Drive By....

What I had hoped to be a snow day turned out to be a regular Monday with a to-do list the size of the Nile, so you can read about my Snow Day that Wasn't over at www.petticoatsandpistols.com.

I have been tackling said to-do list with a vengeance, so instead I'll leave you with a photo that was in Halifax's SNAP magazine, from our Hearts on Fire event that took place on February 9th. Lots and lots of red - the perfect colour for Valentine's Day. :-)

Put to bed...

Today is one of those blah days where my motivation is at zip. A day where I busy myself with small jobs to feel like I've done SOMETHING when in truth I have the energy of a slug. BUT, I've posted the first lesson in my To Agent or Not To Agent course and chatted with some of the attendees, AND I've talked to my agent and also my editor who perked up my day by telling me that the copy edit changes I sent back yesterday are all good AND Sleigh Ride with the Rancher is also accepted - my revisions were fine.

It feels really good to have both those projects put to bed. And my WIPS word count meters on the side have been reduced substantially in the last few weeks. At one point I think there were five or six up there. Now we're down to...two.

Amazing.

Anyway I should actually go make some word count before the day gets away from me, AND I have to work on a blurb and art sheet that is giving me fits right now.

It's either that or...*shudders* the ironing.

THERE AND NOW WINNER

And the winner of THERE AND NOW is..... (drum roll please)

LINDA!

Linda, I've sent you an e-mail.

I loved Linda's surreal moment of delivering her baby at home. Childbirth hurts like hell but it's also wonderful, and because my first labour was short I often wondered about what it would be like to deliver at home if there wasn't time to get to the hospital. We did make it both times (labour with my second was only a few hours long), but I've thought about it lots of times.

What I really liked about so many of the entries is that several had to do with celebrating the achievements of our children. As a mom, I know there's nothing greater than seeing your child succeed. In a lot of ways, our children are OUR achievements. :-)

Thank you all for sharing. It was really fun and interesting to see the variety of experiences you've had!

Off to make some word count. Appointments are KILLING me this week, so I'm trying to make the most of the few hours I have. The word count meter is slowly going up. :-)

Surreal Moments

Every now and again (quite often actually) there are some really surreal moments in doing what I do for a living. Today is one of those moments. One of THE BIGGEST moments, really. And if I weren't wearing old yoga pants and a ratty hoodie with my hair in a messy ponytail (standard work wardrobe), I'd take a picture for posterity.

Today my author copies arrived for THERE AND NOW - which is a reprint of THE Linda Lael Miller's and my book Marriage At Circle M is included as a bonus book.

Holy moly. My book is in with LLM. My name is on the frickin' cover, y'all. Very tiny, but THERE. On the same cover as LLM. My BLURB is on the back.

*falls over*

In honour of them arriving on my doorstep and totally MAKING my Monday, I'm going to give a copy away. Just leave a comment and tell me about the most surreal thing that's ever happened to you. Because surreal moments are AWESOME and I think we should share and be all filled with awesomeness.

Oh and PS - here's something cool. Marriage at Circle M was, until today, the ONLY title I've ever kept with Harlequin. Until today. My short story, Second-Chance Mother, is going to keep its title for THE GREATEST GIFT Mother's Day anthology, coming in May.

So fire away! What's the most surreal thing that's ever happened to you? I'll draw late tomorrow for a winner!

Goodreads Giveaway of THE LAST REAL COWBOY

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Last Real Cowboy

by Donna Alward

Giveaway ends April 01, 2012.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Lookeee!

So yesterday I finished my revisions and sent them back - only things left on my list now are finishing the last 2 RITA books and getting my taxes together. However my office is a disaster area, so today is all about getting that in order. I know a lot of writers who end up tidying their offices after a book has gone in, and here I am. I think part of my...well, it's not really anxiety, maybe restlessness is a better way to put it...this week has been because I like an orderly workspace and it's been getting more cluttered every day. So that's top of the list.

Yesterday I had some great news - It looks like INTO THE FIRE will be on the 2012 schedule! That means IN THE LINE OF DUTY comes out mid-October and  INTO THE FIRE will be out either in November or December sometime - the exact date isn't nailed down, but that's okay. I'm really hugely pleased that they will be out so close together!

AND

My editor sent me the cover for THE REBEL RANCHER. It comes in PDF and I cropped it and saved it as a jpg, but the color always changes in my program which is weird. So here it is, bearing in mind it's slightly lighter and sort of softer in reality. I adore it. I love the colours and I love the scene and the fact that Ty is almost kissing her. The covers for this duet are fantastic!

Now I'm off to get the day started...lots to do! I hate paperwork....

Two Down, One to Go

Friday was a pretty busy day here. I finished my revisions for Sleigh Ride with the Rancher and sent them to my editor, and I also got the contract for Into the Fire, so the 3rd First Responders novella is officially sold. :-) I had physio on my arm and things are really coming around which is really great news.

This week is another hectic one between kids, physio, and the "odd jobs" I had accumulating on my list. So far I've caught up on e-mail, sent a few people what needed to be sent, got books ready to mail, pre-loaded some blogs, wrote a Dear Reader letter, got two workshop proposals ready AND did up a back copy blurb and art sheet for In The Line of Duty. I still have a 3 chapter crit to do, 2 books left to read on my RITA pile, I need to get my tax stuff sorted for the accountant, and revisions have arrived for the short story I did for HQ. Still, my list is MUCH shorter than it was and I know I can get all this done this week.

It's been a busy few months, but in the end it's worth it. I have 3 Romances and a short releasing with Harlequin this year, and at least one of the novellas with Samhain is out before the end of the year - no release date on Into the Fire yet.

Now my lunch break is over and it's time to get back to work!