We all have those items we can’t do without during the work day. In some cases, we’re attached to them more than we care to admit. I know it would have been torture to complete my latest book without them. Small comforts can make the difference. I’m up for sharing so I’ll confess to the top 5 on my list. Vanilla or pumpkin flavored protein shake in my coffee. I enjoy my caffeine fix. I don’t always get around to making breakfast, but I will grab a protein shake to support my workouts. This way, I take care of both and get the morning rolling. A spin bike in my office. My workouts keep me sane, but on my non-gym days or when my schedule is full (okay, when I’m too lazy to dress in decent workout clothes), I hop on the bike. It’s also great stress relief in between pages of hard edits. My iMac and iPad in proximity. Music, movies, games, video chats, checking email and social media, and yes, writing, all must happen at some point during the day. I’m usually using both devices at the same time. I have been known to experience withdrawal-like symptoms if…

Romancing The Vines was a wonderful book signing event with fellow authors: Marina Adair, Catherine Bybee, Susan Stoker, Tiffany Snow, Carolyn Jewel, Kathryn LeVeque, Diana Orgain, Lori Ryan, Chris Keniston, Kate Douglas, Pamela Gibson, Lisa Hughey and myself. We hosted this book signing the week after Valentine’s Day at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville, California. You can get more information and some awesome pictures about the location and all the movie sets resident in their tasting room by checking it out HERE. Mark your calendars for next year’s event: March 4, 2017. Our site will host prizes and notices as well as ticket sales later this summer. If you are interested as an author, there will still be only 13 slots available, and I’m looking for good promoters with a good fan base! I also was in Tucson for the Tucson Festival of Books. Over 1500 vendors and over 150,000 people attended this event, which gets larger every year. This was my 4th year attending. Got to sit next to Randall Dale, my new cowboy friend, and former Navy SEAL Chris Heben. People ask me all the time if it’s worth it to attend so many events in…

Paranormal is back! Not that it ever really went away, but like everything else in romance-land, trends glut the market. For a while, vampires were everywhere. You couldn’t open a romance without bumping into a demon, a dragon, or a ghost. It became difficult to find regular contemporary romances, and only the historicals had just humans in the mix. Then the tides changed. Contemporary began sweeping back in. Hello Fifty Shades of popularity! Erotic and mainstream contemporary were back. In 2014 in particular, this was good news to me as I had a brand new series I’d released. It was a lot of fun, but I had to adhere to rules. Just because my hero wanted to be right next to the heroine didn’t mean he could teleport there or dematerialize into a bat and fly there. But the challenges involved in sticking to the rules were exciting. So I’ve been writing contemporary a lot lately. Then the opportunity to revisit a favorite group of shapeshifters came my way. Paranormal romance is once again building steam, and I couldn’t be happier. The Mark of Lycos series features shapeshifters who exist on the fringe of everyday society. I didn’t want them…

Music is a powerful thing. It can bring up deep emotions, make you feel happy, or sad, or instantly bring back a memory of another time. But it can also help you write. And I’ve found that the music that I listen to makes a difference in the way that I write. I know a lot of writers that listen to particular music for certain books, whether it be love songs or rock ballads, some even creating whole soundtracks for their books. I can’t do that. I can listen to certain sounds when I’m plotting, sounds that set the tone or the feel for the story. But when I’m actually writing, I like it to either be quiet or to have music that is only instrumental, otherwise I get caught up listening to the lyrics instead of my own internal flow of words. The last year, I have changed my writing routine. In order to increase my production, I have plotted more heavily, and I participate in writing sprints with a few other authors. We set a timer for 30 or 40 minutes, then commit to write with no distractions for that time, then report our word count numbers. We…

Thanks so much for having me back on Fresh Fiction to celebrate the release of HOW TO HANDLE A SCANDAL, the second book in my Scandalous Sisters series. It’s the story of Miss Elizabeth Tarryton, whom readers first met when she was a gorgeous, rebellious teenager in THE BEAUTIFUL ONE. Elizabeth is a little too beautiful for her own good, and she definitely likes to make a splash. When she goes to London for her first season, she’s in girls-just-want-to-have-fun mode and, well, she’s a bit of a scandal. So she’s the perfect person to offer some tips on How to Survive a London Season: Don’t go swimming in fountains in the presence of gentlemen and wearing an evening gown. Or at least, don’t get caught in the Regency version of a wet t-shirt. Eliza’s beloved guardian, Viscount Grandville, has warned her about the damage she might cause her reputation if she doesn’t tone down her behavior, but she’s having the time of her life, and she just can’t seem to resist fun, which in Eliza’s case is usually spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. Don’t kiss gentlemen in public, stand on the streets of London serenading a man through his window, or sneak…

