First, thanks to everyone who posted or sent me an email about yesterday’s release, Unforgiven. I’m thrilled you like it so much, but I did tell you Cutter would be hot as hell!

Tomorrow through next Monday, I’ll be out of town again, so I invited some ladies to entertain you while I’m gone. No fans, feathers or shiny poles, just their very wicked imaginations! Here’s the lineup:

Thursday—Shayla Kersten
Friday—Michelle Polaris
Saturday—Lexi, from Romance Writer at Night
Sunday—Ann Cory
Monday—Ari Thatcher

Be sure to drop by and check out their wares! 😉

And where will I be? The ladies in RWA’s Omaha chapter invited my sister, Elle James, and I to run a plotting bootcamp over the weekend. So we will be on high octane all weekend long, trying to corral 17 active imaginations. It’ll be a blast, and thank the stars we don’t have last weekend’s weather to contend with on the drive!

Today, I should hear some news. If it happens, I’ll be sure to come back here and let you know what it is. I swear I don’t mean to be coy, but I can’t tell until it’s wrapped up in a pretty pink bow. And I just can’t keep the excitement to myself, so I have to hint!

Today’s my first appearance at the Samhellion blog. I’d love to see some familiar, friendly faces there! I’m talking about one of my favorite subjects—cowboys! When you’re over there, click on the title, “It’s all about the cowboy” and leave a comment! Samhellion Link

After Thursday, it ceased to be a productive week for me—blown mind and all. And no, I still can’t tell you.

But before that, I did complete that short free read for Samhain (it wasn’t as short as it should have been, because I couldn’t leave the story!). I did plot out in rough notes a novella I want to finish by the end of the month, but I might not make it if I can’t get my head back in the game soon. Same with the quickie—I only have a chapter to go on it. But if what I hope happens does this week, then I may throw in the towel and head straight to a bigger project.

Not that I haven’t been busy this week with other things. Mainly the plotting bootcamp. I’m having fun so far reading through the author’s exercises and comments. They’ve had it easy and remain blissfully cheerful, but wait until I have them work on conflict for their characters. Ha!

My newsletter isn’t ready to go yet, so I don’t know if you are all aware of the fact the next chapter for Bad Moon Rising is up!

If you haven’t checked it out, you must, because very, very soon I will be asking you to help me figure out what DiDi will be up to next!

But you are probably here because you want to know who won yesterday’s prize, right? The winner, chosen by a random number generator, is…Becky Ward! Congratulations, Becky, and be sure to send me an email with the email address where you want me to send your story!

But I can’t tell you what it is. However, that secret kept me up last night. You should have seen me, four in the morning, the poster child for anal-ity—redoing my spreadsheets and workplans. It’s something good. Something you will like. The hard part is getting back to the work I have to do until the other is official because, well, I’ve lost enthusiasm for anything else.

What I should work on today is finish a chapter of the medieval vampire novella I want to turn in this week. Maybe I will get online with some writing buddies and do a little sprinting. If you write and want to keep me on task, just IM me DelilahDevlin. I will need the company and the lashing whip.

Tomorrow, I’ll post another flashback for your reading enjoyment—something western to get you ready for Unforgiven, coming next Tuesday. There’s my plug. Now I’ll get to work. Y’all have a great day and I can’t wait to tell you! ~DD

If you’re looking for my “Saddled” winner, you’ll have to scroll to the bottom of this post. All posts made on Tuesday through this morning were included in the contest (48 entries total)! Thanks, everyone, for commenting!

I’m in Central Arkansas and we don’t get temperatures in the teens. In fact, the weather guy said it is the coldest it’s been in fourteen years. I guess I’ll be staying inside and running a portable heater next to my desk. It gets a little drafty in my office.

I’ve been very, very busy this past week. I finished Fun with Dick and Jayne and mailed it to my lovely EC editor. She told me it cracked her up, so yay me! I finished edits of Bad, Bad Girlfriend, and again, my EC editor sent me laughing smileys.

I wrote a short story for a Cleis anthology and shipped it. Cross your fingers they like it—or not. If it doesn’t sell, you’ll likely see it as a free read. Nothing ever goes to waste. I wrote a short story for Samhain’s Valentine free reads and shipped it yesterday. Again, a cute, hot contemporary. Today, I’m working on adding a chapter to a medieval vampire story I wrote a few years ago for a now-defunct publisher so that I can submit it either to EC or Samhain. Haven’t decided yet. And I’ll start looking hard at a proposal for a New York publisher that I slammed last month and that seems to be missing something. Have to get that one out the door.

All in all, a very good start to the new year.

