Well, it’s summer, and I’ve been taking the kids to the zoo and to a water park a lot.  We’ve seen a couple of IMAX movies, which I admit is pretty cool, but I need to remember to sit toward the back of the theatre.  I don’t know if anyone’s been to the Omaha zoo, but it’s amazing.  They put you right in the environment where the animals are found.  For example, they have the Desert Dome.  Above, there is the sand and creatures common to the desert, including plant life you’ll find there.  The temperature and smell are comparable to an actual desert.  Beneath this is the Kingdom of the Nights where its dark.  In one division is the cave with bats and the sulfur smell and the stalagmites, and it’s cool.  Then in another division is the swamp where it’s dark and humid where you start out in a “person’s” shack and head out on the boardwalk with beavers, fish, an alligator and more than I probably am not seeing.  The zoo also has a jungle you walk through, an aquarium where fish (including sharks) swim over your head, and a butterfly exhibit.  In the butterfly exhibit, a hummingbird flew by my ear, and that’s the last time I went in there.  LOL  But the Kingdom of the Nights is by far my favorite part.  So we’ve been doing the kind of stuff that families usually do during the summer, and since we bought season passes this year to that and the water park, we are going a lot.

Okay.  So that’s what’s been keeping me away from the computer.  But I have been making some progress and have a few ideas in the works for future books to share.  So let me get to it.  😀

Works in Progress Update

1.  Her Counterfeit Husband

This one is coming along great so far.  I reached 24,000 words tonight.  I want to post up an excerpt when I finish with the court hearing.   At any rate, if the story keeps writing itself like it has been, I should have it published in August.

2.  Bound by Honor, Bound by Love

Still slow going.  I don’t think this book will be out this summer.  It’s just not coming as fast as my books usually do.  I will be doing good if I can get this one out by December 31, 2012.  However, I am very happy with the way the book is going and am right on track, so it’s not all bad news.

3.  Mitch’s Win

I think this will be out in September.  It stalled for a while but has now picked up again.

Will Be Writing More Regencies in the Future

I’ve been surprised by how many people have been reading The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife, and while writing it, I had several ideas for a couple of characters who popped up in that book.  Please keep in mind, this is a tentative list.  Things might change.

I wanted to write about these characters:

Perry (Lord Clement who was Nate’s best friend) who had the limp.  I really enjoyed this character.  From Her Counterfeit Husband, I am working on a character by the name of Candace who ended up marrying the dreadful Lord Hedwrett due to an arrangement between him and her miserable brother.  The heroine in Her Counterfeit Husband (Anna) is friends with Candace.  So that’s how I’m tying Candace into a future marriage with Perry.  At some point, Lord Hedwrett will have to die, but I doubt anyone is going to miss him.  While writing The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife, I knew that Perry was going to marry a widow whose first husband wasn’t nice.  How did I know this?  I’m not sure how to explain it, but as I write a book, I “just know” what the character’s future is going to be and who they’ll end up with.  The story usually evolves from there.

Lily – Claire’s sister who we all know chose the right gentleman (won’t say it if you haven’t read the book but the rest of you know who I’m talking about).  But what I didn’t get to disclose in that book is that she had to manipulate things to get him because he’d given up on her and was looking for another possible wife.

Lord Edon – The gentleman who was known by Nate and Perry as a notorious rake will be in A Most Unsuitable Husband, and I already have it planned where he’s going to be marry Lady Catherine (and if you remember, she’s the one who bored Nate to tears and had the father who was extremely interested that she marry a gentleman of a good reputation; so for him, her getting stuck in a situation where she has to marry Lord Edon will be nothing short of a catastrophe).  But to be fair, Lord Edon isn’t happy with the arrangement either, and neither is Lady Catherine.  So no one is happy…except Lord Edon’s mother who can finally breathe a sigh of relief her son will have a good wife.  I expect this will be a fun book given the cast of characters.  And I already know Lady Catherine isn’t as boring as she first appears.  *wink*   I want to do this one after I finish Her Counterfeit Husband.

Mister Robinson – I do intend to write a book for Perry’s misbehaving ward.  The plot is to be determined.

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So, I wrote one book (The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife) and came up with four more on the “To Write” list.

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That’s it for the updates.  If all goes well tomorrow and I have the time, I will have Mary Larson interrogated (ahem…I mean “interviewed”) for her part in Dave’s kidnapping.  😉