Wednesday’s post vanished, I’m sorry about that! I worked for about 40 minutes on that post Tuesday night and set it to post as usual at 1am the next morning. But when I checked on Wednesday, the post was gone. It didn’t even show on my dashboard as a draft, like it never happened at all.

Maybe I dreamed writing and setting up that post???

I’ve been worried and stressed so it’s also possible I did something stupid like delete it when I thought I was scheduling it. Anything’s possible And then yesterday I got some fairly steep revisions on the Savaged Surrender novella while I’m still working on the revision for the Savaged Dreams book. I’m annoyed at myself for flailing around instead of getting this first revision done. Let’s move onto something fun!

Since we skipped Wednesday Worthy, I’ll put up our candidate today.

So what do you think, is he worthy?

Note: I’m writing this blog totally exhausted after getting home from the RWA Conference

I missed you all!! The conference was super low key for me, I got to very few workshops, but caught up with a lot of old friends and met a whole slew of awesome new friends. And oh the location! Guys, San Diego on the Marina is gorgeous! I’ve always loved San Diego but I’m even more in love with it after spending five days there. Just beautiful and there were plenty of restaurants, either on the marina or the Gaslamp district that was pretty much across the street. We really enjoyed it.

And let’s just say that Wizard told everyone in the known universe I’m an author. I found that hilarious. He doesn’t usually do that in our normal lives. But at the conference, he was totally into it. It made me laugh and I’ve teased him about it mercilessly. “But Witch, I wanted everyone there to know who you are.”

Um…I’m pretty much just one of a couple thousand authors there, LOLOL!! Not that special, except to Wizard

I also want to mention our own Silver James, who received a big Service Award for years and years of volunteering for the Romance Writers of America. What that means is that she worked damn hard, giving time, energy and true friendship to countless writers over many years and is known for her passion and generosity throughout the romance community. It was awesome to see her selfless dedication recognized! I’m very proud of Silver and thankful for her service and friendship. I took some pictures of her on the jumbo screen when she was onstage but I was in the back of the huge room–trust me there were probably well over a 1,000 writers in that room. I purposely stayed in back to help protect my bruised toe which meant I couldn’t get a great shot of Silver James graciously accepting the award with her usual brand of humble humor.

Afterward we grabbed some coffee to catch up and I think a dozen people stopped Silver to tell her congrats or to thank her for her work that helps all of us as authors.

My toe survived! The bruising made a few people cringe (sorry!) but I did much better than I expected, and I’m happy. I’m taking off the gym today and we’ll see if I can get an athletic shoe on Wednesday. After endless eating, I need to get back to the gym.

But right now, I’m going to write, write and write! I came home motivated to get Savaged Dreams revised and back to my editor in two weeks. And she’s working on editing the novella, Savaged Surrender this week so I need to work faster, harder and smarter to get all caught up.

How was your weekend?

Happy Wednesday everyone! I’m off to conference today, although…last night while cooking dinner, I knocked a bread knife off the counter–right onto my toe. Ouch! I’m typing this from my laptop while icing the toe and debating going to emergency. It’s not cut, the handle end hit the fourth toe, and it’s swollen and getting a bit ugly. Thing is, there’s not much they can do, and I know how to take care of it, so I may just tape it up and go on. Although I’ll be wearing flats now

In my defense, Wizard was standing right there when it happened and he couldn’t figure out how that knife slid off the counter. He got a close up view of the weird stuff that just happens around me, LOL! But I actually know how this happened, when I picked up the cutting board, I caught the edge of the knife and knocked it off. I jumped back, probably saving most of the foot from a bad cut, but not quite far enough to save the toe from getting hit be the end of the handle.

But enough of that! Now that the newsletter finally went out after a frustrating formatting glitch (huge thanks to my assistant Anna for solving that!!), I can share the cover for those who don’t get the newsletter! This is for SAVAGED SURRENDER, Ethan and Ana’s novella that I will release on October 10th, and that will also be included in the 1,001 Dark Nights bundle in December.

