New Cover Art - Make Me Whole

Isn't it amazing? This cover was commissioned by Melissa Gay and she did a fabulous job capturing the essence of the story. I'm so excited. Even the rough version that was originally sent blew me away.

I also received edits for the story on Friday so I'm hoping to get them done soon and hoping to get the official blurb. But for now, I'm content to ogle poor lonely Dexios a little bit longer.

Story Picture Monday - Until the Lilacs Bloom

Ever since my son was a few years old we'd go to the Outer Banks for a week with some friends from high school and college. At first we used to go around Mother's Day, until the year it storm almost the entire week, then we switched to the fall and now go Labor Day week. We've arrived twice right after a hurricane, but we've been lucky to have sunny days while we are there.

We love the Outer Banks. It's quiet and laid back. I really get a chance to relax there. Some nights we go out, other nights we go to the farmer's market and the whole gang eats around the table. We look forward to this trip the entire year. Twelve weeks and counting till the next one!

I took these pictures the last night we were on vacation the last time we were in the Outer Banks. We've been all up and down the coast but I believe this time we were around Nags Head.

The Outer Banks is the setting in two stories actually. The final third of Ghosts in the Wind took place here as Andrei hunted down a killer. But in my new story, Until the Lilacs Bloom, it's a much more peaceful setting. In fact, it's on a summer night just like this where AJ and Trey share their first kiss. They'd taken the Jeep out after dinner to have a little privacy to talk and figure out their attraction to each other. Then stretched out on the blanket and watched the waves come in.

I wish you could see the colors in the water the way I'd seen them that night and the way Trey sees them. These pictures don't do it justice at all.

 



Six Sentence Sunday - Until the Lilacs Bloom

Until the Lilacs Bloom is a story that I’ve been poking at for years. It was originally a coming of age story, but it’s involved to follow the two friends, AJ and Trey, through a couple of decades after Trey’s battle with childhood cancer. In the first third, which is the part I’m working on now, they’re spending the summer in the Outer Banks, after Trey goes into remission. AJ is getting ready for college and trying to come to terms with his sexuality. And Trey is trying to picture a life ahead of him and learning to exert his independence again.

* * * * *

“If I get sick again you won’t stop being my friend will you?”

The question speared through him with a profound shock and all thoughts of kissing the afternoon away disappeared. AJ frowned and started to say that Trey wasn’t going to get sick again then stopped himself. It’s not what Trey asked and the bullshit response would probably just irk him. Whether or not he got sick again was out of their hands entirely, they couldn’t control that, but he could give him other assurances. “Yeah, I’ll still be your friend.” 

Contests and Excerpts

Today I'm blogging at Book Brew with the Coffee Crew with a whole bunch of other authors. This month's theme is cops and detectives. The Coffee Crew at is giving away a $25 gift certificate to one random commenter and other authors are giving away a few prizes as well.

I'm posting two excerpts from Ghosts in the Wind and giving away some copies of the book. Stop by at http://coffeetimeromance.com/CoffeeThoughts and read all the fun stuff going on. If you're interested in winning a copy of my ghost story, the first post I put up is titled "Ghosts and Detectives" the other one that I'll upload before I leave work today is "Love Stories."

I hope you enjoy and good luck!

Love,

Margie

Mancandy Thursday

I can't figure out how to load things on Pinterest. It keeps freezing, but I have discovered how to find things and this is one that immediately grabbed me. Amazing isn't it? He needs a story. 

If anyone wants to drop a prompt idea I'll put it in the plot bunny hutch and see if anything breeds out of it.

:-D

Wednesday Updates – Submissions and Paperwork Oh My

Please excuse me if I come across a little punch drunk in this post. I’m coming off of several months worth of conventions, deadlines and… there was something else in that list but my mind seems to have let it fade away. Needless to say, it’s been a very hectic, but fun time and I’m ready for a bit of a break.

 

I know I mentioned that I recently signed a contract with Dreamspinner Press for Make Me Whole which I think is coming out sometime in August. I just finished the paper with details for the cover and somewhere in the last couple of weeks I did the paperwork for the blurb. Thank the lord for people who write blurbs, if it were up to me it wouldn’t sound nearly as interesting. So I’m hoping, soon, to have things to share with you. Plus I heard that the translation for All Bets Are Off into Italian is going well too. I’m still ridiculously excited about that.

I believe I mentioned my baseball themed novella, which I did end up naming Wild Pitch. (Hee that rhymes. See K-lee, sometimes I can rhyme!) I finally finished that on Monday night after spending three days in Myrtle Beach for XCon. The best part about the trip was getting to hang with William Cooper again (who is always fun) and meeting Michael Knost who shared a table with my husband.

So that’s the newest info. Later on this week I’ll download some of the pictures from the cons and share them so you can see the depth of my geekiness. If you haven’t already figured it out. I’m sure you have, I’m pretty blatant about it.

 

Six Paragraph Sunday - Make Me Whole

Hello everybody, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s out there. We had a nice low key day, my husband made breakfast, my son fetched coffee with me. Then we had two dinners, one with my mom and sisters, then immediately after, with my mother and sister in law. Needless to say I’m stuffed silly, but we all had a good time together.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m posting six paragraphs instead of sentences from Make Me Whole. Galen is waiting at the hospital for news of his friend and is desperate need of some comfort from his mother.

I should be getting edits for the museum story soon. I’m looking forward to diving back into their story. 

Six Sentence Sunday – Wild Pitch/Limbo

Hello everybody, I know I've been quiet lately. There's been so much going on, but I'll update you later in the week with all the exciting news. But for now, here's a little bit from my baseball themed novella. I'm going back and forth between two titles Wild Pitch and Limbo. So you might see it posted as either. I'm hoping by the time I finish the rough I'll have settled on one. The deadline for this is very tight, that's one of the reasons why I've been so quiet. That and work is crazy. I'll be happy when things settle down some. But for now, here's my Six Sentence Sunday and the rough blurb. I hope you enjoy.

Updates - Lots of Exciting Things Lately

Though of course as I sit down to write this, some of what I wanted to report is slipping my mind. I need a cute keeper, or at least write these things down as they come to me. Oh well, the first exciting news, which might not really be news since I'd already twittered it, is that All Bets Are Off is being translated. I'm so excited that I haven't been able to contain myself. :-D I can't wait to see how it looks. First, it'll be in Italian, but Spanish, French and German will follow.

The Risks of Substituting for Your Son's Class

So my husband has recently started working again. He’s substitute teaching in our county and still working on getting his comics going. He’s come home with some great stories and he seems to be really enjoying himself, though he’s having some encounters he never expected. Last Friday he was subbing at my son’s school, running the computer lab. And my son’s class happened to have computer lab that day. In the midst of doing their projects, one little girl called my husband over, now this particular little girl has had a crush on my son for ages, and so has her friend.

Little girl: “Can I ask you a question and will you tell me the truth?”

Husband: “Sure. What do you need?”

Little girl points to her friend who is listening to the conversation: “Which one of us do you think Chris should get with?”

My husband blinks several times as he scrambles for an answer. “Um, I’m staying out that. That’s between you, her and Chris.”

The little girl actually took that in stride and thanked my husband, lol. But I’m seriously starting to get visions of how crazy it’s going to be in a few years. I’m not sure I’m ready for it.