It's time again for JeRoWriMo, the New Jersey Romance Writers writing challenge month! Participants try to hit the goal of writing (or editing) 30,000 words during the month of February. I've participated nearly every year I've been a member, and it's always been a great experience, both because the group cheers each other on and encourages each other as we share daily word counts and writing experiences and because I'm a competitive person. If I join a challenge, I'm going to finish it!

This year, I'm hoping to make a lot of progress on the second Dragons of Ivria book. I'm behind where I wanted to be by now—Covid and then Long Covid fatigue has messed with my writing schedule and routine. But I'm still determined to have this book in your hands as soon as I possibly can. So...back to work!

We're over halfway through February, which means I'm over halfway through this year's JeRoWriMo challenge. If you haven't heard me talk about JeRoWriMo in years past, it stands for Jersey Romance Writing Month and is a writing challenge for New Jersey Romance Writers members in which participants try to write/revise 30k words in the month of February. I've participated every year (with the exception of 2021 when I wasn't a member); I wrote part of my first published book, The Prince's Consort, during a JeRoWriMo and many of my books since. The challenge always motivates me, both because of the wonderful encouraging people who cheer on every accomplishment and every word written...and because I'm a ridiculously competitive person who can't join a challenge without completing it!

The last few years have been rough for me writing-wise (and otherwise, as it has been for so many of us). I've had times when I've barely written at all and wondered if I would ever finish another book. But I'm finally getting there, and I'm feeling very hopeful that I will soon finish this book and then write more after. JeRoWriMo has given me a push to finish the last of the scenes I need to write in To Love the Dragon King—I'm mostly a pantser (which autocorrect constantly tries to change to panther, and that's way cooler sounding, so maybe I should just let it) and I write out of order. It works for me, but it can also be a little chaotic and stressful, even more so this time around when I've been writing this same book for longer than I've ever spent writing a book. I went into this month knowing I had some scenes to write in the middle of the book to make both the romance and the plot work. During the last couple of weeks, my brain also decided there should be a few more scenes in there, but writing is almost finished, and then I can get down to the work of revising and get closer to getting this book into your hands.

And win the JeRoWriMo challenge too, of course.

I don't think I've done an update post in a while, mostly because I often don't feel that I've made a lot of progress. I have to keep reminding myself that I have—it's just slower than I'm used to. I'm still working on the first book of the Dragons of Ivria series, now title To Love the Dragon King. It also has a gorgeous cover by the wonderful Natasha Snow that I will share with you once I have a better sense of what the release date will be. This is my first try at self-publishing, and I'm hoping to have it out to you later in the spring. 

After I finish this book, I'm going to switch over to writing the next Chronicles of Tournai book, which I believe will be Meriall and Adora's story. I'm going to try to juggle that with a holiday story in the hopes I get have something else out this year. Then it's back to the Dragons of Ivria for book 2. All of that is, of course, subject to change, since the pandemic has completely ruined whatever productivity I have. I'm doing my best to be kind to myself about this—I think we all need to do that and many of us aren't very good at it. So here's my reminder to you: be kind to yourself in this difficult times especially.

In other news, I'll be appearing at the Rainbow Space Magic Virtual Con this weekend. It's all on Zoom and registration is free, so if you enjoy LGBTQ spec fic, check it out. I will be participating in a panel about writing queer female protagonists on Saturday March 13th at 10 am Eastern and doing a reading the same day at 9 pm Eastern. I plan to read from The Envoy's Honor (though I need to pick a scene still!).

Lastly, I have a couple of sales for you. All of my books are 50% off through March 13th in the Smashwords Read an Ebook Week sale. You can also get my books (and anything else you purchase) 50% off with code MARCH2021 at NineStar Press through March 19th, if you prefer to buy from the publisher. Go forth and add to your virtual TBR piles!

I'll do my best to do better about regular updates going forward. Hope you're all staying safe and well.

I'm not quite sure when I last did an update post, so that probably means it's past time!

I can't believe The Scholar's Heart has already been back out in the world for over a month now with its beautiful new cover. I want to start out by saying thank you to everyone who has bought/read/reviewed/talked about The Scholar's Heart (and the other Tournai rereleases too!). I so appreciate it! 

