Hey, hey, jealous Bertha!

Why would anyone be jealous of little old me? Could it be that I have such awesome readers? Yeah, I think so. Sarah and Patty gave me great feedback for Gator and the romance is in its final proofing.

I'm really excited to try something different in the romance genre. Gator is what I'm calling a Bijou Bullet book or Miranda's cool idea of a "romance noir." Shorter, darker romances with bad guys who fall hard for damaged girls. I know, I know. It sounds like the Damaged books except most of the dudes in that series aren't really bad. They're simply young. Judd and Vaughn are enforcers, but nowhere as dark as Jake "Gator" James.

Along with Gator, I am planning to publish Scattered this Tuesday. The third book in my Christian romantic fantasy series is also in its final proofing phase. These books are so different from each other, but that's what I love about indie publishing. There are no rules dictating what I can write. As long as I can imagine it, I can publish it.

I'm already working on Damaged novels, Dragon and Bulldog, plus another Bijou Bullet book. Used is a romance between a dude just out of prison and a MC whore paying off her dying father's debt. Two broken people finding love is fun to write and hopefully fun to read.

The weather is still wacky and I'm still wishing for Houston. This winter has sucked so thoroughly that the whole family is looking forward to a new start. The move can't happen this year, but 2015 might be when we become Texans.

The next few months, I'll be busy with writing. Plus, I have a few "projects" with Miranda related to BBA. Since our free time will be limited, we're taking a break from the Whisperer blog. I have a few interviews set up for my Indie Angie blog and others for Where Zombies Come to Read. Yeah, we'll keep busy.

Congratulations to Lil Sis who published her first New Adult romance this week. This Side of the Sun is at Amazon for an introductory price of .99. Now, Marcy is hot in two genres. Pretty badass.

On BL, people were listing random things about themselves. I'll finish this post with ten about me.

1) If I was a dude, I'd sport a mustache. Despite what chicks say about 'staches, I have no doubt I'd get plenty of play.

2) If I lived alone, my whole house would be painted lavender.

3) I'd also have six cats and likely die from them tripping me near the stairs.

4) My fantasy US vacation would be to Disneyworld.

5) My fantasy overseas vacation would be to Japan. Or the Netherlands to harass Candy Girl. I might just have her meet me in Japan, so we can get lost together.

6) Prepping for the zombie apocalypse, I've planned my family's last stand in the house. We'd last two weeks tops.

7) Speaking of zombies, I hate Rick Grimes from TWD and hope he gets eaten one day. Seriously, I hate that guy!!! Can't Carl shoot him already?

8) The Axe "Peace" commercial is freakishly stupid and I hurt myself rolling my eyes each time it comes on.

9) Whenever I'm tempted to feel pity for whining asshats, I read something nonfiction that details real human suffering. Currently, I'm learning about the horrors that occurred under the former Soviet Union.

10) Finally, I don't watch the Olympics. Too much filler and I avoid NBC whenever possible. Community is my one exception.

Later, gator!!! Get it? Even Bertha would approve.

Hurry up and...what was my point?

Arg! The flu keeps on giving. Plus, the weather remains brutal here in Indianapolis. The only time the temps aren't around zero is when more snow shows up. With the crazy weather, it's taking forever to get over the flu.

Even feeling like crap, I finished the rough draft of Gator on Friday. It turned out pretty badass. I'm currently reading through it, adding details and deleting stupid stuff. In a few days, I hope to have the next draft ready for Sally. Then, it'll go to Miranda and finally Sarah. Whenever they're happy with it, I'll hit publish.

I decided this week that publishing under a new pen name will be a pain in the ass. Duh, right? Actually publishing under another name is easy peasy on Amazon. It's the social media aspects (Twitter, FB, blog, etc) that will take up a lot of time I just don't have. So I'll publish the standalone Gator under Bijou.

This week, after I finish my edit of Gator, I'll work on Scattered. I've been messing with the Dakota book since December. I get distracted so easily. My plan is to publish Gator and Scattered in February. Once I have my edits done and the books are in the hands of my beta readers, I'll focus on Damaged and the Dragon.

As my Bijou readers know, each book is a standalone romance. However, the world of Ellsberg expands and prior couples continue their journeys in the new books. So as I'm writing Dragon, I'll be prepping for both Bulldog and Saint. I also plan to write Dragon and Bulldog back-to-back. Finally, I'm working on a Cooper POV novelette as a treat for fans.

This last week involved a lot of drama as particular people caught up with the obvious. No big surprise on my side. Miranda is my BFF. Marcy is my Lil Sis. All is right in the world.

I blogged a little bit during the last week. We posted the 22 Faces of Athena on the Whisperer and have a fun new series planned for the blog. The first installment is now posted.

On Indie Angie, I posted two interviews with romance author Laramie Briscoe (Main and Shooting the Shit). This weekend, I was contacted by Permuted Press to showcase their awesome horror authors on Where Zombies Come to Read. Blogging apparently won't be taking a backseat as soon as I planned.

January was a crazy month with the road trip/vacation/book signing along with catching the flu. February looks like it'll be more relaxed. Hopefully, it'll be productive too, since readers are getting restless for Bailey's book. I guess I better hit publish on this blog post and get back to work.