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Release News…and A Cover!

It’s officially December, and it has completely sneaked up on me. My son will be three on Sunday, and my daughter will be one at the end of the month, with Christmas in the middle, so my thoughts have been on goody shopping!

But, it’s important to note that A Mistake, A Prince and A Pregnancy is out in Australia and New Zealand this month! I love those red Sexy covers. Very cool.

And I have a cover for the North American release of A Mistake, A Prince and A Pregnancy, retitled An Accidental Birthright and releasing in April! (Make sure you take note, this is the same book as Mistake! I don’t want anyone buying the same book twice or anything…I’m all paranoid :/) But here’s the cover, and I have to say, I think he’s the yummiest male model to grace one of my covers yet! He’s just so perfectly Maximo. 🙂

I also just found out that The Inherited Bride will be releasing in North American as a Presents Extra in May. I’m really happy about that since the heroine from The Inherited Bride is Maximo’s sister and it’s nice that their stories can be released so close together!

I’m still buried in my revisions, I’ll let you know when I see light at the end of the tunnel…and I’ll be sharing my revelations along the way, of which I’m sure there will be many. At least…I hope there will be. 😉

One Year Calliversary and an Office

So, I just realized that today is my one year Calliversary! One year ago today, I woke up bright and early to an email from my editor, which led to a phone call…and a two book contract!

I can’t believe it’s been a year. I can’t believe everything that’s happened since! I had a baby, went to Florida, met authors that made me swoon with fangirliness, met my lovely editor, had a book release in the UK, and India, and Australia, had a book release in North America while the second book released in the UK, and then India…and then Australia. I’ve sold five books to M&B and am working on a sixth. I’ve had fabulous reviews, I’ve had scathing reviews. All of that and I still can’t quite believe it’s all real.

This has changed things, in so many ways. Good, good ways. It’s helped up financially, it’s added a lot of excitement (my husband carries around my bookmarks in his clipboard and gives them to clients sometimes). And it’s given me an excuse to keep doing what I love to do: write. I did it nearly every day before selling, and I do it nearly every day now.

It all starts to sound like an Oscar speech, but I have to thank my family for supporting me. My mom for listening to me while I work out problems with my WIP, my dad for his endless interest in the business aspect of publishing. My husband, because without him, there wouldn’t be books. My Sassy Sisters, who listen to me rant, plot, whine, lather, rinse, repeat. Lisa Hendrix, awesome writer, coffee addict and fixer of my problems. My friend Ellie, who doesn’t know a think about writing, but is always interested anyway. And I listen to her talk dressage, and I know nothing about horses. 😉 Of course my editor and all of the authors who have welcomed me and been so good and supportive to me from day one. *orchestra plays* oops…I’ve gone long.

And now I’m going to go longer and say…

I have an office!!

It started out as a shop with plywood on the walls and no insulation and a pressboard floor. There was also one tiny window.

But thanks to the hard work of my dear husband, my dad, who still spoils me rotten, and my Uncle Kim, who is also too good to me and lent me his drywalling skills to make everything look extremely professional, I have an office!

It’s outside the house, it’s freakishly quiet, and I love it passionately. I have no internet out there and no excuses. I feel completely spoiled. It’s the best one year Calliversary and Christmas gift evah! (well, except maybe the ones I got last year…selling to Harlequin and having a new baby is a hard one to beat!)

And now I have to go disappear to my actual, real live revision cave so I can get the Frenchman polished up to a brawny sheen…

Happy Calliversary to me!

Sassy Sisters Are Back From Holiday!

And we have new shoes! 😉

And here’s the boots…for Elissa. (not glamorous, but v warm! Like putting your foot in a pillow!)

Oh and I’m on today! www.sevensassysisters.com

Belated Happy Thanksgiving!

even to my international friends, who had a regular day, I hope it was a happy one!

We had a big dinner, as always. My mom and I managed to get it cooked and on the table by two, even with the kids running around like wild animals. My darling husband, who is usually designated child wrangler on the holidays, was busy hanging sheetrock for my brand new In Construction office! (rest assured…this will be getting its own post…with many pics, in a couple of days!)

There was turkey, and rolls, and dressing, and yams with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, and green bean casserole (yum!) and mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and then there was apple pie and ice cream!! *deep breath* It was awesome. And I’m still full. But I want to go eat the leftoves a little bit. 🙂

But, of course, it’s not ALL about the food, even though it seems like it when you spend all day cooking it. Nope, it’s about giving thanks, something I have a lot of reason to do. Something I’ve always had a reason to do, regardless of circumstances. I’m so very blessed to live in a place I love, with the people I love, and to have three gorgeous children, an amazing husband and a tiny house that protects us from the elements. (well, except for extreme heat!!)

