Outlaw, Thugs, Full Time Author, and Charity

Happy dance! Damaged and the Outlaw is in its final stages. Sally has read the book and says it's her favorite Damaged book so far. Trust me that the chick doesn't bullshit when it comes to books.

Candy Girl is reading it now. I'm still tweaking things. Adding and deleting, editing and proofing, but it'll be in the hands of my other beta readers by the end of the week. The publishing date is set for November 26.

An awesome romance blog called Read This ~ Hear That did the cover reveal on Saturday. Thanks to Natalee who put it together last minute. Not only is she aces, her blog is sexy fun with lots of great book giveaways.

For Thanksgiving week, I'm set to edit Scattered. As some of you know, I homeschool Roo and Pooh. Normally, kids attend school Mon-Wed during the week of Thanksgiving, but they honestly never do much. I've decided to have my boys take the week off and add those missing days later in the year. So next week will be relaxing for everyone.

I'm also psyched to start Blue Awakening. Last weekend, Candy Girl helped me decide on a cover for the book. Now, I just need to write it. While I've completed the first chapter and a few other scenes, the gist of the novel waits for me to get cracking. I'm even listening to Susan Boyle to set the mood.

This last week wasn't all happy happy joy joy. A particularly stupid BBA decided to turn full-on thug and use an offensive slur against the disabled. She giggled about it later. Blew off anyone who might be offended then made herself the victim. Same old crap from her type of loser.

Months ago, I wrote about how hurtful and evil the R word is to anyone who truly cares about the disabled. As a mother with two sons on the autism spectrum, I have no patience for excuses by people who attack the disabled. I never wrote about my sons' disabilities before because I know the asshats would mock them. That's what the sick bastards do.

In the end, those bottom feeders can write whatever they want about my family. They are beyond help, particularly when they make excuses to use hate speech. Some words are just ugly and should never be used.

Possibly, this selfish chick is from a part of the country or belongs to an age group that believes the disabled should be shuttered away and pitied from afar. It doesn't matter why she believes hate speech like the R word is acceptable. She's filth like all people who attack the most vulnerable in society. Yeah, I'm pissed. Use that vile word and I go Mama Grizzly. No sympathy for bigots.

In good news, my girl Lauryl quit her "day job" and is a full-time author now. Congratulations! It's a big deal when an author can claim writing as their occupation, rather than a hobby. She's worked hard the last year, publishing three books and building a fan base. Here's hoping 2014 is even more successful for Lauryl as she expands to new genres and gains more fans.

Lots of great blogging this last week. On Indie Angie, I interviewed a really cool UF author named Rebecca Espinoza. Candy Girl previously reviewed Rebecca's first book, Binds. This week, she reviewed Café Insomniac. I added a review for Lady Sings the Blues. On Where Zombies Come to Read, Deadly Dee gave a stellar review for Corpse Days which is by a new hot author named Jonathon Kane. We're all looking forward to his upcoming UF novel.

With Outlaw's approaching release, I wrote up a Bijou Babbles. Later in the week, I'll post an excerpt from the book. Finally on BBA Whisperer, we giggled through our weekly update, pointed out a raging duh from one of my fandorks, and revealed the nastiness from the asshat I mentioned earlier.

I want to end this post by mentioning the recent natural disasters that have taken the lives of so many. I have several friends with family who have been devastated by the typhoon in the Philippines. If you're interested in donating to help those who've suffered greatly, you can do so here. There are many other groups providing relief like Doctors without Borders, UNICEF, OXFAM America, and Save the Children.

Closer to home, a tornado tore apart towns in Illinois. If you'd like to help those hurt worst, you can donate here.

I hope everyone who believes in the power of God will pray for those suffering. If you're not a believer, please send positive thoughts to the survivors.

High Five for Book Six

What can I say? Organization is my new thing. While I planned to get Damaged and the Cobra published by October 1, I had it on sale by September 30. Look at me, ahead of the curve!!!! Ammy decided to make me squirm a little though.

When I asked to have the Kindle and paperback editions linked, a goof up occurred. The Kindle version was hidden and a few readers received errors when attempting to buy it. Plus, the paperback was attached to my Angela author page. I know Ammy gets a lot of grief for being a cold empire, but I sent another email asking for the issues to be fixed and they were quickly dealt with. Now, all of the links are where they belong. Having worked in IT, I know how easy it is to pick the wrong option and mess up something simple. As bothersome as the issues were, I believed everything would work out. Hooray for positive thinking!

Since Damaged and the Beast found an audience, I've made a habit of going into a bunker mentality after a new book is released. It's too easy to get obsessed with sales, rankings, and reviews. Since the link was dorked up, I was checking the book page a few times a day to see if it was fixed. Yes, I checked my rankings and noticed I am technically a best-selling author in subcategories of contemporary and new adult romance. The proper etiquette is not to call yourself simply a best-selling author unless you've had a book under a hundred in paid Kindle sales. I don't know where I'd announce I'm hot shit besides on my blog, so I just did it. Bragging complete.

The problem with even checking comments on my Bijou Facebook page (I have awesome readers) is I get into an "author" mindset, instead of the lowly writer mentality.

I have no time to pat myself on the back since I announced I would release Damaged and the Outlaw around Halloween. Why so soon? Well, Cobra was a novella (technically a novel, but barely) and I feel like readers need another full-length book to enjoy. Especially since I'm thinking this might be my last Damaged book for the year. I still plan to write Dragon and Saint in early 2014. There are a few readers who seem interested in Dylan getting a book, but I'm unsure about that idea.

So I'm already writing Outlaw, but it's in the early phases. Meaning, I'm jumping around to scenes I have written in my head. Later, I'll piece things together as the story takes on a life of its own. I am really enjoying Vaughn and Raven. As much as I love sweet romances, Aaron and Lark were tougher to write. They were such well adjusted characters and knew what they wanted. There was less drama in their pairing, but I didn't want to force conflict into the book. Readers are savvy and they can feel when an author is feeding them bullshit. Better to keep the book true to the characters and take the chance that it's not wild enough.

Roo had a great birthday last week. Very mellow like we wanted it. We're a mellow family chilling in our tightknit clique. His birthday week basically started on Thursday and is still going. We have a few plans for the next few days.

It's finally starting to feel like autumn here. Cooler weather and the leaves are changing. Speaking of where I live, F&G tried to dox (reveal personal info) me last week. They commented about the city they claim I live in, even though I'd never mentioned the location before. Hmm...if they knew anything about me, they'd understand I don't spook easily. Whisperers aren't wussies.

Last week was busy with Roo's birthday, Cobra's publication, and starting Outlaw, so I didn't get much blogging done. I did post an interview with author Jonathon Kane on Where Zombies Come to Read. He's currently working on a paranormal novel, so I look forward to interviewing him on Indie Angie when the book is done. On my Bijou blog, I added a Bijou Babbles post today along with a poll.

Really digging BookLikes. I changed my profile picture and blog background to something more October festive. My Monchichi is in a costume!!! How f'ing cute!!! I found a pic for Christmas too.

I also set up Mustang Sally on BookLikes. Adding books she wants to read, but doesn't have time to get to yet. Set up her cool looking background. She really liked the profile picture of us back in the 1970's.

I have a lot of interviews to get done for the zombie blog plus a few for Indie Angie. The weekly whiner update for BBA Whisperer is due soon too. Eek! Better get to work.

Happy second week of October and keep a lookout for zombies. This is their time of year!!!