means that what was originally the last book will still be that and will be Charlie Ward's story, book #10. I'm separating Dan's part of the story and calling that book #9. I've also decided that Better Be Home Soon isn't a good title for either of the final two stories now that I've split the narrative into two separate pieces, so when I do the cover reveals, I'll also be sharing the new story titles.

Thanks for taking this journey with me! I hope you'll stay on the ride!

Much love,

Patti Korbet

Update on my writing... VEGA BROTHERS series

Mandy asked on my Facebook author page about Christopher's story. If you're unfamiliar with my Ward Sisters series, Christopher Pilling is a secondary character, the stylist to movie star Deac Roberts. Christopher is a fan favorite, and by the time I finished book #2, I knew he'd be getting his own story, even outside his appearances in the rest of the Ward Sisters series. He first appears in Back to December (#1), makes an even bigger splash in Only One (#2) (because he's Jenna's best friend from high school), gets ignored in Right Here Waiting (#3) (because there really was no place for him in that story), and made a very brief appearance in the epilogue of This Year's Love (#4). He'll show up again in Time to Begin (#5), since he's friends with and the employer of Reggie Reynolds (she used to be the makeup artist for Deac Roberts, aka Rob Deacon). He'll make a brief appearance in Just Realized (#6), at a couple of weddings. I anticipate seeing him in Think of Me (#7), which is Mary Cate Neely's story (and if you've read Only One, you know she and Jenna were friends in college, thus, she knew Christopher through Jenna). I don't see why he'd ever be in Tell Me What It Takes (#8), which is the story of Annie's ex, Aaron, and Biogen rep/Liam's former lover, Ally. But he will most certainly make an appearance in Better Be Home Soon (#9), because Charlie Ward will get her chance to attend some Hollywood events with her brother-in-law, and she'll need Christopher.

Ward Sisters is currently at four complete stories. I'm working on books 5 and 6 right now, and you can see in the image below the covers for all of the stories, so you know there are a total of nine currently.

Now, while I was writing Right Here Waiting (Ward Sisters, #3), I realized that I loved Nico and Carlos Vega - Meg's ex and her other bff - and I wanted to write for them. Instead of sandwiching them into Ward Sisters, they're getting a spinoff called Vega Brothers. At the moment, the stories are as follows:

Steal Your Heart (#1), Nico Vega and Sarah Neely (yes, Liam's oldest sister)
You Got Me (#2), Carlos Vega and Christopher Pilling - yes, THE Christoper.
All I Want (#3), Peyton Hawthorne and Alex Vega - these two are Sarah's baby she gave up for adoption and the boy Carlos rescued from the gang in Miami, who was then adopted by the Vegas.
Never a Question (#4), Ariel Vega (Carlos' daughter) and Jesse Hillman (Yes, Annie's ex. Yes, he's a decade older than her. Yes, that's part of the story.)

So, that's where we're at with the spinoff series and where Christopher's story will happen. As for WHEN it will be published (it has already been started), to some degree, it will depend upon how quickly I get the rest of Ward Sisters completed and out there. The two series are technically separate and will be able to be read independently, but to be fair to the fans who will read both, I don't want to spoil anyone unintentionally - there will be details in one that will reveal plot from the other and vice versa. On the Ward Sisters timeline, 'present day' for Nico and Sarah is technically five months after the conclusion of Time to Begin, so I can publish their story any point after that is out - in other words, any time after this summer, it could be possible to launch Vega Brothers. Nico's story comes first, then Carlos and Christopher's story can happen. The internal, Vega Brothers timeline has Carlos and Christopher getting together after Nico and Sarah, but sometime within that year. As the schedule progresses, I'll reveal more details!

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!

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.

Titles and Main Characters: The Lists

It's fitting that today is one year since I wrote the final words for my first draft of Back to December, and I'm posting about the rest of the books in my Ward Sisters Series as well as the two spin-off series. Granted, Back to December went through some major revisions after that, but the day was monumental because I'd fully completed a manuscript. So, without further ado, here are the books I have planned. And when I say planned, that means I've plotted them in my head, may have started the stories and in some cases, have complete or nearly-complete manuscripts at the ready for editing. If a book is currently available, I've linked to the Amazon page and posted the date it was first published. If I know a planned publication date for a future story, I've included it. Listed are the main characters, but there are NO plot details.

Ward Sisters Series

WS #1 - Back to December, Emily Ward and Rob Deacon (August 5, 2013)
WS #2 - Only One, Liam Neely and Jenna Ackerman (December 21, 2013)
WS #3 - Right Here Waiting, Meghan Miles and Captain Neil Murphy (March 17, 2014)
WS #4 - This Year's Love, Annie Ward and Josh Ricker (late June, 2014)
WS #4.5 - Buying the Cow, Eddie Besson and Reggie Reynolds
WS #5 - Just Realized, Nina Jacobs and Sergeant Owen Nichols
WS #6 - Think of Me, Noah Adams and Mary Cate 'Catie' Neely
WS #6.5 - Tell Me What It Takes, Dr. Aaron Wallace and Ally Carmichael
WS #7 - Better Be Home Soon, Charlie Ward Williams, Dan Williams and Jack Armstrong

Vega Brothers

VB #1, Steal Your Heart, Nico Vega and Sarah Neely
VB #2, You Got Me, Carlos Johnson-Vega and Christopher Pilling

Deacon Security

DS #1 - Even Now, Nate Hogan and Olivia Deacon
DS #2 - Far From Ordinary, David Magnusson and Jessica 'Mase' Nichols
DS #3 - The Way I Loved You, Eric Brady and Isabel Neely Davies

My Influences

I just did this over at Facebook, and a friend said she'd probably post her own on her blog. Since my blog is for my writing, I thought that was a most excellent idea! The first bit is the instructions, so feel free to do this on your own.

The Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who've influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag at least 15 friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what authors my friends choose. (To do this, copy this intro, go to the Notes tab on your profile page, click 'write a note,' paste the intro into the 'body' and start your list.)

1. Melissa Foster, because she's a writing machine and I admire her immensely. And because she made me see that the kind of stuff I want to write has an audience.

2. S.E. Hinton. The Outsiders (and its related novels) was the first book I read obsessively. I'd always loved visiting the library, but reading that book started my practice of constantly seeking out new reading materials and new authors. I always hope that my work will do the same for others.

3. Jane Austen. Sometimes, I feel like I'm Jane, a woman outside her time. A couple years ago, book club read all her books, which I'd already done, but we read them in the order they were published. When I got to Northanger Abbey, I realized that even Jane's first novel wasn't spectacular. When I read Mansfield Park (my least favorite), I understood that you could love an author and not adore everything they ever wrote. These two facts give me solace on a regular basis now that my work is out there.

4. Stephen King. Not so much for his work in horror - I've read some and for the genre, I like it. But more for his non-horror writing. He has a way of viscerally drawing the reader into a story. And then I read his non-fiction memoir/writing book, On Writing, and his comparision of a writer and an archaeologist resonated with me. I still think about it regularly, especially at the moments when my story takes a turn I hadn't expected. Of course I didn't expect it; I hadn't seen the whole fossil yet.

5. Aldous Huxley. Brave New World has long been one of my absolute favorite books. I don't know quite why; it has stuck with me and I think that says something. The themes in that story seem to trancend a specific time, and that's powerful.

6. Suzanne Collins. Likewise, The Hunger Games trilogy sucked me into its world and made me forget I was reading a YA series. The ideas of hope and love in the story are both blatant and subtle. The other reason I will never forget this author or series is that, when I finished it, I wanted to know what had happened between the end of the story and the epilogue. And since she hadn't written it, I wrote my own version. 280k words later, after weeks of writing daily because I HAD to write, I was a real writer. Not that I need to publish that fanfiction, but it helped me transition to a writer's frame of mind.

7. Marie Hall. Yes, Marie, I said you. Your MOMENT series let me see that I might someday be brave enough to write stories that painful. And then when I realized just how vivid your imagination was outside the Contemporary genre, it gave me courage to believe that trying a sci-fi story might not be beyond me.

8. J.R.R. Tolkien. He helped me see that some people appreciate wordiness (probably my biggest weakness) and that lengthy tomes have their place. He also showed me that creating another world - whether fantastical or grounded in reality - is more than possible if you believe in it.

9. Diana Gabaldon. Her Outlander series showed me that sometimes, stories transcend genre classification, and that doesn't mean they can't be successful.

10. Laurie Breton. Reading her first novel, Coming Home, I fell in love with her writing. For decades, I had an author in my family and I hadn't read her work because I thought it was just Romantic Suspense, which isn't typically my thing. But once I found that I liked her writing style, I saw that I could like a genre if the right person was feeding it to me. And then, of course, she has been my mentor, a guiding hand, a cheerleader (and a disciplinarian), the best critique partner I could ask for and after 40 years of being my aunt, I call her a friend.

11. Tom Robbins. His irreverent, wacky stories skirt the edge of the bizzarre, and yet, I devoured them and laughed the whole way. Fun and funny and imaginative, he showed me there is no real limit to what your brain can conjure if you just let the muse take you wherever she's willing to go.

12. Douglas Adams. Like Tom Robbins, he entertained me with humor and the fantastical. He helped me realize that not all sci-fi has to be serious.

13. Jill Shalvis. Like Mr. Adams, Jill helped me see that romance could also be humorous without sacrificing the sexual tension or the heartfelt emotions.

14. Judy Blume. From the days of caring about our boobs getting bigger in middle school to the very grown up Summer Sisters, she'll forever be my gateway into the kind of novels I now write. Thanks, Judy.

15. L.M. Montgomery. Anne of Green Gables was the first full series I ever read that was truly a serial commodity. Once I'd explored a story in that way, I found I loved it. And now, I write stories that follow groups of interconnected people because I still like to read those types of stories, and I can't imaging writing something you wouldn't want to read. I write for me and I then share it with the rest of the world, just as it should be.

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.

One of those (good) days...