I wanted to do a post because today is Black Friday and I was thinking even more about how many things I have to be thankful for. Doesn’t make sense? It will. 😉

Last year, my mother and I went out shopping for the sales. We ended up at a store NO ONE had gone to. Seriously. We meandered around and had our pick of the deals. It was great. I was very pregnanct with The Girl so that was about all the excitement I could handle anyway!

With my due date a little over a month away, I was imagining how different the next Thanksgiving would be. There would be a little eleven month old at the table. And a new baby changes everything!

But at that same time, I also had my rewrite in with my editor. I’d had it in since July. And it was on my mind. While my mom and I were waiting in line to pay for our Super Awesome Sale Items, I pointed out the Presents in the books section. I told her, that’s where my book will be…if M&B decide to buy it.

And they did buy it. Five days after that.

And now it’s Black Friday again. The anniversary of when I was thinking all of that. We did have an eleven month old girl at the table this year, and she was more fun than we could have imagined (she has never skipped a meal in her little life and thinks Thanksgiving is the best idea ever).

And my book has been and gone on those same shelves that I pointed out to my mom last year.

I had so many great blessings last year, and have even more this year. I am so thankful for it all.

What are you thankful for?

Revisions! (The Musical, Part 2)

I had the great fortune to chat with my editor this morning and I have to say, I’m feeling good. Optimistic…dare I say…excited?

Yes, yesterday I was the in the denial stage. The my-MS-is-so-awesome-it-has-its-own-brand-of-taco-sauce stage. But today, the landscape looks a bit different. I see it through someone else’s eyes instead of just my own. And I fully understand what I’ve done here. There were many sins, but my greatest was pulling my punches with the hero.

I’ve written honorable heroes. Most notably my Sheikh from The Inherited Bride. He carries the weight of his duty on his shoulders. It is in everything he does. It makes his actions heavy, thoughtful, decisive. It is a part of him. When he goes against that honor it is physically difficult for him. It was also hard to write.

But by the end of that book I felt comfortable exploring honor and what people will do to fulfill their duty. But what about a character who has lost his honor? That’s a scary thing. And I think I was a little bit scared to fully explore that. Might still be a little bit and as a result, with Blaise, my Frenchman, I didn’t show the weight. Not the weight of his honor, but of his dishonor. Of bad decisions made that hurt people he loves. Of mistakes. Of failure. It has to be in him, a part of him, evident in all that he does.

When a person carries a heavy, physical burden it’s visible, whether they talk about it or not. But it affects their movements, their actions, everything. How much more is that true of someone carrying the burden inside?

I didn’t show that with him. I pulled back. I didn’t wring the most out of him that I could have.

The same goes for my heroine, but the hero was where it was most egregious. I thought I was showing it. I thought I was doing it. Torturing him to heal him. But I hadn’t gone deep enough.

My editor was full of awesome and good advice today, as always.

She said sometimes you have to write a books across (from beginning to end) so that you can find out what it’s really about, so you can see the core of the conflict and characters. Then you go back and really write in deep. It makes brilliant sense to me.

I had to get it all down before I could get to the heart of it all. Now that I have that, I get to take it and bring the focus back to the characters and to the essential conflict.

Do You Want the Good News or the Bad News?

Well, I want the good news. Only the good news. Sadly, my inbox was not asking my opinion this morning and decided to deliver both. *shakes fist at inbox*

So first…

I have some word about The Russian! It’s being released in a 3-in-1 anthology in the UK called The Cinderella Brides and the official title for the book within the antho is THE PETROV PROPOSAL. Aleksei Petrov is thrilled to have his name in the title, but to tell you the truth…I don’t know that his ego needed the boost!

I positively love the title though, and can’t wait for the book to go out. I’m fortunate enough to be sharing the anthology with Harlequin Romance writer Barbara Wallace and brand new Modern Heat author Aimee Carson! (fun fact, Aimee and I sat across from each other on the flight from Denver to Orlando, and while we suspected we were both RWA bound, we were both too awkward to say anything…but she caught up to me at the Orlando airport and asked if I was Maisey…how did she recognize me? My iPad. :D)

The Cinderella Brides will release in the UK in August, 2011.

Now, onto the bad news…okay, I exaggerate. Onto the news that made me make this face —> :S

Revisions. *dum dum DUMMMM*

I haz them. For the Frenchman. But no, I cried. It’s perfect! It’s brilliant!! It’s literary art emblazoned on a canvas of .doc and slathered in win!!

