Yesterday was the day for some long overdue housekeeping. No, not like dusting, be serious. I mean on my website. Now that I’ve got the newsletter written, I had to put together all the updates for the website and there were a LOT of them. Little things, like my bio page says I have one daughter and now I have two. *eye roll* The most major change is that I’m replacing the excerpt on Love Spell with The Infamous Restaurant Scene. But pretty much every page on the site needed updating and some, like the front page, needed a bunch.

This was such a long and tedious task that I’ve scheduled one day a month in future for website housekeeping when I will sit down and take care of that little chore before it gets out of hand. Along with all the site updates, I sent my design guru husband a list of design requests. He’s already made one design for me, a dummy cover for Only Human to use as a visualization tool. Very cool and really gorgeous. So I’ve got that and a picture of the hero from A Wolf In Cheap Clothing to look at while I work. Mmmm. I’m feeling inspired!

In other news, I signed up for the bookfair at the Emerald City Conference in Bellevue, Oct. 8. It looks like I’ll be able to sign all three of my paperbacks, but I’m waiting to hear back from the coordinator for more details and confirmation and so on.

Katrina: sometimes there are no words. Today I’m really grateful to have a roof over my head, and that it isn’t under water. Larissa Ione’s house is under water and there’s something in the works to help her out. Alison, Emma and Steph will have details.

Writing up a storm and I have more projects lined up and ready to roll as soon as this one’s finished. I’m all prepared for Book In A Month! Also, the latest edition of the Teglia Tattler is going out this week. If you’re not on the list, you can subscribe from the Newsletter link if you don’t want to miss it. Alien abductions, an amazing new diet plan, real hard-hitting journalism!

Love and Rockets is officially in print now and can be ordered from your local bookstores. It should be on the shelves very shortly.

I hope all those in the path of Katrina are not reading this because they’ve evacuated. Be safe out there.

One of my favorite things about the world of blogging? Getting to hear about all the good news out there. From knowing that Stephanie Tyler’s preschooler came through her last round of surgery in good shape to hearing about Ellora’s Cave author Jaci Burton’s two-book deal with Bantam, from Paperback Writer’s commitment to keep on to Beth Ciotta’s astounding 3 book deal with HQN and her sale of two more westerns to Medallion, the blogs are alive with good news!

Good news can be huge (that first major sale) or the stepping stones on the way (finished the chapter, sent the proposal), but it’s all positive and I love that. I quit listening to news, reading papers and watching it on TV because it was so full of negatives. Sure, here in the blogosphere there’s the occasional RWA uproar or disappointment or even a heavy blow, but through it all runs the thread of progress, of forward momentum. You guys inspire me. Thank you for continuing to share all your good news.

I’ve finished several books without reviewing them recently, so it’s time to catch up!

First off, Back to the Bedroom by Janet Evanovich, re-released from the original Loveswept. Very funny, sweet romantic comedy with zingers and offbeat characters and a plot that thickens. For a good time, read this one!

Next, The Honeymoon Man by Suzanne Dye (AKA Suzanne McMinn). Also a very fun romantic comedy (yes, you’re seeing a pattern here; I just had a baby, I wanted funny!) with characters who had a lot of depth considering the length of the book. This was my tide-me-over read while waiting impatiently to get my hands on The Beast Within (Amazon says it’s coming Real Soon Now TM) and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Never Love a Stranger by Ellen Fisher had me hooked from the first paragraph. “This is how to hook a reader,” I told my husband. “Some writers pussyfoot around getting started, but Ellen just goes out and puts a NAKED MAN in the kitchen, first thing!” Since I’ve never found a naked man in MY kitchen while rifling for leftovers, I immediately envied the heroine and read on. This is a Good Book, especially for those of us who’d like to find something better for the waistline than pasta on the next trip to the fridge.

The Best of Jaid Black by Jaid Black. Three novellas I’ve wanted to read for some time, and having them all in one place, rrrowrrr. I’m still trying to decide which is my favorite. Maybe I need to go read it again. Right now.

Currently reading The Fifth Favor by Shelby Reed (sigh), Night Moves by Julie Kenner, Blaze and The Morning After by Dorie Graham, Blaze, and Tripping Through the Universe, anthology. After which I’ve got some Sherrilyn Kenyon catchup to do on the Dark Hunter series and by then The Beast Within had BETTER by on my doorstep!

What about you, read any good books lately?

I was reading a magazine in the doctor’s office yesterday about the obesity epidemic among US children and best/worst schools for active, healthy kids. Which is how I learned something that shocked me even more than the epidemic of fast-food cafeterias and junk food vending machines in schools. Ready?

An incredible percentage of schools have done away with P.E. and recess in order to “bring up scholastic standards”. Which is dumb because I can testify that having an active body is essential to a clear mind. If I don’t balance desk time with physical activity, it doesn’t take long for my concentration to go to hell and my brain to turn as mushy as my backside.

When I picked my jaw up off the floor, the first thing I said to myself was, “6 years olds are supposed to sit still in class ALL DAY without PE class or recess? Holy sh&*, no wonder they’re all on Ritalin.”

I can’t believe it. To parents out there, complain to your school board about this. When I was a kid, we had PE. We hated it, but we all did it. We had recess and we played dodge ball, jumped rope, played on swings, ran. We had summer vacations (!) which we used to do more of the same along with endless bike riding and swimming. And most of us walked to school.

I think there was one overweight kid in the entire school.

You want to do something about the obesity epidemic, not to mention juvenile diabetes? Bring back the good old days. Let kids walk or bike to school, go to PE class, run around during recess. Get fast food venders out of the cafeterias and candy bar laden vending machines out of schools.

Oh, yeah, and let’s see if suddenly all these elementary school aged kids no longer need Ritalin in the process.

Read this last night and I’m still thinking about it.

“Writing is about honesty. It is almost impossible to be honest and boring at the same time. Whenever I am stuck in a piece of writing I ask myself, “Am I failing to tell the truth? Is there something I am not saying, something I am afraid to say?” When the answer is yes, the writing shows it. There is a softness, a tentativeness, a rot to it that telling the truth instantly dispels.” - Julia Cameron, The Right to Write

Nice to be reminded that scared to death “can I really pull this off/can I really say that” feeling just means I’m doing my job.

Finished The Synopsis and trotted it on down to the post office along with the rest of the Blaze contest entry. You never can tell, I could be the lucky winner of a year’s supply of books! It felt very strange to be sending something out by snail mail again. I’ve gotten used to doing everything via email.

Which made me think to myself, “I should probably blog something about why I’m shopping different projects around.” Because I’ve already said I love EC and have no plans to leave EC and that must seem confusing.

It’s like this: not everything I write is going to be a good fit there. And that whole burnout problem would probably strike at some point if everything did. Some of my stories are more steamy than erotic or mildly erotic and those are stories I think would do better with Red Sage, Brava or possibly Blaze. I want every story I write to find the best possible home, and when you don’t always write the same thing that means having more than one publisher.

Starting to shop for alternate markets feels a little like having to date again after being happily married, but I’m jumping in there and going postal.

In writing news, I’m finishing a Quickie and then I have the sequel to Love and Rockets to do. A reader asked me the other day why there wasn’t any information on When Sparks Fly on my site and I realized I don’t have a series section. My bad. So I’ll be starting a series section for both Sparks and Dangerous, because those both have sequels coming. I’m working on a few other site updates, too.