Wow, it’s been WAY too long since I posted to the old bloggie-o. Sorry about that. Life changes, schedules change, etc. You do whatever it takes to get your feet back on the ground and life going in the right direction again. Slowly, getting there, I think.

Let’s play good news/bad news, shall we?

Good news: I’m busy!

Bad news: I’m busy doing other things besides writing.

Good news: I’m editing a new book!

Bad news: It’s my next release, and it likely won’t be out until this fall.

Good news: I’m writing some new stuff!

Bad news: It’s very slow-going.

So there you go. That is my life in a nutshell right now. Usually summer is a HUGE production time for me and my writing. This year, things have played out entirely differently for me, and I’m still adjusting. The good news is, I have several books in the works all at once.

The next book in my Arctic Heat series is the one I’m trying to focus my attentions on.  Got some major wordage down lately.

All right. Back to work! Hope you all are enjoying your summer.

Kris

After a long day yesterday, I received MORE edits to do…so I had no time to work on my website and the hideous “My Books” page. Hopefully, by this evening or tomorrow, I will have the time to fix everything.

But I’m seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. This will be book number 4 out of 6. Whew. I might even have the energy to work on NEW stuff soon. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Luckily, the last two things on my plate are relatively short, and it looks like both of them will be coming out in June. A bit of breathing room there.

I suppose, though, that soon I will have to be worrying about promoting all these edited books…hmmm…

Considering sales don’t seem to change much no matter how much promo I do, maybe I’ll just try not to worry about that stuff and let the audience find me.

So wish me luck today. More edits to do. I’m hoping my mouse hand doesn’t wear out from all the clicking and accepting of changes.

I just finished up my final round of edits for THE OPAL HUNTER. That means I am halfway through the edits I have on my plate. Three more books to go: Kiss & Spell (which should be any day now), Ice White, and Beef Cake.

The last two are pretty short, so it won’t be a lot of work. I hope.

I just hope that means I’m getting some more cover art soon. Dying for some more cover art. One new cover won’t last me long. Although I really love the cover for Kiss & Spell.

I’m anxious to be done with all the editing, because then I will have no excuses NOT to be writing. I’m very close to finishing my shifter bank robber story. After that’s done I need to focus on something BRAND new!  Whoo-hoo.

When my new story KISS & SPELL is released, it will have been almost a year since my last book came out. MOONLIGHTING was published on March 14, 2008, and we are now into February of 2009.

That was never my intention. There were a series of snafus on my part and some others (who shall remain nameless) which delayed some of my work from being released. But that is life. Sometimes crappy stuff happens, and you need to learn to roll with the punches.

My question has been this lately…how do I build a career with fits and starts? A writer doesn’t find her audience overnight. You have to build upon each successive book release and hope that eventually you reach enough readers that they will come back and buy some of your old titles.

And I stalled. Right in the middle of it all.

2009 is the year of the comeback for me. As I’ve stated before, I have six new releases coming out in the first half of 2009. I’m getting close to finishing another story….so that would be seven. I have plans to work on some other books, too. I’m not stopping. Not taking a break. Almost every day I either write, edit, or work on some aspect of my writing career (blog posts, website tweaks, forum posts, etc.).  This is serious business to me.

I’m not writing merely for fun and enjoyment (although this has been the most fulfilling ‘job’ I’ve ever held). I’m writing to try to make some kind of living at this. And any true job takes work.

So, is it too late? Did I squander the chance to keep my audience (small as it may have been) by not pushing myself harder to release more books last year? I hope not. Otherwise, I guess in 2009 it will be like starting over. And I’m ready for the challenge.

I started editing The Opal Hunter on Friday with my editor at Liquid Silver. This is my longest erotic romance to date (almost 40K). Although lately I’ve been writing some hotter books, The Opal Hunter falls right in line with the ones I have currently published.

I’m kinda big on story. Making the romance seem somewhat real. Maybe I don’t always succeed because, face it, in erotic romance there typically is hot-n-heavy action relatively quickly.

So most of my published stuff is sexy, but not on every other page. I like characters. I like revealing their backgrounds in bits and pieces.

With my hotter stuff, like the Arctic Shifters series, there is more ’straight-to-the action’ kinda stuff. In fact, I am still trying to figure out how to differentiate between the more story-oriented stuff and the crazy stuff here on my website. Once I have a new release that falls under ‘crazy,’ I guess I’ll have to figure it out.

As I worked on the edits for The Opal Hunter, I really surprised myself. The quality of that story…well…it’s just very good (if I’m allowed to toot my own horn). And more real than some of my other romances. Bigger obstacles to overcome, I guess.

Anyway, I just love it.

I’m curious to see how this book is received as it is one of the first few ’sterling’ heat books from Liquid Silver. Readers have complained here and there about erotic romance just going ‘right to the sex.’ So, readers, show me how much you want a story like this. I’d like to write more of them, but if the audience isn’t there…well, I do have to try to make some money at this.

Although sometimes you just have to write the story regardless of what sells.

So, anyone want to toss out an opinion? Do you like more story with your erotic romance? Are you willing to give the relationship time to develop?

I made some updates to my homepage this morning. I realized that I hadn’t changed my “Work in Progress” section in quite awhile. Which makes me look very sorry indeed.

My poor coyote shifter book is languishing. It is feeling so unloved! I have the outline right in front of me, 40% of the book done, but it just is not happening. Poor little story. So, even with all these edits about to crash down on me, I need to write something new.