Oh, on second thought…she has a point. Oh, and there too…and there.

Crap. And for good measure…*ANGST*

And for better measure…*delete* *delete* *delete*

I could tell you all that I don’t get revisions, I could just announce sales, but the reason I still blog about this part of the process is that it’s a part of the process we need. It’s one that doesn’t go away just because you sell. It’s important. It’s necessary. It always feels like blerg.

But here’s the thing…there are some books that I’m just not a good enough writer to pull off. The Inherited Bride was like that. I had to get better to write that book, if that makes sense. That meant revisions. It meant stepping out of my comfort zone. It meant seeing things differently, growing, stretching and all the pain that goes with it.

This is going to be one of those books. This step was necessary, I truly believe it.

So it’s not bad news, really. (Well, it’s bad cuz now I want to get buried in my In Construction office and it’s still…In Construction and Thanksgiving is on Thursday…at least there will be pie) But this is good news. This is an opportunity. To learn, to grow, to make it further in my journey as a writer, because I’m still on a journey. I have a feeling I always will be, but that makes it all the more interesting.

I will keep you all posted from my In Construction Revision Bunker…

Maisey

A Little Bit of Me

Update 5/29/2011: Since I first wrote this blog post, I have sold an interracial romance to Presents titled The Highest Price to Pay, you can see the cover and description here. It releases July 15th, 2011 in the UK and is available for preorder on Book Depository and Amazon UK.

A little bit of me goes into every book I write. No, I’ve never proposed a marriage of convenience to an Italian billionaire, I’ve never been pregnant with a prince’s baby thanks to a clinic mix-up, and I’ve never toured Paris with a sheikh. But when I write, of course bits of my world view make it into my books.

That’s not to say everything my characters do, I would do, or that I only write characters that are like me. But of course my perspective will leak onto the page.

One of my favorite instance of this was putting a petty argument on the page between my sheikh and my princess, in The Inherited Bride. It’s the kind of argument my husband and I had all the time when we were first married. She wanted something from him, but didn’t tell him, because she wanted him to figure it out on his own (as she put it, it’s like asking someone to buy you flowers). He didn’t understand how he was supposed to read her mind. It was extra funny to me, because it was very true to real life, my real life. 🙂 And even a princess and a sheikh have similar problems in some ways.

Way a long time back, last November, I think, before I sold His Virgin Acquisition, I wrote a post about interracial romance. I was talking about interracial romance where the racial differences aren’t the central conflict. (A fabulous commenter brought up Harry Potter and Cho Chang 🙂 )

That was a book I always wanted to read, and most especially in my most favorite line, Presents. Presents very muchtrades on the difference between the hero and heroine, whether it’s a difference in social status, in experience or in culture.. It helps create a lot of tension and emotion, so it seemed a perfect place to me, to have a true interracial romance. (I have to give a shout out to Kelly Hunter here, and her book, Red Hot Rogue, which features an Asian heroine and a white hero. I haven’t read it but I definitely intend to!)

This is where the piece of me comes in. My husband is biracial. His father is black, his mother is white. And if you’ve seen my picture, you can be in now doubt that I’m pale pasty white. 😉 So what does that difference in skin color mean to us? A big fat nothing. I love him, he loves me, any conflict we have is centered on arguments like I mentioned above. (Just tell me next time! If I tell you it doesn’t mean anything!)

And that’s why I wanted to write a book that reflected that. An interracial romance that is really just a romance. A Presents. 🙂

My Frenchman is the son of a French blue-blood and a woman from Africa. He’s biracial. My heroine is white. Their conflict has nothing to do with that. Because for me, that’s real life. It isn’t as though we don’t see the difference in skin tone, but it’s something we appreciate in each other. And I think it’s something special. 🙂

There is a lot of me in this book. This book was a dream of mine before I sold.

And even writing this post, I was almost hesitant. Because essentially, this Presents is no different than any other. It’s full of passion, seduction and glamor. It’s about two people who overcome their personal demons, who help each other heal. Two people who find love where they didn’t expect it. They are like every couple, if a bit Presentsified. 😀 Which I think is the point, ultimately.

No matter what the difference between the H and h, whether she’s a pampered princess from Europe and he’s a battle-hardened sheikh, or she’s a fashion designer with a flamboyant streak and he’s a financier that’s conservative down to his loafers (that’s the Frenchman!), it all comes down to love.

