Buckling Down Is Here!

When two hearts are on the line, it’s double or nothing.

A Wild Ride story.

Levi McKenna heads to Las Vegas with one simple goal: win the rodeo and cement his place in rodeo history. Then Lady Luck throws a wild card into the deck—Sydney Hart. Time and distance haven’t dulled the sharp edge of their attraction, but thanks to a long-ago promise, she will always be forbidden fruit dangling just out of reach.

Sydney wants to believe in fairy tales and happily ever after, but her past relationships leave her doubting such things exist. She’s ready to give up on love…until Levi walks into her bar. The man who’s always held the missing piece of her heart. Love may not be in the cards, but that doesn’t mean a girl can’t flirt.

Neither expected passion this hot, this fast. Yet once the cards are dealt, the only thing left to do is play them out—and see if they have a winning hand.

Warning: this book contains a sassy heroine, a scrumptious hero, blood, sweat, tears, not to mention…sex laced with Vegas heat.

Available from Samhain Publishing

Check It Out!

The fabulous Blaze author Lori Borrill is the Author of the Month at the Girls on Books in May! We have lots of fun planned, starting with an interview tomorrow. Oh, and rumor has it there might be a prize or two involved, so stop on by in May and show Lori some love!

(December...I'm talking to YOU here. LOL )

May NaNoWriMo

Word on the street is that May is the new November. Or rather...May is trying to copy November. Whatever. Point is...writers everywhere will be "BICHOK" for the entire month, plunking out gobs of wordage at ridiculous speed. Or at least in the range of roughly just under 1700ish works a day. Which isn't so ridiculous when you really think about it. :D Right? LOL

Anyhow, I've set a goal for myself--to finish a 50K rough draft on my current WIP by June 7th. So...I'm gonna take the May NaNoWriMo challenge and I'm gonna kick ass all over town.

Wish me luck! :)

Up and At 'Em Music

Needed a little Heart fix this morning. Thought I'd share. :D

Hmm...

I started writing again last night. I only managed 300 words before I was competely wiped out, which I know is partly because I'm sick, but I'm guessing it also has something to do with using parts of my brain that have collected dust and God knows what else over the past several months. Nonetheless, like a good workout after some time off, it felt good to stretch those muscles, too. :)

Only problem is...I resurrected a story I'd started awhile ago (albeit it very minimally...like ten pages worth) for a pitch contest, since, woohoo, the editors are running another contest in the upcoming months. But...after plotting and pinning down the conflict some, I'm not so sure that I have the voice for what these editors are looking for. I *could* write what they want, but it isn't natural to me. I write more...relaxed? More quirky? More playful? Not sure exactly what it is, but it's just different.

Now, that's not to say that I don't believe in writing beyond your boundaries or out of your comfort zone--hello, that's a given! I just done know that I can be authentic enough with the particular line to do the story(ies) justice. If that makes any sense...

Then again...I hate to pass up an opportunity to get a story (any story!) in front of an editor. So, at the moment, I'm kinda torn. Push myself toward something different that really stretches the scope of my writing or forget the contest and just write what feels good? I guess I know the answer already, but I'm not thrilled with the thought of letting a potential opportunity pass me by either. I mean, I'm just starting to write again. Why not up my game right from the get-go?

Hmm...

What do you think? Do you stick to your comfort zone? Or have you pushed yourself toward something else? Has it paid off for you?

*M, I already know your answer to this one, seeing as the evidence of your boundary pushing is in a cover at the top right of this post. :D*

ETA: I have to say that there is something about the line I'm contemplating that really fits some of my story ideas, too. So while my voice may need some tweaking, I think I'm on the right page with the plotting. Gah. So many things to weigh...

Funny Thing Happened Today...

I was taking a nap and got to dreaming about writing again. My heart started racing so hard I woke up. I had butterflies in my stomach that only fluttered harder when I remembered that, in a week, I'll finally be able to do it again. How flippin' crazy am I, huh? LOL

2 Weeks 'til Freedom!

Yep, that's right...only two weeks of school left for me. :P I so sick of it that I can barely bring myself to open a book, let alone actually do any homework right now. And now's really not the time to be slacking, you know? Gah. Oh, well. It'll come to an end just the same, but I can't promise my grades will be anything to brag about.

Unfortunately, I've also done some rescheduling of things, including my summer internship. While I'd love to go right to it and be done with school once and for all in August, a nonpaying summer job just isn't going to be feasible for my family and I, considering I'd have three kids in daycare to pay for. So...next fall it is. Two kidlets will be in school and I'll only have one to worry about. Also, my mother-in-law should be feeling better then and there's also a chance my mom will be living in the area...both or either of them I'm sure will be willing to take the littlest demon spawn off my hands, because for some reason, she's as sweet as pie for them.

So, back to this two weeks 'til freedom business... I've already decided that my plan is to sleep for the first few days. I've been so flippin' tired lately and I know you can't really "catch up", but I'm sure as heck gonna try. Then I'm gonna read a bit, because I feel like I haven't really had a chance to do so in months (gotta love those audiobooks!). Then I'm gonna write my epic novel. Because, really, all I have left for school is to complete my internship to get my required credits and that's not technically "school". No homework, etc. So...that means that in two weeks, I will no longer have any excuses not to write. You could say that the "rest of my life" begins in two weeks. And writing is what I want to do for the rest of my life. *happy sigh* More on that later...

Hope y'all had a great Easter...