Today’s post is up on the Brava Blog! Wanna read about some great cheap dates? Then check out my post!

And have a wonderful Friday! 🙂

Wanna hear a jaguar roar? (Click the link and scroll down–you’ll see the sound box!) Cuz, they do, you know. Actually, you might not know that–apparently, there’s been some debate as to whether or not a jaguar is a roaring cat. I know this because I’ve spent the last week researching these amazing cats for my WIP. My hero is a jaguar shifter, a black one, and I’m trying to get my details straight.

I love researching for my books. I swear, I always learn something new and, often, gory. Like this fun fact: “The jaguar has a rough tongue that is designed for peeling the skin away from the flesh of its prey, and to peel the flesh away from its prey’s bones.” Oh, yeah, you can bet I’ll be using that little tidbit in my novella.

Anyone else out there recently learn any good research trivia? Hmm?

Just popping in because it’s been a while since I’ve discussed my WIPs. Until recently, I was working on a novel for Kensington featuring my succubus (love writing about her!). I got some great news before my birthday though (early b/day present–thanks, Kensington!), and I’m now shifting gears and working on a novella for Brava. Hopefully, I will get this story finished and back to my editor and it will be pubished in an upcoming anthology.

Now, I am not one of those people who can work on two stories at once. I’m just not. Characters get tangled, and suddenly my spunky heroine is trying to live in my quiet, shy heroine. So, I like to work on one book at a time–and that is why, as my grandmother would say, my succubus must get put “on the back burner” for the next few weeks. But don’t worry about that sex demon, she’ll be just fine…and there are only about 100 pages to go in her story.

In other news…the house in on the market. Yay! Um, hello? Been a week–where are my offers??? I’ve got to say, the hardest part of this whole selling the house endeavour is…Keeping. The. Dang. Thing. Clean. Sigh. And also, I wonder…what do these potential house buyers think of me when they go into my office and see my dozens of books on crime scenes, planning the perfect murder, poisons, weapons, torture devices, and well, you get the idea.

Hmm. I hope my books aren’t scaring off any potential buyers!

Today is my birthday. Yay! And, overall, it’s been a really good day.

Here are a few highlights:
1. Took my son to his first ever Toddler Storytime at the local library.
2. Had two cakes. One was an ice cream cake and one was just pure yummy.
3. Got books. Score! 🙂 Actually, here is a list of the books I received: The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies (should be great for research), Amanda Quick’s The River Knows (should just be great), The Writer’s Guide to Self-Promotion and Publicity, Author 101-Bestselling Book Publicity, and Publicize Your Book!-An Insider’s Guide to Getting Your Book the Attention It Deserves.
Ahem. Yes, there is a bit of a publicity theme going on with some of these books. I want to get as ready as possible for my book releases next year, so I plan to do lots of research. I’ve got two stories I want to finish before I dive into these books and start my PR planning (yep, I said two, I’ll discuss more about that in my next post!). I will post reviews of these PR books for any other writers who may be interested in picking them up. Now, back to my b-day list.
4. Received a lovely bouquet of flowers from a sweet friend.
5. Had the pleasure of viewing some great e-Cards from more very sweet friends.
6. Got to make two birthday wishes because, well, see item number two above.
7. And then there are all the other great gifts. Glitter lotion, chocolate, fun!

Unfortunately, there were a few incidents that marred my perfect birthday joy and the incidents were:
1. My Beta fish died. Died!!!! I was attached to Mr. Fish. Super attached. I’d been promised he would live for at least a year. Did he? No! Barely four months and now he’s gone. Extremely depressing.
2. My garage door came off its track. Since my house is currently on the market, this was so not cool. Hubby spent an hour working on it, though, and it’s now back to working order. (But that whole incident still sucked!!)

Okay…end of birthday recap.

…is up on the Brava Authors blog! I’m talking about “Keeper” books over there–so if you have a favorite, please let me know!

Have a great weekend!