Happy birthday to the awesome Candy Girl! My PA, cover illustrator, and BFF is too badass for words. I don't want to get all sappy, but the chick is both wise and creative. She keeps me on my toes and has saved my ass more than once. I have no idea where I'd be today if I hadn't met her back in 2013.
For the second year, I managed to publish on Miranda's birthday. I plan to make it a tradition. Last year was Used and this time around is In the Wind.
When readers first asked if I planned to write a book for Sawyer Johansson, I thought, "nope." A book set in the future felt tricky, and I didn't want to keep writing the same series forever. In the back of my mind though, I played with ideas for Sawyer while interest increased with every Damaged book.
Her book proved to be tricky, but not because it's set in the future. Maybe I jumped into the story too soon after finishing Broken Memphis. All I know is I had trouble getting into the heads of Sawyer and Jace. The side characters began taking over the story, and the romance felt lacking. A romance without chemistry isn't a romance no matter how much I say so.
The fix to the story came to me AFTER I finished the first draft and announced the release date. Thanks to Miranda, I got my ass in gear, fixed what needed fixing, and smoothed the rougher parts of the story. Only with her help did the book make its June 3 release date. Yeah, she's that good.
To give my Bijou brain a rest, this week I'm editing Wounded Soul for my Christian series. Miranda recently designed new covers for the three earlier books. I don't give my Dakota pen name much love since it doesn't pay the bills. Even so, I write those books out of a personal desire to tell the story. At this rate, I'll likely finish the series in 2017 since I'm publishing one book a year. They'll be finished though, which is more than I can say for my Angela books. One day, I do hope to give them proper endings.
This week, I'm driving to Birmingham , Alabama for my first signing since Houston Laramie and Seraphina suggested I join the Louisville
June will be a busy month. Besides publishing and book signings, I'm taking Tigger and Roo to Holiday World. We've lived in Indiana California , I took Tigger and Pooh to Disneyland at least once a month.
Roo is done with 5th grade and enjoying his reward - a video game. I'll start his summer school work after we return from Holiday World. I can already hear the whining.
After I go through the edit of Wounded Soul and get it to Miranda and Sally, I'll start on a new Bijou book. I'm looking forward to writing something different. I want to step away from motorcycle club romances for the next few books. In 2016, I have two MC series planned and at least one MC themed signing scheduled. I won't forget my tattooed biker boys and their tough chicks, but for the rest of the year, I'm shaking things up a bit.
As you all know, I met Miranda through my blog about a BBA. We don't blog anymore, so someone asked me if the BBA still cause trouble. Of course. Creating drama is a hobby for those people. Just recently, I discovered the sock of the more obsessive ones. She's manage to friend all of the "bullies and trolls." Now I admit she's pretty clever with her sock, and I'd seen this account more than once on BookLikes without giving it a second thought. Of course, everyone has their tells, and her arrogance gave her away. Once I figured out who was the behind the sock, I was able to figure out another one of this BBA's secret pen names.
Why not out the sock? She's not harming anyone. If she wants to pal around with people she hates, so be it. She's not paling around with Miranda or me. No one who is buddies with her seems to be bothered by her and she isn't accessing private info. Sure, she's pimping her own books, even writing reviews for them, but whatever. She always pulls that shit and she always will. Outing her sock will just mean the end to that particular sock. She'll be back with another one or two or ten. Plus once I out her, she'd become more obsessed with me. She's always been one of the least entertaining BBA focused on me. I prefer her more as her sock than as the real person. I say let her play her games. If she gets a few sales (a handful at most) with her lies, the readers scammed are smart enough to return the books if they don't like them. If they enjoy the books, no harm is done.
Miranda and I occasionally check into the BBA activity, but everything is too nasty. Negative behavior has escalated. Outing people's addresses. Calling their homes. Showing up at their houses. Attacking them physically. Their current nastiness makes the good old days of calling their enemies crazy fat sluts seem quaint. Turning our backs on the crap freed up a lot of time to write and read. The BBA always wanted us to focus on things that made us happy (and stop pointing out their lies). Well, they got their wish. Miranda now receives a lot of ARCs because more and more people are realizing what a cool chick she is. Somehow she manages to handle ARCs, my madness, and a fulltime job. Yep, she's that good.
Happy birthday, Candy Girl!!! The two videos are Miranda's choices. No one can say the chick doesn't have great taste! :)
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