I’m firmly in the middle of my three book series for Tor. Since they’re releasing back-to-back, I have to write them that way, too. That’s been wonderful. In my previous series, the installments were written apart from each other and usually with another book for another publisher in another genre written in between. It’s much easier to write to them together.

On Monday, my editor told me the publisher was ready to begin planning promotion, etc. for the series… which is still thirteen months away from release. I’ve become fairly used to planning promotions for unwritten books (although I still freak out a bit when I see books for sale on retailer websites and I haven’t even started writing yet! *gulp*) But I admit, I’m especially thrilled about this series promotion. Aside from it being my first consecutive release, it’s my first with Tor and my first under the new pen name. It’ll also be my first mass market original release. Up until now I’ve published only in trade paperback, which has much smaller distribution and much higher price points.

So I submitted my promotional plan/wish list to the publisher, then got back to work. I should have official blurbs, etc. to share soon. ARCs for the first book are also in the works and I’m hopeful I’ll have some for personal use — i.e. contests/giveaways — in addition to the ones the publisher will send out for quotes and reviews. After all the books I’ve released, I wouldn’t have thought I’d be so giddy about all of this, but I am.

I hope the upcoming week is lovely for you. Anyone heading out for some green beer or other verdant treat on Monday?

It’s a gloriously beautiful day here in Southern California, but I’m trapped inside, in bed, suffering from the flu or whatever the hell it is I’ve got. I hit the doctor’s office on Monday and I’ve been drugged ever since, but recovery is slow going. *ugh*

In better news, I turned in the first book in my new UF series last month (EVE OF DARKNESS) and now I’m working on Book 2 (EVE OF DESTRUCTION). So far, so good. I’m loving the story and the characters. I just wish I weren’t so darn sick so my brain would cooperate a little better. I’m heading to New York for a week at the end of this month and I need to be almost done with this book before then. Wish me luck.

I know it seems as if I’m a very lax blogger and that’s probably true. However, I do blog a few times a week on my “other” blog — the blog for my other pen name, so I’m not quite as lax as this blog makes me appear.

Why don’t I blog more here? Mostly because I’m still in the midst of writing the back-to-back series that will be released under this name (S.J. Day), so there’s really not much to share. It’s taking me a lot longer than I expected it would, but I like it a lot more than I originally did, so it’s a good trade. (As long as all three books are done on time, eh?) The books I talk about on my other blog are romances and so I don’t talk about them here. What would be the point of having a pseudonym if both names did the same thing?

In March, I return to New York on business. I go every year to meet with my editors/publishers and touch bases with my agents. I hope to have the first two books done by then, which would put me a month ahead of schedule. But… it’s taking so long to write this series that I may have to hide in my cave for a couple months to meet my goal. The more writing years that pass me, the longer it takes to finish a book. It’s less instinctual now and more methodical.

Anyway, that’s all the news that’s fit for me at the moment. A friend of mine challenged me to reach a certain page count by Monday morning and I’m still 40 pages away from that. I can make it — if I get my ass in gear — so I’m off to do just that!

I was very excited to find all three of the MARKED books available for pre-order already… in Canada. *g* It’s very early, but I don’t mind. In fact, I’m thrilled!

I wish I had something fun and interesting to share, but alas, I don’t.

I’m writing and doing work stuff, hustling my kids to and fro, and thinking about the rapidly approaching holidays.

For those of you who have a veteran or active duty military person in your household, you might be interested in Knott’s Berry Farm’s annual salute to veterans. My family goes every year and we have a blast. Plus, they always have the holiday craft fair up and running, which is a great way to get some Christmas shopping done at the same time!

Can you believe it’s the second week in October already? Jeez. Time flies faster every year, I swear.

HEAT OF THE NIGHT galleys go back today and then I’m done with the book. The next time I see it will be when it hits the shelves on January 2. Yay!

I started writing new material in MARKED 1 this weekend, even though I said I wouldn’t. Thing is, instead of forcing myself to work through the weekend, this time the problem was that I couldn’t force myself not to. I’m just too excited about it.

Since it’s been so long since I originally conceived the concept, I’ve spent the last year thinking, planning, plotting, etc. I had all these ideas of what it should/would be. (Plus, I had a couple ‘friends’ who said things that made me doubt myself and my direction.) But… awesome thing is, when I sat down with it again and started writing, the story took on a life of its own again. It will be what it will be, and I’m having so much fun with it! It’s the most difficult thing I’ve written, but also the easiest. I guess because I love Evangeline and her story, and at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing — that I wrote a story I loved and then shared it with readers.

I spent a lot of the weekend doing technical stuff with my sites, which I love doing. This week it’s all about tearing myself away from writing to clean my house. Writing is way more fun than cleaning, I must say.

Happy Monday!