Mark to read on Goodreads

Being bad has never been so sexy…

Bad boy Ethan Hunt is sexy, hard and tainted by a past he can’t escape. To make matters worse, good girl Ana Kendall is a wicked temptation impossible to resist. She’s too innocent for him, so he leaves, joining the security team for the world tour of the internationally famous rock band, Savaged Illusions.

Being good has never satisfied…

Since moving in with her dad at fourteen, Ana’s been the perfect daughter, friend, student and employee. But perfection sucks. When her girlfriends cook up a ridiculous scheme to reunite her with the one man she can’t forget, Ana hijacks their plot. It’s time to shed her good girl persona and go after what she wants—Ethan.

Being bad together is deadly…

When Ana bursts back into his life at a concert, Ethan has to make a choice. Consumed by fiery passion, Ana and Ethan surrender to their sensual desires…and unknowingly ignite the rage of an insidious stalker. This time Ethan can’t walk away—Ana’s life, and his heart, are on the line.

I hope you guys have a great rest of the week! I’ll probably skip Friday’s post and hope to be back for Monday.

The good news is I got to see my brother this weekend. He came down our way for a surprise visit. The bad news is that after knowing my brother all my life, I just found out something…well…disturbing.

My brother doesn’t like pancakes. Or waffles.

I know! Shocking! Biker Witch and I were both appalled and we would have insisted on a DNA test because, obviously, we just can’t be related. However, my brother looks just like my dad, so apparently it’s some kind of recessive gene? I don’t know…

I mean come on, who doesn’t like pancakes? And people, the things one can do with a belgium waffle is amazing!

Otherwise, my weekend was the usual frustration of trying to work and deal with life lobbing a variety of curveballs at me. I’m not going to get this revision finished before I go to conference and I’ve just accepted it. Sometimes I fail and yet the world keeps turning I’m not stressing about conference and packing this year–I’ll make do with what I have as far as clothes and other items and be fine.

So how was your weekend?

**Edited To Add: I wrote this last night before the Dallas Shootings of eleven police officers. There’s so much tragedy and horror going on right now, it feels like our country is bleeding and I don’t know how to stop it. My heart goes out to everyone in Dallas, the officers and their loved ones.**

It’s been kind of a rough week. Not hideous, but frustrations at every turn, including some unsettling news yesterday. So…let’s focus on the good! Because no matter how dark, scary or frustrating things seem there’s always good. I can think of three good things for me right off the top of my head:

1. The Romance Writers of America Conference is next week! Getting out and talking to other writers and industry professionals is always inspiring and I need that right now. Perfect timing.
2. Wizard is going to San Diego with me! We’re planning some fun together including the baseball game (Wizard is SO excited as it’s his beloved Giants playing!) and some dinners. Even better, Wizard is perfectly happy entertaining himself while I’m busy at the conference. I never have to worry that he’ll pout or be mad. It’s awesome to be married to someone who understands the demands on my time so I don’t feel pulled in ten different directions.
3. See this girl?

This is Roxy. She’s Youngest Son (BLB’s) girlfriend’s dog, and you may remember that she was diagnosed with cancer a while back. It was shocking and awful. But the good news? After long, harsh months of chemo treatments, she’s in full remission! She came over with BLB to hang out with me last Sunday. She was a delight and clearly feeling pretty darn good. It’s truly some great news. It wasn’t easy for BLB’s girlfriend, but she put everything she had–money, time, emotional energy, endless love and a lot of worry–into fighting for Roxy’s life, and look at her now! This isn’t the best picture (I took it super quick) but you can see she’s healthy and doing well.

So that’s my good news. What about you? I want to hear any good news, big or small. And I hope all of you have a great weekend!

We had a great 4th! Now I’m back to work, trying to get as much of this revision done as I can before I go to conference in one week. I’m panicking

Which may explain how I chose this candidate for Wednesday Worthy. Full disclosure, he looked better to me in the thumbnail sized picture, and since I was short on time, I bought it. I like his arms and abs, but once I saw the whole picture in a bigger size, well I may have a little buyer’s remorse right now…

What do you guys think, is he worthy?

For all those in the U.S.!

vector illustration of background for Fourth of July American Independence Day

We’re having a few people over to swim, BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs and just hang out. Hope you all have a safe and fun day!