Nanowrimo Day 3, otherwise known as my first day back at work, was hard but not as bad as I would have expected. Thankfully my boss is on vacation this week so its an easier transition into working while writing like a crazy person than I've had in previous years. It definitely took me longer to get my words in yesterday than the days before, but I still managed to 3139 for the day. Though I did have to motivate myself with a pumpkin latte treat, that I didn't even get, because by the time I hit 10k it was too late to head out to Starbucks for my yummy treat. But I'll get it shortly, now that its finally cool enough to enjoy. 

On top of that I received edits on Serving Madame: Monsieur's Turn. I am a working writer, and my priority is to publish books and maintain good relations with my publishers, over winning this contest. So edits and emails from my publisher have to take precedence over nano. Thankfully the edits were quick and just grammatical so I was able to get them done and back to the Romance Divine quickly as well as get my words. Making Day 3 overall a very productive day.

Owned Forever: 8449
Hot-N-Ready: 2072
Total: 10521

Day 2 of nanowrimo was almost as good as Day 1, thanks in some part to daylight savings time, which gave me an extra hour to write. I also went to a local write-in held at the Panera down the street. I know these events don't work for everyone, but for me they are great. I got down at least 1500 in an hour and a half. Not bad word count for that time. And I got to eat my favorite yummy black bean soup too. 

All and all I ended up with another 3071 words for the day, bringing my total word count up to 7382. But the real test is coming up. Going back to work. I know I won't be able to get the same kind of words in that I can on a weekend. But I just need to make the most of my time and get in as many as I can.

Owned Forever: 5856
Hot-N-Ready: 1526
Total word count: 7382

Its that time of year again. Nanowrimo! This year I'm really trying to get as many words done as fast as possible, because I'm hosting thanksgiving this year, which means I'll be busy for the end of the month, and unable to breakaway from family to get down some last minute words. Luckily for me, the first day of nano fell on a Saturday, giving me lots of time to get ahead on my word count.

As is my tradition, I stayed up late and started Nanowrimo with a bang. I got down 1760 words before bed that night. I got up the next day and continued to bang them out for the rest of the day. I ended last night with a total word count of 4311.

Hot-N-Ready: 1276
Owned Forever: 3035

I'm over at BTS eMag Blog talking about inspiration and where to find it. Especially the most common place for me, submission calls.

For those of you who have read about my inspirations know how much love/hate a submission call. They always call to me, even when I'm in the middle of something else. My brain also loves to make the connections and come up with the story with barely enough time to write it before the call (maybe I subconciously love working under a strick deadline).

Stop on by the blog to find out what works were inspired by a submission call, and how this inspiration has pushed me tell bigger stories then I ever intended.

http://btsemag.com/inspiration-by-willa-edwards/

I know it’s late but I wanted to let you all know how my December close out plan ended. Unfortunately I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked. Due to a few factors, including family commitments, a funk and the flu. You know, the three Fs. J

I did manager to fix up and submit a short story, Jack the Bodice Ripper. I spent some of my December time, that I had set aside of new works, editing that story and working with the publisher to get it ready for release in less than a month. A feat impossible with most publishers, which is one of the reasons I love Romance Divine. I announced the release a few weeks ago on this blog, though it was in the middle of my flu ridden haze, so I wasn’t capable of much more. It was definitely time well spent, though it cut into my other plans.

I also revised Valentine Next Door and submitted it to Totally Bound. They accepted it this week. I don’t know yet when it will be released, I’ll let you all know as soon as I have more information, but I’m happy dancing all over the place about this one. I can’t wait to see how people react to Miranda and Jeremy. I know I love them, and I hope other people will too.

I’ve also been working hard to finish Second Chance at a Cheerleader. I’ve added another 5,000 words, putting me well above my original goal for the story. And I still have another 10,000 words or so to finish the book. And the last bit is usually the hardest for me to write. I’m hoping to finish the first draft this month. I have so many great Snowedin Stories I want to tell, but I need to complete this one to move on to the others. Not to mention any of the other stories I running around in my head.

As for New Year resolutions. Unlike some previous years, I’m not going to set any goals for myself as far as numbers. I have way too much going on this year and I don’t know yet what I’ll be capable of handling. But I do want to focus on writing as well as I can and finishing as many works as possible in my limited time. I need to get as many of the characters running through my head down on paper as I can. Not to mention bring more reading material for all you fantastic readers.

Other than that, I just want to keep moving forward. I have a lot to accomplish in 2014 personally, and I want to get better at just taking everything one moment at a time, one task at a time, and one red hot romance at a time.

