Well, I could get used to this…I woke up this morning to an email sitting in my inbox, and one that was an awesome read. Way, back…way, way, way back in Feburary I wrote a spicy paranormal novella and subbed it to Ellora’s Cave. I heard back very quickly, and was told that it had been passed up to an acquiring editor.

This was the first positive action I’d received in my bid to get published and I was pumped. I was sure I’d get an email from Elllora’s saying that they wanted my story.

A few weeks, turned into a few months and before I knew it I had subbed two more shorts and still now word. The day before I left for Nationals in SanFrancisco, I got two rejections for the last two shorts I’d subbed. But, still no word on the first. I honestly thought they’d lost it, or it was R’d, but I hadn’t recieved the email.

Then a couple days after finding out about my Avon sale I recieved an email from an editor at Ellora’s Cave requesting the ms be forwarded to her. I was surprised, but forwarded the story and this morning got an email with an offer to contract the story. Wow. What a crazy last few weeks…They say everything comes in threes, so I’m anxiously awaiting some more? Please? I love this!

Blind Awakening will be an Ellora’s Cave release sometime in the near future!

Here’s the blurb:

Jacen Castille is on a mission to forget his past, and hopefully leave behind the memories of his shape shifter heritage. He’s a man at odds with the world he’s found himself in, and the craving for something more sets him on a path that will eventually lead him to the destiny he’s so desperately trying to avoid. He’s a jaguar and when he crosses paths with his predestined mate, the need to claim her as his can’t be denied. She’s of the royal Saffir line, and as they come together, the power of the sapphire that lives inside of her is awakened. With their very lives at stake, they must both tap into their heritage to grab their destiny in order to survive.

As you can see it’s another shapeshifter and indeed the one that inspired my first Jaguar Warrior book. So I’m very pleased….what about you? What’s happened lately in your life that made you sit back and go….WOW!

Well ladies, the excitement still hasn’t rubbed off, and I’m not sure if I want it to. I’d love to feel like this every day, but I suppose eventually, it will begin to fade…hopefully not for a while though!

I got my first email from my editor yesterday. I’m lucky. This woman is someone I know I’m going to love working with, and the kicker? She’s so excited to be working with me….on my books….as in freaking plural!! Wow….still can’t get over that. We had a nice chat, but it’s down to business. And boy am I ready.

I have my first mini deadline. Before Esi made her offer, I had decided to tweak the ending a bit…flesh it out a tad more and add a pivotal event that will change somewhat the next book I’ve already started, however, it finishes up the first story in a way that for the reader, I think will be much more satsifactory. I’d mentioned this to Esi when we first talked, so now I need to finish this up, so that she can read through and get me my list of revisions.

I told her I’d have it done by Friday, and I’m happy to say, I was able to spend most of the day writing yesterday, and I should finish up tonight. I can edit and then email to my agent and editor.

Wow. A deadline. Which will lead to another deadline. Crazy thing is…..I can’t wait! I want deadlines! I’ve wanted them for like, forever! Lucky for me I work well under pressure…I almost need that nervous energy to really get the ball rolling.

Sigh….I hope that feeling never goes away!

What about you? Do you work well under deadline? If not, what do you do to get your stuff done on time?

What a crazy ride this has been!!! WOOT!

After what seems like forever, but truthfully has only been several days, I can offically say I am an author. One who’s going to be published. In the not so distant future! I stil can’t believe it, and want to pinch myself, but here it is, in black and white. And it sure feels nice!

I am lucky, because my road to publication hasn’t been that long and it’s been filled with amazing crit partners, who I now consider so much more, especially, the lovely Lauren Hawkeye. She encouraged me with her own drive to publication, her immense talent and wise words of wisdome…and oh yeah, she’s not even 30 yet…can’t imagine what she’ll be doing when she’s my age!
But truthfully, I can honestly say my success is a direct result of all of that, as well as Nini, Sueb, Linda, Mandy and Barb. All of you ladies are talented and it will be fun to see who gets the call next in our group.

ANYWAY, the details of my experience are as follows!

Wrote a ms in April and subbed to Harlequin Nocturne
it was a direct result of a contest win and originally targeted for that line

Decided to query agents in June

Got an offer from the lovely Laura Bradford, and I accepted, and was extremely excited to be repped by such an amazing woman. She suggested a revision, to expand the word count and flesh a few things out, and pitched it to several houses in mid July as single title.

