Though writing is what I do with as much of my free time as possible, I also have a regularly paying job on most weekends. I pass out a local publication at various trade shows in the Houston area. This past weekend was the Houston Boat Show.
This was my first time at a boat show, and it was definitely a learning experience. I never knew there were so many different types, shapes, and sizes. I have my future yacht all picked out. Now we just have to see which of my daughters becomes rich and famous enough to buy it for me.
While fantasizing about my leisurely life on the water, I realized a yacht could make a great setting for a romance. Can you imagine being seduced by a hunky hero on one of these babies?
I can!
Who wouldn’t want to relax and let the waves rock them to sleep in this set-up? Now I just have to find the right characters to place here and decide on the situation that gets them here. Hmmm. I love when real life can spark an idea for a new book.
June is my birthday month and I’ve claimed all thirty days to celebrate. What’s really cool is how all the places I shop and eat most enable me to party all month every year. My husband used to laugh when I signed up for every loyalty card regardless of how little I shopped at a place, but he stopped when I started getting free stuff every June. This year I get free pancakes, free popcorn, a free soda at the movies, a $25 gift card at a local boutique, a small notepad, $25 credit at one of my favorite restaurants, and tons of coupons. It’s kind of funny, I’m not sure I can even use up all the offers before the end of the month.
I’ve always loved to celebrate birthday, mine and anyone else’s. When I worked at the bank I was unofficially in charge of getting the birthday cakes and cards for each team member. I loved it. I never look at birthdays as a sign of getting older. To me they’re a sign of surviving another year and hopefully growing in some way. I’ll admit my kids’ birthday can be kind of depressing. My oldest turned eighteen last year and that was kind of a bummer. But I still love to celebrate with them and everyone who loves them.
How do you feel about birthdays? Do you look forward to them or hide from them? Add a comment below and you might win a prize. Just because it’s my birthday month doesn’t mean I can’t share in the fun of receiving. Today is the last day to enter to win the $10 virtual gift card I’m giving away. Enter here: http://bit.ly/12gkMi0
Heather’s Redemption
Missy Jane
Not mixing business with pleasure is easier said than done when working twelve-hour days at her family business. However, after Heather’s recent office affair ended in disaster, she’s determined to stick to her guns and ignore her attraction to the new guy, Zach. No matter how deliciously tempting he may be.
Zach knows falling for Heather Wellington is professional suicide, but resisting the intriguing and intelligent beauty is much harder than expected. She’s quickly proving to be everything he wants in a woman, despite the rumors circulating about her past. And once he touches her, all bets are off. Now all he needs to do is prove to her she’s worthy of a second chance and more than capable of redemption.A Romantica® contemporary erotic romance from Ellora’s CaveRead and excerpt and buy it here: http://www.ellorascave.com/heather-s-redemption.html
It’s my birthday!! And what better way to celebrate than with a new release. Heather’s Redemption, the sequel I never expected to write, is now available from Ellora’s Cave Publishing. It’s my tenth release from one of the best publisher’s in the world. So, to celebrate I’m giving away a $10 virtual gift card. Just click this link to enter. One way to enter is by leaving a comment on this blog post.
Heather’s Redemption is the story of a successful HR company VP. She seems to have it all, a great job, an influential family, skill, determination, and a killer body. However, what many don’t see is the turmoil going on inside. Heather’s poor choices cost her father’s company a valuable employee and nearly caused a law suit. Now she has to be very careful of anything she does in the office as it concerns the opposite sex. Imagine her dismay when very sexy Zachary is hired.
Blurb:
Not mixing business with pleasure is easier said than done when working twelve-hour days at her family business. However, after Heather’s recent office affair ended in disaster, she’s determined to stick to her guns and ignore her attraction to the new guy, Zach. No matter how deliciously tempting he may be.
Zach knows falling for Heather Wellington is professional suicide, but resisting the intriguing and intelligent beauty is much harder than expected. She’s quickly proving to be everything he wants in a woman, despite the rumors circulating about her past. And once he touches her, all bets are off. Now all he needs to do is prove to her she’s worthy of a second chance and more than capable of redemption.