I didn’t write this book to be preachy, or to make a point really. It’s just something I wanted to do. (And I really did think it was just about time to have a black Presents hero!) It’s very possible some people won’t like it. IBut you take that risk with every book you write.

I had to say something because I just realized today that this was another dream of mine that I’m seeing come true. I don’t know how extensive the revisions might be on this MS, since I just turned it in, but I’m just very happy right at this moment. 🙂

Submission News and a Cover!

I submitted The Frenchman to my editor last night and I’m thrilled to have it in! Of course, I love it when I was re-reading it, cried while I was polishing, hit send and wondered WHAT I WAS THINKING!!! It’s horrible…it’s awful!!! Okay, I know it’s not, but somehow when I hit send I’m always afraid my nice little MS has morphed itself into soul shredding demon beast on its way from my outbox to my editor’s inbox.

Here’s hoping I’m merely paranoid. *fingers crossed*

And I have REALLY exciting news in the form of…my new cover!! I love it, it’s gorgeous. My hero is shrouded in mystery, my beautiful, elegant heroine clinging to him…*sigh*

It captures the mood of the book so well. *sigh again*

Isabella Rossi is a princess on her way to wed a man she’s never met. But she takes a detour on the way…She wants to experience life in a way she’s never been allowed to. She’s been in training to be a royal wife for most of her life, and has been denied even the most basic things, like shopping in a mall or going to the movies.

Sheikh Adham al bin Sudar, as commander of the Umahran guard, is meant to protect her and deliver her to the High Sheikh.

Adham is her protector, and his loyalty is the High Sheikh, but his feelings for Isabella grow with every moment spent in her company…but acting on them would be a betrayal of the thing Adham prizes the most: his honor.

Oh, and *squee*!!!!

I’m beyond excited for this book to come out, and am so thrilled with the cover! And with the fact that the Frenchman is done….till I get revisions, of course. 🙂

Tricksy Characters

I have reached that point of my WIP. You know *that* point. I’m talking to myself. I’m not sleeping. I’m clutching my iPad to my chest and hissing, “My precccciousssssss” at innocent passersby. In short, I’m almost finished.

I wrote the black moment yesterday and it was HARD. It made me emotional. I had to open and close pages several times and retreat momentarily to the comfort of twitter to stave off the weepies.

Usually, once I get to the black moment it’s all gravy. I already know how to resolve it. I already know who has to grovel, what has to be said and exactly how that last line will go.

*sigh*

Not so. Not with these two. I have very tricksy characters. My heroine is much farther along on her journey than the hero. She’s conquered the worst of her demons, with a little help from the hero and she’s ready to move forward with her life. She’s ready for her HEA.

But he’s not. It’s not just a matter of him being stubborn, he’s truly not there yet. He has to make peace with himself, with something he did in his past that was just plain wrong. He made a big mistake, he hurt the people who loved him the most, and he truly believes that that act was evidence of his true character. eek.

My heroine has thrown down the gauntlet now. She’s told my hero how she feels, and now it’s up to him to realize that he is a good man. The man that she sees.

Again, eek. And also *bites nails*.

I’m absolutely certain I’ll be doing a little bit of surgery on this book once I type The End, because as I’ve gone in deeper and deeper, the characters have sort of evolved and changed and with it, they have changed where I thought I would end up.

They’re going to have to fight for their Happily Ever After. But ultimately, isn’t that the best way? Because when they fight that hard to have something, you know they’re going to hold onto it.

Links and A Video!!

Sadly, I have no cover for you. 🙁 Happily, I have some links! 😀

I’m at Kaily Hart’s blog today talking about being published and what I’ve learned since The Call!

The lovely and adorable Jamie Wesley blogged her thoughts on HIS VIRGIN ACQUISITION!

And I leave you with: Danger Baby, part deux!

Mills and Boon Leander Calendar

This is a video of the photo shoot for the new Mills and Boon calendar. Now, these are Olympic athletes. So have some respect.:P Oh, and while you’re having respect for their well-honed bodies…er…instruments which they use for their craft…check out whose book they’re reading at the 36 second mark!

So You Think You Can Write

Harlequin is running a kind of contest/informational/writing extravaganza called So You Think You Can Write this week. I was lucky enough to be asked to record a podcast on how I became a romance writer. I was interviewed, as was Jeannie Lin and Meg Maguire! It was really fun, and if you want to listen, you can check it out here!

And stay tuned because I *hope* to have a new cover up this week…for my Sheikh book The Inherited Bride. So we’ll see if it posts when I expect it to!