As often happens in publishing, book titles change. Why they change can vary and really unimportant in the grand scheme. What matters is that the title is memorable and reflects the story unfolding between the covers. With that said, my debut novel has undergone a title change and I couldn't be more excited...



CRIMSON SWAN is now officially titled BLOOD LAW!



Title changes aren't made lightly and without due consideration. Changing to BLOOD LAW is a… Continue

My agent called today. CRIMSON SWAN has sold!!

WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!

My first novel...my first major book deal... to quote Mater from Walt Disney's Cars, "I'm happier than a tornado in a trailer park!"

Don't know dates yet, but I'll keep everyone up to speed on the developments. I'm so excited right now, I don't think I can sleep. :-)

I'm still waiting to hear a decision from the editor on CRIMSON SWAN. The suspense in killing me, but I'm trying very hard not to dwell on it. For that reason -- and others such as I actually want to graduate in December -- I've been working on HELLFIRE, my creative thesis.



As of 3:00 AM, May 19, 2008, I have revised and written 99 pages in 2 weeks. Only 401 to go to finish the book. Thankfully, I only have to present 125-150 pages as my thesis this fall. My committee won't read the… Continue

I know...it's been forever and a day since I updated this thing. I'm still working on re-write/edit of CRIMSON SWAN. Illness, holidays, and the start of a new semester slowed me down, but the end is in sight. Yay! Most of my time lately has been divided between the edits and working on my creative thesis. I'm scheduled to graduate with my MA this fall, so I'm actively writing and editing my thesis, HELLFIRE.



I could have used CRIMSON SWAN as my thesis, but I wanted to challenge… Continue

First of all...Happy New Year to everyone! May you have peace, prosperity, happiness, and a best seller in the new year.

I'm knee-deep in yet another re-write/round of edits on CRIMSON SWAN. After six months of "I love it but it's not right for our list right now"-rejections, a senior editor with one of the top publishing houses in NY gave my agent detailed feedback on what she liked and what she thought needed improving. She also said she'd be…

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October has been a good month so far. Granted, it's my favorite month out of the year 'cause of a certain holiday that falls on the final day, but the rest of it hasn't been anything to sneeze at either. Why am I so jubilant? Several reasons:

1. My Masters creative writing thesis committee has been assembled and it's my dream committee. All four professors I asked to participate agreed and I didn't need to resort to the runners up list.

2. My creative writing thesis project has…

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July 8-13, 2008 will be a thrilling time for me. I just registered for the 3rd annual International Thriller Writers conference, aka ThrillerFest. Woohoo!

Yep, I'm heading back to New York next summer. ThrillerFest 2007 was a blast. How could I resist going back?

It will also be a nice break from classes. I'll officially start working on my creative thesis for grad school in the spring and defend in the fall. A trip to New York in between will be a perfect mid-thesis vacation.…

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Too much work and too little time. 'Tis a common occurence around here lately. Grad school classes have been in session for a couple of weeks now, and I'm already running behind on my reading for two classes. Oh, and I'm also behind on A WICKED TURN and HELLFIRE. I just need to have two of me. That would solve a lot of problems.

But enough whining...

I'm looking forward to attending THRILLERFEST 2008. I've heard some rumors regarding what will be happening -- expanded…

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I received some good news Thursday: I can now list two more publishing credits to my name.

Woohoo!

The University of South Alabama's award-winning, student-run fine arts review magazine, ORACLE, accepted and published two of my submitted works in their latest issue. It's only published during the spring and is a joint effort between the English and Fine Arts Departments.

My published works included a short fictional story, Big Red: A Love Story,…

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Okay, there isn't really a joke buried here, but now that I have your attention, I'll answer a question I'm sure you're dying to ask. (As for the question of how many dead puns I can pack into a blog posting, the answer is "an infinite number.")

So, here's your question presented for viewing by all: Why write about vampires?

My answer: Why not?

Vampires have been…

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Thanks for inviting me over to Book Place. I'll have to check everything out a little later. My Muse is currently beating me over the head with one of her favored Writer Motivating Devices -- a spiked mace.

*sigh*

Time to get back to work.

TTFN JKH

I discovered Crimespace after reading about it in the latest issue of The 3rd Degree from Mystery Writers of America. Cool space.

It gives me yet another reason not to write. My agent's going to have a duck. I'm already behind on A WICKED TURN, the second book in my as-yet-but-hopefully-soon-to-be-published series. CRIMSON SWAN, the first book, is making the rounds of editors.

Given that I recently returned from THRILLERFEST, where I was one of the happy volunteers for several…

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