Six Sentence Sunday - May 29

So, in keeping with last week's snippet from my sequel, The Master Key, here's another little teaser.

In this scene, my protagonist, Josie, (written in first-person) has to make her first public appearance as wife of the President of the World.  Now, she's a 300-year old relic from the 21st Century, so, her "social skills" are a bit lacking, ie: she can't help but crack out some good cuss-words.

Half listening and completely deaf from nerves, I fumbled my way through the proper responses required should a question be directed at me. Also on my list of required necessities was how to ignore the media and obtrusive individuals; how to talk about absolutely nothing and do so convincingly; and, most importantly, not to swear in public. The latter part had been written in big, bold capital letters. 

The Master Key, due out this July is the sequel to The Lancaster Rule.  In this second book of the trilogy, the heroine, Josie, now married to world president John Lancaster, and begins her new life in the future. But all is not idyllic as a dangerous man from her past returns as old enemies return to plague her life.
Revelations of Josie's past, three hundred years ago, surface and begin to unfold, every question she has ever wanted to know is answered. Events lead her to the Scrap Yard, a cybernetics space station where she must battle it out with her enemies.

For anyone interested in participating, click to Six Sentence Sunday, and follow the rules. You can also check out the six sentence reads from the other participants.

Tweet about it too, use the #sixsunday hashtag.

Thanks for stopping by!! 

Cover Art for The Master Key

Just a quick post to show off the cover art for The Master Key, sequel to The Lancaster Rule.  Once again, cover art was designed by Amanda Kelsey who does quite a bit of work for Champagne Books.

The Master Key is due out for release this July.

A Mindless Filler for the Week

Just did a quick jaunt to the post office to collect my package of books (The Lancaster Rule) that arrived.  These will be for my first-ever 'con.'  For those who didn't know, I've signed up for AnimeKon, a local event to promote anime, graphic novels, science fiction art, movies, books, electronic games...and well, I guess that means I qualify.

Of course, I "look forward" to it with great anticipation.  Eeee!!  I'm not the most socially adept person in the world, preferring to linger in the shadows and people-watch instead.  But, for the sake of promotion, and for the sake of the books, I shall swallow my fear of the public and slap on my smiley face.  Who knows, I may meet another celebrity and get an autograph.  (Last year LeVar Burton aka Geordie was on hand signing photos).  Wonder who it'll be this year?

And for those that live at 13ºN (aka Barbados), please feel free to stop by the Sherbourne Conference Centre July 2-3, and check out the event.  You just might see me (hiding under the table or thereabouts).

Anyone want to table-sit with me?

My First Six Sentence Sunday

So, to kick-start the July release of The Master Key, the sequel to The Lancaster Rule, I decided to participate in Six Sentence Sunday.  Here we go then:

“She’ll never make an operative.” Simon propped his arm companionably over John’s shoulder and watched as Josie sheepishly recovered from a stumble.

“She’s my wife, not one of your team.” John clamped his mouth into a line and rolled his eyes, a habit he seemed to be borrowing lately from Josie. “But you’re right. An operative she will never be.”

For anyone interested in participating, click to Six Sentence Sunday, and follow the rules. You can also check out the six sentence reads from the other participants.

Tweet about it too, use the #sixsunday hashtag.

Surfacing for Air

Hmm, while I take a break from writing my current work in progress, I thought it wise to raise my head and take in some air.  You know, check out the scenery, see what's up with the world...that sort of thing.  Besides, I've hit a snag in my writing like a ship hits a sand-bank and grounds off.  I'm right smack in the middle of the story, and it could go either way, and not the way I've plotted it out to be.  Sigh...

Anyways, enough of that.  A short break will clear the head and maybe make the storyline more defined.  So, what's up with me otherwise?  Let's see, other than bitching (constantly) about the horrendous heat all of us at 13ºN are afflicted with, I've been keeping a relatively low profile.  The heat does that to you.  But, other than writing and poking about online to keep up with things, I've been twiddling my fingers waiting patiently for:
The revised and final PDF for The Master Key (because I've completed my errata form)
The cover art for it
10 more books of The Lancaster Rule I've ordered for my very first convention (AnimeKon in July)
Riot gear for said convention to keep weirdos at bay (kidding, just kidding)
And at least five amazing books to add to my To Be Read list.  (I'm running out fast)

A relatively short list.

Oh...and a new washing machine.  I think ours has decided its had enough of our dirty laundry...

Well, there you have it.  And before I forget, this Sunday, I've signed up for Six Sentence Sunday, so stop by again then and check it out.  Yep, you guessed it, I'll be pushing The Master Key.

My Guest - Linda Kage (Wife-Mom-Librarian-Author)

Today I welcome Linda "All You Need Is Love" Kage, another Champagne Books writer, who also has an impressive set of books under her belt.  I asked her to show us a peek into her normal, every day life and how she juggles being a wife-mom-librarian-author.

Hello!  I'm Linda Kage, author of contemporary adult and young adult romance stories...oh, and I'm a mom and wife who works full time at an academic library.

It's kind of fun to say all that. A mouth full, huh?  Makes me sound like I'm all busy and important, when actually most of my day is pretty boring, sitting at a computer, exporting book records and answering emails and such. 

