I’ve been mulling around the idea of a new free series to offer through my website and newsletter. One with individual stories rather than series installments—although some of these short stories might span a couple of months. I’d like them to be related by place and have some of the same characters appear throughout these sexy little reads.

And the best part will be that the stories will be centered around a family of feline shifters. I love furry heroes!

I want your help narrowing down the focus for the stories. Let me know what your preferences are. The first question I have for you is where you want these stories to take place. Be sure to vote then post a comment so I know who voted! You’ll be entered to win a $10 gift certificate from Amazon.com!

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A power outage yesterday morning brought home just how dependent I am on technology. Not just my computer and Internet service. Without power, I had to light candles because the day was overcast and rainy. I couldn’t bathe or flush a toilet because the pump that draws water from the well didn’t operate. It was too dark to read, too cool and nasty to be outside, the heat didn’t run and I couldn’t open the fridge for fear of warming up the food stored there.

My daughter lives in a rural area—even more isolated than my own home. And when her power goes out, it can last for days. Last year during an ice storm, it took the power company nine days to restore electricity. By then she’d had to toss out all the food in the fridge and freezer. She and her husband had to cook on camp stoves, use a camp toilet, and heat water for “bird” baths over the Coleman. Thank goodness yesterday’s outage lasted only five hours.

My home in South Texas was rural as well, but power lines were strung on tall steel poles far above any trees. In nine years, we only had two power outages that lasted a few hours. Here in Arkansas, the trees loom over the treetrunk power poles, and it takes only one tall, spindly pine snapping and folding over a line to take you out. No way could they afford to replace those old poles with something stronger. I think of the years I lived in Europe. There everything was protected in conduits underground.

I’m rambling again. My EC editor sent me the first round edits of Raw Silk last night. She loved the story and had minimal nits for me to fix (mostly commas!). I should have dates soon for the releases of Knight of My Dreams and Raw Silk.

I’m trying to get my mind in gear for November 1st. Anyone ever do NaNoWriMo? It’s National Novel Writing Month, and the folks who run the site host an annual challenge for writers to complete 50,000 words on a novel during the month of November. I met the challenge last year. I like having to post my progress daily on the site and commiserate with other writers whose fingers are bleeding all over their keyboards. Let me know if you’re taking the challenge and I’ll add you to my list of friends on the site. Maybe we can spur each other on with a “word war”!

This was a sad, sad week. I didn’t accomplish one darn thing. And it’s not going to get better until the middle of this week. I came home Friday, played catchup with email and bills, and now, I’m getting ready to head back to babysit.

One thing I did get done yesterday was book my flight for my cruise trip in December. If I didn’t mention it before, I’m heading to the Caribbean with Sasha White in December. I spent last night going through my closet to see what I might pack. I don’t know how warm it will be. I remember grilling steaks in my shorts in December when I lived in South Florida, so I’m wondering if I should pack shorts, capris, and t-shirts or slacks and sweaters. Does anybody out there know?

I’ve already applied for my passport. Couldn’t find my old one, although I know it has expired. I should have it in about three weeks. I’m calling my doctor on Monday. I need a checkup but I want to see about vaccinations too—whether I need any, that is.

I’m very excited about the trip. This will be the first non-conference vacation I’ve taken in years. Not that the trip won’t be all about writing. We’re bringing our laptops and journals and planning to interview crew members. I do have a self-imposed deadline for a story I want to complete while I’m on the ship. Sasha’s not a morning person, so I’ll steal away and write until she moves out of bed.

I don’t much like the song, but I’m very happy to get my Glambert fix! I love a great voice—Robert Plant, Freddie Mercury, Steve Tyler, Chris Cornell—and I’d love to add Adam L, but he has a long way to go to prove himself worthy.

For me, Time for Miracles took forever to build, but did finish with a nice bit of Adam doing what he does best—singing his heart and lungs out. And yeah, I live in Arkansas and probably shouldn’t say it out loud, but HE WAS ROBBED! Can’t wait for the new album coming out next month. Let me know your take on the song. Am I too harsh? Is it one of those songs that will grow on me?

Time For Miracles

Adam Lambert | MySpace Video

Yesterday’s winner, by random number generator, is…Sara Ulfers!

Nothing exciting going on in my life or my mind at the moment. The past few days have been spent taking care of sick little ones. Had to take the 5-year-old to the doctor because she had 104 degree fever and flu symptoms. The test was nonconclusive, but still, she’s on Tamiflu. The little one didn’t like being left out of the coddling so she developed a slight fever, not nearly as concerning. Anyway, the worst is past. Got one on the schoolbus this morning, and the light at the end of the tunnel is that I get to go home tomorrow. Then maybe I can think about writing.

It’s raining again. This has to be the wettest year EVER. Since I have to walk dogs, big damn dogs, I’m not too happy. Oh and did I mention the chickens? Yeah, the red-headed hellion, who always hated living in the country, has chickens!! And since she’s under the weather too, I have to coax the buzzards into the pen and feed them. I’m just glad no one I knows is here with a camera. Earth mommy, I am not. I’m whining again, aren’t I? Better stop now before I go into full whine mode. I hope you are all healthy and happy, and that the flu bug passes blissfully by you and yours!

This is how today’s blog starts:

I’ve never traveled in a starship, never lived in a castle in 12th century England, and I’ve certainly never cast a spell that turned a bunch of crushed herbs into a murder of crows, but that hasn’t stopped me from writing about them. However, meticulous research can only take me so far. There’s nothing like walking in the dirt I’m going to write about to add that touch of realism to a story…

If you want to read the rest, follow this link: After Midnight Fantasies

Hey! Stick around for the derby pictures, but today’s my report card. Let me get business out of the way first. You know why I do this, right? If I don’t hold myself accountable in a public way for my progress, I might just decide to take a vacation. 🙄

I realize I’ve been absent a lot lately. I’m not deliberately dodging connections, but I’ve had a very hectic couple of months. This last week was another crazy, crazy week. Not a lot of new pages, but progress nonetheless.

I mentioned to you earlier this week that I spent several days at my daughter’s, babysitting and walking dogs. I managed to work in the mornings after getting the 5-year-old on the school bus and after getting her and the 8-month-old into bed at night. All the hours in between were a bust. As well, I stayed up until the red-headed hellion came home from work after 12:30 AM every night and we talked until 3-ish before heading to bed. I’ll be going back there tonight for the week. I’m hoping I’ll be better prepared this time and will actually sleep when I get the chance so I can be creative. She’s on dial-up and it’s a chore to get online and twitter or post, so I won’t be doing much of that.

Work-wise this past week, I completed a short story entitled The Weekend and submitted it for consideration. I worked on blurbs and cover requests for the two cowboy stories for Samhain. And I completed galley edits for the upcoming print anthology Captive Souls.

Yesterday was especially jam-packed. I attended the monthly Diamond State Romance Authors meeting, and honchoed it because our president was a no-show. Afterwards, I went to lunch and watched the Razorback game with friends while brainstorming story ideas. And then last night, I went to a roller derby match in Little Rock with Cyndi D’Alba and Shayla Kersten. I had a blast. See for yourself!

My flash didn’t work, and without light, the camera couldn’t catch the action very well, but I like this one anyway.

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