A Romantica® contemporary erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave
Guess what’s happening this week! On Friday, June 14th I will have my twelfth book released. However, it’s my tenth from Ellora’s Cave Publishing. So, to celebrate I’m running a contest and giving away a $10 virtual gift card to either Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice). To enter all you have to do is click the link and follow the directions here:
One entry option is to leave a blog comment. I meant to have a whole schedule of blogs for the week but life has kept me busy. et this post serve as the one to comment on. 😉
Also this week, I turn 38 on Saturday!! I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. At least I can say I’ve survived this long. Let’s see, I’ve survived the millennium apocalypse, the Mayan apocalypse, and having two teenagers. Now if I can get through the inevitable zombie apocalypse, having two more teenagers, and a possible alien invasion, I should be good.
So, what are you waiting for? Go forth and enter my contest. Good luck!
Remember that boy from high school, the one who you thought about while listening to romantic songs on the radio, by yourself, in the dark, sobbing because he didn’t return your feelings? Remember how seeing him in the hallways at school made your breath catch in your throat? And if he caught your gaze and smiled at you, your spirits soared.
Remember him?
What if he was your best friend? And what if you went to his house before school one day so you could walk together as you always did… only he was gone?
Gone-gone. The doors were open, the closets were empty, and you never saw him again. He just… disappeared.
That’s what happened to Patience McGraw when she was a teen. As JUST ONE KISS begins 15 years later, Patience is at work in a salon in Fool’s Gold, California when Justice returns.
“Patience?”
She didn’t recognize the male voice, but turned anyway. A man stood in the entrance of the shop. He was tall, with dark gold-blond hair and deep blue eyes. His shoulders were broad and he had the kind of face that would be happy up on a movie screen. Nice, but she had no idea who he…
She felt the cape flutter to the floor as she really looked at the man moving toward her. He was a few inches taller, a lot more muscular, but his eyes… They were exactly the same. They even crinkled when he smiled at her.
“Hello, Patience.”
She was fourteen again, standing in that empty house, more scared than she’d ever been in her life. There hadn’t been any answers. Not then or since. No solution to the mystery. Just questions and a gnawing sense that something had gone terribly wrong.
“Justice?” she asked, her voice more breath than sound. “Justice?”
He gave her a slight shrug. The familiar gesture was enough to send her flying across the shop. She flung herself at him, determined to hang on this time.
He caught her against him and held on to her nearly as tightly as she held on to him. He was warm and solid and real. She pressed her head against his shoulder and inhaled the scent of him. A clean, masculine smell that had nothing to do with the boy she remembered. This wasn’t happening, she thought, still dazed. Justice couldn’t be back.
Yet he was, and here. But the man was very different from the boy and the moment got awkward quickly.
Justice has returned to Fool’s Gold to open a bodyguard academy with a few of his ex-military buddies. (This is Fool’s Gold, where we go light on danger and heavy on humor, charm, and fun, flirty romance.) Justice leapt at the chance to return to the town that took him in at a very tense point in his life, and he was eager to see Patience again, his sassy, beautiful friend.
She’s just as open-hearted as she was back then, unstained by the darkness in the world, darkness he lives with every day. The moment Justice holds her in his arms, he vows to protect her from himself. Patience is everything good and pure in the world, and he won’t ruin that. She draws him like sunlight on a cold day, but though he can’t resist the need to be near her, to kiss her, he won’t allow himself to fall in love.
Enter the JUST ONE KISS blog tour contest once a day every day from May 28 through June 9 for a chance to win a $25 Amazon or BN.com gift card! And because this blog was set up by Fool’s Gold Cheerleader __CHA-CHA_, if you win, she’ll win a gift card, too!
Are you still in touch with the boy or boys you had a crush on in high school? Did they grow up to be as cute as you thought they would?