Its my day to blog on Sweet'N'Sexy Divas again, and I'm talking about the horrible funk I've been in since Nanowrimo ended.

Post Nanowrimo I just have been feeling a little blah and I can't seem to get up the energy I usually have for my writing. I think part of it is really due to all the things I have going on. I'm trying to fix up my house to sell, starting looking for a new place across the country where I'll be moving in a few months, and its all just a little overwhelming.

So I decided to pick up and share some tips to get out of the blahs. I hope they'll be helpful to someone else. I know they have been to me. Stop on by to see what tips I've found.

http://sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com/2014/01/getting-out-of-funk.html

It’s that time of year again. No not Christmas time. It’s December close out time.

I’ve been having a relaxing week. After I finished nano I tried to write some more and keep up the pace, but between all the Thanksgiving stuff and then going back to work after having a week off, it was just too hard. But now, I’ve had a week to rest up and think about what I want to do, and I’m ready to start moving forward on my December close out plan.

This year I had a really hard time figuring out what to take care of during my December close out plan. Not only will I not get as much time of this year as years past, due to my change in employer, but I also don’t feel like I have a lot of works that are close to finish. After Nanowrimo I feel as though I have a bunch of works started but nothing close enough to completion to finish it this month. It took some real searching and thinking to figure out what I wanted to focus on this month. But I hope, now that I’ve figure out what I want to focus on, I should be able to complete my goals.

My first goal is to revise and resubmit Valentine Next Door. I received a few
comments on it from my editor, of what I need to improve and I want to make those changes and send it back.

My second goal is to finish Second Chance at a Cheerleader. I’ve been working on this story since February or March, way too long, though I did have several long breaks in between that time. Either way, I really want to get this story finished, so I can give it a little while to sit before revisions. Even though its currently 41k and my goal was 45k, I believe it will probably take more than 4k to finish it (I still have two whole sex scenes to write). It will probably be closer to 60k. And the closer I get to the end the harder it is to write. This will by far be my hardest goal.

My third goal is to write and submit a short story I’ve had in mind for some time, a sequel to Serving Madame. It will be another quick hot work, of Ada and her Madame, with maybe a little help from someone else. 

And if I have any time left, I’d like to try and finish up a new ménage I started during Nanowrimo, right now entitled Home for the Holidays, though I might change the title later. I don’t plan to sub it for several months, but it would be a nice change of pace to actually write a holiday story during that actual holiday time, instead of months ahead of time like I usually have
to.

I’d also love to finish the bathroom painting project I started during labor day (to be fair I finished the walls, I just have trim to do) and get started on some of my other house projects to get my place ready to go on the market next
year.

It definitively sounds like a lot. I better get started right away. 

Anybody else have any goals for this December? Anything you want to finish up before the New Year starts?

I just officially validated my novel, and I am a nanowrimo winner. My total word count as of right now is 50343, and I still have a whole day left. I intend to continue and try to get as many as possible for the month of November, but its nice to officially hit my number and know that I have won.

This month has been very productive, even though I didn't write one novel like you're supposed to for nanowrimo. Not only did I get more than 50k of new words, I started and finished one entire story (still untitled, and below titled as Army Menage). Before I was done with the story, I had an idea of two or maybe three other stories that would go with this one in a series. Unlike some of my other series, this one (which I've labeled Protective Patriots) all the stories intersect in a few key spots, so I intend to write them all at the same time, so I can get all the details right, and hopefully they will all be publish around the same time too.

I also managed to write another 12,000 words on a current story Second Chance at a Cheerleader (bringing the total word count over 40k, which is a long work for me). There's still more writing to do on that story, but 12k is good progress for one month, and also this month I figured out some other scenes that need to go into that work to finish the character arc for Lanie, which definitely inches me closer to that finish line.

I'm going to continue to write all I can for the next day, but I also need to start thinking about what I want to spend December on for my December close out plan. Unlike some years, I don't have as many partial projects hanging around, but I definitely want to get something headed to the publishers to start the year off right.

Current Nanowrimo Word Count: 50,343

Second Chance at a Cheerleader - 12,334
Army Menage 1 -25,836 (Completed)
Army Menage 2 - 1,341
Army Menage 3 - 3,729
Home for the Holidays - 7,103

This last week I submitted my newest story, Valentine Next Door. Inspired by a submission call for valentine’s cougar stories, tells the story of Miranda Valentine the hot widow next door, and Jeremy Callahan, the boy that’s lived next door to her for years and loved her just as long. Now back, and an adult, he intends to go after what he wants. And all he wants is Miranda Valentine.

