Vixenwriter

Five Ribbons from Chrissy at Romance Junkies! I absolutely love Lauren Dane’s GIVING CHASE! While Kyle and Maggie’s relationship is a joy to read about, it’s really Maggie’s developing self-esteem and the way she finally stands up for herself that had me eagerly devouring the pages. The way she tells off her mother and sister is simply delightful and I wanted to applaud her. The entire Chase family is a marked contrast to Maggie’s dysfunctional family but their acceptance quickly wins her over. All the Chase boys are drool worthy and I can’t wait to see what happens next in this promising series. Ms. Dane’s GIVING CHASE is sure to be a hit with readers everywhere. It’s definitely a book you’ll want to add to your keeper shelf.

And Five Angels from Tewanda at Fallen Angel Reviews! Lauren Dane’s Giving Chase is an exhilarating ride from the first word. Maggie and Kyle are a wonderful couple that complement each other perfectly. While Maggie and Kyle are very passionate, friendship and respect are the cornerstone of their relationship. The mix of romance and mystery is perfect as Maggie and Kyle work together to insure their budding relationship. I enjoyed how Maggie had to confront both her attacker and her family in order to realize just how strong she is emotionally and mentally. The entire Chase family are wonderful characters that I hope to see again.

So you know, I’m probably one of the least patient people in the universe. I hate waiting and I hate it even more when there’s nothing I can do about it.

A big part of the process of writing is waiting. You write a manuscript and before you finish you think that’s the hardest thing. But you polish it and send it to crit partners and you wait. While you wait you begin to think what you’ve written is the biggest steaming pile of doo in the universe.

But you hear back and people dig it. They have suggestions, some you take, some you don’t. And then you send it to editors. Now this is agonizing. You try to tell yourself to just pretend the manuscript doesn’t exist, to forget about it and move on. But you can’t, LOL. So you pretend to be well adjusted about it meanwhile checking your email every thirty minutes and every time the phone rings you send out a mini hope/prayer/wish that it’s good news about the book.

Okay and then you hear back and it’s good news and then you wait for the contract to arrive and be approved and then you wait for edits and then you wait for second round edits and then you wait for the FLE and then you wait for release and then you wait to get reader feedback and reviews and then you wait to see how it sells.

And then you do it again with another book and another.

This process is similar with agents and then when your agent subs your stuff to NY.

I used to think having an agent would be good because it took away part of the pressure. And it does. It becomes her job to think about new markets (although I still do of course) and she get the pitch together and she subs it and she keeps an eye on who has what and for how long.

But now I’m totally out of the process altogether. Which is harder than waiting when I’m in control. Because so little about writing, once the manuscript leaves my possession, is about anything I can control.

And my agent is wonderful, she keeps me updated on what’s happening. If I email her she writes me back promptly. She’s unfailingly supportive and has been a great advocate of my books but still, I wish I could do something to make the process move quicker! I wish I could just do A and then it would all play out the way I want it to. But I can’t. We’ve done our part and now it’s wait and see time. Sigh.

I like to think this is all a great learning process. That I’m learning patience and a zen attitude about it. But I’m such a liar! I am not learning patience, I’m learning how to disguise what a neurotic freak I am, which I suppose is something, after all.

All us Mavs will be at Novel Talk at 6 pm pacific/9 pm eastern! Come and join us. It’s always a good time, LOL.

Here’s the working blurb for Taking Chase, the next Chase Brothers book that I contracted this week.

Cassie Gambol is on the run. In what seems like another lifetime, her ex-husband nearly ended her life and effectively ended a successful career as a vascular surgeon. But even though the justice system found him guilty of attempted murder, he fled while awaiting sentencing and Carly Sunderland became Cassie Gambol.

Fleeing Los Angeles, she heads to small and off the map Petal, Georgia to start her life again.

Shane Chase, a man who’s held himself away from commitment since his fiancée dumped him several years before knows the beautiful newcomer is hiding something. He’s wildly attracted to her strength and her underlying vulnerability as well.

But the last thing Cassie wants is another big, overwhelming man who wants to control her life. A battle begins between Shane, who knows what he wants and Cassie who does everything she can tries to keep a distance between herself and the very handsome sheriff.

But Cassie’s ex is back and he wants her dead.

Hey all!

How’s your Wednesday so far? Mine is busy. Got my first round edits back for Reluctant and my final edits on Tri Mates (it goes to final turn in when I’m finished which means a release date, woo!) and the FLE edits on Vengeance Due. So my EC editor has been a very busy woman! And now I’ll be, LOL.

Oh and there’s the little matter of finishing up Taking Chase now too. Okay, okay, I can do busy. It’s my normal state of being and it’s better to be busy than waiting around for stuff to do.

And my parents will be here on Friday so I’m cleaning around three grumpy children that I was dumb enough to give kool aid to. Yeah.

