Book Sale!

Coming Home–a fun, eclectic collection. Seven different authors, seven different stories, four different genres, all centered around tiny houses and the people who live in them. All the novellas, whether written by multi-published authors or first-time published, are page-turners and engaging. Not a loser in the lot!

My story, Kayla’s Challenge, introduces Kayla Mullins, the heroine of the Challenge series I’m currently working on. Kayla is one “I do” away from marrying the man her parents chose for her. In the nick of time, she escapes marital ties and heads west, leaving from Savannah, Georgia, in search of someplace that suits her fancy. That place turns out to be the Hill Country of Texas. Rugged, rustic living, perfect for a horse-loving woman like her. But so not in her budget. What’s a girl to do?

The novella ends with a hint of the romance to come and continue in Kayla’s Winner, the first in the Challenge series–and the one book I hope to return to the world of traditional publishing with.

Grab the collection this week while it’s on sale for $1.99–a $4.00 savings!!!

What Kayla’s Challenge taught me

I learned a hard lesson about myself with this novella. Don’t get me wrong, I love it and it’s totally worth the read, but I made a big boo-boo.

My thought was that Kayla’s Challenge would be the prequel for the “releasing in 2019” Kayla’s Winner, so instead of bringing the novella to a satisfying close, I left it open-ended with a hint toward the romance to come.

Actually, that would’ve been a great idea, if I had finished the novel in time for a 2019 release. I didn’t. At this point, I’m only halfway finished. Then, my decision to try the traditional route again will delay the release even longer. Finish writing (takes time), find an agent (takes time), wait for the agent to find a publisher (takes time), let the publisher’s in-house editor scour it (takes time), revise it per instruction (takes time)–and then go through the rest of the process that the publisher goes through to get a book on the market (takes time). If I’m lucky, the book will release around 2022.

So, the lesson I learned is that I’m not as fast or as disciplined a writer as I’d like to believe, so I should never make promises about release dates, and I should not have ended the novella with a romance novel’s version of a cliff-hanger.

Funny what you can discover about yourself after you’ve already goofed.

Book Recommendation

Do you love Romantic Mystery/Suspense? Have I found a book for you!

New to me author, Kristen Heitzmann, is now on my must-read list. Folks–this lady knows how to tell a tale!

In The Edge of Recall, landscape architect and labyrinth expert Tessa Young has a memory she’s keeping from herself. She’s forced it so far down, it’s no longer accessible to her, not even with the help of her psychiatrist. The only thing the doctor has been able to do is to help her cope with monsters that haunt her dreams.

Architect Smith Chandler, a one-time love, is reconstructing a pre-Revolutionary War abbey for wealthy clients. Among its remarkable features is an overgrown labyrinth. Unable to resist, Tessa accepts his offer to work with him.

But Smith betrayed her once. Can she trust him again? As events evoke memories and monsters surface, she might not have a choice.

A definite must-read!