When I think of an unproductive writer, I think of a bowl of cooked spaghetti—limp, colorless, tasteless, no energy. It’s been submerged into boiling water and didn’t survive. None of us want to fall into that category when we can take steps to stay strong and avoid the vat of despair. What happens when a writer realizes her career isn’t shaping up to what she dreamed? How can we ensure our manuscripts are fresh, filled with vitality, and eagerly read? Let’s take another look at the lifeless bowl of cooked spaghetti. Sometimes all a bowl of spaghetti needs is a little seasoning. It’s amazing what salt, pepper, and basil can add to the dish. When we sprinkle our manuscripts with a fresh edit, reach out to guest blog, or create an engaging Pinterest board, we add small but significant ways to add zest to our careers. When we have bad results, we take the time to evaluate the brand of spaghetti we’re using. Maybe a new brand or promoting the one we’re using will give us better results. Is a website redesign necessary? A smart writer evaluates what she is doing and how she is progressing. Does your spaghetti taste…

Hey there! I’m so happy to be on your fab blog again. I just adore everyone at Fresh Fiction! 🙂 This time, I’d like to do something special and share with you the playlist for WIFE FOR THE WEEKEND. For those of you who’ve been following me, you know that I’m notorious for making very extensive and detailed playlists for all of my books. Sometimes, I have songs saved before I start even writing the book. Music just sets the tone for me, and can even shake me out of a scene if I’m stuck. Songs have so much emotion! So, without further ado, I present the highlights of my WIFE FOR THE WEEKEND playlist. For the complete Spotify list, click here And now, happy listening! Waking Up in Vegas – Katy Perry Okay, if you’ve read the blurb, it’s not a surprise that Jules and Dexter get accidentally hitched in Vegas, so of course this song is first on my list. And it’s playfulness pretty much sets the tone for the whole book Troublemaker – Olly Murs So yeah, Jules might be kind of flighty and when she and Dex are trying to get their fake-relationship stories straight, she…

Since I’ve been writing about leprechauns, I especially look forward to St. Patty’s Day. But I keep running into those who think that leprechauns are little, green men. People just can’t seem to wrap their heads around the trick. So today, I’d like to introduce you to some leprechauns who have promised to set the record straight. Up first is Fergus, the clan leader of the leprechauns in Fayetteville. Fergus: I didn’t promise to set the record straight. I just heard there was beer. Me: Yes, there’s beer, but first, you promised to explain how leprechauns were not little, green men. Fergus: Promise? What promise? Are you sure that’s what we discussed? Because I distinctly remember someone mentioning beer. Me: We’ll get to the beer! First, let’s discuss leprechauns. Most people are surprised to learn they’re not wee fairies, but actually grown men. How do you explain that? Fergus: I don’t. Like I said, I’m just here for the beer. Murphy: Stop messing with the woman, Fergus. You started this whole thing by revealing our secrets originally, so now you need to answer the lady’s questions. Me: Murphy, ladies and gentlemen. Bar owner and president of the local International Boxing…

In PLAYING DEFENSE, Chris Winslow believes in taking life as it comes, and then adding a little levity to it all. After an elaborate prank with dairy cows dyed to match team colours, he’s warned that his future on the Corrigan Falls Raiders (hockey team) is at risk if he doesn’t get a bit more serious at least about his grades at school. His tutor will be Claudia Waring. She’s not humourless, exactly, but she definitely feels that there’s an appropriate time and place for laughter. A very limited time and place. As she spends time with Chris, though, she begins to realize that life doesn’t always have to be quite as serious as she’s made it. She begins to realize there are some benefits to spending time with someone who has a lighter approach to the world… 5 Reasons to Fall for the Class Clown That sore stomach you get when you watch a really good comedy? It’s because laughing is good exercise for your abs. It’s good for his abs, too, especially if he’s already ripped from hockey-related workouts. Ahhh… abs. It takes courage and self-confidence to call attention to yourself and let people laugh at you. And…

When I was asked to blog about my favorite web series — web series-es? What’s the plural of series?—I jumped at the chance. After all, I love web series — okay, good. It’s series. I looked it up— What’s not to love? It’s entertainment in small nummy bites. Also, it ties into the Creative HeArts series I’m working on for Entangled Crush. Creative HeArts takes place as an arts-based high school in Austin, Texas. The characters are working together on their senior seminar project—you guessed it!—a web series. The characters decide to write and produce their own musical-comedy-horror satire about a modern day Lizzie Borden. The Lizzie Borden Diaries will be weaving in and out of all twelve of the Creative HeArts books. Here’s my list of favorite web series, some of which inspired The Lizzie Borden Diaries, others of which are just plain fun entertainment! Millennial Parents This series gives a straight up hysterical look at modern parenting. The two leads are engaging, I laugh out loud nearly every episode, and the episodes are short (under three minutes a piece). My only warning, you will want to watch them obsessively until you’ve seen them all! Long Story Short This…