#SelfSunday or How I Spent my Summer Vacation

Me at RWA with author Maggie Wells! 

Self Sunday... Awww... I’m so lucky.  The Party’s over... School starts tomorrow for us teacher folks. But! I did accomplish a bit this summer: 

1. Survived Spain and lived to start writing about it. 2. Sold a book to a publisher 3. Three rounds of edits on said book

4. Attended my first Romance Writers of America convention and got 8 requests for submission. I’ve sent off 7, one gal I decided not to (she told me I couldn’t keep writing in different areas if I wanted a career...Um yeah I can) amd one has rejected me so far, which is fine. 5. I’ve gotten a request for a full manuscript from a pitch contest (see #1) 6. I finished my third Banes story 7. I’ve read some good books and gotten caught up on a few movies/shows I wanted to see. 8. Taught my daughter how to drive and we’re both still alive. 9. Spent time with my nieces and hugged them as much as possible. 10. Nursed my gimpy dog. 

11. Received an Honorable Mention in a Flash Fiction contest and was a part of the anthology. 

12. Released a charity anthology with a group called The StoryPenners titles Summer Fair, and in it was my first lesbian love story. 

13. I’ve also signed on for two more anthology projects and one super secret opportunity came my way that I’m ridiculously excited about.  

All of these things came about, making me ridiculously happy, but I find myself feeling melancholy here at the end. Happens frequently for me, and this time I have fewer regrets than usual, mostly that my house is still a mess and that I didnt tackle any major home projects. But I think my husband will forgive me. My kids aren’t in any worse shape so I didnt totally neglect them. Actually, I’ve been able to spend some quality time with each of them and I’m grateful. I’m grateful for a lot of things, including the fact that you’ve all stuck around to read about my trials and tribulations. 

What’s next? Writing, writing and more writing. A Banes book in October, a holiday short in November, and book two in the Forces of Nature Series (yes! It has a name!) from Dreamspinner Press, Typhoon Toby, which will be out Jan/Feb 2019 with hopefully more books to come! I’m also moving my books onto a wider distribution, which will take me a couple of weeks but soon I’ll be available on  Kobo, Overdrive (LIBRARIES), iBooks and Barnes & Noble! This should be exciting! 

Thanks for hanging out with me this summer and I hope you are also able to look back and feel good about what you’ve accomplished. If not, maybe look at what’s getting in the way! Much love and Stay Tuned for more Rock ‘n’ Romance!