There is only one more book left to be rereleased, and I'll be so happy (and a bit relieved) when it is. The Sorcerer's Guardian is finished with edits and proofreads and off to be formatted. I also saw a draft cover, and like all of Natasha Snow's creation, it's beautiful. I can't wait to be able to share it with you!

In new book news, I just turned in the first round of edits for The Envoy's Honor, which is book 8 in the Chronicles of Tournai. It's Griffen's story, and he's going to find his happily ever after with a new character. And there are more dragons in this one! (Plus adversaries to lovers, lots of kissing in the garden, and a murder.) I'm excited for this book, and I'll share lots more as we get closer.

Writing continues to be slow (2020, ugh), so all of my self-imposed writing deadlines have gone out the window. I have no idea what my new timetable will be, but I'm trying to push and write. I still love the characters and story in the dragon shifter book I'm writing—I just need to get my focus back. Which I will. *nods*

​I hope you're all staying safe and well and taking care of yourselves. Love to you all.

I hope you're all well and safe in this world turned upside down. It's been over a month since I've done an update, so it seemed like time. First, I want to thank everyone who has bought/read/reviewed/spread the world about The Artist's Masquerade, which is back out in the world as of May 4th (yay!). Going through The Artist's Masquerade to polish it up for rerelease, I realized how much I still love this book, which was my second published book back in 2015, and Cathal and Flavian, my overly proper and dutiful duke's heir and the sharp-tongued artist in disguise he falls in love with. I hope you enjoy their story too. If you haven't read it yet (or if you want a new copy with the pretty new cover—the story remains the same for the original), you can find it everywhere in ebook and paperback, and the ebook is 40% off on NineStar's site. Find links over here.

The Scholar's Heart should be rereleasing from NineStar on July 13th (more yay!). I'm working through proofreads of it now. The story has again remained the same. I did some polishing of the language and NineStar gave it an edit to catch things I missed and make it conform to their house style. It will be getting a pretty new cover from Natasha Snow to match the covers on the rest of the series, and I'm so excited to see it and share it with you. I've also been working on edits for The Sorcerer's Guardian, the fourth Tournai book and the last of the books I took rights back to from Dreamspinner in October. Again, no major changes to the story but it will get a new cover as well. I don't have a release date yet, but I'll share once I do. After The Sorcerer's Guardian is back out, the new Tournai book will be next out from NineStar.

Writing is still going slowly. I'm still working on the first book in my new dragon shifter series, and I'm still planning on self-publishing these. I love the characters and I'm excited about the project, so it's extremely frustrating that my brain won't cooperate. It will get written, though—it's just taking a longer than I planned.

If you're looking for some new books or if you've missed any of my books, NineStar Press is still running their sale. All of my books are 40% off in ebook on their site. I hope you find something to escape into if you need it.

That's all for now. Take care of yourselves and each other. Stay home as much as you can, stay safe, wear masks. Love to you all.

I'm sorry it's been so long since I did one of these updates! Time got away from me, and then the world turned upside down and March feels like it was a decade long and now I can barely remember what day it is...I doubt I'm the only one. I'll try to do better, and I do have some news to share with you.

First, though, I want to thank anyone who bought/read/reviewed/shared The Prince's Consort when it rereleased. I'm so happy and relieved to have this book back out in the world—it's my first published book and it hurt to have to pull it from Dreamspinner—and so grateful to all of you. If you haven't reviewed yet, I would truly appreciate even a short review. They help authors so much.

I turned in the proofread for The Artist's Masquerade at the beginning of the month, and it's off to be formatted and finalized. It's rerelease is scheduled for May 4th, barring anything unforeseen happening. I'll be thrilled to have Cathal and Flavian's story back out in the world. I've cleaned this one up a little, but no big changes have been made to the story. It will have a gorgeous new cover from Natasha Snow, which I'm so excited to share with you soon (seriously, it's so pretty).

I'm currently working on the edit of The Scholar's Heart (and Natasha is working on the new cover!). I don't have an estimated date for its rerelease yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I do.

Writing has been slow the last month or so. I'd hoped with all the enforced time at home I would be able to get lots written, but that hasn't been the case. I've been anxious and had trouble focusing, but I'm still pushing to write as much as I can and trying not to be too hard on myself when that isn't much. I'm currently writing the first book in a new dragon shifter series, while brainstorming ideas for the next Tournai book and another new trilogy.