I’m starting to feel a little better, but not by much I’m afraid. I’m still living on soup, water, and bread.

Some good news: I spent the last couple of days editing the first part of MARKED 1, since I didn’t feel up to writing new material. Even though it’s been over a year since I wrote the partial, I still love it. Such a good feeling!

This weekend I’m sticking to my plan of not writing, even though my brain is full of ideas. *g* I’ve got HEAT OF THE NIGHT galleys here, so I’ll work on those instead. And rest. Hopefully by Monday I’ll be ready to write.

I have the stomach flu. Starting feeling yucky yesterday afternoon and by 3 AM, I was sick as a dog. Mercifully, my mom was here visiting and she made a run to Rite-Aid. Can I just say that my mom ROCKS? I seriously thought I was going to DIE and she saved my life. (Hubby slept right through my torment, but mom heard me pacing and came to my rescue.) I’m still feeling absolutely awful, but *fingers crossed* I get over it soon.

S.J. Day’s resume includes a variety of odd jobs ranging from amusement park employee to POW interrogator. A native Southern Californian, S.J. thinks there’s no place like home, but she loves to travel. Her adventures have taken her to Japan, Holland, Germany, France, Mexico, Jamaica, and all over the United States.

Since Tues. last week…

Universal Studios was fun. Especially liked the Mummy Returns ride. My kids enjoyed the WaterWorld show best. Found out CSI (Vegas) is filmed in L.A. (did not know that)

Galleys arrived that I must look at. (HEAT OF THE NIGHT — Avon formatted the text and special swirly effect graphics around the chapter headers just like PLEASURES OF THE NIGHT, which I really appreciate. The two books will look great together, as all series books should, I think.)

The 2nd ALLURING TALES short story was sent to Avon.

Tomorrow:

Must mail out more packages.

Vegetate with Dad, who leaves on Tues.

I hope your week is a good one! It’s October, can you believe it? Wow, does time fly or what?

I was sleepy all day today, not sure why. Still, I got some stuff done. Multiple loads of dishes and laundry (hubby made homemade lasagna on Sunday and boy! is he a messy cook. But a good one. Yum.). Still got lots more to do to get my house back from the deadline monster, but we’re getting there.

Some of you might now that I like to be geeky with web stuff. I’m no designer by any means and I can’t create a graphic to save my life, but I can tweak and play with css and html fairly well. Handcoded since I don’t have any design software besides a really old version of FrontPage. I recently put together my S.J. Day site/forum and moved/reskinned my message board. Today, I put up Shelley Bradley/Shayla Black’s Doomsday Brethren site. Naughty Nikki made the graphics. I enjoy messing with stuff like that. Wish I were good enough at it to do my own stuff, but I lack the graphic knowledge and design aesthetic. I just don’t have the eye.

I talked to a dear friend of mine today, a gal I’ve known for decades. She’s coming down on Thursday and we’re all (dad included) heading to Universal Studios for the weekend. It’s been almost 8 years since our last visit and it’s the first time for my daughter (might be the first time for my dad, too, I’ll have to double-check.) Anyway, should be fun!

Tomorrow is more puttering around the house for me. My dad is wiped out after a day spent in planes. He flew from Pisa, to Rome, to NY, to Boston, to San Diego. Yikes! So he’ll be recharging and chilling out while I do my thang.

I hope you all have a great Tuesday!

I came home sick from Kentucky, the result of too many days of only a few hours sleep a night. I was getting up at 5-6AM every morning (which was 3 hours earlier for me on PST) to write with my dear friend Shelley Bradley, and by the end of the trip I had a sore throat and sinus trouble.

My kids have half days at school most of this week, so I haven’t been able to catch up on my rest. I’m looking forward to the weekend and hopefully sleeping a lot. If you’ve emailed me recently, forgive the delay in my replies.

In the meantime, here’s a fun pic from RAW (I do promise to tell you all about it soon!!). I’m not so keen on how the pic makes me look HUGE. *g* Do note the lovely necklace I’m wearing. It was handmade for me by a fan, Diane Smith. She says it was inspired by my books. I can’t tell you how touched I am that something I wrote could inspire such a beautiful piece of jewelry. It’s a three-strand necklace featuring stones of various shades of purple (my favorite color) and pearls.

(from l to r: Naughty Nikki, J.R. Ward, me, and Shelley Bradley) Click on image to see larger size.

Sorry I’m quiet. I’m wrapping up a book and I’m totally focused on it.

I did squeeze in a novella over the weekend — “Alpha and Omega” by Patricia Briggs. I loved it!! Really, really loved it. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down and I stayed up late to finish it. I can’t tell you when that happened to me last. It’s been a long time.

The story is going to be continued… in A YEAR!! OMG!! But that’s okay. I’m really just glad that I get to read more!