The first week in September we got a call from Esi Sogah of Avon, and she wanted to talk to little old me! I was pumped, but had to wait the weekend….she’d told Laura she would call on Mon or Tues, but finally the phone rang on Wednesday and well, she was absolutely amazing. We hit it off, had a few laughs and then hung up. the next day, Thursday September 11th, my agent called with an offer! I was so thrilled! We had a few others who hadn’t read, and one that was interested, so we needed to take the weekend to see if anything else came about, but at this point I was pretty much sold on Avon. they are an amazing house, don’t have a huge number of paranormal authors, and the ones that they do have are incredibly talented. I felt so incredibly awed that I was going to have the chance to be a part of such an incredible group of women!
So on Monday my agent called Esi and they had to work on some details and about an hour ago, I was sitting in the tub, hair full of shampoo when the phone rang! It was Laura and well, I had a moment after I hung up with her, but it is totally official…I am an Avon author, stuck in between, Lyndsy Sands, Maggie Shayne, Jeaniene Frost, just to name a few!
Ok that’s all I got right now! I have to call my mom….I hope everyone has a great day!!!!

Well, this has been a huge week for me. One that I won’t soon forget, but really, I need to save that for another day. Today is Terry Fox day here in Canada. An important day and one everybody should be participating in.
Terry Fox is pretty much one of the most famous Canadians ever. He had such heart and spirit, that his memory and legacy live on even though he lost his battle to cancer many years ago.
For those of you who might not know, he was a young man who lost his leg to cancer, and RAN ACROSS THE COUNTRY to raise money and awareness for cancer research. He almost made it too. But his legacy lives on and every September people from all across our country run, walk, ride their bikes, roller blade and raise money for cancer research.
It’s truly amazing how a community can come together and do great things.
The town I live in is small, with a population of less than 10,000 and last year our community raised almost 25,000 for cancer researach.
Amazing.
So, today I’ll be heading out shortly to participate in this incredible event and I hope everyone else is going to as well. Cancer has touched each and every one of us, whether indirectly or directly.
so get out there and make Terry Fox proud.

Well, it’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m sitting on my bed, relaxing and trying out my new laptop. I’m tired and sore…and my tummy feels like it’s jumping all over the place. But, for good reason. I”m tired because I play baseball in a local mixed league with hubby and we had our tournement this weekend. It’s our first year with this team…we put it together and it’s basically all of our closests friends….we’re in it for the fun, and considering we came in 22nd out of 24 teams, I guess that’s a good thing. We played four games in two days….and our proudest moment occured when we beat the 2nd place team 3-2. They were shocked…but not more than we were! Sadly, it didn’t last and our winning streak ended as fast as it began….but a weekend with friends, family, lots of beverages and baseball, is one fantastic weekend indeed. We’re trying to come up with something to keep us occupied over the winter…we’ve scrapped bowling…since we’d have to travel too far to find a bowling lane, we also nixed curling ( thank god)…so we’ve decided on hosting game nights….guitar hero, poker etc.
What do you do with your friends for fun? And who has suggetions for our games night???

Well, it’s here…finally…the kids first day back to school. Let me pause and just sigh a little bit as I listen to the quiet that seems almost overbearing. I can honestly hear the pump from the pool because there is nothing else going on in my house. And well, there certainly is a whole host of things to do…..I just need to organize myself a bit to make sure that they all get done.
Summer has a way of just sucking the routine out of my household. Too many days of pools, parties, beer, food, baseball…more beer and well, more food. Who the heck feels like getting stuff done?
That’s what labour day is for…it’s kind of like my mid year New Years Resolution…..and here’s what I’m going to work on this fall….
1. I will write every day…….
2. I will not fall behind on my paperwork for hubby…(puts him in a bad mood)
3. I will walk the dog every morning (except the ones where hubby forgets to set the alarm and I sleep in…not my fault!)
4. Will not eat carbs.
5. If I do eat carbs will walk an extra half an hour ( as long as the alarm is set)
6. will make sure the kids lunches are made the night before instead of scrambling in the morning
7. Will not yell at kids in the morning

Well, I guess that’s about it….my labour day resolutions……Curious to see if anyone else looks at this time of year as a benchmark for change as well, and if so what do you want to change??

I know…..enough with the old rocker dudes…but, I have to comment on my recent trip to Toronto to see Crue Fest…..Now, back in the day I was never a huge fan of the Crue…hubby was, but not me….I was more of a Bon Jovi kinda gal. But a few months ago I picked up a copy of the Heroin Diaries….Nikki Sixx’s account and personl diaries of his heroin addiction back when the Crue were one of the biggest rock acts around. It was harrowing, disgusting, compelling, nausiating and totally engrossing. I couldn’t put it down and read it over two nights. I personally don’t know how anyone could become addicted to heroin after reading his book. What an awful drug and it’s true…it ruins people’s lives. Along with the book he formed a band called Sixx Am and they recorded an accompanying cd….it rocks…..totally rocks…and since Sixx Am was one of the opening bands….off we went to Crue fest…..Papa Roach, Trapt, and BuckCherry performed as well…..it was loud….and all of the bands were great….even I have to say, even though Vince Neil is a tad overweight ( he’d do well to check out how amazing Billy Idol is holding up) and well, lets face it he’s always been a weak vocalist…..he ran around and gave the Crue fans what they wanted……Glad didn’t take my son though…lots of nudity from audience members and the semi- porn they had playing on the big screens…..it was fun…took me to back in the day….but I have never seen so many people stuck in the 80′s…..bad mullets….tons of them…..really bad….and women who wore clothes from twenty years ago….but geesh……they’ve gained like 20 pounds…..again, it was a nice way to kick off the long weekend…..we had a wedding yesterday….hubby and I performed at the ceremony….it was a beautiful day, awesome reception….great food and great friends….today we have a pig roast to go to……and the weather is cooperating for once!
So, what do you have planned for the last long weekend of the summer????