Did I mention that I’ve started Chantix to help me give up the cigs once and for all? I’ve never been a heavy smoker—10 to 20 a day—but I can’t kick them on my own and I’ve tried everything. The first day on this pill, I felt sick to my stomach, but at least I wasn’t anxious about quitting because I’m allowed to keep smoking. Don’t know how my writing productivity will be affected by it. I remember reading somewhere that Stephen King’s productivity was cut in half when he quit. And I have to find another way to “dream” my stories. I like writing a few pages, then heading outside, lighting up, and letting that Nicotine open up the synapses to find the next scene. My most fun story twists were found on the back porch while I inhaled. Am I going to lose that? Scares me some. The weather should help me keep those trips to the porch to a minimum too!

Keep posted. I’ll be doing another couple of flashback contests in the next few days to celebrate the release of Unforgiven. And if you haven’t already read Unbridled, you might want to do it now, because the two are very closely tied.

So, back to that winner. By random number generator, the winner is…Sue Brandes! Congratulations! And be sure to email me to let me know what email address you want me to send that download to!

I’m going to be just plain mean. I have to play at Access Romance’s blog today and couldn’t think of anything wild or wonderful to talk about, so I’m going to bribe you into dropping by. Anyone who posts on Access Romance will get an entry in the contest for the download of SADDLED. So I won’t announce that winner until tomorrow. Cruel, cruel, I know. ~DD

Follow me here today: Access Romance blog

According to my own New Year’s tradition, I spent New Year’s Eve productively. I believe in heralding in the New Year in the same way you wish the rest of the year to go. So I wrapped up the second chapter of Bad Moon Rising (the link should be up sometime later today) and a short story for a Cleis Press anthology. Then I returned to FWD&J, revised my way through chapter 6 and wrote a rough of the final chapter. A very good day for me!

I like to take the first day of the year to review what I accomplished in the previous year and state my plans for this year.

In 2009, I enjoyed seeing 19 new releases.

2 Single Title books
1) Texas Men (Kensington)
2) Darkness Burning (Avon)

10 Novellas
1) Jane’s Wild Weekend (Ellora’s Cave)
2) Obsessed (Zane)
3) Saddled (Samhain)
4) Unleashing the Tiger (Ellora’s Cave)
5) Lockdown (Ellora’s Cave)
6) Hotblooded, in Tempted by a Cowboy (Kensington)
7) Stone’s Embrace (Samhain)
8) Knight of My Dreams (Ellora’s Cave)
9) Unbridled (Samhain)
10) Raw Silk (Ellora’s Cave)

3 Short Stories
1) Eye of the Storm (Harlequin Spice)
2) The Hired Hand, in Lesbian Cowboys (Cleis Press)
3) Have Sex Will Travel, in Sexy Little Numbers (Black Lace)

4 Re-releases
1) Invite Me In, in Naughty Bits (Harlequin Spice)
2) Frannie ‘n’ the Private Dick (Ellora’s Cave)
3) Unleashing the Tiger, in Altered States (Ellora’s Cave)
4) Ride a Cowboy, in To Serve and Protest (Pocket/Ellora’s Cave)

Pretty darned impressive, I think. If I stick to my plan for this year, 2010 will look very much the same. This is what I have release dates for now but doesn’t include novellas I have in the works for Samhain and Ellora’s Cave.

1) 01/12/10 – LONE STAR LOVERS: UNFORGIVEN (Samhain)
2) 04/??/10 – MISS ADDIE’S GARDEN, New Love Stories Magazine
3) 05/01/10 – STONE’S EMBRACE, Captive Souls anthology (Samhain)
4) 06/01/10 – THE OUT-OF-TOWNER, Girl Crush anthology (Cleis Press)
5) ??/10 – THE WEEKEND, Lesbian Lust anthology (Cleis Press)
6) 07/01/10 – THE OBEDIENT WIFE, Fairy Tale Lust anthology (Cleis Press)
7) 10/1/10 – COWBOY FEVER anthology (Samhain)
8) 11/01/10 – DARKNESS CAPTURED (Avon Red)

The big push this year, besides the many novellas I will write for epublishers, will be to sell another proposal to a New York house. Cross your fingers. I have two strong proposals already making the rounds and am working on several more to get out the door in the coming months.

And that’s my look into the past and forward.

I do have some resolutions. Three are promises I will make to my readers. You’ve been so loyal to me; I have to make sure I return the favor.

* I plan to offer free chapters or stories in my newsletter at least every two months.

* I will blog every day, come rain or shine, and will do my very best to please you with the content.

* I will continue to write the sexy stories you love. And I will try, try, try to keep them romantic, although if you read me, you know I tend to add some gritty realism in my stories, because so much of what I write is what I’ve experienced, either vicariously through my friends and family or directly. I tend to write what I know, even if the hero is a vampire.

Sound fair? What are your resolutions?