With more than 25 million books sold worldwide, New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery is known for creating characters who feel as real as the folks next door, and for putting them into emotional, often funny situations readers recognize from their own lives. Susan’s books have made Booklist’s Top 10 Romances list in four out of five consecutive years. RT Book Reviews says, “When it comes to heartfelt contemporary romance, Mallery is in a class by herself.” With her popular, ongoing Fool’s Gold series, Susan has reached new heights on the bestsellers lists and has won the hearts of countless new fans.
Susan grew up in southern California, moved so many times that her friends stopped writing her address in pen, and now has settled in Seattle with her husband and the most delightfully spoiled little dog who ever lived. Visit Susan online at http://www.SusanMallery.com.
So today was the final day of the Comicpalooza Convention. I didn’t get nearly as many pictures as I wanted to but still shot some interesting stuff. Enjoy!
So it was day one of Comicpalooza in Houston,Tx today and look who I found roaming the hallways: Jay and Silent Bob. Okay, maybe not the real Jay and Silent Bob but damn good impersonators.
There was a lot to see and do today and many, many people in costume. It was almost overwhelming as the convention covers nearly the entire George R. Brown Convention Center, which is a damn big place.
There’s definitely something for everyone: a mustache emporium, scantily clad women, shirtless men, comics, sci-fi television stars, and Legos.
The costumes ranged from ridiculous to outrageous, from unique to amazing. I didn’t take nearly enough photos but promise to do better tomorrow.
My only disappointment of the day was not getting to meet artist Boris Valejo. However, I’ve been told he did make it into town after all. So I have high hopes for tomorrow.
Speaking of which, what are you doing tomorrow? Whatever it is, change your plans and head downtown to see me!
What’s fun, involves gaming, comics, movies, sci-fi, fantasy, literature, art, and all kinds of unique people? That’s right, Comicpalooza in Houston, TX. Today is the start of this three day convention that has seriously grown over the past couple of years. This will be my first year attending and I can’t wait!
I know it’s not easy to see on the above diagram, however I’m sure this will be available on site as well. I’ll be just above the “Artist Alley” on the left side of the first floor. I’ll be at booth #1831 alongside authors J.D. Faver and Mina Khan.
Aside from signing books and meeting our readers, all three of us will also be on panels throughout the event. I will be on two Saturday: No Right Way to Write at 1pm, and Vampires and Shifters: Why Do We Love Them? at 6pm. On Sunday I’ll be on: Prose: The Art and Science of Choosing the Right Words at 12pm, and Kick Ass Heroes and Heroines at 3pm. As far as I can tell most if not all of my panels will be in room 3.
So whether you’re a Trekkie, Star Wars fan, Whovian, or none of the above, you should come out to Comicpalooza for a unique and interesting weekend.
It’s almost the end of the school year! I’m always happy to see the summer months because that means a little less hectic schedule with the kids. However, this year I’m absolutely ecstatic because I’ll have a high school graduate also! So hopefully when school starts again I won’t be stretched quite as thin.
On the writing front I’ve got a few things going on. I’m currently working on edits for Heather’s Redemption. For those of you who have read Resignation, this book is about that Heather. Yes, I know she wasn’t shown in a very good light in the first book. Hence the name of this one. I promise she is redeemed and with a sexy hero to boot. Once I finish the edits I’ll get a release date. Hopefully very soon.
Also on the writing front, if you’ll be in the Houston area this weekend you can meet me in person! I’ll be attending Comicpalooza for the first time ever and am super-duper excited about it. I get to hang with other dorky, freaky people just like me. I can’t wait! It’s not too late to get one, two or three day passes. There will also be a whole ton of famous people to ogle once you’re done talking to me. 😉
And last but not least I need to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me by buying my books these past two months. I had a new release in April (Lunchtime Sex) and in May (Too Much to Lose). Though I won’t have the numbers in for a couple of months I’ve already had some positive feedback. So I know at least one person bought each of them. Thanks to everyone who did!
Author Missy Jane 