They moved the date of RT back a week due to the grand prix being the week they’d planned it for previously. I can’t wait, it’s going to be so much fun! I’m so excited to meet Renee and Joy and several other folks who’ll be there in 07! I hope you can make it and be sure to me me know so I’ll be on the look out for you! Megan, Anya and I will be there in Maverick force so watch out, Houston.

I’m so excited about Giving Chase being out at last! Please let me know what you think about it when you’ve finished.

Have a good day, folks and congrats to Jan Springer whose book, Sinderella, released today from Ellora’s Cave. Looks like another winner from Jan!

I heard back from my editor today and Taking Chase, the next installment in the Chase Brothers series, is now contracted! Wooot! Joy said at my loop, “I love your editor.” And I totally agree. Thank you, Angie.

And the winners of the Giving Chase Contest are: (winners, contact me to arrange for delivery of your prizes within 14 days, please!)

For the Website Contest:

The Grand Prize Winner of a download of Giving Chase and a Samhain GC is Shannon Wheelan!

Second and Third Prize winners of DLs of Giving Chase are: Purrpurrkoshkamb and Jennifer Lindsey

The winner of my loop contest of a DL of Giving Chase and some nifty TOF gear: Barb!

The winner of my blog contest of a DL of Giving Chase and a pair of handmade earrings is: Nonny!

Congratulations to all the winners!

Woooooot!! Giving Chase is now available for sale from Samhain Publishing! I’m so thrilled, this one is my first romantic suspense as well as my first release from Samhain so I’m doubly excited!

I hope you enjoy reading about Kyle and Maggie!

Blurb: Some small towns grow really good looking men! This is the case with the four Chase brothers. The home grown hotties are on the wishlist of every single woman in town and Maggie Wright is no exception.

Maggie has finally had it with the men she’s been dating but a spilled plate of chili cheese fries drops Shane Chase right into her lap. The sheriff is hot stuff but was burned by a former fiancée and is quite happy to play the field.

After Shane’s skittishness sends him out the door, Maggie realizes that Kyle Chase has had his eye on her from the start. Now that Shane has messed up, Kyle has no intention of letting anything stop him from wooing her right into his bed.

Despite Maggie’s happiness and growing love with Kyle, a dark shadow threatens everything—she’s got a stalker and he’s not happy at all. In the end, Maggie will need her wits, strength and the love of her man to get her out alive.

I added a new page at my website that lists my books by genre for those who may be interested! It also lists things like whether the book is a menage, if there’s MM interaction, if there are vampires, etc.

I’m chatting tonight at 5 pacific/8 eastern at Writerspace for the montly Ellora’s Cave Author chat. It’s always a really fun hour!

And tomorrow, I’ll be at Novelspotters from the 9 – 10 am hour/noon – 1 pm eastern time to talk about Giving Chase, my romantic suspense novel that releases tomorrow from Samhain!

To all of my friends in those areas of the country being hit with scary and crazy weather, I’m thinking of you and I hope everyone gets through it all right. Please check in when you can to let me know you’re all right!

It’s hot today but there’s a lovely breeze for now, which makes it so much nicer. My wonderful husband is now in the backyard putting up the cool shade canopy I said I wanted. Because he’s just that good to me. Hee! I love hanging out outside on a summer evening when the kids are all running around.

My parents are visiting us soon and the kids are so very excited. It’ll be nice to see them. My dad is getting ready to retire and I hope they move up here when they do. My children adore them and it’ll be great to have them closer as the kids grow up instead of a few states away.

My oldest son’s little friend calls our house six times a day. They talk about Pokemon incessantly. Did I mention that school just ended Thursday? LOL, I don’t think I was on the phone at 8 more than, “hey Frances, wanna come over to my house? Great!” Click. Ah the times are a changing. He has kids in his class who already have cell phones. *I* don’t even have a cell phone! Jeebus, makes me feel 900 years old.

I have a confession to make, I watched three episodes of Girls Next Door. I could not tear my eyes away. I pray these women are faking being stupid because if not, wow. In any case. it’s car wreck awful. Like these women have a 9 pm curfew awful, LOL. Utterly fascinating, LOL.

Once again, “the woman” is reviewing paranormals even after she’s told us all how much she hates the genre. Why, oh why, do people do this? Why do people review books from genres they hate? And this is not a blog, where hey, do whatever you want, it’s a romance readers forum and she’s the host. There’s a huge difference. Drives me fucking nuts. I wouldn’t review westerns or inspirationals because they aren’t my thing (even though I did love Lonesome Dove and there’ve been some western themed romances I’ve enjoyed – Elizabeth Lowell being an exception to many of my rules). I don’t understand it, it’s like a holy mission for her or something.

I’m now beset by that late summer afternoon lethargy, warm and drowsy. Mmmm.