First of all, I’m very pleased with the changes I made to two of my fantasies that are decades old. All this time, I felt like something was missing, and now that I finally got that resolved. I feel like the romance between the main hero and heroine lead is finally complete. This is why I will always and forever be a romance writer, no matter what other genre I dip my toes into.

Second, I am halfway into my pen name’s book. This isn’t a fantasy like the others were. This one is a straight out YA thriller where a girl saw her student kill a classmate, and no one believes her. The student is now coming for her, and unless she can prove he committed the crime, her time will be up.

Part of keeping the creative process going is working on multiple genres. I don’t know what it is about dabbling with different genres that do this, but each time I do, I notice the creativity explode when I work on romance.

Speaking of which…here is what I’m doing in the romance genre…

The Perfect Wife will be out August 25

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I got it up on all the channels. I notice that Amazon isn’t linking my series recently, and one theory is that it’s because I’m doing pre-orders over there. The Perfect Duke (Book 4 in the Marriage by Fate Series) never linked up with its series on Amazon. When I put The Perfect Wife (Book 3 in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series), it didn’t link up to its series on Amazon, either.

So I’ll put up my next book without doing a pre-order for it on Amazon. If that book does link up to the series it’s supposed to be in, then I know it’s a pre-order issue. If it doesn’t, then I know I have another problem going on. Fortunately, I’m not having this problem at other retailers. When things don’t run smoothly, it causes a certain degree of stress. I’ll keep an eye on this situation.

One Enchanted Evening is over halfway done

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I expect to finish the first draft at the end of this month. I am almost at 50,000 words, and things are building up for the final event of the story. This one has a gothic feel to it. There is the fairy tale undertone to it. That is the foundation of the story. It’s loosely based off of Cinderella, except Cinderella isn’t so perfect and her step-sister knows it. It’s the ideal setup for a gothic historical romance, and since it takes place in the Regency world, I’m putting it under the Regencies category in my book list.

This one has been especially fun to write. I’ve explored dark areas of my writing that I haven’t done before. It’s been a challenge, to say the least, and it’s always fun to stretch the creative muscles to try something new. I had the climax of this story in mind before I even started it, and I’m so excited to get to it! I loved the climax in The Marriage Contract where the hero was forced into a sword fight then pursued on horseback toward the bridge. Honestly, that is one of my favorite endings of all time. I’m looking forward the end of this book, too, with the same kind of excitement. I don’t want to say what it is because I don’t want to spoil it.

The Imperfect Husband is at 16,000 words now

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I average 60,000 words a book, so this gives you an idea of how far I am into it.  This one gave me a huge “Oh wow!” moment the last two days I’ve written in it. I had no idea part of the hero’s reason for being so insecure and shy around Annabelle stems from his relationship with his family. I thought it was weird that he didn’t run off to his parents right away at the beginning of this book. I noticed he felt easier around Annabelle’s family than his own, but I had no idea why. I just knew I had to trust the process and that there was a good reason for it. (This is the subconscious mind at work for us pansters.)

Anyway, I got to the scene where he and Annabelle go to have dinner with his parents, and all at once, so many pieces of the puzzle fell into place, and I was so excited as I started piecing them together. Now I understand him so much better. The poor guy has a younger brother who is the favorite, and he’s used to being second place in a lot of ways. Annabelle is the only one who is going to be able to help him realize his full value. That is going to be fun to work out!

I’m actually making good progress in Shane’s Deal

Yep, this one is Book 4 in the Montana Collection, and it’s finally getting done. Madeline Thompson (the woman the men at the beginning of Boaz’s Wager were searching for) has finally shown up in Lewistown, and the hero has signed up to protect her. It’ll be interesting to see how the story progresses, but I know the mayor is going to finally be exposed for the sneaky lowlife he is. If you remember Boaz’s Wager and Patty’s Gamble, you know the mayor isn’t that nice of a guy. I’m looking forward to giving the mayor what’s coming to him.

Kidnapping the Viscount is a lot more fun than I expected

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I really love the dynamic between the hero and heroine in this book. The heroine think she’s the one calling the shots, but it’s really the hero who’s doing it.

My original idea was for this to be a brooding kind of hero who is forced to marry the heroine, and I expected him to be upset with her for half of the book. If I was writing this to market, that is how I would write this. However, since I’ve gone back to embracing the passionate side of writing again, I thought, “I’d rather have the hero be someone with a great sense of humor who really wants to be with the heroine but wants her to prove how much she wants to be with him since she rejected his proposal in the past.” And he’s going to do this in a way that will make the book a humorous read. This is not a book for people who prefer things to be serious. This is a light-hearted and fun romance where nothing is taken seriously.

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As I glance through the stuff I wrote about the romances, I realize that, even within romance, I like variety. I don’t like to stick with one type of story. I think doing different kinds of romance (gothic, sentimental, humorous, some more spicy than others) help to keep me at my most creative. I’m not the kind of author who can only write one thing, regardless of the genre I’m in. I think this might also help me write more than one book at a time. Since these books are all so different, it’s easier to keep them all separate. Now, I do slip once in a while and call a character the wrong name, but stuff like that gets found during the edits. So anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing how these stories all play out.