It’s been long overdue that I posted on what I’m working on.  I need to do some more rearranging.  But first, here are the things still on the immediate list:

1.  An Inconvenient Wife is due out in May. 

This is the next book I plan to publish.  I am now at 48,000 words.  I had a very slow two weeks in writing, and this has pushed me back a week on my schedule.  But I guess that’s to be expected since my husband came back from South Korea.  He is now retired from the military, so we’re in a transition period as we figure out a new routine.  The weather is also getting warm enough where the kids can play at the park, so I’m hoping to go back outside where I get my greatest word counts done.  Something about being outside refreshes me when I write.  😀

2.  Her Heart’s Desire is still planned for either May or June for publication.

I’m halfway into this book.  Sally and Rick are now happily married, but his parents are going to move to Nebraska, and they won’t be happy to learn how quickly he married.  Poor Sally.  I suspect she’s in for a rude awakening. 

3.  Still planning to have Bound by Honor, Bound by Love out this summer.  *fingers crossed*

We’ll see. 

Now for the rearranging of things….

1.  Forever Yours is going on hold, at least for the moment.

I think I’m drained on writing historical westerns right now because I’m starting to want to write in other romance genres.  I wanted to write this book only because I got back into Dave and Mary’s world, but the timing is off.  So I’m putting it aside until I’m ready for it.

2.  I’m putting Mitch’s Win on hold for a while, too.

I like how this book is going so far, but there are a couple of ways it could go at this point in the plot.  I want to make sure I get it right so I’m waiting until I know the best way to steer the story.

3.  Going to change “Series” in the Regency books to “Collection” and just write these books in the order as they come to me.

Some authors can write books in a specific order, right from one book to another.  I can’t do it.  Book 2 and 3 of the “Wedded Earl Series” aren’t coming, but I have a plot that I’ve been wanting to write for over a year now.  It was originally for a medieval setting, but since I don’t have any desire to do a medieval romance and can’t make the plot work for a historical western, I’m putting it under Regency, which actually works very well.  The problem is, I can’t fit it with books 2 and 3 in the Wedded Earls because the hero has to be an unknown to the society (aka “ton”) of that day.  So I need to introduce someone new.

You see, the heroine is the wife of a duke, and this guy is a real jerk.  Well, he dies, but she and the butler (or something, I have to clear it if a butler works in this scenario) are panicking because there’s no heir and his brother (an even bigger jerk) will inherit the title and estate.  So as they’re pondering the fate of the estate, they (somehow) come across an exact look-a-like of her husband.  This guy is the hero.  He’s wounded and alone.  She and the butler have no idea where he came from but take him back home and hope he’s not married so he can fill in as her husband and get the brother-in-law off their backs.

As it turns out, the guy wakes up and has amnesia.  (Yes, I’m aware I just did the amnesia angle in a book, but it works in this story, too.)  So the butler does a search to find out if anyone knows who he is but no one does.  So the heroine and butler tell him he’s the duke and had a bad fall and forgot everything.  Don’t worry.  The hero was not married.  I’m not exactly sure what his past is yet, except I think it’s not pleasant.  There’s a good reason he was left to die.  And naturally, the hero isn’t the jerk the heroine’s husband was, so it’s a romance.  I suspect the brother-in-law will be suspicious and give them trouble.

That’s all I got on the plot, and I have scenes planned out.  I just needed the right characters and time period to make it work, and Regency does fills the requirements I need.  So this is not a Wedded Earls book.  I’m thinking of taking off the “Wedded Earls” from the covers because who knows when I’ll get to book 2, and what if I want to do book 3 first?  This is why I can’t be linear.  This is why I tell people they don’t have to read my books in order.  I can’t write them in order.  I have to write them as they’re ready to be written.  I can’t force the plots or mold the characters into plots that aren’t right for them.  As much as I tried, book 2 for Wedded Earls didn’t fit with the plot I have in mind, so it’s either I write this book that is bugging me or put it on hold until I can write books 2 and 3.  I’d rather write what I want when I want.  (This, by the way, is one of the reasons I couldn’t write for a publisher.  Any time I try to force a book, it ends up sucking because it’s not ready to be written.  Plus, if a story stalls, I just put it on hold until it’s ready to be completed.)

I also decided since book 3 (which was A Most Unsuitable Husband) won’t be written soon, I’m snagging it’s cover for this particular book I’m going to start.  Right now the title for this new book is Substitute Husband, but if anyone comes up with a better one (or if I come up with a better one), I’ll change it. 

Here’s the cover I did up for it. I’ll change the cover for “A Most Unsuitable Husband” later.  I’m still browsing images and have a couple ideas in mind.