I wanted to send out a big congrats to my friend Edie Ramer–Edie has advanced to the second round in the American Title V Contest with her story, DEAD PEOPLE. (Yay, Edie!) Voting for the second round is open now, so please go over and vote!

Today I’m blogging about women with bite over at the Red Sage Revealed blog.  The heroine in “Blood Hunt” (my novella in SECRETS, VOLUME 25: WICKED DELIGHTS) is a woman with definite bite, and she’s inspired me to write more vamp tales.

I’m still working on the revising/polishing of my latest manuscript.  End date is still scheduled for Friday, and I’ll cross the mid-point mark probably in the next fifteen minutes.

I’m also working on a trailer for IMMORTAL DANGER.  🙂  Hopefully, that will be up before Christmas.

I’ll post a new writing article on my site, probably this afternoon, but maybe tomorrow morning.  I’ll put a note on the blog when it’s up and running. (It’s an article that I wrote for my local RWA newsletter, but it’s one I wanted to share here because it is about how to stay focused and meet your writing goals for the new year.)

Have a great day!

Have I mentioned how much I loved Romancing the Stone? I mean, I must have said, at least once or twice (or a good twenty times) that, back in the day, I wanted to be Joan Wilder.

My love of Romancing the Stone is just one of the many reasons that I am looking forward to reading Elisabeth Naughton‘s upcoming release, STOLEN FURY.

And, hey, look–Elisabeth is running a cool contest in conjunction with her release:

Today, I’m recovering from my son’s 3rd birthday party.

(Greg and I were racing.)

Yeah, the adults had as much fun as the kids.  Giant slides. Obstacle courses.  Races.

My son’s favorite thing to do?  Going down the monster slide–all my himself.

The hubby’s favorite? The obstacle course. I think he challenged every person there to a race.  He won all of his races…until the very last challenge. He’d just gone head-to-head with me. (Barely beat me, btw. If I hadn’t gotten a laughing fit right there at the last climb…) But, at the very end, I do believe Nick lost his race. I’m sure a re-match will be scheduled soon.

Now, ten days before Christmas. Five days to finish my polishing my story.  Got to get busy!!

And how was your weekend?

Ah, holiday magic.  Such a busy time. Presents to wrap.  Gifts to buy so you can do that wrapping.

Busy.

Life interrupts my writing schedule a lot during the holidays.  Just one of those things. I’m trying to stay on track right now–I’m into my revising/polishing stage with the story I’m calling I’LL BE SLAYING YOU (my latest paranormal).  Instead of a daily page count with this one, I’m setting up daily work time requirements–i.e., I’ll edit/revise for 3 hours today and 3 hours tomorrow.  Sunday is a break day for me b/c my son turns 3 (3!!!!) and we get to enjoy birthday party madness.  But I’ll be back to work on Monday because I’m determined to finish up this book by next Friday.

You see…I want to start another story. Always, another story.  But if I’m not writing (and I classify my writing as a whole other beast from my revising b/c the process is so different), then I just feel…kinda lost.  I need to write to keep my mind busy; otherwise, I just seem to flounder about. So I need to write.

Last year, I just pretty much wrote off (ha) the month of December. I knew life would be crazy and productivity would be next to nothing. But this year–no, I want to write.  Before the new year comes, I could write a novella or churn out a good 200 pages on a new story.

But what about the other writers out there? Are you finding your writing has been interrupted by the festivities?  And if you’re not a writer, how about your reading schedule? I’ve been trying to get my pleasure reads in, but my time for reading has dwindled–okay, disappeared. (That means my TBR stack is just growing and growing…)

Hi, everyone!  Today, I’m guest blogging over at Love is an Exploding Cigar (don’t you love that name?), and I’m giving away an autographed copy of MIDNIGHT SINS to one commenter. If you get a chance, come on by for your chance to win!  My topic…pleasures. Yep–that’s all the info you get. You’ll have to check out the post for more details!

And now…for fun, let’s talk wishlists.  In the past, I’ve driven my husband crazy during the holidays because I haven’t told him what I want for Christmas.  Yes, I am one of those tricky women–I think the guy should just know and then I get grumpy when his “knowing” doesn’t translate into the gift I want. But I am trying to be better this year. Really.  🙂

So, I’ve given a lot of thought to my wishlist and I figured, hey, why not post?  I’ll post mine, you can post yours–and we’ll just see what all we want from Santa.  Not that Santa will necessarily bring all of these goodies, but…

Here’s my list anyway:

(Oh, and a quick note.  I do, of course, want world peace and happiness for everyone–just like Steve Martin said in his holiday skit, but this list, it’s gonna be all greedy me…)

1. Bookstore gift card.  This one is obvious. And I do beg the hubby every year to tell him mother to get me this.  There are SO many great books coming out at the end of the year/early new year. Christine Feehan has a new one, Jayne Ann Krentz does, Kresley Cole does.  Help a reading addict out–give me a gift card, Santa!

2. Books.  A walk down the Barnes & Noble bargain books aisle recently revealed a good dozen paranormal research books I’d love to have.  Or, hey, just stroll down the romance aisle.  Not like you could go wrong with those.

3. An Alpha Smart. Yeah, I said it. I want an Alpha.  I have this idea that I can squeeze more writing time out of my day. If I take that Alpha with me, suddenly my empty moments will be filled. Portable, a fantastic battery life–come on, I could use this, Santa!!!

4. Supernatural, Seasons 1-3. Because, um, I missed these seasons, even though I love the paranormal. I was so late to this boat and I wanna catch up on what I missed!

That’s my list. Now tell me yours!

Update: Just had to post this YouTube clip/soundtrack of Steve Martin.  I really love this bit!