Friday Five for July 10, 2015

1. I'm back from my trip up north. We had a great time celebrating Canada Day with my family. I finally got to meet my adorable niece and equally as cute baby cousin. We were tremendously busy and totally exhausted. I still haven't caught up on sleep or anything else. My brain is all foggy. I just need one night of really good sleep.

2. Thank you to everyone who helped spread the word of Masked Kiss' release. You guys are awesome! Though I wasn't around for the release, it was top rated at Ellora's Cave for two weeks. I need to regain my focus and start to plan a tour for the series.

3. I sent out seven short stories before I went away, and I've had three rejections. I submitted the stories elsewhere. It's difficult at times to keep pushing forward, but we must do so to achieve our dreams.

4. I haven't had a chance to write lately and I'm starting to get the writer shakes. The kind that make you want to start typing away at any keyboard you see! There's less than a month before my son starts school. (Yup, he starts on August 4th. Crazy!) So things on my blog will still be slow until then, but I'm eager to jump back into my writer's life come August.

5. It's finally Friday. Yay! It's been a long week. What's on your agenda for the weekend? Minions is out in theaters. It's at our local drive-in. I think it's time for our little guy's first drive-in movie experience!

What's behind Masked Kiss

Blurb:

Video game geek Josh Hanson never gets noticed by women until a gorgeous booth babe drags him into a dark room for a quickie.

She doesn't give him her name, and her face is covered by a silver mask. Josh is determined to find the dark-haired beauty again, but communication isn't easy in a huge hall filled with nerds. When they end up playing in a tournament later, the games extend into her hotel room. Josh wants more than just a con fling, but she's not easy to catch. Can he figure out how to beat her games and become her champion?

Buy the book:

Ellora's Cave * Amazon * B&N * Kobo

Add it to read on Goodreads.

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped promote the Dice & Debauchery series. Your support and encouragement means a lot to me.

This is the final book in my geeky trilogy. It was also the most difficult one to write because it's from the guy's point of view. I asked my male friends a lot of questions and received many weird looks. You'd think they'd be use to me doing so by now!

Book tidbit: I used the Konami Code in one scene!

Friday Five for June 19, 2015

1. One week until the release of Masked Kiss, the final book of the Dice & Debauchery series! It's available for pre-order everywhere right now. I'm excited that the whole series will be out. The trilogy is like the 13th Floor in that all the books link together and happen over the same space of time. It's fun to write and read the same scene from different points of view.

2. While next Friday will be a big day, I won't be around to promote it. I hope to do a tour in August for the series. Just not a three month tour this time! That was far too long and tiring. Two weeks seems to be the best time period for a tour.

3. I'll be taking a blogging break for the next three weeks. I do have some pre-scheduled posts during that time, so please stop by for a fabulous guest post about surviving a horror story by Cherie Reich on Wednesday and some tidbits about Masked Kiss next Friday.

4. I've gotten a little writing done this week. My WIP is still moving slow. It's at 15k and there's only one dead body! I've written a lot of novellas in the past few years, so this pace feels odd, and the story is challenging me. But that's a good thing.

5. Don't forget the T.B. Markinson's June Giveaway is still going on. You could win five awesome books and an Amazon gift card. One of those books is Of Blood and Sorrow by me!

Have a wonderful rest of the month. I'll see you in July!

My little guy swimming in the lake!

Friday Five for May 15, 2015

1. Prepare for another dose of sexy geeks! Things are moving along with Ellora's Cave at a fast pace. I have a cover for Layers of Lace (Dice & Debauchery #2) and a release date for the third book, Masked Kiss. It's due out on June 26th.

2. I thought about doing a tour when the third book was released, but it's at the most inconvenient time of the year for me. So will it be bad to wait to do a tour until August? I don't know, but if I want to properly devote my time to it, that's what I'll have to do.

3. I'm also re-evaluating my writing goals for this year. I hoped to revise and publish my superhero novel, Super Famous, by October, but it doesn't look like I'll have the time to get to it until the fall. My new WIP is a great and slow beast. I'd hoped to finish the first draft by next week, but it is just beginning. Maybe I'll have it done in September.

4. One more week until school is out for the summer. Are there any other parents counting down and prepping themselves? I've got a visit with my family in Canada, day trips, YMCA day camp, and weekly park meet-ups with school friends all planned. Here's to an awesome summer!

5. Finally I wanted to give a huge thank you to Alex J. Cavanaugh for the You Rock Award. I love blogging because of our great community and Alex is a big part of it. Cheers to Alex and to all of you! Have a marvelous weekend.