If you're looking for books to distract you, NineStar Press has extended their sale indefinitely. The whole site is 40% off, so all of my books (including The Prince's Consort) are on sale. Grab yourself something to escape into for a while. I hope you're all staying safe and healthy and at home as much as you possibly can. Lots of love to you all.

It's been a little while, so I wanted to give you a quick update. All four Chronicles of Tournai books that I pulled from Dreamspinner are now under contract with NineStar Press. I've made some minor revisions to them, mostly cleaning up language (and will probably do a bit more of that as my editor works her magic on them), and they'll all have shiny new covers to match the later books in the series, but the stories are the same. I just got the proofread for The Prince's Consort, and I've seen the draft cover—it's so pretty! I can't wait to share the new cover with you. The Prince's Consort should be back out in the world in late February. Once I have more information on release dates for the other three, I'll let you know.

I've also just signed a contract with NineStar for a new book in the Tournai series called The Envoy's Honor. This is Griffen's story, and there's some intrigue and mystery and more dragon shifters. It stands on its own, but it definitely follows up on some of the events of The Dragon's Devotion and Corentin revealing his secrets. The dragons were going to have questions for him at some point, right? More information on release dates etc once I have it.

Now that the first four Tournai books are with my editor, I can finally start something new. I've had lots of plot bunnies running around and bugging me, but I think I'm going to start on the first book in a new dragon shifter series first. The series is a spin off from the Chronicles of Tournai, but you won't have to have read those to read the new series (though, of course, I'd love it is you did...). I'm also thinking about the next Tournai book, which I believe will be about Joceline and Oriana. You might remember them if you've read The Sorcerer's Guardian. Joceline is the younger sister of Captain Loriot. Finally, I'm playing around with ideas for a contemporary witch trilogy. That's still pretty vague right now, though, so I have a ways to go before I write anything. (And I'm not much of a planner when I write, so when I say something is vague, it really means I have almost no idea what's going to happen yet!) I have lots of others swirling around in my head, but those are the three ideas that are most pressing right now, so that's where I'm concentrating. And here's a bonus picture of  a bunch of pretty journals I'm planning stories in with my little dragon friend, who thinks I need to buckle down and write those dragon shifters. I think I better listen to him!

I'm not sure when my last writing update was, but I have the feeling this one is long overdue. First off, I finished writing the next Tournai book and submitted it to my editor. Finally. It's been a tough writing year with everything that's been happening in the world and everything that's been happening with Dreamspinner and just everything. So this book took me much longer to write than I expected, and it's the only book I finished writing this year, which wasn't the plan. But I finished it and I really like it. I hope you will too when you read Griffen and Kirill's story. More news on that when I have some for you.

In other Tournai updates, I've been polishing up the first four Tournai books--The Prince's Consort, The Artist's Masquerade, The Scholar's Heart, and The Sorcerer's Guardian—since I got the rights back from Dreamspinner and sending them to my editor over at NineStar. NineStar will be republishing them, but I don't have a timetable for you yet. It looks like The Prince's Consort may be out in February, but it's a tentative date, so don't hold me to it yet! Natasha Snow is working on a new cover for it now, and I'm working on the edits my editor just sent me. So, lots of progress and as soon as I have more news, I'll share it. I've actually really enjoyed going back through these books. My writing has definitely evolved (improved?) since I wrote them, but it's reminded me I still really love these characters and stories. 

Last bit of news for you: The Spymaster's Secret is a nominee in the 2019 #readRchat Awards! I'm so excited to be nominated among such great books and authors! If you'd like to vote for your favorites, the ballot is here, and you can vote through the rest of this week.

The Spymaster's Secret has been out in the world for a week now, and I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who's bought and read and reviewed it, who's talked about it and shared it and shown it some love on social media. I'm so grateful to you all! I had so much fun returning to Tournai and writing about Alexander and Marcus, and I hope you all enjoy them (and visiting with some old friends as well, if this isn't your first time in Tournai) as well. If you haven't read it yet and you'd like to know more about The Spymaster Secret, you can find buy links and an excerpt over here. 

In writing news, I'm so close to being finished writing the next Tournai book. So close. Really close. I've been working on this book since January, which is the longest it's taken me to write a book since before I was published (it's been a tough writing year, my darlings), so I'm very happy that the end is in sight for this one. It's Griffen's story with a kind of enemies to lovers plot, lots of kissing in the garden, a murder, and more dragons (yay for dragons!).

