Vixenwriter

2006 has been an amazing year for me. Probably the best year of my entire life. 2005 was hard, lots of high highs and very low lows but 2006 I think was the year I finally hit my stride and met a lot of goals I had for myself.

January - I spent a lot of time recovering from the end of 2005, LOL. I got a new website design from the most incredible Frauke and Croco Designs. I sent out Giving Chase to Samhain, got a cover for Sleight of Hand.

February - Sleight of Hand released from Whispers - my first release of 2006 and my first novella! I hit the first major block in writing Threat of Darkness (way back then) and I worked on Tri Mates.

March - went to Las Vegas with Megan and Anya and had such a great time. Celebrated Megan’s book deal with Spice, Anya landed an agent and shortly thereafter I did too. It’s been a very good year for the Mavericks! Got the idea for GWAB.

April - Cascadia Wolves: Enforcer released from EC. Tri Mates is contracted. I sent in Thrice United to my editor as well. Got some pretty covers as well.

May - Offered contracts on Thrice Bound and Reluctant. Got edits on multiple books. Finished Sword and Crown

June - Giving Chase releases! Sudden Desire releases - both are new arenas for me - romantic suspense and a contemporary quickie - both did very well but Giving Chase did so well it renewed my confidence. Anya Bast sold two books to Berkley - Witch Fire comes out in June of 07! Taking Chase was contracted.

July - my hard drive died and I lost pictures of my children. Oh that sucked! I wrote and wrote and wrote.

August - Vengeance Due released. I took my first solo vacation with my husband in over a decade - to Las Vegas. Got the idea for Stripped. Dealt with the death of our hard drive, took a family vacation. My four year old turned 5, my 1 year old turned 2. My agent hooked me up with Jodi Lynn Copeland and Anya Bast to pitch a Vegas themed anthology and I start writing Stripped.

September - Reluctant releases. I get deep into writing and editing. My agent pitches the What Happens in Vegas anthology and Goddess With a Blade.

October - Threat of Darkness and I continue to be at odds. I pick it up and put it down several times. Finally, at month’s end, I figure out the problem and finish up in relative ease and get it to my editor. Did edits for Sword and Crown and Taking Chase.

November - Tri Mates releases and I find out Thrice United will also release. On the same day Taking Chase releases. November was a very, very busy month. I SOLD STRIPPED TO HARLEQUIN SPICE! I sold Ascension and Threat of Darkness to EC and I got started on Chased. All told, I wrote right about 90K words in the month of November between original wip, edits, etc. November was a month that was incredibly productive and also gave me so much to be thankful for. It fueled me and got me back on track.

December - Finished Chased, finished a revision of Enclave - crits, more revision, off to editor and agent. Nearly done with partial of The Others, started revision of the next book after Ascension that is currently without a title. Wonderful holidays with my friends and family. Three CAPA nominations.

All in all, I’ve got a whole hell of a lot to be thankful and grateful for. Yes, I have worked damned hard, but without my family, without my readers and my friends, without my editors and my agent who all believe in me and support me - I don’t know where I’d be, but not here, looking back at a year of wonderful moments and successes.

As a way to say thank you, I’m going to do a contest. All you need to do is comment on the blog. Between now and January 3 - I’ll take the commenters and toss em into the randomizer and pick three winners who’ll win one of their choice of my available titles - including paper. Good luck!

So last night I’m upstairs working on edits and my husband is putting the wee monster to sleep when I hear the alarm on the front door go off and then nothing. I rush down and the door is standing wide open and he’s nowhere in sight. I step outside and he’s not out there. I don’t see wee monster and I call my dude’s name and nothing. It’s really, and I mean like 20 degrees really, cold and I hear a noise as he comes jogging back holding the crushed remains of two of the kids’ pumpkins.

Turns out some little dipshits who need an ass kicking strolled up to our porch and walked away with two pumpkins. But my husband heard them and put a sleeping M down and ran after him. They dropped the pumpkins and ran their little asses off. My husband was worried that he’d left the door open and broke off after three blocks and came home.

Seriously? Who steals a pumpkin from a 2 year old? It’s too late to carve another, even if the pumpkin patch wasn’t picked clean so we’re all sharing our pumpkins but there’s a bit of sadness over it.