This story came to me very suddenly. But the second Miranda and Jeremy started telling me their story I had no choice but to listen. Jeremy was just so insistent on what he wanted, with me and Miranda and I couldn’t deny him. Even with everything else I had going on these last few months, and it’s been a lot (I write another blog post about that soon).

Here’s one of my favorite interactions between the two of them, just to wet your whistle a bit.

"Sure." He smiled, leaning up and grabbing the items from her. "It's nice to be useful. Even with this." He knocked on his leg. The loud thump of a fist on plaster filled the room.

Miranda sat on the opposite end of the couch, waiting patiently while he jabbed the corkscrew into the cork and twisted it out, even as it made her twitchy and achy. She watched him turn the corkscrew in the bottle. A sudden ache blooming between her legs at the twirl of the device in his hand, the triumph way he pulled the cork from the long thin neck. She clamped her thighs together, hoping to stem the sensation before it traveled any further.

"That's probably been the hardest part of being injured. Having to ask for help." He poured the thick red wine into one of the glasses. When the goblet was half way full he switched to other. "I guess I'm not very good at it." Once both goblets were filled to the midpoint, he handed her one and placed the wine bottle on the table.

She took a sip of the dry merlot. "Just like every other man." She hid her smirk behind her glass, but from Jeremy's returned smile he didn't mind the slight dig.

"I guess that's true." He sipped from his own glass, wrapping his hand around the glass with such a firm touch. What else he could do with those hands, how strong or how soft might his grip be.

"How did you get hurt anyway?" Best to keep focused on something besides Jeremy’s mouth pressed against the glass.

Jeremy looked down at the cast over his leg, "Do you promise not to laugh at me?"

She nodded, turning toward him, shifting her focus to him completely. She twisted into the couch cushions, sliding her stocking feet beneath her. 

"I slipped on a pile of Rhino dung."

She chuckled, slapping her hand over her mouth to stifle the sound. She couldn't help it. The image of him sliding backwards in a giant pile of poop was too funny not to laugh.

"Hey," he yelled, though his face didn't hold any true anger. Instead he smiled with her. "You promised not to laugh."

"You're right." She snorted, placing the glass of wine down on the coffee table before she spilled it over the floor. "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting a story like that." She wiped at her eyes, a bit of moisture gathering along the lashes. "How exactly does one break his leg by stepping in rhino dung?"

He smirked, bringing the wine glass to his lips and taking a sip. "I was trying to take a picture of a momma rhino and her calf cuddling. People love pictures of animal mother and babies, especially exotic ones. I wasn't paying attention to where I walk. I stepped backwards, slipped on the pile and my leg ended up underneath bent the wrong way."

She erupted in another fit of chuckles. "I'm sorry." She brushed the tears back. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a good laugh.”

She reached out, touching his arm without even a thought. He glanced down, staring at where her skin met his. Then his eyes traveled back up to hers. For a second they just looked at each other. Arches of heat passed between them and her stomach fluttered.

"It’s okay," he whispered, his chocolate brown eyes gazing into hers. So deep and sweet, she almost believed she could drown in them. And what a way to go. "I don't mind too much."

His lips were so close she could almost feel them on her skin, the soft brush
against her own mouth, his tongue caressing her own. It'd been so long since she'd been kissed. So long since anyone had looked at her with as much heat and lust as Jeremy was now.

Not since Leo. Not since her dead husband.

She pulled her hand back, glancing away. She was on dangerous ground. She could feel it. She had to bring the conversation back to a safer topic. Much safer.

I’ll let you all know once I know what’s going on with this work, when it finds its home and where. But for now, I’m just so thrilled to have managed to write such a work during all the personal issues I’ve had for the last few months. It’s nice to know no matter what’s going on in my real life I always have my writing.

Now I have to get back to it. On to the next story. Don’t want to leave you waiting for long. :) Happy reading!

After waiting with bated breath I got the acceptance letter today for Dirty Work. It will be joining the Siren Publishing family in October.

This is the last book in the Naughty Holiday List Stories, and though I'm sorry to see this series end (after all, my first ever published work started this clan off) I'm so excited to see Giselle's story come kicking and screaming into this world.

This story was hard for me to write, due partially to the personal nature of some of the work (I was writing about Giselle having issues with a wedding while my little brother and future sister-in-law drove me crazy with there's) and the similarities between Giselle's stubborn temper and my own. But now that its all done I really love this story. While I'm not sure if I could pick a favorite from this series, this one would d 

I don't have a lot of details yet (still too busy happy dancing to focus on details :D) I'll update you all as soon as I know more about the release.