My work schedule for the rest of the month is about to explode. I spent all day yesterday cleaning house, organizing my research and my office, just to get ready for the next big push. A couple of things will have me pretty busy.

First, I decided to mix things up with my writing this month to keep me from getting bored. I’m going to try to work on three things at the same time, dividing up my days into morning, afternoon and evening shifts.

First priority is the next Dark Realm book, as yet untitled. And just to keep me honest about my productivity, here’s my first progress wordmeter:

As you can see, I have a ways to go!

Afternoons, I’ll be working on something more fun, and something I plan to be done with by the end of the month—the next in my Shadowlands series for EC, Lockdown. It should go fast because I’ve been itching to use some of the stories and insights my daughter gave me while working as a corrections officer inside a prison. Not sure how I’m going to slip the sex in there in a non-icky way, but you know I’ll figure it out—got to have me some spankin’s!!

This is where I’m at with Lockdown:

My evening shift work is going to be spent finishing up some new proposals, short spurt kind of stuff. Things not as urgent as the hard deadline DR book, or nearly as much fun as the EC book, but work that needs to get done all the same. So it gets relegated to evenings when I can blow it off if I’m already tired for the day. But before I get to the proposals, I will spend a few days finishing up the next installment of Knight Dreams.

So, that’s what’s happening with me writing-wise. So far as promotion goes, I have two contests running through the end of the month. The first one you’ve already seen. It’s the Allure Author’s 30 Days of Giveaways. Then starting on Monday, I will be counting down the days until the release of my next cowboy book, Down in Texas. There will be many prizes, lots of sexy excerpts—be sure to check in every day so you don’t miss a chance at something cool!

What do you think? Is that enough to keep me busy and out of trouble for the rest of the month? Did I mention I miss swimming in the pool so much that I ordered a thermal wetsuit?! Yeah, the family thinks I’ve finally lost it with that one.

I’m heading to the doctor for a round of appointments this morning, so won’t be around until later, but I’ve already posted something over at Access Romance’s All-A-Blog. I’d love for you to join me there. I’m doing some major bragging! 😆

And don’t forget to find the next website for the Book-A-Day Giveaway from the Allure Authors!

Join me today at the Aphrodisia author’s blog!

Psst!
And don’t forget to check out the Book-A-Day giveaway from the Allure Authors!

My girlpal has a new book out…one you don’t want to miss. And once you’ve read it, you’ll be scrambling for her backlist. The lady can write her ass off! ~DD

Kensington Aphrodisia ♦ September 30, 2008
ISBN-10: 0758222505 ♦ ISBN-13: 978-0758222503
Genre: Contemporary ♦ Interracial

Tell Me What You Want…
The men crowd in and howl for more when Sin’s on stage—she knows just how to work it, wrapping her lithe body around the pole to dance down and dirty. But Sin doesn’t see them, lost in a world of her own…until sexy private investigator “Mac” Garret McAllister steps into the club.

…What you really really want
In one night of erotic passion, the man turns her inside out and her world upside down. Mac pays homage to her beautiful body with delicious, carnal ferocity. When the sun comes up, she cuts out. She can’t let him get too close to her heart…But two years later, they reunite. Still on fire for her, Mac is ready to do whatever it takes to ensure his woman stays right where she belongs–in his arms and his bed. Forever this time.

“Terry has written another delicious tale of erotic interracial romance and suspenseful conflict. The sex scenes are scorching, sensual and leave nothing to the imagination. With a vivacious heroine and a true-to-life alpha hero, this believable story hooks readers from the first page and keeps their attention until the end.”
— 4 1/2 STARS, Romantic Times BOOKreviews on GET YOUR SEXY ON

Read an excerpt!

Today, I’ll be hosting the Ellora’s Cave chat loop, along with Myla Jackson and Shayla Kersten.

All day, we’ll be posting sexy excerpts, running scavenger hunts for prizes and holding one live chat at around 11 AM CST. Be sure to stop by for the fun.

I spent last weekend at Lora Leigh’s RAW. I’ll be posting pics this week, now that I have the suckers loaded. Thought I’d share a couple with the Cavegirls.

For all the years I’ve been hosting list days, I never knew what my lovely moderator looked like, but here’s Renee’ and her husband Joe. I loved them both! I ate a meal with them and watched the way she looks at him from under her eyelashes. I could see the color creep under his cheeks and how eagerly he responded. Wow.

Also for the EC crowd, here’s Lorie O’Clare and myself. Lorie and Jess were the hardest working ladies a the conference. I hadn’t seen her since I guess 2004 when we were at a booksigning together in Dallas, and I didn’t spend a lot of time with her because she was flitting around like a madwoman trying to keep things running smoothly and stomping out fires.

…which means soon I won’t be able to gut out a swim in the cooling waters of my pool. There goes my tan and the new muscle I spent a summer discovering.

It also means I have to start a new book. The fourth in the Dark Realm series. I have the first four or five chapters firmly in my mind, but not a clue what’s going to happen for the rest even though I did write a synopsis and run it by my editor. As always, she says there’s too much plot because she worries there won’t be enough sex or the story will be too complicated and with too many characters. The cast is firmly in my mind, so it’s hard for me to see it from a new reader’s point of view. She’s probably right, so that’s why I have to re-dream the rest of the book.

There’s also the release of my next book, Down in Texas, and the accompanying promotion I have to do, including a fifteen day countdown that will be lots of fun. But I have to dream up all the selling points of my novel and use them to tease you—so it’s work just the same.

And I still have to finish unpacking from the Lora Leigh convention and get my pictures uploaded. I’ll try to get to that today, but right now I have a 4-year-old underfoot who wants me to sit with her and watch Forbidden Kingdom, so we’ll see how far along I get.

It’s nice having another few days to relax before I have to start the next marathon.

🙄

Thought I’d start with something eyecatching. That’s the cover for the book that follows Down in Texas, which will be out at the end of October (hint: it’s ready for pre-order now!!).

I just bet you’re here because you want to know who won the terrific prize pack I put together from Lora Leigh’s convention, right?

Too bad, gonna have to wait a minute.

I do have another announcement to make. Something I like to do for every major release is a countdown contest. And since Down in Texas is my first single title book with Kensington, and it’s been picked up by the Doubleday, Rhapsody and Book of the Month Clubs, I thought we should certainly have a fun launch. So starting October 13th, we will begin the “15 Days–15 Reasons to Buy It Now Party”, here on this blog. Be sure to keep tuned for announcements of the prizes, cool excerpts, and of course the extremely compelling reasons you have to buy my book!

Almost there, so be patient!

I have pictures from the convention, and will love sharing them with you. I’ll get them loaded tonight and hopefully get some help identifying some of the people in the pictures because I totally suck at names. I can remember actors I’ve seen once in a movie, but can’t remember the name of someone I shared a meal with—tell me my mind’s not whacked.

So, still waiting for it? The winner of the bag of signed books (I think only two of them aren’t), as well as bookmarks, pens, magnets, etc., is…

Okay, so I know I’m a tease, but I just wanted you to see that my life is tough! That’s a gallon bucket (my computer screen is very large), crammed full of little slips of paper, cut from pages of answers you gave me to the questions I posed. So, I put everyone’s entries in the bucket, swirled it around and chose a winner…

And that winner is Me! Yeah, the first slip I pulled out was one of my responses, so let’s try it again.

Geez, I did it again!! I must have earned some good kharma this weekend. One more time.

The winner is RobynL!!! Robyn, be sure to send me a private email to let me know your snail mail address. And congratulations!! Email Delilah!