As for the first four Tournai books, NineStar Press will be rereleasing them. I'm so excited that the entire series will be together on their shelves with beautiful matching covers. No release dates yet, but I'll keep you updated. I do still have a few paperbacks of those four books with the original covers with Anne Cain's lovely artwork. If you'd like copies for your shelves, I'm selling what I have at the steep discount of $7 per book plus shipping, and I'm happy to sign them for you and include bookmarks and other goodies with them. You can use this form to order.

In other news, I'll be signing at the Barnes & Noble in Woodland Park, New Jersey, this Saturday October 26th at noon with lots of other local romance authors. I'll have copies of my NineStar Press published books--The Dragon's Devotion, The Merchant's Love, A Dance of Water and Air, A Harmony of Fire and Earth, and The Spymaster's Secret if the box arrives in time (fingers crossed!). I won't have the first four Tournai books as they're no longer in Barnes & Noble's system, so the store can't sell them. If you have your own copies, I'd be happy to sign them if you bring them along. Come say hello if you're in the area!

It's been a while since my last update, so I have to apologize. I never meant to go so long between them!

Progress on The Spymaster's Secret, the next Chronicles of Tournai book, is moving along well. If you've missed when I talked about it, The Spymaster's Secret is a fantasy romance between Alexander, a young flirtatious, charming royal cousin with hidden depths, and Marcus, an older, more serious widower with a mysterious job. It's an opposites attract, age gap romance about two people learning to trust themselves and each other enough to drop the masks and take a chance on falling in love. I've shared a couple of snippets during Rainbow Snippets, so check those out if you haven't yet! I just reviewed the proofreader's comments and sent the file back to my editor so it can be formatted. I've also seen a draft cover by the wonderful Natasha Snow. Hopefully, I'll have a final one I can share with you soon. It looks like we're still on track for a mid-October release date. More information as soon as I have it.

Part of the reason I haven't written an update in a while is that, honestly, writing hasn't been going so well this year. I'm sure the effect of state of the world and the state of the industry on me are at least part of it. I'm getting words out a lot slower than I usually do, which has been frustrating and upsetting because I want to get these stories written and into your hands. I was hoping to have the next Tournai book (Griffen's story) finished and submitted to NineStar about now. Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen. I'm now aiming for the end of September. Fingers crossed I can get lots of words written and meet my new goal.

I also wanted to say a few words about Dreamspinner Press, though I'm hesitant to do so. I haven't said anything about the situation publicly because honestly, I didn't want to get yelled at by others who have feelings that differ from my own, and I'm really hoping that doesn't happen now. My first four books (the first four books of the Tournai series) were published by DSP, and they remain with DSP for now. I assume most of you know the background of the situation with DSP's nonpayment/late payment of authors and other contractors. My first quarter royalties for this year were over two months late and finally paid without the promised interest. My second quarter royalties have not been paid yet. Obviously, I'm upset by this, as contractually DSP is supposed to hold my royalties for me and pay them to me quarterly (as it is obligated to do for all authors). It's just as obvious that they did not hold onto this money for us as they were supposed to. (If you want a simple explanation about small press publishing and what should happen and what happens sometimes when things go wrong, check out this post by Julia Talbot.) I'm not sure what I'll do going forward. As I said, my books are still with them. I can't afford the expense of self-publishing four books at once right now, and I don't want those books out of print for any length of time as the next book in the series comes out soon, so I've left them where they are. This might change at some point. I just don't know. I said earlier that I'm upset, and I am, but I'm also confused and tired and frustrated and a bunch of other emotions, and all of that has a horrible effect on creativity. These are my feelings, my thought process, and my decisions—everyone is entitled to their own, so please, don't go on the attack in the comments. DSP gave me my first publishing contract; they put lovely covers on my first books and sent them out into the world. They introduced me to books and authors I love as a reader. I hope very much that they can turn their situation around.

On to something more pleasant: I don't have any events currently scheduled in the near future, though that could change, and I know I don't often get to events to do signings far from home. So I was wondering if anyone would be interested in buying signed books directly from me. I'm not sure how I would do it yet—I'm just trying to get a sense of interest—but I would likely take orders for a limited period of time, and then if it goes well, maybe try it again a while later. Maybe an annual thing? Let me know what you think.

That's all from me for now. I'll try to stay more on top of updates in the future.