As inspiration I added a couple more titles to the list…BEEF CAKE 2 and ICE CAPTIVE. BEEF CAKE 2 is obviously the sequel to BEEF CAKE. The first in the series is coming out with Siren this spring, and I’d like to have the next one at least written by then. Don’t want too much time to go between releases for a series, or the interest wanes (mine and the readers’).

ICE CAPTIVE might have a name change. Maybe just CAPTIVE. It is going to be another book in my ARCTIC SHIFTERS series. Because I had a cool idea for another story…and somehow when you start a series, it’s really hard to just turn your back on the fun little world you’ve created. This book might possibly be longer (the other three are just under 10K a piece) and take place off of the ice (thus, the need for a name change…we shall see).

I suppose it might be wise to see how those first three do before I invest more time in writing another. Hopefully, hot shifter stories are still in vogue!

Even if I might not have a ton of time to spend on these new stories, having a plan is a good thing. Letting things slide and doing no new writing is very, very bad!

- Kris

So, in about a week I should be done with editing ONE of my six books for 2009. I also know that one of my editors should be getting in touch with me next week to start on a second book.

See, this is what I’m most worried about…having to edit a million things at the same time. The more I can do right now, the better. And the edits seems to be coming in one after the other so far. Which is perfect.

I’m sure this won’t last. I’m sure there will be a moment in a month or two when I’m tearing my hair out and hoping to God I don’t send the wrong edits to an editor or what have you. That I keep my characters straight. All that stuff.

I did my best to do some new writing yesterday. I actually got about 1K done. And if I can do that every day along with the editing on my plate, this should be some decent progress.

2009 also looks to be a good year as far as TV goes. I am really, really looking forward to the rest of January for these reasons:

1) the return of ‘Damages.’

2) the return of ‘24.’

3) the return of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ - and after reading a short interview with its creator today, I’m even MORE pumped for the final season of this fab show.

4) the new show ‘Lie to Me’ with Tim Roth who is such a great actor…I know this will be awesome.

5) LOST! (need I say more?)

I’m sure there are a few others in there, but those are the ones that pop into my head right now. Bring it, 2009! I’m ready for it!

I’ve been trying very hard over the last couple of weeks to get back to writing consistently. It hasn’t been working well, but yesterday I did do some writing/editing to fix what I already had to match my outline.

Not too bad. But I’m looking forward to getting beyond the fixing and moving into the new stuff. Because I think I’ve figured out a fun kinda story that’s a bit different (for me) in terms of plot. There’s a bad guy and a little bit of adventure/action.

But with Christmas right around the corner and finances on the mind, it’s been difficult to get my brain thinking about writing.

I also got an editor assignment for one of my books in my Arctic Shifters series…this one is for ICE BLACK, the first book. Hopefully, I’ll get an editor for ICE RED soon. Because once I get through the editing, I’m that much closer to having a new book out!  And that means new cover art!

Since Cobblestone Press has some pretty awesome covers, I’m really looking forward to seeing what they come up with for my series. The Wicked line has it’s own ‘banner’ at the top of each book, so that part won’t be super unique. But I’m hoping for some gorgeous cover art that I can put all over my website!  My home page is looking rather dull, don’t you think?

So, today, even though I have some other work to do, I will try to work on my shifter bank robber story. Because I want this sucker done! Wish me luck.

I think almost every epublisher publishes Christmas-themed stories this time of year. Sexy or heart-warming, either will do. As long as you mention Christmas or toss in a tree or Santa, you’re good to go.

For two years now I’ve tried to come up with some kind of Christmas-themed romance, and just can’t seem to do it. I’m not sure why. Not as if it has to be tied super-closely to the holiday season. But in my head, sexy romance does not seem to connect with the religious and/or family holiday.

I tend to think of either going to church or playing Santa for my kids, neither of which inspires me to write romance.

I mean, yes, I could come up with a story. I could force myself to write it. But that is the problem. It’s very difficult for me, and for most authors I would think, to force out a story and have it work. The fact that I was not happy writing the thing would be obvious on every page.

Maybe the other problem lies in not being interested myself in reading a lot of Christmas-themed romance. Although I remember last year, there was one Cobblestone Press book that had me interested…The Secret Santa Project by Lyric James. Somehow that concept worked for me.

What about you people out there? Do you like reading Christmas-themed romances?  Do you like sexy stories or heart-warming ones? Or both?

I was a powerhouse writer in November. Nanowrimo inspired me to write something almost every single day.

Then, I went on vacation.

And it all went to hell.

It’s been almost 3 weeks since I’ve written consistently, and I’m having real trouble getting back into it. Even though I have a perfectly lovely outline for my story. Even though I’m incredibly driven to NOT take a break with my writing. Even though I’ve had a few new contracts which really excited me.

Yesterday I wrote TWO sentences. That’s it. Just not cutting it. I have to do better than that today. I need OUTPUT. I want to finish my shifter story and sub it. Not let it linger on my computer for several more months.

So what do I do? Open up that file and WORK.

Although 2009 is shaping up to be a BIG year for me with a lot of releases, I can’t afford to take a break, or I will be stuck in sub-land with no new books out for MONTHS. This year was not what I had envisioned. Some of it was out of my control. But a lot of it was me just WAITING for something to happen.

I did learn a few things this year about sales and where my books are best suited. Anyway, I think 2009 will be completely different. Busy. Crazy busy. And I don’t want to take this nice quiet time right now and waste it…I should be using it to write new stuff before the edits start coming in, and the promo, and the release dates.