Still, we’ve got two darth vaders and a ladybug fairy and a whole bunch of candy so we’ll have a good time anyway. It’s freezing though! I’ll have to bundle the boys up under their costumes because, “moooom! If I wear a coat, no one will see my costume.” Eye roll.

I finished up second round edits on Sword and Crown last night and some last bit comma and clarification stuff on Taking Chase so I’m back to Threat of Darkness tonight, yay!

Speaking of Threat of Darkness, I’ve put up a very sneaky peek of it, Wolf Unbound and Sword and Crown at my messageboard. If you’re not a member, why not?

Another early review of Tri Mates! Holly at Two Lips Reviews gives Tri Mates 4 1/2 lips and says in part: Tri Mates is another wonderful book in the Cascadia Wolves series by Lauren Dane. The intrigue gives these books a whole new dimension. There were so many twists and turns in the plot that I never knew what was coming next. Nick is such a charming playboy that you can’t help but love. Gabe is a much quieter Alpha male, yet he is intriguing in ways Nick is not. Tracy is just a kick butt woman who loves to let her men have control in bed, but only in bed. She is funny, loyal, loving and forgiving. They make a fascinating set and you’re left wanting more of their story. I literally can’t decide if the next in the series should continue their story or move on to the next couple. Of course, I’m waiting impatiently for Cade’s story who is Alpha of Cascadia pack…. Lauren Dane is on my auto buy list and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Thanks, Holly!!

Woot!

I finished my second round edits on Taking Chase and got those back and now I’ll get to Threat of Darkness which I hope to make a huge dent in this weekend to push through and finish the middle.

Battlestar Galactica domestic date night is here. I love the time with my husband, just the two of us, eating popcorn and snuggling. It’s so important to try and make time as a couple and when you’re living such busy lives it’s easy to lose sight of that.

I’ll put this rant here at the end - I really can’t wait for election day because the ads in my district have hit a new low and I swear if one of the candidates (and I won’t even waste my time saying her name, although it’s perfect for her personality and demeanor) comes to my door I’ll turn the hose on her. Talk about the issues, I don’t want to hear about your opponent’s campaign platform when she was a college freshman 21 years ago (unless she was burning crosses or something). If all you’ve got is that, you really shouldn’t be re-elected. I don’t make a big secret of my politics but I’ll tell you what, don’t demonize my profession in an ad about your opponent and expect a nice reception when you come to my door. Feh!

I started edits on Taking Chase last night. I’d been reticent to start so I could keep working on Threat of Darkness, which I’d really slid back into after my lightbulb moment. But once I started working, I fell right into it, which is always a good sign. Generally when I finish a manuscript I try not to think about it until I get my edits back. Sometimes I might think about a way to flesh something out but usually when I open it to edit, it’s like a reintroduction to these characters again - which I think helps to keep it all fresh. Last night as I worked I fell in love with the characters again.

After I finished up for the night, I started Nora Roberts’, Angels Fall. It grabbed me right away. She’s very good at writing three dimensional heroines. I like this one a lot. Of course she’s got a wounded past she’s running from, which shares some similarity with Cassie in TC, but for different reasons. She’s taken a similar premise to LH’s Cover of Night and taken it from a more romance perspective - and I liked CON a lot too. It’s good to see how they handle the storylines - IMO, so far it’s the strongest Nora book (other than her In Death books), I’ve read in a few years.

I had a little crisis of faith last week about writing but I’m past it now. I got past a major block because I’d been approaching it all wrong, the edits are going well - I can do this. It’s not so much that anything major has changed, but at the same time, it just passed and i’m still moving forward.

And on a glamorous note, I dealt with the Mountain ‘O Laundry for hours yesterday. Five people put out a lot of laundry! I ironed and folded and hung up and ironed some more. I also folded up the outgrown baby clothes and the clothes that my dude and I now swim in (my old clothes are up to eight sizes too big). I can’t believe how much stuff we have. It’s now my goal to get rid of 50% of it. I have some organizing projects in mind, which will thrill my husband (in case you can’t tell, i’m being sarcastic). I want to move our bed (king size, so big project and he’ll have to do the lion’s share, LOL) and then I want to put up shelving in our room and the kids’ rooms too. Oh and hooks near the front door for all the crap (jackets, backpacks, etc).

Tomorrow, the Mavs will be chatting at our website at 6 pm pacific/9 eastern. Come on over and say hello!