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.

Just a quick update this month because I am super late with it! At the end of March, I attended the Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference and had a wonderful time. I went to interesting workshops, was inspired by Sonali Dev's keynote about finding her voices, and had fun catching up with other writers and readers. I'm looking forward to next year already!

A Harmony of Fire and Earth has been out a little over month. A big thank you to everyone who has bought and read and reviewed! It means so much to me. I'm thrilled the book is out in the world, and I hope you're all enjoying it! If you haven't read it yet, you can get Harmony and all of my other NineStar Press titles 50% off at NineStar with code Narrative0420 through next week. It's a great time to pick them up if you haven't yet. And if you need to catch up on the first four Tournai books, they're 35% off at Dreamspinner through the 26th.

Writing has been a little slow lately, but I'm working on Tournai book 8 (Griffin's story, plus more dragons!) and also a contemporary royalty romance with a demisexual prince. Tournai 7, The Spymaster's Secret, should be out this fall from NineStar. I'll keep you posted on that as things get going on that.

A Harmony of Fire and Earth has been out in the world for a little over a week now, and I just wanted to start by thanking everyone who has bought it, read it, reviewed it, spread the word about it. I appreciate it so much. These things really help authors. I hope you've enjoyed getting to know Gaz and Rhys and catching up with Edmund and Arden again as much as I did writing them.

Right now, I'm writing Tournai 8, which is Griffin's story (plus more dragons!), and the first book in a contemporary romance trilogy. The last couple of weeks have been frustratingly slow for writing, but I'm pushing to get back into it so I can make more progress on these books. Other than that, The Spymaster's Secret (Tournai 7) is under contract with NineStar and should be out later this year. I'll have more updates on that soon. I'm excited for you to get your hands on Alexander and Marcus's story.

Other news: The first four books in the Tournai series are 31.4% off through today (March 19th) at Dreamspinner, so it's a great time to pick them up if you haven't yet. Don't miss out! Also, I'll be attending the Liberty States Fiction Writers conference again this year. Say hi if you're there, and please come by the book fair on March 30th even if you aren't attending the conference. I'll have copies of all of my books with me (including A Harmony of Fire and Earth), and I'd love to see you!

Happy belated Valentine's Day, all! Much love to all of you!

​We're halfway through February already, which means halfway through JeRoWriMo, NJ Romance Writers' writing challenge month in which we all try to write 30k words in February. I've been trying to use it as a way to jumpstart my writing, which has been slow for far too long. Um, I'm not sure how well it's working since I had to juggle a set of edits for A Harmony of Fire and Earth in there. But edits are done now, and Harmony is off to the proofreader. And I can try to buckle down and get some words written on my contemporary royalty romance (demisexual prince and eventual heir to the throne dodges attempts to push him into a suitable marriage and ends up falling for his sister's old college friend, but an American artist is not who anyone envisioned for him) and on Tournai 8 (Griffen's story! Plus, more dragons!).

A Harmony of Fire and Earth with be out next month. Yay! I should have more for you soon, including a final description and cover (it's so pretty). I've been sharing snippets of it during my weekend Rainbow Snippets here, so check those out.

And finally, I signed a contract with NineStar Press for the seventh Tournai book, The Spymaster's Secret. It's Alexander and Marcus's story, and I really love it. It should be out later this year, and I'll have more on that for you soon.

Back to writing now!

It's my first writing up date of the new year (and does anyone else still have a hard time remembering to date things 2019?). I haven't gotten as much writing done as I'd hoped in the first couple of weeks of the month. I submitted the next Tournai book to NineStar before the holidays and then took a little time to clean and catch up and prepare for the holidays. And I admit that after it's been slow getting back into it. I've made a bunch of notes on the main characters for the two books I'm going to work on (in my pretty notebooks!). Now I need to buckle down and get some more words on the page. Next month should help, since I'm participating in New Jersey Romance Writers' JeRoWriMo challenge to write at least 30k in February.

I'm trying something a little different than usual, and I'm going to see if I can write the contemporary royalty romance that's been in my head and Tournai 8 (Griffen's book) at the same time. I don't usually write two books at once, but I'm hoping it might help me if I can switch between them, since writing contemporary is a little out of my comfort zone. I'll let you know how it goes. I've spent a little time this week working on the blurbs for A Harmony of Fire and Earth, which will be out in March (so soon!). More on that soon too, I hope.

