Hey, everyone! I just found out my friend Ciar Cullen is hosting a holiday contest to celebrate her new release, Key West Magic. The contest ends tomorrow, and Key West Magic is available tomorrow! Stop by Ciar’s site and wish her well!

Warm your heart and hearth this winter with nine naughty and nice stories of hope and love.

Available December 4 at Freya’s Bower

Christmas in Ireland, a kiss beneath the mistletoe, a snowstorm centuries in the past, Mother’s Night in wintry Germany, and the sweet gingerbread aromas of a fine bakery are only a few of the gifts you can give yourself and loved ones this year.

Come visit to find out what other winter treasures await. Help yourself to an excerpt while you’re there!

Wednesday night I finished up a submission package and fired it off into waiting-for-response land. Back to dragons (again) yesterday. After a panicked, despairing, this-book-sucks-what-am-I-gonna-do email to my editor, I held myself at gunpoint and opened the file for Book 3. It’s been limping along for about 10,000 words, dull and dry and blah to me. No passion. Too much going-it-alone. Why do I never remember that writing gets excruciating if a character is on the page by herself for too long? The whole point of a story in a relationship genre (romance) is the showcasing of, well, a relationship. The ways in which one character relates to another. Push and pull and (if we’re lucky) lots of cooperative petting in between. Masturbation is pretty deep into Snoozeville, and so is the 10,000 word heroine soliloquy.

So the book obviously needs more sex, right?

Well, yes. ;) But it also needs a sympathetic character pairing on as many pages as possible. So tonight when I get home, if I don’t pass out from being awake at FIVE AM this morning, I’ll be going back to chapter two and giving Cora’s companion back to her.

I always feel so dumb when I fumble around like this and the solution comes zap! just like that - months after worrying about it.