I read a blog last week, Vonna Harpers and she was talking about the wonderful power of friendship, in relation to her writing world. It got me thinking about my own circle of friends and how incredibly amazing they are. I’m lucky…I have an awesome group of girlfriends who support me, laugh with me and when I need to bitch about something they listen. They are all intelligent and run the gamut from stay at home moms, to business owners, to successful sales people to nurses….I could go on and on.
I’ve also managed to snag a select number of cyber writing buddies who are just as amazing, and it was surreal to be able to meet some of those women when I travelled to San Fran for Nationals.

It got me thinking about the power of friendship and how sad it would be if I was on this crazy ride to publication with no one to share it with.

It also made me realize that for the most part I think of my close friends as extended family…so celebrate the many friendships that you’ve managed to accumulate in whatever number of years you’ve been living! And cherish them….sometimes there are bumps in the road and you let go of a friendship, but when it comes back around, it’s just that much sweeter!

What about you? Are your friends just as important as family?

I guess the titles should be “Older Dudes!”….because someone in their fifties suddenly, doesn’t seem too damn old to me.

I went to see Def Leppard and Billy Idol the other night. Had great seats. You know the kind where you can not only see the sweat rolling off their bodies, you can almost smell it!

Now, I am a die hard Leppard fan. Have been since the early 80′s. I had my share of ripped jeans, and wore the british flag proudly. I have loved Joe and the boys for a long time…..and they didn’t dissapoint at all. Joe, well, he might have been a little vocally challenged, but hey, they still sounded great. All their old songs and a few of their newest…..and vivian and Phil….wow, they are in shape….like, um, really good shape!

But, Billy Idol is not someone I was too keen on seeing. I mean, when we originally bought our tickets…it was supposed to be Styx and REO Speedwagon opening…I was very dissapointed when they had to reschedule and Billy Idol was added.

Key word being WAS. He was amazing. More than amazing actually. He sounded great, Looked fabulous….had his original guitarist, Steve Stevens who rocked…..and I totally enjoyed his show….as much as I did my beloved Leppards….and I don’t think it was because I had such low expectations….kudos to Billy……He Rocked the House!

So, what band from your past have you seen lately, and were they as great as you thought they’d be?

Well, I did it. Made it to my first writers conference and lived to tell the tale. And oh, what a tale to tell….so many memorable moments……and I’ll share……
1. first off, getting to meet my crit partners and the various writers I’ve met via eharl was incredible. Lauren Hawkeye is a doll and was an absolute pleasure as a room mate…..Barbara and Amanda were so sweet….it was just really great to meet them in person, instead of chatting via the cyber world.

2.Being able to go to dinner with Brenda Novak and Christine Feehan was again….surreal…..really freaking surreal! And I got to sit in between them to boot! Brenda was not only incredibly gracious, but beautiful and incredibly sweet, but miss Christine, well, can we say fan moment? She is a goddess, and was so down to earth, full of advice and wisdom which she freely shared. At one point she said she felt like my mother!!!!!!!!!!! (yay me!). I have written down everything she told me….and it’s all mine!!!!

3. The Harlequin party on friday night was awesome. Lauren was invited, because, well the girl has sold to Spice…..I just crashed it with her! The room was decorated with various San Fran landmarks, from a huge golden gate bridge down the center ( and it supported a great bar!) to the fishermans warf etc, it was well done….the music was great and if you want to be in a room and just author spot….this was the place to be…..from Miss Nora Roberts ( who loves to boogie her butt off btw) to Nalini Singh ( who took a pic of Lauren and I) Gina Showalter and Holly Jacobs,Ann Agguire, Heather Graham…..it was author heaven……and yeah, I behaved myself

4. Meeting my agent Laura Bradford was another great moment, and I can honestly say she’s as sweet in person as she was on the phone…very cute to boot as well! big sigh of relief cause I”m thinking I made the right decision…..

5. Meeting the lovely girls who are part of the Calgary chapter…Suzanne, Julie and Wenda….I want to be an honorable member!!!!!!!!

6. And the workshops were pretty good too! I especially liked the YA ones that I attended…..Simone Ekeles is a hoot!

But, truthfully I was happy to get home Sunday, tired but so excited to see my kiddies and hubby….and yeah…..thinking that I should join Mandy in Florida next April for RT!!!!