The evening pace quickens after I pick my daughter up from the baby-sitter's, yet it's anything but glamorous.  Mostly, my evenings are full of wiping up baby snot, picking up toys (constantly stubbing my toes on the toys I don't pick up), changing diapers, trying to feed a toddler between all the raspberries she keeps blowing, and arguing with a one-year-old--I'm mama, NOT dada!   

The house probably would fall down around my ears if it wasn't for my husband.  He does most of the dishes while I'm putting the ankle biter to sleep. And when I do manage to clean anything, it's not pretty. The kid loves to help me fold laundry--or rather she loves to climb into the basket and sit on the clean clothes when I'm folding laundry.  She'll pull everything out and string items throughout the house.  Takes about three times longer to put the clothes away but at least she's not trying to eat dead lady bugs off the floor somewhere else--but we won't go into that right now!

The husband can be a saint in the helpful department; I don't think I could be a single parent.  It really does take a village to raise a child.  But hubby also demands his hubby-time from me.  I spoiled him when we were childless and used to scratch his back while we watched TV.  So every now and then I have to make sure to give him some attention too!

You must be thinking I stay up late to slot in my writing time.  But no.  I usually drop off about as soon the kid does.  She likes to get up at the crack at dawn (or before), so I sleep whenever I have the chance.  I've tried writing while my daughter plays around the library, but she just ends up pulling most the books off the shelves and either tearing or chewing out pages here and there. Since she's learned to climb, I've put a second chair beside mine so she can crawl up and sit (though she usually stands) next to me.  But that'll only last thirty seconds before I'm yelling at her not to touch the keyboard, or the mouse, or...well, you get the point.

She can be pretty good at playing by herself, when she's getting into mischief.  But she's also good at coming to me and hanging off my leg and whining when she needs food or diaper changes or a nap, otherwise I'd probably forget about her (no, I'm definitely not up for mom-of-the-year).  I'd say I'm lucky to have a kid that lets me know when she needs something, though I typically don't feel lucky at the time.

And still, I haven't said when I slot in my writing time.  Truth be told, I usually sneak it a moment when I'm not supposed to, like at work, or when I should be cleaning, or watching my kid.  So I feel guilty a lot, creating my stories when I should be doing other things.  But I just can't stop.  Writing is kind of like breathing to me; do it or die.  And becoming a mom and wife with a full-time job hasn't decreased the ideas that float through my head.  With a daughter that waves at the dead person when you go to a funeral, I actually gets lots of fodder for new story ideas!! 

So that's my life in a juggling-act nutshell.  I may have a bunch of balls, but I usually don't keep them in the air and juggle them all at the same time.  While I tuck house-cleaning under my arm and let the dirt pile up, I get in a little hubby and baby time.  Or while I ditch out on a little work, I get writing done.  Then I'll switch and let family time slip to clean or stop writing to catch up at work. In the end, all the important stuff gets done--mostly. I just don't have much of a social life in the process!!

Wow, that's pretty hectic!  Thanks so much, Linda for dropping in and sharing a little bit of your life with us.

WIPs - A New Tab to Click on

Just a quick mention of a new tab I added to this page.  Click on the WIPs tab to see my current work-in-progress, Bengaria's War.  I added a short excerpt from chapter one.  Feel free to tell me what you think of it so far.  I may include the entire chapter later on, but I'll need to go back and edit it some more.  At the moment, I'm hitting up chapter 10 and scratching the 65K mark.

The Trilogy is Complete

Over the long weekend (May Day here at 13ºN) the immediate in-laws ventured east and enjoyed a staycation at The Crane, in what is now becoming an annual event -- thanks to the very generous mother-in-law.  Of course, right now, we're in the middle of some strange weather.  It rained (pissed down like a waterfall!!) for pretty much the entire weekend we were there.  Despite the crashing rain and grim skies and hurricane force winds that nearly exfoliated the skin, I managed to get a sunburn.  Go figure.  I'm thinking it must've been during the slightly intoxicated moment when the sun did scorch down between the grey clouds, and the bloody caesar I'd consumed that made me forget to put sunblock on.  Oopsie...

As I sit here writing this, wondering whether I should keep itching or apply more after-sun care lotion, I'm still shaking my head at my amazing luck.  I don't mean the sunburn...

My publisher's, Champagne Books, have accepted my third and final manuscript for The Eternal Knot - the last in The Lancaster Trilogy!  How sweet is that?  If all goes well, edits and revision-wise, The Eternal Knot is due out for release for February 2012.

I feel rather relieved and liberated, knowing that the trilogy is finally complete...over...done.  For the last couple of years, my head's been mired with the trilogy, the characters, the world I'd created, everything.  Now, I can put it behind me and move on.  It was no wonder that I'd attempted two other books that stalled mid-way.  My mind was still distracted with Lancaster stuff.  Okay, I'll have to revisit them many times, over and over...but you get the point.  It's like that portion or segment of my life is done now.  I can move forward.

It helps greatly, saying "goodbye", when you begin writing something completely new and different.  For the last few weeks, I've been neck-deep creating an entirely new world, different characters, new story...well, you get the point.  For the moment, I'm calling it Bengaria's War, a story set in the extremely distant future where we have now colonized star systems, where there is aristocratic nobles, extremely adept warriors, impressive warships, tea plantations, and love.  Gotta have the love, right?

So, as I plod along further into my new world, The Lancaster world slowly fades like a pleasant memory shared with old friends.  And each time I revisit it, it's like opening a photo album and looking through all the pictures with a big old grin on your face.