It’s taking me longer to get to comments, emails, and messages.

At the moment, I am feeling overwhelmed.  Part of it has to do with summer and my kids being out of school (which means we try to do things as a family and this takes away from my work time but I’ve heard the song “Cat’s in the Cradle” enough to realize that time spent with kids is necessary).

So while I am usually busy, I am feeling especially strained for time.  If it takes me a while to email you or reply to a Facebook message or comment, please understand that I’m not ignoring you.  I try to get through a couple a day to try to clear up my inbox, but it seems as soon as I send an email out, I get five more in.  It’s a very slow process for me right now.  I just ask that everyone be patient with me.

Okay.  All of that aside, I did want to post an update on what I’ve been doing.  🙂

His Abducted Bride and His Reluctant Lady

Both are back in my hands.  Thanks to those who worked on it for me!  I am going through the final read through phase.  I am turning these in to Mark Coker (founder of Smashwords) who will then turn them over to the Apple iBookstore so there will be a sample of each book available for anyone who wants to sample it or pre-order it.  I’m working under a deadline (one I did impose on myself because I like to give myself deadlines so I can stay on task).  I hope to have information up sometime in July about pre-ordering the books on iBookstore if you happen to buy books from there.  I can’t release the books to Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, Kobo, Sony, Diesel, etc until the official release date set at the iBookstore.  I believe we’re looking at July 30 for His Abducted Bride and August 6 for His Reluctant Lady.

The Stagecoach Bride

Book Stephannie Beman and I are working on.

I’m very happy and excited about this book.  The story has been a lot of fun to write.  I’ve had some questions about how this works.  Stephannie and I are online chatting when we work on this book.  I will take one chapter (which is the heroine’s point of view) and she’ll take another chapter (which is the hero’s point of view).  We alternate chapters so chapter 1 was me, chapter 2 her, chapter 3 me, and so on.  I actually do write out everything in a Word document when it’s my chapter.  I’ll add in all of Lillian’s thoughts and feelings and actions.  Then when she speaks to Mic or another character Stephannie is in charge of (Mic’s family), I’ll have Lillian say something to the character and add what Stephannie says.  Stephannie will usually tell me what one of her characters is doing so I can add the actions, too.  Based off this, I’ll write Lillian’s response (whether it be actions, thoughts, feelings or something she says) and show it to Stephannie who will, in turn, write down what her characters do or say.  So it is a back and forth exchange and the immediate feedback granted on a chatting program makes this happen fast.  Stephannie, I’ve noticed, will be more likely to do the dialogue and go back later to fill in the gaps with thoughts, feelings, actions, etc.  So we have a slightly different way of approaching it, but it’s a way that works out very well.

Bride by Arrangement

I can’t speak for Janet Syas Nitsick since I don’t exactly where she’s at in her novella, but I am now in chapter 3 and am also very excited about this story.  I finally decided to call my story “Pete’s Wife”.  Originally, I thought the heroine (Ada) was going to also think Pete had less-than-average intelligence, but as it turns out, she figured out right away that Pete is actually a smart man but does know there’s something different about him (that different thing being he’s deaf).  I guess that makes sense.  An outsider can often come in and see a situation for what it really is because they haven’t gotten so used to things they overlook the clues.  When I was 3, my parents thought I was mentally retarded because I didn’t respond to people like other kids my age did.  A daycare worker was the one who noticed I didn’t hear.  It turns out I was deaf in one ear but had wax build up in my other ear.  Once the wax in the one ear was removed, I had normal hearing in that one ear.  From there, I had tubes, hearing tests, and speech therapy.  I remember my last speech therapy session when I was in kindergarten because I was going to miss the person who helped me adjust to hearing.  I also remember doing a phonics program in the early 1980s (now you all know how old I am) when I was in the first grade on an Apple computer.  So yeah, I think a new person entering a situation can often see things a lot better than those in it.

The Earl’s Scandalous Wife

I have started it.  Christopher Robinson will be the one who arranges the scandal that gets Perry married (at long lost).  Sorry, guys, but I just couldn’t see how Perry was ever going to get married unless someone with a mischievous streak like Christopher intervened.  🙂   I tried to think up ways Perry could manage it on his own but kept coming up blank.  I don’t know why but Perry is just not very smart when it comes to getting a lady.  All this time, I thought it was the situations that led ladies to other gentlemen, but now I know Perry is one of those people who needs fate to give him a big shove.

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Kent Ashton’s Backstory and Lassoing Her Groom

These are still on hold.  I can’t figure out where to go next in those and that is usually a sign that I need to wait until the stories are ready to be picked up again.  Apparently, there’s something in the back of my mind working on something.