Friday, March 15, 2013

What next?

My revised Hood Hamlet manuscript is with my editor. I emailed it last night, my twenty-sixth project for Harlequin, if I did the math correctly. I've had to do second round of revisions for a couple of books so I won't breathe a sigh of relief until I hear if these have been accepted or not.

But I'm really happy to be finished!

Granted I'm sad to close the book on the Hood Hamlet series. I've loved each and everyone of the characters like they were family. But I always said Paulson would be the last story. So here we are.

I find myself in an odd place, however. For the first time, in what feels like forever but is only a few years, I have no deadlines. I'm out of contract. Free. It's a very odd feeling, given I feel like I've been writing non-stop, with delivery dates looming while life (and death) tried to derail me. The three books that are/will be out in 2013 especially.

With my current release, WINNING BACK HIS WIFE, my dear friend Elizabeth went into hospice care while I was writing it. She lost her battle with breast cancer while I was doing revision.

With my upcoming, THE MAN BEHIND THE PINSTRIPES, my 14 year old foster cat, Miss Mousie, needed an expensive surgery or to be humanely euthanized. With the help of romance authors and readers, we raised the money and she had her surgery, all while writing and revising the book.

And if you've been reading this blog, you know that my beloved cat Rocket, who would have turned 16 next month, was diagnosed with liver cancer while I was writing TWELVE DAYS IN HOOD HAMLET (working title) and he died on Sunday. I'm still crying all the time.

I'd been working so hard to get this final Hood Hamlet book written in February and then the revisions finished, that I haven't figured out what I'm going to write next. I thought the LOLcat above was perfect for this post. I am in the planning stage! Lots of ideas floating around in my head and waiting for one to pop!

I'm hoping that will happen soon. But in the meanwhile I have lots of other stuff to do.

Thanks for all your support with my writing, Rocket and everything else. I really appreciate it!