HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Greetings and salutations to you all! I know I've neglected my blog a bit but I've got lots to report today. First, I've finally finished the Bachelors Degree program that I've been taking online for the last several years which frees up both my time and mind to focus more fully on my writing. YAY!
Between pouring blood, sweat and tears into term papers and homework assignments I have been dividing my efforts between three books whose stories insist on being told. Over the holidays I made a major breakthrough with Darkest Rendezvous. I wanted to capture the dark elegance of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre without being yet another romance novel that invoked vampires or the British Ton. They say to write what you know, which isn't a hard and fast rule but in this case I found I was spending more time stopping to research something than in actually writing the story because while I'm married to a Brit well, I'm not all that versed in British history or geographic makeup. However, once I shifted the location of the story to 19th century New York everything just started sliding into place again. Now peppered with Native American, Creole and Mexican influences my characters have really come to life and the words are just flying on to the page.
The Emperor's Paramour is a sleek and sexy novel that's also been jockeying for my attention. It's a fantasy romance in a medieval setting and features a sweet, intelligent woman from a nation whose society embraces its sexuality and whose chief export is pleasure. She becomes the prime target when the royal family is slaughtered in their beds and she barely escapes with her life. A former knight of the realm aids in hiding her and getting her to safety as she runs from assassins, royal guards and the economically strapped general populace who would gladly turn her over to a corrupt monarchy for a reward. This story has intrigue, betrayal, love and espionage and I'm having a lot of fun writing it.
The third book has the making of a delightful series I've dubbed The Mother Goose Mysteries. It's a detective story featuring a fairy godmother, newly transferred to the big city, who becomes consultant to wrongly accused villains from your favorite childhood tales. The story is in its infancy but I'll update with news as the book develops. I hope to be finished with Darkest Rendezvous and The Emperor's Paramour by Spring with news of publication by the end of Summer. Thank you for being so patient, I hope you're having a festive holiday season and wish you a safe and happy New Year!
