On to the next book...

To the left?  Cats in the sun.  We don't get a whole lot of sun around here this time of year, so they never miss their chance to lie in a spot of sunshine when it finally becomes available.  That was last week sometime.  Today, it's rainy and gray again.  I'm glad I took that picture to remind me of the last sunny day.

It's fabulous being a RITA finalist (see previous post).  But in the end, the working life of a writer is about...the writing.

So I've moved on to the next project, for which the title has actually been formalized.  THE RANCHER'S CHRISTMAS PRINCESS will be on stands in December of this year.  This will be the third in The Bravo Royales series, the first where the heroine is one of the five Bravo-Calabretti princesses.

Princess Arabella's best friend has recently and tragically died.  So Belle comes to Montana to find the father of her best friends eighteen-month-old son.

I'm writing the scene where she tells the hero that he's a dad.  He's not taking it all that well--which makes for fast, emotion-packed writing.  My favorite kind!

I'm a RITA finalist! Twice!

That would be RITA, there on the left.  We romance writers all covet RITA.  She's the tops awards-wise in our industry.  She's our Oscar, our Emmy, our Golden Globe.  Only better.  Because she's RITA.  We all dream of someday winning at least one of these golden beauties.

I have yet to win a RITA.  But hope springs eternal and every year I enter every book I have published that year.   Before today, I've finaled three times: in 1992 for my Silhouette Desire, MIDSUMMER MADNESS, in 1999 for my Silhouette Single Title, THE TAMING OF BILLY JONES and then in 2007 for my Silhouette Special Edition, MARRIED IN HASTE. The calls go out in the last week of March and I'm telling you, it never gets old to get one of those calls.

This morning, I did get one of those calls.  From Series Romance Category coordinator, Tracy Garrett.  Tracy informed me that not one, but TWO of my 2011 books had made the finals this year!  I'm thrilled.  Excited.  Walking on air.  Maybe I'll win this year.  That would be fabulous.  I must say, though, being a finalist is pretty cool in itself!

DONOVAN'S CHILD is a 2012 RITA finalist



And so is....

A BRAVO HOMECOMING!

Snowy March Day! And thoughts on plotting.

So I put up a new green, lush forest background for this blog.  And then yesterday?  Snow.  Yep.  In March.  It was kinda pretty, though.

Played back the first of my two taped plotting sessions from Plot Group.  Always interesting what great ideas I get from the group.  And then the way I see the story moving after I've played the tape back.  usually, we plot the heroes a little harsh.  I find more and more I like to dial them back a bit.  Make them more sympathetic.

Well, sometimes.  LOL  In this story--working title: Her Highness and the Bodyguard--the hero, Marcus and the heroine, Rhiannon (yes, a princess) have history.  We plotted it so that Rhia loved Marcus madly in the past and he walked away for duty's sake.  I think I'm going to say they BOTH walked away.  That she had things she wanted to do and marrying at the age of 18 (when they first hooked up) wasn't one of them.  But then they get trapped in a car in a Montana snowstorm.  What do you know?  Nature takes its course...  Mwahaha.

Montana?  you might be wondering.  A princess and her bodyguard in Montana?  Well, see, in the previous story (The manuscript of which I will be starting next week), the heroine, Belle, went to Montana to honor a friend's dying wish.  There she met horse rancher Preston McCade and...

Wait. You don't need to read all that.  Not now.  Later.  Like in December, when Belle's book will be on the stands.

It is a bit odd, talking about books that aren't even written yet.  Odd, but wonderful.  At least to me...

Travels to Vegas

Back from plot group.  That would be four days in Las Vegas with four other authors.  10 plotting sessions, 2 books each.  Lots of Starbucks and way too many tortilla chips on the two nights we ate Mexican.  I love salsa.  I also love guacamole.  We had both.  That's my excuse.  Mwahaha.

The picture to the left?  Yours truly, Teresa Southwick and Kate Carlisle, three of the five of our crew.  Missing from this photo?  Susan Mallery and Maureen Child.

Now I'm home, catching up madly.  I finished the edits that were waiting for me from my publisher.  And Monday?  On to the next proposal.  That will take up to a week.  I love writing proposals because I start by listening to the tape of the plotting session from plot group.  I love not only the great ideas I get from my plot mates, but also the jokes we are constantly cracking as the session progresses.

Once the proposal is outta here, I'll write the third in the Bravo Royales series.  Title: THE RANCHER'S CHRISTMAS PRINCESS.  You'll never guess.  It's a December release.

Here in Portland, the sun is out.  Loving that.  Hope it's sunny where you are...