Finally, I have a couple of sales to share with you. The Prince's Consort is 35% off right now at Dreamspinner, and all paperbacks are 30% off through the 23rd, also at Dreamspinner. 

I promised I would have the next Tournai book submitted to NineStar by the time I wrote this month's update, and I do! (We'll ignore that this month's update is a little later than usual, okay? Okay.) Tournai 7, tentatively titled The Spymaster's Secret, is with my editor. I'll update you when I have more news on it, but I'm hoping it will be accepted and put on the schedule for sometime in 2019—fingers crossed. There were times that writing this book frustrated me, more because writing went so slowly this year than anything to do with the actual book. It's Alexander and Marcus's story, a mischievous young royal falls for an older, serious widower with secrets and also there are spies. More news on that when I have it.

A Harmony of Fire and Earth is on its way to the copy editor. At some point, I'll get those edits back and then it will be on to the proofreader. We're still looking at March for a release date as far as I know. Yay!

I haven't started writing anything new yet, which is always an odd feeling when it happens. I write or revise or edit (sometimes all three) ever day, so I never know what to do with myself when I'm not. This time, I'm filling my days with catching up on Christmas preparations, which I'm so behind on, and the usual cleaning, since I let a lot slide in the mad dash to work on edits and write/revise on the last month. Soon, I'll start working on the next project. I want to start a contemporary royalty romance, planned as book one of a trilogy, and I also have some ideas I want to work out for Tournai 8, which is Griffin's story. I'm not sure how far I'll get working on both at the same time—and I'm sure once I get another set of edits, I'll have to scale back a little, but I'll have more news for you on that next time.

Hope you're all enjoying the holiday season!

Just a quick update this month: A Dance of Water and Air has been out for a month and a half now, and I wanted to say thanks again to everyone who's bought, read, reviewed, shared about the book. I appreciate it more than I can say. If you haven't reviewed, please consider leaving even a short one on Amazon or wherever you purchased. Reviews help authors so much. And if you haven't read it yet, you can find out all about it here.

I just turned in the first edit on A Harmony of Fire and Earth, the second book in the Elemental Magicae duology, which concludes the story that starts in Dance. Everything seems to still be on track for a March release—which seems far away but really isn't considering that it's already November (still can't believe it's mid-November!). I'll share more information as I have it, and I'll start sharing some snippets on the blog and social media soon too, so watch for that. I'll do my best to keep them spoiler free for now!

I'm still writing Tournai 7. I've been working on Alexander and Marcus's book for six months now, and I'd hoped to be finished ages ago, but writing has gone much slower than I anticipated—this year has just been bad for writing happy, hopeful books! However, I'm almost finished. Finally. I've been writing much closer to my normal pace this week as I get toward the end of the book. Then I have to go back and revise and fill in all the gaps I left, but let's not think about that quite yet. I'm hoping to have it turned in to NineStar in the next few weeks—fingers crossed that I'll be able to tell you it's been submitted in next month's post.

A Dance of Water and Air has been out for a little more than two weeks, and I want to thank everyone who has shared about it, bought it, read it, reviewed it. I appreciate your taking the time to do those things more than you know. And if you've read but haven't reviewed yet, would you consider leaving even a short review? They help authors so much. If you haven't read it yet, you can find more info and buy links here.

The second book in the Elemental Magicae duology, A Harmony of Fire and Earth, is still scheduled to be out in March, so you don't have too long to wait for the conclusion of the story that began in Dance. I can't say too much because I don't want to spoil either book, but I'm very excited to share them both with you. (And for anyone who's worried, Edmund and Arden have a happily ever after at the end of Dance, but some plot points haven't been resolved. They'll be tied up in Harmony, and you'll see more of Edmund and Arden while also getting to know a new couple.)

I'm still working on Tournai 7, Alexander and Marcus's book. Writing has been slower than I'd like, which has been frustrating me, but I'm getting closer to the end. I'm trying to push through, get it finished and revised and submitted in the next month. Hopefully I'll have more progress to share with you in next month's update post.

This weekend, I'm attending the New Jersey Romance Writers conference. If you're going to be there, come say hi. If you're not attending the conference but you're in the NJ area, you can still come to the book fair on Saturday from 4:30 to 5:30. I'll have copies of all my books, and there will be lots of other authors signing too. I hope to see you there!