These three books are now in edits.

The Loner’s Bride is currently with an editor. Suitable for Marriage will go out to the editor soon. Making a Realistic Publishing Schedule has already been edited. I’m just going to give it another pass through before I publish it.

Now for books I’m currently writing.

This is the good part. 😛

I’m in Chapter 6 of Heiress of Misfortune

That puts me at the 15,000-word mark. My average book length is 60,000 words to give you an idea of how far I am into this one.

I am thrilled to say that I was able to bring in a past Regency character. Mr. Tumilson, the hero in this book, has ordered the heroine’s husband to hire a lady who can teach the heroine how to make herself more attractive so she’s not such a wallflower. (Her father has been fretting that our heroine has no suitors.) Well, I remembered that I had a past Regency character whose job was helping ladies be more attractive to potential suitors. So I was able to bring back Helena from Love Lessons With the Duke!

She goes by the Duchess of Ashbourne instead of Lady Seyton in this book. Every time I bring in past characters in a meaningful way, it’s like bringing in old friends. 🙂 I’m having so much fun with this. As a side note, I can’t wait for Mr. Tumilson to see the heroine once Helena is done with her. Not only will he be surprised, but he’s going to have to fight his attraction for her.

This is why I write books I’m passionate about. I get to look forward to moments like these.

I’m in Chapter Three of Daisy’s book

And I finally have a cover and a title.

I am also bringing in a character from the past in this book, but the character comes from another series. That series is the Montana Collection. He showed up for a very brief time in Boaz’s Wager.

His name was Otis Mills, and he was the one who raced horses in hopes of marrying Eva Connealy. If you recall, Boaz won the race, and he got to marry Eva. Well, while I was writing Suitable for Marriage (which is Book 3 in the Husbands for the Larson Sisters Series), I had a couple of scenes where Daisy and Eva are talking. As I was struggling to come up with a husband for Daisy, it occurred to me that I never gave poor Otis as wife. So I decided that this book will start in Montana.

Based on the conversations Daisy and Eva have, I knew going in that Daisy doesn’t want to be with someone like Otis. Otis is a ranch hand. She has this dream in her head that she’s going to end up with a textbook example of a “prince charming” kind of guy. And Otis isn’t it. He’s not inclined to book learning. He works with his hands, so he gets dirty a lot. I thought it would be funny to set her up with someone who is pretty much the opposite of what she has in mind.

And he’s going to follow her to Omaha. Tom and Jessica (her parents) are going to fall in love with him right away. Tom will like the fact that Otis is willing to live at their farm because he could use the extra help around the place after losing Nelly and Erin, the two girls who did the most farm work with him. Jessica is going to push for Daisy to marry Otis because Otis is going to be a bit clumsy and awkward around Daisy, and this will remind Jessica of her courtship with Tom and sweet Tom was. I expect references to A Bride for Tom to come about in this book because of that. All of this is going to be fun, and with any luck, we’ll end up with a romantic comedy.

I’m in Chapter Two of Secret Admirer

I did a calculation on the Regency timeline, and I realized I can finally bring Lord Durrant’s younger brother into a book. If you’ll recall, Corrin St. George, Lord Durrant, was the hero in If It Takes a Scandal, and Reuben was his sickly brother.

Reuben was eight when the events in If It Takes a Scandal took place. I’ve been waiting to bring him back, and I have the perfect story idea for him. But…his story is not meant for this particular book. I’m thinking it might be suitable for Book 4 in this series, but it’s too early to tell yet. Right now I’m laying the foundation for his story. I’m currently doing a scene at a dinner party, where Reuben is a guest. I think I have introduced the lady he’ll end up with. It won’t be the heroine of Secret Admirer.

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On a final note, the perk of having series that take place within the same world is that I can bring in past characters. I like to think of this as “layering” the series together so that, if you take a step back, they all form one large series. This is what makes writing so much fun!