Writers always have good days and bad. Today, I haven't written much yet on my current Work In Progress (WIP). We had dental appointments mid-morning, and so instead of writing, I finished reading Jill Shalvis' latest book, Once in a Lifetime. Then, I got involved with responding to an email from my critique partner/mentor/editor, Laurie. The thing is, when I'm involved in these activities, they seem completely irrelevant to the process, and yet, today, they were anything but.

On route to the dentist, I was thinking about another of the stories in the Ward Sisters Series and had an epiphany. Not just about my current WIP, This Year's Love, but about my writing in general. Over the course of the past year, I've grown and changed, improved my skills, yes, but also found my voice strengthening. Last month, while completing Right Here Waiting, I had a breakthrough in my editing/storytelling when I realized the 10k I'd recently written wasn't going to make it to the final manuscript. Instead of feeling frustrated, I was elated! I'd come to the same conclusion I would have after Laurie read the manuscript, but I did it on my own, before she'd ever seen the material. It was emotionally akin to my son reading his little numbers book to me earlier and saying, "I'm learning!"

The process taught me to see that not everything I write has to make it into the final manuscript, but that doesn't mean some of those details aren't important. Like I just said to Laurie, if I don't write it, I can't decide which bits make it in, which bits will be glossed over and which bits will be ignored. I'd decided I didn't think I needed to write the history of the main characters into This Year's Love the way I have in the past. But for one, that might not be the best way to approach the story. And for another, even if the reader doesn't need to know the details, I do.

When I meet a character for the first time or as a secondary character in another story, I don't know everything about them. It's no different for me than it is when I meet new friends or acquaintances. The longer I know someone, the more I learn about them, the clearer the picture in my head. My characters are no different. So, whether or not I structure This Year's Love in any way similar to the last two stories I wrote or I take a completely different approach, I still need to write their histories, separately and together. Then, when I edit, I can decide if things are necessary for the reader to know and in how much detail. Why is this so exciting to me? Because now, when I write a story, any story, I'll automatically want to learn the history of a character, even if it's only for my information, and for someone like me, that means I've streamlined my process.

It's so funny that I've come to this conclusion, because I wrote a post early in my blogging about my sophomore year English teacher, who I resented at the time, but whose assignment to do a dossier on the characters of Oliver Twist informed my writing. Now, I'm realizing that process of putting together a 'file' - in my head and, more importantly, in writing - about a character is what helps me shape the story I'm telling. And none of it is pointless, even if I don't use it. The exercise serves many purposes, some of which help me be a better writer/editor, and some of which help create the story.

So, trip to the dentist, helpful and made my teeth sparkle. Reading another author's work? Seems completely relevant, right? Well, sure. Every writer is a reader. And in this case, I love Jill Shalvis' work. But more importantly, the last book in the Lucky Harbor series, Always On My Mind, was a friends-to-lovers story. This Year's Love is also one of those stories. And in Once in a Lifetime, we catch up a little with the previous characters, post HEA (Happily Ever After). They're doing great, but it cemented my conviction that I wanted This Year's Love to be different from your typical friends-to-lovers with a HEA ending. What happens after the HEA? What if the road to becoming more than friends was easy, but the 'after' was the hard part? That's what this story will be, and I'm very glad that I took this route. I'm really excited to get back to it with a new perspective in my head. As a writer, I enjoy generating ideas. But as a reader, I want those ideas to be interesting to other readers. That's the only reason to pick up a book, right? If it will engage you in some way? And what better way to engage the readers than to tell a story that's been told, but in a new way?

Which leads me to the third activity of the day, emailing my writing guru. We talk, back and forth, about our work, writing in general, life, how our stories are progressing, how sales are going, you name it. Any one of our emails could run the gamut. And sometimes, while I'm writing to her, I end up actually writing what is a plot/character development email to myself. I did that today on This Year's Love. Score one for character development! Other times, I'm writing to her and, though I do want to share what I'm typing with her, I'm also talking to myself. I had another one of those moments today. While sharing my excitement about the epiphany I detailed above, I came to the conclusion that my 4-month window between books in the series might be more than I need, now that my writing has evolved. And that sparked an exciting idea in my head.

So, I don't want to get too excited about this prospect, because I have a long way to go to finish This Year's Love for its late-June publication, and I have no idea what might happen with that. But, as of now, I'm thrilled to reveal that I'm planning a pre-quel story for my second series, Warwick, Maine. It'll be set in my college years of the 90's. The story will be a New Adult-genre narrative and will tie into the Warwick series by introducing some of the characters who'll appear later, in their older versions. The manuscript first draft is complete - it's a story I wrote previously that will be worked into the Warwick series - so provided I don't have a hard time with This Year's Love, it's reasonable to anticipate finishing this story for publication long before the November launch of Warwick. Current plans have me hoping for a mid-May release (between books 3 and 4 of Ward Sisters), but I might push it out to July (between 4 and 4.5 of Ward Sisters) if that seems more reasonable. Stay tuned. The current story title is Closer to Fine. Unlike most of my work, it's written in first-person, so it'll be an interesting adventure to bring it to life for my readers!

Back to work! Thanks for listening to me ramble today, and I can't wait to share more stories with all of you!

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.