Here we go again...

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This LOLcat made me laugh. It is so true!

Our Norwegian Elkhound Chaos loves going for car rides. She can't wait to hop in the minivan and settle in her seat. She hates being left behind. She'll position herself in front of the door so we can't get out if she doesn't see her leash when we're getting ready to leave.

On the other hand, the cats hate being in the car, absolutely hate it. Yoda who never makes a sound (we're talking not ever) will cry this pitiful noise that makes your heart hurt. The others are the same way. They cry the entire time. Rocket, our 15 year old fat cat, usually has an accident which is one reason we switched his vet to one that was a closer drive. The sooner we're there, the better for him.

I have a feeling I must have looked a little like the cat above on Tuesday morning. I was sitting in Starbucks writing while the kidlets were doing state testing. I checked my email on my iPhone. There was one from my editor. She'd received my AAs for His Larkville Cinderella that I'd sent off Sunday night and wanted to share some news. The news surprised me so much I'm sure I had a "We are all going to die" expression on my face for a least a second or two. My editor had accepted a new position within Harlequin and wouldn't be my editor any longer. She was saying goodbye.

This is called being orphaned. It's part of publishing and happens a lot. It's happened to me before. My new editor will be my fifth one.

Change isn't a bad thing. Sometimes it can turn out to be a very good thing like my being moved from the Harlequin New York editorial office to the Harlequin Mills & Boon editorial office in the UK. But change usually means there's some element of the unknown and face it, that can be uncomfortable especially when you're staring at a name you don't recognize. Even if it you only feel that way briefly. Or until one of your writer friends emails you back to say your new editor is actually someone you've worked with a little, but her last name is different because she got married. So no worries because everything will be fine the way all the other changes were fine.

So any changes happening in your life?

Ten Free Books!

My publisher, Mills & Boon, is celebrating the first anniversary of their ebook program. They are giving away ten free books (via download), one title per line they publish. You can find out all the details at their Everyone's Reading website.

Enjoy!

Mills and Boon Website

After trying to register at the revamped Mills & Boon website a couple months ago, I finally managed to get on last week, and I immediately went to the new community section to find the forum for the blindatebrides.com trilogy. I'd been here before during one of my failed log in attempts, but must have only scanned the page otherwise I think I would have noticed what was written in the community home page's highlighted thread box:

Blinddatebrides.com
Hot off the press ... news of Jennie Adams and Fiona Harper's new 3 book series.

My first thought was "Huh?" My next thought was "Hmmm, I wonder if this is payback for never sending in my author info for the website." My final thought before clicking through to the thread was "Oh, well, at least they mentioned it was a 3 book series." I just had to laugh.

After I posted a comment on the thread, I explored the website a little and recommend you do the same if you're a fan of category romance. I didn't have a lot of time that first day, but went back a few days later. I'm glad I did.

My biggest discovery was a great review of Dream Date with the Millionaire there. Check it out here! I usually only get reviewed in RT so reading this really made my day.

I also found a whole bunch of free on-line reads. You can scroll down the list here. Husband Material, the online read I originally wrote for eharlequin a few years ago is there, too, if you haven't read it yet. They also list upcoming and current releases in their bookstore with excerpts you can read.

I mentioned above not sending in my author info so if you happen to look for my name in the author list it isn't there, and it's 100% my fault. I lost the paperwork they sent me and think I deleted the second set they emailed me because I can't find that on my computer, either. One of these days, I'll get around to cleaning my office and organizing my writing things (i.e. contracts, royalty statements, edited manuscripts, other paperwork and foreign translations) into one place, and I'll find the forms so I can get added to the list of Mills & Boon authors. Until then, I hope my books will be enough, because really it's about them not me.

Have a great Monday!

Husband Material

I noticed a spike in my blog traffic yesterday, so I checked my referrals. The typical ones for Crossfit (Elizabeth, Filthy Fifty) and "Ben Barnes smoking" were there. But I was surprised to see "Husband Material by Melissa McClone" there, too.

My first thought was hmmm, I never wrote a book by that title, and then I remembered! Not a book. An online serial read! But that had been a few years ago. Why would it be coming up now?

So I went to my beloved google. Turns out Mills & Boon has re-released the story on their website! Though I'm wondering why my google alerts never picked it up. Click here if you never caught Husband Material the first time around. Only chapter one is out right now. If I remember correctly, there are eight chapters.

Anyway, I'm so glad the story is out there again. The setting is New York City. It's a boss-assistant romance and my heroine is, well, not exactly thin. She enjoys food, especially chocolate-iced donuts with sprinkles for breakfast! The hero prefers maple bars. Needless to say, I had fun writing the story and eating lots of donuts for research.

What's your favorite kind of donut? Bet you can guess mine!

100 Years of Mills & Boon

I write for Harlequin Mills & Boon. The Mills & Boon office is located in Richmond which is outside of London. 2008 marks the 100 year anniversary, the centenary, of the company. To celebrate, there have been special flashes on books, Dear Readers letters to mark the occasion and various events.

If you'd like to see a range of M & B romance covers over the decade's check out their facebook photo albums.

Do you have a favorite romance cover?