For Dad...

High Flight

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

--John Gillespie Magee Jr.

Absent

My father is extremely ill and I'm spending most of my hours with him. I'll be back when I can.

Already Thinking Ahead

As I tune my Soul Provider manuscript for publication, I can't help but think ahead to the next two books in the series. When I wrote the first book, I left the door open to continue the storyline, but now that I know there really will be follow up books, I'm actively thinking about the overarching conflict and how it will play out. Debating what I will reveal and when. Pondering who might have important roles to play and why. Great fun. Each book must stand alone as a romance, yet tie in neatly with the others from a big picture point of view.

Which brings me back to Soul Provider, of course. Setting things up properly will be critical.

I know lots of other writers who groan about doing revisions, but I love editing. I love thinking about nuances I can add and new depths I can find in the characters. For me, revisiting a manuscript is like dropping in to see very familiar old friends. Always enjoyable, always enlightening. So, I'm diving back into Soul Provider with a smile on my face and a keen sense of adventure. After all, at this point, even I don't know exactly what's going to happen!

I SOLD!

I know. I keep pinching myself to make sure it's true. Yesterday around noon, I sold my Golden Heart winning manuscript, Soul Provider, to NAL in a three book deal.

Since then, I haven't been able to sit still; every couple of minutes, I jump up squeeing "OMG, I sold a book".

NAL is a fabulous, fabulous house and I can already tell that Kerry Donovan, my new editor, will be a delight to work with. NAL/Signet publishes J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series and Colleen Gleason's Gardella Vampire Chronicles. Talk about being in great company. This is really a dream come true.

To give credit where credit is due, it wasn't me who did the heavy lifting on the contract negotiations. My agent, Laurie McLean of Larsen Pomada, did all the important stuff, and wow, did she do it well. We had several interested editors and she was back and forth with them, while somehow managing to keep me in the loop at the same time. The past couple of days have been a whirlwind, and I'm absolutely thrilled with the outcome.

My first book will be released under the Signet Eclipse imprint in late 2009 or early 2010. {pinch} Yup, it's true.

What It All Means...

In general, I'm a very private person. I like to blog about the value of romance novels and about what it takes to be a writer, but I resist detailed blogging about my personal life. However, today I'm going to make an exception. I won the Golden Heart for Best Paranormal Romance on Saturday night and the experience has completely rocked me.

For those of you who don't know, I finaled in the GH once before, back in 2005. Amazed and honored, I delighted in the fairytale ride of being a finalist at the silver anniversary of the RWA National Conference. It was an experience I'll never forget. But that final turned out to be the start of a rather dry period in my successes as a writer. I entered contests and got no where. I submitted to agents and garnered nothing but polite no-thank-yous. I suffered a bout of severe self-doubt and stumbled in my pursuit of publication.

Not surprising, perhaps, in light of what was going on in other parts of my life.

Six months after my 2005 GH final, my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and although I kept writing, those moments were sandwiched between caring for her and trying to support my blind father. My mom passed away in August of 2006, leaving a very large gap in our lives. Sadly, the bad news did not end there. That same year, my sister, the mother of two young girls, was diagnosed with breast cancer – just before Christmas. She underwent aggressive treatment, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Today, she's healthy and doing well, thank heaven. But our family received more bad news in February of 2008 – my father was called back from a winter vacation because tests done just before he left showed his prostate cancer had metastasized.

Although I was thrilled to receive a call in March telling me that I was once again a GH finalist, my excitement was naturally tempered by my father's condition. Difficult as it was, I made the decision not to attend the RWA National Conference so I could stay home with my dad. I don't regret that decision, even though I wish with all my heart I could have thanked the judges and met some of my co-finalists in person.

This past year, many things have gone well with my writing – I finaled in all three contests I entered, I had a record number of requests for full manuscripts, I signed with a terrific agent, and now, I’m a Golden Heart winner. To say I'm happy doesn't remotely capture how much this all means to me.

All I know is that I couldn't have come this far without the support of some terrific people:
– my daughter Taylor, whose faith in me has never wavered
– my very good friend Sylvia Day, who has been nothing short of incredible
– my chapter mates in ORWA
– my fellow 2005 GH finalists, the Wild Cards
– my fellow 2008 GH finalists, the Pixie Chicks (even though I've been MIA on our loop, I read every message)
– and more recently, my agent Laurie, who has amazed me with how much she 'gets' my writing

So, I'm writing this to tell you that clouds really do have silver linings. In fact, as you can see, sometimes they're gold.