I just got cover art for Bedknobs & Beanstalks, m/m fairy tales anthology. This is the first antho I’ve edited and I’m so excited to see it coming out next week.

The stories include:

Jack and the Peenstalk by Clancy Nacht

The Rebelliously Single Prince by Lenore Black

Cry Wolf by Mercy Loomis

Kintaro by S.J. Frost

Ashes and Crystal by Jason Rubis

Handsome and Grateful by Kilt Kilpatrick

Swan Made by Mina Kelly

King’s Honor by JL Merrow

The Merman’s Tail by Jay Di Meo

Word Counts - Today: 0 | October: 0 | 2009: 161,028

It certainly felt that way when I tried to get out of bed this morning.

I got home late last night after a far-too-eventful journey home. I went to bed almost right away. Turns out my slightly sore throat and stuffed sinuses weren’t due to talking too much or allergies. I’m definitely coming down with something. Lack of sleep over the 5 days I was gone didn’t help, and I’m still not caught up.

The good news is that I had a few hours while I was gone to put the final touches on BEDKNOBS & BEANSTALKS and I sent it off to Ravenous. Just one more round of edits to get back and I hope to hear about the release date in the next week or so.

I’m reading angels/demons stories intermittently while I crank out the last couple of chapters of RARER THAN RUBIES which is due in a couple of weeks. It’s in pretty good shape but I’ll still have to work my butt off on that.

I’ll post about my trip soon, but right now, I feel like crawling back under the covers! I had a fantastic time and met some great new people as well as seeing old friends.

Word Counts - Today: 0 | September: 0 | 2009: 158,042

It’s been a while since I made much progress on my novel and it’s so far PAST the original deadline, it’s not even funny. But I got a huge burst of inspiration and managed about 7k on it during the last week. I’m just thrilled that the story is starting to flow again. I was really panicking for a while that I wouldn’t be able to get back into the story and finish it. I got sidetracked with health issues that kept me off the computer and a couple of other projects also got in the way.

But it looks like I’m getting back on track here.

Since it’s been so long since I even mentioned this project, it’s the m/m novel inspired by Romancing the Stone and set in Thailand. I’ve been doing some research on Buddhism and superstition in Thailand and that’s been fun and given me a lot of ideas. Makes me wish I’d made this a paranormal and not contemporary! Maybe some ideas will blossom into a short story instead!

Word Counts - Today: 2,390 | July: 15,809 | 2009: 138,708

Ravenous Romance is the brand new publisher that will be publishing my first novel Sex, Lies & Wedding Bells (in January). Their website just went live on Monday. Warning: their main page is NSFW!

There had been a lot of negative talk about this publisher on some of the writers’ boards and that has put a damper on my excitement about getting a contract offer for the first novel I dared to submit anywhere. But now I’m eagerly anticipating seeing my book featured even if it’s only for a day.

But I think the site looks very nice and they have a decent number of books and stories to start out. It seems each book gets featured for a day, and as I mentioned before, each novel is also available as an audiobook.

So far, they’ve only got one novel and one story for their Panamour category, which is what they are calling their LGBT offerings. I guess it’s less competition for me, but it also means that they won’t be a magnet for the readers that particularly like that category. I have to work a lot harder to get people over there, I guess!

Here’s a nice inteview with Holly Schmidt, one of the founders (and my editor). All About Ravenous.

I admit, I haven’t purchased anything over there yet, but if any of you do, please let me know what you think of the story or novel. And make sure to save $4.99 for my book when it’s available next month, okay?

Word Counts - Today: 0 | December: 0 | 2008: 384,186

I just sent off the contract to the publisher for my m/m version of the Runaway Bride story!  It’s going to be published by a brand new publisher Ravenous Romance probably in February. They’re just gearing up for a launch on December 1 and they say they’re going to publish one novel a day.

We’re still finalizing the title, but they have told me that in addition to an ebook, it will be made into an audiobook, which is really very cool. I’m finishing up a few last changes before I send them the final manuscript, and then I guess I’ll find out the publishing date at that point.

I’ll put up a couple of excerpts during the next few days, so you can all see what’s in store!

Word Counts - Today: 3,000 | November: 24,750 | 2008: 351,174

After debating about the changes the editor had suggested about my story, I agreed to add the sex scene in Chapter one and started working on it over the past weekend. I wasn’t feeling all that motivated about it until the editor emailed me Tuesday asking if I’d made the changes because she wanted to see the new chapter and the rest of the draft.

That was all the motivation I needed and I finished the scene and sent the full draft to her Tuesday night, California time. Wednesday morning she’d offered me a contract.  That’s a turnaround time of 12 hours, which shocked the hell out of me.

I’m not going to say which pub it is just yet, since we’re discussing some issues of title and the contract details, but soon, I promise.

I know my experience isn’t typical, getting two contracts from the first two places I subbed the work to, but I’m definitely enjoying how it’s all working out so far. Maybe I won’t wake up and find it’s all just a dream.

I’m doing some research about negotiating a contract, so if any of you have some resources to suggest, please do. I am also trying to find an entertainment or IP lawyer with publishing experience to take a look, just so I know which battles are worth fighting and which aren’t.

More soon!

Word Counts - Today: 0 | October: 21,290 | 2008: 326,424